James Kraus
1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 with Marina Blue metallic body-colour wheels and F70-14 special nylon Red Stripe Firestone Super Sports Wide Oval tyres
The majority of today’s cars today come equipped with black tyres surrounding wheels (or wheel covers) of silver, grey or black. This was not always the case; brightly coloured wheels were a common automotive styling fillip beginning with the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Continue reading
James Kraus
Monaco Grand Prix poster, Michael Turner, 1965
The first year of the latter half of the 1960s was a halcyon time. Most financial markets were still hitting new highs and automotive sales were setting records. Nevertheless, signs were appearing hinting that the good times might be on the wane. Continue reading
by James Kraus
Salon International de l’Auto, Geneva Switzerland, March 1963
1963 saw the Jet Age in full swing as the first Learjet took to the skies and a number of automobiles were launched that would become icons of the 1960s; one of which is still with us today. Continue reading
by James Kraus
Peter Franks arrives at the Port of Dover in his Saffron Yellow Triumph
Diamonds Are Forever, the seventh James Bond film, marked the return of Sean Connery as Secret Agent 007. Early in the film, operating under the cover of an assumed identity, he commandeers a Triumph Stag.
The evolution of the Stag began in the mid-sixties, around the time Goldfinger was being filmed. It was originally intended to be simply a convertible drophead version of the 1963 Triumph 2000 saloon. However, during its extended development the concept was revised to become more of a gentleman’s grand tourer and partly as a result, the Stag did not go on sale until 1970.
by James Kraus
1961 Porsche poster celebrating competition victories of the prior season
By 1961 the last vestiges of the fifties were ebbing and the currents of the sixties starting to more strongly assert themselves. The second year of the decade witnessed the first manned space flight, construction of the Berlin Wall and the first season of The Avengers.
It was a banner year for British sports car enthusiasts. Jaguar unleashed its dramatic new feline, the ‘E’ Type, dubbing it The Most Advanced Sports Car in the World.
A suave vacationer attempts to entice a young woman in a Triumph TR3 to a round of tennis on Grand Bahama Island, 1957
