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Topolino.
I am a bit surprised you didn't add your two cents in about the new Topolino. I've been rather astonished at the multiple ill-conceived comparisons to the Smart ForTwo and Japan's kei cars. Don't get me wrong--I love small cars (including my classic Mini) and the Topolino is, as the kids used to say, 'totes adorbs', but a 25mph top speed doesn't sound like it should qualify as 'street legal'. All the streets surrounding my subdivision (eg, if I wanted to pick up a prescription or get a coffee) have 35mph speed limits; the idea of driving that vehicle at 10mph below the legal limit (surrounded by the usual assortment of suburban SUVS ) seems a bit terrifying.
Adam B
The Motor City
Editor-in-Chief's Note: The new Topolino is a glorified clown car/golf cart, another tedious fantasy from Olivier "I'm a genius just ask me" Francois. There is no one out in Auburn Hills apparently who has the balls to tell him to "please just sit down and shut up." Will it sell? Once the handful of gated community dwellers who just have to be the first on their block to have one, then what? What a waste of time and money. -PMD
More on the Topolino.
The Fiat Topolino is a joke. It may be cute. But if the overpaid hacks at Stellantis had any brains, they’d cut their losses, pack up, and leave the country. Fiat sold about 1,500 cars in the U.S. last year. Someone should have taught them about the sunk cost fallacy.
Arthur M.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Corvette Dreams? No, thanks.
In the world of 2026, many of those historic Corvettes -- especially the concept versions -- seem to simply exude those passing eccentricities that everyone dubbed as being "advanced styling" at the time: think dated pompadour long hairstyles on all of the boys in early 1970s sports team photographs, and the universal wearing of bell-bottom pants in the 1960's, as examples.
Many of those Corvettes appear -- to me here, at least -- as excesses from that time period, not unlike those same excesses that adorn today's factory stock Corvette. Every time that I might see one on the road, it appears to me as being little more than some personification of a boy racer's wet dream... actual performance notwithstanding as such. I'm afraid the stylists have lost me on visual appeal.
No sir: Give me any early 1960's original 'Vette, and keep all of the rest. That, or I'll take the 1958 red and white convertible model that I walked away from at a local used car lot in 1976 for $8,500, opting instead to purchase a 1976 Firebird Formula, 1.) Because it was 18 years newer, and 2.) It was $2,000.00 cheaper...(!).
Eddy S.
Newcastle, Ontario, CANADA
Corvette love.
I was into muscle cars and never gave the Corvette or any sports car much of a look until I was about to turn 40, then I started looking. I had a Grand National Buick at the time and had gotten used to the turbo lag, the V6 turbo cars didn't make me want to jump up for joy - 3000 GT, Talon, etc. The '90 Corvette I test drove had instant power and just felt better. I was about to order a new '91 Corvette when I got sent to Gulf War I. When I came back in April of '91, the Chevy dealer told me to wait for the '92 since it was going to have 50 more horsepower. I waited and ordered the 92. It was delivered the day after my 41st birthday in '91. Of course, it had the early OptiSpark and it failed on Christmas Day of '91. I replaced twice to get the latest OptiSpark installed. The second generation OptiSpark lasted 100,000 miles. In '97, I met my future wife at a Corvette show. She was driving a '93 Corvette at the time. Shortly after that, she ordered a new '98. That started our family collection of Corvettes. We've owned ten so far. Numbers eight and ten are still in the garage. The No. 8 is a 2013 60th Anniversary 427 Convertible; and the No. 10 is a 2025 ERay. We love the Corvette, no need to say!
Tuna
Mustang, Oklahoma
The great old days.
Peter, I loved the Corvette article and reminiscing about your brother Tony's exploits. I will never forget when he invited me and a buddy out to Michigan International Speedway while he was testing his Trans-Am car. He drove me around the track and I was never so scared in my life... lol. Some experiences you never forget. I also love the Woodward Avenue tales. My brother Jimmy and I lived out there when we talked my mom into getting a 454 Chevelle. AH... the good old days.
Keep fighting the fight. It kills me that the auto industry is what it is today.
Eddie Bracken
Birmingham, Michigan
Forever Corvette.
The Corvette has a way of burning its existence into your soul. My father bought a 1958 Corvette when my mother was pregnant in 1976. Before I saw the light of this life I had a car ready to capture my attention.
A 1963 Coupe was his first, followed by a ‘73 that I remember well. Then a ‘76 that was as performance as a ‘76 could be. A ‘78 Silver Anniversary car that he absolutely hated. Then a couple of C5s appeared long after I’d moved out and started my adult life.
The ‘58 eventually was sold and it ripped my heart out. A link to my childhood. Everything I gathered and kept from those early childhood moments came back. My father explaining its unique wash board hood and trunk irons. How they were true roadsters and not convertibles. The sound of its RE code solid-lifter 327, and how it originally was installed in a 1962 Corvette. The smell of the exhaust. The "tink" of its exhaust manifolds when they cooled. How it absolutely came alive above 4,000 rpm and sounded like a completely different car.
Last week at age 78 he bought a 1969 roadster. Everything came flooding back again, this time around the C3 cars he had. I found myself telling my sons the same things my father told me. I don't think there's another object a man can purchase that grabs your soul more than a Corvette.
JRR
Plymouth, Michigan