The Corvette long carried a stigma of crudeness versus the Europeans, and the Chevy bowtie just doesn’t carry the status of a Porsche crest. That reputation had been eroding since the late 1990s, though not everyone noticed. Today, any Porsche 911 driver not looking at the new Stingray with just a twinge of horsepower envy ought to check his pulse.
As the first production car to bear the Bugatti name in thirty-five years, the EB110 had big shoes to fill. The 560 horses produced by its 3.5L V-12 fit snugly into those French racing boots.
The Diablo’s design was more elegant than the Countach, which had become festooned with all manner of body add-ons, including a rear wing that looked like a Boeing 727’s horizontal stabilizer. Like the Countach before it, the Diablo also grew a young fan base and became a poster car in many boys’ bedrooms.
The Nethercutt Museum offers a walk through the history of the automobile, showcasing over 130 pre-1970 cars broken into categories based on era of production. Next door, The Nethercutt Collection occupies the museum’s former residence, with four floors of only the finest antiques.
Porsche did not need to build the 911 R, which it unveiled at the Geneva Motor show. It is a gift to the purists – or at least their memory – who would not let the 911 die in the 1980s. The profit on the 991 cars to be built, while certainly not pfennigs, is going to be small compared to a fleet of Panameras
Read about a Dispute Over a 1958 Porsche 356A Speedster in the latest edition of Sports Car Market’s Collector Thoughts.
While Ferrari calls the GTC4Lusso a “new four seater,” it is of course the revamped FF, the marque’s all-season GT and its first car with all-wheel drive. The FF proved that a properly equipped high-speed GT could do what most drivers use a luxury SUV to do, only much faster.
If you want to drive a 911 often, one that combines the visceral personality of a classic with modern power, handling and comfort there’s one number to consider: “993.” That is, of course, Porsche’s model designation for the last of the air-cooled Elevens.
Not to be cliche, but you really can get your kicks on Route 66; apart from its historical significance, the abandoned super-highway harbors vast stretches of lightly-patroled pavement, perfect for a more liberal application of the accelerator.
