Profiles
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
1970-71 Porsche 917K
{vsig}1998-10_1813{/vsig} This Porsche 917K coupe is one of the most historic available survivors of this titanic breed. Most significantly, it is one of only five World Championship-level race-winning 917s outside factory ownership.In 1971, entered by the Martini-Porsche team and co-driven by Vic Elford and Gerard Larrousse, it won America’s most charismatic World Championship-qualifying endurance race:…
-
1952 Porsche 356 Pre-A Cabriolet
In 1952 there were only four Porsche 356 Cabriolets sold in the United States out of 294 produced by the Porsche Werke in Zuffenhausen. Back in ’51, about the only way to buy a 356 in this country was through New York importer Max Hoffman. The early cabriolets were among his best-selling cars, helping to…
-
1962 Lotus Elite Series II SE
Launched at the 1957 London Motor Show – when metal panel work was the sports car norm and all-independent suspension the domain of racing cars – the strikingly pretty Lotus Elite boasted a fiberglass monocoque bodyshell with rear suspension first seen on the Lotus 12 Formula 2 single-seater. A steel front subframe, bonded into the…
-
1960 Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite
The Austin-Healey Sprite series of small-capacity production sports cars with BMC A-Series engines is too familiar to require detailed description here, but this particular car is one of the very select group of “Sebring” Sprites which were highly modif The Austin-Healey Sprite series of small-capacity production sports cars with BMC A-Series engines is too familiar…
-
1957 Abarth 750 Zagato
When the magazine Motor Trend road-tested an Abarth early in 1958, the journalist started his article as follows: “Not since driving the Moretti coupe have I seen so many people gawk in admiration as I drove by, and not since the first TR-2 arrived have I had so much fun driving around in this beautifully…