Looking for that perfect piece of Finnish automotive history? The famous Finn Jet art car is apparently for sale. And apparently, folks looking for info have been landing on this blog, because I posted photos last year. I wrote the whole story, too, for my e-newsletter, Wheel People. If you can’t buy the Finn Jet, [...]
Posts under ‘Fun’
The Almost Immortal Avanti
The Avanti’s story is as unique as the design that came out of Raymond Loewy’s studio in Palm Springs, Calif. nearly 50 years ago. Here are some tidbits: Celebrity Owners The Studebaker Avanti was a favorite with the rich and famous. Owners included Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Ricky Nelson, Rod Serling, Sandy Koufax and Dick [...]
One-Brand Man
The March issue of my Wheel People newsletter profiled an example of brand loyalty that any carmaker might envy. Here’s the story, including larger and additional photos. Mike Lotwis broke a 35-year streak last year when he purchased his company car, a Chevy Impala. Up until then, he had been a one-brand man, owning nine [...]
A Ferrari Painter’s Story
Author’s note: I met the artist Bob Mittenmaier last spring at a relative’s 90th birthday party. Years before that, the relative, my wife’s Uncle Joe, had told me about his friend “who does paintings of Ferraris.” Bob and I finally got to sit down for lunch in January this year. Just a couple of weeks [...]
Achtung, Trabant! Part 2
Three days after writing my last post, The New York Times published three articles on the Trabant by Towle Tomkins. Now, anyone can experience how just how badly the worst-of-the-worst commie cars drove. And it seems this horrid little car has a small fan base in the U.S. A Red Menace That You Can Drive [...]
Achtung, Trabant!
If you’re on my mailing list (lucky you!), you’ve probably seen my little marketing cards that use images of the Trabant. And it would be reasonable for you to ask, “Why?” Well, mainly, I use the Trabant as an attention getter. The Trabant, a product of East Germany’s centralized communist experiment, ranks among the worst [...]
Fireball
People ask me about a photo I use on my bio page and in some marketing materials. It’s me in my first car, a Fireball pedal car that I received for Christmas in 1967. My father and uncle assembled it on Christmas Eve, just in time for Santa to park it under the tree. Made [...]
