Autos
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How GM’s Hydra-Matic, a $57 Oldsmobile option for 1940, became the first mass-produced automatic
For the 1940 model year, an Oldsmobile buyer could pay $57 extra and skip the clutch pedal for good. That option was GM’s Hydra-Matic Drive,…
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7 American straight-eights from the 1921 Duesenberg Model A to Pontiac’s last in 1954
For about three decades, many American makers, from Buick to Hudson, put a straight-eight in their better cars. The run stretched from a Duesenberg shown…
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Honda’s 1979 CBX put a 1,047cc, 24-valve DOHC inline six making 105 hp in a street bike
The 1979 Honda CBX took six cylinders, 24 valves and two overhead camshafts off the racetrack and put them under a street rider’s knees. Its…
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7 Norton motorcycles from the Model 18 single to the 828cc Commando 850
Norton’s road to the Norton Commando 850 began with a single-cylinder engine. The Model 18 of the early 1920s was the company’s first overhead-valve design,…
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The Alexander Brothers built the Dodge Deora pickup without doors, so you climbed in through a front hatch
The Dodge Deora has no doors. To get in, you swing open the front of the cab and climb in from the nose. Detroit customizers…
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12 Chevrolet Suburban generations from the 1935 Suburban Carryall to the 2021 redesign
Chevrolet has sold a Suburban since 1935, and GM calls it the industry’s longest-running nameplate. Across that span the truck has gone through 12 Suburban…
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Franklin gave Charles Lindbergh a 1928 Airman, the air-cooled sedan it launched after his flight
Charles Lindbergh owned a 1928 Franklin Airman sedan, but he did not shop for it. Franklin gave it to him. The Syracuse, New York, company…
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Amelia Earhart christened the new Essex-Terraplane at Hudson’s Detroit launch in July 1932
On July 21, 1932, Amelia Earhart stood on a stage beside the Hudson factory in Detroit and christened a brand-new car. That car was the…
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8 Rolls-Royce Phantom generations from the 1925 Phantom I to the 2017 Phantom VIII
Rolls-Royce first used the Phantom name in 1925, and the company counts eight Rolls-Royce Phantom generations since then. They run from a big six-cylinder touring…
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Malcolm Bricklin’s SV-1 used hydraulics to lift its 90-pound gullwing doors
The Bricklin SV-1 gullwing doors weighed 90 pounds apiece, a lot of weight to raise overhead. So Malcolm Bricklin gave his mid-1970s sports car a…
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