There’s a mission underway to revive Bizzarrini, an Italian sports car brand founded by legendary engineer Giotto Bizzarrini in the 1960s. What makes him so legendary? He’s the engineer who oversaw the development of the Ferrari 250 GTO, and incredibly he’s also involved with the modern Bizzarrini, even in his nineties.
The original Bizzarrini only lasted a handful of years before it folded in 1969, though in that short time it managed to launch a stunning road car known as the 5300 GT Strada. The modern Bizzarrini plans to offer continuation examples of the 5300 GT Strada, and you can learn all about the original in this latest episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage.”
The version shown here is a 1967 model that recently underwent a restoration in Italy. Its exterior has been painted to match the car’s original spec, though the interior features a dark blue leather instead of the original burgundy.
Bizzarrini actually started developing the 5300 GT Strada during the brief time that he worked for Iso Rivolta. At Iso, the car was a race car known as the A3/C (also referred to as Grifo A3/C). Examples were widely raced, including in the 24 Hours of Le Mans where in 1965 one of the cars enjoyed a class win and ninth-place finish overall. That race car has previously featured in “Jay Leno’s Garage.”
Bizzarrini launched the road-going 5300 GT Strada in 1966. It was fitted with a 5.3-liter V-8 sourced from General Motors, hence the “5300” in the name, and could reach a top speed of 174 mph. Later models received a more powerful 7.0-liter V-8. Approximately 145 examples were built before Bizzarrini folded.
This article was originally published by Motor Authority, an editorial partner of ClassicCars.com.
Experience the thrill of off-road racing on sub-zero surfaces with racing game DIRT 5’s newest race car – the Bentley Continental GT Ice Racer, first seen at Zell am See in 2020.
Included in DIRT 5’s Super Size Content Drop available July 20, the Bentley off-road grand tourer “will be right at home on sub-zero surfaces at New York, Norway and Nepal,” Bentley Motors says in a news release.
“This 626 bhp racecar will tear up all surfaces in DIRT 5 on its 22-inch rims; a perfect blend of luxurious design and extreme performance.”
The virtual racer comes with three liveries to customize your ride:
GT Ice Race Livery: matching the livery of the GP Ice Racecar that raced at Zell am See in 2020
Art Livery: fantasy livery co-designed by Sean Bull Design
Toblerone Livery: chocolate-themed livery designed by DIRT 5
“I cannot wait to get my hands on the DIRT 5 Super Size content pack and experience the thrill of drifting the Continental GT Ice Racer in all the different environments,” said Chis Senn, an engineer at Bentley Motorsport.
Year 1 and Amplified Edition players will get immediate access to the Bentley Ice Race Car and it will be available for purchase for Standard Edition players.
You can play the DIRT 5 game, created by Codemasters, on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Series X and Series S, Windows Store, Steam, Google Stadia and soon Amazon Luna.
Learn more about DIRT 5’s newest edition on its website.
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Hiroshi Fujiwara is considered the godfather of Japanese street culture and has formed a partnership with Maserati to create Ghibli Operanera and Ghibli Operabianca, which Maserati says, “crosses geographical and disciplinary borders into the unexplored territories of audacity, in a realm beyond which music is embodied in the form of a car and rule-breaking is allowed.”
The result, presented recently in Tokyo, is “artwork in the form of a melodic duet, Operanera and Operabianca, two contrasting evocations of a Special Edition of Maserati Ghibli.
“The partnership is (the) fruit of the capabilities of the Maserati Fuoriserie customization program, which permits customers to create their own Maserati, tailored to their unique tastes,” according to the Italian automaker.
Hiroshi Fujiwara
“The car is more than a simple object; it becomes a tailor-made garment, to be proudly worn on the road and along the streets of the world as an extension of oneself, and a symbol of contemporary luxury.”
Maserati calls Fujiwara “a revered trendsetter, a maverick. Pioneer of the streetwear culture of Tokyo in the 1980s, he was one of the first DJs to import hip hop into the Land of the Rising Sun, and as a producer and musician he has worked with international recording stars.
