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1962-1977 Alpine A110
2009-06-23
French carmaker Société Anonyme des Automobiles Alpine traces its roots to the middle 1950s, when Dieppe mechanic Jean Rédélé achieved modest success in events like the Mille Miglia and Le Mans by modifying the humble 747-cc Renault 4CV for rallying and racing.
Alpine's first car, the Michelotti-styled A106, was an early pioneer of fiberglass, and with its rigid chassis, 5-speed transmission, and rear-mounted 4CV powertrain, it furthered the company's competition prowess. The Dauphine-based A108 appeared in 1960 in both coupe and cabriolet form and served as a stopgap between the A106 and what would ultimately bring Alpine its greatest accolades—the A110.
1970-1974 DeTomaso Pantera
2009-06-05
Following a brief racing career in the mid-1950s with Maserati and OSCA, the Argentine-born Alejandro DeTomaso retired from the sport and set up shop near Modena, Italy, to manufacture his own cars. He began with what he knew—formula racing cars—but by the late 1960s had given the world the bug-like 4-cylinder Vallelunga and the radical V8 Mangusta coupes—aesthetically interesting road cars but hardly world-beaters.
In the meantime, Ford had been on the prowl for an exotic car company to buy, something perhaps to alleviate the sting of Enzo Ferrari's earlier snub. They landed on the doorstep of DeTomaso, who wanted a way into the lucrative American market, while Ford wanted another supercar now that the GT40 had been retired. And while the radical Mangusta was interesting in concept but not quite right for the American market, the car DeTomaso had in the works was—the Pantera.
1963–1970 Iso Rivolta
2009-05-11
There's something undeniably appealing about an Italo-American hybrid. No one styles a sporting GT with passion and emotion quite like the Italians. And no one does V8 grunt quite like Detroit. Put them together, and the results are often spectacular. Renzo Rivolta put them together in the early 1960s and enjoyed modest success in the process.
Rivolta made his fortune in the manufacture of refrigerators and heaters with his Bresso-based Isothermos. Like many wealthy Italian men of the immediate pre- and post-war era, he was also a car guy. And, like at least one other Italian industrialist car guy, he thought he could do better. As such, he shifted his resources toward the production of motorized vehicles—-first with mopeds and scooters, then with the three-wheeled Isetta. But it is sleek GTs that most enthusiasts associate with the Iso name.
One of them, the eponymous Iso Rivolta, appeared at the 1962 Torino Auto Show, and the 2+2 coupe was a dramatic departure from the two-stroke scooters, micro-cars, and refrigerators that had defined Iso to that point.
Birth of the Boxer: 1973-1984 Ferrari 365 BB & 512 BB/BBi
2009-05-01
Enzo Ferrari was a notorious curmudgeon when it came to change. Late to adopt disc brakes, late to move his racing engines from the front to the middle, he was forever insisting that his way was the only way, technological advancements and on-track defeats be damned. For many years he maintained that a Ferrari was a front-engined V12, and that was that.
Then came the Dino, and while not technically a Ferrari, its mid-engine V6 layout paved the way for the Berlinetta Boxers of the 1970s and beyond.
When Ferrari introduced the 365 GTB/4 Berlinetta Boxer in 1973 as a replacement for the all-conquering 365 GTB/4 Daytona, the mid-engined 4.4-liter flat-12 marked a significant departure in the way the Maranello carmaker had always done business: it was the first Ferrari not powered by some kind of "V" type engine. Based on Ferrari's semi-successful Formula 1 3-liter boxer, it was the world's first flat-12 put to use in a passenger car.
Two Too Few? 1951-1954 Hudson Hornet
2009-04-22
Though the cars of the Big Three garner most of the attention when one considers American automobiles of the 1950s, the importance of the Hudson Hornet cannot be overlooked.
By the time Hudson's Hornet debuted in 1951, the buying public had already been captivated by the company's radical styling in the Commodore of 1948. The design placed the floorpan between the chassis frame rails, rather than atop them, and effectively combined the body and chassis structures into a single unit, allowing for a much lower appearance overall, as well as a reduced center of gravity. Thus, you stepped down to get into a Hudson