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A Focus Group 300SL?
We’ve spent the last five days behind the wheel of an Oldsmobile mini-van, chasing vintage cars. As the host of a television show Martin Swig is producing about the California Mille for Speedvision, my task was to cheerily interview participants first thing in the morning, then criss-cross the route looking for good taping locations, and…
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Porsche 356B Coupe
It’s hard to imagine much more bang for your vintage buck than a 1960-1963 B Coupe. The B’s cost less than the later C models (1964-1965) yet have many of the durability and driveability improvements over the earlier A models, including bigger brakes, stronger connecting rods, bigger oil pumps, improved steering gearboxes and stronger, better…
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1927 Mercedes-Benz S/SSK Bitsa
If Thor, the God of Thunder, owned a car it would be a Supercharged Mercedes. Very few cars, before or since, have been so imposing, exclusive, charismatic and simply Wagnerian in conception. Daimler Benz began development of the supercharged car for road and racing use at an early stage. Starting about 1919, they turned to…
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1966 Plymouth Satellite Hemi
The “official” Muscle Car era began in 1961, when Chevrolet introduced the 409. It lasted ten years until the early ’70s when the market was gutted by insurance premiums and the cars began to be strangled by emissions limits. Of course, the Muscle Car didn’t emerge fully formed like a butterfly from a chrysalis. It…
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1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint
The Giulia range was introduced by Alfa Romeo in 1962, sharing similar bodies and identical chassis to the earlier Giulietta series. Engine capacity was increased, however, to 1570cc and the gearbox now housed five forward ratios instead of the Giulietta’s four. The increased engine capacity provided 12bhp more, but more significant was the extra torque,…
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1961 Ferrari 250 PF Cabriolet
By 1961, Ferrari was taking road cars very seriously and production was running at a rate of nearly one a day. The 250 GT, in both LWB and SWB forms therefore became the first ‘production’ Ferrari. With the company’s policy of developing models ‘on the run’, it meant that hardly any two cars were identical…
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1968 Triumph TR5 Roadster
The Triumph TR series is one of the great success stories in the history of the sports car and many would say that the TR5 is the pick of the line. It was a development of the TR4A which, in turn, was based on the TR3A chassis, but with independent rear suspension and styling by…
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1964 Abarth 2400 Coupe
Carl Abarth (Carlo) was born in Vienna in 1908 and his formative years were punctuated by the two world wars. In the aftermath of the first he started racing cycles and motorcycles, which resulted in his apprenticeship at Castagna, more notable for their coachworks, designing frames for them, and even constructing his own racing machine…
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No Longer The King
It’s painful to watch once high-performing veteran athletes in the last years of their careers, as they try desperately to hold on to their departing glory. We see less of their past brilliance than of their current diminished capabilities. I thought about this while piloting my ’64 Ferrari 330 America on urban freeways last week.…
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1980 Ferrari 308 GTSi
The V8 powered, Pininfarina-styled Ferrari 308 had been on the market for five years when the 308 GTSi was introduced in 1980. Offered in both coupe (GTB) and Spyder versions (GTSi), the big difference between the “i” and its earlier Weber-carbureted brethren was the switch to Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection. Though the new injected motors…