Indholdsfortegnelse for Volume 16 i RETROMOTIVE

A car cloaked in infamy. A car masked in mystery. A car playing a facade for the devil. The Devil Z – the scariest car to have ever existed – slaughters those who dare to go behind its wheel. This car has one thing on its inhuman mind: death and destruction. Searching the web, it is difficult to find any information on this infamous car. Even diving deep into reddit, it is a challenge to find out more. It makes me wonder if it has an Artificial Intelligence in its mechanics; and, every day, races through the internet, searching for itself, and deleting all mentions. Maybe I should search the dark web? Maybe there we could find all the entangled stories … nope, too dangerous! Even with the small stories…

The invigorating aroma of the morning’s fresh dew permeates the clouds hanging over Wisbech, England, the steam rising from the parking lot’s asphalt while last night’s rain begins to evaporate after a rare appearance of the sun. Once a thriving port and agricultural center of 18th-century Britain, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire was a prosperous community known for its magnificent Georgian architecture and small-town atmosphere, devoid of the usual noise pollution caused by cars and planes — though now, not entirely quiet. On this particular morning, Wisbech’s industrial center is not just a place of business: Now, it is 1970, and the third round of the World Sportscar Championship season is in full swing. A Porsche 917 rounds the corner down the street with a thunderous downshift, its stiff suspension creaking as it…

Pininfarina designed the long-nosed, short-tailed 275 Ferrari in the early 1960s as a grand tourer to replace those ever-sweet 250 coupes and spyders. The two-door 275s debuted at the 1964 Paris Motor Show and ran through to 1968 as the 275 GTB and 275 GTS, followed by the GTB/4 _ the latter model with four overhead camshafts for a claimed 300 horsepower from the 3.3 litre V12 engine, some 20hp more than the twin camshaft V12s in the first of the 275 berlinettas and spyders. All these front-engined Ferrari 275s ran with five-speed transaxle and independent rear suspension, a first for the Maranello marque, and the series was heralded then _ and now _ as among the world’s best sports cars of the era. Both 4.3 metre-long GTB coupe and…

The popularity of the SUV knows no ending and even traditional, luxury, and sports-car Manufacturers are cannibalizing their brand values and butchering their heritage to find a way into the over-crowded segment. Swiss Motorsport Specialist and Car Manufacturer Monteverdi was a true visionary when he offered a coach-built luxury SUV as early as the 1970s. Peter Monteverdi never reached the ranks of Enzo Ferrari or Ferruccio Lamborghini, but his boutique workshop was no less intriguing and his level of ambition easily matched that of the two famous Italians. His small Binningen-based (near Basel in Switzerland) company started in the late-1950s, under the name “Monteverdi Basel Motoren” (MBM): designing and racing single-seaters with the ambition of racing in the Formula 1. After an early retirement in a non-championship Formula-1 race, in…

Based outside Wellington — a 90-minute drive from Cape Town, South Africa — we find a passionate Land Rover Collector. You cannot call the place a garage. It would have made a perfect lounge or elaborate dining hall: instead, Jacques Smit (nicknamed Nekkies) filled it with some of the best and most-collectible Land-Rovers in South Africa. And, rather appropriately, proudly displayed on your right as you enter the hall, is a lovely collection of model cars. Until recently, he had a beautiful classic two-door Range Rover, but that has gone to a new home. Not only is “all things Land Rover” Nekkies’ passion, but it is his business, as well: He services, maintains, restores, and customizes these cars through his company, Gateway Offroad Centre. As is often the case, Nekkies’…

The beginning of the 1990s was an exciting time for sports cars: A time where the established brands were releasing affordable performance cars at a rapid rate. The early 1990s engine Electronic Control Units (ECUs) were highly functional and combined electronic injection with electronic ignition, knock sensing and O2 control to create intelligent feedback systems. These ECUs were capable of pushing their engines power to greater limits by utilizing the electronics to optimize, monitor, and protect them. High-output engines which were once only the domain of the exotics were being mass produced and, importantly, were highly reliable. Think double overhead cams, quad cams, five valves per cylinder and sequential turbo-charging from mainstream-vehicle Producers like Nissan, Mazda, and Toyota. At this point in time, Toyota was clearly on top of their…

A Devaux Spyder is a thing of old-time style and beauty, a modern machine cloaked in the mystique of the 1930s and Monte Carlo summers _ a long way from the 21st century and Melbourne’s tram-tracked streets. The first Devaux was a coupe, a glorious two-door tourer from the pen of Australian designer David Clash, drawing inspiration from French and Italian designers and coach builders of the 1930s. The low-slung, long-tailed car, fashioned from GRP over a steel chassis, debuted in 2002 after a long and proper gestation. It was a homage, David said, to the glories of 1930s’ automotive art, a blend of styling cues from the days of Bugatti Atlantics and such. This time with modern power from a 5.7 litre V8 and badged Devaux, his mother’s maiden…

In times of green influencing and environmental clashes it might not be woke to shoot through traffic in a gigantic black classic Mercedes-Benz, blasting past commuting EVs and hybrids at every possible opportunity, simply to enjoy the surge of 705 Nm of torque and the subdued and glorious sound of a V12. I could not care less though, because I am driving a childhood dream and I am not in the mood for adolescents who only take off their Bluetooth headset and look up from their screen to vent their obtrusive and largely unsubstantiated world-saving opinion. I am in my own safe space here, a concept that had a very different meaning in the early nineties, and while quietly thundering along it strikes me that hardly anybody notices this extraordinary…