Smart Money

It starts at $11,590. Yes, the smart car (the makers prefer lower case) has arrived in America. Actually Roger Penske's Penske Automotive Group has been taking reservations for the smart for about a year; the first cars were delivered last month.

I saw my first smarts in Paris in 2001. A two-passenger urban automobile, the smart was powered by a three-cylinder 600 cc turbo gasoline engine or an 800 cc turbo diesel. Transmission was a 6-speed automanual. Just 98.4 inches long, the smart weighed 730 kg (1609 lb.). A prime attraction of the car, in addition to its economy of operation, was ease of parking, although some drivers are known to take liberties with the rules. In some places they can park perpendicular to the curb, which greatly increases density. Certainly with parallel parking two can park as easily as one; comparison with a recent Citroën puts it in scale. Smart was not the first urban concept; some years ago Renault built a working model of a similar car whose rear wheels folded forward for parking.

All smarts have a tridion chassis that encircles the passenger compartment, painted either black or silver. Body panels, which are removable, come in six colors, though white, black and silver seem most popular. Some decorative touches are occasionally seen, and the smart has been popular in promotional dress.

For a while there was a four-passenger smart, the forfour, a Mitsubishi-based design made in Holland. The two passenger car, called "fortwo," is made in Hambach, France, by a division of Daimler AG (née DaimlerChrysler, née Daimler-Benz AG). It thus becomes the first French-built car sold in the US since Peugeot left in 1992 (although the cars bear the VIN country code of Germany).

Canada has had smart cars since 2004, and they've proved quite popular. This one was visiting Connecticut in 2006 while being tested by Consumer Reports. Canadians got a diesel version, not sold here. The US models have a 1-liter normally-aspirated Mitsubishi gasoline engine and a five-speed automanual gearbox.

The other day I visited my local (50 miles) smart center, as the dealerships are called. Part of the Inskip megamall in Warwick, Rhode Island, it's modestly hosted in a large Mercedes store. Despite stories that smarts were zooming off the lots into buyers' loving hands, I found seven still in stock. It will be, no doubt, a cult car, not simply economical transportation. Smart money, as it happens, is not the cheapest sticker in town. For less, one can buy a Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent or Chevrolet Aveo (think Daewoo), all Korean four-seaters.

First CarPorter to spot a street smart is VW guru Steve Mierz, our Shoreline Scout. He saw this one in front of the post office in Stony Creek, Connecticut. Its smitten owner had already snapped up an appropriate vanity plate. Need I say more?

Hawks and Doves

Studebaker's last new bodies came in 1953. In 1956 sedans were given more massive noses and tails in order to look contemporary, but a different approach was called for on the lithe, low coupe body. Instead, a more modest nose- and tail-job was accomplished with very little sheet metal change, just a new "bustle" trunk lid and a hood with a Mercedes-like grille.

In 1955 there had been nine different variations on the coupe, two levels of trim on the pillared coupe and one hardtop in both six-cylinder Champion and eight-cylinder Commander guise, plus one coupe and two hardtops in the President series. Top of the line, in President only, was the Speedster with special interior and dashboard, the latter with Stewart-Warner instruments on an engine-turned background. Many disliked '55's gaudy grille, but Bob Hope seemed very happy with his Speedster.

The Hawk line, as the 1956 coupes were called, comprised four models: Flight Hawk with six-cylinder engine, Power Hawk with Stude's 259 cid 2-barrel V8, Sky Hawk with Stude 289 cid 4-barrel V8, and Golden Hawk with a 352 cid Packard V8 and Ultramatic transmission. The Power Hawk was pillared, the Sky and Golden Hawks hardtops. The Flight Hawk could be had either way. The Golden Hawk alone had modest fins, which close examination showed to be a quickie appliqué.

By 1957, Packard V8s were no longer manufactured and with fewer than 20,000 Hawks sold in '56 Studebaker probably figured that four models were too many. So for '57 there were just two: Silver Hawk and Golden Hawk. The Silver Hawk was a coupe, the Golden Hawk a hardtop, and both had more prominent fins, again an appliqué. The Silver Hawk had a choice of three engines, a six or two sizes of V8s. A Paxton supercharger enabled the 289 cid Golden Hawk to equal the Packard engine's 275 bhp. Minor trim changes occurred for 1958, '59, '60 and '61. The last Golden Hawks were 1958s; '59s came only in Silver, after which the cars were simply "Hawks." A Packard Hawk with unattractive fiberglass fishmouth was launched in 1958, but mercifully put down with the other Packard cars at year's end.

The coupe's svelte lines, originally penned by Bob Bourke of the Raymond Loewy studios, still looked good in 1962, but Studebaker had Brooks Stevens do an update. Modifications below the belt were modest; the principal change was a new formal roofline for the car introduced as the Gran Turismo Hawk. The dashboard was now faux woodgrain, and in 1963 the supercharged Avanti R2 engine, which made 289 bhp, became an option.

