In 1953 Donald Healey asked Gerry Coker, his chief designer, to design two hard-top/coupe versions of the popular Austin-Healey 100. The two designs were slightly different and Donald preferred the red one, so he took it as his personal daily driver. The plans to develop a production version of the coupe never came to fruition,…
The Acme Traffic Regulator sounds like something Wile E. Coyote would use to lay an elaborate trap for Road Runner, but it actually used to be a very common sight on the streets of the United States between the 1920s and 1950s. The patent for the traffic light system was filed by inventor Frank J….
Bulova and Omega were in a heated battle during the early years of the Space Race to become the official chronograph used in space and eventually worn on the surface of the Moon. As is well known, Omega won the battle and specially prepared Speedmasters were worn by all Apollo astronauts. What isn’t as widely…
The Intermeccanica Italia Spyder is an American/Italian sportscar that was produced in very limited numbers, it’s thought that less than 500 were built in total and it’s unknown how many have survived to the modern day. First introduced in 1966, the Intermeccanica Italia Spyder went through a few minor iterations with different model names. The…
The Phil Hill Story is a slightly older documentary about America’s only native born Formula 1 World Champion. Hill was a famously quiet and reserved man who once said “I’m in the wrong business. I don’t want to beat anybody, I don’t want to be the big hero. I’m a peace-loving man, basically.” Despite his…
Steve McQueen owned an extraordinary array of vehicles including a 1931 Pitcairn PA-8 biplane, a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, a Jaguar XKSS, a Ford GT40 and a number of motorcycles – including the 1934 Indian Sport Scout you see here. Although he’s perhaps more famous for his association with Triumph and Husqvarna, McQueen’s love of…
The D-Day assault is one of the most important military events of the 20th century, the heroism, courage and selflessness displayed by the Allies as they began the mission to retake Europe has few parallels in history. This Paratrooper Jump Knife belonged to Norman Capels of G Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division. It isn’t…
In 1928 Harley-Davidson offered its ‘Two Cam’ racing engine in a street legal motorcycle for the first time, it was called the Model JDH and it was one of the fastest motorcycles you could buy anywhere in the world. The reason 1928 was chosen for the debut of the Model JDH was relatively simple –…
Triumph ended their factory racing program in the mid-70s due to budget restrictions and increasingly competitive two-strokes from Japan, this could have spelled the end for the marque on the race tracks of Europe and North America but a small band of privateers kept the Triumph badges on the starting grid. Privateer racer John Parker built…
The 1980 Bathurst 1000 was officially titled the “Hardie Ferodo 1000”, it took place on the 5th of October at the world renowned Mount Panorama Circuit in the town of Bathurst in south eastern Australia. This would be the first year that the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon would meet at Bathurst, and it was…
The Wall of Death was originally called the Silodrome, but carnival attendees are a fickle bunch and they were easily distracted by the competition over in the freak show attractions – so the name was changed to the far more dramatic sounding “Wall of Death” and attendance rates shot through the roof. For the uninitiated,…
The second generation Corvette was introduced in 1963, it was a substantial update over the original 10 year old design and for the first time a hardtop version was offered. From an engineering perspective the most important update in the C2 Corvette was the introduction of independent rear suspension, the C1 had a solid rear…
