Ralph Kinney Bennett March 3, 1941 – December 18, 2024
Articles, essays and columns by Ralph Bennett. Search by any word in an article, or narrow the list by publication, year or topic.
27 articles, page 2 of 2
Sometimes irony is shrouded in the mists of forgotten history. Thus it is with Pontiac, now sacrificed on the altar of reorganization/survival by General Motors. For Pontiac was a car with enough appeal to not only survive but be a…
America battling its way out of a recession. The U.S. auto industry hit hard. Annual car sales down 30 percent. Imports of smaller foreign cars rising. Talk about déjà vu!
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. –Arthur C. Clarke’s “Third Law”
What’s the best-selling car of all time? I took an informal poll recently and made it a point to ask some people who are real car buffs. I got some interesting answers. One person said 1957 Chevy. Two people guessed…
For the better part of a century the diesel engine has been looked upon as the gasoline engine’s loud, smelly, and coarse-mannered cousin. While the gas engine grew more sophisticated and quiet, moving in the world of sleek sports cars,…
In 1935 there was a sensational automobile called the Auburn Speedster. It was brawny yet rakish with its distinctive “boat tail,” swooping pontoon fenders, and great chrome exhaust pipes coiling out from the supercharged, 150-horsepower, straight-eight engine beneath its long…
The automotive world is abuzz about what might be the next Model T Ford or Volkswagen Beetle—an entry-level sedan to be built in India by Tata Motors Ltd. for about $2,500.