Old Ford Tractors

It all started with Gray Counts.

Several decades ago when I was a young designer at GM, I bought a few acres in Hooterville—I mean Ortonville—Michigan. Owning vast acreage (four) means that there will be weeds to cut and snow to blow. So I anted up and bought a new 16-hp Ariens tractor with a 48-inch mower deck [...]

’70 Camaro Reunion

My dad helped be buy a new gold 1970 Camaro RS with a 350 and a 4-speed. I was attending the Art Center College of Design, and used it for commuting to school and back and forth from Los Angeles to Riverside. Art Center has trimesters, and I went four straight, took two off, and [...]

1957 MGA—Blow by, Seepage, Stumps, Dents, and Doctors

Note: These stories contain graphic content of injuries suffered in pursuing the joys of owning an English ragtop.

The 1957 MGA after it was painted.
Part 1—The Rebuild

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1957 MGA—Nagging Doubts

The Trip to Los Angeles
Gary D. Smith
I had a nearly new car, but there was some magical quality to my fourteen year old ’57 MGA that beckoned what was then a teenager’s fancy in a way that only an English roadster could. It was a beautiful spring day, and I couldn’t resist the open air [...]

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1960 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine

Ron Will worked at GM Design Staff and lived across the street from me when I first worked at GM in 1973. At the time he had two 1960 Cadillacs, a convertible and a hearse. Down in Detroit somewhere next to a cemetery (where else?) was a fenced-in lot with half a dozen or more [...]

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GM Design Stories—Road Hawk & Riveria

1979 Buick Road Hawk

1979 Buick Road Hawk
Buick got a bit carried away with the idea that graphics were the key that would remake their image. The Road Hawk was the worst example. I didn’t work on that one. It had a hawk on each wheel center, one on each side of the car, one on [...]