Will F1 Ever Actually Make It To New Jersey?

Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from Hooniverse, Darren Heath, Man of the World, and Curbside Classic.

F1 has been rumored to be coming to the NYC/NJ area for decades. Decades. Yet it has never happened. Last year we got close with the promise of a grand prix at Port Imperial in Weehawken, NJ. Guess what? It was cancelled at the last minute. Supposedly it's back on. The sheer magnitude of the event and what needs to be shut down in a bustling commuter zone to put it on boggles the mind. Darren Heath takes a look at it and gives some pretty solid reasoning as to why it will end up not happened.

Sure I know it sounds negative of me, especially in the face of such effervescent positivity and exuberant over-hyping by just about everyone in F1. But five minutes – just five minutes – research and rational thinking may make even the most excitable high-fiving, fist-pumping dude pause for a reality check.

I'll let the talking be done below, but this is an awesome read from our hoon friends over at the Hooniverse.

For diecast collectors around the world southeast Asia, namely the city-state of Hong Kong, has always been that mythical mecca of miniature cars. It is the place where they are made, and it was always said to be best place in the world to find scale models. Or so they said. Stories abounded about shops filled to the ceiling with thousands upon thousands of cars, enough to make otherwise rational men sell their camera gear with the film still inside and get on the horn to their friends back home to ask for loans, making up stories about being in the hospital and needing money for surgery after food poisoning. Or having been robbed. Or being held for ransom by vicious Hong Kong salarymen and their administrative assistants turned kidnappers. Because of, umm, the turmoil in the city's financial district and everything.

Any story of a man and his dad going for rides in a small British convertible tugs right at my heart strings, since that was my childhood too. Lovely read.

If you are an Anglophile looking for a roadster with dashing looks, Le Mans racing provenance and a major dose of English charm, then an Austin Healey may just be the ideal choice.

Need I say more?

Before we test our headline hypothesis, let's clarify what we're after. The question is not which car was Bill Mitchell's favorite, or even his best. It's a stab at determining which car most represents Mitchell's innate artistic sensibility; the one that might best grace his tombstone: this is Bill Mitchell. And although the 1966 Riviera might not be the obvious answer, or the one that others would pick, he did leave us a hint.