Purple Nickey Nouse Scarab a slick winner ... A few years back at Road America, the Midwest’s finest road racing facility, I ran into racer Augie Pabst and his beautiful metallic blue Scarab Mk. II racer. Pabst, an heir to the brewing fortune, had been a succesful sports car racer in the late 1950s and... Continue Reading →
2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited Ultimate AWD
New Santa Fe a luxury sleigh ride ... Leading up to Christmas I spent a week luxuriating in Santa’s sleigh. Say what? It was Hyundai’s Santa Fe? Well then, never mind! Yet then again Hyundai’s mid-size SUV is certainly big enough to haul a lot of goodies to good girls and boys all over southeast... Continue Reading →
Die-cast: CMC’s 1954-55 Lancia D50
CMC’s latest F1 car a stunning Lancia D50 ... Lancia was a late-comer to Formula 1 racing after World War II, but it had the genius of engineer Vitorrio Jano as its secret weapon. He had created the successful Alfa Romeo 8C pre-war. So in late 1954 Lancia’s beautiful and unusual D50 joined the F1... Continue Reading →
2018 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD Inscription
Volvo XC60 a sweet ride - fun, luxurious, nimble ... Sometimes the hardest reviews to write are those for vehicles I’ve really enjoyed, the ones that stand out among the 50+ vehicles I test in a year. This week’s tester, the Volvo XC60 with the Inscription package shouldn’t be hard to ladle syrupy praise on.... Continue Reading →
2018 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport 2.4 SEL AWD
Outlander Sport still under the radar ...            Mitsubishi continues to fly under the radar among the Japanese car makers in the U.S., with just a few models and those don’t change often. But the Outlander Sport has been one of its success stories, as it spun off from the larger Outlander SUV a few... Continue Reading →
2018 Hyundai Sonata Limited 2.0T
Hyundai's Sonata just keeps getting better ... Hyundai’s Sonata is back on track to being a major challenger to the likes of Toyota’s Camry and others in the crowded mid-size sedan market. Hyundai’s last generation Sonata wasn’t nearly as attractive as its predecessor. This one is a sharp looker with a distinctive nose and improved... Continue Reading →
2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk
Jeep Trackhawk boasts 707 hp, too ... There is now a 707 horsepower Jeep. You read that right, and the first question most folks ask is, Why would Jeep do this? The answer: Because they can. There’s no reasonable or logical reason, except that Fiat/Chrysler, which is the overindulgent parent of Jeep and Dodge, has... Continue Reading →
2017 BMW X3 xDrive 35i
BMW X3 has the street cred, but what about style? ... This week’s drive begs the question of style and performance vs. reputation and performance. How so? The tested BMW X3 compact SUV is a direct competitor of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio I tested a week prior. Darn near the same dimensions, the Alfa is... Continue Reading →
2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio AWD
Beautiful Stelvio puts in the crossover fast lane ... Even if Italian beauty were only skin deep, maybe that would be enough when it comes to cars and crossovers. The new Stelvio, Alfa Romeo’s first crossover or SUV, whichever you wish to label it, is a beauty. Its face is unique in today’s bland auto... Continue Reading →
Die-cast: Whitebox’s Valiant Acapulco
1960s Valiant Acapulco a simple car, no matter the year ... We all have our first car stories, but in 1963 my dad brought home our first new car, at least in my lifetime. It was a white 1963 Plymouth Valiant convertible with black soft top and red vinyl interior and a push-button automatic transmission.... Continue Reading →