Reviving a famous name last used in the 1950s, the 1984 Ferrari Testarossa was a Pininfarina-designed, 12-cylinder two-seater. The early “red heads” had been racing machines, but this was a pure road car—sleek, very fast, and enormously expensive. Like many Ferrari Formula 1 engines of...
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...
Named for an era when the world was caught up in the excitement of the international space race, the diminutive Cosmo 110S was a sophisticated, two-seater coupe designed to sit at the very top of the Mazda range. At its launch in 1967 it was...
In the 1960s, if you wanted the epitome of speed and style, these exotic (and expensive) sports cars provided it. The established Italian firms, Ferrari and Maserati, made the cars everyone aspired to, and later in the decade they were joined by a third Italian...
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...
The AC Ace was transformed into an international star when Texan racing driver Carroll Shelby conceived the idea of installing a large American V8 engine in a small, lightweight, British sports car. Although the Anglo-American hybrid was crude, it was sleek and effective, and enjoyed...
Muscle cars powered onto the American motoring scene in the 1960s, driven by ever-larger and more sophisticated V8 engines. The biggest cars were well over 7.0 liters and produced around 400 bhp. Competitive racers were even more powerful. Ford’s 427 cu in big-block and Chrysler’s...
LaFerrari, 2013 LaFerrari The ultimate Ferrari, and some would say it was the ultimate hypercar, of its era. Together with the Porsche 918 Spider and McLaren P1, LaFerrari marked the arrival of hybrid powertrain technology in supercars, delivering 789 bhp from its 6.3-liter, V12 engine and adding...
“Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere.” COLIN CHAPMAN, FOUNDER OF LOTUS The mid-1960s was probably the pinnacle of unfettered driving enjoyment. Roads worldwide were still relatively uncrowded, in many cases speed limits did not apply, and engineers—working from opposing ends...
Over three generations, the Zagato family has forged a coach-building dynasty with a century-long history. A Zagato design is utterly unmistakable, characterized by extremes of shape, construction, and performance. Today the Milanese company’s work—especially with prestige marques such as Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari, Aston Martin,...