Car Reviews

When customers love a particular car model, what else is a carmaker to do but keep building it, and building it, and building it? The formula worked well on the low end with the original Volkswagen Beetle. At the zenith of automotive luxury, meanwhile, Rolls-Royce perfected the tactic with the original Corniche.

Usually, we hold our Texas event in November, when it’s still warm and sunny but there’s not much going on in the rest of the U.S. vintage car world. This year, knowing that the famous Hill Country spring wild flowers would be especially brilliant thanks to El Nino winter rains, we scheduled our Texas Bluebonnets for April 3 through April 8.

Petrolicious interviews an enthusiast and his 1978 Porsche 930 Turbo. Its untamed character, the balance issues caused by a rear-mounted engine, and a tremendous amount of turbo lag quickly earned these 911s the nickname Widow Maker.

After 10 years of rumors, concept cars, spy photos and malleable corporate moods, the second-generation Acura NSX finally entered production this month. The original NSX sent a shockwave through the sports car world just over a quarter-century ago.

Named for a North African windstorm, the original 1967-1973 Maserati Ghibli blew through the ranks of Italian GT’s as a 150+ mph instant classic and – to most eyes — one of the most beautiful cars ever made. There is no questioning the original Ghibli’s place in the pantheon of motorized Italian masterpieces.

The Corvette long carried a stigma of crudeness versus the Europeans, and the Chevy bowtie just doesn’t carry the status of a Porsche crest. That reputation had been eroding since the late 1990s, though not everyone noticed. Today, any Porsche 911 driver not looking at the new Stingray with just a twinge of horsepower envy ought to check his pulse.

As the first production car to bear the Bugatti name in thirty-five years, the EB110 had big shoes to fill. The 560 horses produced by its 3.5L V-12 fit snugly into those French racing boots.

The Diablo’s design was more elegant than the Countach, which had become festooned with all manner of body add-ons, including a rear wing that looked like a Boeing 727’s horizontal stabilizer. Like the Countach before it, the Diablo also grew a young fan base and became a poster car in many boys’ bedrooms.

The Nethercutt Museum offers a walk through the history of the automobile, showcasing over 130 pre-1970 cars broken into categories based on era of production. Next door, The Nethercutt Collection occupies the museum’s former residence, with four floors of only the finest antiques.