By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Let’s get the negative stuff out of the way right up front. If you’re looking for an SUV or crossover that gets 30 miles to the gallon, look elsewhere. This isn’t it. And if you’re looking for a luxury SUV with the interior fittings of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, then the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is going to come up short in that department, too. But if you want a wickedly fast, reasonably priced vehicle (if any factory-built Jeep with a sticker price of nearly $50,000 can be so qualified), then your ride has arrived. Think of the 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 as a bargain-basement alternative to the higher-priced Teutonic spreads, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and the BMW X5 M. In fact, in almost every objective performance measurement, it’s the on-road performance equal of its esteemed rivals from Stuttgart by way of Leipzig, as well as Bavaria by way of South Carolina. Read More at Automotive Traveler.

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Looking for more than just any old station wagon to haul home the groceries from your local Whole Foods? Then here’s your ride: A one-off ’50s Mercedes-Benz station wagon. This vision was probably a bit different in 1956 for Mrs. Caroline Folke, a woman of apparent means (with homes in Paris, Manhattan, and Palm Beach) for whom a top-of-the-line Chrysler, Mercury, or Buick station wagon would simply not suffice. Back when nearly everyone liked Ike, she walked into the New York City Mercedes-Benz dealership with a most unusual request: a brand new Mercedes-Benz station wagon. At the time, Mercedes-Benz was re-establishing itself in the automobile business. It was just 11 years after the end of the Second World War, after all. They were apparently eager to fill her unusual request—even though station wagons were not part of the Mercedes-Benz model range in 1956. Read More at Automotive Traveler!

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Vacationers wanting to get away and business people traveling to their next meeting over the next several weeks shouldn’t get too upset if they have to drive off the rental lot with a less than desirable make and model. At least they’ll have a car, and it probably won’t be a Toyota.

Last week the four largest rental operators in North America all announced that they would stop renting Toyota vehicles that could be affected by sticky accelerator pedals. So what percentage of the vehicles at the nation’s major rental companies are Toyota cars and trucks? And how will the nation’s travelers feel in the long run about picking up the keys to a Toyota at the rental counter? Read more at Automotive Traveler

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

I took this photograph of the Saab booth at last month’s Los Angeles Automobile Show, knowing full well it might be the last time we would see the embattled Swedish brand’s wares on display at a major auto show. I couldn’t help thinking, as I walked around the gorgeous near-production 9-5, what a crying shame it would be if we were to lose the iconoclastic and quirky brand. On New Year’s Day morning, Autoblog.com posted an interview that gives a faint light at the end of a long, dark tunnel that Saab might dodge the Grim Reaper. By Thursday, January 7, we should have our answer. As a serial orphan-car owner, I’m hoping that in the weeks to come I won’t feel compelled to go out and buy an Eighties-era Saab 900, that the brand will survive, and that the 9-5, the 9-3, and the Cadillac SRX-related 9-4X will see the light of day in your local Saab showroom. Continue reading more about the Saab Retrospective at Automotive Traveler!

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

GM’s Bob Lutz is staking the Cadillac CTS-V against all-comers as part of General Motors “May the Best Car Win” advertising challenge. Automotive Traveler is up to the challenge and takes him up on his offer (as does Jalopnik, The Truth About Cars, Autoblog, and others!)

The Cadillac CTS is in the opinion of this reviewer, a world-class luxury car, a clear case where GM set the development bar high against its intended competition, and in most regards, exceeded expectations. Clearly, offering a class-competitive entry closer in size and power to a BMW 5 Series while priced closer to a 3 Series was a smart positioning move. This was followed by the introduction of the mammothly-powered CTS-V, with a 556-horsepower engine that would set at the time a production sedan lap record at the Nürburgring of 7:59:32 (anything under eight minutes is damn fast). The CTS-V clearly had the BMW M5 in its crosshairs and its time to tell the automotive world that America had finally came to play with the big dogs. Now, how to get this message across? Thus the CTS-V Challenge at the Monticello Motor Club 90 miles north of New York City. If GM invites us to the party where we plan to show up in a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Read more about our challenge, and the course layout at Automotive Traveler.

