Articles

  • Soviet Buses in 1:43 Are Sturdier, Less Perturbed by Traffic Hijinks Than Other Diecast Buses

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    Remember these buses? They’re the ones you see shrugging and continuing on their way after getting clipped by Ladas overtaking traffic in reverse in those Russian dashcam videos. In addition to the Budapest-based Ikarus factory that supplied buses for the entire Eastern Bloc and for a time even had an assembly facility in Indiana, the…

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  • V.I.S.I.T. – 1987 Renault Medallion

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    What is that Japanese wagon from the eighties, you may wonder. That Japanese wagon from the eighties is a 1987 Renault Medallion, a car so extinct it’s not even really present in the automotive fossil record, also known as a junkyard. This machine was manufactured at the dusk of the AMC-Renault alliance, and then promptly…

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  • V.I.S.I.T. – 1957 DKW 3=6

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    If you thought last week’s Audi 90 Quattro was going to be the oldest Auto Union car you were going to see on Hooniverse for at least a month, you were mistaken. This 1957 Auto Union DKW 3=6  looked stunning in person, and was pretty much in concours condition when I saw it. The 3=6…

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  • V.I.S.I.T. – Vauxhall Tigra 1.8

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    That’s right gentlemen, that’s a Vauxhall Tigra 1.8 cabrio on Connecticut plates. In Connecticut. Just how is this possible? My money’s not on show and display, but rather, given the car’s “value” and country of origin, a non-resident registration. Foreign nationals can import a car into the US and keep it here for up to…

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  • A Ride in the Opel GT

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    Years before General Motors treated the American public to such branding exercises as “The Buick Opel by Isuzu,” an effort famous just for the sheer scale of summoning so many different brand names at once to sell an Isuzu Gemini, GM’s Buick division marketed a very fun sports coupe that we often forget about when…

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  • V.I.S.I.T. – BMW 745i

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    While the Euro-spec W126 S-class is arguably the car we have to thank for not being able to have nice things anymore, one whose gray import numbers prompted M-B USA to push for a ban on private imports, the E23 7-series (fortunately) had a much less drastic effect on our automotive landscape. But that didn’t…

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  • Soviet Police Cars in 1:43 Are Cooler, Weirder Than Most Other Diecast Cars

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    Not all Eastern Bloc police agencies were condemned to cars that hit 100km/h in 22 seconds flat. Some lucky departments got cars that managed to hit that speed in a blistering 19 seconds, and could maintain high speeds for entire minutes at a time, until the benzine ran out and they had to pull over…

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  • V.I.S.I.T. – Audi 90 Quattro

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    While our best scientists try to figure out where these all went (some theorize Estonia), let’s all try to remember what these were all about. The B4 Audi 80 came out in 1991 and was essentially a heavy facelift of the previous generation model. While this model was called the 80 in Europe, insecure and…

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  • V.I.S.I.T. – Imported From Kenosha

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    When you think Wisconsin, you think Renault, right? Okay, so it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that Wisconsin produced more French cars during the decade of the 1980s than any other place in the western hemisphere. You know, to feed the voracious appetite of the upper midwest for compact French machinery during…

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  • V.I.S.I.T. – 1987 Peugeot 505 Liberté

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    Remember the Liberté edition of the Peugeot 505? That’s okay, most 505 owners don’t either. The Liberté was a one year only trim level for 1987, to commemorate the centenary of France gifting the Statue of Liberty to America. The Liberté edition of the 505 might sound cool and mysterious, but this was in essence…

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