The Swinging Sixties: A Rainbow of Wheels and Technicolor Tyres

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.  

That Was The Year That Was: 1965

 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.

A Toast to the 50th Anniversary of 1963

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. 

The Cars of James Bond: Triumph Stag

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.

The Sixties at Fifty: 1961

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.

Image from the Past

A suave vacationer attempts to entice a young woman in a Triumph TR3 to a round of tennis on Grand Bahama Island, 1957