The 1964 GT Hawks exhibited little change, and the closing of Studebaker's South Bend, Indiana, plants in December 1963 spelled the end of Hawk production. The model was not continued after all car operations were moved to Canada. The remarkable thing is that so little change was needed for the coupes to look contemporary in the mid-1960s. In fact they still look good today. From time to time I wish I still had mine.

No, Studebaker never built a Dove model, and despite the plethora of bird names in the car business I don't think anyone else did either.

Rétromobile

The French have a word for it: Rétromobile. Having coined "automobile" from Greek and Latin roots in the late 19th Century, they've given 21st Century flair to what Americans might unimaginatively call an "old car show."

In its 33rd iteration at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, Rétromobile is an exposition of automakers, clubs and vendors, indoors in the halls of Paris Expo. Once the bastion of France's "Big Three," Renault, Peugeot and Citroën, Rétromobile has become a "twofer" as Renault has bowed out. This year Peugeot and Citroën were joined by Germans Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and, for the first time, Honda, celebrating six decades of motor manufacture.

Some manufacturers give harbor to their marque's clubs, and Citroën has a lot of them, from Traction Avant to SM to Mehari. Independent clubs exhibit, too, as diverse as Club Hotchkiss, Fan Club Panhard, Fiat Club of France, Amicale Deutsch Bonnet, Delahaye, the French Jaguar Drivers Club and the American Car Club de France. This year's theme was "The Woman and the Automobile;" most exhibitors embraced this with dashingly-dressed mannequins, though some went more for household or vocational attire.

Collector car dealers are prominent, with wares ranging from unrestored to interesting to awesome. Bonhams have taken over the Christie's auction at Rétromobile, and their Saturday sale took in some 10 million Euros, nearly a quarter of it from this 1928 Saoutchik-bodied S-Type Mercedes. Also present are restorers, carrosseriers who can make your crumpled body whole again.

One can buy brilliant brass, new and repro components and supplies like tires. There's no rusty metal - the rent is too high. But the automobilia collector can find books and literature, artwork, vintage toys and there's a whole village of model car vendors. And of course this is France, so one is never far from a source of good wine.

Paul Berliet, nonagenarian impressario of Fondation de l'Automobile Marius Berliet at Lyon, traditionally opens the show with a press briefing. Other luminati spotted included the veteran editors responsible for the long-running and late lamented Special Interest Autos magazine. There were few other events within the halls, but an impromptu concert by a Matra racing car between the buildings offered action relief for the boy racers.

It's not Hershey, not Beaulieu, and certainly not Atlantic City. If you've a yen to see how the French do it, there's still time to get to Paris. Rétromobile runs through Sunday, February 17th.

The English Ford

Until 1952 it was, after Austin, the second-best selling import in America. We called them "English Fords," not "British," and the company did, too. Imports began in 1948, of the Anglia and Prefect models, with slightly more than 3,200 sold. They were cute, funky and many of them ended up as hot rods and dragsters. The distinctive English Ford dated back to 1932, when it was decided that the British market needed its own small Ford. The Model Y, designed by E.T. Gregorie, was an instant success and its design was scaled up for the 1934 American Ford.

The first modern English Fords were the Consul and Zephyr of 1951. Unibody designs, they had over-square ohv engines, Consul a 1508 cc four and Zephyr a 2262 cc six. They had suspended pedals (a year before US Fords) and Earle MacPherson's revolutionary strut suspension - long before it saw production in the USA. Convertibles were added in 1953. The top, for which power was optional, also had a mid-range "de Ville" position. In cities they were often sold by import dealers, but in mid-America the Ford tractor dealers handled them, with the result that they healthily outsold Austins and Hillmans in the heartland.

A Consul Mk II arrived in 1956, now with 1703 cc. A matching Mk II Zephyr was up to 2553 cc. Sales were now over 17,000, behind only Volkswagen and Renault. A new Anglia, the 100E, had debuted in 1955. As before, there was a Prefect four-door version.

In 1963, the first of the long-running Cortina series debuted. Designed by Roy Brown, who had been exiled to England after his Edsel was laid to rest, it was a great success. Ordinary sedans were offered, as well as a GT model and a station wagon. The Cortina had a modern interior and disk brakes. A new Anglia, the 105E of 1960 was sold alongside it. Now famous as the Harry Potter car, the 105E also had a van version.

A new generation Cortina was introduced in 1967. A few were offered with a twin-cam Lotus engine (which was based on the Cortina block) as the Lotus Cortina. This one, owned by acerbic motoring journalist Jamie Kitman, once belonged to Colin Chapman.

After falling below 5,000 in the early 1960s, annual English Ford sales in the US rallied to the 20,000 level through 1969. During 1970, however, imports were halted, their niche taken up by the new Pinto. Nearly 250,000 English Fords were sold in the 23 years they were imported. When was the last time you saw one?