Profiles
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1937 Cord 812 Cabriolet Coupe
Erret Leban Cord began building his empire in the mid 1920s when he became president and primary stockholder of Auburn. In 1929 Cord introduced a car bearing his name, the front-wheel-drive Cord L-29. There were unfortunately many technological problems with the L-29 that kept it from becoming the great car for which people had hoped.…
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1960 Triumph TR3A
In 1957, Triumph introduced the TR3A line. The new TR3A was seen as an improved version of its predecessor, the TR3, in both design and engineering. The sporty new “3A” had formidable speed potential, topping out at over 105 mph. It featured a considerably larger grille complete with its own badging. The wider eggcrate style…
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1975 Maserati Merak SS
In the creative environment that coincided with the beginning of the 1970s, Maserati began work on the design of a car with high-performance sporting characteristics capable of dominating the hard-fought 3-liter class of the market. In order to avoid risks, the layout of the Merak, the name of a star in the constellation of Ursa…
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1976 Ferrari 308 GTB Fiberglass
{vsig}1998-11_1586{/vsig} In October 1973 a new car was announced in Italy, launched by a company which was also new. That car was the Dino 308 GT4, but in spite of not being badged as such, it was clear to everyone it was a Ferrari through and through. Enzo Ferrari still doggedly hung on to the…
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1968 Porsche 912
The year after production of the legendary 911 had commenced in 1964, Porsche introduced the similarly bodied 912 as an entry-level model to the prestigious German marque. As such, it shared its monocoque steel chassis with that of the 911, together with independent front torsion bar and trailing arm rear suspension with all-around disc brakes.…
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Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Chevrolet enlisted the help of Lotus Engineering to create a new engine for the Corvette. Together they developed a design with an aluminum block, dual overhead camshafts, and 4 valves per cylinder. In 1990, it emerged as the 375-horsepower LT5 engine. But there was more than an engine. The Corvette ZR1 package cost $27,000 more…
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1959 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage
The Maserati Birdcage Tipo 61, with proper team preparation and organization, would undoubtedly have won more classic races. It led every round of the 1960 World Sports Car Championship – at Buenos Aires, Sebring, the Targa Florio, Nurburgring and Le Mans – but only won a single event, and was sidelined by mechanical failure in…
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1961 Ferrari 250 GT Fantuzzi NART Spyder
By the early ’60s, Scaglietti was at capacity building street cars for Ferrari, and so Fantuzzi, a Modena-based coachbuilder, built most of the bodies for Ferrari’s formula and sports/racing cars.One of the exceptions was a car built to a special order By the early ’60s, Scaglietti was at capacity building street cars for Ferrari, and…
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1963 Ford Thunderbird Sport Roadster
When Thunderbird designer Frank Hershey set out to design a sports car with “banker appeal,” he unknowingly created a legendary automobile that was so popular in its first year, it outsold the Chevrolet Corvette four to one. When Hershey left Ford for General Motors in 1960, the Thunderbird had sold over 90,000 units in the…
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1960 Aston Martin DB4GT
Tractor and gear manufacturer David Brown took over the Aston Martin and Lagonda companies in 1947. His first DB2 series and variants sold well from 1949 to 1958, and served to re-establish the marque as a builder of soundly engineered, quality motor cars. In 1959 the much-improved DB4 model made its debut. Chief designer Tadek…