About Us

Greetings, but who are we?

By Richard Lentinello

I bought this 1968 Triumph Spitfire MKIII in October 1974, paying $650 to the car’s second owner. I removed the body from the chassis and performed a ground-up restoration. I will never sell it.

If you ever heard of Hemmings Motor News, formerly known as “The Bible of the Old Car Hobby,” from 1998 to 2020 I was the Editor-in-Chief of the company. During that time, I created Hemmings Muscle Machines, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car magazines, as well as the editorial section in Hemmings Motor News, along with several other publishing products, all of which focused on collector cars.

          Although my prior career was interior architecture, to help fuel my passion for old cars, in 1987 I launched my own magazine: Carrozzeria. It was a quarterly that focused on classic car restoration and coachbuilding, and although I was only able to publish six issues, I used Carrozzeria as my resume to get hired as a magazine editor. Yes, it worked! 

          Prior to moving to Vermont to work at Hemmings, those old issues of Carrozzeria got me in the door at CSK Publishing in New Jersey where I became the Editor-in-Chief of High-Performance Pontiac, Vette, MuscleCars and High-Tech Performance magazines. Writing about American muscle cars and testing them at nearby Englishtown Raceway Park’s drag strip was a blast!  Those were the days when my daily drivers were a 1964 Pontiac Le Mans, a 1984 Pontiac Trans Am H.O. with T-tops – yes, the tops leaked, and a 1980 BMW 320i.

          Before I made my way into automotive publishing my journey into the old car hobby actually began back in the summer of 1972 when I sat in a stolen Triumph Spitfire that had been abandoned on a beach in Brooklyn, New York, where I was born and raised. I was so smitten by that little Spitfire I vowed to my friends that day that I was going to buy one when I turned 18. Two years later, in October 1974, I purchased my first car, a red 1968 Triumph Spitfire MKIII. Yes, I still own it.

          Since then, I immersed myself into the automotive scene with great enthusiasm, wanting to learn everything I could about automobiles, including how to repair them, restore them, as well as the fascinating history of every brand and model car ever made. American or European, Asian or Australian, Canadian or South American, prewar or postwar, I wanted to discover everything about automobiles, including every mechanical component that makes them work.

          Through the years I’ve owned many old cars, most of which had been sports cars. Besides my beloved Triumph Spitfire, I’ve owned many other Spitfires including three GT6s and a Herald, a 1956 MGA 1500, 1965 Fiat 1500, 1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, 1967 Austin-Healey 3000, 1967 Jaguar XKE, several Porsche 356 models, a Sunbeam Tiger 260, and even a Lancia Appia roadster. Several Volvo 240s including a 142, plus a 1970 Saab 96, were my entrance into Swedish car ownership.

          My favorite old car of all time is the BMW 2002, preferably the pre-1974 models with round taillamps. I’ve owned and restored six 2002s, plus an early 1969 1600 model. Other BMWs included a 1983 320i and a 1990 325i convertible. Also had two VW’s: a 1970 Squareback and an ’05 New Beetle that I bought new. Oh, and a very reliable 1986 Honda Civic Si and a 2002 Mazda MPV which I always enjoyed driving. Currently, my daily driver is a 2013 Mini Cooper that I bought new; it just turned 127,000 miles and still running strong.  

This 1967 Austin-Healey MKIII was a spectacular automobile, but because I’m nearly 6′-3″ tall, I had very little leg room, and with the steering wheel so close to my chest, I found it very difficult to drive.

          But my appreciation for old cars goes beyond sports cars, as I have owned several noteworthy American cars, too. They include a 1956 Pontiac Chieftain, a pair of 1961 Pontiac Ventura bubbletops, a 1963 Corvair Monza, 1964 Pontiac Le Mans hardtop, 1969 Camaro, 1978 Buick Electra, 1983 Ford Escort SS, 1984 Ford LTD station wagon and an ’84 Pontiac Trans Am. And the 1998 Saturn S2 that I bought new was without question the most maintenance-free car I ever owned; nothing on it ever failed.     

This 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible was purchased in March 2019 from the daughter of the car’s original owner. Equipped with the high-output engine and manual 3-speed, it was enjoyable to drive and easy to maintain. No doubt there will be another Corvair in my future, but this time it will be a 1965-’69 coupe.

