Author: Thor Thorson

Thor Thorson is president of Vintage Racing Motors, a Seattle-area collector-car dealer and vintage-racing support operation. He has been actively involved with racing for over 40 years, dealing with racers from Ferraris to Sprites, but is mostly seen driving Elva sports racers. He has been writing the race-car profiles for SCM since 2003.

Alloy Gullwing is the Ultimate Collectible

If a Mercedes Gullwing is the iconic 1950s Grand Touring car, as many insist, then the ultra-exclusive, all-aluminum “alloy Gullwing” is the ultimate example. Mercedes built 29 of them in 1955 as a lightweight, racing variant on the production car. It was 175 lbs lighter than the steel car and […]

1966 Porsche Carrera Coupe

This very well-documented example of the Porsche 906 — more familiarly known in period as the Carrera 6 — was supplied by Porsche Kundensport to the marque’s contemporary Australian importer, Alan Hamilton. In essence two cars emerged, both using the chassis identity 906 007. One is the entirely distinctive lightweight […]

1931 Miller Bowes Seal Fast Special

The Bowes Seal Fast Special was first piloted at Indy by Louis Schneider in 1930, with Clyde Terry as riding mechanic. The car qualified 4th at a speed of 106 mph and finished 3rd on the lead lap (finished 200 laps). It ran with a Miller 8 122-ci engine. The […]

1973 Datsun 240Z “Super Samuri”

Among U.K. Datsun enthusiasts, particularly those with a fondness for the 6-cylinder Z series, there is no bigger name than that of Spike Anderson, legendary proprietor of Samuri Conversions and the man responsible for a succession of Z-based racers in the 1970s, most notably Win Percy’s famous “Big Sam.” Very […]

1964 Alfa Romeo TZ Coupe

It’s tempting to speculate what this car might have brought if it had retired after the 1964 season instead of being raced for years One of the most desirable of all of the postwar Alfas, TZs were—and continue to be—considered as Alfa Romeo’s version of Ferrari’s GTO. Ranking in rarity […]

1976/1983 Ferrari 308 GTB Group B Michelotto

Introduced at the Paris Salon in 1975, the stunningly beautiful 308 GTB—Ferrari’s second V8 road car—marked a welcome return to Pininfarina styling following the Bertone-designed Dino 308 GT4. Badged as a proper Ferrari rather than a Dino, the newcomer had changed little mechanically, apart from a reduction in wheelbase. The […]

1961 Elder-Crawford Indy Roadster

Front-engined roadsters were a feature of the Indianapolis 500 from 1921 to 1963. Especially constructed for the 150-plus mph oval track, they attracted the best racing engineers that America had to offer, including Harry Miller, Fred Offenhauser, Frank Kurtis and A. J. Watson. Few Indy 500 roadsters survive in unmodified […]

1968 Lola T70 Mk III GT Coupe

There are a lot more T70 coupes out there than ever left the Lola workshop in Slough Eric Broadley’s Lola project, the legendary T70, debuted in 1965 and quickly demonstrated its prowess in the hands of John Surtees, who won the inaugural Can-Am Championship in 1966. The T70 was produced […]

1933 Bugatti Type 51 Grand Prix

The late Fitzroy John Somerset, 5th Baron Raglan, is remembered with tremendous affection within the vintage racing world. Following a successful Chairmanship, Lord Raglan was only the third person to become Patron of the U.K.’s Bugatti Owners’ Club, in succession to Ettore Bugatti himself and the illustrious motor racing peer, […]

1967 Jaguar E-type Series 1 Roadster Race Car

This month’s column is a tale with both tragic and cautionary threads for those who play in the vintage racing car hobby This Series 1 E-type roadster was purchased from its second owner in 2005 after being discovered in a garage where it had remained since the mid-1980s. The car […]