Italian designers were the first to introduce rear hatches to compact family sedans, realizing the huge benefits they had in terms of cargo capacity. Previously the style had only been seen on some exotic fastback coupes, but cars such as the Austin A40 Farina showed...
Felix Wankel, a German designer of torpedo motors, came closer than any other engineer to creating a successor to the reciprocating piston engine. His rotary design was small, light, and almost vibration-free. NSU, Curtiss-Wright Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, and Citroën all experimented with it, but Mazda developed...
Andre Citroën was one of the automotive industry’s earliest visionaries. Despite humble beginnings, his Citroën marque came to embody all that was original and daring about car design. Citroen produced an array of landmark automobiles that were uniquely French, appealing to the heart as well...
The name Robert Opron may not be widely known, even among car enthusiasts, but the extraordinary sweep of his achievements is still greatly admired by those who appreciate the craft of styling. A colorful man with a fondness for brash bow ties, his remarkable designs...
Increasingly sophisticated technology made the best saloons and GT cars even better as the 1960s turned into the 1970s. At the top end power usually came from V8 engines, often built in the US, though V6s and VI2s were used as well. All of them...
The sonorous name of Maserati was, for its first two decades, chiefly associated with pure racing cars. In the 1960s, however, its various GT and luxury saloon models established the marque in the same sphere as Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Porsche. Nonetheless, plenty of ups...
In the 1930s the French motor industry had been one of the most vibrant on the planet, but after the war, in the mid- to late 1940s, it struggled to regain its momentum. Peugeot had dabbled in electric cars before production was stopped by occupying...
Motor sport was too frivolous a hobby in occupied France, but at least these adults could enjoy the spectacle of children racing in pedal cars. Like toy cars, pedal cars had been around since the early days of motoring. They reached their height of popularity...