          Restoring old cars is my favorite pastime because it’s extremely rewarding to transform a decrepit old car into the beautiful machine it once was. I taught myself how to rebuild engines, brakes and suspensions, and I perform my own body and paintwork. Currently I’m knee-deep in a ground-up, body-off restoration of a 1960 Triumph TR3A, while waiting in the wings is a right-hand-drive 1955 Triumph TR2 that was originally built in Ireland as a knock-down import. And for something completely different, I recently acquired a fairly rare 1967 Ginetta G4; it’s a 1,000-lb. fiberglass sports car from England that’s powered by a Ford 1600cc four-cylinder engine. That’s going to be a very different, yet fun restoration.   

I bought this 1960 Triumph TR3A for $1,500 in 2005 as a basket case. Stashed in a stone barn outside of Philadelphia, it was disassembled and all its parts filled about 40-plus boxes. Nothing was labeled, but it’s been an enjoyable project. More details and photos of its restoration will be posted soon.

          Through the years I’ve amassed a noteworthy automotive library, because when your career is writing about old cars, having the correct information at hand is of utmost importance. There’s a lot of misinformation on the internet, so rarely do I trust what I read online, although nearly all the websites created by single-marque car clubs are extremely valuable as the information they provide has been written by those members who are experts in their field.   

          To date, my library totals well over 1,400 car books and thousands of car magazines, plus a bunch of factory-issued brochures and various forms of automotive literature. Having been so deeply involved in the old car hobby for so long, I’ve been honored to have been asked to be a judge at several prestigious concours. Those events have included The Amelia, Greenwich, Hilton Head, the Elegance at Hershey, and the Greenbriar concours, plus the Bloomington Gold Survivor show.     

          Talking about concours, well before I ventured into the exciting world of automotive publishing, in 1984 I attended my first Pebble Beach Concours; then the entry fee was a mere $25. Since then, I’ve attended the Pebble Beach Concours an additional eight times along with Concorso Italiano and the Monterey Historics at nearby Laguna Seca racetrack. Speaking of vintage racing, starting around 1983 we would attend the annual vintage races at Lime Rock and Watkins Glen. Going to Watkins Glen was always a treat as we would stay at Seneca Lodge and hang out at the bar and reminisce about the Formula One races we attended there in 1978, ’79 and ’80; those were fun times.    

          In 1983 I attended the Hershey swap meet for the first time, and I haven’t been the same since. To say I was blown away by the sheer magnitude of the event would be an understatement. During the ensuing 41 years, I probably have missed only about five or six Hersheys, and I hope to continue going every October while I can still walk. There’s no question that Hershey is the world’s ultimate old car happening.

          While attending Hershey and witnessing the incredible passion people have for old cars and how friendly everyone was, I joined the club that hosts that event – the Antique Automobile Club of America. Commonly referred to as the AACA, in 2023 I was elected to the AACA’s Board of Directors, an honor I’m incredibly proud of. I am also a judge for the AACA’s prestigious Zenith Award, which honors the Best Restoration of the Year. The Zenith is considered to be the equivalent of the street rodding community’s well respected Riddler Award.

          Besides Hershey, I’ve taken part in many other swap meets since the mid-1980s including all the various marque-specific shows at Carlisle in Pennsylvania, along with Charlotte AutoFair, Rhinebeck, and the Daytona Turkey Run at the Speedway. Club conventions, concours, vintage races and local car shows that I attend every year have all played a pivotal role in providing me with a thorough understanding and deep appreciation of the collector-car hobby.

          Coming full circle, I now want to give back to the hobby that has provided me with so many wonderful and memorable life experiences; I don’t want all the automotive knowledge that I’ve gained through the years to be wasted. I want to help others learn about automotive history and experience all that the old car hobby has to offer. There truly is nothing better than owning, restoring and driving an automobile built from an era long past. Their design, style, build quality, use of materials, innate craftsmanship and the on-the-road enjoyment they provide is unsurpassed.

That is why in February 2021, I launched a quarterly publication called Crankshaft, a high-quality journal about all different types of collector cars, American, European and Japanese. For more details about what many of our readers are calling “the best car magazine ever published,” please visit our website http://www.crankshaftmagazine.com.

          Looking ahead, my objective for The World of Classic Cars is to publish a new post several times per week, along with other tasty tidbits of amusing substance. So please keep visiting us to learn and discover the information you need to know about buying, selling, restoring and investing in old cars. It’s going to be a fun journey and thank you for jumping into the passenger seat to keep us company along the way.

          So welcome to The World of Classic Cars.