Automotive History
300+ Stories
Journey through the captivating world of automotive history with "300+ Stories." This collection dives deep into the iconic cars, legendary designers, and groundbreaking innovations that have shaped the industry. From the Ford Model T to the Tesla Model S, explore the evolution of automobiles and the stories behind their creation. Discover tales of famous races, influential figures, and engineering marvels that have defined automotive history. Whether you're a casual enthusiast or a die-hard gearhead, "300+ Stories" offers a fascinating look at the past, present, and future of the automobile.
1937 Donington Grand Prix – When The Germans Came to Donington by Rodney Walkerley The Donington Grand Prix of 1937 was the race and the year in which the already...
Fascination with miniature versions of something grand, like an automobile, may seem frivolous, silly even. Items like this, arguably little more than trinkets, serve very little if any practical purpose....
Touring car racing has usually been seen as the court jester to the serious stuff of single-seaters, but in a passing conversation at the Goodwood Revival someone said to me...
Automobiles Peugeot Armand Peugeot was born on 26 March 1849 in Herimoncourt, in eastern France. He was the son of Emile Peugeot and Jean Pierre. . Since 1810, the family...
By Louis Galanos | Photos as Credited The late 1960’s and early 1970’s was a great time for motorsports especially for fans of Can-Am racing and international endurance racing like...
It began in Richmond, Indiana, in 1851 when Daniel W. Marmon and his partner, a fellow named Nordyke, began manufacturing millstones. They were so successful that Richmond wasn’t big enough...
On 18 June 1992, Klaus Ludwig driving an AMG-Mercedes 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II won both races of the German Touring Car Championship at the Nürburgring. This double victory was...
Whatever the French might say, an American named James Gordon Bennett, Jr. is the great granddaddy of the modern Grand Prix, because it was this irascible millionaire who first came...
Daytona is a name that has long been part of the speed racing history as early American-based land speed record attempts were undertaken on the beaches within a 20-minute drive...
The 1930 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1930 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: April 16-17, 1929 / Winner: Nuvolari – Guidotti / Winning Speed: 62.78 mph / Starters: 135 / Finishers:...
From the very first day of its inception, the Bugatti legend was founded primarily by motorsports. In this respect, 1928 was a special year for Bugatti. The rules had changed...
The Volkswagen Beetle is an icon. Over the years, it has symbolized many different things to many different people, from a classic example of German ingenuity to the calling card...
More than 80 years ago, two fabulously wealthy young American brothers, accompanied by their butler, flew a primitive plywood-based biplane many thousands of miles to take part in an obscure...
History of Formula 1 – Motor Races 1931 Ogden’s Cigarettes Tobacco advertising and automobile racing goes back a lot further than Marlboro. Cigarette cards came into use in 1879, the...
The 1928 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1928 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: March 31-April 1, 1928 / Winner: Campari – Ramponi / Winning Speed: 52.58 mph / Starters: 83 /...
Joe “The Kid” Dawson headed for victory in the 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race in his National. Each May, I am reminded of one of the most exciting races ever seen...
1903 Paris to Madrid – The Race to Death …We ask this question of car manufacturese in France and abroad: Is there anyone who will undertake to travel this summer...
Cadillac is gonna do what?! I’m sure I’m not the only one who said that after hearing that Cadillac was going to send a car to compete at the 2000...
In Part 1, we took a look at the beginnings of the Huffaker legend, with the ferocious Formula Juniors and the Genie sports racers. In this, the final installment, we...
A First-Hand Look at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana Photos and Story By Boyd Harnell A white Jaguar convertible hurtled out of a turn I was approaching near the southern Mexican...
Aston Martin is known worldwide for its high-profile successes in sports car racing. A famous outright win at Le Mans and a third consecutive victory at the Nürburgring 1,000-km saw...
“At Monaco you get everything that you meet on a public road lampposts, trees, nightclubs, houses, hotels, curbs, gutters, you know it’s a proper road race in the true meaning...
