The Bill Thomas Cheetah has become an unlikely success story, the car was first designed as a concept car of sorts for Chevrolet who were seeking something a little more hard-edged than the Corvette to take on and beat the new Shelby Cobras. Bill Thomas – Self-Taught Engineer Extraordinaire Bill Thomas was a legendary California…
South Africa to Ireland in a Vintage Alfa is a short film that tells the story of Jethro Bronner’s journey across the length of Africa and Europe as he drove his Alfa Romeo step-nose from The Dargle South Africa, to Dargle in Ireland. Jethro is an Alfaholic whose lifelong ambition was to get his own…
This is one of the most famous examples of the Vauxhall Firenza in existence, if not the most famous outright. Nicknamed “Old Nail” this is the car that was driven by iconic British driver Gerry Marshall to the Forward Trust Special Saloon Car Championship win 1972 and 1973, the Simoniz Saloon Car Championship in 1974, and…
The Jensen Interceptor was built by the relatively small company out of their West Bromwich factory to compete with the likes of the Aston Martin DB6, the Ferrari 365 GT, the Jaguar E-Type, and the Maserati Ghibli. Rather than developing their own engine and drivetrain in-house, the team at Jensen bought in Chrysler V8s and…
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…
