The Ferrari 195 Inter was introduced in 1950 as a roadgoing machine to replace the 166. According to Stanley Nowak...
The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is the second-oldest major motor racing event in North America. The inaugural race was held...
The story of Chet Herbert is pure inspiration. Afflicted with polio at age 20, Herbert spent his life building a string of record-smashers from his wheelchair…and apparently he thought nothing special of it. Following WWII, Herbert opened the doors to his speed shop, grinding some of the finest camshafts that...
Motor racing was banned in Switzerland in the aftermath of the 1955 Le Mans disaster, one of the most catastrophic...
This exquisitely done painting depicts Juan Manuel Fangio, the five-time Formula One World Champion, finishing 5th in the 1956 Mille...
The 7th running of the fall races at Watkins Glen, N.Y., was held at the Interim Course, a 4.6-mile, 9-turn circuit on public roads, up the hill from the village, in Dix Township—the second year for that course. People would later call it “the course on the hill.” It was...
George Valerio of Lincoln, California, has been hunting cars for as long as he can remember. Yes, it’s the way...
1952 Ferrari 225 S While the history of the Ferrari you see here will forever associate it with the great...
If there is a single quality that best defines Marc Surer it must be determination. When you consider that he grew up in a country that banned racing when he was four years old, and then overcame a seemingly endless succession of debilitating accidents behind the wheel of competition cars...
Sir Stirling Moss scored the first of his three Monaco Grand Prix wins in 1956 with this Maserati 250F, nipping...
Following the vast destruction of WW II, exciting new sports cars emerged from the rubble, which was just what the...
This fabulous-looking 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa was sold by RM-Sotheby’s “Ferrari Legend and Passion” auction at the famous Fiorano track in mid-May for a record 9 million euros (just over $12 million, depending on exchange rates). It went to an unidentified American buyer, with the money going to its...
1958 Jaguar 3.4 Saloon An unused flying boat base from WWII provided the “test track” where our man Quinn tried...
In my book Vintage American Road Racing Cars, I wrote, “Of all the Kurtis road racing cars, the 500X is...
1957 Aston Martin DBR1 Aston Martin’s relationship with the 24 Hours of Le Mans goes all the way back to 1928 when Jack Bezzant/Cyril Paul and “Bert” Bertelli/George Eyston launched the British company’s assault on the event with LM2 and LM1, Aston’s 1495-cc, 4-cylinder racer. Neither car made it to...
During the fifties, Aston Martin produced sports cars with the designation, DB, which, of course, stands for David Brown. In...
Vince di Pierro knows what he likes. So much so that four years ago he sank more than $100,000 into...
The glorious sunshine and exceptional calibre of racing stars brought motorsport enthusiasts out in their thousands to visit Race Retro 2009 at Stoneleigh Park. Defying the credit crunch, audience numbers rose by more than ten percent with around 24,500 visitors enjoying rally legends Russell Brookes, Mark Higgins, and Rauno Aaltonen...
1954 Fiat 8V Zagato If you lived through the ’60s and ’70s, then Sunset Boulevard, in Southern California, likely holds...
This is a little-known story, but the real father of Riverside Raceway was Jim Peterson. I thought this would be...
This painting depicts Mike Hawthorn, winner of the 1954 Spanish Grand Prix at Pedralbes, Barcelona, in the Ferrari 553 “Squalo” followed by Harry Schell, No. 24 Maserati, an early leader on half-full tanks. Alberto Ascari, No. 34, Lancia D50 was the fastest, but retired with oil in the clutch. The...
1953 Austin-Healey 100 Is this the ideal sports car of the 1950s? The car that sparked thousands of people into...
Don Blenderman is koo-koo for Kurtis cars. And why not? Frank Kurtis is arguably the greatest American racecar builder of...
Road racing in America started just after World War II and rapidly grew into a phenomenon. While many of the cars competing on American asphalt were expensive jobs built in Europe, a great number of enthusiasts disappeared into the garage to build their own road racing specials. They bent tubes,...
Since the doors opened in 1924, the MG Car Company of Great Britain has been producing interesting and innovative automobiles....
The Merrimack Street Garage of Manchester, New Hampshire, is steeped in tradition. The place has been an automotive landmark for...
VR contributor Mark Brinker went to Bonneville’s August Speed Week, with his sights on breaking the Grand Touring Sports Car under-750–cc Land Speed Record, which has stood at 80.143 mph since 1991. With his 1959 Deutsch Bonnet HBR-5 (#1025) “BoneEvil,” Brinker kept his foot planted deep in the firewall to...
There’s always been something magical about the H-Modified cars of the ’50s and early ’60s. These 750-cc (and later 850-cc)...
1959 OSCA | 1960 Lotus 18 | 1963 Brabham BT6 Regular readers of VR will know that we have a fondness for...
For as long as he can remember, James Peacock of Long Beach, California, has been afflicted with a palate for automotive curiosities…a proclivity for the unusual as it were. Worse yet, he’s had a grand master plan…a plan to retire at 40 and spend the second half of his life...
