Stories To Keep Us Warm

Here in northern Michigan, it’s tough not to get a bit down over the notion that it will be at least four long months before we get the chance to drive our old cars again. So we try to pack the Winter issue with stories that are a bit more experiential, even if they can’t fully compensate for actually being able to drive a favorite car.

This issue, we’re happy to have the brilliant Ezra Dyer back, with his take on not just the most iconic, but all of the production gullwing cars — the Mercedes-Benz 300SL, Bricklin SV-1 and DeLorean DMC-12. And just for fun, we brought along a Mercedes SLS AMG, the very latest gullwing.

Last issue, Publisher Sass wrote about the dawn of the Malaise Era. This issue, Mike Mueller bookends that piece with the happy ending — the return of American performance in the mid-1980s. It ushered in a new age of automotive athleticism, which we’re still enjoying today. His story shines a bright light on these landmark cars from the decade of big hair and new wave music.

Executive Editor and resident automotive scholar Jonathan Stein continues his “Psychology of Collecting” series with an examination of the thrill of the hunt. For most of us, searching, negotiating and sealing the deal are drudgery. For these folks, it’s everything.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a Winter issue without something freezing cold. We’ve already done snowmobiles, so why not ice driving school? Hagerty’s UK Marketing Director Marcus Atkinson journeyed to a former hunting lodge near Sweden’s Arctic Circle, then hopped into one of the most tail-happy cars of all-time, the Porsche 911. The instructor’s initial advice to Marcus? Forget everything you know about driving. Anyone who’s ever done a donut in a deserted snow-covered parking lot needs to read this one.