Buick marked their 50th anniversary in 1953. With V8 engines gaining popularity, it was quite natural that Buick would celebrate its golden anniversary by introducing a modern overhead-valve V8. Remarkably, in addition to the first Buick V8 engi...
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Earl “Madman” Muntz is the type of all-American character that we would have to create had he not already existed. In a career that lasted more than six decades, Madman Muntz made and lost many fortunes, in a bewildering variety of b...
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In the days following WWII, man’s “need for speed” manifested itself in many different ways. If your name was Kimberly or Cunningham, you wrote a $10,000 check for a red European sports car. This wonderful obsession for perform...
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Jim Kellison was a fighter pilot during the Korean War who went on to study aircraft engineering at UCLA. In 1954, he founded his own company, Kellison Engineering, and began building professionally-engineered sports cars with fiberglass bodies....
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Inspired by Carroll Shelby’s success in shoehorning a Ford V8 into the AC Ace to create the Cobra, Rootes asked Shelby to perform the same trick with its Sunbeam Alpine sports car. Ford’s 260 cubic-inch (4.2-liter) unit was chosen, s...
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In 1929 Errett Lobban Cord, expanding his automotive empire, introduced a front-wheel drive automobile that he named after himself. The Cord L29 offered a distinctive, sporting appearance and great performance for its price. Unfortunately, when ...
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Flames, Flatheads, Fenders, Fatboys: the American hot rod has many manifestations. Each is the personal expression of its creator, which is both the charm and the attraction of the street rods. Some take T-buckets, some favor '40 Fords, others p...
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In 1965 the nine-year reign of the "fuelie" Corvette came to an end. Only 771 cars with the L84 option were built in 1965, making it the lowest production year. It was the only year you could buy a fuel-injected, disc-braked Corvette.This 1965 G...
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Today, the words “tuner car” conjures up images of an AMG or Renntech-equipped Mercedes. Or perhaps a Stillen-equipped SUV or a McLaren Mustang. But long before these high-impact, sophisticated cruisers existed, a group of dealer-bas...
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Capturing the essence of the era’s themes, the ’57 Chevrolet Bel Air represented the pinnacle of ’50s automotive styling. Today, this model remains one of the single most recognized icons of the tall tail fins and excessive chr...
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Stutz’s illustrious history on racetrack and road has become legendary among automotive enthusiasts. By entering a new and untried car in the first Indianapolis 500 race, brilliant engineer Harry C. Stutz, the car’s creator, immediat...
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"Scrape” began in January of 1993 when Terry Cook found a nearly complete 1939 Zephyr coupe in a barn in Farmington, Maine. It had been there for twenty-two years and was covered with pigeon droppings. Cook bought the car and delivered it ...
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1970 was the first year for the Dodge Challenger, Dodge’s response (along with the redesigned Plymouth Barracuda which was on a 2" shorter wheelbase) to Ford’s Mustang and Cougar and GM’s Camaro and Firebird. Challenger’s...
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Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, 1968—The Pontiac GTO and the Ford Mustang were about to receive a wake-up call. Adorned with the familiar cartoon decal, Plymouth’s new release took to the streets, ready to explain its creative mo...
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merica was sadly without a true sports car until Chevrolet introduced the Corvette at the 1953 Motorama show and started production that year. The early Corvettes were lower and sportier than any other domestic car on the market but they lacked ...
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