German

Someone called it Germany’s answer to the Thunderbird-and trust me, this was not a compliment Unveiled to gasps of delight at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 1955, the remarkably beautiful styling of the two-seater 507 came from the drawing board of German Count Albrecht Goertz, influenced not a little by U.S. BMW importer Max Hoffman.…

Soft rear window Targas have become the darling of the early 911 cognoscenti {vsig}2005-7_1853{/vsig} Porsche introduced the 911 Targa in mid-1966 to an enthusiastic audience anxious for an open 911. For the first model year in 1967, only the soft rear window was available. A year later, the glass rear window was introduced as a…

By any standards save for originality, this Thing had indeed been dramatically improved since it rolled off a Mexican assembly line 32 years ago {vsig}2005-6_1847{/vsig} This ultimate Thing was a ground-up restoration completed in May 2002. Over $40,000 has been invested, with everything replaced with new parts or rebuilt to be better than new.It has…

Many of the improvements the 928 introduced were just not the kinds of things most owners were looking for-at least not in 1978 Porsche’s distinctive 928 was announced in 1977 and followed the pattern of the groundbreaking but underwhelming 924, with a forward-mounted, water-cooled engine. Although similar in basic layout, the 928 shared no components…

The Z1’s clean lines are less contrived than the Bubba-built Z3’s cow-catcher face-and we won’t even mention the Z4 {vsig}2005-4_1834{/vsig} BMW’s sensational Z1 sports car was essentially a concept car that went into production. The Z1 was special indeed, a front-mid-engined sports car with rear-wheel drive and excellent handling. Its straight-six, 2.5-liter, 170-hp engine gave…

Whatever the auction catalog may say about the early 356Bs adding to the Porsche legend, at the time of its introduction, Porsche fans were aghast {vsig}2005-3_1827{/vsig} Launched in 1948, the Porsche 356 employed a platform chassis with a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine and torsion bar independent suspension. In 1955 the 356A was introduced, readily distinguishable by…

$726,000 is a lot of money no matter how you slice it, but this car has it all-an important place in Porsche’s history, racing success, good documentation and a professional restoration {vsig}2005-2_1820{/vsig} The 1956 Porsche 550/1500RS prototype was first introduced at the Paris Salon in October of 1953. Although it was announced that this car…

In the hands of drivers like Rudolph Caracciola, the SSK was the dominant race car of its era, and came to symbolize all that was wonderful and scary about racing during the “Roaring Twenties” {vsig}2005-1_1809{/vsig} Known in period as simply, “the mighty Mercedes,” advertisements for the SSK justifiably screamed, “the fastest sports car in the…

In the collector car world, there is no more immediately recognizable sight than a 300SL with its doors open. Introduced in 1954 as a coupe with signature “Gullwing” doors, the legendary 300SL was conceived as a high performance street machine that was really a thinly veiled racing car. It was fast, solid, and handled well,…

Not only will your collegiate daughter love it for its looks, but it certainly isn’t powerful enough for her to get into too much trouble {vsig}2004-11_1466{/vsig} Volkswagen’s popular Beetle spawned a number of other automobiles, creations like the Thing, Microbus, and most interesting of all, the Karmann Ghia. One of the most sought-after air-cooled convertibles…