Tony Matthews
Tony Matthews, MCG’s resident artist and UK bureau chief, says he has always drawn. He remembers the day, age five, when his mother showed him how to draw a house using perspective. From that moment, perspective was more than second nature. “It was an overlay to everything I saw,” he says, “and still is.” Towards the end of his secondary education two options presented themselves: an engineering apprenticeship or the opportunity to work in the local studio of James Allington, the famed technical illustrator. “The sight of a cutaway of a Coventry Climax engine and Hewland transaxle appearing as if by magic on a sheet of white card was irresistible,” says Tony. The next ten years were spent learning the art of technical Illustration.
After five years as resident artist for Motor Sport and Motoring News, Tony worked as a freelance illustrator from 1976 to 2003, producing cutaways of all types of automobiles, mostly competition cars up to and including F1, with all the golden age of CART as his personal favorite. Tony says he is most pleased with the fact that he was trusted by teams to see every detail of their cars, even with the knowledge that he would be visiting a rival team days later. Indeed – and it’s Tony’s unique insights, not only on the cars but on the people who designed, built, and raced them, that we’re proud to share here at Motor City Garage.
Jim McCraw
Freelance writer Jim McCraw has been writing about cars, motorcycles, design, technology, car people and racing for 45 years, in such publications as Hot Rod Deluxe, Super Chevy, Muscle Mustangs, Road & Track, Car and Driver, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Penthouse, Winding Road, The Mercedes-Benz Star, AutoWeek, The New York Times, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Washington Times, Orlando Sentinel, San Diego Union-Tribune, and a number of European publications.
He’s worked for Ford Motor Co. and Ford of Europe managing product, technology, and motorsports public relations in the United States and Europe. He was feature editor and executive editor of Motor Trend magazine, editor and executive editor of Hot Rod magazine, and editor of Super Stock Magazine after a short career in business and industrial publishing in his native Philadelphia.
He co-holds the record for the distance from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Key West, Florida, 96:22, with a small group of other journalists, and has participated in major events such as the Mille Miglia Storica in Italy, the California Mille, the Colorado Grand, the New England 1000, Forza Mille, and four One Lap Of America competitions with two class wins co-driving with Tony Swan. He owns a pristine Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan. He also owns and plays three guitars, a synthesizer and a Kawai keyboard, badly in his opinion.
Rick Voegelin
Rick Voegelin turned to hot rods and street racing as a teenager growing up in car-crazed Southern California in the ’60s. Selecting colleges based on their proximity to race tracks, he is the only grad student in the history of Stanford University to drop out of a PhD program to go to work for a drag racing magazine. That august publication was Car Craft magazine, where Voegelin earned his chops in writing, editing and publishing from 1972 to 1979. Under the influence of Mother Earth News, he fled the madness of Los Angeles in 1980 to settle on the bucolic central California coast where he restored and race-prepared Camaros in a redwood barn. Recognizing that he also had to eat, Voegelin founded High Performance Communications, a marketing, public relations, and advertising agency specializing in motorsports and automotive accounts.
Voegelin has authored more than 1,000 articles and books and managed motorsports PR programs in IMSA and SCCA road racing, NHRA drag racing, and the Indy Racing League. His most recent gig was trackside PR manager for the championship-winning Corvette Racing team in the American Le Mans Series. After more than 40 years in the business and 5 million frequent flyer miles, Voegelin has returned to a life of genteel poverty as a freelance writer and hardcore slot car racer.
Glad I stumbled onto this site thanks for doing the work I’ll spread the word
Jim McCraw is a regular columnist and contributor for Vintage Motorsport magazine. Please add that to your description above.
Vintage Motorsports did an article on my father Edward Hull the engineer at Kar Kraft and the Ford Motor Company at the time. It was fun seeing it all happen. He loved going into a gas station on Woodward back them having someone check the oil only to find out there was no engine under the hood that Mustang, in was a mid engine model. Le Mans, NASCAR Indy, Trans-Am he did it all, those were the days. He passed March 15th, 2014.
Best Wishes,
Nascar Monster Cup Series Driver
Jim Hull
I too, am glad I stumbled ono this site. I am particularly pleased to see my car in the Eagle Field story by Rick Voegelin. Its the red Prefect i to the far right of the image labeled “gassers”. We towed a little over 1250 miles (one way) to attend the May event. It was worth every minute of the 22 hours. Rick nailed the dedication and spirit of Rocky and his crew. The guys in the gasser group were fantastic. It was an incredible experience.
macsmotorcitygarage.com .. for the life .. so so inspired
Like so many auto enthusiasts I have stumbled into your superb website/link. The content is so varied that every motor head will find much to enjoy. The collection of historic motor vehicle films are priceless , particularly the racing films. Now I have to figure out how to operate your Search function to re-access the Grand Prix racing film regarding supercharged engine history up to the 1939 racing season. The Word Press system is great , I am just not smart enough to understand the game. I will send an e-mail inquiry to Bill McGuire’s attention. Thanks again for this wonder-filled library of automotive history. Jonathan Richards at Chesterfield, MO
Please add me to your email post list. Thanks, Bob Goldstein
Sorry, we don’t have one as yet. There are web readers available that perform the identical function.
How do I subscribe tto this?
