Hemmings Motor News March 2022

The headline in my local newspaper announced that there are “5 ‘must-have’ features on new cars.” Well, no kidding, I thought, everybody knows that: 1) Things That Move the Car; 2) Things That Stop the Car; 3) Things on Which the Car Moves; 4) Things with Which to Control the Car; and 5) Things to Sit On. Everything else? Optional. Glass? Nice to look through, a pain to clean the inside of, but unnecessary given the many cool goggles available these days. Climate control? Sure, if you’re worried about the wind blowing your man bun loose or maybe some harmless, superficial frostbite. Otherwise, a nicety. Turn and stop lights? There are so many useful hand signals available to drivers, yet most people limit themselves to two: an extended middle finger,…

“The smell of friction material in the air was rather thick.” In the march of automotive technology that includes the likes of electronic fuel injection, in-dash navigation, and the Fiat 500 perfume diffuser, there are sometimes unsung advancements we don’t ever see and rarely think about. Tires immediately come to mind. The sidewalls are skinnier than ever, and they’re still black and round and make lots of smoke when properly abused, but the engineers in Akron, Clermont-Ferrond, and elsewhere have been hard at work, making improvements in materials and construction that are invisible to us. Blowouts and flat tires are all but a thing of the past. It’s the “all but” that brings me to my latest automotive experience worth sharing. On a recent trip to Mexico to visit family, we had a blowout.…

My uncle, Maurice Askew, is a subscriber to Hemmings and he owned a GM B-body 1996 Chevrolet Caprice Classic sedan. It’s next to impossible to find interior parts for any 1991-’96 Roadmaster, Caprice, Impala SS, Fleetwood Brougham, and Olds Custom Cruiser wagon. He went on the internet and searched custom shops and salvage yards. They even used their connections, without success. Thanks for keeping the good memories of real GM products that were dependable and lasted. Apollonia Askew Via email Imagine my delight when I got to page 40 of the January 2022 Hemmings to find a feature on the 1974 Buick Apollo GSX. In 1974, my parents were looking to supplement our aging ’65 Buick Special, which was destined to be the car I drove to college. We looked at cars at several dealerships…

Al Unser, Indy legend, dies at 82 Al Unser Sr., the oldest surviving member of a Rocky Mountain racing dynasty that boldly wrote Indianapolis 500 history across six decades, including his four triumphs in the world’s most prestigious automobile race, died December 9 at his home in Chama, New Mexico, following a long struggle with cancer. He was 82. The elder Al Unser’s quartet of wins at Indianapolis afforded him membership in one of global motorsport’s most exclusive fraternities, joining A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, and most recently, Helio Castroneves as four-time champions of the 500-mile race. Unser was the second driver to reach the four-win mark, doing it in folklore fashion by capturing the 1987 running: Unser came to the Brickyard that year without a ride, and inherited a Team Penske seat…

When discussing domestic prewar luxury cars, it’s often Packard, Peerless, and Pierce-Arrow that receive immediate, albeit well-deserved, recognition. But as early as 1905, another manufacturer that should be included within such a conversation is Cadillac. Consider that ’05 was the year in which the Leland and Faulconer Manufacturing Company and the Cadillac Automobile Company were fully consolidated into the Cadillac Motor Car Company. During that process, Henry Leland was selected as Cadillac’s general manager. Simultaneously, Cadillac added four new models and a four-cylinder engine, along with new styling and other mechanical refinements. It was a gamble that wouldn’t pay immediate dividends, and it didn’t mean that Cadillac was ready to abandon its one-cylinder origins. That engine remained an intricate part of 1905 sales within the Model B, E, and F…

The Ambassador nameplate lived in continuous production through three different marques, outliving two: Nash, from 1927-57; Rambler, from 1958-1965; and then AMC, from 1966 through the model’s end in 1974. For this story, we are looking at the last decade of Ambassador production, regardless of which company built it. During this time period, the Ambassador was pitched against the Big Three’s standard-size models: Chevrolet Bel Air and Impala, Ford Custom 500 and Galaxie, and Plymouth Fury, despite sharing the midsize Rambler Classic’s (and later, Matador’s) cabin dimensions. A 1963 redesign saw the Ambassador based on the new Classic unit-body, with a longer nose to give it a more majestic 116-inch wheelbase. New styling for 1965 (as seen on our photo example) offered stacked lights, a side grille, and clean flanks. The style…