James Mays, the author of Rambler Canada, a history of the American Motors plant in Brampton, Ontario, is about to publish a new book.

A Car and a Refrigerator Go to War: Nash-Kelvinator in WWII chronicles the history of Nash-Kelvinator during the war years.

I hope this book is layed out and edited better than Rambler Canada. While it was well written, there seemed to be little or no editorial oversight to that book. The story seemed almost nonlinear. And the reproduction of images was horrendous.

I have higher hopes for this book, because M.T. Publishing is distributing it. Their presentations are always clean and classy. Good luck, Mr. Mays!

Very interesting news about the ill-fated DeLorean.

Stephen Wynne has a dream to build new ones based on the existing part inventory that he owns.

Does this mean that the stainless steel DeLorean is no longer an orphan? (Tell us what you think. Use the "Comments" button below.)

That's the subtitle of the article in the August 2007 issue of Car Collector.

And which car comes in at Number 7? The 1970 AMX, of course.

Sometimes the only way an orphan car survives is by the efforts of tuners, customizers, and hot rodders. Don't believe me? Check out the September 2007 issue of Street Rod Builder for these rodded out orphans:
P. 44: Tim Buck's '41 Willys
P. 46: Harold Meyer's '41 Willys
P. 57: Joe and Jo Coglianese's '40 Nash
P. 110: Dick Applegate's '41 Willys (Check it out near the bottom of this Good Guys page.)

At Torq-O we love a good self-promoter. Other than John DeLorean, there may have been no one better than Andy Granatelli.

Check out the one-pager about him in the September 2007 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.

From racing at Indy to supercharging Studebakers and selling STP, Granatelli was a master performer in all senses of the word. But that outfit he's wearing on page 60? I mean, c'mon. That red tie is so tacky!

The new 1970 Rebel Machine at 1/18th scale by Yat Ming caught our eye. That's only a few inches smaller than a real Metropolitan. The Machine is available here.

It's really hard to write enthusiastically about the cars of the Seventies. Except for certain models here and there, the cars got boxy and underpowered and just (yawn) boring!

But somehow I got excited about the '79 white/gold Hurst/Olds in the September 2007 Hemmings Motor News just because the owner was so excited about having and restoring it. Sometimes an owner's passion is so much more interesting than the object of his passion.

The geodesic dome wasn't the only whacked-out invention that R. Buckminster Fuller created.

He also designed a vehicle I can only describe as Cab Far Far Forward.



Craig Fitzgerald's article on the Dymaxion is in the September 207 issue of Hemmings Motor News.

From Graham-Paige to Hupp to Studebaker and AMC, designer Vince Gardner had a hand in designing some of the most interesting orphans (American and otherwise) of the 20th century.

The term "tortured artist" seems to apply to Mr. Gardner as much as "talented" and "versatile".

Check out the great profile on Vince Gardner by Michael Lamm in the October 2007 issue of Collectible Automobile.

In the Torq-O Film Library, there's a ridiculoulsy rare promotional film for Nash in 1940. At the beginning of the film, an actor says, "Pick your new car out of a hat. They all look alike!"

Funny line. And very true. When I saw pictures of the 1939 Plymouth in the October 2007 issue of Collectible Automobile, I thought it looked really similar to the '39 Nashes.

Am I wrong?