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The 1953 Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 Colli Spider

One of the many classic cars built in the 1950s was the 1953 Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 Competizione Maggiorata Colli Spider. Hidden by Alfa Romeo due to the Second World War, the 6C 3000 CM Colli Spider had an advantage over its competition as no one ever saw a vehicle quite like it before. The previous models of the 6C 3000 CM was powerful indeed but it wasn’t able to hurdle over its competitors from Ferrari and Vittorio Janos Lancia. With victory in mind, Alfa Romeo designed the 1953 6C 3000 CM Colli Spider and it won the first Gran Premio Supercorte Maggiore in Meran in 1953 at the hands of driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

The Spider’s Roots

As touched on above, Alfa Romeo anticipated a war and hid the molds they made for competition cars and production molds. After the Second World War was over, Alfa Romeo dug up their models and immediately continued production. This gave birth to the Alfra Romeo 158 Grand Prix racer, which was the winner of the first ever Formula 1 Championship held in 1950. It also produced the 6C 2500 road car which was the only luxury super car available at the time.

Alfa Romeo proceeded to make modifications to their models and among these was the shorter wheelbase and revised rear suspension. They then cut 20mm further to the wheelbase in order to lessen weight and improve the car’s ability to take corners. Also, Alfa Romeo replaced the rear torsion bar and friction damper setup with a single transverse leaf spring and twin hydraulic dampers. They also improved the engine performance going from 120 brake horsepower to a 145 brake horsepower. These changes coupled with an aerodynamic body resulted to top speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour for the 6C 3000. Despite these model changes, Alfa Romeo was still unable to beat competitors from Ferrari and Lancia.

Now building for the 1953 competitions, Alfa Romeo designed a car that used an engine with 6 cylinders with a displacement of just under 3.5 liters. This made Alfa Romeo’s new car twice as powerful compared to the 1947 model and has dubbed it the Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM Colli Spider. For your information, only 2 of these speed demons were ever built. The first one was the one that Fangio drove to victory and the second one, which utilized a shorter chassis and a 3-liter engine, was destroyed during its first test. Today, the only 6C 3000 CM Colli Spider can be seen at Museo Storico Alfa Romeo.

William is enthralled with muscle cars and loves to write about these classics to help educate others about these amazing vehicles.

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Posted on May 1, 2011 by , Reply

Ford Thunderbird: The Rival To The Corvette

One of the most recognizable classic cars of the 1950s was the Thunderbird, which was manufactured by Ford and released in 1955. The Thunderbird enjoyed one of the longest lines of car model in terms of lifespan, having undergone a series of 11 model generations from 1955 to 2005! It was considered as a luxury car in 1955 when it was first introduced.

The first generation of the Thunderbird was created as Fords answer to Chevrolets popular Corvette. Over 16,000 units of Thunderbird were manufactured in 1955 alone. The Thunderbird and the Corvette were the most popular car rivalries that emerged in the 50s.

Some of the features of the 1955 classic Thunderbird were a removable fiberglass top; this enables the car to be classified as a convertible, although it was a little inconvenient when you try to remove a 50-pound fiberglass roof from your car. For this reason, Ford came up with a version of the Thunderbird that has a fabric top usually lined with leather, which provided an easy way to remove the top. However, this option was not made widely available and Thunderbird owners had to specify this request to Ford.

Similar to the Hudson Hornet, which was a popular race car during the 50s, the Thunderbird also has a V-8 engine capable of hitting a top speed of 120mph. This car had a compact design, having only two-seats and little cargo space. It is considered as a sexy sports car that is rivaled only by Corvette.

While it was a progressive car design that became one of the pivotal reference point for the evolution of later-day sports cars, the Thunderbird retained a traditional feature found in most of its sister cars, which was the rear fender skirt. The fender skirt gave the car a distinct modern yet traditional look that put it in stark contrast to the Corvette.

The second generation of the Ford Thunderbird was released in 1958 and had largely departed from the design of its predecessor. It sported a longer hood that seems to look stretched back to the far end of the car tail, giving the car a look of straight and flashy impression. It still retained the traditional fender skirt and the forwardly protruding headlights. It also had an upgraded engine, the FE-series. It also had upgraded interiors that included controls, switches, and ashtrays, which were an ideal car feature for all convertible cars.

The Thunderbird is one iconic car of the 50s that will be forever immortalized in movies, and Hollywood.

Are you interesting in reading about more classic cars? Visit William’s site and read his latest on the 1970 chevelle ss.

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Posted on April 22, 2011 by , Reply

The 1967 Chevrolet Camaro

Before Ford Camaro began transforming into alien robots, it had a very intriguing beginning. Back in 1967, the boom in sales of the Ford Mustang was clearly affecting the sales of the Chevrolet brand. The Chevrolet Corvair, which was initially made to combat the Mustang was not getting any increased attention. Add to that the involvement of the Corvair in the book by Ralph Nader entitled Unsafe At Any Speed and there was no doubt that the brand needed something new. So in 1966, Chevrolet General Manager Pete Estes began sending a string of coded telegraphs to various automobile publicists in the country. Though they were hard to decipher, it was pretty evident that the brand was cooking something up to battle the attention that the Ford Mustang gained.

So after a press conference in Michigan, the first model of the Chevrolet Camaro came out in 1967. The car made such a buzz not in part to the car itself, but more on the marketing ploy that was used. One journalist asked during the press conference what is a Camaro and why was the car named as such. Pete Estes obliged by saying, “A small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.” It was a fitting description to the car as the sales caught on during the later year of that decade.