Looking forward to being on your email post list. Thanks, Bob Goldstein
Hello,
It was truly a pleasure discovering your website on Facebook. Having grown up in the realm of the Motor City of Detroit and having been very into cars as so many of us were I would like to ask if the little machine shop On Ewald Circle off of Grand River Avenue jogs a memory or any stories about the proprietor Joe Lischin. not sure about the spelling of the last name. He was the go to guy in town where one could buy a reground cam for just $50 with the old cam as the core deposit. He helped me get a lot more from my stock Chev. 265 cu in.. My 55 Chev hardtop became the one to try and beat in those cruising days of the mid 50’s. Also, the parts place called “Hollywood Automotive” where you could buy most anything you were looking for in the modifications category,engine adapters or whatever.Between cruising the drive ins and patronizing these outstanding vendors, and following Hot Rod Magazine, one could be on top of their game. Thanks for your awesome website!
Bill Bennett
Here is a little piece of what goes through my mind now and then.In thinking it i realize it is strictly a fantasy of course ,but, Thought I’d share my sentiment with those who are
right at the forefront of all things automotive.
Meant to paste and forgot.
My wish I may,wish I might.. train of thought today… It would be such a nice concept for the automobile companies to produce some of these older models into modern day automobiles like some individuals are doing.Kind of like Chrysler did when they brought out the PT Cruiser some years ago. The full fendered cars had such aero styling that to me never gets dated.
Commenting on the closed article on the Stone, Woods and Cook car about not being aware that the owner were black. I own the original Super Stude 41 Studebaker Gasser Coupe that was also owned and driven by a black man who owned a Shell Gas Station in So. Central L.A. named Ernie Nicholson. It was a AA/GS car that held the top venue at Lions, Irwindale and O.C. raceway at the same time, at 169MPH. Recently got the car out of paint, be assembling engine soon.. Hope to have it back on track soon. Thanks Ted McClure Gasser Ted’s Hangout Las Vegas, Nv. find us at Gasserted’s Hangout on Facebook….
Still looking for any photos for a co worker of mine Dave Dunaway 60’s Driver for Chrysler
Got a ’41 Lincoln that looks to have some history to it. Anyone familiar with ’em? Not tech savvy getting hang of it.
-Tom
I have seen your business name around the internet several times. Usually it is in regards to the 63 Chevy 427 Mystery motor. Someone has given you some bad information. I was there, I lived it, I even wrote a book in which I included a chapter on the subject. First, every time I see you mention it, you have a photo of a 409 engine and not the Mystery motor. I have photos , names, stories, etc that I’m willing to share. I just want to se it corrected. Thank You, Mike Clements “The Crew Chief’s Son” is available from Amazon or directly from McFarland Publishing in NC
You don’t appear to be referring to any of our stories here. Best regards, mcg
I need a guest post on your site
What is the guest post price at
Waiting for your reply
Thanks
There were probably too many products to mention and name in the film about the Ionia Manufacturing plant, but under the A.O. Smith management, Mercury Cougars in 1968 were turned into the XR7-G model, concurrently with the 1968 Shelby Mustangs. In the case of the Cougar, it was a one-year-only model. But by far, the Ionia plant was most famous for building station wagon bodies for Detroit auto manufacturers. Information about the Cougar XR7-G model is available in the Classic Cougar group on Facebook.
Comment on slant sixes–Chrysler actually had a turbo 225 prototype. I’m not sure of the date other than mid 70s.
May I have permission to republish images of the Chrysler “Norseman” concept car, downloaded from your website? The is for a young person’s book.
G’day McG,
I’d like to get permission to reproduce your article on Packard’s 1929 Straight 12 Experiment. If permission is granted it would appear in our Club Magazine, “The Packardian”, which is the journal of the Packard Automobile Club of Australia Inc. The magazine has a small circulation of 170 copies every second month. The club is always looking for interesting Packard related articles to help fill the pages of the magazine, if you agree, this could be one of them.
Yours sincerely
Malcolm Harris
Secretary/PACA Inc
Your Buick 215 article missed its best use in the Morgan, +8
Cool site, good writing.
I’m the guy who bought the Frua Larks out of an Italian junkyard, had them stuffed into a container and shipped to Los Angeles in July 2004.
Here are some pics of the day they arrived.
I was never able to get around to restoring them but they were sent to a friend in Canada who has been slowly bringing one back.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=PDrnec&set=a.10158581273326824
I read the article on Mike Kollins 1958 Duesenberg and I know who built it – my father. I have photos of him working on the car in his shop in Dearborn. I’ve been looking for it for years.
Should look into the design, development and testing of the Oldsmobile quad-4, It was a unique engine that had a lot of potential that had some problems initially before production. If someone is interested I can give some details and history. I designed the head gasket that was released for production and spent a lot of time with both of the release engineers. a guy by the name of roger Lundquist was the original engine man and the design came from his brain. If there is some interest contact me.
I too, stumbled on this site through Hemmings, and have enjoyed it for about a year now. I particularly appreciate the literate style employed. It makes wonderful reading, and I never want to stop reading at the end of an article. The videos are especially appreciated. Thank you so much for all your hard work in assembling the content for this wonerful site.
I remember al those in your list. My favorites were the Hubley’s. Why? Well i used my skills taught me by relatives to do the Body-Work, that removed all the seams .When painted with Auto paint they looked Great!
My car obsessed father recently passed at the age of 78. He collected anything to do with American hot rods. I have a complete set of Hot Rod magazine dating back to 1950. From 1950-1978 are in binders that were provided from the magazine to form volumes. I do not have the space for the magazines and would like to donate them to a organization like yours.
Our team, at Corsia Logistics, has been following the blog for a number of years now. Thanks for great content!