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As countries develop, they all seem to go through similar stages. These stages may take progress quicker or slower, depending on the country and/or culture, but they all tend to follow a similar pattern. And part of this development encompasses their automotive industry...

Rome is a fabulous city, most of all for its ability to blend the old with the new. Watching all these spiffy new car models that we never see in the USA, zooming around the Colosseum, is a perfect example. And unlike gladiators of old, Rome drivers generally aren't out to kill you...

Saw a Metro the other day. Battered, smoking, gasping its last few sips of gasoline prior to a cruel and impersonal demise on the shoulder of a freeway. And it got me thinking...

Before the "Who Killed the Electric Car?" conspiracy theory, and even before  "The Carburetor That Got 100 MPG Was Bought Up by GM" conspiracy, there was the Tucker Conspiracy.  This particular version of sinister forces working against the lily-white hero manifests itself as a theory that Preston Tucker was put out of business because his car was so revolutionary that Detroit was threatened by it. Nice theory but as one of the rare few privileged to have driven a real TUCKER, I have to tell you that this car was no threat to the Big Three. Oh, make no mistake, a very INTERESTING car indeed, and one that performed well...

When the Big Three automakers first began to stumble and fall in the 1970s, various reasons were put forth for the malady; their cars were too big, too gas hungry, build quality was poor. In the 1980s, the criticism became more shrill. There were even whispers of dark forces at work: could we be seeing some kind of unorganized but highly effective economic boycott of American cars by American consumers?..

When I was a kid, most families had a station wagon. It was the symbol of family-mindedness. In the days before widespread use (and laws to enforce it) of child safety seats, having a station wagon told people that you had children...

On one automotive forum that I frequent, there is a discussion of which car brands should be the next to leave the US market. Poster after poster lists their choices and the reasons why they believe each should no longer sell their wares in the US. Most of the opinions are based on biases formed from personal experiences with these brands…some of which are quite out-dated...

The September issue of Car and Driver arrived the other day and one particular road test gave me a flashback. I’ve been working in and around the automotive industry for a number of years and it always amazes me that there is such a wide variety of abilities in the people who are supposed to be the face to the public and the media. There are people who you will go out of your way to see at every event and there are people you will avoid as if your life (and more importantly, your sanity) depended on it...

Growing up, I was always into cars. When I was not quite three years old, I could name cars from their headlights or taillights as they passed my parents car at night. I was dragging my parents to the car dealerships every September and October until I was old enough to drive there myself...