Compared to its contemporaries, the Chevrolet Camaro was mass-produced in different interior forms. They sold the car in two-seaters and four-seaters. Although the Camaro was initially a pony car, some of the models following the initial one were classified as muscle cars. In order to veer away from the Corvair’s failure, the Camaro adapted the same front engine configuration and rear drive train of the Mustang. This may suggest that the car is never really a Chevy original. But in a sense, nobody holds the rights to construct such a drive train. Therefore, there is no conflict with this issue.

The thing that stands out when it comes to the Chevrolet Camaro is its overall design. It may have incorporated the same extended hood/shortened rear look as that of the Mustang as it had a distinguishable design up front. The grills along with the headlights are pushed inside and the bumpers were higher than other pony cars during that time. It was compact and at the same time very powerful. In fact, the 1967 model was popularly used in races after it was released.

If you want to learn about more hot classics such as the 1969 Dodge Charger visit my blog, MuscleCarMonster.Com

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Posted on April 20, 2011 by , Reply

BMW 501: The Gem Of Classic Cars

The car that has propelled BMW into the classic car scene is the BMW 501. The 501 is a luxury saloon car that was manufactured from 1952 to 1058, and is actually the first car manufactured and sold by BMW after World War II. It has a design that’s well ahead of its time, and used materials that exude luxury and quality. Its sleek, sloping design has earned the 501 its “Baroque Angels” nickname. Even though the 501 and its close relative, 502 were discontinued in 1958, its impact on the automotive industry still remains, as it’s one of the most iconic classic cars that was produced by BMW.

The BMW 501 was designed using an all new platform using a perimeter frame, double A-arm suspension with torsion bar springs at the front and on the rear, a live axle with torsion bar springs. This is clearly a sign of manufacturing innovation for BMW, as they prepare the 501 for mass production, because it is a vehicle that’s intended for public use. Even though it is the first vehicle released by BMW after the Second World War, you won’t see a hint of inferiority in power and performance. The 501 packs a punch underneath its hood, as it is powered by BMWs pre-war 2-liter six cylinder engine. This engine had its cylinder head revised and the inlet manifold has been given a new design as well. Overall, the BMW 501s engine retained its capacity of 1,971cc and developed 65 horsepower.

A clear improvement in the BMW 501 is the improved legroom for passengers. The car feels roomy even if it’s filled to capacity of four or five people. This improved legroom could be attributed to the remote gearbox placement, since the four speed gearbox is not bolted to the engine. This remote placement may have resulted to a more complicated linkage to the shifter as a vague shifter action, but it’s all worth it because the improved legroom added a feel of comfort and luxury for the car.

So, what makes the BMW 501 a classic? This classic status could be attributed to the innovation borne out of this car. Aside from being the first car released by BMW after the war, it also has features that put it well ahead of its time. It has a robust chassis that provides passive safety to car goers, the remote gearbox that gave more legroom, and a fuel tank placed in a protected area in the car to minimize the risk of fire. BMW 501 started all of these things, and most car makers based their designs off these innovations.

If you want to learn more about muscle cars and the history behind these famous cars, visit Williams blog MuscleCarMonster.com today.

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Posted on April 18, 2011 by , Reply

Flying With Gull Wings – The Mercedes Benz 300 Sport Leicht

The Mercedes Benz 300 Sport Leicht is one of the classic cars built in the 1950s that took the auto world by storm. Distinctively known for its gull wing doors, the Mercedes Benz 300 SL was also the first ever car to sport a four-stroke engine with a gasoline direct injection. The car’s commercial production can be attributed to New York Mercedes Benz distributor, Max Hoffman. It sold for 1,400 units, which was 80% of the total number of Mercedes Benz 300 SLs produced. The car also sparked an image change for Mercedes Benz, which Americans now saw as a manufacturer of sporty cars.

Having the first ever Gasoline direct injection engine, the car had double the power of its original carbureted version. Also, having an engine that directly injects the fuel into the cylinders allowed the car to reach a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour which at the time, was the fastest for any production car. The car’s body also employed aerodynamics and the designers of Mercedes Benz decided to place horizontal eyebrows over the car’s wheel openings. These horizontal eyebrows reduced drag which further improved the car’s speed. As a matter of fact, the Mercedes Benz 300 SL was dubbed as “a race car for the streets.”

Being built like a race car, the Mercedes Benz 300 SL also saw race action of its own. The car scored overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans racing competition. Despite its lack of engine power, the car made up for it with its aerodynamic body and its drag reduction allowing it to compete in such races.

As the car features unique gull wing doors and is the first ever to sport an engine of its kind, it is considered as one of the most valued Mercedes Benz automobiles ever. In fact, Sports Car International ranks it as the top 5 sports car of all time. Recently, two Mercedes Benz 300 SL cars were sold for over 1.3 million US dollars which proves it high value further.

A roadster model was also produced for the Mercedes Benz 300 SL. The roadster versions of the model had improved clutch and addressed some of the problems that car owners experienced in the gull wing. Despite the multiple problems that they experienced however, the Mercedes Benz 300 SL still remains as one of of the best classic cars of all time, and in my opinion most beautiful as well.

If muscle cars are your thing, you can read my latest piece on the 1972 chevelle by visitng my blog now.

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Posted on April 16, 2011 by , Reply
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