On 9 May 1937, the Mercedes-Benz W125 racing car celebrated its racing debut with a victory at the Tripoli Grand Prix. Following this opening triumph, it went on to dominate...
1935 German Grand Prix – The Maestro and the Pechvogel By Douglas S. Brown The proud aristocratic German felt that he had the race in his pocket. There was just...
Hermann Paul Müller’s Auto Union heads into Schwantz Curve in 1938. Photo: Simon Lewis Donington devotee John Bailie is researching, designing and editing a book, planned for launch later this...
1929 Tourist Trophy – A Great Irish Triumph By the Hon. H.R.S. Birkin The chief threat to a Bentley victory was Caracciola’s 7-litre supercharged Mercedes. My 4 ½-litre Bentley, though...
In March 1964, Automobili Lamborghini was still in its infancy. Established just a few months previously, it had presented its first prototype in October 1963, known as the 350 GTV...
It seems almost unthinkable today, but for decades the only thing between Grand Prix pit workers and destiny was a white line painted on the ground. That was one of...
Yes, girls, too. In fact, if it hadn’t been for one—Mildred Mary Bruce—the famous Blower Bentley could have stayed an idea rolling around in Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin’s head. Bruce...
Radiator emblems, being either a brand emblem or a small sculpture, are positioned at the very front of the vehicle in a place for all to see their distinguishing features....
Rolls-Royce has always offered countless opportunities to push boundaries, challenge the norm, and to redefine what’s possible. The desire for self-expression is one of the primary reasons that clients keep...
The Petersen Automotive Museum will celebrate “Dream Cars” from the 1950s with its newest exhibit, “GM’s Marvelous Motorama: Dream Cars From the Joe Bortz Collection,” which will open on March...
Early 1900s Cars Contributions to the manufacture of early 1900s cars were made possible by several men. Two brothers, Charles E. and James F Duryea, were the first to manufacture...
Porsche’s Spyders stole the limelight, but in the 1950s they had serious rivals in both BMW and EMW, who produced serious 1½-liter machinery. Their battles on both sides of the...
The Die Silberpfeile Cars We waited again. Then they came. Far away in the distance we heard an angry, deep-throated roaring – as someone once remarked, like hungry lions impatient for...
2024 marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most spectacular successes in the history of international motorsport. With Irishman Patrick “Paddy” Hopkirk at the wheel, the Mini Cooper S...
When the Chapman family finally stepped down from control of Team Lotus at the end of 1990 they carried with them a huge legacy. It was, and remains, one of...
Coachbuilding is the art and science of producing bespoke bodywork installed on a pre-assembled chassis with the art as timeless as the motor car itself. Mass production has practically extinguished the...
In the long staircase of world motorsport, it is common for us to focus mainly on the greatest successes of drivers in the main categories. If a driver manages to...
America’s premier sports car endurance race started at an abandoned WWII Army Air Corps base in Florida. “The 12-Hours of Sebring” is one of the most important racing events in...
The Standard Motor Company is one of the largest motor companies that so few have ever heard of. It grew from a tiny workshop in Coventry to become one of...
A short history of Racing in the Far East When you read about racing in Asia, it will invariably be about the Sepang F1 GP in Malaysia or the Shanghai...
Since its earliest days, Ferrari has been renowned for its passionate soul and focus on both the future and innovation. Driven, of course, by the pioneering spirit of its founder...
Motor Racing History – Formula One And A World Championship For Drivers In 1946, following World War II, only four races of Grand Prix calibre were held. Rules for a...
1970 Monaco Grand Prix – The Stuff of Champions By Dennis David The unsuccessful attempt to produce a competitive four-wheel drive car for Formula 1 had finally run its course,...
The Greatest Supercars And Sports Cars Of The 1970s The seventies was a sharper era after the radical experimentation of the sixties. Shapes were becoming more angular and harder-edged, while...
Motor Racing History – The Pre-War Grand Prix Period Formula Libre Grand Prix racing in accordance with a strict formula based on engine size and weight was abandoned in 1928.In...
