The Lancia Stratos was the first car designed specifically for top flight rally competition – developed by the all-Italian dream team of Lancia, Nuccio Bertone, and Marcello Gandini, with engines supplied by Ferrari. We remember the Stratos today as one of the most successful rally cars of its era, but its conception and development were…
The Beginnings of Laverda The Laverda GT 750 is one of the most famous, and most popular, motorcycles from Italy’s “other” motorcycle manufacturer – a sibling of the bigger and better funded factories of Ducati, MV Agusta, and Moto Guzzi. Laverda is a company with some notable parallels to Lamborghini – both made a name…
The Maserati Eldorado The Maserati Eldorado is one of the most consequential racing cars of its time, despite the fact it never won a race, lead a championship, or landed a podium. There’s little doubt the car had the ability to achieve all three of these things given time and development work, after all Maserati…
The Vault of the Petersen Automotive Museum The overwhelming majority of people driving down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles have no idea that the unusual red and silver building they’re passing has a vault below ground level that contains well over $150 million USD worth of cars. Remarkably, the vault at the Petersen is more…
The AGV X3000 Gloria helmet is a new design from the iconic Italian company designed to evoke the styling of the classic full face helmets of the 1970s, made with modern materials meeting the safety standards of the 21st century. AGV took great care to design the shell of the X3000 helmet series using the…
This is the original prototype of the Ferrari 308 GTB Group B Michelotto – it was the first one built and was a proof of concept that would prove remarkably successful in competition in its own right. Anyone familiar with either Ferrari or Group B rally is likely to raise an eyebrow when confronted with…
Walt Siegl is deservedly known as one of the finest custom motorcycle builders in the world, but we’ve always associated him more with Ducatis than any other marque. The Bol d’Or is a step away from Ducati, but not a step away from Italy – it’s a comprehensively modified MV Agusta F3, and it’s no show…
The Metalbike Garage BMW K1200RS Metalbike Garage was founded by Simone Lecca after he left Gruppo Bertone – the storied Italian automotive styling, coachbuilding, and manufacturing company. Since Metalbike was founded 10 years ago, they’ve made a name for themselves via their signature aluminum bodywork – typically shaped using traditional tools and careful hand fettling….
The Prince Skyline Sport Coupe by Michelotti The Prince Skyline was a car with humble beginnings that would slowly evolve into one of the most famous Japanese sports cars in the world – the Nissan Skyline and the almost universally loved Nissan GT-R. The Skyline model range started in 1957 as a modest four-door sedan…
The Nardi Classic Steering Wheel is a design that’s immediately recognizable to anyone with an interest in vintage motoring, Nardi wheels have been used extensively in Ferraris dating back to the 1950s, they’ve also graced the steering columns of cars from Lancia, Audi, Maserati, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Lotus, TVR, McLaren, Volkswagen, Abarth, and BMW….
The Cunningham C3 The Cunningham C3 was to be the only non-racing car ever built by Briggs Cunningham and his team, and it only came about due to a last minute rule change to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1953. This new rule called for all entered cars to have a production run…
The De Tomaso Pantera GT5 was, in some respects, the blue-collar version of the Lamborghini Countach. Both cars featured a sweeping wedge-shaped profile, big wings, flared wheel aches, roaring engines and more horsepower than half a dozen family sedans. When new, the Countach cost over $100,000 (in 1980s money) and required a king’s ransom in…
