Legend has it that Ferruccio Lamborghini began building cars because he felt insulted by Enzo Ferrari’s treatment of him as a customer. Whether true or not, Lamborghini was not one to do things by half, investing in a brand new factory and recruiting the best available engineers – amongst them […]

There were seven Maserati brothers and Alfieri, Ernesto, and Ettore were for many years involved in racing with a variety of cars. In 1926 they set up a small factory in Bologna and started making cars under their own name, using the trident insignia of that city as their badge, […]

{vsig}1996-8_1681{/vsig} During the late 1950s and early 1960s Giotto Bizzarrini was associated with a number of Italian Super Car manufacturers. After leaving Pisa University with an automobile engineering degree he joined Alfa Romeo as a chassis engineer, then to Ferrari as a test driver where his engineering prowess was duly […]

The story of the Ferrari powered Fiat Dino is nowadays well known, the cars having long since achieved classic status. The Fiat Dino came about as a result of new rules imposed by the FIA upon the marques competing in the 1967 Formula Two championship, in which Ferrari was a […]

The first Lancia designed entirely by the Turin company’s new technical supreme, Professor Antonio Fessia, the Flaminia was the flagship of the Lancia range when launched in 1957. The initial four-door Berlina, with mold-breaking Pininfarina styling, evolved from the Florida show cars, combining the best of American trends with the […]

The Type 57 in its various forms was the mainstay of Bugatti’s production car output from 1934 until the outbreak of the war. As such it was the last road-going Bugatti and, many would say, the best. Much of the design was the work of Jean Bugatti and it shows […]

The Tipo 58 Fiat was first introduced in 1932, very much a car for the mass market and featuring a side valve engine with three speed gearbox and fairly staid two-door saloon bodywork. It was of all-metal construction and available in Saloon, Torpedo or Spyder versions. The little four-cylinder engine […]

{vsig}1996-3_1704{/vsig} The ASA Mille was the first car not made by Ferrari to have a Ferrari engine. The prototype was built in 1958 and was road tested by Enzo Ferrari, who used it as his day-to-day car for a year. With a four-cylinder twin-cam engine of 850 cc, it was […]

{vsig}1996-2_1712{/vsig} It was in January 1974 that the John Z. DeLorean Corporation was established in Detroit, its eponymous founder having steadily climbed the ladder from engineer to general manager within the American motor industry and recently resigned from General Motors. He soon laid plans to produce his own limited production […]

{vsig}1995-12_1718{/vsig} In its long series of 1920s Type 35 models, Bugatti produced the quintessential vintage sports car. The original roller-bearing unsupercharged straight-eight Type 35 made its debut in the Grand Prix de l’ACF race at Lyon-Givors in 1924, and the production plain-bearing unsupercharged Type 35A soon followed. This intriguing example, […]