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From Small Things, Big Things One Day Come: The Nash Metropolitan and the...
Diminutive size, clown-car looks, and Fifties-style two-tone paint -- it could only be the Nash Metropolitan. Designed in Wisconsin and built in England, the Met was one of America's first subcompact...
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Supermini: The Autobianchi A112 Abarth
Many of our articles are inspired by the cars we spot in and around Los Angeles. Your author has encountered cars as diverse as a Bugatti Veyron, a Jaguar XJ12C, and a Fiat Multipla -- not at car shows...
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Everybody's Kid Brother: Chrysler's Compact Valiant
Advertised as "Nobody's Kid Brother," Chrysler's compact Valiant was originally intended to be its own marque. The story of how it became a Plymouth is a complicated one, going back to the origins of...
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Run Rabbit Run: The Volkswagen GTI and the Birth of the Hot Hatch
Introduced in 1976, Volkswagen's Golf GTI was not the first sporty family car, nor even the best, but it defined an entire genre of practical performance cars: the ever-popular hot...
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Ramble and Roll: The Compact Nash Rambler
Every ten years or so, the American market rediscovers the compact economy car. This "discovery" is inevitably treated as a revelation, as is the idea that a small car might not be a sluggardly...
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Falling Star: The Checkered History of the Chevrolet Vega
It sounded so promising at the time. After years of dismissing imported compacts as cars for kooks, GM was finally going to build an attractive, sophisticated subcompact, featuring the latest advances...
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Five by Five: The Renault 5 and the Mid-Engine Renault 5 Turbo
If you're an American over 30, you may have some hazy, not necessarily happy memories of Renault's "Le Car," sold here from 1976 through 1983. To Europeans, who will need little introduction, it was...
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Let Me Be Your Little Wheel: The Original BMC Mini
The BMC Mini is one of a tiny handful of vehicles that are truly iconic, immediately recognizable even by people who know nothing about cars. It's as enduring a symbol of sixties Britain as the Beatles...
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Jet Crash: Hudson's Compact Jet
When the Hudson Jet was first announced in 1952, company officials thought the compact sedan would be a renaissance for the venerable automaker. Today, many historians will tell you it was Hudson's...
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Rebel Yell: The Life and Death of the Chevrolet Corvair
There is no American automobile more controversial than this one. It's the car that launched the career of Ralph Nader, and it led directly to the passage of the first federal safety legislation....
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