Apparently, at one point in time, Richard Petty’s mother told an interviewer that she didn’t name her son “Dick,” she named him “Richard.” Perhaps she stated that in response to articles like Jim McMichael’s profile on King Richard in the March 1961 issue of Mechanix Illustrated, in which he chummily mixes in a “Dick” here […]

Enduring Automotive History Myths, No. 467 and 467a: Electric cars, while popular around the dawn of the automotive age, were quickly abandoned when the invention of the electric self-starter prompted the widespread adoption of internal combustion. They have only been recently reconsidered as a viable means of transportation. Gasoline-electric hybrids were similarly abandoned after Dr. […]

During the late 1950s, Raymond Loewy made a break from designing cars for Studebaker and went on a European trip, designing cars for Jaguar, BMW, and as we see from the January 1961 issue of Mechanix Illustrated, Lancia as well. The Loraymo, as Loewy called it, was based on a 1959 Lancia Flaminia chassis and […]