Apr 2023 – Driven To Write

Grace Note

City, Jazz or Fit? How about Grace?

Like many English language words, Grace carries multiple meanings. Given the Japanese carmakers’ often approximate relationship with what must be for them, a veritable minefield of misappropriation and malapropism, it’s somewhat unclear exactly what, if any meaning Honda’s product strategists intended by so naming its B-segment sedan^[1].

The Honda Grace is a car I had never heard of, let alone encountered until a couple of days ago, when confronted by an example nestled somewhat appropriately perhaps, in the car park of the local Catholic church^[2]. After all, one takes one’s blessings where one can in this vale of tears. I must say that I was rather taken by its appearance, but despite having long put all religious observance behind me, I still felt slightly reticent about entering church grounds to Continue reading “Grace Note”

2015 Renault Clio Sports Tourer dCi Road Test

The Clio’s more useful, better looking brother.

2015 Renault Clio dCi in the DTW garage.

_{Editor’s note: This piece was first published on Driven to Write in April 2015.}

I have a bit of a soft spot for small estate cars. DTW has tested the popular Renault Clio ‘Sports Tourer’ dCI which is a small estate car. What was revealed in the course of 361 kilometres?

The Clio has proved to be a successful entrant in the small car market and the estate version is as numerous (to judge by its ubiquity) as the ‘standard’ five door body. Is there a difference? Yes, one you can measure and feel. The estate’s maximum boot volume is 439 litres compared to the 300 litres of the normal car. Both models have the same wheelbase. With the rear seats folded down, the volume rises from 1038 litres of the standard car to 1277 litres in the ‘sports tourer’ or station wagon. You can see why people Continue reading “2015 Renault Clio Sports Tourer dCi Road Test”

Get up! The Sun Rises For Everybody.

The SpaceWagon is not all that renowned but this particular example might claim to be almost famous (at least in our circle).

DTW saw this particular car in Copenhagen at the very end of May. Since it exuded an intriguing banality, I decided would be a good idea to photograph it for an article. Much to my surprise I found the very same car featured in Curbside Classic on April 6, 2023. You can Continue reading “Get up! The Sun Rises For Everybody.”

Some Misunderstanding

Clio via Sochaux?

If the seminal Renault 4 can lay claim to being the most popular Renault model ever^[1] — and France’s best selling car of all time — Boulogne-Billancourt’s evergreen Clio can equally be considered the French Republic’s best-selling nameplate, with over 16 million built and sold since the model line’s inception in 1990. And not just in its home country either, the Clio has proven a resounding sales success right across Europe.

This level of sales significance, while not in the Toyota Corolla or Volkswagen Golf scale, is still mightily impressive. But whereas one can Continue reading “Some Misunderstanding”

The Bucket Seats, 82nd Variety

Bellicose bug.

The Volkswagen Beetle was never intentionally designed with conflict in mind, but that didn’t stop the military taking an interest. Early 1938 saw the bellicose German Chancellor commission Ferdinand Porsche to produce a Beetle for the battlefield, with results appearing within a month. Given the Type 62 moniker^[1], this version was essentially a Beetle chassis with rudimentary body, along with 19” wheels for improved ground clearance.

The German army stipulated a vehicle weighing no more than 950 Kg, laden with four infantrymen. Unladen, the vehicle was required to weigh 550 Kg and with its practically flat floor was intended to slide easily over almost any surface. Porsche sub-contracted the bodywork to Trutz, a long established coachbuilder, based in Coburg.

These hastily prepared vehicles were pressed into action with creditable results but such urgency soon exposed the inevitable shortcomings — the most serious being of all things, too much speed. Seen as a ubiquitous support vehicle, devoid of armour or weapons, the four speed manual Type 62 was deemed too fast for supporting infantry. Porsche returned to the workshop to Continue reading “The Bucket Seats, 82nd Variety”

Luxury Problem

Choices, choices…

It was not realised by many, except perhaps for the senior management of the troubled Packard company itself, but the 1956 model year would turn out to be the last that a customer looking for a large American luxury car could still choose between all four domestic manufacturers that traditionally served this field⁽¹⁾. Using illustrations from period brochures, we examine the models offered by Lincoln, Packard, Cadillac and Imperial for 1956.

1955 had been a record-breaking year for the domestic US car industry. The forced austerity and hardships of World War Two and the immediate post-war period were, thankfully, increasingly distant if still unpleasant memories. 1956 also proved to be a good year for the car manufacturers, although not quite as stellar in terms of sales numbers as the previous year and, within a year, the country’s economy would be suffering a recession. For the time being, however, things were just fine and putting a lavishly equipped, fast and confidently styled luxury car on their driveway was the ultimate ambition of just about every American driver. Continue reading “Luxury Problem”

Dante’s Peak (Part One)

Remembering a highly successful car from a company that was once an automotive giant.

