Profiles
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James Bond’s Car of the 1970s
Some companies can lock one label into the consumer’s mind. This is especially true in the auto industry. Volvos are safe, Subarus are sensible, Saabs are odd and Lotuses are lightweights. Lotus mastermind Colin Chapman’s philosophy seemed to consist of omitting, thinning and paring—until the car collapsed on itself—and then put back the last thing…
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1955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible
Seemingly every salvageable one was dragged out of fields, barns, and garages and restored, which made supply exceed demand This example is one of the best 1955 Bel Airs extant. This 1955 factory convertible just saw completion of a body-off, no-expense-spared three-year restoration of a 100% numbers-matching car with one mile since. Every part on…
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1962 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk II Rally Car
The last surviving 1962 team car has rally provenance in abundance, but it doesn’t have an original chassis The Big Healey’s first major success was in 1960, when Pat Moss and Ann Wisdom made history by winning the grueling Liège-Rome-Liège (Marathon de la Route) event outright. It was the first occasion that a woman had…
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1970 Maserati Ghibli Coupe
The styling of the Daytona, while certainly attractive, has not achieved the timeless elegance of the Ghibli A strong contender for the “Most Handsome Car of the 1960s” title, Maserati’s Ghibli debuted at the Turin Motor Show in November of 1966. Styled at Ghia by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Ghibli rivaled the Ferrari Daytona for straight-line…
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1951 Ferrari 340 America Spyder
SCM’s Thor Thorson once reported that one 340 owner refused to take his car on a vintage rally, as driving it was just too awful Some of the most fascinating Ferrari automobiles originate from the earliest years of the company, a time when Enzo Ferrari was still in the process of developing a recognizable identity…
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1963 Porsche Diesel Standard Model 217 Tractor
Granted, rallies and track days are pretty much out of the question, but you can still have a field day with a Porsche-Diesel—literally Dr. Ferdinand Porsche’s wide-ranging interests in all things mechanical—and practical—led him to include designs for farm tractors in his project portfolio beginning in the 1930s. As with all things from Dr. Porsche’s…
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1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza
I know a number of extremely knowledgeable individuals who simply state that if they could own only one collector car, it would be an 8C 2300 In the early 1930s, Italian road racing, and motor sport in general, relied on various tiers of competitors to fill the grids: factory entries, successful privateers, loosely organized regional…
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1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Convertible
This car could scare the unmentionable out of the small-bore Eurocentric entries in tours, or it could graduate summa cum outlandish from other events. In 1965, Zora Arkus-Duntov’s Corvette Engineering Group began developing the new 427 Mark IV engine for use in the Corvette as a full-bore endurance-racing engine, and in 1967 their work came…
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1937 Jaguar SS100
The new cars were assembled from parts from many suppliers, and they might have looked more hand-finished than this piece of perfection. This absolutely stunning SS100 stands today as what must be the finest example anywhere in the world. The quality and detail of its restoration rivals the finest ever performed on any motorcar. With…
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1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C Speciale Teardrop
Decried by some as vulgar when new—the British press notably nicknamed the coachwork “Phony and Flashy”—time has been kind to Figoni’s work. While all Teardrops were quite unique, chassis 90034 may well be the most unique of all. It is the only example built on the longer Lago Speciale chassis—some 11.8 inches longer than the…