Cars that defined an era and are still legendary. History, mechanics and the soul of true classics.
Fiat 500: when a car was actually a platform in disguise Chris Harris once said the best small cars are the ones that feel honest about what they are. He was talking about a modern hot hatch. He could have been talking about the original Fiat 500, except the 500 takes that idea further than … Read more
Lincoln Navigator: the king who built the throne and lost the crown Picture a Cadillac board meeting in early 1998. Someone walks in with the year-end sales figures and the room goes quiet. For the first time since 1950, Lincoln has outsold Cadillac in total US volume. Not by a rounding error. By 4,551 units. … Read more
FIAT 131 ABARTH RALLY: The Saloon That Won Three World Championships How a family Fiat with a Ferrari-derived engine and a Bertone body swept the world’s rally stages Walk into a Fiat showroom in Italy in 1976 and ask for a 131 Mirafiori. The salesman would walk you toward a mid-sized family saloon with a … Read more
AUDI RS2: The Audi That Porsche Built How a five-door family wagon embarrassed the McLaren F1 at the traffic lights Stand at a traffic light in 1994. To your left, a McLaren F1. To your right, what looks like a slightly aggressive Audi 80 wagon. The lights go green. For the first 1.5 seconds, the … Read more
BMW Z8: The Car Top Gear Trashed in 2000 Now Outprices Every Rival It Lost To Two hundred grand. That’s what a concours BMW Z8 trades for today, on either side of the Atlantic. A pristine Aston Martin DB7 Volante from the same year sits at about fifty. A Ferrari 360 Spider, seventy to eighty. … Read more
Ferrari 125 S, A Promising Failure: How Ferrari Began with Three Broken Words May 11, 1947. Piacenza circuit, northern Italy. The first car ever to wear the Ferrari name is leading its debut race. Then a fuel pump dies. The driver pulls in. The car stops. There are two normal reactions to this scenario. One: … Read more
BMW 507: The Most Beautiful Car BMW Ever Built Almost Killed the Company Walk into any decent auction in Monterey or Pebble Beach and one of these things will cross the block for two million dollars. Minimum. The Surtees car went for nearly five. People queue up for the privilege of bidding on something that … Read more
GOLF R32: BACK WHEN VOLKSWAGEN STILL TOOK RISKS Chris Harris said it once and it stuck: the trouble with modern hot hatches is that they all feel like the same car wearing different jackets. He was talking about the latest Golf R when he said it, but he could have been talking about any of … Read more
Ford Crown Victoria: The Car No One Could Replace It’s two in the morning in Manhattan. Raining. A yellow cab double-parks outside a deli on Eighth Avenue. The driver doesn’t get out. He waits. Engine idling, wipers on intermittent, the rooftop sign reflecting in the puddle. You don’t need to walk closer to know what … Read more
LANCIA STRATOS: THE CAR THAT ONLY KNEW HOW TO WIN Here is the shortest version of the Lancia Stratos story: a small Italian company begged Ferrari for an engine, built the minimum number of cars required by the regulations, and won three consecutive World Rally Championships. Then its parent company killed it — not because … Read more
Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR: The Silver Monologue Nobody Could Answer Some cars win races. Some make history. And then there’s the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, which did both in the same season and then walked away forever. No farewell tour. No victory lap. A clean slam of the door that left the motorsport world speechless and sick … Read more
Opel Speedster: The German Sports Car Built in England That Saved Lotus and Embarrassed Cars Costing Ten Times More Some cars are born with an identity crisis. The Opel Speedster is one of them. A sports car wearing a German badge, built on a British chassis, powered by an economy car engine, and priced low … Read more
