In 1956, Ford was building the two-seat Thunderbird, and outselling Corvette four to one. After two disastrous sales years, the Corvette had to change or die. And change it did. First, it received a new body to replace the classic roadster style body of the previous three years. Still in […]
Profiles
1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Worthy successor to the 275GTB/4, the 365GTB/4 Daytona debuted at the Paris Salon in 1968, with production proper commencing in the second half of 1969. Aggressively styled by Pininfarina’s Leonardo Fioravanti, Ferrari’s new supercar boldly re-stated the traditional sports car’s long hood, small cabin, short tail look in a way […]
1960 Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite
The Austin-Healey Sprite series of small-capacity production sports cars with BMC A-Series engines is too familiar to require detailed description here, but this particular car is one of the very select group of “Sebring” Sprites which were highly modif The Austin-Healey Sprite series of small-capacity production sports cars with BMC […]
1957 Abarth 750 Zagato
When the magazine Motor Trend road-tested an Abarth early in 1958, the journalist started his article as follows: “Not since driving the Moretti coupe have I seen so many people gawk in admiration as I drove by, and not since the first TR-2 arrived have I had so much fun […]
1954-1955 Ferrari 2-Liter 500 Mondial
This delightful little Ferrari sports-racing car is a very low-mileage historic competition car from the Maranello marque. 0468MD comes from a European ownership which it entered as a two-owners-only vehicle in 1988 when it was purchased at auction in Monte Carlo. The car had been supplied originally in late 1954 […]
1962 Mercedes-Benz 190SL Roadster
For those insufficiently wealthy to afford its expensive race-bred sportscar, the 300SL, Mercedes-Benz offered the less-exotic 190SL. Based on the 180 saloon, the 190 made use of the latter’s running gear; this comprised independent front suspension by means of wishbones and coil springs, single-pivot swing axe at the rear, plus […]
1997 Jaguar XJ 220 Coupe
The magnificent looking and lavishly-specified Jaguar XJ220 coupe is absolutely the modern-day successor to the multiple-La Mans-winning C-Type and D-Type Jaguars of the 1950s, and it is derived directly from the double-Le Mans-winning TWR Jaguar Group C The magnificent looking and lavishly-specified Jaguar XJ220 coupe is absolutely the modern-day […]
1972 2.4-Liter Fiat Dino Coupe
The name “Dino” comes from Alfredino, Enzo Ferrari’s first son who tragically died in 1956 – and after whom Enzo decreed that all Ferrari V6’s would be called “Dino.” The concept of the V6 engine came from Alfredino and Vittorio Jano in 1955 and the final design work on it […]
1956 Mercedes-Benz 300Sc Roadster
{vsig}1997-10_1619{/vsig} The three-liter, six-cylinder 300S model Mercedes-Benz was first exhibited in October 1951 at the Paris Salon and production began in 1952. It was designed for the discriminating sports car enthusiast, and was to follow on the pre-war concept of the famous 500K and 540K Series cars that matched elegance […]
1957 Ford Thunderbird F-Series Factory Supercharged Convertible
{vsig}1997-10_1622{/vsig} When the Ford Thunderbird arrived in 1955, it literally blew past the Corvette in both sales and popularity, giving General Motors pause to reconsider the Corvette’s future. It was the beginning of the short-lived but exciting sports car wars which revved up in 1955 and ended abruptly in 1957, […]