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.
The late 1960s brought a host of changes to the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans. The wave of “professionalism” that was sweeping across other forms of motorsport began to...
Thirty years ago, Mercedes-Benz achieved a double victory in 1989 with the new Sauber-Mercedes C 9 Silver Arrows. A third Mercedes-Benz car finished in 5th place. This result makes the...
Last month I wrote about the road race that took place in Palm Springs in 1950. It was the first such event in Southern California after WWII. Some of you...
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....
In 1967, sports prototype racing was going through one of its golden eras, with plenty of entries and a wonderful driver lineup for the world championship series, which consisted of...
Riddelle Gregory at Pebble Beach 1954 where he placed 3rd in the main event. His pit crew included Phil Hill and his brother Maston The first few years of the...
A Rogue, an XK120 and the World Record that Took 5 Years and Stirling Moss to Break. It was a car the likes of which had not been seen before....
By Bob Harmeyer Sebring International Raceway, located on a former Army Air Force base situated among the orange groves of south-central Florida, is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the legendary...
Ferrari has a storied history at the Monaco Grand Prix, having won the famous race eight times, yet it was not to be at the 61st running of the Monaco...
The 1949 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1949 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: April 24-25, 1949 / Winner: Biondetti – Salani / Winning Speed: 82.16 mph / Starters: 303/ Finishers: 182...
The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the brand’s first-ever production mid-engine Corvette, is the culmination of 60 years of mid-engine experimentation. While the eighth generation Corvette marks a radical leap forward...
The 7th running of the fall races at Watkins Glen, N.Y., was held at the Interim Course, a 4.6-mile, 9-turn circuit on public roads, up the hill from the village,...
No one was exactly thrilled when word reached Maranello, Modena, Arese and points north that the automobile club of an Italian seaside town called Bari was organizing a new Grand...
Circa-1920s outside the London home of Rolls-Royce at 15 Conduit Street.Photo: Courtesy of Rolls-Royce On March 27, 1863, Frederick Henry Royce was born, joining his three sisters and a brother...
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...
Like most German industrial companies, World War II left much of Mercedes-Benz’s Stuttgart factory in ruins. However, with time Mercedes rebuilt and returned to what it knew best, manufacturing passenger...
When thinking about the 1950s, images of poodle skirts, leather jackets, sock hops and soda shops usually come to mind. It’s also an era in which the cars had spectacular...
The 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans did not look as though it would be a walkover for Phil Hill, the number one driver of the Ferrari works team and...
By Art Evans The series we now know as Formula One traces its roots back to 1906. Before the term, Formula One, was coined in 1950, essentially the same sequence...
Targa Florio – The Ultimate Guide The Norman conquest of southern Italy led to the creation of the Kingdom of Sicily, which was subsequently ruled by the Hohenstaufen, the Capetian...
Mercedes W125 Car: Mercedes W125 / Engine: 8-Cylinder In-line Supercharged / Maker: Daimler-Benz / Bore X Stroke: 94 mm X 102 mm / Year: 1937 / Capacity: 5,660 cc /...
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....
The Storied Ferrari California History Last week Ferrari revealed the new California T as the first turbocharged model in the Ferrari lineup since the 1980s. The T has a much smaller...
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...
This month, Carroll puts down his wrenches long enough to reminisce about some of his early Can-Am experiences. Shelby American’s GT 40 program ended with Ford’s decision not to return...
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....
1934 French Grand Prix – Giants in the Ring By Barré Lyndon Although the French Grand Prix had always been regarded as the most vital race of the year, the...
Long, long ago (50 years) in a city far, far away (Butte, Montana), I bought a racecar from Evel Knievel’s father. Bob Knievel was an amateur racer and car dealer....
If you were a music fan during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, you’ll remember the hit songs “Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley,” “They Call the Wind Maria” and...
Alfa Romeo had gone from zero to hero and beyond from the 1911 Targa Florio to the 1936 Mille Miglia. Its motor racing exploits were followed by the entire Italian...
