Classic American

I don’t know about you, but it rather seems to me that some of the best weather we get these days appears after what we’d traditionally think of as ‘summer’. As we go into September and October, although the temperatures may start to drop and the nights draw in, it often seems that the days are sunnier and drier than the preceding ‘summer’ months. And the cooler air is a bonus for me as my cars definitely prefer it. So, summer may be over, but there’s still plenty of time to get your car or truck out and enjoy it in the coming months – I know I certainly will! The final heat of the Kingstown Shipping Car of the Year competition took place at the Mopar EuroNats over the…

Have you seen this missing Chevrolet? Classic American reader Jonathan Dabbs contacted us after his right-hand drive (a very rare Australian import) 1936 FC Chevrolet Roadster registration RSU 793, in bright red, vanished. He had put the vehicle in for some light restoration with a business in Hailsham, East Sussex; however, despite having paid several thousand pounds, Jonathan’s car, along with several other American cars and the business itself and its owner disappeared. The police have been alerted to the situation, but as of yet no trace of the car has been found, even though Jonathan has employed a solicitor and a private investigating firm to track it down. Jonathan’s letter and further background to this sad story appears in our Letters section on page 22. If you have seen…

When I was a boy, the term ‘supercar’ didn’t exist. In the early Sixties, if I was extremely lucky, I would spy a Ferrari or Maserati road car parked in the car park or paddock at Silverstone race circuit on the odd occasion that my dad took me to watch the motor racing. Such ‘exotica’ as it was known then, was really rare. In 1959, Bournemouth-based Ford dealer Colonel Ronnie Hoare, who had purchased a secondhand Ferrari for himself, approached Enzo Ferrari and asked if he could become the authorised British importer. Enzo asked him how many Ferraris did he thought he could sell a year, to which the Colonel, as he was known, hesitantly replied a lowly ‘four’, thinking he would be chucked out, but much to his surprise…

News Got the cake? Organised some music? What about the Eldorados…? For Cadillac enthusiast Gary Hillman, turning 60 was more than just a big birthday, it was an opportunity to stage a landmark gathering of his favourite cars. On August 25, in the grounds of Cray Wanderers FC – the Wands are another of Gary’s lifelong passions – he organised a display of every model year of Eldorado convertible from the inaugural ’53 up to 1964, with his own red 1959 Eldorado Biarritz as the centrepiece. Achieved with the help of Dream Cars and the generosity of some private owners, the gathering is believed to have been the first and only time that a side-by-side, year-by-year exhibition of the Eldorado’s first 12 years has taken place in Britain. Gary hasn’t…

Chrysler reinvented itself as a style leader during the Fifties, working hand in glove with Ghia on a raft of show cars and small-series offerings. Fiat brokered the introduction. At the dawn of the Fifties, the Turin manufacturer was still in the midst of postwar reorganisation, making full use of monies endowed via the Marshall Plan. Fiat and Chrysler discussed collaborating on future projects, none of which came to pass. However, as a sidebar to negotiations, Chrysler’s president of exports C.B. Thomas mentioned to Fiat’s sales manager Luigi Cajal de La Chenaye that Chrysler was looking for a coachbuilder to build a couple of concept cars. The latter suggested Ghia and Pinin Farina. Both built prototypes, but Ghia became the preferred partner during the Fifties and into the following decade.…

In a prelude to the Roadkill Nights drag racing event in Pontiac, Michigan, this August, Dodge hosted a press conference with the brand’s new CEO, Matt McAlear, choosing to arrive in an example of the upcoming Charger Daytona EV. The twist was that the audience was treated to a rumbling sound not unlike that of a late-model Hellcat V8 thanks in part to the Daytona EV’s much-touted Fratzonic exhaust system. For months, Stellantis has teased us with information on the upcoming Daytona EV, which is billed as an all-electric muscle car. The term itself seems almost a contradiction since your typical EV is about as far removed as you can get from the tyre-smoking, fuel-guzzling, V8-powered experience that muscle cars are all about. Dodge hopes to change that by appealing…