Archive for the 'Classic cars' Category

Connoisseurs of 1960s cartoons will probably react enthusiastically when Wacky Races is mentioned. This supremely silly story (and its equally popular offshoots, Dick Dastardly and Mutley in Their Flying Machines and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop) revolved around a race in which the contestants in an ongoing race pit their wits against each other – and cheat frequently!

Continue reading…Wacky racers head for Valencia in the Ramshackle Rally…

In an exciting new collaboration Armor Tech and Maybach recently announced the ArmorTech Maybach 57S Coupe.

Officially launched this year, the new car is the product of the coming together of Armor Tech, a Russian company specialising in the armouring and bullet proofing of luxury and performance cars, and Maybach, the luxury limousine division of Mercedes Benz.

Continue reading…ArmorTech Maybach 57S Coupe…

In many ways Antonio Hernández Herrero is a pioneer of the Spanish tourist industry. Through innovation and adaptation to changing times the fledgling car rental company he set up in 1974 has since become the country’s largest independent service provider of its kind in Spain.

You might say it’s a classic success story. Founded by a husband and wife team back in the early days of Spanish mass tourism, Solmar is a firm that has grown from very humble beginnings into a leading concern with almost 14,000 cars and a presence at airports and tourist centres throughout the country. “We began with a potpourri of second-hand cars,” smiles Don Antonio, “most of them borrowed from friends.”

Continue reading…An empire built on wheels…

A highly desirable 1938 Delahaye 135 MS Competition Cabriolet is one of the lots to be auctioned at RM Auction’s inaugural Sporting Classics of Monaco event, held at the beginning of May. Featuring stunning, one-off cabriolet coachwork by Figoni et Falaschi and an exquisite Hermes interior, this unique Delahaye offers an attractive blend of the best in late 1930s French custom body design with some of the highest specification mechanicals ever offered by the company – a powerful combination that saw the car participate in both concours d’elegance and motor racing events. Beautifully restored to concours-quality condition, it boasts an impeccable provenance and ownership history including French racing driver Marcel Contet and, later, a former President of the Delahaye Owners’ Club, who carefully maintained the car for over 42 years.

Continue reading…Gorgeous Delahaye 135 MS joins Monaco line-up…

Think of the world of Formula 1 and the name that will spring to your mind first of all is very likely to be Italy’s most glamorous marque, Ferrari. Male ambition can usually be measured only by the size of the toys involved. From happy days spent with a Hot Wheels model of a blood red Ferrari 512 S to saving up for that ever-elusive Ferrari Spider as an adult, the spell of Ferrari, once cast, is seldom broken.

Now fans will have the opportunity to enter Ferrari World in a very immediate sense when the world’s first Ferrari themed amusement park opens in Abu Dhabi.

Continue reading…Valencia to enter Ferrari World?…

The concept of cost-cutting and the world’s most expensive sport seems an uneasy match, yet the gossip around the F1 circuit at the moment is that the 13 teams competing in the 2010 season will be taking part in a special launch in Valencia at the end of January.

In the past, teams have either held pre-season previews at their own factories or unveiled their new cars at one of the tests. Mercedes-Benz GP’s chief executive, Nick Fry, revealed that this new initiative was an attempt to engage with fans, who seemed to have been less than enthused by the new technologies, originally developed with the attention of capturing an even larger audience for this very high maintenance sport.

Continue reading…2010 Formula One season to launch in Valencia…

Some drivers treat their cars as if they were made of porcelain, but the new owner of a unique Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano has a better excuse than most to handle his vehicle with care.

The first reason is that he paid an eye-watering $2 million for the car at a charity auction but the second is far more bizarre; it is decorated with Song Dynasty Ge Kiln “cracked” glaze pattern.

Continue reading…Porcelain Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano sells for $2 million…