“As a visual artist he specializes in expressing aspects of the urban experience moods. Like Maserati, he has the ability to break down barriers and be audacious. In the spirit of the concept of “ITANJI,” a Japanese term signifying the coming together of Italian design and Japanese perfection, Operabianca and Operanera were born.
“Today, the encounter between the visual codes of Maserati and the street style of Hiroshi’s brand, Fragment, gives birth to a creative partnership which is a duet in the truest sense of the term: Maserati meets Fragment.”
175 Ghibli cars will be built for global distribution, a set in black and another in white. However, Maserati adds, “The uniformity of color applies not only to the exteriors but also to the body-color wheels and handles. The interiors, on the other hand, are in premium leather and Alcantara, with contrasting silver inserts for the vertical stitching and the Trident on the headrests. The seat belts are dark blue.”
In addition, the code M157110519FRG appears underneath the cars’ three side air ducts. The alphanumeric tag “seals the partnership: the first four characters are the Ghibli ID code, the next six numbers record the date of the first meeting (5 November 2019) between Hiroshi and the Centro Stile Maserati, and the final three letters are the acronym of Fragment.”
Petersen Automotive Museum, which exhibits some of the world’s most unusual, rare and historically significant vehicles in its 100,000-square-foot facility in Los Angeles has announced the launch of its new business incubator program designed to help develop female-led startups in the automotive industry.
“With only 23.6 percent of motor-vehicle positions held by women in 2019, we felt it was our responsibility as a world leader in automotive thought to create this incubator program,” Terry L. Karges, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum, said in a news release. “Through the generous support of Rolex, and our selection committee, we can empower and develop visionary women to harness their potential and given them an opportunity to break into the automotive space.”
The museum, along with its selected advisory board, will choose one early-stage female-led business based in California to join a 3-month mentorship incubator program. During the program, Petersen will invest up to $25,000 into the business, provide hands-on mentorship and give the selected business access to the Petersen network.
On the incubator program’s advisory board is the CMO and principal at Redline Detection, Alex Parker; the CEO of Fremont Private Investments and chancellor of Fremont College, Dr. Sabrina Key; PR and media-relations leader at Kahn Media, Nikki Riedmiller; senior vice president of experiences at Omaze, Sarah Lassek; group services director at Petersen, Jasmine Gonzalez; and vice president of Hagerty Drivers Foundation, Diane Parker, who sat down with us to share her excitement for the program.
Vice president of Hagerty Drivers Foundation Diane Parker
“What I love about this type of program, other than its uniqueness is this is what’s going to help shape the future and make it the norm for women to be within the automotive industry,” Parker said.
“This isn’t just exclusive within the automotive industry of restoring cars or working on cars; this has so many more elements to it, which makes it so incredibly unique. It’s really a vast program with mentorship in business development, retail, marketing communications, design or IT.
“The other great thing about this program is they get to tell us where they need the help and where they want to focus. It can be very specific to their needs so it’s not so broad.”
(Editor’s note: During the month of February, the ClassicCars.com Journal presents a series of stories exploring car clubs and what they offer to the collector car community. If you have a car club story to share, see the note at the end of this article.)
Finally, you got that classic car that you’ve always wanted, parked it in your garage and have it ready for whatever activity you have envisioned, from car shows to joyful road tours. So, what next?
While I’m not typically a joiner of clubs, I have found that linking up with like-minded car collectors in some kind of organization has greatly enhanced the enjoyment of my old cars. The clubs have launched great friendships, not to mention providing repair and technical guidance from wily veterans whom I otherwise might have never met.
With my Porsche 356 club, the Arizona 356 Outlaws, I’ve been on some imaginative adventures on scenic highways and mountain roads, and in the company of small armadas of similar Porsches. There’s nothing quite like being part of a motley herd of cherished vehicles on a rally or club drive.
