Porsche's first sports car, the 356, utilized many components from the Volkswagen, including its flat-four engine. When an all-new power plant was needed for the replacement 911, Porsche kept the horizontally opposed layout and air-cooling but upped the cylinder count to six. The result was...
James Dean’s Last Passenger Recovers-Tells Complete Story Of Fateful. . . ....
Volkswagen began life with the humble Beetle, Adolf Hitler’s vision of a car for the masses. It was a huge success, becoming the best-selling car of its era, and giving VW a foundation from which it grew into Europe’s biggest car-making group—before the 2015 diesel...
There was a greater choice of affordable, high-style coupes in this decade than there had ever been before. Some had two doors, some were offered with three, and almost all were based to some degree on the engines, transmissions, suspension components, and structural platforms of...
One of the great visionaries of the car world, Colin Chapman was a born competitor. To fund his passion for building race-winning cars, he created a string of dazzlingly brilliant Lotus sports cars for road drivers. Chapman was a magician when it came to weight...
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...
“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...
For a nation so recently devastated by wartime bombardment, Germany’s automotive resurgence in the 1950s was impressive. The resurrection of the Volkswagen project, and the methodical rebuilding of the Mercedes-Benz, Opel, and German Ford marques, laid the foundations for the mighty German car industry we...
“The fact is, I don’t drive just to get from A to B. I enjoy feeling the car’s reactions, becoming part of it.” ENZO FERRARI, LEGENDARY RACE AND ROAD CAR CONSTRUCTOR In the 1950s the car took centre stage in daily life. Ownership was still by no...
Porsche is a name ingrained in sports car enthusiasts. Yet its founder, Ferdinand Porsche, was so much more than the creator of one of the world’s most recognizable marques. A man of inventiveness and rare skill, he designed the Volkswagen Beetle, pioneered hybrid vehicles, and...