The Toyota WiLL Vi was a compact car launched in Japan in January 2000 as part of WiLL, a shared brand created by companies from several industries. Its carriage-inspired body was unusual enough. The
What was the Renault Safrane Biturbo? It was a high-performance version of Renault’s luxury flagship, developed with Hartge and Irmscher. A twin-turbo V6 drove all four wheels, while the body re
What was the Mercedes braking bag? It was an experimental underbody airbag shown as part of the ESF 2009 safety programme. When sensors judged a collision unavoidable, the device would deploy a high-f
A delivery van usually gets noticed because it is blocking something. Nissan found another way: give it a face, a rounded shell and the proportions of a snail that has somewhere to be. The S-Cargo
The usual history of the rearview mirror is wonderfully neat. Ray Harroun entered the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 with a mirror attached to his Marmon Wasp. He drove alone while his competitors
Open the door of an American-market performance car from the early 1980s and something may appear terribly wrong. There is the dramatic driving position, a powerful engine and perhaps a body design
A third brake light is remarkably easy to ignore. It sits in the rear window or above the tailgate, performs one job and receives considerably less attention than the lamps surrounding it. That ano
The automobile conquered continents, crossed deserts and survived two world wars before anyone decided it desperately needed a secure place for a paper cup. For much of automotive history, drivers
The Corvette Grand Sport name goes back to the 1960s, when Chevrolet built a lightweight racing version of the original Corvette. The badge returned in later generations, usually marking a car with ex
There was a time when checking automatic transmission fluid involved a dipstick, a rag, and five minutes under the hood. Now the dipstick has vanished. The filler may be buried beneath the car, the fl