In May 1968, my former wife and I traveled by train, ferry and again by train from Pirmasens, Germany, to Norwich, England. Our purpose was to pick up our new 1968 Lotus Europa at the factory in Wymondham, near Norwich. We had a few adventures along the way, thanks to a train crash in Germany...
If I were to ask you to name an innovative, Italian sports car manufacturer, chances are good you would instinctively reply, Ferrari. If I were to then ask you to name one of the oldest Italian automobile manufacturers in continuous production, you very well might answer either Fiat or Alfa Romeo. And while all these...
What is art? A shape, a form, an abstract collection of ideas, an image created by man to invoke thought, reflection, passion, pleasure or even shock? In automotive terms, art is defined by a car’s styling. Some have referred to a car’s advanced or elaborate engineering aspects as a mechanical work of art. What one...
Franco Scaglione was a truly remarkable man, even by the standards of most Italian car designers. From drawings of the Lancia Aurelia B50/1 for the Carrozzeria Balbo in 1951 to the Intermeccanica Indra of 1972 and the immortal Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale—which has every right to arguably be described as the most beautiful car...
It was possibly the greatest automotive marketing slogan ever – “Ask the Man Who Owns One.” Packards were such high quality, reliable cars that asking someone who owned a Packard was sure to produce a very complimentary reply. Throughout much of the company’s history, its cars were considered among the best, if not the best,...
The Global Rally organization appointed Destination Rally for the organization of their Friendship Rally 2018 through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. A non-competitive adventure rally through all kinds of terrain from rolling dirt roads and broken bridges in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia to the 20 lane highway of Naypidaw, Myanmar, the steep mountain...
If you visited a car show in 1963 or 1964, you would have seen concept cars on display from many different manufactures, just as you do today. Concept cars are built to showcase new and futuristic designs and to capture the imagination of the public. The public’s response to these concept cars often influences a...
The tattered old file folder is where it started. In the folder I found mysterious handwritten lists… scrawled chassis and engine numbers… a tally of some sort. Intriguing. Too intriguing to let rest. An obsession took root. It was late 2015. I had just bought a beautiful and purportedly rare XK140MC. My goal: The 2016...
1990 Ferrari F40 It has been 30 years since the last car ordered by Enzo Ferrari reached its first owners. That car, the F40, was in honor of the firm’s 40th anniversary, and it was kept very quiet until it was shown, first to a few Ferrari dealers and then at the Frankfurt Auto Show....
Who invented the motor car, or automobile? There have been several claimants to this title over the years; some justifiable, others hoping for a bit of glory. What is not in doubt is that Gottlieb Daimler and his associate, Wilhelm Maybach, were joint creators of the first lightweight, powerful, internal combustion-powered engine that used a...
As a young boy James Mitchell shared his father’s hobby and passion for classic and historic cars. Always fascinated by history, his education took him on a very different journey as he studied and gained a degree in Theology at Edinburgh University. However, on a train journey home, reading a copy of Motor Sport, Mitchell...