Cars that defined an era and are still legendary. History, mechanics and the soul of true classics.
Fiat Dino: the car Ferrari needed Fiat to build In 1965, Enzo Ferrari has a problem. The FIA has changed the rules for Formula 2 from 1967 onwards. The engines will have to be based on production units — at least 500 examples of the engine block manufactured and sold in a calendar year to qualify for … Read more
Fiat 8V: the Italian V8 Fiat almost built by accident In 1948, Vittorio Valletta calls Dante Giacosa into his office and hands him a brief that makes Giacosa frown: a six-cylinder engine for a large luxury saloon with which Fiat wants to take on Alfa Romeo in the Italian premium segment. The project code is … Read more
Rover 220 Coupé Turbo: the car its own gearbox held back Here’s one of those stories only properly understood by someone who’s been under a car with grease up to the elbows. In the early nineties, Rover built the fastest, most powerful car in its entire history. A gorgeous coupé with 197bhp, capable on paper … Read more
Opel Calibra: the world’s most aerodynamic car was the slowest one in the showroom Here’s one of the loveliest ironies the car industry ever produced. In June 1989, Opel launched a car that broke a world record and held it for ten years. The Calibra was the most aerodynamic production car on the planet, with … Read more
Ford Probe: the car built to kill the Mustang, saved by the Mustang’s own fans Here’s one of the greatest “what if?” stories the car industry ever produced. And it’s a tale with a doubly happy ending: it saved the Mustang and, quite by accident, condemned a perfectly good car to spend its whole life … Read more
Ferrari 512 BB: The Boxer That Never Was There is a Ferrari where almost nothing written on the car turns out to be true. The engine is not a boxer, despite half a century of the factory saying it is. The two letters in the name do not mean what Ferrari says they mean, according … Read more
VW Scirocco: the handsome brother who went first to take the bullets for the Golf This year everyone celebrated the Volkswagen Golf’s fiftieth birthday. Fair enough: it’s one of the most important cars ever built, the one that saved Volkswagen, the one that invented a whole class. But there’s something almost nobody mentions while the … Read more
Opel Monza: the day Opel dared to stare down Mercedes There’s a particular kind of car the British call a gentleman’s express. Big, fast, comfortable, six cylinders up front, room for four and their luggage, the sort of thing that eats a continent before lunch without ever raising its voice. For decades that territory belonged … Read more
Opel Manta: sketched in six weeks, still standing fifteen years later Ask any British enthusiast about affordable seventies coupés and the conversation starts and ends with the Ford Capri. The car you always promised yourself. Fair enough. But cross the Channel and there was another one playing the exact same game, built by people who … Read more
Ford Capri: the Cortina in a tuxedo that humbled BMW and Alfa Romeo For a car that spent two decades being mocked as a hairdresser’s motor, the Ford Capri has a remarkable secret hiding under its skin. Underneath that long-bonneted, fastback glamour sat a humble Ford Cortina. The most ordinary of family saloons. And with … Read more
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300: The Car That Buried Bentley at Le Mans Four Years Running Between 1923 and 1930, Le Mans belonged to Bentley. The British marque won five of the first eight editions of the 24 Hours (1924, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930), with those enormous British Racing Green machines, 4.5- and 6.5-litre engines the … Read more
Opel GT: the baby Corvette that was never actually a copy Everybody who clapped eyes on an Opel GT in 1968 thought the same thing: somebody shrank a Corvette. The nickname wrote itself. Mini-Vette. Baby Corvette. And for fifty years that lazy shorthand has buried the far better truth, which is that this little German … Read more