Whether you’re into Ford Mustangs, vintage Ferraris, Chevy Impalas, Jaguar E-Types, Rambler Americans, Fiats, street rods or race cars, there is a club for you. There is a lid for every pot, as they say, and there is a club for essentially any kind of vehicle produced down through the ages, even if it’s a wide-net group such as the Antique Automobile Club of America. Hey, there’s even a Pontiac Aztek Fan Club.
With club support, you get to drive your collector cars, rather than having them collect dust and rust while standing on static display in the garage, or taken out for the occasional show. You know where to turn when there’s a problem, and you reap the benefits of group knowledge.
British sports cars were what did it for me starting from my teen years, even when most of the guys (and a few girls) who I knew went big for the muscle cars and stoplight drag racers that were so hot in those days. For me and a few of my buddies, it was MGs, Triumphs, Austin Healeys and Jaguars, as well as macho British motorcycles.
My MGB roadster, a long-term driver
We were working-class kids though, and funds were scant, so our British motoring experiences mainly involved those motorcycles – I rode a cool 1965 BSA 650 Lightning. I eventually bought a used MGB roadster once I got a real job, and which I brought out to Arizona when my wife and I moved from Philadelphia.
In Phoenix, I joined the Arizona MG Club, which was fun and provided entry to the whole realm of British cars, from Minis to Aston Martins, and such egalitarian gatherings as the erstwhile All British Car Show. The MGB was later joined in the garage by another MG, a 1957 Magnette 4-door sedan, the aim being to take my wife and two boys along on rallies.
That worked out great when the boys were small, not so much when they grew into strapping young men standing well over 6 feet.
The 1957 MG Magnette was our family rally car
The Magnette was eventually replaced by a “barn find” 1967 Austin Healey 3000, a step up in the British sports car pecking order from my MGB. The Healey hadn’t been driven in a couple of decades, but after many hours of scraped knuckles, I got it running and drivable.
The Healey was undoubtedly a great piece of British motoring, but I had two basic problems with it: 1) My too-tall lankiness was a tight fit behind the wheel, and 2) There was no local club of Austin Healey enthusiasts, so I had trouble getting to know any fellow owners. While I engaged with some of the other British car clubs, I missed the camaraderie of a marque-specific club.
The Porsche 356 Super coupe was acquired in a trade
But then I made a momentous swap – my Healey straight up for a 1962 Porsche 356 Super coupe, a Ruby Red beauty that stole my heart as soon as I saw it. It was a good deal for everyone involved, as it turned out. And for me, it entailed not just a great car but an entire life change because of the club I joined, the Arizona 356 Outlaws.
The Super Coupe is a definite keeper. While hardly perfect, it’s a great-running little beast that’s always fun to drive. But it wasn’t always this way, and here is where great club support came in. Being part of the loosely organized Outlaws (a term of endearment for custom 356 examples and a play on our Old West locale) has made all the difference.
A few of the The Arizona 356 Outlaws on tour
My 356 was a running piece when I got it, but I knew from the get-go that there were things that needed attention, mainly because it also had been off the road for a while.
As it turned out, it needed a whole bunch of attention, which would have cost me several thousands of dollars if I had brought it to a shop to have it done – while I’m an OK shade-tree mechanic, serious engine and transmission work I leave to the pros. And they charge plenty, especially the Porsche experts.
But through my contacts with the Outlaws, and especially one generous member who is an experienced Porsche mechanic, all the engine, trans and brake work that needed to be done was accomplished in my own garage, with me learning tons while serving as shop assistant and chief gopher.
One Porsche 356 club member helping another with an on-the-road repair
My involvement with the 356 Outlaws has been instructive, in other words, as I learned the sordid mechanical details of these quirky little cars. It’s also been engaging, with regular get-togethers (not recently, though, because of the pandemic) and drives.
In 2019, our Arizona club hosted the High Desert Holiday in Flagstaff, for the annual multi-day gathering of the national Porsche 356 Registry. About 180 coupes, convertibles, cabriolets and Speedsters and their keepers showed up, some of them trekking thousands of miles from as far away as Florida, North Carolina and Massachusetts.
