mollyfamwatFor many, 2020 will remain the strangest year in history. One thing, however, remains unchanged. The love relationship between Americans and their automobile industry continues. The Wall Street Journal’s My Ride column presents cars and owners with amazing stories every week. Take a look back at some of the highlights of 2020.
Rachid Bali, from Scottsdale, Ariz and Marrakech, Morocco, fell in love with cars and motorcycles as he grew up in Casablanca and watched American TV series such as CHiPs and Magnum P.I. Today, Mr. Bali is a former student at the University of California, Berkeley. Bali, CEO and owner of an English translation company, rides with his family (his wife Rosalia Bali, daughter Saadia and miniature schnauzer Lola) through the desert on his Ural cT 2015, a rugged Russian motorcycle with sidecar known for its off-road skills. Yes, the dog has special glasses (actually doggoggles), but the Baligi doesn’t let them drive.
Pictures: Adventures on a Russian motorcycle
As Rashid Bali crosses the desert in his VT Ural 2015, he feels like a protagonist in his own Westerner.
Caitlin O’Hara for the Wall Street Journal.
1 in 10
•••••
1 of 10
Show Caption
When Rachid Baligh rides his 2015 Ural cT through the desert, he says, he feels ‘like I am the protagonist in my own western.’
Caitlin O’Hara for The Wall Street Journal
The singer and her T-bucket make beautiful music together
Jazz singer, pianist and composer Candice Springs of La Verne, Tenn. loves cars so much that she owns five of them, including a classic Jeep and a Corvette. When she first saw this T-Bucket when she put it in the column for the first time in February, it was so cool that I couldn’t believe my eyes. What’s a bucket of T? It’s actually a hot rod built from
Ford
Model T, where the roof is cut off to resemble a bucket in which the driver climbs. It was based on a model T-body from 1927, a model A-body from 1928 and a 454-engine of a dump truck. There’s a bumper sticker on the back of the hot rod: Hell on wheels.
Pictures: Hire the T-Bucket
Singer, pianist and composer Candice Springs is photographed in her T-bucket from 1927-28. The T-Bucket is a hot rod built from a Ford T-Model.
William DeShazer of the Wall Street Journal.
1 in 9
•••••
1 of 9
Show Caption
Singer, pianist and songwriter Kandace Springs photographed in her 1927-28 T-bucket. A T-bucket is a hot rod built out of a Ford Model T.
William DeShazer for The Wall Street Journal
Classic Lamborghini that needs its own talent agent.
For many car enthusiasts, Lamborghini Countach remains the most daring car ever. But Matt Farah’s 1988 Countach 5000 QV has even more credibility on the street. She had two photo sessions with Cindy Crawford. He appeared in a layout of a GQ magazine with Diddy, and in a video for the band Muse. M. Farah, co-founder of the car enthusiast podcast and YouTube Smoking Tires channel and owner of Westside Collector Car Storage in Los Angeles, purchased the Countach in 2018. He drives that car a lot, but not lately. In September he borrowed a car from the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles for the exhibition Supercars: A time of spectacle and speed.
Pictures: Supercar Supercars
Matt Farah, co-founder of the podcast for car enthusiasts and YouTube Smoking Tires, bought this 1988 Lamborghini Cunatura in 2018.
Emily Berle of the Wall Street Journal
1 of 11
•••••
1 of 11
Show Caption
Co-founder of the car-enthusiast podcast and YouTube channel The Smoking Tire, Matt Farah bought this 1988 Lamborghini Countach in 2018.
Emily Berl for The Wall Street Journal
She ended up in a Subaru.
Rebecca Nguyen changed her father’s engine oil when she was 5 years old. In her early twenties she was the owner of this 2003.
Subaru
Impreza WRX and worked in catering. The suspension of the car started to fail, and instead of buying the usual Subaru parts, they started looking for better performing replacement parts. This decision has changed my whole life, she explains in a column in July. Mrs. Nguyen entered the automotive industry, which led her to her new career. Today she is Marketing Director of ClassicCars.com and was involved in the launch of the Phoenix Collector Car Show of the Future, which attracted 12,000 people last January before the pandemic began. Meanwhile, his high-performance Subaru is being modified in just about everything.
Pictures: Upper arm low vehicle alignment
Rebecca Nguyen’s WRX was part of the first wave of this Subarus imported into the United States.
Caitlin O’Hara for the Wall Street Journal.
1 of 7
•••••
1 of 7
Show Caption
Rebecca Nguyen’s WRX was among the first wave of these Subarus to be imported into the U.S.
Caitlin O’Hara for The Wall Street Journal
Maserati as in the dream of a vintage car enthusiast
Already in 1960 this Maserati Tipo 61 birdcage took part in his first race in Germany. It was owned by racer Lloyd Lucky Kasner, who named his team Camoradi (as written on the car) for the Casner Motor Racing division. It is now owned by Jeff O’Neill, owner of Robert Hall Winery and founder of the Sonoma Speed Festival in California. Mr. O’Neill has always had a passion for cars with groundbreaking technology or engineering, and this rare example qualifies. It is built on a light and innovative chassis consisting of about 200 small tubes. Without a body she looks like a birdcage, that’s her name.
Pictures: Escape in a birdcage
Jeff O’Neill drives a 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 into the corners of the Sonoma Raceway. At the time this car was built, Maserati was in rivalry with Ferrari.
Jason Henry from the Wall Street Journal.
1 of 11
•••••
1 of 11
Show Caption
Jeff O’Neill powering his 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 through bends at Sonoma Raceway. At the time this car was built, Maserati was locked in a racing rivalry with Ferrari.
