Great Cars Available…Get It Before It's Gone. Check the date of the post. If it is a few weeks old, it is probably too late.

By

Air-Cooled: ’27 Franklin Coupe

27 Franklin

The Franklin Motor Company began in the early 1900s when John Wilkinson, a young engineer, designed a pair of air-cooled prototype vehicles for the New York Automobile Company. Wilkinson hooked up with an investor named Alexander T. Brown and another man named Herbert Franklin, who owned a company, H.H. Franklin, that made die castings. Read More

By

VSCCA June Rally 2013: Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Finally a glorious weather weekend in New England and perfect timing for the Vintage Sports Car Club of America Rally. And what a great collection of cars in the starting line up. Everything from a Wolsely Hornet to an Aston Martin DB3. The roads were great although some were under repair due to all the rain we hand this Spring. Our entry seemed to rise to challenge running better than it ever has. Here are some photos to give you a snapshot of the group.

The VSCCA Rally

Departure

By

The 24 Hours of LeMans Starts Today!

2013-le-mans-flyerGet out the popcorn or if you are feeling very French, have a day’s worth of crepes on hand and watch every minute of the action. Le Mans is always special, this year particularly so. It is 90 years since the first running of the 24 Hours in 1923. This will be the 81st running, interrupted only by French industrial unrest in 1936 then the Second World War. Three French enthusiasts – one industrialist who promised the prize money and the first trophies, one automobile club official, and one influential journalist who shared the vision and contributed enormous publicity, conceived the 1923 race. It would be open strictly to “production” touring cars and run over 24 consecutive hours on a 10.8-mile closed-public-road course just south of Le Mans.

frdconcepts 02detroitFor Americans, the 1966 race was probably our favorite. This was the year Henry Ford vanquished Enzo Ferrari thereby settling the score between the two giant personalities. Well it was settled in Henry’s mind at least. Ford won the race but not only did the GT40s finish 1st, they finished 2nd and 3rd in a carefully choreographed finish. Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon drove the winning GT40. Ken Miles and Denny Hulme were declared 2nd.

Ford GT40

This is the McLaren/Amon winning Ford GT40 today owned by American collector George Stauffer.

Today’s race has none of the highly publicized grudge matches but the Audi team and the Toyota team both have high aspirations. When you watch the race, don’t expect to see some race prepared A6 Quattro or a Toyota Avalon on steroids. AUDI ProtoThe leading contenders are prototypes. It starts a 8:30 am Eastern time on Speed.

Read more about the 1966 race here.

1966 Competition Press and Autoweek

 

By

“Peeling” out: ’65 Lotus Elan Series 2

65 Lotus Elan Series 2

This is the essential 1960s British sports car – the tiny Lotus Elan – and it remains a benchmark for nimble handling. With its pop-up headlights, curved windshield, and roll-up windows, it was a symbol of Swinging London. So hip the cat-suited character Emma Peel in The Avengers television series, chose to drive an Elan to emphasize her vitality and independence. That could be said of anyone who wants a Lotus Elan. It will also signal that person is under 5′ 10″ tall. Read More

By

Another Josey Wales: ’78 Porsche 911SC Outlaw

78 Porsche Outlaw

Outlaw seems an outlandish category of custom vehicles until you realize it pertains to Porsches. There isn’t a more enthusiastic cult of owners than Porsche owners. Now for a sweeping generalization – most of them are slaves to originality. By using “most” we hope not to receive thousands of hate comments. So if an owner goes off the reservation by modifying his/her Porsche, they refer to the result as an Outlaw. Clarification: it doesn’t mean if someone hangs a pair of fuzzy dice on the rear view mirror. We are talking about making it look bad. James Dean bad. Read More