Debutante’s Ball On a list of the greatest Grand Prix races will be the names of several which will strike a chord for all racing enthusiasts: the German Grand Prix...
You’ll probably get stopped at some point and have to pay off the cops. You will almost certainly have to weld something at what would have been your lunch stop....
1951 British Grand Prix – Froilán González’s Greatest Race By José Froilán González More than twenty years have passed since that British Grand Prix and yet it seems to me as...
In 1955 Denis Jenkinson wrote of the EMW sports racers: “By comparison, the well-known 300 SLR Mercedes-Benz sports cars have a poor air-flow over the bodywork with their numerous louvers,...
Robert Newman examines the history and scandals that defined Africa’s first Grand Prix. The Italians are nuts about motor racing and have been for 100 years. So in 1925 it...
On March 28th, at 2pm, the North East Motor Sports Museum will host a special speaker presentation on the Rockingham Boards, which will be presented by Joe Freeman. From 1925...
The 1934 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1934 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: April 8-9, 1934 / Winner: Varzi – Bignami / Winning Speed: 71.44 mph / Starters: 57 / Finishers:...
Although it has nearly been forgotten now, in the late 1950s and early 1960s there was a professional road racing series that produced memorable races, fine drivers, and worthy champions....
Back in the early day of the automobile, we weren’t talking about cars yet in the early 1900s, the art of coachbuilding was just about the only way people could...
The whoosh of a turbine became a familiar sound at the Brickyard during the 1960s, and albeit briefly, in Formula One in the early 1970s. In this, the final installment,...
In June of 2014, Porsche will return to Le Mans with a newly designed LMP1 racing machine. With 16 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the pinnacle...
Peter Collins examines the meteoric rise and tragic fall of Derek Bennett and his Chevron Cars. Enzo Ferrari was right when he made one of his jibes about the British...
Prior to the Second World War, simply driving a motor car in Europe was almost a noteworthy event, and thus motorsport involved a small percentage of that already small number...
A Concise History of Cars Automobile History In the Early Days The history of cars involved people from different countries who, in ways large and small, contributed to its development....
A GT40 hot on the “Longtail” of a Porsche 906/6 as they leave the Esses. Photo: Roger Dixon During the 1960s the annual 24-hour auto race near a small town southwest...
Though only a few Dutch vehicle makers are in operation today, in the early years of the motorcar around the turn of the 20th century, quite a number of automakers...
A Brief History and Genesis of One of the World’s Most Famous Races. Italy was still firmly entrenched in the 19th Century in 1926, when four men from Brescia put...
The Story of the Porsche 911 – A Timeline Porsche Prepares To Evolve Beyond The 356 By the early 1960’s, with the commercial success of the 356 (in all of...
The main thing about the 1953 race at Watkins Glen was the question of whether there would be a race at all. The previous year there had been a fatality...
Stirling Moss accepts congratulations upon winning the 1956 Grand Prix of Bari in his works Maserati 300S.Photo: Maserati Archive Maserati went through several highs and a lot of lows in...
A Good (Car) Guy is Hard to Find: A Girl’s Memoir By Petra Perkins with Louis Galanos No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member?...
For young teenagers entering high school, it is a time for discovering new interests, making new friends and perhaps becoming involved in sports and/or special interest clubs. For many teenage...
The 1927 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1927 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: March 26-27, 1927 / Winner: Minoia – Morandi / Winning Speed: 48.27 mph / Starters: 77 / Finishers: 54 And then...
The search for speed has motivated every racer since the dawn of the sport, obsessively driving them to go as fast as possible in pursuit of victory. In those early...
All images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale Some Le Mans 24 Hour Background Do you remember when your favourite band or singer released their latest, long-awaited album? Perhaps it was Bob...
Achille Varzi, in the Alfa Romeo 158 “Alfetta”, set the 2nd fastest time for Heat 1 behind the Alfa 158 of Carlo Trossi. Photo: Ed McDonough Collection No Subscription? You’re...
