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Articles by John Biel
Photo Feature: 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Sunliner Convertible
Note: The following story was excerpted from the February 2016 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine Riding the competitive advantage of an all-new and attractive design, Ford was able to produce America’s best-selling 1957 automobile. The push to deliver 1.67 million copies of its expanded lineup included significant contributions from two body styles that had historically been segment-leading sellers for Ford: station wagons and convertibles.
Neoclassic Bustlebacks, Ford Creates New EV Division on Apple Podcasts
53 min Host Tom Appel and co-hosts Jill Ciminillo and Damon Bell start the show by discussing Ford Motor Company's recently announced corporate-structure changes--electric vehicles will now be under the Ford Model e division, and gas-engine vehicles will be under the Ford Blue division.
Daily Drive Blog Post, Two Magazine Articles Garner Medals
A blog post that ran on The Daily Drive and two articles that appeared in its automotive-history companion publication came in for awards when the fourth-annual Automotive Heritage Awards (AHA) were presented recently.
Sunliner Archives - The Daily Drive
New for 1960, the Starliner moniker applied only to Galaxie hardtop coupes. Note: This article is reprinted from the October 2014 issue of Collectible Automobile Say this for the 1960 Ford: It was big and it certainly was bold. Ford’s all-new “standards”—a qualifier that was especially necessary now that the division was also making the personal-luxury Thunderbird and the compact Falcon—dropped every comfortably familiar marque styling cue of recent years.
Photo Feature: 1941 Dodge WC-18 Ambulance
Note: The following story was excerpted from the August 2012 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine Of the many things Chrysler Corporation manufactured for American and Allied military services during World War II, perhaps the ones most likely to be still seen today are four-wheel-drive trucks produced by Dodge.
6 Cool Things about the 2021 BMW M5 Competition
We’re old friends now, the BMW M5 and Consumer Guide editors. A week in the 2021 model with the Competition Package was our third turn in one of the current-generation cars, following tests of a 2018 M5 and a 2019 Competition. In prior years, only incremental changes were made to this highest-performance iteration of BMW’s premium-midsize sedan.
Remembering the AMC Eagle, 2021 Chicago Auto Show Is a Go! on Apple Podcasts
53 min Host Tom Appel and co-hosts Jill Ciminillo and Damon Bell start things off by discussing the Chicago Auto Show's recently announced 2021 "Special Edition" show, scheduled for July 15-19 as a scaled-down indoor/outdoor event. The gang also chats about a couple of their Chicagoland-traffic pet peeves.
6 Cool Things about the 2021 Dodge Durango SRT 392
2021 Dodge Durango SRT 392 in F8 Green This post could have just as easily been “480 Cool Things about the 2021 Dodge Durango SRT 392.” That would have counted each of its 475 horsepower and five other cool things of some sort. Until the supercharged 710-horse Hellcat came out this year, the SRT 392 was the rortiest Durango that Dodge saw fit to make.
6 Cool Things about the 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Limited As if the Chrysler Pacifica wasn’t good enough with a conventional powertrain, through 2020 it had the distinction of being the only minivan on the market with the availability of gas/electric hybrid power. That bragging point disappears with the arrival of the ’21 Toyota Sienna, but the Pacifica has done a few things that secure its place as a Consumer Guide “Best Buy” in the class.
Just Curious: Questionable Car Options
In the name of General Patton, what the heck is a nav system doing in the Jeep Wrangler? If you drive enough cars, you’ll encounter your fair share of weird stuff. Overwrought control systems designed by a masochist, inconvenient storage areas suited to a contortionist, costly options that would impress an extortionist, bedeviling colors in dire need of an exorcist; sooner or later, you’ll experience all of them—and more.
Muscle Cars Archives - The Daily Drive
Posts from ‘Muscle Cars’ 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee Hardtop Coupe Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2016 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine Collector cars can turn up in odd places. A 1925 Bugatti was found at the bottom of a Swiss lake. A 1957 Plymouth was buried in a time capsule in Oklahoma. The elements took their toll on both. Read more...
First Spin: 2021 Toyota Camry
2021 Toyota Camry XLE AWD Seemingly undaunted by conventional wisdom that says the sedan is dead, Toyota is pressing ahead with a physically freshened and technologically improved Camry for 2021. Toyota still sells plenty of these midsize passenger cars—indeed, it has been the country’s best-selling sedan for years.
Photo Feature: 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 Four-Door Sedan
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2011 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine By John Biel When Gary Spracklin answered the classified ad in a hobby publication, he thought he was buying a whistle-clean daily driver. What he wound up with was an unlikely “trailer queen,” a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 four-door sedan that gets the royal treatment because he decided he wants to keep the odometer reading below 1000.
