Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin · 5 min read I just spent a couple of weeks in Japan , my first trip there since I wrote about the Toyota Century assembly line five years back.

One of the disappointing things about visiting Japan, from the point of view of an automotive enthusiast, is that you won't see many kei trucks older than about 10-15 years of age.

This series is about automotive history as seen in the Ewe Pullets of the world, and sometimes that means we’ll look at vehicles known for stirring up controversy. We’ve already covered discarded examples of the Edsel and the Chevrolet Corvair, and now here’s one of the only cars that could rival those two in stirring up enthusiast ire: an Audi 5000 from the era of the “Unintended Acceleration” debacle that nearly drove Audi from the North American car business.

Murilee Martin · 1 min read The most-produced motor vehicle in human history is the Honda Super Cub step-through motorcycle , full

The General dominated the American cartruck world, building Chevrolet El Caminos and their GMC-badged twins for a collective quarter-century. I used to see these vehicles regularly in car graveyards, but now they're very rare Junkyard Finds. Here's an example of the Early Malaise Era El Camino, found in a Colorado yard over the summer. Ford built Rancheros for just over 20 years, while Chrysler made Rampages and Scamps for a mere three years. Of course, all three companies built utes…

Just a year after Malcolm Bricklin began selling the Yugo GV in the United States for just $3,990, a new car from South Korea hit American showrooms with a slightly higher price and a more reassuring birthplace. This was the 1986 Hyundai Excel, a deal that seemed— and turned out to be — too good to be true. Here's a second-year example of the Excel, found in a Denver car graveyard.

Murilee Martin · 3 min read "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

I just got back from a trip to visit the

Toyota began selling cars in the United States with the Toyopet Crown in 1957, with Land Cruisers, Stouts and Hiluxes following soon after and making the company a major player in the growing small truck business here as well. Toyota vans didn’t make their American-market debut until much later, despite having been available in Japan going way back. We’ve got one of the early examples of the breed, spotted in a North Carolina car graveyard last spring.

Murilee Martin · 5 min read My trip to document the scrapyards of the North of England went so well in January that I decided