Profiles
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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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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.…
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1960 Ferrari 250 GT PF Coupe
{vsig}1998-12_1580{/vsig} By the time the 250 PF Coupe arrived in 1959, Ferrari had refined its road models and, every year, the 250 improved as a practical car. It retained, however, the sporting heritage and the broad outline of the sports racing cars from which it derived. The 250 PF was not a cousin to the…
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1958 Arnolt Bristol
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, Chicago businessman and vice-president of…
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1972 Lancia Stratos Rally
The introduction of the Lancia Stratos represented a new high point in Lancia’s already illustrious competition history and showed the world a new concept in rally car design, winning three World Rally Championships between 1974 and 1976. The story of Stratos goes back to the 1970 Turin motor show where Bertone, the Italian coachbuilder, exhibited…
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1968 Porsche 912
The year after production of the legendary 911 had commenced in 1964, Porsche introduced the similarly bodied 912 as an entry-level model to the prestigious German marque. As such, it shared its monocoque steel chassis with that of the 911, together with independent front torsion bar and trailing arm rear suspension with all-around disc brakes.…
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Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Chevrolet enlisted the help of Lotus Engineering to create a new engine for the Corvette. Together they developed a design with an aluminum block, dual overhead camshafts, and 4 valves per cylinder. In 1990, it emerged as the 375-horsepower LT5 engine. But there was more than an engine. The Corvette ZR1 package cost $27,000 more…