Automoto Network

As the end of the Chiron’s production run nears, Bugatti is taking a look back at the W16 engine that has powered its cars since it returned to the scene nearly 20 years ago. The engine is relatively compact, hugely powerful, and it has helped the firm set several world records. Former Volkswagen boss Ferdinand […] July 30, 2022 at 08:30PM

The Ford Pinto, butt of so many exploding-car jokes from the day Mother Jones published “Pinto Madness,” was built from the 1971 through 1980 model years. I’ve documented many discarded Pintos (and Mercury Bobcats) over the years, but today’s Junkyard Gem is the only final-year-of-production Pinto/Bobcat I’ve managed to find in a car graveyard. This […] July 24, 2022 at 01:30AM

The station wagon’s final period of true mainstream sales relevance in North America took place during the 1990s, though the minivan and SUV had long since been shoving the wagon aside by that point. Peak Wagon — measured by the number of new wagon models available here — occurred in either 1964 or 1977, when […] July 17, 2022 at 01:45AM

Bentley has shifted one of its on-going restoration projects into high gear. Found after spending decades undriven, the first T-Series sedan built is being brought back to life by the British company’s apprentices and specialists and it should be back on the road by the end of 2023. Manufactured on September 28, 1965, about a […] April 15, 2022 at 08:20PM

It’s no easy task to determine the year of the very first Dodge station wagon, because the wagonlike vehicles of the Dodge Brothers’ early years were “screensides” based on truck chassis and the sedan deliveries of the 1930s weren’t made as family haulers (though the truck-based Dodge woodie wagons of the middle 1930s seem to […] April 11, 2022 at 01:26AM

One thing I’ve learned, after documenting more than 2,200 crusher-bound vehicles since 2007, is that most 1946-1975 Detroit sedans aren’t considered worth saving once they get a little battered. Coupes and convertibles are another story … unless you’re talking about a coupe that became a convertible — or, in this case, a roadster — in […] March 20, 2022 at 06:45AM

When Honda introduced the Acura brand to North America for the 1986 model year, there were just two models we could buy here: the Legend luxury sedan (developed in partnership with Rover and sibling to the Sterling 825) and the Civic-based Integra. Most Integras we’ve seen on the street for the last couple of decades […] February 13, 2022 at 06:05AM

The Lincoln Designer Series was introduced in 1976, at the end of the imposing Mark IV Continental generation. Four big-name fashion designers of the era – all-American country clubber Bill Blass, psychedelic Italian pattern-maestro Emilio Pucci, venerable French jewelry-maker Cartier, and à la mode French fashionista Hubert de Givenchy – were asked to slather their […] February 07, 2022 at 07:01AM

Fifteen years ago, I wrote my first-ever automotive article under the name Murilee Martin, and it didn’t take me long to start writing about one of my favorite automotive subjects: the junkyard. Before I’d refined my system for documenting discarded vehicles, however, I shot a lot of boneyard photos that never got used. For today’s […] February 07, 2022 at 06:45AM

American car shoppers looking for a full-sized hardtop coupe in 1962 couldn’t go wrong with the offerings from The General. Chevrolet would sell you a snazzy new Bel Air sport coupe for just $2,561 (about $23,800 today), but those Joneses next door wouldn’t have felt properly shamed if you put a new proletariat-grade Chevy in […] January 30, 2022 at 06:41AM

Imagine you’re an American Mercedes-Benz salesman during the winter of 1989-1990, looking over your inventory of majestic W126-chassis 560 SELs… and then you glance across the street at that brand-new Lexus dealership and flinch at the sight of your rivals gloating over a lot full of futuristic-looking big luxury sedans priced at less than half […] January 16, 2022 at 06:10AM

American Motors began selling cars that could be driven in four-wheel-drive all the time (even on dry pavement) in the 1980 model year, and Audi followed up with the Quattro system during the following year. Those cars had true all-wheel-drive powertrains (the AWD term didn’t come into widespread use until much later), but Toyota didn’t […] January 10, 2022 at 06:20AM

Filed under: Dodge,Automotive History,Hatchback,Classics Continue reading Junkyard Gem: 1988 Dodge Omni America Junkyard Gem: 1988 Dodge Omni America originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 2 Jan 2022 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Email this |  Comments January 03, 2022 at 06:58AM

The very first water-cooled Volkswagen sold in the United States, after a quarter-century of exclusively air-cooled vehicles shipped over from Wolfsburg, was the 1974 Dasher (the Rabbit aka Golf didn’t show up here until the 1975 model year). Known as the Passat elsewhere in the world and sibling to the Audi Fox aka 80 (not […] November 07, 2021 at 10:30PM

When The General’s Buick Division axed the LeSabre and Park Avenue names in 2005 (after 46 and 30 years, respectively, though the Park Avenue returned a few years later in China), the replacement top-of-the-line Buick sedan became the new Lucerne. It wasn’t the Buick with the biggest price tag that year— those honors went to […] October 31, 2021 at 06:43AM

The designer of the groundbreaking 1974 Lamborghini Countach, Marcello Gandini, has issued a remarkable statement to the press regarding the recently released Countach LPI 800-4. In it, he repeatedly affirms that he had nothing to do with the revived Countach that Lamborghini revealed at Monterey Car Week on the occasion of the model’s 50th anniversary. […] October 27, 2021 at 06:22AM

While I find plenty of 1950s Detroit cars in quick-inventory-turnover self-service wrecking yards during my travels, they tend to be the ordinary post sedans that were built by the millions during the heyday of the three-on-the-tree manual transmission and nuclear-attack symbols on car radios. The more sought-after convertibles, coupes, and four-door hardtops are tougher to […] October 24, 2021 at 06:44AM

Toyota finally killed off the Lexus GS last year, after nearly 20 years of earning respect but not nearly as many yen as the Toyota City overlords had hoped. American car buyers came to prefer truck-shaped machinery during the production life of the GS, and those who wanted sedans didn’t see the advantages of the […] October 17, 2021 at 06:12AM

Lots of Americans love the idea of owning a pickup truck, especially a large model like the Toyota Tundra, but don’t really want to be stuck driving one on an everyday basis. The plus and minus columns are familiar to just about everyone. Unmatched usefulness, stout powertrains and the ability to tow and haul large […] October 14, 2021 at 06:15AM

During the 1970s and into the 1980s, each member of the Detroit Big Three imported Japanese small pickups and sold them with Ford (Mazda Proceed), Dodge/Plymouth (Mitsubishi Forte), or Chevrolet (Isuzu Faster) badges here. Ford developed the Ranger and killed the Courier for 1983 (though Americans could still buy the Mazda-badged version all the way […] October 10, 2021 at 06:49AM