Greatest Cars, Ferrari 458 Speciale

We’re of the mind that all Ferraris are speciale. Yes, even the California. We take this observation to be self-evident and universal, a fact of life that even Lamborghini owners, Red Bull Racing fans, and Prius drivers accept and appreciate. But spend a meaningful amount of time in the industrial burg of Maranello, and you’ll…

Greatest Cars, Alfa Romeo Giulietta

When Alfa Romeo introduced the 1900 range in 1951, it was the company’s first monocoque design, and would be built in large enough numbers to put the company in the black. The 1900-cc inline-four engine produced as much power as the supercharged 1750-cc racing motors of the 1930s, and it was this impressive power-plant that…

Greatest Cars, Nardi Gianinni ND750 Bisiluro

They say that the earliest design language for the primitive is that of repetition and symmetry. Regarding the design of “things that move”, history gives us quite a catalogue of proposals to improve the breed by echoing a form across some sort of bridging element. With names like “twinpod”, “twin-boom”, “twin-fuselage”, “doublehull”, or “catamaran”, the…

Greatest Cars, Toyota Celica

Celica was designed to tap into the ’70s zeitgeist, when people were enjoying a new-found sense of freedom and leisure activities were on the increase. Within the motoring industry this lifestyle was being expressed through ‘pony car’ vehicles such as the Ford Mustang, Pontiac Firebird and Dodge Challenger – indulgent purchases perhaps but also ones…

Greatest Cars, Invicta

In an era when most cars stood tall, Invicta’s 4½-litre S-Type, with its dramatically under-slung chassis, caused a sensation: few sports cars before or since have so looked the part. The origins of the company known as Invicta Cars go back to 1925 when Noel Macklin and Oliver Lyle, both of whom already had motor…

Greatest Cars, Abarth 750 GT Zagato

In 1956, Abarth had already built up an extensive reputation as a premier tuner of Fiat engines and was branching out into many classes of motor sport. To compete in the 750cc class of the Grand Touring Championship, Abarth commissioned Zagato to re-body the Fiat 600 into a purposeful racecar. Thanks to Zagato’s weight saving…

Greatest Cars, Chevrolet Cerv II

In 1962, Zora Arkus-Duntov conceptualized a line of Corvettes that would be constructed entirely for racing, complete with a mid-engine layout, a monocoque chassis and a fuel-injected, aluminum alloy V-8 engine. Over the next two years, Duntov’s team assembled a car that came to be known as the Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle II, or CERV…

Greatest Cars, Lincoln Indianapolis

The coachbuilding craft was in desperation after World War II. Many of the marques had brought the styling, designing and building of the vehicles in-house. The availability of suitable chassis also dwindled. At this time, many prominent coachbuilders worked hard to form alliances with marques, especially the American Companies who had deep pockets. Ghia created…

Greatest Cars, Ferrari 350 Can-Am

After the Ferrari 330 P4s finished their duties in 1967, they were returned to the factory and two were converted for the Canadian-American Challenge (Can-Am). Even with their striking new body and enlarged engine, these spyders were no match for the competition in Group 7 and fell behind cars like the McLaren M6A-Chevrolet. In Maranello,…

Greatest Cars, Maserati 5000 GT

Another Great Car today from the Maserati stables. The 5000 GT were thirty-two 2-door coupés, made by Maserati. The first car in the Tipo 103 series, was the Shah of Persia, delivered to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had been impressed by the Maserati 3500. He commissioned Maserati’s chief engineer Giulio Alfieri to utilize a slightly…

Greatest Cars, Abarth 205 Vignale Berlinetta

Austrian born tuning expert Carlo Abarth was one of an all-star team that was involved in Piero Dusio’s ambitious Cisitalia project immediately after the War. By 1949, Cisitalia’s financial position quickly worsened and Abarth decided to jump the sinking ship. As compensation for his efforts, Dusio gave him several examples of the latest ‘204’ model…

Greatest Cars, Jaguar XJC

Jaguar XJ6 was one of the most popular luxury and executive saloon cars of its time. By the time it came about in the late 60’s, Jaguar’ s range had expanded into many models, each with different engine and trim options. The engine and running gear was pretty much the same as the earlier models,…