Steve McQueen was lent an AC Cobra in 1963 by Carroll Shelby himself, it’s fairly clear he had a great time in the British/American Ferrari killer although I am surprised to see there’s still tread on the tires.
The AC 428 Coupé or “AC Frua” is a singularly multicultural motorcar, the frame was built in England, the body in Italy and the V8 in America. AC Cars, most famous for the British/American Cobra, decided in 1965 to use the new, strengthened frame from the Cobra to build a GT car capable of competing with Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin.
Pikes Peak represents the ragged edge of motorsport, guys slide their cars around gravel corners at 100+mph with nothing but a cliff on one side and a wall on the other.
The Jaguar XK120 was a revelation when it was first shown in 1948, the “120” in the name refers to it’s top speed of 120 mph which was the fastest top speed of any production car in the world at the time.
So an old friend of mine had a Mrs who treated him like her personal mechanic, this was more work than you might expect as she was the kind of lady who only changed up a gear when the engine was revving so high it was on the verge of creating a tear in space/time, she also liked to smush the brake pedal at the last possible moment, often creating so many forward-Gs that items in the back seat would end up embedded in the glove compartment.
The Volvo P1800 is one of those classic cars that very nearly never existed, Volvo had contracted Karmann to build the beautiful coupé however before full production began Karmann received an ultimatum from VW clearly stating that if they built the P1800 for Volvo, VW would cancel all contracts with them.
It isn’t widely known that there was a 4×4 Beetle produced in Germany during the second world war, the car was dubbed the “Volkswagen Kommandeurwagen” as it was primarily designed for use by the Wehrmacht.
So 2 things. 1, I want to work here and 2, after staring at this photograph for a few minutes I’ve decided that I think it’s a shot of the Shelby factory in the mid-1960s.
The 1973 Porsche 917/30 Can-Am Spyder is considered by many racing historians to be the most powerful race car to have every turned a wheel on asphalt.
The level of spatial awareness needed to hand draw a cutaway like this, a work by Shin Yoshikawa, blows my mind.
I still rate Goldeneye as one of the best of the modern Bond films, I know that’s a big claim but I think the Brosnan Bond movies got a little carried away towards the end with Die Another Day being a hideous travesty that I still think should be recalled, stockpiled and napalmed.
The Porsche 550 Spyder is right near the top of my “must-have” list. Sadly, the prohibitive costs involved are probably going to make that impossible however I do have my eye on some of the modern 550s built by companies like Beck Speedster.