It is generally acknowledged that the honour of producing the first true mass-market⁽¹⁾ European B-segment supermini is most equitably shared between Fiat and Renault. While the Fiat 127 was unveiled first, in April 1971, it did not initially feature that essential ingredient, an opening tailgate, but instead had a conventional boot lid and fixed rear windscreen⁽²⁾. The three-door Renault 5 followed in December of that same year, but its front-wheel-drive mechanical layout, featuring a longitudinally mounted engine with gearbox sited out in front⁽³⁾, would not be adopted by any other supermini and, when the second-generation Renault 5 arrived in 1984, it featured what had by then become the supermini norm, a transverse engine with end-on gearbox.

Today, however, we are recalling a Fiat that predated the 127, but featured the same mechanical layout, the 1969 Fiat 128. Continue reading “Dante’s Peak (Part One)”

Past Perfect

A false dawn from 2003.

_{Editor’s note: The original version of this piece appeared on DTW in February 2016. Today’s version reflects a re-evaluation of the 2003 concept.}

Over the four decades FIAT Auto was in control, it had been possible to obtain an insight to the health of the parent company’s fortunes by how much development resource was drip-fed towards their habitually impoverished Lancia division. In the early years of the new millennium, despite being heavily indebted and messily extracting itself from an abortive association with General Motors, FIAT seemed primed to Continue reading “Past Perfect”

Facelifts – Loewy’s 1953 Studebaker

You can’t polish a turd, but can you sully a diamond?

1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner. Image: carstyling

_{Editor’s note: This piece was first published in July 2014 as part of DTW’s facelift theme.}

Once, whilst Europe was happy to go on producing the same identical model year after year until the dies got too worn out to function, the United States car manufacturers doggedly changed models every three years, with a facelift every year in between. Thus, any reasonable US car spotter will be able to identify the exact year of a Ford Thunderbird, first by the shape, then by the radiator trim or the rear lamps. Any domestic manufacturer who didn’t Continue reading “Facelifts – Loewy’s 1953 Studebaker”

I Say We All Sit Down and Discuss This, Shall We?

Here’s a taste of the late Clinton years and most of the Bush Junior years, the 1997-2007 Buick Park Avenue.

1997-2005 Buick Park Avenue, Savannah, Georgia.

I have to say I jumped a small jump of joy when I sighted this car last autumn on a short sojourn in Savannah, Georgia. The lighting is terrible but this was one of very few older Buicks I saw during my stay and I had to document it and, indeed, risk my health and well-being by deciding to Continue reading “I Say We All Sit Down and Discuss This, Shall We?”

Sensitive Initial Conditions

Entry-level, Gothenburg style.

The opportunity was there for the taking. With Nimrod (my Volvo S90) in for his annual service, the weather dry and bright and only myself to fall out with, I wandered from Service Desk to Sales Area with some trepidation. There is always that certain feeling of unease when handing over the key — butterflies regarding the dreaded phone call, ‘nothing to worry about, Mr Miles, but… Continue reading “Sensitive Initial Conditions”

Promised You A Miracle

An Easter treat from Lancia.

Faith: (n) “A strong or unshakable belief in something, especially without proof or evidence”.

For the true believer, faith represents certainty, a confidence which strengthens and sustains through strife and adversity. Closely aligned with hope, in the absence of either quality, the penitent would find it almost impossible to abide.

It is also a word closely associated with the house of Lancia, for to be a Lancista is truly to believe. For observants, fealty to the historic and storied nameplate has carried with it an element of blind faith — a certainty that in the face of all known logic, not to mention the testimony of their own eyes, that somehow, the Turin-based carmaker would return from its latter-day revenant state to life and to light. Hope, on the other hand, has been in considerably shorter supply.

When it was announced in 2021 that Stellantis, under the stewardship of Carlos Tavares was prepared to Continue reading “Promised You A Miracle”

Four Wheeled Jet Set

It was not just tailfins.

From the moment he stood upright for the first time, man harboured the desire to fly. It would take thousands of years before that dream would become a reality and, even then, with the likes of Freddie Laker, ValuJet, Ryanair, Easyjet and such still a few decades away, one reserved only for the very well-heeled. And then there was, of course, the exploration of space, an endeavour to be entrusted only to a select group of national heroes, but nevertheless food for the pride, ambitions and dreams of entire nations.

