Renault 21 Turbo: America Got the Medallion, Europe Got the One With 175 hp
The Renault 21 Turbo had 175 hp, chased speeders for the French police and was rallied by future Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares. America got the Medallion.
front-wheel drive
ROVER 220 COUPE TURBO
Rover 220 Coupé Turbo: the car its own gearbox held back Here’s one of those stories only properly understood by someone who’s been under a car with grease up to the elbows. In the early nineties, Rover built the fastest, most powerful car in its entire history. A gorgeous coupé with 197bhp, capable on paper … Read more
FORD PROBE
Ford Probe: the car built to kill the Mustang, saved by the Mustang’s own fans Here’s one of the greatest “what if?” stories the car industry ever produced. And it’s a tale with a doubly happy ending: it saved the Mustang and, quite by accident, condemned a perfectly good car to spend its whole life … Read more
Lancia Fulvia HF Coupé
Lancia Fulvia HF Coupé: the car that taught Lancia how to win championships Some cars win championships by brute force. They have more horsepower than their rivals, more displacement, more torque in the right places. They show up, run over everything, win. That’s one way to win. There’s another way. Cars that win by doing … Read more
CAR WINGS
The Mate’s Rear Wing: What Works and What’s Just Expensive Sticker (AeroNEC · 5) You know the car. Hatchback, lowered, and a rear wing the size of a picnic table bolted to the bootlid, tall enough to serve tea on. Top Gear built a whole comedy strand out of cars like it. And the question … Read more
SWEDISH CARS
Why Swedes Design Such Strange Cars: Nordic Philosophy vs German Obsession By Not Enough Cylinders If you’ve read the other articles in this series, you already have three concrete examples of Swedish cars doing things nobody else did: engine installed backwards, odd five-cylinder motor, supersonic-fighter-named front-wheel-drive car with no electronic aids. This isn’t coincidence. It’s … Read more
SAAB 9-3 VIGGEN
SAAB 9-3 Viggen: The Last Scream Before the Abyss By Not Enough Cylinders Some cars arrive at the wrong moment. Some cars arrive when the company building them already has one foot over the edge. And some cars do both at once, with such intensity that forty years later they’re still impossible to ignore. The … Read more