It took 17 years for General Motors to come up with an answer to the Ford Flathead V8. Right after WW II, two different brands from GM: Cadillac and Oldsmobile, were developing the next generation of the American V8: The “Over Head Valve” or simply OHV. In this configuration, the engine valves (intake and exhaust)Continue reading “The American V8. Part Two: Oldsmobile Rocket.”
Author Archives: Rubens Junior
The American V8. Part One: Ford Flathead
The economic prosperity that blessed the USA in the decades after the WWII, helped to consolidated the American cars as the standard for the automotive industry, they were big, elegant, powerful, reliable and above all, affordable. The engine of choice for the American automakers, at that time, was the V8, the only machine capable provideContinue reading “The American V8. Part One: Ford Flathead”
The Bike of The Century
The history of the Honda CB 750, the machine that revolutionized the whole motorcycle industry. Please check out the video version of this post: At the end of World War II, the defeated nations started a slow and painful reconstruction process. Both Germany and Japan had their major cities wiped out by the relentlessly AlliedContinue reading “The Bike of The Century”
“Wings of a Dream”
A quick look at the World’s biggest private collection of vintage airplanes. Brazil might be well known for some things like soccer and carnival but not a lot of people know the connections the country has with aviation; from the pioneers like Santos Dumont to a thriving domestic aerospace industry, we are crazy about aircraft.Continue reading ““Wings of a Dream””
Porsche celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first victory at Le Mans.
June 14, 1970, on this day, for the first time in History, a Porsche received the checkered flag in front of everybody else in Le Mans. The brand debuted at this legendary race track with a class-victory (1,100 cc) in 1951, but it took almost 20 years for the team to achieve an overall victory.Continue reading “Porsche celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first victory at Le Mans.”
The History of the Jeep. Part Two-Civilian Life.
(Top photo by gearjunkie.com) When Willys unveiled the “CJ”, in 1944, it was basically the same car the company was producing to fight in WW II. Only small changes were adopted, the most visible ones were: the tail-gate, which created the necessity to move the spare tire to the quarter-panel, the ” Sealed-Beam” headlights whichContinue reading “The History of the Jeep. Part Two-Civilian Life.”
The History of the Jeep. Part One-The Military Years.
December 2018, Jeep releases the sales numbers of its most successful year in history. In total, Jeep sold 973,227 vehicles. By the end of that year, the Wrangler became the brand’s best-selling model, with 240,032 units delivered to the customers, outselling even the Jeep Cherokee. Jeep is, nowadays, one of the most lucrative brands amongContinue reading “The History of the Jeep. Part One-The Military Years.”
The Most Popular Airplane
September 2nd, 1945, the Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, signs the Instrument of Japanese Surrender, aboard the American warship USS Missouri, formalizing the end of the World War II. Among many different kinds of weapons employed by the Allies, the airplane played a pivotal role to win the war. Together, United States, Canada, UnitedContinue reading “The Most Popular Airplane”
Collector’s Day
In July 2015, my wife and I moved from our hometown in Brazil to Winnipeg, Canada and one of the first things we noticed was the number of classic cars on the streets on any given day. Perhaps because the cars are kept in storage for the whole winter, which here is extremely harsh andContinue reading “Collector’s Day”
The Red Baron
World War I, the conflict that dragged pretty much all the major powers in Europe, Asia and the Americas into a total war. The carnage lasted from July 1914 to November 1918 and an estimate of nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a direct result of the war. For the first timeContinue reading “The Red Baron”
The Renault Alpine
Le Mans, 1952; besides all the financial hardship of the “post-war” era in Europe, a good gathering of the most significant sports-car brands were there: Ferrari, Jaguar, Lancia, Aston-Martin, Talbot, Cunningham and perhaps the most coveted presence that year was the return of the Mercedes-Benz to Le Mans after 22 years of absence. The GermansContinue reading “The Renault Alpine”
Mike “The Bike”
What makes motorsport so fascinating is the combination of the incredible talent of the man and the power of the machine, but since a machine will perform as well as it was designed for, it is the human talent that will prevail at the end. We can easily spend hours, even days passionately discussing whoContinue reading “Mike “The Bike””
The Camel Trophy
Top photo courtesy of Jochem Aarts. http://www.realizm.nl The year was 1984, I was coming back home from downtown by bus and on my hands I had something very important, well, it was very important to me anyway, it was the latest issue of the most popular auto magazine in Brazil: “Quatro Rodas” (Four Wheels). AsContinue reading “The Camel Trophy”
The Colors of Racing. Part Four – The British Moss Green: Lotus
In this final chapter, we will take a look at another traditional British sports car company that changed Formula One in many different ways. Lotus The company was founded by engineers Colin Chapman and Colin Dare, both graduates of University College, in London, 1952, but had earlier start in 1948 when Chapman built his first racing car inContinue reading “The Colors of Racing. Part Four – The British Moss Green: Lotus”
The Colours of Racing. Part Four – The British Moss Green: Aston Martin.
In this chapter, I will talk about another British brand that wore the traditional Green on their cars: Aston Martin. Aston Martin The company was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, and their very first car was produced in 1915 in the newly acquired facility in Kensington District, London. Aston Martin debuted inContinue reading “The Colours of Racing. Part Four – The British Moss Green: Aston Martin.”
The Colors of Racing. Part Four – The British Moss Green.
When the UK joined the Gordon Bennett Cup, all the most popular colors were already taken, even yellow was unavailable since it was given to Belgium. The only option on the table was green and the color actually fit perfectly since the UK was one of the leaders of the industrial revolution in the lateContinue reading “The Colors of Racing. Part Four – The British Moss Green.”
The Colours of Racing. Part Three – Bleu de France.
Perhaps no other color in the history of motorsport was more embraced than the French Blue, most of the automakers from the country proudly adopted it for their race cars. On this chapter, I will talk about a few of them that in one way or another made History Bugatti The company was created byContinue reading “The Colours of Racing. Part Three – Bleu de France.”
