Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal
Sports Car Digest focuses on Classic Car Auctions, Concours d’Elegance, Vintage Car Racing, Road Rallies and other historic automotive events.
Over the past 100 years, Chevrolet has been responsible for many significant designs that have helped shape automotive history. The bowtie logo has adorned many iconic shapes of motoring, from the early Classic Six to the legendary Bel Air and the Corvettes. Even some of Chevrolet's designers, such as Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell, have gone on to become as legendary as some of the cars they … [Read more...]
By Martin SwigWhile streaking across Montana at 120 mph in my son’s Subaru Impreza, we discussed the advantages of having a much faster car. A few miles later, we crested a rise just as a Montana Highway Patrol car appeared from the opposite direction. The cop apparently had his radar off, because otherwise our Valentine One would have warned us. Taking no chances, we turned onto a farm … [Read more...]
Interview by Will Silk and photos courtesy of Forgotten FiberglassChuck Tatum was what you could say “at the right place, at the right time” by living in California in the early 1950s. It was the golden days of hot rodding, and there were no rules in regards to what or how you built your machine.Coming out of the Second World War with a Bronze Star for his actions in the Battle for … [Read more...]
The period that followed the Second World War was perhaps one of the most creative time periods in the history of race car construction in the United States, and the Townsend Typhoon Mk IV exemplifies the latter part of that historical period to a “T”.The story of Townsend’s cars originates from Tucson, Arizona in the early 1950s. Frank Townsend was attending high school at the time when … [Read more...]
The 1948 Ferrari 166 MM is the definitive 1950s sports car configuration, with its smooth envelope, long flowing hood and short tail. Named for the Mille Miglia race, it was created by Carrozzeria Touring in Milan, and compared to the 125S, from which it was developed, the Barchetta (“little boat”) is a masterpiece of simple style.Ferrari expert and 166 MM owner David Seielstad has called … [Read more...]
Story by William Edgar, Photography by William Edgar and Graham Blake as notedTo begin, I was driving through the Sonoma Valley early Friday morning on April Fools’ Day—I’m not kidding—to spend the next three mornings and afternoons doing what so many of us love to do, which is to attend a vintage racing weekend at one of America’s best road course raceways. The surrounding hills … [Read more...]
Our MG Mighty Midget, TC for All TimesBy William Edgar and photography courtesy of Edgar Motorsport ArchiveMy first really dramatic recollection of our MG-TC was drifting through Sunset Boulevard’s curves, my father at the wheel. He’d folded the screen flat and the wind-blown tangs of hot engine and rubber were sheer adrenaline. I was 15 then, had already learned to drive the … [Read more...]
By Martin SwigIn the years just before and after World War II, a Cadillac was one of the best performance cars on the market. By 1950, they were so good that a very lightly modified stock Cadillac finished in 10th place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, humbling many more exotic cars, and deeply impressing the Europeans. Cadillac engines appeared in European performance cars like the Allard. … [Read more...]
By Will SilkWhile many may hold the opinion that road racing has lost quite a bit of its luster in recent years, one does not have to look far, but perhaps just a bit closer at some exciting machinery that has been created in the past decade to carry on the great tradition of on track glory that once was seemingly found to be occurring at tracks all over the world. In the mid 1990s, a … [Read more...]
By Will SilkThe latest Classic Cars for Sale is a 1959 BMW 507 found in the September 1978 issue of Hemmings Motor News.While the BMW 507 may be viewed as a contemporary German masterpiece by some, it was actually much more American in spirit than many will give credit for. The early 1950s were a struggling time for much of the world, as many nations were still rebounding from the … [Read more...]
By Louis GalanosIn secret testing almost two weeks (April 1 to be exact) after the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring race Alfa Romeo arrived at Sebring with their one-of-a-kind, six-wheeled, twelve cylinder Alfa-Romeo T33/6/12. Designed to give the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 a run for its money, the Alfa Romeo sported a 5-liter V12/60 degrees/4v engine and six wheels in total. … [Read more...]
By Martin SwigEach Spring, the auto journalists in Northern California gather at Mazda’s Laguna Seca Raceway to evaluate an array of new cars on the racetrack and on nearby roads. While the quality differences in new cars have narrowed, there’s still plenty to experience in terms of car characteristics. Most cars meet their manufacturer’s objectives, but those might not be yours. And … [Read more...]
The first Audi advertising with the ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ or 'Progress through Technology' slogan appeared 40 years ago, in 1971. Even then this technical leadership claim was well and truly justified. If we look back another 40 years we find DKW, one of the companies that later became Audi, introducing its F1 model at the 1931 International Automobile Exhibition in Berlin – the … [Read more...]
Finland’s four-time world rally champion Juha Kankkunen drove a Bentley Continental Supersports convertible on the hazardous frozen waters of the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Finland, at 205.48 mph (330.695 km/h) to set a new world speed record on ice. … [Read more...]
One hundred Rolls-Royce motor cars took to the streets of London on 6 February 2011 to celebrate a special anniversary, the centenary of the Spirit of Ecstasy hood mascot, which was first fitted to Rolls-Royce models in 1911.“The Spirit of Ecstasy is a genuine icon, a graceful goddess who has adorned the prow of Rolls-Royce cars past and present,” said Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten … [Read more...]
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