Ferrari 360 Spider

Some cars have to age like fine wine to be appreciated. Ferrari 360 SpiderOthers offer virtues so obvious that they deserve top ranking from the moment they are introduced. So it is with the Ferrari 360 Spider, which happens to be the marque’s twentieth road-going convertible and a car about which Ferrari says, “without question,  it is the best Spider Maranello has ever produced in terms of looks, engineering, and performance.”

Satisfaction of modern perfection

While some of that might be recent marketing hype — after all the 360 Spider is still available for purchase at your local Ferrari dealer — you can perhaps pardon them for the hyperbole. We still think the Ferrari Daytona Spider is a prettier car with classic sports car proportions, but there is no doubt the 360 Spider is strikingly attractive in the modern mold. Further, because Ferrari is presently on an incredible roll in the world of Formula One racing, it is the most technologically advanced convertible of all time. Read more . . .

Ferrari Testarossa

If there was ever a car that epitomized the greed-is-good extras of the Eighties, it was the Ferrari Testarossa. To purists, even its name symbolizes a sell-out. Ferrari TestarossaThe original 250 Testa Rossa road racer was not only shockingly beautiful, it functioned beautifully on the racetrack as well, winning three World Sports Car Championships between 1958 and 1961.

Proposed for good looks

In contrast, the Testarossa of the Eighties had no racing pedigree whatsoever.  Impure and not-so-simple, it was a car designed and built to cash in on an image. And since cashing in was what the Eighties were all about, it was the best vehicle for its time. The saving grace was, it was also a damn good car.

From the beginning,  the Testarossa was envisioned to Read more . . .

Duesenberg J/SJ

Enzo Ferrari was expert at using the cachet gained by his racing machines to sell cars meant for the street. Duesenberg J/SJBut long before Signore Ferrari started his racing career, two brothers from Lippe, Germany, were doing the same thing.

It all began with bicycles

Frederic Duesenberg was born in Lippe in 1878, and his brother August arrived the year after. It wasn’t long before their family embarked on the journey of their lives — emigrating to America. Soon they settled in the Midwest, and that’s where Augie and Fred  got into racing.  Though, not motor racing,  bicycle racing. The two brothers weren’t just good at riding bicycles either; they also assembled them, and Duesenberg-built bicycles became sought-after on the famous American bike racing circuit.

Fred confirmed the quality of their machines in 1898 by establishing a world record for Read more . . .

Porsche or Ferrari?

Ferrari and Porsche are  Italian and German sides of the same coin, respectively.

A red Ferrari and a black Porsche

flickr.com/gfreeman23

  Each represents a distinctive interpretation of the concept of a sports car. Both were founded by a dominant patriarch,  both honed their craft in racing, both designs are more than 50 years old, and both possess styling and engineering  integrity. Whether they are on the track on urban streets, or  of Le Mans, the two brands have constantly been put head-to-head to be compared and contrasted. Even those motorists unmoved by sports cars associate these two names with both style and performance.

Take for instance the passionate Ferrari F430 and the methodical Porsche 911 Carrera 4S. Both cars amaze the driver with their performance while successfully maintaining a respectable amount of practicality, but neither pretends to be anything aside from a sports car. Read more . . .

Ferrari Maranello 550

Let’s face it, we’re getting older. And if it’s difficult for you to look that irrefutable prospect in the eye, know this: the marque Classic Ferrari carwith the young looking verve of Italian brio, that forever-young emblem of the European playboy, has come to terms with age and aging. Ferrari knows you’re getting old. Further more, it has in fact,  done something about it. One of its latest in a string of truly remarkable cars recognizes the limitations and advantages of age, and it revels in both. The Ferrari 550 Maranello is a living embodiment of progress and of adapting to reality, a testimony to the reality that, in the 21st Century, you can have your cake and eat it, too. Read more . . .