The history behind the brans that shaped the automotive world. Origins, evolution and the moments that made them great.
Santana Motor: the Spanish 4×4 that humiliated the British, died with the country — and just came back with Chinese blood You’ve probably never heard of Linares. It’s a small city in the south of Spain, sitting in the middle of an olive-tree ocean in the province of Jaén — historically one of the poorest … Read more
LAGONDA: THE BRAND THAT ALMOST MADE IT Lagonda has been on the verge of greatness for 120 years. It has never arrived. They won Le Mans. The finest engine W.O. Bentley ever designed carried their name. David Brown bought them the same year he bought Aston Martin. And yet, if you stopped someone in the … Read more
Bentley: the Man Who Built the World’s Fastest Lorries It all started with a paperweight. An aluminum paperweight sitting on a desk in a French office. That single object changed British military aviation, Le Mans history, and the luxury car industry forever. Because Walter Owen Bentley wasn’t a businessman playing at making cars. He was … Read more
Pegaso: The Winged Horse That Motorized a Nation and Couldn’t Survive Itself A brand born from the ashes of another. A state-owned company created to build trucks in a country shattered by war that, by the vision of a genius with zero business sense, ended up producing the fastest production car on the planet. A … Read more
Rezvani Motors: when California decides that war is a lifestyle Picture this. You park your SUV at a Beverly Hills shopping mall. Someone walks up to the passenger door handle. They touch it. They receive an electric shock that drops them to the pavement. From underneath the vehicle, a thick smoke cloud billows out to … Read more
Automobili Estrema Fulminea — 2,040 HP Born in a WhatsApp Group During a Pandemic There’s one sure way to know if someone has what it takes. It’s not looking at how many times they’ve won. It’s looking at how many times they’ve got back up after losing everything. Gianfranco Pizzuto put $2 million into Fisker … Read more
Fisker Karma — The Car That Arrived Too Early to a World That Wasn’t Ready Some cars are born to change the rules. And some cars are born to prove the rules aren’t ready for change. The Fisker Karma was both. And it paid for it with its own existence. Think about it for a … Read more
ALPINA: 60 Years of the Strangest Partnership in Motoring There’s a question that has followed ALPINA for 60 years. A question that seems simple but hides one of the most fascinating stories in European motoring. Tuner or manufacturer? The short answer is: manufacturer. Officially recognized by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport since 1983 and certified … Read more
MASERATI QUATTROPORTE: SIX GENERATIONS WITH THE ENGINE WHERE IT SHOULDN’T BE The sedan that stole a prince’s heart Picture this. Early sixties. Modena. An engineer named Giulio Alfieri has an idea that sounds like madness: take a competition-derived V8, drop it into a four-door car, and tell the world that a sedan can be the … Read more
MAYBACH: THE BRAND THAT HAS DIED THREE TIMES AND KEEPS COMING BACK There are brands that fail and disappear. And there are brands that fail, disappear, come back, fail again, disappear again, and yet someone in a boardroom says: “But this time it’s going to work.” That brand is Maybach. And the most twisted part … Read more
Hispano-Suiza in the Air: The Spanish Engines That Ruled the Skies of the Great War When the world’s greatest pilots chose a Spanish heart for their war machines The Engine That Changed the War In September 1914, with Europe burning in the First World War, a member of the Spanish Royal House visited the Hispano-Suiza … Read more
