by Wallace Wyss - 1971 Pantera Any history of DeTomaso has to be “muddled” because unlike the Ferrari or Porsche world the factory itself put out erroneous information, and had no library to speak of. Histories of DeTomaso cars have be be … [Read more...]
Appreciating The Classic Karmann Ghia
February 27, 2025 By 6 Comments
by Wallace Wyss - Of all the cars I’ve owned, which includes two Mercedes 300SL Gullwings, a Ferrari GTC/4, a Ferrari 308GTS, etc... the one I miss most is the 1971 Karmann Ghia convertible. Why? Because it was dirt cheap to run, and it had … [Read more...]
DeTomaso Pantera Targa – The Car Ford Should Have Made
July 28, 2022 By 2 Comments
by Wallace Wyss - Writing about DeTomaso is perilous for historians because the company's history is full of dark secrets (one great rumor is that DeTomaso bought Ghia for peanuts from a dictator's son when said son was in jail). The … [Read more...]
The Importance of a Carrozzeria to an American Automaker
September 15, 2021 By 2 Comments
by Wallace Wyss - Car companies make mistakes. To me, one of the dumbest moves Ford did in recent decades was to let go of the hallowed name of a famous carrozzeria (coachbuilder) they had bought degrades ago, namely Ghia. … [Read more...]
Book Review: Tom Tjaarda, Master of Proportion
September 8, 2021 By 8 Comments
Book review by Wallace Wyss - Tom Tjaarda, Master of Proportion by Gautam Sen ISBN 978-1-85443-313-8 Dalton Watson, 2021 473 Pages, 825 images $150 plus shipping Tom Tjaarda: Master of Proportions from Amazon Car books … [Read more...]
The Last Tjaarda Pantera
August 18, 2021 By 2 Comments
by Wallace Wyss - Can a car designer go back in time and correct the things he didn't like on the car he designed that was put into production. According to the author of Tjaarda, a new biography, he can. Tom Tjaarda, some 35 years after he owned … [Read more...]
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