Our man on the track, Stephen Cox, talks with Richard Petty about his connection to the winged Superbird.
It has been claimed that Plymouth's legendary winged ‘70 Superbird was the brainchild of NASCAR champion Richard Petty. The rumor has been around for decades but I've never found anyone with first-hand knowledge who could absolutely confirm or deny that the car's origins truly began with The King of Stock Car Racing.
But opportunity knocked a couple of weeks ago when Petty was in attend...
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Author: MartynL
BOOK REVIEW: LANCIA LORAYMO, ONE OF ONE!
This book is as much about Loewy’s logic of industrial design and creative process as it is about his bespoke Lancia.
Raymond Loewy, the Father of Industrial Design, is most familiar to consummate carguys because of Studebaker’s Avanti and Starliner coupes. Loewy was also responsible for designing streamlined locomotives, refrigerators, telephones, and logos for Shell Oil, Exxon, TWA and Lucky Strike to name a few.`
Written by Brandes Elitch, Lancia Loraymo follows the development of Raymond...
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INDYCAR: SO YOU WANT TO DRIVE THE INDY 500?
We've suspected this for many years and now it's official. The Indianapolis 500 is no longer a reasonable aspiration for most racing drivers, blogs Stephen Cox.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) president Doug Boles was kind enough to talk with me briefly at the annual PRI trade show in Indy. I asked him what his plan was to increase the number of entries at the Indianapolis 500. His answer took me by surprise.
“We grew up falling in love with the sport when you had that number of ent...
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‘17 FIAT 124 SPIDER: CLASSICAL GAS!
It’s what happens when you take a Mazda Miata and add a little Italian brio, blogs Road Test Editor, Howard Walker.
Ready for a little Italian conversation class? Start by repeating after me: Bella piccolo macchina. Now say it with feeling, and maybe with an Italian-style shrug of the shoulders and upturned palms. The literal translation is ‘beautiful little machine’. And it’s also exactly how you’d describe Fiat’s new magnifico 124 Spider two-seater. Bella indeed.
You might have heard about...
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‘17 JAG F-TYPE SVR: KITTY KITTY BANG BANG!
It prowls the streets with a ferocious growl, while its bite seems to melt rubber and asphalt. It has a very angry face, blogs Dan Scanlan.
It’s the latest supercharged cat from Jaguar, with a tiger under its alloy bonnet and an explosive snarl from its quad exhaust. Meet the F-TYPE SVR, which lives up to Jaguar’s claim of being the “lightest, quickest, most powerful” member of its line.The F-Type SVR’s supercharged 5-liter V-8 serves up 575-horsepower and 516-pound-feet of torque after and...
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CADILLAC RACING: BACK ON TRACK!
Cadillac’s all-new Cadillac DPi-V.R racecar will compete in the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Series, Prototype (P) class.
The Cadillac DPi-V.R will first be driven competitively at the 2017 IMSA season opener - the Rolex 24 At Daytona on January 28-29, 2017. Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express Racing teams will field it. IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the fastest and most technologically advanced sports car racing series in North America.
“Cadillac is proud ...
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’17 MERCEDES-BENZ SL65: SUNSHINE SUPERCAR!
“Dial ‘SL65’ if you want a classic aluminum-bodied two-seat roadster with an abundance of luxo-tech and V12 power,” blogs Dan Scanlan.
Inside the ‘17 Mercedes-Benz SL65 Roadster’s sleek-but-familiar frame resides a supercar’s worth of power - a handcrafted twin-turbocharged 6-liter V-12 with, delivering 621 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque at a low 2,300 to 4,300 rpm. And, builder Antonio Donadai’s signature on its carbon fiber engine cover!
This SL is the seventh in a series of arg...
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RACING’S GREATEST UPSETS: 1966 TRANS-AM ENDURO!
Stephen Cox blogs about Shelby American’s legendary Group 2 Mustang racers, Part 3 of 3.
John McComb ordered a new car for 1967. The choice was easy. Given his success in the 1966 Group 2 Mustang, he ordered a new notchback for 1967 to pick up where he left off with the Shelby program. The ‘67 Mustang was the model’s first major redesign and the car gained both size and weight. McComb didn’t care for either.
“Even though the ’67 car had a wider track, it was a heavier car, so I don’t really...
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ELECTRIC PACESETTER: JAGUAR UNLEASHES LATEST CAT!
Jaguar gives us a sneak-peak into its future. And it’s electric, blogs Road Test Editor Howard Walker.
The undisputed star of this week’s Los Angeles auto show is an all-new, all-electric performance crossover from Jaguar, called I-Pace.
While its official title is I-Pace Concept, this sleek, head-turning five-seater is essentially the same car that will hit the streets in a couple of years, priced - and we’re guessing here - from around $60,000.
Despite the badge and its five seats,...
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RACING’S GREATEST UPSETS: 1966 TRANS-AM ENDURO!
Stephen Cox blogs about Shelby-American’s legendary Group 2 Mustang racers,
Part 2 of 3.
The next weekend John McComb was racing again. The Trans-Am Series Six-Hour Pan-American Endurance Race was to be held at Green Valley Raceway in Texas. The sanctioning body mandated a second driver for each team due to the length of the event. McComb chose veteran Brad Brooker, a successful club racer who had logged plenty of miles in the Group 2 notchback’s nearly identical twin, the Shelby GT...
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