Classic Cars

Volvo and sportiness didn’t exactly go hand in hand 50 years ago, although one car with nippy ambitions stood out from the Swedish carmaker’s lineup. That car was the P1800, which came to change Volvo’s fortunes in the sports car arena after the resoundingly unsuccessful, fiberglass-bodied P1900. Volvo churned out 39,414 P1800s between 1961 and 1972, in three derivatives: P1800 S, 1800 S - S stood for Sverige or Sweden, and 1800 E - E stood for einspritzung, which means fuel injection in German.

These days, you can get a P1800 for as much as €49,500 (around $58,000) on used car websites such as Classic Driver.

One of the rarest sports cars in history is up for auction at Bonhams: the 1969 M-505 Adams Brothers Probe 16. Only three models were ever made, and all three units are still around, though the location of one unit (chassis number: AB/2) is unknown.

Meanwhile, one of the three units can be yours, provided, of course, that you have deep pockets to pay for it. Bonhams estimates that this example of the M-505 Adams Brothers Probe 16 (chassis number: AB/3) will fetch anywhere from $150,000 to $250,000.

The Mustang Shelby GT saga started in 1965 with the GT350, a sportier, lightweight version of the ’Stang. But Ford and Carroll Shelby took things up a notch in 1967, when he introduced the GT500, a not-so-light but significantly more powerful version of the Mustang. The GT500 remained in production as the range-topping Mustang until 1969, but unsold 1969 models were given 1970 identification numbers. With just 380 units rebadged for 1970, this fastback is hard to find, and low-mileage, well-maintained examples are extremely rare. If you’re looking for one, the folks over at Mecum Auctions are offering an example with just 57,000 miles on the odometer at the Kissimmee Summer Special in late August.

The Chrysler Airflow was supposed to be Chrysler’s forward-thinking hit that would re-write the book on automotive styling and, in the process, teach people that an aerodynamic car is the way to go. Only it didn’t. All that the Airflow did do was to buck the trend and almost tanked Chrysler. With its steel body and fountain-esque grille, it shocked customers rather than appeal to them but now, 86 years since its release, it’s universally accepted that the Airflow is among the very first mass-produced aerodynamic cars in the world.

One way to make sure that a car is rare is to check if it was built simply as a way for an automaker to race that certain model on the tracks or the rally stages. This applies to BMW’s E9 CSL, the winged warrior that dominated the European touring car racing scene for the better part of a decade taking wins against the likes of Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar in the process. The road-going version is just as flamboyant and, as this latest BaT auction proves, incredibly desirable.

When talking about muscle cars, we usually think about icons like the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger, and Pontiac GTO. These are some of the cars that gained popularity in the 1960s and became part of the muscle car wars that lasted until the early 1970s. However, this short era that stretched from 1964 to 1971 actually spawned tens of performance-oriented cars in America. Also, the following decades gave us a few nameplates that tried to recapture the golden years. Some were successful, and some were not, while others were actually awesome but didn’t get the attention they deserved. This list is about the latter, the forgotten muscle cars that deserve more credit.

The 1930s saw some of the greatest cars ever built come to life. In the U.S., we had the Cadillac 16, the Buick Roadmaster, the Ford Model A, the Lincoln Model K, and the Chrysler Airflow. In Europe, BMW introduced the 328, while Mercedes-Benz rolled out the luxurious and sleek 500K.

Then there was the Tatra T87, an innovative car designed in Czechoslovakia that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Jay Leno says it’s "the greatest car no one has ever heard of" and he’s trying to fix that by featuring the T87 in a new episode of his famous video series.

Healthy and safety guides tell you that a car missing a full-width windshield should not be driven on public roads yet here we are, looking at a gorgeous open-top Datsun from the late ’60s that, courtesy of the SR20DET inline-four is so fast it literally blows your cap off.

And then there’s the soundtrack and the fact that you’re never fully in the car because the doors are low enough so that most of your upper body is exposed to the elements. Grassroots Garage gets a taste of this automotive guillotine.

Cars have been divided into affordable and expensive ever since the early days of the automobile. As Ford began to streamline production for the Model T, which made it affordable to the average Joe, automakers like Rolls-Royce were producing luxurious and expensive cars.

Companies like Bugatti, Duesenberg, and Cadillac soon joined this endeavor to produce the best car in the world, which would also be the most expensive car in the world. As years went by, many of them also became very valuable. Rare cars become collectibles, and collectible status comes with a high price tag. Which are the rarest and most expensive cars on the market right now? Find out in the article below.

First used on cars as antifreeze by Chrysler Motor Parts, Mopar became a brand of its own in 1937. But more importantly, Mopar became a term for any vehicle built by the old Chrysler Corporation and rose to popularity in the 1960s, right before the muscle car wars emerged. Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Barracudas, Chrysler 300s? They were all Mopars back in the day, when what we now know as FCA was fighting for high-performance supremacy with Ford and General Motors. Chrysler built loads of iconic vehicles over the years, so here’s our top 10 list of the most memorable Mopars.

The first-generation Ford Mustang is one of the most iconic cars ever built, and for a 60-year-old classic it isn’t very expensive. You can buy several models for less than $100,000 and the rare versions aren’t as expensive as the Ferraris from the era, which are known to cost from as low as $5 million to as much as $50 million.

