Jon Branch has written countless official automobile Buying Guides for eBay Motors over the years, he’s also written for Hagerty, he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome and the official SSAA Magazine, and he’s the founder and senior editor of Revivaler.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine, and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China, and Hong Kong. The fastest thing he’s ever driven was a Bolwell Nagari, the slowest was a Caterpillar D9, and the most challenging was a 1950’s MAN semi-trailer with unexpected brake failure.
Jon Branch
November 7, 2020
The Volvo P1800 – It Began with a Swedish “Corvette” The Volvo P1800 began in the early 1950s with the idea that in order to really succeed in the lucrative US market Volvo needed a…
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Jon Branch
October 21, 2020
The Fiat X1/9 – A Fiat With a Difference To understand the reasoning behind the Fiat X1/9 it is perhaps best to look at the sporting motor car scene in Italy in the decade that led…
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Jon Branch
October 1, 2020
The Buick Riviera: An American Facel Vega The Buick Riviera was created to be an American performance car: a pure bred American answer to the brilliant Facel Vega (which was coincidentally British racing champion Stirling…
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Jon Branch
September 17, 2020
Background: The Four Cylinder Lotus Esprits The Lotus Esprit was created as a car that would transform Lotus from being a kit car and enthusiasts automobile builder to being a supercar builder. It was a…
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Jon Branch
August 20, 2020
Charles B. Franklin: the Engineer with Practical Experience Charles Bayly Franklin, the engineer who was to create three of the most iconic Indian motorcycles, was born in the Irish City of Dublin on October 13,…
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Jon Branch
August 4, 2020
Above Image: A Lotus 7 battling with a Porsche 356 Speedster in 1984. Image courtesy of the San Francisco Region SCCA. In the Beginning: Motorsport in the Mud Lotus Cars, and thus the Lotus 7,…
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Jon Branch
July 17, 2020
Marcos Cars: Wooden Wonders In the wake of the Second World War, as Britain worked her way through austerity and the process of rebuilding what had been destroyed or damaged by the not at all…
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Jon Branch
June 30, 2020
A Gas Turbine or a V8? The story of the development of the Rover V8 engine begins with a dream that became a failed dream. Once upon a time in England’s green and pleasant land…
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Jon Branch
June 5, 2020
Above Image: President Lyndon Johnson taking guests on a tour of the lake. The Amphicar – President Lyndon Johnson’s Favourite Car The Amphicar was American President Lyndon Johnson’s favorite car. It was the car in…
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Jon Branch
May 22, 2020
The MGC – A Sports Car in Search of an Engine The story of the MGC is fraught with “what could have been…” possibilities. For all its good and not so desirable points the MGC…
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Jon Branch
May 7, 2020
Toyota’s Station Wagon Land Cruisers: From the J40 is born the Rare Toyota FJ45V The story of the Toyota J60 began with Toyota’s tentative experimentation with making a station wagon version of their existing J40…
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Jon Branch
April 17, 2020
Carroll Shelby And His Famous Nitro Glycerine Tablets Carroll Shelby was named after a Christian minister and went from being a child with a heart condition that prevented him from doing some of the things…
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