Classics : Car News And Reviews

Volkswagen is celebrating the 65th anniversary of the first Beetle to arrive on U.S. shores back in January, 1949. The first “Type 1” was shipped to New York City by a Dutch businessman and the world’s first official VW importer and the car found a willing buyer that same year.

Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is one of the country’s great road circuits. First established in 1955, Road America carries on the tradition of races that used to occur around the old Elkhart Lake road course.

While most of today’s cars are built using a combination of robots and human labor, the robots are clearly winning. Even back in the 1960s, machines provided automotive builders with a helping hand, though workers certainly played a bigger role than they do today.

Only about 170 Cisitalia 202 cars were built, but the car is notable because it is typically regarded as first production Gran Tourer. Designed by Pinin Farina, the car was extremely successful running long-distance endurance races like the Mille Miglia.

With Shelby American celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Shelby Cobra, it’s fun to look back at the early days of Carroll Shelby’s other iconic vehicle: the Shelby Mustang. In this advertisement from 1967, Carroll Shelby pitches the Shelby Mustang GT.

Hot Rod Magazine put together this great film back in 1950s with a look at the 1958 Hot Rod Nationals in Detroit. As they describe drag racing at the Hot Rod Nationals, it’s “half a mile of asphalt:  a quarter mile to race on and a quarter mile to slow down in.”

Take a drive in a historic 1956 Maserati 150S with the team at GridStars. Apparently, Maserati only made 27 of these beautiful open-top cars. This particular vehicle was once owned by the Beels Racing Team and was offered for action at the Gooding & Co.

Shelby American is celebrating 50 years since the Shelby Cobra first entered the FIA Racing world with a limited edition Continuation Cobra called the CSX7000 Shelby 289 FIA Cobra. Only 50 of these vehicles will be offered for sale, each painted in Viking Blue with Arctic White FIA stripes and roundels, a black interior, and special billet anniversary badges.

Renault will be entering five classic Renault 8 Gordinis in the 17th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique beginning on January 24, 2014. The event is only open to cars that participated in the Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo between 1955 and 1980.

We spotted this impeccably restored 1958 Austin Healey up for auction on eBay, with an astronomical Buy-it-Now price of $1,000,000 (USD). This very special vehicle was handmade by dozens of craftspeople, and features such extravagant touches as gold plated wheels, grille, bumpers and other trim, as well as a leather and mink interior.

While today we can enjoy Chevy’s impressive C7 generation Corvettes, let’s take a ride back to 30 years in the past to see how Chevy was pimping their then brand new C4 ‘Vette. This amusingly-dated commercial serves as both a time capsule and reminder of just how much automotive design and technology have evolved in the past three decades.

The elegant Hudson Commodore 8 was likely chosen for the 1989 Oscar-winning film Driving Miss Daisy because it reflected the southern elegance of the title character, Jessica Tandy’s Miss Daisy Werthan. Of course, the car played a central role throughout the film since Morgan Freeman played Miss Daisy’s chauffeur.

Florida’s Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is just around the corner, and there’s no better way to prepare for the upcoming event but by taking 15 minutes out of your busy to enjoy this amazingly shot short film.

While the 1970s Jaguar XJ is certainly an iconic vehicle, it was better known for its luxury and styling than for its performance (except maybe the XJ12). But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and in this case we have footage of an early 1970s XJ that’s been fitted with a 700 horsepower, turbocharged GM LSx (402ci) engine.

You may recognize the Jensen Interceptor Mark II as the car that Michelle Rodriguez drives in Fast and Furious 6. If you have $18,500 to spare, you can buy one of your own. The guys over at Hemmings spotted this classic vehicle up for sale, and it’s really special.