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1962-80 MGB Roadster
The very large production numbers and strong aftermarket parts support make the MGB a superb entry-level, low-stress sports car. It was built in the days when cars still had ignition points and grease fittings; any reasonably deft enthusiast with a copy of the factory manual can maintain one of these cars. MGBs come in four…
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1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Drophead Coupe
The merger of Daimler and Benz in the mid 1920s came at a time of acute difficulty for the German motor industry. Competition success such as Rudolf Caracciola’s 1930 European Hillclimb Championship in a supercharged SSK helped sales, which had risen to 6,000 in 1932 from a workforce reduced to 9,000 by the virtual closure…
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1969 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS Convertible Pace Car
Desirable to collectors, this Indianapolis 500 Pace Car replica Camaro is, like the original, an RS/SS convertible. As is usually the custom with Indy 500 pace cars, 100 examples were built for use by press and dignitaries during 500 Month at the Speedway. A further 3,674 Camaros equipped with the Pace Car were later marketed…
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1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI Super
The Giulia TI was Alfa Romeo’s flagship performance saloon in the 1960s and became a popular choice with the Italian police force of the era. The exceptional Giulia TI pictured here not only boasts a contemporary racing pedigree, having competed in the 1964 Solitude Rally driven by Heinz Heinrich, but has achieved considerable competition success…
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1963 Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta Lusso
Arguably the most beautiful product ever to carry the Maranello marque’s prancing horse emblem, the Ferrari 250GT Lusso Berlinetta debuted at the Paris Salon in October 1962. Styled by Pininfarina and built by Scaglietti, the Lusso (luxury) combined race-track looks with new standards of passenger comfort. Beautifully proportioned, the new 250GT blended a low-slung nose…
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1938 Jaguar SS100 Roadster
In the early ’30s, William Lyons’ design influence began to take its full effect. The Swallow Sidecar Company evolved into Swallow Coachworks with a highly successful line of Lyons-designed bodies, mostly for the Austin Seven and 6-cylinder Wolseley-Hornet. Swallow’s first complete car, the SS-I, based on the Standard (later to become Standard-Triumph) Sixteen (2-liter) and…
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1970 Lamborghini Espada SII
After first the Miura, then the Marzal, Lamborghini once again stole the Geneva show in 1968 with the Espada, styled by Marcello Gandini, the genius who heads Bertone’s design studio. Despite its incredible styling the car was comparatively conventional, incorporating a pressed steel semi-monocoque built by Marchesi in Modena, into the front of which was…
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When Old Cars Were New
“It was a grand time to be writing about cars,” said Car and Driver’s Brock Yates at the recent International Automotive Media Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was referring to the ’60s and early ’70s, when the horsepower race between American manufacturers was in full swing, Ford was locked in its titanic battle with…
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1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S
Originally introduced in 1951 at the Frankfurt Show, the Mercedes-Benz 300 range was very much a flagship designed to promote the Stuttgart manufacturer as a producer of the finest luxury cars; a design it undoubtedly achieved, ultimately offering imposing and elegant six seater coachwork, in either closed or open form, allied to a smooth and…
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1937 Cord 812 Cabriolet Coupe
Erret Leban Cord began building his empire in the mid 1920s when he became president and primary stockholder of Auburn. In 1929 Cord introduced a car bearing his name, the front-wheel-drive Cord L-29. There were unfortunately many technological problems with the L-29 that kept it from becoming the great car for which people had hoped.…