Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we have reports from The Atlantic Cities, Vanity Fair and UBM Future Cities.
It's a point of pride in Boston that the T is the oldest subway system in the country. And we're reminded of it when the Green Line tracks catch on fire when it's hot or cold outside. Still, Boston Globe editor Doug Most's new book, The Race Underground, highlights some interesting pieces of history from the Subway race.
The reality is New York should have beaten Boston. They were so far ahead in so many regards. They just couldn't get their act together. Like in 1891, they had a transit bill and were ready to do it, and the bidding process fell through. They should have gotten there sooner than Boston did. Boston, maybe because it's a smaller town and maybe a little easier to move, was able to get it approved and to move quicker.
The Citroen SM is a beloved French classic around here, and it lived far too short of a life. One way to make it better, though, might've been to chop the roof off. That's where the Citroën SM Mylord Décapotable (convertible) by Chapron and Brett Berk come in.
Even more stunning, was a limited-edition convertible version of the SM that was created by classic French coachbuilder Henri Chapron. Chapron had gotten his start during the 1920s creating custom-car bodies for luxurious Gallic brands like Delage, Talbot, and Delahaye. He went on to help Citroën design a factory-made convertible version of its radical DS; more than 1,300 were produced.
Chapron's "décapotable" version of the SM is far more rare. Known as the Mylord, only a handful were ever produced, and each cost twice that of a basic SM. They're even more valuable now; an original Chapron Mylord SM just sold at auction for $750,000.
If people who work at companies like Facebook and Apple, which are based in the suburbs, want to live in the city, who's going to stop them? Tech buses shuttling workers so they don't have to clog up freeways should be a good thing, but of course they've gone and ruined that idea.
Being a part of the community is crucial. The darkest thing about the tech buses is that they have turned their backs on communities. They have chosen to construct their own bubbles, their own echo chambers.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
In Building Subways, Boston Got Its Act Together Before New York Did