In post-war America⁽¹⁾, not everybody could afford to board an airplane, but a rapidly expanding section of the population was able to buy a car. Then perhaps more than nowadays, the car meant freedom and opening up new horizons. It was also a means to express one’s dreams and ambitions, even if those ambitions reached further than anywhere four wheels could take you. If you were as yet unable to Continue reading “Four Wheeled Jet Set”

Unbranded Steers (Part Two)

Continuing our exploration of Ford’s many and varied Maverick badged models.

After a compact saloon for the Americas and a rebadged Nissan Patrol for Australia, to what would Ford next apply the versatile Maverick badge?

Ford Maverick, 1993 to 1999:

Ford’s third model to carry the Maverick name was, like the second, a rebadged Nissan, albeit from Spain rather than Japan this time. The Nissan Terrano II was a compact SUV for the European market⁽¹⁾ manufactured by Nissan Motor Ibérica S.A. It was also supplied in very lightly modified form to Ford of Europe, who sold it as the Maverick.

Following the highly successful launch of the Land-Rover Discovery in 1989, Ford observed the growing popularity of SUVs in Europe but had nothing to Continue reading “Unbranded Steers (Part Two)”

Benz Buster

The keys to the executive lounge are hard-won. Sometimes you’ve got to force your way in.

_{Editor’s note: This article was first published on DTW in November 2016.}

The 1986 E32 BMW 7-Series may not have been as polarising a styling statement as its E65 descendant, but if anything, it was to prove a more significant car. Bayerische Motoren Werke’s “Here’s Johnny” moment; it represented a point where BMW took a metaphorical axe to the boardroom door and gave their Swabian rivals the fright of their lives. Its style also inspired an entire generation of BMW saloons, introducing the distinctive (and patented) L-shaped tail-lamp motif.

Up to that point, BMW’s success had pivoted around more compact offerings, their upscale models proving a more difficult sell against the eternal benchmark Sindelfingen flagship. The 1977 (E23) 7-Series marked the Bavarian carmaker’s first serious attempt to Continue reading “Benz Buster”

Alternative Paths In An Unpredictable Industry

DTW Considers The Alternative German Big Three

Image: storm.oldcarmanualproject

_{Editor’s note. This piece was originally published on DTW in May 2015.}

At the end of the 1950s, there was a sizeable group of home-owned players in the German industry, but we shall concentrate initially on three of them — Borgward, NSU and Glas. Only the first few paragraphs of this piece are fact, the rest is entirely speculation as to how things could have worked out quite differently, yet might have ended up much the same.

Borgward had been making cars since the 1920s. They were fast to restart manufacture after the War, being the first German company to put an all new car into production, the Hansa 1500. This was replaced in 1954 by the mid-sized Isabella and that was joined in 1959 by both the larger six-cylinder P100 and the smaller Arabella, featuring a flat 4 boxer that Subaru is believed to have used as a reference point when developing their own engine.

Having a decent and attractive range, with innovative yet sensible specifications, Borgward’s pricing was keen, undercutting similar Mercedes models. The only problems were a reputation for introducing under-developed cars too early and, crucially, Carl Borgward’s attitude that the best way to Continue reading “Alternative Paths In An Unpredictable Industry”

Motoring Week: A week of motoring by Archie Vicar

In what seems to be a verbatim transcript of a period article, renowned motoring correspondent, Archie Vicar, provides a summary of his motoring week in late 1958.

_{Note: The article appeared in the Liverpool Evening Express, a newspaper based in Liverpool, England, November 2nd, 1958. Due to the lack of accompanying photographs, stock images have been used. Paper damage of the source means the transcript is incomplete.}

The Fifteen-Sixty motor car is manufactured by the great English marque, Wolseley. In recent weeks it has been my task to assess this fine motor car’s merits in the course of extended driving duties. To that particular end I have driven the Fifteen-Sixty to my appointments around England, reported here. Regular readers may be cognizant of the fact that the Fifteen-Sixty is a recent addition to the Wolseley range and it stands at a shade over 59 inches high. To effect the forward propulsion of the car, Wolseley Continue reading “Motoring Week: A week of motoring by Archie Vicar”

The Empty Handed Traveler Whistles His Way Past the Highwayman

Meaningless Retail Prices…

Money, the great intractable without which sees few cars sold. DTW is no financial advice institution; we’re more concerned with aspects of vehicle design and culture, but nevertheless understand the need and use of filthy lucre. Which is the jumping off point for today’s peregrinations, where I attempt to Continue reading “The Empty Handed Traveler Whistles His Way Past the Highwayman”

Where Are We Now?

BMW’s reinvented flagship: Approach with care.

