The SM is the symbol of demise of Citroën as an independent company. It is also the story of corporate management embracing the “bigger is better” theory, and the engineering department wanting to make a better and more sophisticated car, but ending up with something that was just more complex, […]

The Diablo was introduced in 1991 under Lamborghini’s brief period of Chrysler ownership, preserving but refining its layout, smoothing out the body’s humps and bumps and improving occupant accommodations. In the middle of the ’90s, Lamborghini built 31 Diablos prepared for use on the racetrack. The race version, known as […]

When the Shah of Persia came to Maserati in 1958 looking for a unique and distinctive gran turismo, Maserati included a two-page description of the sports-racer 450S in the information he received. The 3500 GT, then entering production, was not exclusive enough for Shah Reza Pahlavi, whose garages housed some […]

In the early 1970s, Bertone’s brilliant chief designer Marcello Gandini was developing a new show car for one of Italy’s wealthiest men-and its newest automaker-Ferrucio Lamborghini. Lamborghini’s intent was to create superlative grand touring cars for the world’s richest and most powerful men. Having started with the graceful 350 GT […]

Few realize the roots of Nissan reach back to 1912, when a young man named Masujiro Hashimoto created a car. The car was named DAT, after three family member’s initials. By 1934, the cars were Datsuns and the company was Nissan. By the late 1950s, Yuraka Katayama, a young engineer […]

Rock-and-roll star Rod Stewart was no stranger to the Lamborghini Miura, the world’s first mid-engined supercar-he has owned both a Miura S and SV. When he ordered the right-hand drive SV shown here, he specified a bright yellow finish with dark blue leather upholstery. He also ordered air conditioning, which […]

Brothers Ernesto, Ettore and Bindo Maserati, the vagabonds of the exotic car world, had sold their family company in 1947 to the Orsi family. They then returned from Modena to their original manufacturing home in Bologna where they established the company first known as “OSCA Maserati,” and subsequently just as […]

Launched at the 25th Geneva Salon in March 1955, the Fiat 600 was designed by Dante Giacosa. This successor to the Fiat 500 “Topolino” (“Mickey Mouse”) mini-car was hailed as “an intriguing car with a future…[showing] how a rearrangement of the basic components can often result in a considerable saving […]

The definitive Gran Turismo of its era, the Maserati 3500 GT debuted in 1957 and was the company’s first genuine series-production road car. Maserati’s three decades as constructors of perhaps the world’s finest racing cars showed in every detail of the elegant Touring-bodied coupe, from its exquisite, race-derived 3.5-liter engine […]