1933 Tourist Trophy – Sensation at Syracuse By Richard Hough “It seems perfectly apparent,” wrote Sammy Davis after the 1932 race, “that the prospects for next year are not particularly...
1965 Monaco Grand Prix – Graham Hill ‘s Greatest Race By Graham Hill The 1965 Monte Carlo was a race, which I have always considered to be one of the...
Propellers proved to be an important development in the history of transportation. On ships, once steam power was mastered, propellers replaced oars and sails. A propeller attached to an internal...
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...
Tonino Ascari, the 63-year-old son of 1952–1953 Formula One World Champion Alberto, stunned the Italian motor racing community on September 10th by saying he believed Eugenio Castellotti asked his father...
Die Silberpfeile – The Silver Arrows Teams The Fuhrer has spoken. The 1934 Grand Prix formula shall and must be a measuring stick for German knowledge and German ability. So...
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...
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...
In 1951, Mercedes-Benz’s successful return to the automotive industry in the post-war years was marked by two passenger cars in the form of the Mercedes-Benz 300 (W 186) and 220 (W...
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 noise! It took my breath away. A BMW M12 4-cylinder or Honda V-6 at around 10,000 rpm. Totally ear-splitting in any environment, but here, at Pau, in the Parc...
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...
Environment affects evolution. Case in point: racing sedans. European sedans, contending with high fuel costs and operating on winding and narrow roads, ended up looking different from their American counterparts,...
Photo: Casey Annis The story of the Corvette and how it came to race at Le Mans is one in which the dreams of a number of individuals intersect, over...
After the First World War and into the ’20s, many car manufacturers throughout Europe became involved in Grand Prix racing. They believed that advertising, prestige and development were in...
Many enthusiasts are aware of Ettore Bugatti’s marvelous sports cars and exemplary GP cars. However, not many people know that in the late 1930s, Bugatti planned on building record-braking airplanes,...
In March, 2019, the Hispano Suiza brand was revived when a new luxury hypercar, the Carmen, was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The Carmen is the new flag bearer...
The Greatest Supercars And Sports Cars Of The 1960s The 1960s was a decade of great progress. The world was changing, and car design leapt forward, building upon the growth...
Scheckter’s Laguna Seca win was his first of four in a row that established a points lead he never relinquished. Photo: Treichler/VR Archive The decade of the 1960s was a historic...
The Conclusion of Boyd Harnell’s First-Hand Look at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana Mexico City-Leon, Leon-Durango: November 21, 1954 The carnage continued to mount on the next leg, Mexico City to...
The 1938 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1938 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: April 3-4, 1938 / Winner: Biondetti – Stefani / Winning Speed: 84.61 mph / Starters: 141 / Finishers:...
Raymond Mays demonstrates the BRM V16 during an “Ancien Pilotes” demonstration race in the late 1960s. Photo: J Pearson Archive Aspiration and reality are often diametrically opposed. Dreams, however, do come...
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...
Images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale and CofGâr, Carmarthenshire County Council Museums and Arts Service Away from the bright lights, and tucked away in West Wales is the village of Pendine,...
Tears streamed down a thousand faces in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris on September 9, 1945. Tears for the absent French men and women who had been murdered by...
The sensational Mercedes-Benz 300 SL racing sports car debuted on a motorway on March 12, 1952. Commencing from 1954 until today, the highly successful competition car has greatly influenced the tradition...
Lancia. Ever heard of them? If not, it’s not surprising. Their cars are not exactly sold all over the world. Yet the Italian manufacturer has won no fewer than 19...
1990s Supercars: The Golden Era – Homologation, The Big Mac and the Rise of the Everyday Supercar. Your Ultimate Guide to the Best Supercars from the 1990s Best 90s Supercars...
The MINI brand turned 50 years old on August 26, 2009. Fifty years ago to the day, the British Motor Corporation (BMC) unveiled the result of its quest to design...
