Profiles
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1937/40 Duesenberg Model SJ Rollson Cabriolet
This Duesenberg might be Rudolf Bauer’s best-known work; it’s certainly the most valuable Faced with the surreal scale of the Duesenberg’s chassis, some designers attempted to reduce the scale of the car. Not artist Rudolf Bauer. His intent was to create the longest, most distinctive Duesenberg ever built. And he did. Bauer emphasized the dominant…
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Maserati Tipo 65 Sports Racing Prototype
It’s an iconic Italian failure, a testament to chaos, caffeine, grappa, panic, and an unwillingness to throw in the towel This remarkably imposing V8 rear-engined, sports-prototype is the last of the line of Maserati competition cars built during the Gruppo Orsi Empire’s long ownership of the Italian marque. As such, it marks the high tide…
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Fiat’s Coupe de Grace
If your build is more simian than hominid, you’ll enjoy the angled wheel and long arms/short legs driving position One of the most engaging things about being an automotive bottom-feeder is figuring out where to target one’s attention when the object of first choice has appreciated beyond one’s immediate grasp. Previously in this column, I…
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1958 Austin-Healey “Bugeye” Sprite
In careful hands a Sprite could return 40 mpg-but not many did. Healthy survivors are scarce The meticulous restoration of the 1958 “Bugeye” Sprite offered here has been the subject of newspaper and magazine articles in the U.S. and the U.K. “Here’s a new twist to a timeless tale. A group of high school students…
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1969 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Spyder Conversion
People who buy a “cut” Daytona don’t plan to show it; most shows won’t allow it on the field. The appeal is that it can be driven Ferrari’s fabulous V12 front-engined sports car, the 365 GTB/4, debuted at the Paris Salon in 1968, soon gaining the unofficial name “Daytona” in honor of the 1-2-3 finish…
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1958 Isetta 600-BMW’s “Eggsecutive” Limo
Germans in the 1950s weren’t concerned with having “the ultimate driving machine,” they were just happy not to be walking or pedaling. With a limited market for cars like the spectacular and expensive 507 roadster, BMW needed a volume model to survive. They understood the needs of the post-war European market and decided the best…
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1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake
While a top speed test was not performed, the Road & Track crew estimated 182 mph was possible Originally built as the “Cobra to end all Cobras,” CSX 3015 represents the high water mark in the horsepower race of the ’60s. Carroll Shelby built it for no other reason than to see how fast it…
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1961 Porsche RS 61 Sports Racing Spyder
The factory figured on 120 man-hours to create one of these engines. Setting the cam timing took between eight and 15 hours. Porsche’s giant-killer Spyder series of four-cylinder, four-cam sports racing cars ruled small bore international racing for a full decade, beginning in the early 1950s. Since a powerful multi-cylinder engine was not available, Porsche’s…
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1936 Delahaye Type 135 Special
Delahaye had an enviable competition record, though most successes came either when the Germans didn’t show up or when they broke Emile Delahaye built his first automobile in 1895 and in 1896 drove one of his cars to sixth place in the Paris-Marseilles-Paris race. Sporting ambition lurked in the background as his truck business was…
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Trophy Car Comes of a Certain Age
Sometime soon a lot of successful 50-something women may seek out the 450SL they couldn’t have in their teens Since the 1950s, the glamorous SL had been the Marlene Dietrich of the Daimler-Benz lineup. And like the old torch song, customers found themselves falling in love again with each new model. It was no different…