The Outlaws and its parent group, the 356 Registry, are made up of friendly and mostly unpretentious members, who share stories and information freely, and who are available to help when needed. It really is a very good club, our Arizona branch based in and around Phoenix and Tucson.
Quite a few other drives take place during the year with the Arizona 356 club. Once a year, Drive Your 356 Day is celebrated with owners from around the world taking part in planned and impromptu road trips, which are then chronicled with photo galleries in the Porsche 356 Registry magazine, a bi-monthly publication that in itself makes it worth belonging to the club.
The MGB and Porsche 356 are still together
That’s really the core value of belonging to a car club, having unfiltered enjoyment of our collector cars in the company of fellow travelers, who collectively create the experiences that make it all worthwhile.
Do you have a car club story you’d like to share? Just go to this link, fill in the information and submit your story to be considered for publication in our Car Club Series.
It may seem like a lifetime ago, but the start of the 2020 model year saw the introduction of the C8 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray—the first mid-engine production Corvette in the nameplate’s history. Chevy now has a two-part documentary detailing the car’s development.
Chevy has teased the idea of a mid-engine Corvette for decades with various concept cars and prototypes, but it finally pulled the trigger on a production version because designers and engineers felt the existing front-engine design had reached its limits.
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The decision to go mid-engine wasn’t made abruptly. Design work on the C8 Corvette began in 2011, before the last front-engine Corvette had even launched, Corvette exterior design manager Kirk Bennion said in the first part of the documentary. As with any new car, designers went through many iterations before arriving at the final C8 shape, building multiple scale models and three full-size clay models as part of the process.
But it’s not just about looks. As the second part of the documentary reveals, there was plenty of engineering work required for the mid-engine Corvette, including extensive testing at the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany.
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The resulting car has the proportions of an Italian supercar, but with a good ‘ole small-block 6.2-liter V-8 behind the seats. The naturally aspirated engine known as the LT2 produces 495 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque, giving the Stingray a quoted 0-60 mph time of 2.9 seconds. We were so impressed that we named the latest Corvette the Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2021 winner.
Chevy isn’t done, either. We’re expecting new Z06 and ZR1 models, a hybrid, and possibly a second hybrid variant named Zora, after Corvette godfather Zora Arkus-Duntov. That version will get a 1,000-hp powertrain, Hagerty reported last year. It’s unclear when these more potent Corvette variants will show up, but the new Z06 was spotted testing last year so the debut can’t be far.
This article was originally published by Motor Authority, an editorial partner of ClassicCars.com.
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Pontiac’s days of building excitement are long gone, though the brand arguably faded into the sunset long before the division was axed in 2009 as part of the fallout of General Motors’ bankruptcy.
Yet old Pontiacs are getting a second life in the world of collector cars as values of many classics, good and bad, continue to soar in value, and for true Pontiac enthusiasts the Firebird is impossible to ignore, especially the Trans Am version made famous in the 1977 hit movie “Smokey and the Bandit” starring Burt Reynolds.
Jay Leno in the latest episode of his online series “Jay Leno’s Garage” took a close look at a near-perfect 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am finished in the same black and gold as the movie car. While he’s no fan of the chicken on the hood, he appreciates the car and the way it drives. He couldn’t drive it too hard, though. This particular example normally resides in a museum, the Audrain Auto Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, to be specific.
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This one has the 400-cubic inch V-8 that was offered in 1979, which is good for about 220 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. This example also has a 4-speed manual which, as Leno rightly points out, only adds to the fun.
The 1979 model year was a final holdout for the Firebird Trans Am before new emissions and fuel economy regulations seriously capped performance in the years ahead. But the Firebird Trans Am was never about only going fast; it was about looking and sounding right, something Leno definitely understands.
This article was originally published by Motor Authority, an editorial partner of ClassicCars.com.
History professor Ken Yohn | McPherson College photo
Ken Yohn is the sort of person who becomes so absorbed with a subject that… Well, for example:
When considering how people like to personalize their vehicles, and after watching various Bling My Ride television shows, Yohn found himself at the British Museum studying images of ancient Roman chariots, to see if this tendency to customize was new or could be traced back into human history.
