The Woodill Wildfire is considered by many to be the first production fibreglass sports car in the world, it was very nearly mass-produced by Willys as the “Willys Wildfire” and mass-produced as a contemporary of the first Chevrolet Corvette. If it hadn’t been for Kaiser Motors buying Willys in 1953 the history of the company…
This is the 1971 Plymouth Road Runner Rapid Transit, it’s the only one ever made and today it stands as a high watermark for American concept muscle cars of the early 1970s. The Road Runner was developed alongside three others – a 440 Cuda, a 340 Duster, and a Hemi Cuda that was built as…
It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to walk up to a rickety old barn in the Texas countryside and see the distinctive front end of a dusty 1968 Shelby GT500 Fastback peering out through an old metal gate. True barn finds are something that are appealing to almost everyone in the automotive…
The Porsche 356 Speedster is one of the most beloved Porsches of all time, in fact it’s probably one of the most beloved roadsters of all time. The idea to build the Speedster wasn’t actually a Porsche idea, it was thought up by the hugely influential Austrian/American auto importer Max Hoffman. Hoffman was a New…
The BMW Alpina B7 Turbo/1 was the fastest four-door saloon car in the world from 1984 to 1987, largely thanks to its heavily modified engine and its KKK turbocharger, pushing horsepower to over 320 bhp and delivering a hefty 383 ft lbs of torque. What is Alpina? At the start of the 1960s Alpina was…
This Continental Mark II is a tastefully built custom, incorporating a 642 hp Robert Pond Motorsports aluminum 482 cu. in. V8, fully independent suspension on all four corners, four wheel Wilwood disc brakes, and rack and pinion steering. The car is the work of brothers Calvin and Leon Moore from Nashville, the two men had…
This is episode one of Hargety’s Behind the Wheel series, it focusses on one of the great automotive controversies of the 1960s – will the Corvair kill you? Or more specifically, will the Corvair spin out of control and roll a half dozen times when you steer rapidly at speed. In 1965 an ambitious young…
The Volkswagen SP2 is a car much loved in Brazil, but little known outside the South American country. The car is a small sport coupe that was designed and made in Brazil for the local market, using largely local VW components. The styling of the car would have a strong influence on the VW/Porsche developed…
The Citroën DS Safari Estate is the station wagon version of the iconic French automobile, it was first introduced in 1958 with different model names depending on location – it was the “Brake” in France, the “Safari or Station Wagon” in Australia, the “Safari or Estate” in Britain, and the “Wagon” in the USA. Citroën…
In 1960 the Americans would arrive at the world’s most famous endurance race with a bang – three specially prepared 1960 Chevrolet Corvettes rolled off the trucks at the Circuit de la Sarthe to challenge for wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time. The truth of the matter is that…
The one-of-one “RUF RSR” as it’s become known over the past 30+ years was lauded in the book The World’s Fastest Cars in 1989. Since that time the horsepower has been increased from 400 bhp to over 700 bhp thanks to an ever increasing series of upgrades that, we hope, will continue far into the…
Introduction: The GMC Motorhome The GMC Motorhome is a six-wheeled embodiment of the zeitgeist of its age – for those who did not live through the post-war 1950’s to 1970’s era it is likely that they will not really grasp the level of creative freedom that was unleashed. The younger generations may realize that the…
