by Jonathan Roth | Nov 6, 2025
I love investigating specific subcultures, especially car subcultures. Doing so provides a unique lens through which to understand the complex dynamics of the broader society, including power, identity, defiance, and cultural change. Consider slab cars, for example....
by Evan Griffey | Oct 30, 2025
In Part 1 of this piece, we looked at Colin Chapman’s career up to the mid-60s. In this part, we’ll pick it up in 1965. Lotus wins the Indianapolis 500 In 1965, Chapman and Clark teamed up and made more racing history, this time across the pond at the Brickyard. Their...
by Evan Griffey | Oct 23, 2025
Car designers have a lot of brain synapses firing. Some designers are driven by the pursuit of beauty, while others are motivated by the pursuit of speed. Giorgetto Giugiaro, Marcello Gandini, and Battista Pininfarina, though responsible for cars that raced, were...
by Jonathan Roth | Oct 16, 2025
If you’ve read my work here on Shop Press, you know I’m a sucker for chrome and mid-century automotive design. This week, I’d like to take a look at one of my favorite examples of that era: “Dagmar bumpers,” the colorfully common slang used to...
by Jonathan Roth | Oct 9, 2025
Back in the early aughts, I lived in the Washington, D.C. area for about nine years. Since my parents live in Pennsylvania, this necessitated many three-and-a-half-hour drives (as little as three, if I was lucky) back home for holidays or just a regular visit. At the...
by Peter F Meier | Sep 11, 2025
Nearly every conceivable version of the internal combustion engine has made its way to the Indy 500. But it was a 1931 entry of a rather unusual type that made it into the record books as the first to complete the entire 500-mile race without a pit stop. That entry...