It’s a noisy world out there. Making oneself heard amid all the sturm und drang has become increasingly problematic, especially when the message from the disruptors, the futurists is that you represent the old guard, offer yesterday’s solution. Back in your box, grandad.

What are commonly derided as legacy carmakers — or in other words, those who have been in business for longer than a half-century^[1] are facing several crises at once — and while not yet existential, the crisis of relevance they are facing now is exercising the occupants of legacy boardrooms from Sochaux to Sindelfingen, from Michigan to Milbertshofen as much as anything more pressing. After all, how do you counter those voices that claim the future, when not only your product portfolio, but your entire business model is rooted in the past?

These are thorny issues, and for now, they are problems which no legacy carmaker has successfully addressed. But that does not mean that they are sitting on their hands. Hence today, we journey to Hamburg to Continue reading “Where Are We Now?”

Book of the Dead – Glas

Memento Mori.

In well over a century since the birth of the automotive industry, many scores of automobile manufacturers have been established, with just a tiny minority of them ultimately surviving to the present day. This series aims to provide compact accounts of a selection of nameplates that have fallen by the wayside, starting with Glas. This is the story of how overambition fatally undermined a healthy company in the space of little more than a decade. Continue reading “Book of the Dead – Glas”

Unbranded Steers (Part One)

Think you know the Ford Maverick? Think again.

The Ford Motor Company has historically been expert at extracting maximum utility from its engineering, often repackaging old (and sometimes outdated) mechanical components into shiny new bodywork and cheekily presenting the result as ‘all-new’. The vehicles engineered in this manner might have been far from the cutting edge of automotive innovation, but owners were generally satisfied to trade novelty and sophistication for reliability and cheap running costs, and the company’s bottom-line benefited accordingly.

Ford has also been adept at recycling its model names, often for vehicles far removed from the original. The current Puma crossover bears little relationship to its Fiesta-based coupé predecessor, at least in market positioning terms, while the recycling of the iconic Mustang name as a sub-brand for a mid-sized EV crossover has caused no little disquiet amongst fans of the original.

Another name borrowed from the animal kingdom that has served many and varied uses within the Ford empire is Maverick⁽¹⁾, although the majority of models to bear this name were not Fords at all, but rebadged products from other manufacturers. Today we throw open the farmyard gates to Continue reading “Unbranded Steers (Part One)”

Places: Oxford, Cambridge, Blenheim, Hereford, Somerset

And Westminster. Quite a list for those interested in cars named after UK destinations.

_{Editor’s note: On behalf of the editorial team, I’d like to wish all our readers a very happy Easter. This article first appeared on DTW in December 2016 as part of the ‘Places’ theme.}

They don’t do that anymore, do they? Yet the Americans are still happily driving around in their Aspens, Tahoes, Malibus and Colorados. Seat, to my knowledge still sell an Ibiza, Ateca and Leon. The French and Germans are less willing to use their place names for their products^[1], are they not?

The case of the United Kingdom is curious. The French and Germans never really went in for celebrating their lovely towns: Bamberg, Bordeaux, Aix-en-Provence, Miltenberg, say. The Spanish are still doing it. The British did and gave up. That change makes it an interesting case. What has happened to the British (I am not British, by the way) to make them Continue reading “Places: Oxford, Cambridge, Blenheim, Hereford, Somerset”

Road Test Retrospective : 1959 Wolseley 15/60

The Farina-bodied BMC saloons would become ubiquitous Sixties fare. We examine an early verdict, courtesy of The Autocar.

_{Editor’s note: This piece was first published on DTW in January 2019.}

The very first of a new generation of Pininfarina-bodied medium saloons from BMC, Wolseley’s 15/60 model was introduced in December 1958 before going on sale in early 1959. This new series would take BMC’s multi-marque strategy to previously unheard of heights (some might choose to invert that statement), with a succession of models quickly following, all sharing identical bodyshells and technical specifications, apart from minor changes to engine tune and detail styling. Widely derided as ‘badge-engineering’, it proved a commercial success for BMC, but one which ultimately came with considerable reputational cost.

The Autocar published its first road test of the 15/60 on 13 March 1959. The test car retailed at £991.7s, including purchase tax. Not (then) noted for sensationalism, The Autocar writer’s style was drier than a chilled glass of Gordon’s gin (other brands are available), but with a little gentle sifting one can Continue reading “Road Test Retrospective : 1959 Wolseley 15/60”

Like the Light Touch of a Spanish Festoon’s Wingtips On Your Cheek

Every four years Toyota has a go at doing a new version of a really exceptional large saloon and tries to make it better every time. From whence might this drive for revision emerge?

1995-1999 Toyota Crown Super Saloon (S150) in Hong Kong (2022).

