Autoweek magazine has been part of the Automotive News family and Crain Communications for 41 years. But its roots go back to 1958, when it was founded as Competition Press.
Autoweek's 60th anniversary issue, dated July 16, 2018, includes a feature on "the cars, the scaffolding upon which we build our name."
Here are excerpts:
It's not until 1972 that we test-drive our first Japanese car, the Toyota Carina, in only the third official "Driving Impression" story to appear in the magazine. "Visually, the Carina is clearly a Toyota. The two-door, the only model to be brought in the U.S., is a semi fastback with a strong resemblance to the Corolla. It is longer and there is more room in it, which will be appreciated by unliberated mothers who scorn the pill." Still not sure what that means.
"Here is the car/van/wagon/motor vehicle of the future. And this is the future." Words from 1984 that could apply today — as the landscape gets overrun with compact crossovers — were instead directed at the Dodge Caravan, perhaps the last genuinely new automotive territory discovered (before all the coupe-like-SUV mutants that've begun to run amok; some species should go extinct).
Ah, the Yugo. Before one sailed off the Mackinac Bridge, people (almost) took the car seriously. Malcolm Bricklin's senior VP even managed to keep a straight face: "Put the 1,500cc engine and a five-speed in this car, and you've got a little GTI-type car." In fact, we (almost) praised it in October 1985: "A straight line, in fact, is where it feels 'best,' because even with a four-wheel independent suspension it understeers like a tugboat and its little steel-belted radials are gonna wake up the neighborhood if you try to take corners fast. What you've got to remember is, it's not made for fun, just basic transportation. Oh yeah, and the fuel gauge fluctuates a lot and the low fuel light comes on every time you brake hard with less than half a tank. Which, since the tank holds less than eight gallons, happens a lot ... But right now it's the hottest thing on the market."
In this, the 30th year that Mazda's MX-5 Miata has zoom-zoomed its way around the planet, it's perhaps easy to forget what a splash the little British-cum-Japanese roadster made when it debuted in summer 1989. "Mazda's MX-5 Miata is our own idealized memory of sport roadsters: It recalls what we loved about them and forgets the nastiness." Banzai, Miata!
Retrofuturism at its best? Or worst? We rather liked the throwback Ford Thunderbird when we first drove it in May 2001, enjoying the "relaxed sportiness," as the executives described it. "The car is more of a boulevardier than a sports coupe," we wrote. "It is stylish before it is anything else." Has it aged as well as the original to bear the name? You be the judge.
GM built its eponymously branded EV1 from 1996-1999, leasing (not selling) just 700 in total — but the impact the all-electric vehicle had rippled far beyond its numbers. When GM ceased production and subsequently refused to renew leases, the move not only stirred up controversy — the conspiracy theorists went wild! — the decision spawned a Sundance Film Festival entry ("Who Killed the Electric Car?") in 2006. We gave it 4.5 stars out of 10.