Jason Henry for The Wall Street Journal
Italian concept car that has broken all conditions
In 2018 Philip Sarofim, founder and partner of venture capital company Trousdale Ventures, drew up a list of dream cars, particularly Italian concept cars from the 1960s and 1970s. At the top was this Lancia Stratos HF Zero from 1970, designed by Marcello Gandini of the Italian design agency Bertone. It has broken with all the traditions of design, technology and popular thought, as Mr. Sarofim said in a February column. HF means high precision, and the car itself is only 33 inches high. Mr. Sarofim was able to track down the owner and bought the car, which he drives all over Los Angeles, for fun and because, he says, these cars fall apart when you don’t drive them. If you think this car is the strangest four-wheeled thing you’ve ever seen, you’re not alone.
Phillip Sarofim (Lancia Stratos HF Zero, 1970) photographed in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
Photo:
Ted7 in the Wall Street Journal
Mr. Sarofim assumes ground zero. The machine is only 33 inches high.
Photo:
Ted7 in the Wall Street Journal
It’s not just any minivan, it’s a mini.
In Palo Cedro, Norm Nelson, a retired industrial diesel engine manufacturer, and his wife Jesse Nelson, a retired commercial real estate agent, have a unique hobby that might be a better word. They transform classic figurines into new creations with unusual themes. They built a vintage mini whisky race called the Pint Syz. In June they arrived in a convoy with their vintage mini-truck, Tiny Tows. They are currently building the Ecto-1 Ghostbusters attraction of a Mini from 1969 that spent 39 years in a barn in Ohio. It will be equipped with all the roofs and lights, Nelson says, even a reduced rear stretcher to carry our proton packs.
Pictures: It’s not a toy, it just looks like.
Norm and Jesse Nelson with Tiny Tows, a tow truck they built in 1962 on an Austin Mini pickup truck at their house in Palo Cedro, California. One of their many mini creations, Tiny Tows, is a tribute to the truck drivers.
Max Whittaker for the Wall Street Journal.
1 in 9
•••••
1 of 9
Show Caption
Norm and Jesse Nelson with Tiny Tows, a tow truck they built out of a 1962 Austin Mini pickup, at their home in Palo Cedro, Calif. One of their many Mini creations, Tiny Tows is a tribute to tow truck drivers.
Max Whittaker for The Wall Street Journal
Life change 458 Spider
After the story of the Chanteria McGilbras Ferrari appeared at the beginning of December, it was flooded with stories. I still get e-mails, she says, LinkedIn,
Facebook,
Instagram… The story of the San Francisco biotech consultant began in the shower, where the word Ferrari came up one morning. She ordered a modified 458 Spider in 2015 and named it Coco. From there she created a foundation for the promotion of young women called Prancing Ponies, named after the Ferrari logo, and launched the first Ferrari rally reserved for women with her girlfriends. As she says in the column: I can’t believe how much we’ve accomplished together in just five short years.
Powerful vehicle catcher Women
Inspired by the 2015 Ferrari 458 Spider, Chanterria McGilbra founded the Prancing Ponies All Woman Car Show, the first of its kind at the annual car weekend in Monterey, California.
Angela DeSenzo for the Wall Street Journal.
1 of 14
•••••
1 of 14
Show Caption
With her 2015 Ferrari 458 Spider as inspiration, Chanterria McGilbra founded the Prancing Ponies All Woman Car Show, the first of its kind at the annual Monterey Car Week in California.
Angela DeCenzo for The Wall Street Journal
Everyone greets the chess player in his or her lane
Many car enthusiasts will recognize the Checker from generation to generation as a famous taxi. Checker Motors Corp. in Kalamazoo, Michigan, produced most of the 20th century. Century on taxis and ended production in 1982. This 1975 chess marathon was bought by Dave Phillips for his wife Kay; her nickname was Keiro, so she signed on the side of Taxi Keiro. It was all very humorous, she remembers in a January column. They still have a car on their farm in High Point, North Carolina. The checks are going well, Mr Phillips says.
Pictures: It’s not a taxi, it just looks like.
Kay Keiro Phillips participated with her children in the chess marathon of 1975 in the seventies and eighties. On the picture you can see her with her grandchildren Davis, left, and Catherine.
Jeremy M. Lange for the Wall Street Journal.
1 of 14
•••••
1 of 14
Show Caption
Kay ‘Kayroe’ Phillips drove her kids in the 1970s and 1980s in the 1975 Checker Marathon. She is pictured with grandchildren Davis, left, and Katherine.
Jeremy M. Lange for The Wall Street Journal
This Thunderbird from 1955 has seen its share in show business.
The 1955 model year is the first for the now legendary Thunderbird, which Ford built to adopt Chevy’s Corvette. The moment Lonnie Paul Johnson saw it, my heart jumped, he said in a March column. That says something, because Mr. Johnson is a singer and songwriter from Los Angeles who knows how to keep a beat. He bought the car about a year ago and learned that among its former owners was Maxen Andrews of the vocal group Andrews Sisters and Freeze Freleng, who created or developed many of the characters in Warner Bros. early cartoons. Mr. Johnson regularly attends his favorite Cars and Coffee meeting on Sundays. It’s so much fun, he says. And that’s exactly what the classic hobby is.
Pictures: History of the Los Angeles T-Birds.
Lonnie Paul Johnson with his 1955 Ford Thunderbird. Mr. Johnson once played guitar in Adler, a band formed by Stephen Adler, the former drummer of Guns N’ Roses.
Emily Berle of the Wall Street Journal
1 of 13
•••••
1 of 13
Show Caption
Lonny Paul Johnson with his 1955 Ford Thunderbird. Mr. Johnson formerly played guitar in Adler, a band formed by Steven Adler, the former Guns N’ Roses drummer.
Emily Berl for The Wall Street Journal
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Related Tags:
mollyfamwat
