The name “Dino” comes from Alfredino, Enzo Ferrari’s first son who tragically died in 1956 – and after whom Enzo decreed that all Ferrari V6’s would be called “Dino.” The concept of the V6 engine came from Alfredino and Vittorio Jano in 1955 and the final design work on it was carried out be Ferrari…
{vsig}1997-10_1619{/vsig} The three-liter, six-cylinder 300S model Mercedes-Benz was first exhibited in October 1951 at the Paris Salon and production began in 1952. It was designed for the discriminating sports car enthusiast, and was to follow on the pre-war concept of the famous 500K and 540K Series cars that matched elegance with power. These new Singelfingen…
{vsig}1997-10_1622{/vsig} When the Ford Thunderbird arrived in 1955, it literally blew past the Corvette in both sales and popularity, giving General Motors pause to reconsider the Corvette’s future. It was the beginning of the short-lived but exciting sports car wars which revved up in 1955 and ended abruptly in 1957, when Ford Motor Company ceased…
I drove all night and most of the next day, This unique GTS/4 Daytona Spyder is that most mythical of beasts, a genuine one-owner-from-new Daytona Spyder. We know of just one other, a North American-specification model resident in the U.S. Ferrari sold just 121 Daytona Spyders. Left-hand drive chassis number 15845-the car offered here-is one…
{vsig}1997-10_1623{/vsig} Ferrari’s fabulous fourcam V12 front-engined Berlinetta concept evolved during 1967 when the 3.3-liter fourcam 275GTB/4 model was just being introduced to the high performance car market. What would become the 365 GTB/4 “Daytona” was developed with the rapidity typical of Maranello, and subsequently made its public debut at the Paris Salon in October 1968.…
When the young William Lyons introduced his devastatingly handsome SS Jaguar 100 sports two-seater in the fall of 1935, it was viewed with some skepticism by the rather conservative English sporting motorists of the day. Rakishly low, with 90 mph plus readily available and acceleration to match, it was well-equipped and finished, yet cost a…
Italy’s idea of a fast touring motor car, the 115 mph, 2.5-liter Lancia Aurelia “provides rapid, effortless, and very secure travel for two and masses of luggage in a car which is responsive, stable and well braked.” So pronounced “Motor Sport” when they Italy’s idea of a fast touring motor car, the 115 mph, 2.5-liter…
It would indeed have been a shame if BMW had confined the use of its first V8 engine range merely to its saloon cars of the 1950s. Had that been the case, the world would have been denied what is arguably the Bavarian marque’s finest post-war sports car-the glamorous, high-performance 507. The V8, the work…
It would have been a shame if BMW had confined the use of its first V8 engine range merely to its saloon cars of the 1950s. Had that been the case the world would have been denied what is arguably the Bavarian marque’s finest post-war sports car – the glamorous high performance 507. The V8,…
Cadillac cars were the inspiration of Henry M. Leyland and established the tradition of interchangeability of components. They became part of General Motors in 1909 and were soon the leaders of that group. In 1914 they introduced the world’s first commercially successful V8 engine, which stayed into production in its first series until 1926. In…