Walking on the hallowed patch ground that is Famoso Raceway it becomes easy to see why the March Meet is now in its 52nd year. People like this stuff. In our case a rekindled interest in drag racing and hot rodding started again around 15 years ago with a wiff of nitromethane and a flashback to the Coca-Cola Funny Car Cavalcade of Stars tossing up fiberglass down a … [Read more...]
Hydropneumatics and Design Together in Pasadena
There were more Citroëns than drivers on a Saturday morning. The task at hand was a good one. Settle into the plush appointments behind the steering wheel of a 1969 and-one-half Citroën iD21F Safari Wagon and drive. The mission was to get all cars on the move to the Pasadena Art Center College of Design for a gathering of Citroëns, and subsequent tour of the Art Center … [Read more...]
Corollla Rescued from Crusher
Proving wrong the previously held belief that a car is on a certain path to the jaws of the crusher once out on the California junkyard ground is this 1983 Toyota Corolla. We have lost count of how many near mint condition cars, trucks, and vans seen at the self-service junkyards of California that left us scratching heads as to why they were junked in the first place. This … [Read more...]
JDM Astro Van and Resurrected Corolla
The resurrection of old Corollas and return of a Chevrolet Astro to the United States from Japan is proof that the end of 2009 is at hand, or that the last Santa Clara gathering of this year is now in the past. The Datsun crew by way of Ratsun Forum showed up with an eclectic mix of rear-drive classics with modern horsepower underhood. The Chevrolet Astro van featured above was … [Read more...]
Country Squire Wooden Wagon
The seventies were the absolute zenith of American station wagon manufacture. The flagships of the Ford station wagon fleet featured acres of simulated wood paneling - usually a shade lighter than the millions of sheets of actual dark brown wood paneling used to convert the basements of American split-level homes into rumpus or bar rooms. This fake wood paneling trend began … [Read more...]