Yohn studied and studied and thought he finally had found evidence, only to learn that what he was seeing wasn’t personalization but the difference between chariots built for regular soldiers and those designed for officers.
I share the above example simply to show just how inquisitive is Ken Yohn, chairman of the history and politics department at McPherson College. And for the past several weeks, he’s been the featured instructor in the college’s inaugural (and free) “Wheels of Change: How the Automobile Shaped Our Lives” webinar series.
Yohn’s personality is as engaging as his studies are enlightening in depth and detail. If you missed the 6-week series, you missed a delightfully educational and entertaining experience. Fortunately for you, however, the school will replay the series soon on its YouTube channel, so you can see and hear for yourself as Yohn presents on various topics and then is joined by guests to discuss what Yohn considers the most significant and permeating technology to enter human history.
As you likely know — and if not, you really need to know — McPherson is the only college in the country that offers a 4-year degree in automotive restoration, though the curriculum goes well beyond the school’s garage and workshops to include mandatory courses in business and the liberal arts.
You don’t just stumble across this college’s compact campus in the middle of nowhere (actually, pretty close to smack dab in the middle of Kansas), you have to work to find it. But students from across the country eagerly do so each semester, and their efforts are rewarded with a post-graduate employment history that would be the envy of even the Ivy League, if such schools even knew of McPherson’s existence.
Yohn found himself at McPherson for the 1999-2000 school year. He was born in Illinois, attended college’s in Indiana and Iowa, and is an avid bicyclist and bicycle restoration expert, and something of world traveler.
“Wheels of Change” covered six topics, each for an hour, although the question-and-answer sessions tended to run over allotted 60 minutes. Just to whet your interest for watching the YouTube replays, I’ll list the topics, with the special guest or guests, and will share a highlight or two from my notes:
Week: 1
Topic: “Four Epic Road Trips that Upended the World
Guest: McPherson grad Kyle Smith, now associate editor at Hagerty
Summary: A look at the impact of early motorcar journeys and how they shaped public opinion about this new invention
Highlight: Carl Benz may have invented a machine, but it didn’t become a car until his wife and children basically stole it one night while he slept (she did leave him a note) and drove it 66 miles to visit her family, and several days later drove it back again.
Week: 2
Topic: “Paving the Way for the Automobile”
Guest: Andrew Beckman, archivist, National Studebaker Museum
Summary: How bicyclists and their push for better roads for themselves and for steam-powered omni-buses and other technologies helped make the spread of motorcars possible
Highlight: One reason motorcars became popular was the pollution and diseases caused by so much horse manure and urine and so many horse carcasses on the streets of American cities.
Week: 3
Topic: “That Be Giants in Them Thar Hills”
Guest: Bob Casey, retired curator of transportation at The Henry Ford museum
Summary: Henry Ford, Billy Durant and the creation of the mega corporations
Highlight: Ford and Durant generally are seen as polar opposites, but Casey pointed out five aspects in which they were very much alike.
Week: 4
Topic: “The Road to Perdition”
Guest: Abbey Paulsen, high school junior, and Tabetha Hammer, McPherson grad and head of the Greenwich Concours for Hagerty
Summary: How the automobile liberated women and captivated teenagers
Highlight: Paulsen teaching Yohn how to start and drive her Model T.
Week: 5
Topic: “The Great War”
Guest: Casey Maxon, McPherson grad and historian for the Historic Vehicle Association
Summary: The automobiles role in the mechanization of warfare and the war’s impact on personal mobility
Highlight 1: We link caterpillar treads with tanks but they were created by a California vineyard owner to deal with sandy soil.
Highlight 2: Maxon notes that World War I started with an automobile, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated while in their car.
Week: 6
Topic: “Art for the People”
Guest: Donald Osborne, chief executive of the Audrain Automobile Museum
Summary: How Harley Earl and automotive styling democratized beauty
Highlight: Osborne explaining that the head of GM design taught the public that style wasn’t just for Hollywood and sports figures.
