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Gabriel Voisin was a major manufacturer of airplanes during World War I. The end of the war saw him with a large fortune and an equally large factory, but a very small market for airplanes. In 1919, he decided to become a car manufacturer and acquired a ready-made engine design–a 3969cc sleeve-valve four which had […]

The Volkswagen Beetle is a car we are all familiar with. More than 20 million were sold. While the name “Porsche” is associated with expensive cars, Ferdinand Porsche had a life-long interest in a small car that an average working person could afford. Porsche’s prototypes came to the attention of the newly elected chancellor of

Here is an unassuming-looking Volvo 142 that has been modified for racing, and is raced by Jeff Lane.  SCCA created the “Improved Touring (IT) class” race cars in the late 1980s.   This class is meant to be an entry-level racing class – the cars have to be at least five years old, and only

Hans Trippel is known as the man who designed the Amphicar. Before the Amphicar, he designed the Weidner Condor. The Condor was presented to the public at the 1957 Geneva Auto Show. It was built by farm equipment manufacturers Fritz and Reinhold Weidner. The body, provided by the Binz factory, is made of the most

Zündapp is one of the best-known makes of German motorcycles. The company’s first car was in 1931 and it was Ferdinand Porche’s design for a “people’s car.” They concentrated on motorcycles until 1956 when production began on an unusual microcar designed by aircraft-builder Claudius Dornier. As you can see, this car has two doors and

The Twini Mini was an idea that was never fully developed. In 1962, British Motor Corporation built a Mini Moke with 2 engines to help its off-road capabilities. It was hugely successful as an experimental vehicle, and when John Cooper visited BMC and drove the vehicle, he was impressed. Cooper envisioned a “Twini Mini” for

Morris Motor Company was started in the 1920s and established a reputation for reliable family cars. In the 1950s, Morris merged with its old rival Austin to form British Motor Corp. Economic factors in the UK in the mid-1950s made the creation of “a proper miniature car” a priority, and BMC assigned a small team

Sir Alec Issigonis designed the Mini, which became one of the best selling cars in Europe and one of the most recognized cars ever produced. This car defined Issigonis’ philosophy “less is more.” Mini production started in August 1959 and was an instant success. This small British car originally came with an 850cc engine but

This 1969 Austin Mini has been updated to mid-1980 specification. Although Austin never produced an in-house cabriolet, several independent companies in England performed the conversions. The steel reinforcements welded to the bottom of the sills were intended to help increase the body strength, but the reality is there is still a lot of chassis flex.