Richard Heseltine · Articles

Alejandro de Tomaso rescued Maserati from the wreckage of the Fuel Crisis and based the new Ky alarm on a car of his own marque. Richard Heseltine says the surgery worked.

Safety as a marketing concept for cars? Well, Richard Heseltine reckons we have Ralph Nader to thank for that. This month Richard examines a concept vehicle that was a direct result of the sudden interest in vehicle safety after Nader’s campaigning…

It seems improbable but Worthing once briefly threatened to unseat Turin and Milan as a key hub of international car design. That may sound a mite fanciful, but the appearance of the IAD Lancia Magia at the 1992 Turin motor show triggered palpable ripples because a British styling house had chosen to showcase its brave new world on hallowed turf. The cheek of it all. Here was a Lancia-badged – and supported – coupé that took all the best bits from the Dedra Integrale and added a much-needed dose of style into the mix.

British buyers couldn’t buy a hatchback Mini, but those in Europe could – albeit not the Mini that we were used to.

John DeLorean’s bid to make a car in his own image famously ended badly, but has history painted the DMC-12 unfairly? We drive one and find out.

Fiat’s rev-happy Strada Abarth 130TC may not be the most exalted hot hatch, but it has character to spare. We try a rare survivor and come away smitten.

The 2200 Spider represented the ambitions of Abarth and patron Fiat to strike at the higher order of Italian motoring, but it was destined to remain a rarity.

‘The original target had been for around 550bhp, but in its final form the astonishing BMW V12 made 627bhp

It was just what the world had been crying out for: an MPV with a chain-driven, quad-cam V12 up front. Not that Bertone was down with the whole labels thing, you understand. The Genesis was merely a teaser; one that defied easy categorisation

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

The List Reader Stephen Marshall steps into a Roger Moore-style Lamborghini Islero. From a list filled with movie and TV show star cars, will Stephen Marshall’s ultimate choice of the Lamborghini Islero 400 S haunt him for ever, or produce a special bond?

Gary Simpson’s 1969 Plymouth GTX isn’t just a lairy Mopar muscle car – it’s also family transportation and after a succession of slightly less family-friendly Mopars, this one seems to offer the best of both worlds…

Flachbau holds a special place in the lexicon of Porsche language. Developed for aero effect on the racetrack, the flat-nosed 911 Turbo styling it described became a 1980s icon. With less than a thousand examples built, the real deal is both rare and expensive, which is where this stunning replica comes in...

Giovanni Michelotti shaped a bewildering array of cars, from oneoff coachbuilt exotica to best-selling mainstream future classics. We recall the Turinese styling great.

Reeves Callaway is inextricably linked with the Chevrolet Corvette, the sometime single-seater driver turned tuner having made ‘America’s Only Sports Car’ go faster than ever seemed feasible. When you produce a hotted-up Corvette with, say, the name ‘Sledgehammer,’ you know it isn’t going to be shy or retiring. The C12, however, had a title that was positively tame by comparison, but then it was so much more than a reworked Corvette. It was a road car with racing car credentials, and one that was part-German.