As part of our ongoing proselytization campaign, we test drive America’s newest and oldest Mercedes-Benz diesel-engined vehicles: a 2014 GLK 250 BLUETEC and a 1958 180D. Learn the history, at Vanity Fair.
EXTREME Luxury
I have 5 cool stories in the latest issue of BLACK INK magazine, all of which you could read if you were an AmEx Centurion cardholder, which you’re not. So you’ll have to make do with these crappy scans. Click on each to enlarge and attempt to read.
Private Tour of The High Line’s Unopened Section
I finagled a private tour of Carol Bove’s new sculpture installation “Caterpillar,” which is on an unopened stretch of Manhattan’s High Line Park. My colleague, photographer Justin Bishop accompanied me, which means the photos in this slideshow don’t suck, and weren’t taken with my iPhone. Be transported, at Vanity Fair
Evolution, Shmevolution
If a population of Hawaiian crickets can evolve to stop chirping, cars should be able to make similarly radical leaps. These 10 batshit outliers certainly did. [Part 5 in my 10-part series for Road & Track.]
Need for SPEED
The MazdaSPEED 3 wants to kill you, and you will relish every minute of your victimization. Read all about our adventures with this pocket rocket, at Vanity Fair.
The Evolution of Automotive Advertising
Aspiration. Sexism. Jingoism. Dystopias. You’ll find it all in The Evolution of Automotive Advertising, my latest historical survey for Road & Track.
Automotive Evolution
The first three (out of ten) pieces I wrote for a Road & Track series on automotive evolution went live today. They’re very funny.
– The Evolution of Automotive Comfort
– The Evolution of Automotive Safety
– The Evolution of Automotive Fashion
Modern Misfits #1
My first in a series of pieces for Autoweek, in which we choose an oddball car, and try to figure out why (and where) people bought it. Car number one is Chevy’s bizarre, retro-styled, hardtop convertible truck, the SSR. Read! Learn!
New BMW Art Car!
BMW creates a new Art Car–well, a fleet of 40 of them–for New York’s Frieze Art Fair. And they sound great. My latest for BBC Autos.
Reinventing the Wheel
Carbon fiber, pink alloys, and gold basket weaves. And not a single rim job joke. Read all about the future of what’s going around and coming around, in Vanity Fair.