It was a class where being faster than the other guy meant you were a quicker driver, not that you had spent more money {vsig}2006-2_1915{/vsig} Introduced in 1967, the Lotus Type 51 was the Norfolk concern’s first specific Formula Ford design. Derived in part from the earlier Type 31 Formula […]

Trailing throttle oversteer resulted in far more of them leaving the track backwards than ever drove off straight {vsig}2006-1_1909{/vsig} When Spike Anderson went trawling for a bottom-feeder race car in England, he started at a fish-and-chip shop.Anderson bought “LAL,” a four-year-old Datsun 240Z from a Greek fish-and-chip shop owner, a […]

Those who worship at the altar of the Snake will kneel and genuflect, but was it ever a real car?   {vsig}2005-12_1903{/vsig} This prototype is the only 427 Cobra Daytona Coupe in existence. Following the successful campaign of the small block Cobra Daytona Coupes in 1964, Shelby’s Director of Special […]

Whoever won the battle to own this car spent an absolutely scandalous amount of money to do so, presumably because the car is so historicallyimportant {vsig}2005-11_1896{/vsig} In April of 1964 the Ford GT40 was unveiled to the automotive press, and the journalists and industry executives alike were awestruck by the […]

The car was like a snappy retort delivered after the party was over-clever, but presented to an empty room {vsig}2005-10_1888{/vsig} Following on the success of Wilbur Shaw’s win in his Maserati Tipo 8CTF at the Indianapolis 500 in May 1939, the Maserati factory was confident it could repeat this victory […]

I couldn’t keep away from the white GTA on the showroom floor, admiring it like it was a Playboy centerfold {vsig}2005-9_1876{/vsig} This striking Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA is documented as the car in which future Ferrari and Alfa Romeo T33 sports-prototype star Andrea de Adamich won the 1967 European Touring […]

The over-the-top factory team cars like the Lotus 27 and Lola Mk 5 were the reason Formula Junior died off Powered by JAP and Manx Norton motorcycle engines, Cooper’s innovative mid-engined racing cars dominated the 500-cc Formula 3 scene in the 1950s. These cars provided many future stars, most notably […]

Alternate terms for these quirky cars are “full of personality,” “individualistic,” and various other ways you’d go about describing a blind date {vsig}2005-5_1841{/vsig} When the Lancia Flavia was first presented to the public at the Turin Motor Show of 1960, most people were amazed at its unconventional layout. Developed by […]

There’s something romantic about cars that signify the end of an era, the last and greatest of their kind, yet doomed by the coming revolution {vsig}2005-4_1835{/vsig} The year was 1961. Jim Hall was an ambitious young man from Midland, TX, who had done well in oil and was determined to […]