It takes some guts to walk away from everything that made your car company great, but that’s what Volkswagen did in the early 1970s. The 1974 Rabbit (or Golf, depending on your continent) was the replacement for the antiquated air-cooled Beetle. The all-new A1 platform was a complete departure for […]
Author: Jeff Zurschmeide
Keith’s Blog: Jeff Zurschmeide’s Portland Swap Meet Report
The Portland Swap Meet has been on hiatus for the past two years, for obvious reasons. It’s been a long and boring pandemic, so this year’s event was highly anticipated, at least by me. The swap happens at the Portland Expo Center, with five large buildings and the entire parking […]
Depreciation, Italian Style
When Maserati returned to America in 2002, the company ended an 11-year absence from our market. A lot happened in those years, most notably an ownership transfer from Fiat to Ferrari. That change has been crucial to Maserati ever since. For one thing, it gave Maserati a ready-made dealership and […]
2012 Aston Martin One-77
This 2012 Aston Martin One-77 is the 25th of just 77 examples ever made. It was delivered to Switzerland in 2012. According to the accompanying Certificate of Authenticity, it was ordered in the subtly luxurious colors of Bronze Pearl over Bitter Chocolate leather with Cream Truffle trim, with brushed-metal exterior […]
2002 Lamborghini Murciélago
As the Lamborghini story goes, the “Murciélago,” or “bat” in Spanish, was named after a famous bull that survived its matador in 1879 in the Cordoba arena. When it was launched in 2002, this was one of the fastest supercars of its day, capable of over 330 km/h thanks to […]
Status Symbol
So this Bentley owner is getting out of his car and he gets sideswiped, ripping the door clean off its hinges. The police show up and he starts yelling about the damage, and the cop says, “Sir, your left arm is torn off!” The Bentley owner looks down and says, […]
2001 BMW Z8
The BMW Z8 debuted in the James Bond film “The World Is Not Enough.” The Z8s were built for the American market and the styling carries the DNA of BMW’s famed 507. This Z8 features heated leather seats, cruise control, power windows, door locks and seats, multi-disc CD player and […]
Ten Years On, This Spyder Has Legs
There are certain words in a Porsche model name that give you a hint that something special is going on. “Speedster” is one, but also “Spyder.” The latter moniker harks back to the mythic mid-engined 550 Spyder, which James Dean made famous after dying in one on a California backroad […]
1994 Lancia Hyena Zagato
Utilizing Lancia’s beloved Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione as a basis, the Hyena was a collaboration between Lancia and Zagato and the brainchild of a meeting between Andrea Zagato and Paul Koot, the official Lancia importer in the Netherlands and the proprietor of Lusso Service Holland. Underneath its handcrafted aluminum bodywork, […]
1987 Audi Quattro
Audi’s Quattro is a legend that rewrote the book in international rallying, as well as causing rival manufacturers to rethink their offerings. It was, quite literally, a trailblazer. The story began with Audi chassis engineer Jörg Bensinger, who spent a Finnish winter testing the Volkswagen Iltis — a 4-wheel-drive West […]