Big Car
If a car is wildly successful, it’s a recipe for printing money. If it’s an abject failure, the manufacturer licks their wounds and moves on. What’s maybe worse is when a car just does OK, especially when this car kicks off a whole new brand. Should...
It’s rare that a car company sets out to build “the best car in the world”. But with an almost limitless budget, Toyota had a better shot than most. The car they created, the LS400, was a statement of intent, and an engineering marvel. It was also...
Not many cars can be credited with funding the purchase of an entire car company, but Renault’s President said they couldn’t have purchased Nissan in the late 1990s without the success of the Renault Scénic. It was a bold, innovative design, making...
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The Imp is a car of contradictions. While it sported a cutting edge, aluminium engine with a motorsport pedigree, it was mounted at the back when the rest of the car industry was moving to front wheel drive. It was built in a brand-new facility with the..
A quick history of the Rover Quintet, released in Australia in the 1980s. A quick shout out to "On The Rhodes" YT channel that graciously allowed me to use a clip of their Rover Quintet video: https://youtu.be/nncZVbyZPD4 If you'd like to support what I
Everyone knows the MX-5. It’s that fun little roadster that you always promised yourself, and so much has been written about it already. But it’s hard to over emphasise the impact this car had when it launched. At a time when cars were focusing on...
When the Qashqai was introduced to Australia, Nissan changed the name because they were worried it would be called the Nissan “Cash Cow”. But that’s precisely what the Qashqai has become – a runaway success, and a breakout hit for Nissan’s...
Around the world, car parking spaces seem to be getting smaller, leading to a new gymnastic discipline, getting out of the car through the door crack without denting the car next to you! It’s causing increasing frustration in car parks not just for...
Livestream chat discussing the Hindustan Ambassador video. If you want to ask me about the video or my opinions on subjects raised, then drop in and we'll have a chat! If you'd like to support what I do, and get early access to advert-free videos and...
I thought I'd try a livestream chat discussing the Mitsubishi video. Now I'm not that educated on the specifics of Mitsubishi, but I did a bit of research for the video, so if you want to ask me about the video or my opinions on subjects raised, then drop
Mitsubishi should be the dominant Japanese car producer. It was backed by a large parent company, it didn’t come to producing vehicles late in the game, and it produced good, dependable cars. Yet Mitsubishi Motors is essentially owned by one of those...
Despite what you might have seen on Top Gear, Reliant Robins aren’t death traps, and this little stunt was staged by monkeying around with the differential. But cars with only three wheels seem less safe. Surely it makes sense to put a wheel on each...
Letters on the back of a car can evoke a wealth of emotions. “D” usually means diesel, “L” and “GL” on your company car show where you are on the corporate pecking order. But for petrolheads there are other letters that spark interest. Letters...
You may have noticed that car parking spaces are shrinking. Or rather, our cars are getting wider. Fiat had the answer to the parking spot blues in 1972 when the new Fiat 126 burst on the scene. At just 1.4m wide it’s 28cm or almost a foot narrower than..
This video is going to be a little different to my normal ones. I usually need to do lots of research to get the story straight. But not this one – this was basically a brain dump! If you don’t know, I once, many moons ago, worked for Microsoft in the...
When you think of Daimler, you think of Mercedes-Benz, and that’s perfectly understandable. Up until recently Mercedes parent company was known as Daimler-Benz. The name comes from Gottlieb Daimler, a German engineer who was a pioneer in early internal...
You might love the Crossfire’s design, or you might hate it, and that’s just what Chrysler wanted. The Chrysler Crossfire was a bold design from a revitalised company, buoyed up with thoughts of world domination with its new partner Daimler. Yet...
The Hyundai Pony isn’t held in much regard by the west, but in South Korea it’s celebrated as the beginning of Hyundai’s ascendancy as a global car manufacturer. It may have rusted to nothing in some of the more extreme places it was exported to,...
If you’re lucky enough to get the chance to name a car, you should pick a name that’s obvious to pronounce. Even though Ford picked a car name with just two letters (probably a record unless you count cars like the Ford Model T), people have found...