Search by the «1972» tag

Few cars are as rewardingly intimate to drive as an Alpine A110, or as successful in rallying. Richard Heseltine gets to grips with the marque’s own recce car on a Portuguese stage.

We look forward with the Canford Classics GT, a five-decade-old 911 T reinterpreted for the 2020s…

With an architectural approach to its design and build, this SC backdate has universal appeal, as Total 911 discovers…

Eight generations, countless m models and an unending commitment to sports car evolution. Total 911 celebrates the Neunelfer’s milestone anniversary by picking three cars that represent key moments in its 60 brilliant years.

A small foot in the door. Civic was pivotal in helping Honda crack the big time in the USA.

60 years ago Mercedes-Benz defined a new era of luxury cars with its behemoth 600. Glen Waddington drives the choice of celebs and despots.

It just means ‘People’s Car’, and yet Volkswagen signifies so much more. There’s no shortage of rivals with reliable, cheap utilitarianism at their core, but few have managed to unite counter-culture hippies and surfers with City yuppies and boy racers within their embrace. There’s every chance your first car was a battered Golf – the same thing Prince Michael of Kent uses as a runabout. To investigate this curiously classless appeal, we have gathered six VW icons. There’s the Beetle that began it all, and the Camper that kick-started the ownership cult. The Karmann-Ghia made a glamorous push upmarket, a theme that hit its zenith with the Corrado VR6. And then there’s the Golf GTI, the car that defined the hot hatch. We’ve also included a Lupo GTI, which proved that there was virtue in going back to basics after years of growth. So which will convert us to the cult of VW, and how do you buy your way in? Time to take the wheel and find out.

Abarth’s 124 Spider is often overlooked as a rally hero. Richard Heseltine reckons it’s time to set the record straight.

How a French car won Le Mans for the first time since 1950, helped by Graham Hill.

Mercedes-Benz’s W115 saloon was renowned around the world as a taxi. But in Argentina it became more useful as La Pick-up. Melanie May investigates.

Mazda is relaunching its rotary technology so we took a fresh look at what the only manufacturer who had sales success with this technology achieved in the past.

Marking 50 years since the launch of the 116-series S-Class with help from two keen owners. Half a century after their grand debut, the 116-series Mercedes-Benz S-Classes remain highly impressive limousines, combining breathtaking sophistication with self-assured looks and effortless performance – characteristics that are serving them well in today’s collector market.

Destined to become one of the fastest cars never to win Bathurst, Chrysler’s Charger was nevertheless New Zealand’s most successful standard production racing saloon, winning the annual Benson & Hedges 500 seven years in a row from 1972 – 1978.

Before the SUV and the minivan there was the station wagon. One can arguably state that when it comes to the station wagon America has done it bigger and better than anyone else. Originally conceived as a doorless people and cargo mover on a truck platform in the early 1900s, by the middle of the 1920s Ford had added some civility to it with the introduction of the Woodie. That refinement continued after World War II as wooden bodies gave way to steel panels and a foundation based on passenger car chassis.

Why underrated Espada and 365 GTC/4 offer all the glorious V12 thrills of their exotic brethren for a fraction of the price. Lamborghini’s Espada and Ferrari’s 365 GTC/4 have long existed in the shadow of more exalted siblings. Richard Heseltine says it’s time they received greater recognition.