Archives: Profiles

1968 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 Coupe

Surprisingly, 50% of all Ferraris produced by the mid-1960s were built with four seats. The 365 GT 2+2 was launched at the Paris Salon in October 1967. Sleekly styled in the manner of the limited-edition 500 Superfast, the 365 GT 2+2 was the most refined Ferrari to date. Based on […]

1973 Porsche Carrera RS Touring

Porsche revived the Carrera name for its top-of-the-range 911 in 1972-73. Designated Carrera RS (Rennsport), the newcomer was intended as a limited-edition “homologation special” to enable the factory to enter Group 4 competition in the Special GT class, with a minimum build requirement of 500. However, the demand for this […]

1969 Ford Escort 1850 GT World Cup Rally Car

The toughest post-war test for motor car and crew ever is reckoned to have been the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally, upon which 96 intrepid starters-seven of them Ford factory team Escorts-embarked from Wembley Stadium on April 19. The 16,000-mile route across mainland Europe, South, and Central America […]

When X1/9 Marked the Spot

By the early 1970s, some were predicting the demise of the inexpensive sports car. Modern small sedans like the Audi Fox and VW Rabbit were threatening to render sports cars redundant. It didn’t help that the standard-bearers for the under-$4,000 sports car class were the MG Midget and Triumph Spitfire. […]

1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

In 1963, Shelby’s new Cobra had established its supremacy on the short road courses of America, but Shelby and Ford shared a more ambitious goal-to beat Ferrari to the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) World Manufacturer’s Championship for GT cars. After victories at Le Mans and Goodwood, Shelby narrowly missed […]

1952 Jaguar C-type Roadster

Jaguar’s chief engineer William Heynes said that until he went to the 1950 Le Mans race, he had “never seriously contemplated designing a car for racing.” Then he watched Leslie Johnson push his more or less standard XK 120 as high as 3rd until the clutch failed. William Lyons watched […]

1938 Bugatti Type 57C Special Coupe

With so many spectacular Bugattis, it takes a special car to stand out. It’s safe to say that this one-of-a-kind Type 57C Special coupe is one of the most intriguing Bugattis ever constructed. In June 1938, this car was built at the Bugatti factory in Molsheim. The frame, no. 278, […]

1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series I

The Mondial evokes the larger and more powerful 375 MM. Those who can live without the extra eight cylinders will find their reward in the bank This Ferrari 1954 500 Mondial was the sixth of 22 Series I motorcars constructed. Scuderia Ferrari prepared a group of Mondials to compete at […]

1951 Porsche 356 Split-Window Coupe

This car is fitted with the rare 1,500-cc engine, when most were 1,100 cc to 1,300 cc. I don’t know if it’s the actual engine from new, but it is correct During the Second World War, Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche and a handful of his faithful employees started work on development […]

1949 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Prix

What this is about is the pre-war Grand Prix experience in an attainable, moderately bomb-proof and reliable package The Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Prix took its double barreled name from an ex-military major who in France was known as Antoine, in England as Tony, but in his native Venice, Italy, had […]