The curious aspect of this unending drive to produce a really good, straightforward car is that the results can be deceptively plain. I had to Continue reading “Like the Light Touch of a Spanish Festoon’s Wingtips On Your Cheek”

Espace – The Final Frontier

Salut Grand-Austral, adieu Espace.

Established and trusted brand names are too valuable to be taken lightly or bandied about carelessly. Were this not so, why would businesses spend €millions dreaming up suitable examples, before market-testing them across global audiences, then expending years nurturing, marketing and developing them? Has Groupe Renault somehow missed a memo?

For decades now, Espace meant only one thing to those of an automotive bent. A large French monospace MPV — for many European motorists (and their passengers), the original (and best) of the species. Renault, as much by good fortune as outright bravery, got to market first with a product which would prove so utterly definitive that no other carmaker could Continue reading “Espace – The Final Frontier”

Heaven 17

Commutable conundrums.

The author’s Volvo S90, aka Nimrod. Author’s image.

I used to enjoy driving. Manual gearboxes, open roads, the process of learning routes, freedom. These days most of my driving consists of commuting. This boils down to hoping the traffic light Gods remain green, that the pedestrian doesn’t ‘chance it’ or that we can make the next junction. Apex-carving or rewarding it’s not. Driving has become a chore but at least Nimrod, my Volvo S90 offers luxurious seats, excellent sound quality and the bonus of automatic everything. Steering involves the fingertips, the occasional furious (in more than one sense) braking manoeuvre and often futile attempts to Continue reading “Heaven 17”

Il Secondo

More lessons in Italian.

The Bel Paese has been described as the only workshop in the world that can turn out both Botticellis and Berlusconis. Likewise, Italy’s automotive track record is marked by both triumphs and tragedies. Between these two extremes lies a wide, fertile area in which little known curiosities can be found, a selection of which we feature today. Continue reading “Il Secondo”

Cobh Rambler: Wolseley 16/60

A properly old car is a rare sight in Ireland these days.

It has been about five months since my partner and I moved from Suffolk, England, to the town of Cobh on the south coast of Ireland. While Cobh is only a few miles⁽¹⁾ to the east of Cork city, it retains very much its own identity thanks to its location on Great Island, which is linked to the mainland by just a single road and rail line (and a ferry) . It is a delightful place and we are very much enjoying our new home and surroundings.

For me, our relocation marked a return to my native country after almost forty years living in the UK. While away, I observed the extraordinary changes in Ireland, both economic and social, and have taken great pride in the advances the country has made, in particular its recovery since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, when the country was brought low by the grossly irresponsible behaviour of a small number of bankers and property speculators. After a tough few years, Ireland resumed its impressive growth and is once again a prosperous and successful country. Continue reading “Cobh Rambler: Wolseley 16/60”

Plan B

A concept with a backstory.

_{Editor’s note: Owing to a mix-up on the chronology of the Car magazine article, the text has been altered to reflect the correct date.}

It is hardly an unusual occurrence for a design concept to begin life as one thing before emerging some time later as something else — such after all is the speculative nature of freelance car design. This was certainly the case at the height of the design-consultancy era, when proposals would often undergo significant change to accommodate altered realities.

In 1974, the Italian house of Coggiola displayed a pretty concept coupé proposal at the Paris motor show. Dubbed Sylvia, the car was shown by Opel — intended it is said as a proposed replacement for the existing 1900 GT — it made a couple of appearances (also at Turin, later that year) before disappearing, like most such concepts into obscurity.

Although ostensibly a Coggiola design, the concept was in fact designed by British stylist, Trevor Fiore^[1], who had by then made a name for himself with work for, amongst others, Fissore, Bond, TVR and Trident. A tidy, well composed shape, while the Sylvia might appear a little on the anodyne side to modern eyes, it was by contemporary standards, rather modish. Russelsheim clearly didn’t Continue reading “Plan B”

Ode to Joy

Mad niche car or CUV pathfinder?

_{Editor’s note: One of DTW’s founding aims has been to spread a little more joy to the world, so to this end, we offer this re-run of a June 2019 article on the HR-V.}

Had we known just how the mainstream motor vehicle would evolve, we might have paid a little more attention to the announcement of Honda’s HR-V, twenty years ago. As it was however, the automotive press were content to file it along with all the other amusing, but lightweight offerings from the more whimsical end of the Japanese automotive juggernaut.

The HR-V, which allegedly stood for High Rider Vehicle was previewed in conceptual form at the 1998 Geneva motor show as the even more memorably-coined J-WJ^[1], where the positive reception was said at the time to have stiffened Honda’s resolve to Continue reading “Ode to Joy”