Thor Thorson

Front-engined Indy cars are the equivalent of those big, muscular farm boys from the ’50s with butch cuts, trucker’s tans, and aggressive smiles that sort of dare you to take them on {vsig}2004-8_1218{/vsig} After World War II, Frank Kurtis saw an opportunity and began to mass-produce midget racing cars of his own efficient and beautiful…

Anyone who’s ever stood in the cold on the side of a dark mountain road waiting for those headlights to come flashing by can understand the desire to own this car. {vsig}2004-7_1224{/vsig} This 1984 Audi Sport Quattro is not only the works car of world champion Hannu Mikkola and Arne Hertz, but is probably the…

A tech inspector looked at the front suspension of a J2X and said, “Wow! Where’s the ‘crimes against nature’ checkbox on this form?” {vsig}2004-6_1233{/vsig} During the mid-1980s, Glenn Shaffer began a search for an Allard J2 with racing heritage. He found this Allard J2 in Lima, Peru, suspecting it was the “missing” #2 Le Mans…

If the new owner knew that 906.016 was a weird but very real chassis number, and that it had both factory development and extensive race history, then he had the unfair advantage When introduced in 1966 the Porsche 906-marketed generally as the “Carrera 6”-combined a multi-tubular space-frame chassis with strikingly low and curvaceous lightweight fiberglass…

Its recent vintage-racing provenance has completely eclipsed whatever original period history the car might have had {vsig}2004-4_1245{/vsig} By the mid-1960s, Corvettes powered by the immortal 327-c.i. Chevrolet V8 were regular national winners in the Sports Car Club of America’s B-Production class. This storied 1966 coupe had just such an early history, as Texan Dan Hines…

The only concern of the Porsche drivers was that they stay well clear of the 512s. The handling of the three overweight Ferraris was as diabolical as anything that had ever emerged from Maranello Ferrari’s opposed 12-cylinder Formula One technology worked its way into the production lineup in 1971 with the introduction of the 365…

This sucker is one big, low car with ground clearance that would scare a cockroach Lola constructed just 12 examples of the T600. Chassis T600-HU3 was completed on March 28, 1981, the only example built with a four-cam Cosworth/Ford engine, and the only one retained by Lola Cars, Ltd., as a factory “works” car. It…

It gives ferocious yank, particularly through rock-hard vintage rubber {vsig}2003-11_1284{/vsig} The 860 Monza is one of the baddest, loudest, prettiest Ferraris ever built. While it keeps company with other legendary Ferraris including cars like the Testa Rossas, Monzas and 625 LMs, the 860 Monza really stands apart. It was big, it was hairy and it…

With big engines, they will introduce you to religion at the top end of fifth gear The Brabham BT 8 is one of the most desirable of the Coventry Climax-engined sports cars of the 1960s. Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac laid down nine chassis for the 1964 season, just two in 1965, and only one…