The world’s automotive manufacturers are still in love with the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) despite the fact that the majority of them will either never be used as a utility vehicle or cannot be referenced as a sports model! Over the last decade, we have seen the market grow from a handful of models from Range Rover, Porsche and Lincoln to pretty much every luxury manufacturer … [Read more...]
Lagonda
Several weeks ago I wrote about Sir David Brown who owned two marques, one of which was Lagonda – a classic British sports car, although created by an American abroad. Wilbur Gunn founded the company to make motorcycles and completed his first car in 1907 – the Torpedo with a six cylinder 20hp motor. Like other budding manufacturers he entered early races and managed to win … [Read more...]
Sir David Brown
There are a number of people who had a major influence in the automotive industry that also had a connection to agriculture: Ferruccio Lamborghini, Henry Ford, Harry Ferguson and Sir David Brown. All four manufactured tractors as well as cars or other automotive equipment and like Lamborghini, Sir David Brown is well known for luxury sports cars - his with the DB … [Read more...]
Torqueflite Gearbox
I first heard about the Torqueflite gearbox being used in the Jensen FF and other European cars that used large Chrysler Hemis for power. The gearbox was suitably mated to the Hemi because both came from Chrysler. The first Torqueflite was released in 1956 as a 3-speed auto replacing the Powerflite which was a 2-speed box. Variants of the torqueflite can be found on Jeep and … [Read more...]