Sir William Lyons, founder of the Jaguar car company, knew, as domestic car production returned to the UK, after World...
Vintage Roadcar Departments
In 1951, the Spanish industrial manufacturer ENASA, under the leadership of former Alfa Romeo engineer Wilfredo Ricart, debuted an exotic...
Societa Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori was an aftermarket company that produced parts to “hot rod” Fiats. The company was started in 1926 by Giorgio Ambrosini, an aspiring racecar driver. After the second World War, the company started building its own cars under the Siata name. Become a Member & Get...
Legends are often born in obscurity. Alfa Romeo’s humble beginnings gave no hint as to the extraordinary heights the company...
Before WWII, the term “sports car” was an alien phrase in the USA. There was no such thing. Returning G.I.s...
Not every Alfa Romeo 1900C chassis that went to a Carrozzeria for custom coachwork (see this month’s Roadcar Feature) emerged a beauty! Such was the case for the 1953 Boneschi Astral. The first Astral was displayed at the 1953 Turin Motor Show. The second Astral was sold to Rafael Trujillo, then...
At the 1953 General Motors Motorama in New York City, Cadillac unveiled a concept car designed by Harley Earl. Named...
In 1953, Chrysler’s famed design chief, Virgil Exner entered into a partnership with the Italian styling house Ghia to produce...
Enzo Ferrari’s focus was on racing, not road cars, but he needed money to finance his racing addiction, so he sold road cars to feed the habit. In November 1948, the first show cars ever exhibited by Ferrari were on a stand at the Turin show—a 166MM racer and a...
The Ghia-designed Dodge Firearrow III is flamboyantly showcased on its stand during the 1954 Detroit Auto Show....
Archibald Frazer-Nash started his company in 1922, but found himself in receivership by 1927. From the ashes was born AFN...
In 1954, Chrysler debuted the latest iteration of its “Forward Look” Dream Cars, the Plymouth Explorer. Designed by Luigi Segre at Ghia, as a continuation of the themes he started with the trio of Dodge Firearrows, the Explorer featured a 114-inch wheelbase Plymouth chassis, with a somewhat anemic 230-cu.in Plymouth...
You know how the saying goes? “Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that.” The scene was...
In 1950, Gerry Coker got a job at the Donald Healey Motor Company as Healey’s body engineer. A short time...
Independent automotive designer Bill Flajole worked on a number of important designs, including the Nash Metropolitan, before turning his attention...
There are a number of cars that are better known by their nicknames, than their original designation, like the Alfa...
In 1956, three Aston Martin DB2/4 chassis were sent to Carrozzeria Touring, in Milan, for custom, lightweight bodywork. The first Aston Martin to receive Touring’s “Superleggera” bodywork, the new Touring Spider made its debut at the 1956 Turin Motor Show but, surprisingly, did not garner enough interest to warrant further...
Vincenzo Lancia was an ex-racer and an ingenious designer, who made cars to suit his taste and maybe a few...
From our friends at Broad Arrow Auctions comes one of the holy grails of post-war sports cars; the 1956 A6G/54...
I was disappointed. The Aston Martin I was supposed to drive was in the shop. But, Alberto Gutierrez had another Aston waiting for me, and my disappointment quickly turned into joy. Sitting next to the Arnolt Bristol I was to profile (see Wacky? Hardly!—1954 Arnolt-Bristol Bolide) was an absolutely gorgeous...
The year 1957 was one of firsts for Corvette. It may have been a virtual twin to the 1956 model,...
Ray Petros is a dedicated Studebaker collector. It is natural that he focuses on that marque, since his family were...
In 1948, Jaguar launched the wild and wooly XK120 at the London Motor Show. It was a testbed and show car to display the new William Heynes designed XK engine. The show car was a sensation and created quite a stir. Jaguar’s founder and chairman William Lyons had no other...
It’s hard to imagine that what was probably the greatest range of post-war production sports cars, really started life as...
Max Hoffman was a racecar driver in Europe before immigrating to the United States to avoid the Nazis. Hoffman became...
The MGA’s looks harken back to MG designer Sid Enever’s one-off, envelope body that he created for an MG TD to run in the 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans by privateer George Phillips. Gone were the separate fenders that had been part of MG style in all the previous...
When you think of Volkswagen you don’t often use of the word rare, but in this case, with a 1958...
One of many styling experiments built for day-to-day use by GM styling Chief Bill Mitchell, the XP-700 was built on...
Four-seater, mid-engined, sequential gearbox, what’s not to like? Short descriptions can be deceiving, but if you’re interested in an unusual and very versatile car, then the 1958 Zündapp Janus 250 may be for you. Once again, a trip to the Lane Motor Museum (www.lanemotormuseum.org) in Nashville resulted in a car...