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1934 MG PA/B Le Mans Works Racer
This car is the sole original survivor of a three-car team put together by MG to publicize the new P-Series, which had been introduced in 1934. The idea was that three identical works cars would be entered in the 1935 Le Mans race, driven by three teams of women, with the whole enterprise to be…
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1966 Ferrari 365 California
Ferrari’s 365 California was, in so many ways, the culmination of Ferrari’s collaboration between sports car racing and customer road cars. Only 14 examples of the 365 California were built. They are almost invisible among the (relatively) boxcar loads of 275 GTBs and 365 GTB/4 Daytonas that Ferrari, along with Pininfarina and Scaglietti, turned out…
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1964 Aston Martin DB5 “James Bond”
We don’t need to introduce the Aston Martin DB5, the epitome of British style and performance in the 1960s, and the catalog description ran to a couple thousand words, so here is the quick version: “The Most Famous Car in The World” as arch-Bond fan Dave Worrall’s book of the same name termed it, is…
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1992 Vector W8 Twin Turbo
Despite being short-lived in production, the Vector W8 was the product of nearly two decades of design and development, beginning in 1972. The driving force was Gerald Weigert, who founded a design firm called Vehicle Design Force. Working with designer Lee Brown, the fledgling company’s first design was the Vector, imagined as an American alternative…
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The Rattling Road to Reno
My first car was a 1959 Bug Eye Sprite that I bought in 1966, on the day I turned 16 and got my license. The Bug Eye was just seven years old at the time. Today, we think nothing of buying a seven-year-old car—doesn’t 2004 sound like new? But back then, a seven-year-old sports car…
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1975 BMW 3.0 CSL “Batmobile”
In 1968, BMW launched the 2500 saloon, and it was this car that gave birth to a string of elegant coupes that peaked with the CSL “Batmobile.” The first such model was the 2800CS, and with independent suspension, taut chassis and a 170-horsepower engine, it was an attractive candidate for circuit racing. While the factory…
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1929 Duesenberg Model J Convertible Coupe
The Model J Duesenberg has long been regarded as the most outstanding example of design and engineering of the Classic Era. It was introduced in 1929, and trading was halted on the New York Stock Exchange for the announcement. At $8,500 for the chassis alone, it was by far the most expensive car in America.…
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1960 Faccioli Tipo BF Formula Racer
Bologna-based engineer Aldo Faccioli started out in 1947 when his OSFA workshop (Officina Specializza Faccioli Aldo) designed, developed, and built 750-cc specials based on the Fiat 500 chassis fitted with the Lancia Ardea engine. The subsequently named OFSA/Lancia spider achieved numerous top-five finishes throughout the 1950s. In 1960, racing driver Massimo Bondi commissioned Faccioli to…
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1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Shooting Brake
While the car’s presence is an asset to any event, it is not a factory-authorized build, which makes it ineligible for judging at many shows Introduced in 1968 with production beginning in 1969, the 365 GTB/4 Daytona was Ferrari’s response to an evolving market and changing regulations in the United States. Compared to Ferrari’s earlier…
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1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series II Sports Saloon
Classically proportioned and instantly recognizable from the moment of its introduction in 1958, the Touring-styled DB4 established a look that would survive, with only minor revisions, until 1970. A new design by Tadek Marek, the DB4’s all-alloy, twin-overhead-camshaft 6-cylinder engine featured “square” bore and stroke dimensions of 92 mm for a displacement of 3,670cc and…