The Cumberford Perspective

The Suits Win Again It was intended as one of the first steps in his personal plan to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Chevrolet, an enduring obsession for Zora Arkus-Duntov. He had participated there a few times in the early 1950s, driving one of Porsche’s early class wins. In 1956, I talked…

FRONT 3/4 VIEW REAR 3/4 VIEW INTERIOR VIEW The cabin, at least, is handsomely finished with nice, polished wood capping at the top of the doors and beneath the small dual-pane, vee-shaped windshield. The front compartment looks to be quite narrow. To the left and right of the eight-dial, engine-turned bright metal section can be…

More Torino Shenanigans — It’s Not Really Frua’s Design I really, really like the Mistral’s design. And why not? It’s mine. I drew it up in January 1962, almost a year before Pietro Frua presented it in coupe form at the 1962 Torino Salone as his own, to say nothing of it having enormous influence…

You Didn’t Know It Was a Copy, Did You? Dimensions of the initial Chevrolet Corvette were simply copied from the 1948 Jaguar XK120. Wheelbase, engine location, seat placement and height, steering-wheel location… everything except width. Using 1953 Chevrolet sedan suspension meant that car’s wider track was retained. Actually, it’s kind of a copy of a…