One thing I realized while looking for a photo of the June 1984 issue of Road & Track is that the one I have on my desk is different from the ones whose photos appear online. So I took a pic of the one I’ve got. The difference is that the ones I see elsewhere don’t have the text above the Road & Track logo. None at all.
I assume this is just because I have the international edition (the price is in pounds as well as dollars), but still interesting. My collection, of course, is a mixed bag – as I read these as opposed to having them in archival folders – having them all be a matched set is less important than having all the issues in some form.
As for the issue itself, though I am sometimes critical of their design, the truth is that I love when a concept car makes the cover. This particular Bertone creation, the Corvette-based Ramarro, is a lot prettier from the side than it is from the view the editors chose to run with, and it’s quite an interesting styling exercise although as far as I can tell, it never went very far.
A strange thing about this one is that the editorial schedule appears to have suffered some delays as, despite being the June issue, this one is suffering from the offseason blues, something that is usually long gone by the June issue. Fortunately, there’s a report on the Daytona 24 hours to liven it up.
Notable here is the launch, at the Geneva show, of the Ferrari GTO (now usually referred to as the 288 GTO to differentiate it from the 250). This one gets my vote for the best-looking Ferrari ever. The 308, which is pretty, needed that extra little length and aggressiveness to push it over the top, and the GTO delivers. In a sea of beautiful Ferraris (and the awful 1980s Testarossa), this one will always be my favorite, I think.
Another great article was Peter Egan’s drive from Southern California to the Midwest in a Westfield Eleven… which proves both reliable and fun, defying all expectations and logic.
On a sadder note, the R&T family said goodbye to Elaine Bond, who died as the issue was being prepared.
All in all, a pretty good issue for an off-season special!
Gustavo Bondoni has recently completed the Emily Plair Trilogy with the final novel, Amalgam. Find out what happens to each of the characters in the satisfying conclusion, which you can purchase here.
Classically Educated 
The interesting life we had before the internet. I inherited a good collection of 1970s auto magazines from my father and during the 1980s and 90s, I bought my own. In the early 2000s, my interest shifted toward muscle cars and hot rods so I had a bunch of magazines about it too. They are all gone now, I gave them all away.
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I had them in a basement for about 10-15 years during the 2000s and 2010s, then I brought up and now I’m trying to complete my collection. They’re fascinating both on the automotive front and on the social side.
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