DATSUN CHERRY

Not long after releasing the Datsun 240Z sports car, the Japanese Datsun company was busy designing a supermini; the 100A Cherry. This car was announced about the same time as Fiat released its 127 and as it turned out the specifications were very similar. History shows that Fiat is generally given credit for starting the supermini trend, the Datsun Cherry provided strong evidence of the correctness of the theme. In fact, the Nissan design team got the design right first time. Their designer’s brief specified space and performance parameters from… Read more

JENSEN-HEALEY

The Volkswagen-Porsche 914 was not the only sportscar produced by a joint manufacturing arrangement between two well-known brands in the late 1960s to early 1970s. An even quicker car, the Jensen-Healey made its debut in 1972. Jensen built bodies for Donald Healey’s successful line of Austin-Healeys right from the start in 1953. These Austin-Healeys were a major export success into the 1970s but BMC was never happy paying royalties to Healey on every car sold, especially when the MG marque was part of BMC. So BMC discontinued the big Healey,… Read more

FORD GT40

Early in the 1960s, Ford of Detroit committed themselves to an all-out campaign to achieve supremacy in motor sport. It was conceived as Ford’s ‘total performance’ marketing package in which the youth market had been identified as the fastest growing sector of demand. The object was to beat the rest of the world, Ferrari in particular, at Le Mans. Initially they tried, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to take over the Ferrari business. After this foundered, in 1963, they started a sports racing project of their own. The AC Cobra,… Read more

CLASSIC CARS: CITROEN CX 1974-1989

1979 Citroen CX2400 Pallas

The Citroen CX was a replacement car for the Citroen D-series – one of the most successful cars of the 1950s and 60s. The CX was designed by Robert Opron who had originally conceived the DS. Shortly after its release the CX was voted ‘Car of the Year’ by the European motoring press and at the 1975 Geneva Motor Show it was awarded the ultimate acclaim from 170 International design experts: The Style Auto award. Many of the design features from earlier Citroens were carried through to the CX. Possibly… Read more

CLASSIC CARS: FORD MODEL A

1928 Ford Model A

When production of the Model T Ford ceased in 1927 its replacement was eagerly awaited by the American public. At that time, model changeover in a mass production situation was something of which car manufacturers had little experience as most cars were virtually handmade. Henry Ford’s solution was radical by today’s standards as he simply stopped production and laid off the workers while they organised to set up for the new model. Indeed the factory remained idle for almost a complete year. The new Model A Ford was first exhibited… Read more

FIAT DINO

In the late 1960s new homologation requirements were imposed on all racing car manufacturers which required that all Formula Two cars were in future to be based on derivatives of production cars – and that meant a minimum of 500 units available to the general public. This new requirement put Ferrari into a difficult situation. They had spent a lot of time and money developing a new engine but they were not in the business of mass-producing cars. They say that a true friend is one that you can rely… Read more

ALFA ROMEO 2000 SPYDER

1957 Alfa Romeo Spider

In the early 1950s the Alfa Romeo plant at Portello had limited production space and a new factory at Arese north of Milan was under construction. Several prototypes of proposed new models such as the 2000 Sportiva were developed and put on display to gauge public acceptance. However, due to a complete lack of public interest and minimal interest in placing orders, the projects were all abandoned. Whilst the 2000 Sportiva was canned, the 2000 four-cylinder engine developed especially for it was not. At the time Alfa’s main line was… Read more

CHEVROLET CORVAIR

1960 Chevrolet Corvair

With an influx of low-priced European economy cars into North America in the late 1950s and early 1960s General Motors launched the Chevrolet Corvair in 1959 as a 1960 model in an attempt to regain lost market. In style and engineering it was quite different from the typical conservative American car which lacked technical innovation. Whilst it might have been seen by GM as an adventurous answer to the Volkswagen Beetle, this attractive rear-engined car was a victim of GM cost cutting. By omitting an inexpensive stabilizing bar, the Corvair… Read more

FRAZER NASH

1935 Frazer Nash

Archie Frazer Nash set out to make a sports car so simply engineered that anybody could dismantle and reassemble it as though it was a Meccano model. In fact it has been recorded that some owners had to do this on a regular basis! The design called for the use of a proprietary water-cooled four-cylinder or six-cylinder engine, a four-speed and reverse-transmission with dog engagement of various sprockets linked by chain to the rear axle. The chain drive employed was so simple that a number of critics often questioned its… Read more

WILLYS OVERLAND 77

In the early motoring times the Willys brand had a chequered history. In the later years the company, Willys-Overland Motors was best known for its design and production of military Jeeps. Willys history started in 1908 when John North Willys bought the Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company in 1912 and renamed it Willys-Overland. From 1912 to 1918, Willys was the second largest producer of automobiles in the United States after Ford. By 1913 Willys had acquired a license to build the Charles Knight’s sleeve-valve engine which it used… Read more