1922 Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France The Grand Prix of the French Automobile Club, the world’s most prestigious race at the time, was held on the 16th of...
In June of 2014, Porsche will return to Le Mans with a newly designed LMP1 racing machine. With 16 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the pinnacle...
The Greatest Supercars and Sports Cars of the 1950s Following the post-war austerity of the 1940s, you’d be forgiven for thinking the car world had gone a bit mad by...
The chaotic scene just after the #88 car of Huhn/Schwarz crashed at the Nürburgring in 1970.Photo: Porsche Werk Motor racing has always involved risk for the drivers, and sometimes for...
The Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust has announced a major innovation in the world of industrial heritage. Working with Andrew Nahum, curator and historian, Peter Grimsdale, author and TV producer and...
In 2022, Lamborghini is celebrating 60 years of the legendary V12, the 12-cylinder engine that has been at the heart of the most powerful Lamborghini models. One of these is...
New Zealand motor sport enjoyed a golden age during the 1960s and early 1970s when no less than three drivers from the tiny island nation—thousands of miles from the motor...
Not for the first time, one of motor sport’s most successful cars was a huge flop when it made its debut. In this case, it was the Bugatti Tipo 35,...
[Click here to read the first installment] Poland, Denmark and Norway had fallen to Nazi Germany and the blitzkrieg up through France, Holland and Belgium was just months away by...
Motor Racing History – New British Teams & The Rear-Engined Revolution The Rise of British Racing Green Green cars began appearing more frequently on the grids of the the world’s...
The Petersen Automotive Museum has just debuted its newest exhibit, “Eyes on the Road: Art of the Automotive Landscape.” The display, which explores the intersection of art, the motoring environment...
Shortly before Christmas Eve 1913, British racing driver L. G. Hornsted set two new world speed records for the half-mile and the kilometre. Held southwest of London at Brooklands near...
Before paved roads became common and state highways were still an unrealized dream, driving from Southern to Northern California was a major undertaking sure to tax both man and machine....
The 1936 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1936 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: April 5-6, 1936 / Winner: Brivio – Ongaro / Winning Speed: 76.01 mph / Starters: 69 / Finishers:...
1968 German Grand Prix – Jackie Stewart’s Greatest Race By Jackie Stewart For Grand Prix drivers the German Grand Prix each year is a very special event because the Nurburgring...
By Bob Harmeyer Daytona International Speedway in 2012 is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the track’s first road race, a three hour event won by Dan Gurney when he coasted...
The 1930’s Cars Chugged Along Despite the Great Depression – Here’s A Little History & The Greatest Cars Of The 1930s 1930s Car Innovations Most 1930’s cars had four-wheel hydraulic brakes....
The 1931 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1931 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: April 11-12, 1931 / Winner: Caracciola – Sebastian / Winning Speed: 63.21 mph / Starters: 99 / Finishers:...
Synonymous with Zagato, but embraced throughout the automotive industry, double-bubble roofs are one of the most striking design cues ever to emerge from post-WWII Italy. An already established coachbuilder with...
“Once upon a time”— is the way most children’s fairytales start, but this is no French fairytale. Although it is not unlike Jean Rédélé’s (the father of Alpine) dream of...
The 1932 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1932 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: April 9-10, 1932 / Winner: Borzacchini – Bignami / Winning Speed: 68.67 mph / Starters: 88 / Finishers:...
The 1948 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1948 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: May 1-2, 1948 / Winner: Biondetti – Navoni / Winning Speed: 75.76 mph / Starters: 167 / Finishers:...
The internal combustion engine (ICE) was not the only, nor the default, means of propulsion for early motor cars at the beginning of the 20th century. Indeed, in the early...
Join Us on a Deep Dive Into Porsche: Their History, Racing Achievements, & Iconic Cars For nearly seventy years, the name Porsche has been synonymous with some of the finest,...
Alfa Romeo Logo Evolution Alfa Romeo has a long history in racing that dates back to 1910 and extends to Formula One today. Throughout its 112-year history, many Alfa Romeo...
