By Lisa Hix — Mobile homes have a bad rap. The minute you utter the words, "trailer park," many people will come back with stereotypes about "trailer trash," or slovenly, ignorant, beer-swilling yokels who leave busted appliances and inoperable cars outside their mobile homes. The "trailer trash" caricature has been all over pop culture the past few decades—from Cousin Eddie in the "Vacation" movie series to Jeff Foxworthy's redneck comedy to "The Trailer Park Boys" TV and movie series. And the animosity...

Manning Up: How 'Mantiques' Make It Cool for Average Joes to Shop and Decorate

By Lisa Hix — When you talk to Eric Bradley, he sounds like absolutely the last person you’d expect to put out a swaggering book titled . Bradley, the Public Relations Director at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, comes across not at all like a dude-bro, but more like a character from “Fargo,” soft-spoken and unfailingly thoughtful and polite. A portmanteau of “man” and “antiques,” mantiques are not just for people with a Y chromosome, Bradley insists, even though the tagline of his book is “fueled by...

Murder Machines: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

By Hunter Oatman-Stanford — There's an open secret in America: If you want to kill someone, do it with a car. As long as you're sober, chances are you'll never be charged with any crime, much less manslaughter. Over the past hundred years, as automobiles have been woven into the fabric of our daily lives, our legal system has undermined public safety, and we’ve been collectively trained to think of these deaths as unavoidable “accidents” or acts of God. Today, despite the efforts of major public-health agencies and...

The VW Bug's Rare and Quirky Czech Mate

By Ben Marks — When Southern Californian Justin Pinchot is in the market for a new car, he doesn’t just head for the local Auto Row or browse the latest deals online. He goes farther, a lot farther. For example, a British Columbia mechanic located his latest ride, a 1950 Tatra T-600 Tatraplan, in a Canadian barn. “It had green moss growing on it,” Pinchot says, “but its air-cooled, rear-mounted, four-cylinder pancake engine only had about 19,000 miles, and its original red wool interior was perfect.” "I...

This 1959 Goggomobil Is Insanely Cute and Gets 55 MPG. Why Can’t Detroit Do That?

By Ben Marks — The last time we spoke to Justin Pinchot, he took us on a guided tour of his collection of toy robots. Recently, Justin sent us photos and a video (see below) of his latest toy, a 1959 Goggomobil TS 250 Coupe. According to Justin, less than 67,000 of these German microcars (it’s just 10 feet long) were manufactured between 1957 and 1969. Like other Goggomobil models, the Coupe is powered by a two-stroke, two-cylinder engine, manages a top speed of only 52 mph, and gets somewhere between 50...

Riding the Classics, from Chevys to Schwinns

By Maribeth Keane — I’ve been around Chevy cars my whole life and had them when I was in high school. It’s a lifetime thing. Some people do Fords; others Chryslers. It can be as easy as what your first car was. My first was a ‘59 Chevy El Camino. Actually, I’m a General Motors person. I have also a Cadillac, but mostly Chevrolets. It’s not a particular model I’m interested in. Louis Chevrolet was a French guy, a racer. General Motors bought his company, around 1910. Chevrolet became General Motors’...

Sam Baker, Collector of Petroliana and Vintage Ford Cars and Signs

By Maribeth Keane — I’ve always had an old Ford Model A or something to tinker around with or play with. It may not have been on the road but I was always building or working on something. Around 1975 I bought a Model A that me and my wife were going to restore. I started working on it and went to Carlisle, Pennsylvania to a car show to look for parts. That’s when I saw my first Ford sign. It said Genuine Ford Parts, it was a painted sign, and I bought it. From there I started buying Model A related items and...