Three words that inspire fear, awe, bust-a-gut laughs, and respect: Javelin. Police. Car.

Yup. Alabama State Troopers had 'em in 1971 and '72. Now Daniel Strohl has the story in the December 2007 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.

These Javelin AMX's are muscle cars with old school growler sirens and AMC's 401's under their lo-o-o-ong Seventies hoods.

(By the way, I love that tacked-on Hemmings plastic license plate in the article's lead photo. Anyone up for some hood sliding?)

The guy with the first name of Cadwallader had some serious chops. He knew how to sell cars.

He could sell Autocars, Locomobiles, and Maxwells like nobody's business. But, like Powel Crosley, his true (ill-fated) love was his own car: the Motorette.

What's in a name? Find out in Jim Hinckley's Independent Thinker column in the December 2007 issue of Cars & Parts.

Dave Duricy pops up again. This time he's singing the praises of the Depression-era fantasy 1934 Packard Eight. It's in the December 2007 issue of Cars & Parts.

Duricy states that Lexus has followed where Packard elegantly forged the trail. Packard showrooms were classy, elegant, and spotless. Packard salesmen didn't have to go running to their data books. They knew their cars. And they would bring them to your house for a demonstration ride.

Plus, Packard had the all-time greatest slogan of any car company: ask the man who owns one.

The Packard Eight in the article was one of only 8,000 cars that Packard built in 1934. They're still cool-looking rides. Ask the man who has kept one.

Here's a cool mash up: a one-ton Willys truck meets the Howe Fire Apparatus Company of Anderson, Indiana.

The result? The 1958 Willys-Howe Commando Fire Truck. Perfect for off-road blazes.

It's in the February 2008 Collectible Automobile.

Patrick Foster interviews the designer whose firm did the designs for the last Studebakers, Bob Marcks. Marcks says that Studebaker only had enough money to redesign the interiors for the '66 Studeys.

Look for the one-on-one in the February 2008 issue of Collectible Automobile.

Even while they were itching to build artillery guns and other war machinery, DeSoto was pumping out some cool cars in the Forties.

Dave Duricy writes a nice article about the the Forties DeSotos in the February 2008 issue of Collectible Automobile.

My faves: the 1940 DeSoto "talking car" (great marketing gimmick!) and the Fifth Avenue appearance package. The hidden headlights remind me so much of Chrysler's concept car from that era: the Thunderbolt.

Kit Foster gives us the facts and figures about the 1936-40 Hudsons. His article is in the February 2008 issue of Collectible Automobile (still, unbelievably, with no web site).

I especially like the attention-getting anecdote about Hudson Vice-President Stuart Baits at the beginning of the story. It's a nice way to begin. (These CA articles inevitably lapse into droning book reports with dense recitations about wheelbase changes, etc., but the heart beats a little faster when there's a wisp of a story about the people who built the cars. Thank you, Kit!)

I especially like the "Duo-Automatic Brakes", the fencer's mask front grilles, and the sliding pickup box in the 1940 Traveler models. And, let's face it, the 1939 woody wagon is a lust object. (Any orphan woody wagon gets extra points in my book.)

I spent a few hours on the phone yesterday with Jack Mueller, author of Built to Better the Best and Tom Dulaney, who recently purchased the AMX/3 push car.

Stay tuned for two new Torq-O podcasts coming soon!

Every town, even yours, harbors strange and wonderful automotive secrets.

My town is Dayton, Ohio, and a few weeks ago, I spotted a truly rare orphan at a local football game. This bug-eyed, wedge-shaped electric car looked like it could fit into the cargo area of my PT Cruiser. (Maybe I would have to fold the back seats down. Maybe.)

When I got home, I started surfing on the net. It didn't take long to discover that this little vehicle with bumpers that looked like they had been retro bolted on was a Comutacar, which started life in 1974 as the Sebring Vanguard Citicar.

The Citicar was a product of the last oil crisis in the '70s. It seems that every time there's a spike in oil, someone dreams up a car the size of a Hot Wheel and makes enough of them to qualify as an orphan. Then there's the inevitable streak of bad luck that shuts down production. Some enthusiast buys the company and builds more.

So it was for the Citcar/Comutacar. It's difficult for me to determine exactly how many were produced. One web site says about 3,500. Others say 2,500. There was a book about the whole Citicar/Comutacar saga called The Lost Cord. Although it's out of print now, I'd love to find a copy.

Either way, I think I'm falling in love with these little in-town cars. The car I spotted features an outlet on the driver's side pillar. All you need is an extension cord to plug the car into your garage outlet.

Now I need to do a podcast with the owner of the Comutacar I saw recently here in Dayton. His license plate is FUELESS. Maybe I could entice him with a fresh pack of AA batteries.