The proud marque of AC originated in the first decade of the 20th century in Thames Ditton, England. Always a Sporting Car manufacturer, AC was well known for its AC Ace, AC Aceca and AC Bristol Models in the 1950’s. The latter utilized the BMW derived 2-litre Bristol engine which […]

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 […]

The DB5 Aston Martin rapidly became the very essence of the hand-built English classic car. Very expensive, built in tiny numbers by dedicated craftsmen, it was also an apt choice of mount for the suave secret agent James Bond. Equally deft was the director’s decision in 1995 to hark back […]

It was with an Austin-Healey 100-Six in basic production trim that Tommy Wisdom and Cecil Winby won their class in the 1957 Mille Miglia, while three factory entered 100-Sixes went on to take the Manufacturers’ Team Prize at the 1958 Sebring 12 Hour race. The same year saw the first […]

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 […]

In 1953, S. H. “Wacky” Arnolt, Chicago businessman and vice-president of Bertone, was in London for the Motor Show. He had already had some success with his Bertone-bodied MG TDs, which had whetted his appetite for sports cars, and he was very impressed b In 1953, S. H. “Wacky” Arnolt, […]

In 1957, Triumph introduced the TR3A line. The new TR3A was seen as an improved version of its predecessor, the TR3, in both design and engineering. The sporty new “3A” had formidable speed potential, topping out at over 105 mph. It featured a considerably larger grille complete with its own […]

Tractor and gear manufacturer David Brown took over the Aston Martin and Lagonda companies in 1947. His first DB2 series and variants sold well from 1949 to 1958, and served to re-establish the marque as a builder of soundly engineered, quali­ty motor cars. In 1959 the much-improved DB4 model made […]

Launched at the 1957 London Motor Show – when metal panel work was the sports car norm and all-independent suspension the domain of racing cars – the strikingly pretty Lotus Elite boasted a fiberglass monocoque bodyshell with rear suspension first seen on the Lotus 12 Formula 2 single-seater. A steel […]

The Austin-Healey Sprite series of small-capacity production sports cars with BMC A-Series engines is too familiar to require detailed description here, but this particular car is one of the very select group of “Sebring” Sprites which were highly modif The Austin-Healey Sprite series of small-capacity production sports cars with BMC […]