I had dinner with Carroll Shelby in 1997. Among the dozens of things I remember him telling me, the most poignant...
Vintage Roadcar Columns
We purchased a 1964 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL in the early 1980s. The car came out of Dekalb, Georgia, so it...
Developed first as a show car to celebrate the Ford Centennial, the Ford GT40 concept car came as a big surprise when it hit the 2003 Detroit Auto Show. Journalists salivated, enthusiasts beamed, and inside Ford, the bean counters quietly went to work to determine the impossible; make it a...
As classic car enthusiasts, we live with a foot in two completely different worlds. One foot is firmly placed in...
Automotive history is riddled with innovators and entrepreneurs seeking the very best, most powerful, and dynamic sports cars bearing their...
I don’t know if it was coincidence or not, but at least a half dozen times—throughout the course of this August’s Monterey car week—I was asked my opinion of where tomorrow’s collector car enthusiasts are going to come from? In one case, it was a concours organizer, in another it...
Designed by the legendary Leonardo Fioravanti, the same man responsible for some of the greatest Pininfarina/Ferrari designs, the original 206...
…I was jumping up and down on the hood, like a chimpanzee in heat I think, like a number of...
Photo credits courtesy of Fantasy Junction Automotive history offers a bounty of well-made sportscars. Tracing back to the earliest years of motoring, the sports car figured early in development as enthusiasts demanded more from their cars than simply efficient transport. Decades of research, refinement, and market growth fueled 20th century...
It’s hard to believe that the bane of every Lotus Elan owner has just turned 25. It was early February,...
Among car collectors, enthusiasts, even kids who’ve yet to master driving, the Chevrolet Corvette needs no introduction. Introduced in 1953,...
Since first offering its wares to the automotive public, Lancia has excelled at engineering some of the most technically advanced cars in nearly every decade. It is the post-war cars, however, that present some of the most advanced ideas and designs of the time. This is certainly the case in...
Three-owner Kellison was extracted from a barn, in 1986, and restored by author, racer and rally organizer Rich Taylor. I...
Stunning looks, capable performance and, today, an undisputed fixture in the automotive lexicon of excellence, the Jaguar D-Type has become...
Let’s embrace the enthusiast passion… even if we don’t always understand it. I was recently having a conversation about a car show, with a colleague, when he launched off into a rant on the inclusion of “Rat Rods” in this show. For those unfamiliar, Rat Rods are an “homage” to...
After 117 years, I’m finally getting around to figuring out Opel… I enjoyed speaking with Rich Taylor last month about...
Whether you read about it in Vintage Racecar—or almost any other automotive publication—over the past year, chances are good that...
This month one of the most iconic Mustangs to ever hit the road is going up for auction, the 1968 Bullit Ford Mustang GT. So, it got me thinking about what the Mustang means to so many people. The original Bullitt car is likely to sell for millions of dollars. And...
May 2018 The first major car show I attended was the 1971 L.A. Auto Expo. As a wide-eyed nine-year-old, everything...
When people hear I am a car designer, questions come up: “What is your favorite car?” “What car do you...
So often the cars I research come with stories permanently attached. Stories of celebrity ownership or the classic “Fangio drove this car (insert any make) all over Europe.” It is great fun to research these stories but more often than not they are simply not true. Our subject car this...
Ercole Spada was one of the most prolific sports car designers of the post-war era. Though his name is not...
If you’ve been reading this space for any period of time (yes, I’m talking to both of you), then you’ll...
In 1954, the AC company, in Thames Ditton unveiled a new car, a beautiful coupe called the AC Aceca. Many at the time thought the Aceca name was a derivation of the popular AC Ace model name but in fact the Aceca name is a palindrome incorporating the letters ACE....
Car design has been a key part of automotive history since the very first series of carriages was built for...
Do these bellbottoms make my car look fat? Show of hands…how many of you sported a pair of bellbottoms in...
Toyota has been around a long time. They know what they are doing, and they make more cars than any other manufacturer in the world. And while many of us in the car community still think of them as a relatively new company, their agility, market savvy, and attention to...
The remarkable Alfa Romeo Sprint Speciale must be counted as among the most beautiful sports car designs of the twentieth...
It’s come to my recent attention that I have an alcohol problem. Truthfully, I had no idea, but apparently, I’ve...
Not too long ago, a very good friend called me about his 1967 4.2 Jaguar XKE OTS. He had two precise questions for me to research and a task. First, was his XKE a Series 1 or Series 1.5? Second, was his car originally equipped with an enclosed headlight bonnet...