Alfa Romeo Canguro: The Contest Nobody Won The most beautiful Alfa Romeo ever drawn exists because of a General Motors executive in Detroit. Not directly. But the method that produced it was Bill Mitchell’s, and Alfa Romeo copied it a year later, right down to the two coachbuilders and the two donor chassis. Both experiments … Read more
Lamborghini 350 GT: Born With Bricks Under the Hood The car that founded Lamborghini went on public display with its hood latched shut and construction bricks inside. No engine. Just masonry, sitting where a V12 was supposed to be. That happened at the Turin show in late October 1963, days before Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini S.p.A. … 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
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
Alfa Romeo SZ / RZ “Il Mostro”: Alfa Romeo’s Provocation Fiat had just bought Alfa Romeo, and nobody yet knew what would be left of the brand. In 1986, the IRI sold Alfa Romeo to the Fiat Group after Ford had also tried to acquire the Milanese manufacturer. The new owner inherited financial problems, an … Read more
The Maserati Brothers Who Quit Maserati to Avoid Building Road Cars — Then Put Their Engine in a Fiat Here’s a question worth chewing on. What do you do when you’ve built one of the most famous names in motoring, sold it, and then legally lost the right to ever use your own surname on … 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
