Category: Classic Cars

The Mercury Cougar was produced in the United States from 1967 to 1972 by the premium market division of Ford, Lincoln Mercury. In keeping with its policy of marketing more expensive versions of Ford’s best sellers the Mercury Cougar was positioned as a Ford Mustang variant in the Lincoln Mercury range. In spite of this it was never allowed to impact on the Luxurious T-Bird which Ford had released earlier. Under its skin it was almost identical to the Mustang except for its slightly longer – 282cm – wheelbase but… Read more

The name Maybach is as old as the motor industry. From its commencement in 1921 this car manufacturing company only continued in business for 20 years. The car was named after Wilhelm Maybach who was Gottlieb Daimler’s first designer. Maybach was a clever engineer who was also responsible for the cars that took on the Mercedes name in 1901. After completing his engineering studies Maybach eventually set up an aero-engine business with the airship designer, Count Zeppelin, in 1907. It was a family business with Maybach’s son Karl looking after… Read more

Sunbeam was one of the very few British companies to seriously build, develop and race a team of Grand Prix cars. When it won the French Grand Prix in 1923 Sir Henry Seagrave became the first driver to win a Grand Prix in a British car. This feat was not repeated again until the 1950s. The company went into liquidation in 1935 and was eventually taken over by the Rootes Group, along with its sister company Talbot, to join the Hillman and Humber marques. The first two-seater Alpine came into… Read more

General Motors often claim to be the first manufacturer of true post-war sports cars in the United States with the Corvette. Certainly it was the first built in any volume but the newness of the concept to American car buyers took a while to catch on. Even though European sports cars were popular sellers at the time, the Corvette, when first released, was a flop. Despite this Ford followed quickly with its Thunderbird and using superior marketing skills, quickly outsold the Corvette two-to-one. Ford’s action took the industry by surprise… Read more

In the USA the Plymouth’s Volare replaced the Valiant in 1976. Introduced in 1960, the Valiant had had a very long model run proving to be such reliable transport that it was kept in production for 16 years as good sales continued to be sustained. The slightly sportier Dodge version was initially named the Lancer, then later the Dart. The key to its success was the performance of the OHV Slant-Six engine which was available as either a 2.7-litre version developing 85kW or a more powerful 3.6-litre version. The engine’s… Read more

The Oldsmobile Toronado of 1965 created quite a sensation when it was first released as it brought front-wheel-drive (FWD) technology to the mass American market for the first time. And not in a compact runabout but a huge, stylish supercoupe. In Europe, the likes of Issigonis said big engines and front drive would never mix, but the people at Oldsmobile weren’t listening: the Toronado was always going to be a big one. The clean-cut styling of the massive Toronado gave no hint of the new technology underneath – front-wheel drive…. Read more