The Levante takes its name from a warm Mediterranean wind. Maserati must get credit for successfully transferring its design language to the SUV form. There doesn’t appear to be a straight line anywhere on the body, just plenty of elegant curves and no attempt to look truckish. Squint, and you can see a bit of Infiniti’s SUV designs here and there, and the mini fender vents still look a bit Buick-ish to some.
The Ferrari Testarossa burst onto the scene in 1984 like a four-wheeled nuke, unleashed by Ferrari to reclaim territory that had been captured by the Porsche 911 Turbo and Lamborghini Countach.
The Atlanta Concours d’ Elegance was held at the beautiful Chateau Elan Winery and Resort which is owned by Dr. Donald Panoz. Dr. Panoz started manufacturing hand-crafted sports cars bearing his name in the 1990’s and several Panoz street cars and race cars were part of the Concours display.
The Tesla Model X takes aim at the lucrative luxury SUV segment, competing on price and features while out-performing in drag races and, of course, running on pure electric power. Motor Trend called the Tesla Model X “the ute for the lunatic SUV fringe.”
Ferrari built its reputation on dual-purpose machines, the sports and GT cars one could drive on the road during the week and to the track on the weekend. There were more comfort-oriented models, such as the 250 GT Lusso, but the 250’s immediate successor, the 275 GTB and 275 GTB/4, skewed closer to the pure sports car side of the family.
A DB7 offers an astonishingly accessible route to driving an Aston Martin modern classic. Designed by Keith Helfet, the F-Type body became the DB7 thanks to work by Ian Callum, then head of TWR Design. The results looked fantastic.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Italy’s “big three” couture carmakers – Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati – responded to customer demand for high-end GTs that offered more room than their 1960s models. The Lamborghini Jarama secured its unique place in Lamborghini history as one of its last front-engine models.
If you have any interest in the Macan Turbo, you’re probably going to want the Performance Package, because in addition to goosing the 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 to 440 horses, it equips this all-wheel drive machine with an upgraded brake system, lowered “sport” chassis, a sport exhaust system and the Sport Chrono Package. That’s a lot of “sport.”
The coachbuilt Silver Cloud models have long been prized by collectors, yet the standard sedans, discussed here, have snuck past the $100,000 mark and make excellent drivable collectibles.
