Back in April, Pininfarina made a big announcement - they were going to create a whole new automobile manufacturer called Automobili Pininfarina. Three years ago Pininfarina, one of the world’s most famous automotive stylist and coach-builder, was acquired by Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), part of the Indian Mahindra conglomerate. Their starting point in the automotive … [Read more...]
Darracq
Motoring Weekly's marque articles have covered some of the earlier car companies that have been swallowed up by other manufacturers that are still producing vehicles. This week I am going to talk about Darracq, another pioneer in the European market. Alexandre Darracq founded his car company in 1896. He was a Frenchman of Spanish origins and was an entrepreneur and astute … [Read more...]
The De Macross Epique GT1
Motoring Weekly recently published an article about the MCV CH4, a Canadian supercar that sadly never made to full production. I’ve found another car that has been described variously as the first or only Canadian supercar: the de Macross GT1. This car was developed in the late 2000s - not a great time to be launching a bespoke, limited run supercar considering that the world … [Read more...]
Scissor Doors
I’ve written about several types of doors on cars - gullwings, suicide and retractable - and this is a type of door that is mostly recognised today as a Lamborghini styling cue. They first appeared on an Alfa Romeo concept car, the Carabo, in 1968. This car was the work of the famous and prolific designer, Marcel Gandini, whilst he worked for Bertone. Gandini was also the … [Read more...]
Gordon-Keeble
This week for this article I am going to talk about a rare tortoise! The Gordon-Keeble was a limited life high performance 2+2 developed and manufactured in Britain during the 1960s. It had a limited life due to cash flow problems that meant that the company was liquidated before production and sales really took off. The Gordon-Keeble was the brainchild of John Gordon and Jim … [Read more...]