Profiles
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1967 Ferrari 330 GTC
Unveiled at the 1966 Geneva Salon, the Ferrari 330 GTC allied the 275GTB chassis with a 330 2+2 engine. The Pininfarina coachwork blended the 400 Superamerica front with the tail of the 275GTS. This produced a very elegant car that is by no means out of place today. The GTC provided plenty of room and…
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1954 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster
This sale could awaken the collector market for early Corvettes; if you have your eye on one, go get it Then GM’s Motorama was held in January 1953 at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Chevrolet unveiled its new Corvette. Six months later, the first Corvette rolled off a makeshift assembly line in Flint, MI. The sleek…
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1954 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster
Then GM’s Motorama was held in January 1953 at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Chevrolet unveiled its new Corvette. Six months later, the first Corvette rolled off a makeshift assembly line in Flint, MI. The sleek and sporty Corvettes were built by hand using a body of lightweight fiberglass instead of steel. Exterior styling featured a…
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1954 Morgan Plus 4 Drophead Coupe
The drophead top doesn’t compress very well, and in the “down” position often gives the appearance of a car packing a mattress HF. S. Morgan couldn’t have guessed back in 1910 that the DNA of his first trike would form the basis of generations of Morgan sports cars. Or that the appeal would extend from…
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1953 Fiat 8V Ghia Supersonic
In 1951, Fiat’s great designer Dante Giocosa began work on a new high-performance sports car, the legendary 8V, or “Otto Vu” in Italian, a two-liter, V8-engined two-seater. Giacosa theorized that for a car to have the power and characteristics for which he was aiming, a tubular chassis would not be stiff enough to mount the…
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1959 Borgward Isabella TS Coupe
The Isabella sought to translate ’50s Detroit flash into a more compact Euro language, but it didn’t work; Americans wanted foreign cars that looked foreign Carl Borgward entered the German auto industry as the charismatic proprietor of the Hansa Company in Bremen, Germany, in 1929, and produced individual and technically advanced vehicles between the wars.…
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1965 Alfa Romeo TZ-1
Alain de Cadenet explained to me a few years back that he bought his first Ferrari GTO because he couldn’t afford the TZ-1 he really wanted Alfa Romeo replaced the Giulietta in 1962 with the Giulia range of cars, powered by 1,570 cc engines. In 1963, the company introduced a radical aluminum-bodied Zagato coupe incorporating…
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1975-76 Chevrolet Cosworth-Vega
It’s not hard to find a well-maintained, low-mileage car, as they were something of an “instant collectible” in their day, with a small but ardent following When Chevrolet’s new compact, the Vega, came to the market for 1971, it was intended to compete with imports landing on both U.S. coasts. Shortly before the car’s introduction,…
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1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Spider by Vignale
The 225 S should be on every Ferrarista’s shopping list: it has 12 cylinders, a five-speed gearbox, egg-crate grille, and it makes all the right noises Developed in a period of triumph and passion, Ferrari’s big-engine sports racers from the mid-1950s personify the company’s racing legend. Tipo 340 Tuboscocca chassis 0160ED was assembled on January…
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1964 Ford Lotus Cortina Special Equipment
Dynamically, the transformation wrought by Lotus was amazing. On a twisty road, the dumpy little Cortina could shame cars costing four times as much Of the 2,894 Mk 1 Lotus Cortinas produced, only 64 were built by the factory as Special Equipment models. This rare version was upgraded with semi-race camshafts, larger valves, bigger diameter…