The Ariel 4G Square Four engine was a re-design of the previous smaller capacity Square Four engine that had developed an adverse reputation for overheating of the rear cylinders causing deformation of the cylinder heads. So…
W.O. Bentley’s 4480 cc single overhead camshaft V12 engine which went into production in Lagonda cars from 1938-1940 was the pinnacle of his design career. It produced 180bhp and was so tractable that it was claimed…
This is an article I did for Hagerty recently. You’ll find the original post on the Hagerty website if you click here. The Maserati 450S was a classic sports and racing car that was driven by…
The MG Midget TF 1250 Roadster was first introduced in 1953. It featured a set of improvements over its predecessor the TD in having a pressurized cooling system with the radiator now a separate assembly from…
There is an old wise saying that says “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s there are few”. And so it was in the first few decades of the car industry that…
Carlo Abarth chose the scorpion as the logo for his cars because a scorpion is a small creature with a sting in its tail and he liked to build small cars with a sting in their…
Described by Enzo Ferrari as “The most beautiful car in the world” the original Jaguar E-type caused a great stir when it first appeared at the Earl’s Court Motor Show in 1962 where I first caught…
Ivan Pavlovich Pokhitonov was passionate about hunting and passionate about painting, something that those who like to characterize hunters as barbaric and un-cultured would simply be unable to comprehend. But its a natural mix; the hunter…
The Mauser 66 is one of the most interesting rifles ever designed and manufactured. They were a product of intelligent design and top quality German engineering melded together in a rifle that, arguably, should have been…
The “Big Healeys” were, I think, the nicest and most desirable of the post-war traditional British sports car: and it was, I believe, one of the tragedies of the British car industry as it fell into…