Introduction: To Build a Better Jeep My first, and only, working experience with an Austin Champ was on a farm down in Australia where I was helping the property owner with some vermin control. We were racing across a sheep paddock doing at least 30 mph, although it felt like a lot more, in hot…
The Toyota Hilux pickup truck has become one of the most iconic vehicles to ever emerge from Japanese vehicle maker Toyota. The Hilux, known as the Pickup or Pickup Truck in the US market, has the distinction of having been to both North and South Poles and while on a North Pole journey for Top…
Introduction: The GMC Motorhome The GMC Motorhome is a six-wheeled embodiment of the zeitgeist of its age – for those who did not live through the post-war 1950’s to 1970’s era it is likely that they will not really grasp the level of creative freedom that was unleashed. The younger generations may realize that the…
Germany and Austria Join Forces to Create a Better 4×4 – The G-Wagen (G-Wagon / G-Class) The story of the beginning of the Mercedes G-Wagen (also known as the G-Wagon and the G-Class) brings together one of the world’s greatest makers of automobiles, with one of the world’s greatest makers of classic sporting rifles, and…
Introduction: The Volvo “Chevvy Corvette” That Wasn’t The story of the creation of the Volvo P1800 begins back in 1953 when Volvo co-founder and Vice-President Assar Gabrielsson visited the USA and while there he had the opportunity to visit GM and see the new (C1) Chevrolet Corvette production line at Flint, Michigan. While in the…
Introduction: Porsche is Born Dr. Ferdinand Porsche had long dreamed of building high performance sports cars just as he had also dreamed of creating cars that ordinary people could afford to own and run prior to Hitler’s program that sought to create a system of high speed roads called Autobahns throughout Germany, and for affordable…
The story behind the design of the Volvo Amazon is quite complex and takes in influences from a number of sources. Volvo had recruited Jan Wilsgaard from the Handicraft Society School (which is nowadays called the HDK, School of Design and Crafts). The young Wilsgaard’s first design work for Volvo was a large V8 powered car called the Volvo Phillip made in 1950.
Introduction to the Toyota 2000GT: An Industry Seeking Credibility The Toyota 2000GT was one of the most significant sports cars to come out of Japan during the 1960s – the decade that started the country out on the path to the global domination of the automobile market that it enjoys today. By the end of…
The story of the Datsun 240Z begins on the race track, and it dates back to 1964 when the Prince Motoring Club was established by Dr. Sakuri of Prince Motors in the wake of defeat by a privately entered Porsche in the Japanese Grand Prix of that year.
The Austin 7 – An Introduction It was in an Austin 7 that I went on my very first ever road trip. It would have been in about 1961, I was still at primary school, and a member of the school “Scripture Union” club. Our teacher, Mr. Britain, decided to fit three or four of…
The day I went in to buy my new Datsun 1600 I was in all probability the most unhappy new car buyer on the face of the earth. That was not to do with the Datsun 1600 being in some way a misery causing car. The reason for the truckload of unhappiness was that I’d been negotiating to buy an Austin-Healey 3000 in a private sale, and the seller had bailed out of the sale at the last minute.
The Beginnings of Ford Motor Company Henry Ford’s Model T was the visionary breakthrough that brought motor vehicle ownership to millions of ordinary middle class people and opened up a new era of mobility for people and goods. In an era when the horse and the railroad reigned supreme as the means of land transport…
