In 1970, after just 7,136 km, this unique V12 Granturismo was bricked up in a garage on a busy street {vsig}2006-4_1924{/vsig} Lamborghini’s first model-the 350 GT-wowed the motoring press and public at its 1964 launch. Not content to rest on their laurels, Lamborghini’s engineers were already at work on the […]

I had always wanted one, perhaps because, like me, the car was Swiss-born, but with an American heart {vsig}2006-2_1912{/vsig} With its beautiful, squatted-back, ready-to-pounce body styling, the Monteverdi 375 S was designed to be the definitive combination of luxury and power. The steel-bodied car was both strong and smooth. With […]

Lack of records makes it very difficult to tell a factory Abarth from one built by Uncle Giorgio’s Garage (Note: In the auction catalog, there was an addendum that declared that this particular car was in fact a Fiat 750 rather than an 850. As its model year was appropriate […]

Like all bottom feeders and wanna-bees, I hoped to steal this unrestored car {vsig}2005-11_1893{/vsig} As the first volume-built production Maseratis, marketed from 1957 to 1964, these extremely handsome Grand Touring coupes became the company’s financial saviors during a particularly difficult period. Like Ferrari, Maserati tended to focus on its racing […]

Most references politely say that Fanalone means “large lights,” but Italian friends have told me that it’s actually slang for “big breasts” During the 1960s, the wonderfully nimble, front-wheel-drive Lancia Fulvia reigned consistently among the highest echelon of international rally contenders. Campaigned by the Lancia factory team in 1966, they […]

The expense of restoring these cars can be surprisingly high even if you get the local basket-weaving class to refurbish your seats for free {vsig}2005-9_1873{/vsig} Few cars that Fiat produced had the “cuteness” of the Jolly. With coachwork by Ghia, the Fiat Jolly 500 was introduced in 1957, and had […]

No regular OSCA MT4 had made anything like this at auction recently-and probably not even at the peak of the sports car madness in 1989 {vsig}2005-7_1851{/vsig} Chassis 1153 is undoubtedly one of the most original surviving OSCAs in the world today. Only the patina of age would distinguish it from […]

Even if the Lamborghini V8s are stuck playing character actor roles to the V12 stars, the Jalpa stands as a better car than you might realize Introduced in 1981 with production starting in 1982, the Jalpa was one of three Lamborghini production models imported to the United States at the […]

Credit or blame it, this car inspired years of “folded paper” design {vsig}2005-5_1838{/vsig} The Maserati Boomerang was first displayed as a non-functional model at the Turin Motor Show in 1971. By the Geneva Salon of March 1972, it had been transformed into a fully operational vehicle, fitted with the race-bred, […]