One other highlight, shared each week, was Yohn’s introductory summary of the study of history, that history is the result of choices, that history does not repeat — every moment is unique — that there are multiple causes for each historical moment, and that what’s important is not just historical facts but their meaning.
There was much more in the 6 hours of presentation. You can see for yourself when the series replays on the McPherson YouTube channel.
The 1975 Ford Gran Torino in the ‘Starsky and Hutch’ TV show, with Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul | Walt Disney Television archive
While we’ve often discussed the top movie cars of all time – focusing on such things as James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, Steve McQueen’s Ford Mustang in Bullitt, the VW Beetle as Herbie the Love Bug and Doc Brown’s DeLorean in the Back to the Future movies – it’s not often that we consider which car brands have been depicted most often in movies and on TV.
In research conducted on the Internet Movie Cars Database for At The Drive-In, a list of the top 50 car brands seen most often in international films and television series has been compiled.
“Cars have played a significant role in some of the most-famous movies and TV shows of all time and often end up taking center stage and becoming one of the most memorable aspects for the audience,” the researchers said in a news release.
The list focuses on the top 3 brands seen on the big and little screens because they far and away have the most numerous sightings.
The oft-seen Ford Victoria detective cruiser
The top brand by a long shot is Ford, which has tabulated 61,683 appearances, the results show. But while the researchers chalk up the lofty number to some of the top-billed appearances, such as the Bullitt Mustang and the Thunderbird convertible in Thelma and Louise, one must consider which Ford is most often seen in films and TV shows: the ubiquitous Crown Victoria police cruiser.
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Ford Model As are often seen in modern period films, such as Road to Perdition, and who knows how many Model Ts were ripped apart by Laurel and Hardy back in the day?
A distant second on the list is Mercedes-Benz, shown 34,675 times. The German brand’s luxury cars are familiar as those driven by wealthy people and crime bosses, and as the researchers point out, a Mercedes became “a major plot device in David Lynch’s Lost Highway,” and was seen as the Red Baron 600 limousine used by Poison Ivy in Batman and Robin.
Third on the list in Chevrolet, which has racked up 34,178 appearances in such feature films as The Fast and the Furious, American Graffiti and Days of Thunder, the researchers note, not to mention a yellow Camaro’s leading role as Bumblebee in the Transformers series.
The dramatic Batmobile driven in ‘Batman Forever’ | Warner Bros.
The Batmobile is one of the most iconic vehicles in pop culture, but it isn’t just one car. Batman’s ride has taken on many forms over the decades, appearing in comic books, animation, live-action movies,� and even Lego. A new documentary on the Batmobile takes a closer look at some of the best-known versions.
Streamed by Warner Bros. earlier this month, the documentary starts with the Batmobile� from the 1966 television series, which starred Adam West as the Caped Crusader. This car started out as the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept, and was modified by famed car customizer George Barris for the role.
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The next major evolution occurred in 1989, with the version seen in Tim Burton’s “Batman.” A similar version was also used in the sequel, 1992’s “Batman Returns.” The car, which was based on a Chevrolet Impala, set the tone for Batmobiles in both the comics and the 1990s animated series and remains popular with replica builders.
The documentary also highlights the Batmobiles from 1995’s “Batman Forever” and 1997’s “Batman & Robin” which, like the movies themselves, never proved as popular as their predecessors.
For 2005’s “Batman Begins,” the Batmobile got a radical redesign, becoming the tank-like Tumbler. In the movie, it was a discarded military prototype rather than a vehicle purpose-built for superhero work. The documentary stops with this early-2000s Batmobile, and does not include the versions from 2011’s “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” or the followup “Justice League.”
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The� next Batmobile goes in yet another different design direction. Set to appear in “The Batman,” it looks like an old American muscle car with a mid-mounted engine. It was designed by Ash Thorp, the same person who designed Ken Block’s “Hoonifox” Fox-body Ford Mustang.
This article was originally published by� Motor Authority, an editorial partner of ClassicCars.com.
