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Automotive Histories Archive
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CC’s Best of 2023: Automotive History: Hold My Drink! The Story Of When Cupholders Became Good
Posted on December 25, 2023 | 83 CommentsDo you remember life before cupholders? Several decades ago, bringing a drink in a moving car was a risky endeavor – not so today. But before cupholders became a prosaic […] -
CC/Automotive Histories: 1995 Buick XP-2000 & 1997-2001 Cadillac Catera – The Story Of A Buick Holden And A Cadillac Opel
Posted on December 18, 2023 | 82 Comments(first posted 12/18/2017) Historical pieces on the Cadillac Catera often focus on its cringe-inducing advertising campaign, its myriad reliability issues and its overall failure in the marketplace. […] -
Engine History: Audi’s (and VW) EA827 Engine – The Inline Four That Could!
Posted on December 10, 2023 | 39 Comments(first posted 12/9/2017) Sometimes, great engines are applauded and commended from day one, like the small block chevy engine. But other times they are equally as good, […] -
Automotive History: The Mysterious Appearance of Floor Shifters for 1961-1964 Chrysler Three-Speed Manual Transmissions
Posted on December 9, 2023 | 59 Comments1961 Chrysler Newport with standard 3-speed floor shift (first posted 12/9/2017) As a rather curious corollary to Chrysler’s very space-age push-button automatic, whose demise was covered here by […] -
Automotive History: A Salute To The 1977 and 1978 Dodge Monaco (And Plymouth Fury) – The Most Abused Car In Entertainment History?
Posted on December 6, 2023 | 69 CommentsOnce upon a long duration of time, these Chrysler B-body twins of the Dodge Monaco and Plymouth Fury were seemingly everywhere in movies and television being subjected to all manner […] -
Brilliant Blunder: 1962 Plymouth & Dodge – The Real Reason They Were Downsized
Posted on December 4, 2023 | 180 Comments(first posted 12/4/2017. revised 12/3/2023) The fact that the downsized and unusually-styled 1962 Plymouth and Dodge were a blunder is indisputable, in terms of their failure on the market. But […] -
Automotive & Design History: Mercedes-Benz W110/111/112 Fintails – Béla Barényi And The Elusive Pluckenheckflosse
Posted on December 2, 2023 | 101 Comments(first posted 12/2/2017) Italy, Summer 1981. My father is hustling his brother’s black Mercedes-Benz 220 S heckflosse along the autostrada at speed. Inside the car it’s three children […] -
Engine History: Alfa Romeo Twin Cam Four – A Pioneer, And As Beautiful As The Cars It Powered
Posted on December 1, 2023 | 60 Comments(first posted 12/1/2013) Alfa has always been known and loved for their engines as well as all the rest of their seductive qualities. Perhaps even more so than the others, […] -
Engine History: The OHC V12 Engine That Cadillac Almost Built
Posted on November 28, 2023 | 102 Comments(first posted 12/18/2013) Imagine lifting the hood of a 1967 Cadillac, and seeing this alloy SOHC V12 nestled there. It’s hardly a far-fetched notion. In the mid sixties, Cadillac came […] -
Fabco Automotive, 1918-2017: A San Francisco Bay Area Automotive Legend
Posted on November 25, 2023 | 67 CommentsFabco wide-track lettuce truck. With just a terse statement through P.R. Newswire, Livermore, California-based Fabco Automotive, one of the last vestiges of the San Francisco Bay Area’s proud automotive history, […] -
Automotive History: A Tale of Two White Wagons
Posted on November 22, 2023 | 82 Comments(first posted 10/28/2014) There were those who considered Vernon O’Neal a cumbersome and plodding businessman; far more people admired his Texas pluck, which manifested itself in his cheeky exuberance to shake things […] -
The Corporation: The Story Of My Father, A GM Executive Part 2 – From Churchill Tanks To Body Rot
Posted on November 15, 2023 | 98 Comments(first posted 9/6/2013. For those that didn’t make the jump to Part 2 the other day) In 1980 my father’s autobiography was published under the title “An Addiction to Automobiles”. […] -
Car Show Classics: 1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Convertible – 394 cubic inches and 3-on-the Tree
Posted on October 22, 2023 | 75 Comments(first posted 10/21/2017) Earlier this year, while wandering through a cruise night, I came across this 1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88. At first glance, I didn’t give […] -
Curbside Classic: 1976 GAZ 13 Chaika – Apparat Chic, Or A Short History Of Long Soviet Cars
Posted on October 17, 2023 | 56 Comments(first posted 10/17/2017) I saw this big blue monster on my very first day in Yerevan – how lucky can a CCurbivore be? No way to get a […]