Motor Racing History – 3.5-litre Naturally-Aspirated Engines, Active Suspension and Electronic Driver Aids 1989 was another McLaren year but this time the championship was won by Alain Prost. With turbos...
On October 15, 1953, Achille Castoldi sat in his boat on the water of Lake Iseo nestled between its more famous siblings Lake Como and Lake Garda. Surrounded by dense...
Is 263.4 kph, or 163.7 mph, the maximum speed of a new twin-turbo V12 people-carrier? The speed of a motorcyclist when caught on a British motorway by police camera (true!)?...
Georges Lemaître actually finished 2nd in the 1894 Paris-Rouen Horseless Carriage Competition in this Peugeot 3hp, but was awarded victory and the posted 5000-franc prize because his ride looked more...
Story by Louis Galanos | Photos as credited In 1962 I was a junior in high school and living in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, a small anthracite coal mining town, on the...
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...
The 1929 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1929 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: April 13-14, 1929 / Winner: Campari – Ramponi / Winning Speed: 56.05 mph / Starters: 83 / Finishers:...
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...
Racing Car New’s Editor Max Stahl chats with Vern Schuppan in the paddock ahead of the 1972 Singapore Grand Prix. “It was lovely and fast-flowing, a wonderful and challenging circuit,...
Of all the famous nameplates borne by Rolls-Royce motor cars since 1904, few are as celebrated, significant, evocative and enduring as the ‘Silver Ghost’. Formally launched in 1906 as the...
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...
1938 German Grand Prix – A Briton’s Finest Hour By Cyril Posthumus 1939 Was the first year of the new 3-litre supercharged / 4½-litre unsupercharged GP Formula. Strictly this was...
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:...
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...
Maverick at Daytona – James Garner and American International Racers By Louis Galanos No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in to your...
Fiat Quickly Came Out of Nowhere to Win Racing Events. These Are The People Behind the Success. When one thinks of Fiat these days most think of small quirky cars...
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...
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...
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....
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...
In the week of the Spanish Grand Prix, why not revisit one of the strangest and most peculiar stories of Formula 1 in Spanish territory? The 1969 Madrid GP, which...
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:...
Fifty years after its first victory, to the day, Ford returned to Le Mans and won again, this time in the GTE Pro class with its EcoBoost GT piloted by...
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 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...
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...
On March 9, 1972, the Maserati Boomerang was first introduced at the Geneva Motor Show. It demanded attention. It was futuristic and extreme, illogical but stunning. It was the embodiment...
When people talk of “split window” cars they automatically think of the notorious 1963 split-window Chevrolet Corvette. And of course, the ‘63 split-window is a rare collector’s piece worth drooling...
1902 Circuit des Ardennes – The Great Races By By Charles Jarrott Ten Years of Motors and Motoring It is a curious fact that my most successful win on the...
Whether it is the FA Cup, Ryder Cup, America’s Cup, Webb Ellis Cup or the Ashes, Britain is famous around the globe for its iconic and inspirational sporting trophies. British...
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...
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...
Pete Kreis The son of a wealthy Tennessee family, Pete Kreis had grown up during the time that European manufacturers dominated automobile racing at the Indianapolis 500. When he broke...
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...
The 1957 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1957 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: May 12-13, 1957 / Winner: Taruffi / Winning Speed: 95.39 mph / Starters: 298 / Finishers: 163 The...
In the days when racing’s regulations were somewhat less restrictive than perhaps they are now, designers occasionally looked beyond current conventions to try something new and different Racers are renowned...
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 North American Racing Team: An evocative name that is steeped in history and encompasses one man’s ambitions, his passion, the glory and the despair of motor racing over a...
Howden Ganley stopped by our vendor booth at the recent Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, where one of the old photos we showed him started a discussion so interesting that I’m...
The 1947 Mille Miglia Race Results: 1947 Mille Miglia Results / Dates: June 21-22, 1947 / Winner: Biondetti – Romano / Winning Speed: 70.14 mph / Starters: 155 / Finishers:...
