Category: Classic Cars

The name Allard came into the motoring history books in 1936 when Sydney Allard, a London Ford motor dealer with a penchant for motor sport, including motor racing, decided to build for himself the Allard Special. Based on a Ford V8 chassis and with other Ford parts to provide the running gear Allard encased the whole thing in a cut down Bugatti body. He, as well as others, was obviously pleased with the results of this unusual combination because he went on to build a further 11 of these cars… Read more

Vauxhall cars were first produced in London 1903 and around World War I Vauxhall Motors was producing cars distinguished by its famed bonnet flutes. General Motors of Detroit bought the financially-ailing company in 1925 and soon began to transform it into a mass production concern. While the Holden commanded most of the attention of GM-H after the introduction of the 48/215, it was not the sole product of the Australian organisation. Vauxhall Motors, the British subsidiary of GM, had always sold a reasonable number of cars in Australia and continued… Read more

The Bugatti Type 55 has been described as one of the most aesthetically perfect two-seaters ever built. A.C. Whincop, a respected Bugatti expert, but with obvious bias towards the marque said, in 1943, of the Type 55 “ … the most fascinating sports car ever built, and one capable of delighting the senses more than any other car, irrespective of price or year of manufacture”. The two-seater body of the Type 55 was created by Ettore Bugatti’s twenty-one year old son, Jean, and his use of contrasting colours to emphasise… Read more

The Reliant Scimitar was an Italian styled, British-built sports car that proved very popular in the USA. One of its best known owners was Princess Anne who gave the car quite a deal of publicity when she was booked for speeding in her Scimitar. With its distinctive plastic body the Scimitar SS1 two seater was introduced to the market by Reliant early in 1985. Reliant had a lot of experience in building short-run models with glass fibre bodies and outsourced running gear. In mid-1986 Reliant upgraded its Scimitar by introducing… Read more

Immediately after World War II, most cars being produced were rehashes of pre-war models but as the fifties arrived new models and engines became more prevalent. After rationalisations, mergers and some fallings-by-the-wayside during the early fifties the choice of models was reduced to a more manageable number and technical progress was accelerated. American cars were built on much the same layouts as before; front engines with rear drive, using six cylinder power units on the standard, and V8s on the luxury models. Automatic transmission gave rise to a generation of… Read more

BMW – the Bayerische Motoren Werke – launched their first ‘300 Series car’ in 1933. The company’s start as a manufacturer of motor vehicles goes back to 1928 when they acquired the Dixi marque produced at Eisenach. Prior to its entry into car manufacture BMW produced aero engines and motorcycles but in 1928 they entered the motor vehicle business where their main competition came from DKW, Hanomag and Opel. The first car to carry the BMW badge was the 3/15 model introduced in 1929. This was a slightly modified version… Read more