Studebaker Racing Article in Collectible Automobile® Takes Checkers
An account of Studebakers in competition at the Indianapolis 500 earned a Collectible Automobile® magazine author a gold medal and co-“Best-in-Category” honors from the third-annual Automotive Heritage Awards (AHA). More from Collectible Automobile 2020 Automotive Heritage Awards “An Exacting Test: Studebakers at Indianapolis in the Thirties” by Richard Quinn won its gold medal in the “Best Heritage Motorsport Story” category by scoring a maximum 100 judging points.
Snake Eyes: A 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Gallery
The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 goes sniffing for challenges on track or strip through a big grille and ducts that cool the engine, transmission, supercharger, and brakes. Shown here is a GT500 set up for drag racing with downforce-enhancing front-splitter wickers and rear-spoiler “Gurney flap” removed. Special tools for these parts are included with the car; so are instructions for optimal front camber settings.
Photo Feature: 1950 Dodge B-2-B Panel Truck
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2013 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine By John Biel For decades after the old-car hobby got rolling in earnest, there was an increasing emphasis on exacting nut-and-bolt restorations, the results sometimes being vintage vehicles that looked better in retirement than the moment they left the assembly line years before. In recent years, though, an appreciation for worn but undisturbed originals has arisen.
Naked Aggression: A Gallery of Stripped-Down Muscle Cars
1969 Oldsmobile F-85 coupe with ram-induction W-31 350-cid engine. The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals show rolled into Rosemont, Illinois, over the past weekend, bringing out hundreds of high-performance collector cars. All the big names were there in abundance: GTO. 4-4-2. Mustang. Camaro Z28. Road Runner. Cyclone. Javelin. Challenger R/T—and so many more from the heyday of street and strip muscle.
Photo Feature: 1958 Ford Del Rio Ranch Wagon
Note: The following story was excerpted from the February 2004 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine By John Biel The American station wagon has had many transformations over the years. It went from being seen as a commercial vehicle to being accepted as a passenger-car style. Wood body construction gave way to steel. And though four-door convenience made the most sense for such a vehicle, two-door wagons enjoyed a brief heyday that peaked in the mid Fifties.
Farewell to Carroll Shelby, the Man Behind the Cobra
Carroll Shelby, 1923–2012 Whether racing on the circuits of Europe or designing exciting cars for Main Street, USA, Carroll Shelby, who died Thursday at age 89, left an indelible mark on the automotive world. Born in Leesburg, Texas, on January 11, 1923, Mr. Shelby’s post-World War II plans were to enter the poultry business, but after disease wiped out his chickens, a friend invited him to try racing.
The Speed of Sound: Ford v Ferrari
Christian Bale (left) and Matt Damon in Ford v Ferrari, which opens November 15, nationwide. Film may have been born as a visual medium, but when the first “talkies” hit the silver screen more than 90 years ago, sound quite literally entered the picture. Should you go to see Ford v Ferrari, the new Hollywood movie about the quest to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966, you’ll be glad it did. Yes, there’s exciting racing action portrayed on screen.
Collectible Automobile magazine, 2019 SEMA Show on Apple Podcasts
Collectible Automobile Editor-in-Chief joins us to talk about the magazine and the state of the old-car hobby, and
Photo Feature: 1932 Buick Series 90 Convertible Phaeton
1932 Buick Series 90 Convertible Phaeton Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2005 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine The story of how Buicks came to be manufactured in Canada—including the very one featured on these pages—starts with one man. Robert Samuel “Sam” McLaughlin, born in 1871, eventually entered the well-regarded family carriage business located in Oshawa, Ontario. Then, in the early years of the twentieth century, he got interested in the automobile business.
Future Collectibles: 2009-2010 Hummer H3T Alpha
by John Biel Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2018 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Hummer was badly wounded in 2008, first by the rapid rise in gasoline prices and then by the increasingly shaky economy. Ultimately, though, the brand was a casualty of General Motors’s June 1, 2009, bankruptcy filing, and with it went an intriguing vehicle that was snuffed out soon after its arrival.
Tucker Article from Collectible Automobile® Tops Class in Judging
Collectible Automobile Magazine earned a “Best-in-Category” trophy at the 2019 Automotive Heritage Awards. The second-annual Automotive Heritage Awards (AHA) honored a second consecutive Collectible Automobile® magazine article as the best of its class. The article “Toward the Tucker: Creating Preston Tucker’s Bid for Glory” by Karl Ludvigsen garnered both a gold medallion and a “Best-in-Category” trophy when the 2019 journalism awards were presented July 28.
Photo Feature: 1950 Mercury Monterey
Note: The following story was excerpted from the February 2006 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine By John Biel The choices we make in life can be so important. Ted Burleson’s gleaming beauty of a 1950 Mercury Monterey coupe featured here proves that. The Los Angeles-built Merc spent many years in Colorado before the Alton, Illinois, man acquired the car in 1990 and finished its restoration. “It was a rust-free car in good condition to start with,” Burleson noted.
