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 [...]

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 [...]

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

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]