Category: Classic Cars

In the mid-1980s European sporting luxury cars produced by makers such as Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar gained increasing prestige on the American market, much to the chagrin of General Motors. Around the same time GM corporate structure underwent change which meant that Cadillac became responsible for its own engineering and manufacturing. It was the only GM Division to be granted these responsibilities. Being allowed the flexibility of choosing from where they obtained their engineering elements Cadillac management, late in 1986, wasted no time in answering the challenge from Europe in planning… Read more

AC Cars re-entered the car market in 1947 with a rehash of the Thames Ditton, England pre-WW II model which was powered by a 2.0-litre overhead-cam straight-six engine. It was not, however, until 1953 when they released their new sports car that the company established its reputation as a sports car manufacturer. A design by John Tojeiro was selected which used a ladder-type tubular frame, all-independent transverse leaf-spring suspension and an extremely attractive open two-seater alloy body with classic lines. In appearance many people felt the design was inspired by… Read more

Argyll was a Scottish marque and its first cars were Renault based and built in Glasgow in 1899. Tasting some success in the early life of their business its management set about to become a major automotive manufacturer and proceeded to build a large new factory in Scotland near Loch Lomond. The first Argylls to come out of this factory had what were considered to be conventional engines at that time, but from 1909 they went on to develop and manufacture sleeve-valve engines, which, whilst being quieter and technically more… Read more

While it didn’t make the 100 Cars of the 20th Century listing the Amilcar would appear on many lists of outstanding or classic cars. Typical of small sports cars which were very popular in England in the 1920s and 1930s the Amilcar earned a reputation for racing performance, an important criteria in the 1920s. Much of the design work and trial and error testing of that period was beneficial in laying the groundwork for later designs. The Amilcar was the brainchild of two French engineers who worked for Fernand Lamy… Read more

The Triumph car originated as a sideline for the successful motorcycle business which unfortunately went bankrupt in 1939, and Triumph was finally bought up by Standard in 1944. In 1946 the first Standard-Triumph car appeared. It was the 1800 Roadster which was aimed at the export market and had three-abreast seating, a steering-column gear change and was the last car in the world to offer a `dickey’ seat behind the driver. Initially it was fitted with a 1776cc engine exactly as supplied by Standard for the Jaguar 1.5-litre models, but… Read more