Ferrari 456: The Station Wagon Maranello Erased When Ferrari launched the Purosangue, half the planet reacted the same way: the company was betraying its essence by building a family car. Ferrari had already built a station wagon. And a four-door saloon. And a four-seat convertible. All on the same platform, in the 1990s, with the … Read more
Lamborghini Jarama: Ferruccio’s Own Favorite Asked which of his cars he preferred, Ferruccio Lamborghini did not say Miura. He said Jarama. And he said it late, in 1991, when he had nothing left to sell: he preferred it to all the others because it was the perfect compromise between the Miura and the Espada. That … Read more
Lamborghini Islero: The One Ferruccio Kept for Himself Ferruccio Lamborghini named his grand tourer after the bull that killed Manolete, kept one as his own daily driver, and almost nobody bought it. Of the 225 that left the factory, one ended up trying to qualify for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the hands … Read more
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti: Cheap Because of a 1954 Gift It is the most affordable twelve-cylinder you can buy wearing the Maranello badge, and it is affordable because of its shape. The side scallops that wrecked its value are a quotation of a one-off a film director commissioned as a gift for his wife. The wife … Read more
Maserati 5000 GT: The Supercar a King Paid For Because Maserati Couldn’t In January 1962, Sports Car Graphic ran a road test that should have made the Maserati 5000 GT a household name in America. Bernard Cahier had been handed a one-off Ghia-bodied car before its owner took delivery, and he came back describing acceleration he had … Read more
Maserati 3500 GT: The Car That Saved Maserati From Bankruptcy On April 14, 1958, TIME ran a short business item under the headline “Maserati Off the Track.” Its American readers had spent the previous season watching the trident dominate: Juan Manuel Fangio had just taken the Formula 1 World Championship in a 250F, and 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
Marcos Mantis: I Held One of Britain’s Strangest Cars and Never Knew It Here is a thing about plywood. During the Second World War, the de Havilland Mosquito — one of the fastest aircraft in the sky — was built largely from it. Wood, glued and shaped by people who understood that light, stiff and … Read more
The Goutte d’Eau. The Most Beautiful Car Nobody Remembers Ask anyone who knows cars which is the most beautiful ever built, and you’ll get a predictable list. The E-Type. The 250 GTO. The Miura. The DB5. All of them deserve to be there. All of them also have the cultural weight to make the conversation … 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