But some Mustangs can cost millions of dollars. Up until now, Steve McQueen’s Mustang from the Bullitt movie was the most expensive, having been auctioned off for $3.74 million in January 2020. Come July and that record has been surpassed by another Mustang from the era. The prototype version of the 1965 Shelby GT350R just crossed the block for $3.85 million, $14K more than McQueen’s green ’Stang.

Call it a restomod, call it a hot rod, this 1939 Ford Convertible is certainly a head-turner that packs a variety of cutting-edge mechanical solutions including an independent rear suspension and a huge, meaty engine crammed under that classic "alligator" hood.

You can tell this no longer is a stock ’39 Ford as it rolls on new, chromed wheels hugged by low-profile tires that completely change the stance of the vehicle and then there’s the lower-than-usual windshield. In short, this is a modified car that covers all the bases.

Carroll Shelby started making cars in the early 1960s by dropping V-8 engines in AC Ace bodies imported from Britain, and it took just a couple years of him to become a performance icon in the United States. A few years before he started working with Ford to produce some of the greatest Mustangs ever built, Shelby began to race his Cobras. Although highly competitive, the roadster wasn’t fast enough on Le Mans’ 3.7-mile Mulsanne Straight, so Shelby wanted a different Cobra that could beat the Ferrari 250 GTO. That’s how the Shelby Daytona Coupe was born in 1964.

Ferrari has been building supercars and sports cars for more than 70 years now and, needless to say, many of them are downright legendary. But not every vehicle with a Ferrari badge is iconic. Enzo’s company had its fair share of flops, while some were built in very limited numbers and were simply forgotten over time. Others are nowhere to be found and some simply don’t get the love they deserve. Here’s a a list of 10 classic Ferraris that you probably forgot about

Founded in 1945 by automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, Kaiser-Frazer was one of carmakers that attempted to stop the supremacy of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Like other companies before and after it, Kaiser-Frazer failed, but it built a few cool automobiles in the process.

The Manhattan, the Henry J, and the Darrin are somewhat famous, but it’s the relatively unknown Special that deserves more attention. It was far from groundbreaking and its performance was unimpressive, but it’s one of coolest looking cars launched in 1954.

Ferrari has a horrible reputation for being overprotective of its name and brand image, easily to the point that it comes off as arrogant. Less than a year ago, the company even threatened to sue an Instagram user over posting a picture of his matching shoes on top of his very own Ferrari 812 Superfast – that’s how overly protective the company is. More recently, Ferrari has been in a dispute with Ares Design over the design of the Ferrari 250 GTO, one of the rarest and most sought after Ferraris ever made. Naturally, Ferrari (who probably spends millions each year in legal fees at the very least) did everything it could to protect its trademark, but this time it just didn’t work.

The modern era saw the automobile break serious benchmarks. We can now buy supercars with more than 1,000 horsepower that can hit top speeds of more than 300 mph. But the early days of the automobile were much slower. Meet the 1894 Benz Victoria, one of the world’s first road-legal automobiles.

The Auburn Automobile Company was founded in 1900 and went bankrupt only 37 years later. But during its short life Auburn managed to develop and build some cars that are now considered valuable classics. The short-lived Speedster, introduced during Auburn’s last years on the market, is one of them and you can buy one during RM Auction’s Auburn Fall sale between September 3 and 6, 2020.

Trying to pin down the most beautiful road car ever made is an impossible task. There are those that would give an arm and a leg to at least lay eyes on a 250 GTO and others that have altars in their homes dedicated to the Jaguar E-Type or the Lamborghini Miura.

However, among the cars tossed around in this discussion none is probably more exclusive than Alfa Romeo’s Tipo 33 Stradale. While Ferrari built over 30 250 GTOs in the mid-’60s, fewer than 10 Tipo 33s are believed to exist so to come to the realization that one of them is blue, not red, is akin to realizing that the Sun revolves around the Earth and not the other way around.

Because the Porsche 911 is a very popular car, the market is now packed with tuners that modify the German sports car. Among them, there are a few shops that do older 911s. Gunther Werks is one of them, and its reinterpretation of the 993-generation 911 is impressive, to say the least. And it’s not just a beefed-up 911, but a full-fledged race car that’s road legal.

The Chevrolet Corvair is mostly known as a rear-engined compact car that GM built from 1959 to 1969. It was a somewhat innovative car for the era and even though it had handling issues that sparked more than 100 lawsuits, it’s now a prized collectible. But Chevrolet also used the Corvair name for a line of vans and trucks it produced from 1961 to 1965. The Rampside truck just stopped by Jay Leno’s Garage and the TV celebrity explains why it’s an important piece of American history.

We are living in an era when cars are simple objects that we use to get from point A to point B or means of transportation we use to carry goods or make a living. We usually get rid of a car after a few years and buy a new one. But some enthusiasts take good care of their cars, especially if they’re of the vintage variety, collectibles, or worth more than the average vehicle.

Of course, you’d expect the owner of a Ferrari 250 GTO to keep detailed records of his car, but a certain Canadian fellow amassed no fewer than 1,200 pages of service records while owning and taking care of a 1983 Mercedes-Benz W123 wagon.

A lot of automakers partake in the act of rebadging, including General Motors. The General has been rebadging cars about as far back as its own existence, and while there are some pros and cons to the practice, the act of rebadging cars also opens automakers up to a little ribbing from its rivals.

Take this 1986 commercial by Lincoln, for example. Have a look at it and you’ll understand why rebadging cars, while cutting down on production costs for the automaker-in-question, is something that you could be made fun of.