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

It might seem that since I bought my 1965 Corvair Corsa back in August that there’s been a lot Corvair content on Automotive Traveler and you would be right. But this listing for our “Not Found on eBay” segment was brought to my attention by a reader in the Phoenix area who saw this car listed on Craigslist. It is one of just 6000 cars produced in the Corvair’s final year of production. The two-door 500 Sport Coupe was the most popular model outselling by 55 units the up-market Monza model (2,717) in addition to the 521 Monza convertibles. There’s an interesting back story to this Corvair. It seems that this 1969 Chevrolet Corvair 500 Series Coupe was purchased new from General Motors by Pellini Chevrolet of Sebastopol, California. It was never registered and it remained part of the dealership’s private collection until it was sold in December 2008. Read more about this fascinating Corvair at Automotive Traveler.

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Over its 27-year history the Newport Beach Concours has been held at many venues. It seems as if it’s finally found a home. Say goodbye to the Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance, and say hello to the Concours d’Elegance at the St. Regis Resort. Organizers are usually reluctant to change a name long associated with an event, but in this case, it hardly mattered, as it had been several years since Newport Beach had actually played host. Warmly welcomed by both the community of Dana Point as well as the world class St. Regis Resort, the Concours d’Elegance now has room to grow and prosper. The fairways and close-by parks provide an outstanding venue to showcase a stunning collection of motorcars. The vehicles on display were primarily from the period before 1948 but also included some very nice examples of more modern ( up to 1975 if we can call that modern) exotic and touring cars.

In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit to being close friends with the event’s organizers, President Bruce Junor and Chairman of the Board Dick Waitneight who for the past two years have afforded me the opportunity to photograph the cars as they enter the concours show field. This year, with almost 200 cars passing before my camera, I was able to photograph some of the most elegant and sporting shapes to ever grace four wheels. From pre-World War One classics like the Blitzen Benz, to limited production concept cars like the one-of-five 1940 Chrysler Thunderbolt with its body by LeBaron and ahead-of-its-time retractable hardtop, to my favorites from the fifties and sixties like Studebaker’s innovative supercharged Avanti, there was something for every auto aficionado to savor. Read more at Automotive Traveler, and be sure to take a look at the high resolution images of the event while you’re there.

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

I spent my weekend covering several venues all over Southern California, putting at least 300 miles on my Corvair for Saturday, and at least a couple of hundred miles in a Pontiac Solstice on Sunday.

The alarm rang at 5:15 AM Saturday morning, and I wanted to be out the door by 6 AM so that I could grab a parking spot at Cars and Coffee just about an hour away. I decided to take the Corvair simply because I love driving it so much and after spending time the previous week in a half dozen rental cars, including a six-cylinder Camaro, and on too many airplanes, I thought rolling down the windows for the early morning drive would be invigorating and clear the cob webs out of my brain.

Continue reading "What Did You Do This Weekend?" »

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Featured in two magazines and in the Hemmings 2007 Classic Car Calendar, this might well be the best compact Dodge A100 pickup on the planet.

It’s no secret that I call Cars and Coffee my private hunting ground for feature vehicles for the many magazines I contribute to. Every Saturday morning more than 300 interesting cars and trucks vie for a coveted parking spot in the lot between the Ford and Mazda buildings. Several years ago I shot this eye-catching Dodge A100 and it was ultimately featured in the January 2008 issue of Cars & Parts. (It’s now featured in the September issue of Hemmings Motor News as well.) Look closely at this truck and you’ll see why. It’s a near-perfect example of the breed of compact pickups that were the domestic response to the sales success of the wide selection of the versatile yet under-powered Volkswagen trucks that were popular in the late fifties and early sixties. Besides the Dodge A100, Ford responded with its Falcon-based Econoline while Chevrolet’s initial response was the short-lived (1961 to 1964) Corvair-based Loadside pickup which featured an innovative side ramp making it exceptionally easy to load cargo.

But this truck is equipped with a Mopar V-8! Read more at Automotive Traveler.

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Discovering rare and uncovered gems usually happens when someone contacts me after reading my column in Musclecar Enthusiast. So I received a lead about what might be the rarest muscle car in existence, a one-of-one Canadian built (at the same Oshawa, Ontario plant that currently builds the Camaro) Pontiac Parisienne Safari six-passenger station wagon powered by a 425-horsepower dual quad 409, the same engine immortalized by the Beach Boys song “409.”

Continue reading "Dual Quad 409 Equipped Canadian Pontiac Wagon!" »