The history behind the brans that shaped the automotive world. Origins, evolution and the moments that made them great.
The Genius Who Built Cars Pricier Than a Bugatti — and Ended Up Fathering the Poorest Car in Spain If you’ve ever wandered the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, you may have stopped dead in front of an Avions Voisin. They have that effect. Sweeping Art Deco bodywork, aircraft-grade aluminium, aerodynamic rooflines drawn … Read more
Spain Built a Hyper-Luxury Car That Stole the Paris Motor Show — Then Its Own Widow Had the Blueprints Burned Ask almost anyone in Britain or America to name a great Spanish car of the 1920s and you’ll get a blank look. Maybe, if they’re sharp, Hispano-Suiza. And that’s it. The received wisdom is that … Read more
The Maserati Brothers Who Quit Maserati to Avoid Building Road Cars — Then Put Their Engine in a Fiat Here’s a question worth chewing on. What do you do when you’ve built one of the most famous names in motoring, sold it, and then legally lost the right to ever use your own surname on … Read more
Braid: the Spanish factory that quietly puts half the racing world on its wheels Chris Harris can tell you everything about a car the second it leaves a corner. The throttle, the slip angle, the way the rear steps out. But ask anyone, Harris included, what the car is rolling on, and the answer goes … Read more
Fiat: 126 years to build an empire, five to dismantle it Every so often Top Gear used to do those hagiographies about brands that “shaped motoring”. They did Ferrari. They did Aston. They did Porsche. They never quite did Fiat properly, and if you think about it for more than thirty seconds, that omission is … Read more
Ricart Cars: Wifredo Ricart’s great-grandson plans a 750 hp, Spanish-built GT inspired by the Pegaso Z-102, limited to 86 cars. Where the project really stands.
MAT: The Secret Workshop in Turin Where Other People’s Hypercars Are Actually Built Pop quiz for the readers of Top Gear, Petrolicious, Road & Track and every magazine that ever ran a launch story on a boutique hypercar. Where is the Aspark Owl built? Where is the Glickenhaus SCG003 assembled? Where does the Apollo Intensa … Read more
The Italian company that builds every IndyCar, F2 and F3 chassis — and almost nobody outside racing knows the name Forget the F1 paddock for a minute. Walk down pit lane at the Indianapolis 500 instead. Every car you see — every single one of the 33 starters — was built by the same company. … Read more
Campogalliano: the Bugatti factory that’s been locked up with everything inside for thirty years Type “abandoned Bugatti factory” into YouTube and you’ll get hundreds of results. Drone shots over a vast blue complex outside Modena. Urbex channels with creaky soundtracks pushing through cobwebbed corridors. Hagerty journalists being walked around by a softly spoken Italian called … Read more
The Biscione: Why Alfa Romeo Still Wears a Snake Eating a Man Walk past a parked Alfa Romeo. Lean in and look at the badge. What you’ll see, on every Giulia, every Stelvio, every Tonale, every 4C, every Junior, every old Spider parked in a Surrey driveway, is a blue serpent wearing a crown, devouring … Read more
Renault Gordini — What’s Left of the Sorcerer When the Sorcerer Is Gone A Name on a Hatchback You are standing in a Renault dealership somewhere in Europe around 2011. There is a Clio in the showroom. It is blue — not just any blue, but a deep, specific shade called Malte Blue. Two white … Read more
VIASA: The Train Builder That Made Spain’s Forgotten Jeep Picture the scene. It’s the late 1950s, you run one of Spain’s biggest railway manufacturers, and the order book for train carriages has just gone quiet. The factory floor is cooling down. Hundreds of workers are about to go home with nothing to do. What do … Read more
