When Lotus founder Colin Chapman-dissatisfied with the engines available to him-asked Ford to commission a new power plant for Formula 1, Ford turned to Cosworth’s Keith Duckworth. The resulting engine was legendary, winning 12 driver’s titles between 1968 and 1982....
A new breed of sedan, these cars were aimed at hard-driving businessmen. The cars were well able to sustain foot-to-the-floor overtaking and relaxed high-speed cruising—in contrast to earlier counterparts that would shake themselves to pieces or overheat their engines. Much of the know-how behind these...
The 1950s was the decade of successful front-engined racing cars, especially in sports-car racing. European marques derived from road going sports cars dominated, gradually becoming more and more different from their street origins. Disc brakes proved a huge advantage and would be rapidly adopted, along...
Henry Ford was the first automobile manufacturer to make the most of mass-production techniques, and his Model T sold by the million. Since then, the Ford Motor Company has grown into a global giant, the only big U.S. car maker to survive the recession of...
BMW began as a maker of aircraft engines, later diversifying into motorcycles and then cars. From near-certain bankruptcy in the 1950s, BMW bounced back in the 1960s with the landmark Neue Klasse models. It has since grown into one of the most respected European marques...
Unmistakably French in style and yet universal in outlook, Renault remains one of the world’s most successful car makers. For more than 100 years Renault’s reputation for design flair has been matched by its accomplishments in all the major motor-sport arenas, from rallying to Formula...
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...
A true pocket-rocket, the 1980 Renault 5 Turbo was clearly related to the company’s popular Super Cinq, but in terms of engineering, construction, and performance it was a whole different beast. Intended primarily for rallying, and therefore pitted head to head with cars such as...
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...