Excerpts taken from world famous ‘Hemmings Auto Blog’
Under new ownership and reeling from a decline in the snowmobile market, Rupp Manufacturing needed a home-run product to reverse its fortunes in 1974. Its roll-of-the-dice gamble was the Centaur, a trike designed to deliver the fun of a motorcycle with the practicality of an economy car. The Centaur failed Read more
By William Hall. Photos by author and Derek Klein. Remember when Dorothy laid down in the poppy field, and later awoke to find herself home? Grey tones were gone, and the screen was awash in color. Magic was the rule, and the road was paved with golden bricks. Welcome to Read more
By William Hall. Photos by the author and Derek Klein. Long before I owned a Ferrari, raced a Mustang, or restored a Triumph, I was a Pontiac man. My first car was a 1970 LeMans Sport, which unfortunately suffered all the indignities that go with the teenage hot-rod bug: jacked Read more
At first blush, it may look as though every view of Barre in yesterday’s and today’s carspotting posts, which all came from the Vermont Landscape Change photo archive, depicts a different town, but twirl around the Google Street View of downtown Barre and you’ll see that, indeed, all of these Read more
What’s kept this six cylinder-powered 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu two-door hardtop for sale on Hemmings.com from already succumbing to somebody’s desire to plant a V-8 under the hood? The largely original and well-kept condition might be a factor, but then again, hot rodders like to start with the best possible Read more
Laguna Seca USRRC, 1965. Ken Miles (#98), Ed Leslie (#96), and Bob Johnson (#97) in their Shelby American Cobras lead at the start. Photo courtesy Ford Motor Company. In 1962, the SCCA launched its first racing series aimed at professional drivers, the U.S. Road Racing Championship (USRRC). Though the USRRC Read more
1965 Plymouth Barracuda. Photo by the author. Speaking of the 273-cu.in. Mopar small-block V-8 that I recently wrote about, here’s a noteworthy car that has one. More significantly, this 1965 Plymouth Barracuda proves that there are plenty of affordable American cars from the ’60s available for those who think different. Read more
1910 Royal Pioneer. Photos courtesy Bonhams Auctions. In addition to the 25th-annual Mecum MidAmerica Motorcycle Auction taking place in early January, collectors of vintage two-wheeled iron will be treated to a second sale, run by Bonhams and scheduled to occur on the same weekend in the same city. Both have Read more
John Surtees at Goodwood in 2011. Photos courtesy Daimler AG. In an era when versatility defined racing’s best drivers, perhaps none was a proficient at multitasking than John Surtees. From 1956 through 1966, Surtees amassed seven FIM motorcycle championships, including four in the 500cc class, equivalent to today’s Moto GP; Read more
Ready for a little bit of carspotting overload? We stumbled on a set of photos from downtown Barre, all dated June 1974, all of the downtown park square area, all featuring plenty of traffic, in the Vermont Landscape Change photo archives, and rather than dole them out over time, we’re Read more