Ben Branch July 18, 2019

When the Land Rover Series 2A was first released in 1961 the engineers behind it would have had no idea that almost 60 years later one of their hardy 4x4s would be fitted with a Chevrolet Corvette V8 engine producing over 430 bhp and 400 ft lbs of torque. The original engine in the Series…
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Ben Branch July 18, 2019

The Film Classic Car poster by Rear View Prints has quickly become one of their most popular designs, it features 15 iconic cars from a slew of great films, and it works as an excellent conversation piece as people try to name all 15 films or television series. The cars and their corresponding films are…
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Ben Branch July 15, 2019

This unique Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk II is one of the most well-known surviving examples of its model line, it’s taken part in the modern Mille Miglia (2013) and it was at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este when it was seen by its current owner who bought it on sight. The Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk…
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Ben Branch July 13, 2019

It isn’t common knowledge that Porsche sold a significant number of modified 356 engines to the Americans for use in helicopters, including both the XRON-I Rotorcycle (or YRON-I) and the US Navy’s QH-50 DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter). The horizontally opposed 4-cylinder Porsche engine was perfect for small helicopter use, it’s an air-cooled motor built with…
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Ben Branch July 11, 2019

This was His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama’s personal daily transportation for 10 years between 1966 and 1976 in Dharamsala, India. Although the Dalai Lama never personally drove the car, he did spend a lot of time in the passenger seat. By the time the Land Rover Series IIA was restored in 2006/2006 it had…
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Ben Branch July 9, 2019

This is the 1:10th scale Porsche 911 Carrera RSR R/C (remote control) car from Tamiya, it was carefully developed to closely match the now legendary styling of what is doubtless one of the most famous Porsches in history. 1973 was the year the 911 RSR was introduced as a homologation special to permit the car…
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Ben Branch July 8, 2019

The De Tomaso P70, later known as the Ghia DeTomaso, was a joint project between two independent icons of the motoring world – Alejandro de Tomaso of Argentina and Carroll Shelby of the USA. The project was founded to develop a race car able to compete in and dominate the then-new United States Road Racing…
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Ben Branch July 7, 2019

No Ghosts is a somewhat unusually named 1935 film about Chevrolet chassis design. The title of the film makes sense once you’ve seen it, but you have to watch through the first two minutes or so while the scene is set for the rest of the film. 1935 was a time when almost every motor…
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Ben Branch July 6, 2019

Austrian race driver and engineer Wolfgang Denzel began building his own cars in the years shortly after WW2 using left over VW Kübelwagen chassis fitted with wood-framed bodies. By the late 1940s he was producing his own bespoke metal bodies using VW engines and running gear, oftentimes his vehicles would find themselves competing with rather…
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Ben Branch July 4, 2019

The Matra Djet V (pronounced “jet”) and it’s forebear, the René Bonnet Djet, have the distinction of being the first full production car with a mid-engined layout, beating both the De Tomaso Vallelunga and the Lamborghini Miura to the punch. Though it should be pointed out that as with any automotive first, there is considerable…
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Ben Branch July 2, 2019

The Jaguar Pirana was designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, it was built at a lightning pace just in time for the 1967 Earl’s Court Motor Show, a process that took just 5 months from initial blueprints to completed car. Interestingly it was built using the frame and running gear of a Jaguar E-Type 2+2,…
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Ben Branch July 1, 2019

Retromotive Magazine is a quarterly coffee table magazine that features some of the most beautiful automotive photography you’ll find anywhere in the world. The magazine was founded by Nathan Duff, a veteran of the classic car magazine genre and a previous staff photographer for Australian Classic Car Magazine. Nathan has always been just as fascinated…
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