Photo Feature: 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster Fleetline Aerosedan
Note: The following story was excerpted from the October 2006 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine Let’s say you’re not convinced that appearance is an important factor—maybe the important factor—that drives car shoppers to choose one vehicle over another. Then consider the 1947 Chevrolet Fleetline Aerosedan. Despite being the most expensive two-door closed car in the Chevy lineup, it was still the most popular model of the best-selling brand in America in ’47. Why?
Photo Feature: 1933 Hupmobile K-321 Convertible Coupe
1933 Hupmobile K-321 Convertible Coupe Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2004 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. The automobile was meant to foster travel and, by golly, here’s one that has. The Hupmobile convertible coupe featured on these pages has been to Australia and back during its lifetime.
Stamps of Approval: Muscle Cars in the Mail
U.S. stamp of the 1967 Shelby GT-500 We don’t know if they’ll actually speed up delivery of your mail, but the latest offerings in the U.S. Postal Service’s “America on the Move” commemorative-stamp series sure look like they could. The postal service has released a run of five stamps that depict tire-smoking muscle cars and ponycars from the period of 1966 to 1970.
Photo Feature: 1937 Oldsmobile F-37 Convertible Coupe
Oldsmobiles were completely restyled for 1937, helping drive sales to a record high. Note: This article is reprinted from the October 2014 issue of Collectible Automobile Oldsmobile sold a lot of cars in 1937. In fact, with 206,086 produced for the model year, Olds had the best year in its 40-year history. Thanks to robust annual growth, that marked an amazing turnaround from the 20,144 cars that had dribbled out from its assembly lines in Depression-wracked 1932.
Photo Feature: 1966 Ford Thunderbird
Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2005 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. In the decade or so since its 1955 introduction, the Ford Thunderbird came to attract a solid following from female motorists. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the 1966 T-Bird convertible featured on these pages was intended to please a lady.
Photo Feature: 1959 Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato
1959 Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2000 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Throughout his professional life, Carlo Abarth (1908-1979) won acclaim for wringing great amounts of performance from cars with tiny engines. On occasion, these were cars of his own design. More often than not, though, his shops in Turin, Italy, founded in 1949, turned out vigorous vehicles that took as their starting points other manufacturers’ products.
Photo Feature: 1951 Studebaker 2R6 Delivery Van
1951 Studebaker 2R6 Delivery Van Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2007 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. There’s an old and very common expression for describing someone who finds himself mired in difficult circumstances. He’s said to be “up a creek without a paddle.” That almost literally describes the situation in which George Hamlin found himself when he first laid eyes on the vintage truck featured here. The year was 1978.
Photo Feature: 1950 Mack A20 Tow Truck
Note: The following story was excerpted from the August 2014 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. The B-series Mack trucks produced from 1953 to 1966 were one of the most familiar commercial-vehicle lines of the post-World War II era. However, this successful truck family begs the question: If that’s the “B” model, then what was “A”? More Collectible Automobile Photo Features The A-series Mack had a far briefer lifespan than its durable successor, but it served a valuable purpose.
Photo Feature: 1937 Cadillac Series 75 Tour Bus
Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2013 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Yosemite National Park occupies 747,956 acres in east central California. It is home to natural wonders like imposing El Capitan, the world’s largest exposed granite mononlith; towering sequoia trees, some of which are thought to be thousands of years old; and breathtaking waterfalls fed by snowmelt.
Auto Historians Cite Collectible Automobile® for Excellence
An international society of automotive historians has named Collectible Automobile® magazine—a companion publication to Consumer Guide® Automotive—the winner of its top award for the presentation of history in a periodical. The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH) presented CA with its Richard and Grace Brigham Award for 2018.
Photo Feature: 1960 Dodge D100
Note: The following story was excerpted from the October 2014 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. As James Longoni’s sparklingly restored Dodge ½-ton pickup seen here clearly demonstrates, by 1960, the outlines of the modern pickup truck had been drawn. Stylishness and a rising level of creature comforts would increasingly be expected. America’s hardy workhorse was being turned into a polished thoroughbred.
Photo Feature: 1955 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery
photos by Al Rogers Note: The following story was excerpted from the October 2016 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Part car and part truck, the sedan delivery had been on the American motoring scene since the late Twenties. It was a convenient and fairly economical vehicle for tradesmen and small-business operators whose hauling needs didn’t warrant the use of a large truck or required a more genteel presence.
Stories of Unique Car, Leading Designer Net Awards for Collectible Automobile® Articles
The quixotic tale of a doomed luxury car and an interview with a veteran car designer turned out to be golden opportunities for two freelance contributors to Collectible Automobile® magazine, a companion publication to Consumer Guide® Automotive.
Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild Models to Make Rare Appearance
Ronald Will’s national-award-winning 1961 Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild model will be among those displayed at the GSL-XXV International Scale Vehicle Championship and Convention. A rare chance to view the work of participants in the historic Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild (FBCG) model-making program is coming up in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Photo Feature: 1963 Volkswagen Type 34 Karmann-Ghia
Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2016 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. In the late Nineties, Volkswagen tickled the automotive world’s fancy when it brought out the New Beetle that called to mind the iconic shape of the round little car that put VW on the map. However, there was a time many years earlier when people thought that a different “new” Beetle was coming. More Collectible Automobile Photo Features That was in 1961, when Volkswagen introduced the 1500.
Photo Feature: 1971 Pontiac GTO The Judge Convertible
1971 Pontiac GTO The Judge convertible front view. Note: This article is reprinted from the December 2013 issue of Collectible Automobile. The quintessential American muscle cars of the Sixties and early Seventies were, in many ways, all about the numbers. Cubic inches, horsepower, torque, axle ratio, quarter-mile time in seconds: There were so many ways to attempt to quantify which one was king of the street and strip.
Beijing Auto Show: 2019 Lexus ES
After years of catering solely to buyers in the market for cushy luxury, the Lexus ES is ready to show some teeth. The seventh-generation ES revealed at the Beijing Auto Show will be the first available in an F Sport version. The front-wheel-drive ’19 ES, built on a new Lexus Global Architecture-K platform, grows a bit, with a 2.6-inch-longer wheelbase. It is slightly wider, with front and rear wheel tracks that have been pushed out closer to the corners.
Mad Men’s Ad Men and the Chevrolet Vega
GM’s styling mock-up of the XP-887 concept is pictured in September 1968. Two years later, it would appear in showrooms as the Chevrolet Vega. Anybody who follows the Emmy-winning cable series Mad Men, which just concluded its sixth season, knows that the fictional ’60s advertising agency at the center of the show recently picked up a significant, but challenging, new account: a car known by its cryptic code name, XP-887.
What did Walter White Drive?
What is the opposite of nostalgia? What is the flip side of the warm and fuzzy association we form with certain images and objects that puts a smile on our faces whenever they’re brought to our attention?
Automotive Historians Give Prize to Collectible Automobile® Article
The year of Apollo 11, the “Amazin’” New York Mets, and Woodstock was also a pivotal year for U.S. automakers. A thorough retrospective of 1969 domestic cars published in Collectible Automobile® magazine, a companion to Consumer Guide® Automotive, has won an award from an international vehicle-history association. The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH) presented its top magazine-writing honor, the Carl Benz Award, to “The Cars of 1969: A Rising Middle Class” by Kit Foster.
Photo Feature: 1956 Maserati A6G 2000GT Coupe
The Maserati A6G 2000GT was introduced to the public at the 1954 Paris Salon. Note: This article is reprinted from the August 2014 issue of Collectible Automobile While the Maserati nameplate has been part of the automotive world since the Twenties, the five car-building Maserati brothers initially busied themselves solely with competition machines. It wasn’t until after World War II that the marque’s trident logo appeared on roadgoing grand tourers.
Photo Feature: 1961 Chevrolet Corvette
Note: This article is reprinted from the August 2016 issue of Collectible Automobile By John Biel The names “Corvette” and “Lingenfelter” have been closely related for a long time. It’s completely natural, then, that they’re paired up on the next few pages of this magazine. The connection goes back to late drag racer John Lingenfelter, who established Lingenfelter Performance Engineering in the late Seventies to develop go-fast modifications for General Motors products.
Early Risers: A Gallery of First Generation Camaros
When Chevrolet unveiled the 2016 Camaro in Detroit on May 16, it did more than just call the automotive media in for a look-see and a bite to eat. Instead, it staged a mini celebration of its long-lived “ponycar.” Chevrolet also invited Camaro enthusiasts from the U.S. and Canada to the reveal of the 6th-generation car. They turned up with more than 300 Camaros of all vintages, examples of everything from loving restorations to hypermodified cars with wild paint jobs and pumped-up performance.
10 Coolest Saabs
While Saab never topped the sales charts, its clever engineering, innovation, and—truth be told—quirkiness gained it a loyal following. That’s all but over now: Saab Automobile AB halted car production in April 2011 and filed for bankruptcy in December of that same year. Saab began as an aircraft manufacturer in Sweden in the late Thirties, but started planning to build a car right after World War II. In 1950, auto production commenced with the Saab 92. The cars were unconventional from the start.
Photo Feature: 1950 Chrysler New Yorker Four-Door Sedan
Note: This article is reprinted from the December 2014 issue of Collectible Automobile A big boost to Chrysler’s image was in the offing in 1950, an infusion of performance that would result from the arrival of the ohv “hemi” V-8 in 1951. Up to that point, though, Chrysler had carved out a good reputation for solid quality and riding comfort.
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