The People The two people critical to the development of Tatra’s most significant automobiles, including the subject of this profile,...
More Cylinders: Jessie Vincent and the Packard Twin Six engine “The greatest piece of machinery that ever went upon the...
Photo: Peter Collins Cruise through Como on Saturday; line up for the Parma Poggio hillclimb on Sunday. Alfa Romeo: great looks and high performance. What combination could be more natural? Become a Member & Get Ad-Free Access To This Article (& About 6,000+ More) Access to the full article is...
1960 Alfa Romeo 2000 Vignale Coupé Ask any Alfista what ALFA stands for, and he or she will tell you,...
Why an auto manufacture would choose a motto, “Le Juste Milieu,” that means “The Happy Mean,” will remain unanswered despite...
Alex Bacon grew up a student of automobile design. He cut his teeth as a teenager with a ground up restoration on his father’s ’63 Ferrari 250 GTE and fell willing victim to the allure of its sexy design, exotic engineering and the quixotic addiction that comes from driving something...
In the 1940s, Chrysler Corporation’s Dodge division had a reputation for building solid, dependable, conservatively styled cars. That was fine,...
“Bella figura” is Italian for “beautiful figure.” Winston Goodfellow uses the phrase in the title of the section of his...
Joe Ballengee was driving his ’65 Lancia Flavia Sport Zagato through the Santa Fe Arts District, during the Santa Fe Concorso’s Mountain Tour, when a woman at the curb, shouted, “WHAT ON EARTH?” A more knowledgeable car person, upon seeing a photo of the Lancia, commented that it was “rare...
1930 Bentley Speed Six A bloke couldn’t think of anything more dissimilar if he tried. From a Boeing 737, to...
The MGA should have happened several years before it did. The story of why it didn’t and how it came...
Talbot-Lago, the name rolls off your tongue like a dew drop rolls off a leaf, deliberate but elegant. The cars made in Paris during the 1930s were truly luxurious in styling and uniqueness, as well as prestige, and at the time one of the most expensive French cars made. These...
It was possibly the greatest automotive marketing slogan ever – “Ask the Man Who Owns One.” Packards were such high...
It is interesting to note that the two most iconic constructors of Italian road-going sports cars—Ferrari and Maserati—only grudgingly began...
What if Chevrolet offered a 2+2 Corvette? There was once a British 2+2, with a Corvette engine that might have joined Corvettes in Chevy showrooms. It caught the attention of Zora Arkus Duntov, “father” of the Corvette, and Ed Cole, President of General Motors. Cole was impressed enough that he...
What is art? A shape, a form, an abstract collection of ideas, an image created by man to invoke thought,...
Delahaye, for those who recognize the name, conjures up a mixed vision of large and long French Grand Prix, sports...
Throughout history, French manufacturers have created some of the most unusual automotive designs ever made. Most will agree that many of them had brilliant engineering, however the French approach to styling, especially in the mid-century era, is interesting to say the least. Weird, beautiful, ugly, strange, fantastic, modern, and eclectic...
1948 Delahaye 135M Cabriolet It is difficult to decide whether the Italians or the French designed the most beautiful cars...
Dodge and Plymouth stylists hated them, Bill France hated them, but, the racers? Racers loved them, as long as they...
I don’t think there has ever been a car that has captured the public’s imagination more than the Jaguar E-Type. When it first appeared, over 50 years ago, it combined everything that any motorist could possibly dream of in a car. Fabulous looks, magnificent performance and a price tag that...
There were many interesting and familiar cars parked at the 2018 Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance. Ferraris, Packards, Jaguars and some vintage...
Photo: J. Michael Hemsley Gabriel Voisin was an amazing man. Born in France in 1880, he built a four-wheeled automobile...
Have you ever seen a Commuter? I’m talking about a 1959 Mercury Commuter two-door station wagon. Not many of us have, because they only built 1,051 of them that year and time, and of course commuting, has taken its toll on them. In fact, there were only 148,946 of the...
Prelude to Excellence There is a story that the Coventry car company name Alvis originated by taking “Al” from the...
Sensational French shapes and racing pedigree are part of what make Talbot-Lago automobiles exotic, beautiful, rare and sought after. Few...
Photo: David Gooley I know the engine is running only when I rev it. I pull the gearshift lever into first and give the huge 142-inch-wheelbase classic a nudge. Shifting is silent and silky smooth, with synchromesh in second and high gears. The magnificent old Packard pulls away effortlessly with...
Like so many early automobile manufacturers, the Auburn Automobile Company started out as an evolution of carriage making. Charles Eckhart...
Photo: Pete Austin Legendary, iconic, brute and monster are all words that can be used to describe the world’s ultimate...
Billed as “The Aristocrat of the Automobiles,” the vehicles produced by the Fabbrica Automobili Isotta Fraschini were owned by some of the most exclusive clientele ever boasted by one marque: movie stars like Clara Bow and Rudolph Valentino, athletes like Jack Dempsey, magnates like William Randolph Hearst and all manner...