Where automotive icons live. We dive deep into the cars that shaped history, the posters on our childhood walls, and the machines that redefined performance and design.
The V16 Goldfisch: BMW’s Secret Engine That Forced Mercedes to Build 85 Prototypes in Response Most automotive readers know the headlines on this one. A brown BMW 750iL with science-fiction air scoops behind the rear wheels and the radiators stuffed into the boot, hidden in BMW Classic’s warehouse for decades, finally rolled out at Techno-Classica … Read more
BMW M5 E60: The Most Ambitious Engine BMW Ever Built, Bolted Into the Most Hated Chassis They Ever Sold Sixty-one thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds in 2005. Twenty-two thousand pounds today. That’s what Top Gear quoted in their best-ever V10s retrospective for a clean E60 M5. Sixty-five percent depreciation in twenty years. By way … Read more
MERCEDES-AMG G63 6X6: How a truck for the Australian army got an AMG makeover The Mercedes G63 6×6, the precise moment a premium brand decided to spend with no limits Some cars only exist because, at a specific moment, a manufacturer decided money was no object. They’re not the cars that sell in volume. They’re … 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
Jaguar XJ220: The Bruiser That Humiliated Maranello and Ended Up Sitting Unsold There is a Top Gear segment from 1998 in which Jeremy Clarkson, six years after the launch of the fastest production car in the world, stands in front of a Jaguar XJ220 and explains that you can now buy one brand new for … Read more
Volkswagen W12 Nardò: the supercar that was always a test rig If you watched Top Gear in the early 2000s, you remember the era. Clarkson worshipping the McLaren F1. May still mourning the death of the V12 Vantage. The Veyron was about to land like a meteor and rewrite everything we thought we knew about … Read more
BOVENSIEPEN ZAGATO: WHEN BMW BOUGHT ALPINA, THE FAMILY STAYED IN THE WORKSHOP BOVENSIEPEN ZAGATO: WHEN BMW BOUGHT ALPINA, THE FAMILY STAYED IN THE WORKSHOP Ask anyone who watched Chris Harris drive an ALPINA B7 down a wet B-road back in the day. He came back out of the car with that grin he only gets … 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
URO: The Spanish Factory You’ve Never Heard Of That Builds Tactical Vehicles For Thirty Countries Three letters, zero recognition In the English-speaking world, when someone says “Spanish car industry,” the answers are predictable. SEAT. Maybe Hispano-Suiza if the person reads about pre-war luxury. Pegaso if they know their Wifredo Ricart history. Spano if they follow … Read more
