About Trevor Freeman

Trevor is a real gearhead who loves everything from classic American muscle cars to high-performance exotics. When he's not reading about cars or taking photos at a car show, he's probably out cruising around. He is currently working on restoring a 1980 Chevrolet Monza hatchback.

The Problem with New Cars

Today’s post talks about several problems I’ve noticed regarding brand new cars. Here are the four key points of this long-winded rant. I believe that:

1. Automobiles of today are more reliable, safe, and affordable than ever before and are nearly indistinguishable from one another.

2. Automobile engineering has hit a plateau, and as a result automakers are forced to differentiate themselves by adding non-essential features like in-dash screens, Bluetooth connectivity, and other small changes that really aren’t needed and aren’t significantly better or worse than the previous model year. Also, people are very excited to read about the latest small changes in the automotive press.

3. Today’s automobiles are so reliable and so similar that automotive industry journalists don’t really have much to complain about. They are forced to invent reasons why one car is superior to another based on minute, precise measurements of things that are imperceptible to an average driver.

4. When shopping for a brand new car, it doesn’t really matter which one you buy. All new cars have excellent safety, reliability, power, and very similar styling. In many cases the technical differences between two competing cars are so small that they can only be measured by using high-tech equipment. A human driver will never feel the difference.

Continue reading

Swede Talker: 1967 Volvo P1800S

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: when was the last time you heard the words “Volvo” and “sports car” in the same sentence? Volvos are famous for being some of the safest and most reliable cars on the road, but they’re also quite boring. However, it wasn’t always this way. Volvo did make a sporty little coupe that was introduced back in 1960: the P1800.

Continue reading

1968 Lincoln Continental Twin Turbo “Evil Twin”

The Lincoln Continental has been around for a long time, but I would say that the fourth-generation (1961-1969) Continentals are the ones that come to mind when most people hear the name. The car’s slab-sided design and suicide rear doors are signature design elements that people instantly recognize as “Continental.”

At the Scottsdale Pavilions car show, I ran across a 1968 Lincoln Continental sedan that’s been customized in a pretty cool way. First, the roof has been completely cut off. There is no top at all! That’s a pretty bold move to make, and I like it.

Continue reading

1958-1961 Facel Vega HK500

There aren’t many cars on the road that I don’t recognize, but this one totally caught me by surprise at Cars and Coffee. I confess that I don’t know much about mid-century French cars, so I hope you will forgive me for not recognizing this one right away. However, I thought it intriguing enough to take some pictures – and boy, am I glad I did!

As it turns out, this gleaming silver beauty is a Facel Vega HK500. One article I read called it “The best car you’ve never heard of” and after doing some research, I can see why the author made that statement.

Continue reading

1951 Kaiser Manhattan Custom ‘Dragn’

As an automotive journalist, I am constantly on the lookout for cool cars to write about. Most of the time I have to work hard to seek them out, but every once in a while the cars seem to find me. This particular car and I keep running into each other, so I knew it was time to write about it.

I first ran into this heavily customized 1951 Kaiser Manhattan at Cars and Coffee in Scottsdale. I saw it again at SEMA 2012 in Las Vegas. Then it popped up on my YouTube subscriptions for Jay Leno’s Garage and the Eastwood YouTube channel. It was just begging to be written about!

Continue reading

1947 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe

My friends and family often ask me why I go to the Scottsdale Pavilions car show so often. “Don’t you get tired of looking at the same cars all the time?” they inquire. While you do see a few of the same cars, it’s different enough to be interesting. You just never know what might roll its way into the Pavilions, and today’s post is a perfect example of what I am talking about.

This car is a 1947 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe. I’ve never seen one before and with only 13,299 ever produced (and far less than that surviving today), I doubt I’ll see very many more of these things around.

Continue reading