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The Carchive: The '76 Jeep Wagoneer
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SUVs have reached ubiquity now, and are familiar enough for us to believe that they’ve always been around. There have also been endless arguments as to who actually invented the hulking great luxury four-wheel-drive as we know it, and now is really not the time to get drawn into such a debate. However. We can…
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V.I.S.I.T: A '95 Chevy Caprice "police car"
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Bournemouth, on England’s South coast, is kind of a genteel place. It’s a seaside resort that packs in all the traditional appeal of such places – scrupulously clean sandy beaches, long, sweeping promenades and spindly, wave-bashed piers. Although, like many similar towns, its fortunes have been mixed ever since the end of Victoria’s reign, it’s…
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Clearing the mind.
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We all know that a demanding set of countryside switchbacks can get an enthusiast’s adrenaline flowing, while the acceleration aficionado might live life a quarter mile at a time™. Grabbing the keys to your car can be the prelude to a new set of memories, unlocking sights and sounds that you’ll never want to forget.…
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In car communications. What ya got?
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In a few weeks time, I’ll be sitting my amateur radio (Ham) exam. I’ll be issued a callsign and legally entitled to transmit at low power and on a wide variety of frequencies. One day I’ll graduate through my intermediate and full licenses, unlocking a 400w maximum transmitting power and across a broader spectrum of…
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The Carchive: The Triumph Dolomite 1300
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The table is all laid out, the plates are piping hot and there’s a hostess trolley full of goodness on its way from the kitchen. But what’s it full of? Well, we’re digging right down from the choice cuts on the surface, through the fat and bone until we reach the gristle and cartilage before…
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Bugatti Chiron: Think of a Number and Then Double It
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This is an old story, but my thought process has only just caught up with why I care about it. Basically, there’s a Bugatti Chiron for sale through an independent classic car specialist in Surrey. It’s proudly declared to be the ‘first used example’ to be offered for sale in the UK. Fine. It was…
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The Carchive: The 1980 Mercury Cougar XR-7
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It’s that time again. Seven days have passed since we left the familiar chaos of the 21st century and took a bumpy, déjà vu-heavy trip down the history highway, before pulling up in the dark, litter-strewn parking lot of days gone by. Welcome back to The Carchive. Last week we only made it back twenty…
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Electric Futures: Getting into bed with the government.
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In June 2009 Tesla was approved to receive US$465 million in low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy’s $8 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. It seems reasonable for a government to support a company or initiative that has the potential to raise the global profile of an entire country in a given…
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The Carchive: '97 Daewoo range.
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Last week’s raid of The Carchive was courtesy of General Motors in the mid-’70s, with the German Opel Manta. This week we’ve jumped forward a couple of decades, but we’re kind of keeping The General in mind, as you’ll soon see. We’re off to South Korea to find out what Daewoo were up to in…
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Cultural differences: The joy of trim levels
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It’s only natural that a manufacturer should offer several variants of each car it makes. There needs to be a basic ‘I can just about afford to get into one of these’ model, and a, ‘look, my car’s got e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g” grade. And, likely as not, there’ll be an ‘it’s got everything I need, I don’t…