If TTAC were UK based, we’d probably have indulged in a Bristol Appreciation Week instead of Panthers. These remarkable coupes have been built on the same 114″ wheelbase chassis since the first Bristol 400 saw the light of day in 1947. Ok, I haven’t forgotten about Morgan. But the Morgan is a bit more self-conscious in its perpetuality. The Bristol’s styling has evolved a bit, although that seems to have ended in about, say 1978 or so? The NY Times has a nice article pointing out that Bristol sales are up, and never dropped in the current Great Recession. The very affluent who want a “bespoke” coupe hand built in traditional style seem to be able to manage the starting price of 142k pounds sterling. Oh, and there’s a real living breathing dinosaur under the hood too, and it’s American to boot. (Read More…)

EAW is either just a ploy for me to burn off some of my overflowing files of obscure cars I’ve shot, or to document the history of this storied vehicle. The gen2 Econolines don’t exactly get a lot of interest, and they’re rapidly disappearing from the street scape. There’s two places to find them still: in the parks, and on certain streets in industrial areas. They’ve become prime real estate for the wandering underclass. Everybody needs at least an Econoline to call “home”. (Read More…)

According to lore, China has closed off its market to foreign car importers, and is ready to flood the world with cheapmobiles.

Just the opposite is true. (Read More…)

This Econoline caught my eye for a number of reasons. These old bread boxes are getting scarce, even in Eugene. And this is one of the extended-body SuperVans, no less. But that’s not all; it has a trick in its hat. Watch this: (Read More…)

China’s Chery is one of the few big car companies that is not wedded to a foreigner. All the big ones are in bed with one or more Western (or Eastern) manufacturer.  Finally,  it looks like Chery might be losing its virginity. (Read More…)

When you took the Tokyo subway between 10 and 11 pm, it used to be full of dozing salarymen who just got back from work. Putting in long hours just was the Japanese way. Some put in an evening shift somewhere else, and came home at 11, sighing “tough day at the office.” Not anymore. Many companies, Toyota one of them, put in an overtime ban. Hubby-san suddenly had to come home early. As a further sign that the crisis is behind us, longer working hours are back. (Read More…)

The Panther was celebrated (and denigrated) all week here at TTAC, one of the justifications given by its proponents being that it is the oldest continuous platform still in production in the US. Well, a few strong howls of protest were heard: the Econoline has been around since the fall of 1974! Thirty six years, no less. And a chorus cry for Econoline Appreciation Week ensued. Well, some think that TTAC’s image has already been, ah…burdened a bit with all the Panther gushing, and a whole week of continuous Econoline love (in the back, I assume) would be a bit…tiring. Since I’ve established trucks as fair game on the weekends, welcome to EAW (Econoline Appreciation Weekend).

If you need some warm-up material while we get some E-posts together, head here for a superb example of an early Econoline Curbside Classic. And here’s a TTAC review of a recent Econoline conversion van.  [PS: gen1 and gen2 Econolines are not excluded from the love-fest]

Quite of few of you have asked me to do a history of VW do Brasil’s most sold car ever: the Gol. No mean feat, considering the runner-up is probably still the Beetle. I’m currently working on a history of the car (that I hope will be up soon), but as an appetizer, let’s check […]

[Ed has flown the coop for a week of R&R, and I know he has a number of Ur-Turn submissions in his inbox. Normally, we wouldn’t be running a piece from a prior Ur-Turn contributor, but these are not normal times. Mike George sent me this, and its a fitting finale to Panther Week. PN]

My auto insurance bills remind me of two things:  how old I was when I got my drivers license, and how much older I have become since .  You see, I got my license on my eighteenth and a half “birthday”, so the first due date of the year reminds me of the license, the second of my graying hair.  Oftentimes on paying the first bill I think back of my first Road Trip, which took place no more than three months after Oregon gave me the go-ahead.  My best friend Matt had moved to Culpeper, Virginia to drive a snowplow for his uncle.  I wanted in on the action. (Read More…)

The activity board in my 2nd grade classroom was covered in bright paper, shiny border trim and colorful words: typical stuff from a teacher supply store.  Words like “Wow!” and “Excellent!” to make light of an exemplary student’s work. But they were also adjectives for my latest automotive affection. A vehicle I hoped, for weeks, that my parents would surprise me in when the bell rang. That car was a new, 1984 Mercury Grand Marquis “LS” sedan. (Read More…)

There it is, Subaru’s all-new gen 3 engine, its first new boxer since 1989, and only the third since 1966 (full history here). As is obvious at first glance, Subaru has reverted to a DOHC head, after switching to a SOHC back in 2000. What’s not so apparent is that the internal architecture is very different: the boxer loses its oversquare (large bore/short stroke) configuration for… the opposite. Long strokes are in (again), favored for their compact combustion chambers and ideal torque curves. The new engine has a host of other goodies, and is expected to be 10% more efficient. But direct injection is not on the list. Nor is piston slap, hopefully. (Read More…)

And without any further ado, here are the last 5 engineering wonders from the recent 24 Hours of LeMons: (Read More…)

Toyota has essentially confirmed that a hybrid Yaris will be built at its Valenciennes, France plant beginning in 2012, coinciding with the next generation. Autocar, which also has a gallery of 2012 Yaris spy shots here, points out that Toyota did not name the new hybrid as a Yaris specifically, but that is the where the Yaris is made, and it fits in with with Toyota’s strategy to expand its hybrid line. In this case, it expands it downwards, in a market segment particularly important in Europe and Japan (pretty much everywhere except the US, actually). It also marks the second Toyota car for Europe to be hybridized without a unique exterior, like the Prius and LH 250 here. Toyota already sells an Auris hybrid in Europe, its Golf-fighter, along with the Prius. The big question: will the littlest hybrid find its way stateside? (Read More…)

Rumors of Mitsubishi’s demise in America are greatly exaggerated. That was the essence of Mitsubishi Motors President Osamo Masuko, in an article at AutomotiveNews [sub]. “We have never thought about withdrawing from the U.S. market, and we will not do so.” And the sales target is 200k vehicles, four times of current levels. And what is the target date for that rebound? Not stated.

What was stated by Masuko is that the current crop of duds in the lineup will have to be replaced: “I cannot speak about it too concretely, but from what we know at the moment, it is not possible to continue with the models that we have had,”. Quadrupling sales without a specific plan for new models? Sounds even more ambitious than VW’s American re-conquest. (Read More…)

As part of its quest to become the world’s largest auto maker, Volkswagen decided to design and engineer a pair of sedans specially for the American market. Compared to VW’s traditional, Eurocentric products, the new sedans will be larger, less sophisticated, and cheaper. The first of these, the new 2011 Jetta, has now arrived. It starts at $14,995 (plus $770 for destination), a substantial $2,590 less than the 2010 Jetta and also less than many other compact sedans. A German-engineered sedan for less than $15,000 certainly got everyone’s attention. Which was of course the point. But is it a good value? (Read More…)