Sports Car Market is the world’s leading monthly magazine on buying, selling and collecting classic and sports cars.
Special Subscription Offer
The car that most Corvette collections consider the ultimate was never meant to be. In GM’s master plan, the new body style introduced in 1968 was intended for 1967 production. Fortunately for Corvette fans everywhere, delays forced the continuation of the Sting Ray for one more year. Corvette designers were
January and August are the two busiest months on the collector car calendar, but they are as different as desert and ocean. August in Monterey is a three-day spectacle of disposable wealth, with million-dollar cars selling haphazardly across the Peninsula the way oils are splashed on a Jackson Pollock painting.
After joining Alfa Romeo in 1923, Vittorio Jano created the all-conquering P2, an expedient design based largely on Jano’s experience with Fiat’s 1923 Tipo 805 GP car. Jano refined the best elements of the Tipo 805 and designed around some of its weaknesses. But this was not the creative Jano,
In 1979 Mazda jumped into the two-seat sports car market with the basic, no-frills, rotary-powered RX-7. The car was an instant winner, and Road & Track referred to it as “a major breakthrough for the enthusiast.” Its primary competition, the once lean and mean Datsun 240Z of the early ’70s,
The success of Cliff Davis’s successful Tojeiro sports-racer prompted AC Cars to put the design into production in 1954 as the Ace. The Davis car’s pretty Ferrari 166-inspired Barchetta bodywork was retained, as was John Tojeiro’s twin-tube ladder-frame chassis and Cooper-influenced all-independent suspension, but the power unit was AC’s own
The Countach debuted at the Geneva Auto Salon as a show car in 1971 and was introduced to the European market in 1974. In polite terms, the name Countach is Italian slang for “Good Lord!” or simply, “Wow!” This exclamation aptly describes most car lovers’ response on seeing the car
The 230SL, along with its later variants, the 250SL and 280SL, comprise the third generation of the Super Leicht (“super light”) models that began with the 300SL in the 1950s. This new model introduced in 1963 at the Geneva Motor Show was an immediate hit, doubling the sales rate for
The Mustang was the first of the pony cars and the most charismatic. When equipped with a high-performance, 289-cubic-inch, 271-horsepower engine, they became favorites at the stoplight drags. However, once sports-car maestro Carroll Shelby got his hands on the Mustang, they entered a different league. With subtle but critical modifications
It’s a good thing we thrive on change. During the past two months, the Martin-Banzer garage has seen a lot of comings and goings.It all started back in June when our 39,000-mile 240Z went off to a subscriber in Lorton, Virginia. With a slot in the garage to fill, we
Alfa’s 1934 6C model was conceived as a natural development of the successful 6C 1500 and 6C 1750 series, and set the pattern for post-war Alfas. With dual overhead camshafts and a 70 x 100-mm bore and stroke, Jano’s final design of a production Alfa Romeo was robust: an engine
After the success of the Volkswagen Beetle in the 1960s, VW resurrected the idea of an on- and off-road car, and called it the Type 181 “Thing.” Inspired by the WWII Type 82 Kübelwagen, the Thing was updated with the Beetle baseline engine and running gear, but with the beefier
The “Missing Squire,” S/N X-103, was the second of seven cars built by the fledgling Squire Car Manufacturing Company in 1935 and was purchased by one of the company founders, G.F.A. “Jock” Manby-Colegrave. While the other six of the original Squires were known, the whereabouts of X-103 haven’t been so
Fresh thinking in road-car design and success in both racing and rallying are the hallmarks of Lancia, which has always been known for innovative and advanced designs. By the 1950s the company was fully involved in motorsport, with Lancia winning the great Targa Florio, the Carrera Panamericana, the Liege-Rome-Liege and
Ferrari S/N 0148A is part of a very aristocratic lineage of Ferraris, as it is equipped with the famous Lampredi V12, which would go on to contribute to Ferrari’s first victories in F1 in its 375 F1 version. In the 340 version, the 4101-cc engine develops 260 hp at 6500
Porsche has built some wonderful cars in its half century as a manufacturer, creating a legacy revered by enthusiasts and an image that is instantly recognizable. Erwin Komenda’s first 1948 Gmund coupe is clearly echoed in Porsches right up to today’s Carreras and is still effective, efficient and attractive. Porsche’s
Sign up for a free weekly insider's report on the collector car market — and get a free gift.
Notifications
