Description
By: Consumer Guide .
A pictorial history of the sports car in America from 1946 to the present.
Sports Car Chronicle is the fast- paced, illustrated story of the sports car in America. With more than 1000 photographs, period advertising, and fascinating profiles of the people who shaped the genre, Sports Car Chronide weaves through ten decades of the automobiles that put fun before function.
From the delicate-looking Stutz and Mercer roadsters of the 1910s to the muscular elegance of Aston Martin's V12 Vanquish of the 2000s, Sports Car Chronide celebrates the cars that capture the imagination of children and compel adults to search out curvy roads.
In the beginning, all cars were sports cars. Driven by choice rather than need, the crude, maintenance-intensive early motorcars attracted adventurers with an affinity for things mechanical. For those enthusiasts, getting from point A to point B wasn't the main objective, it was the process of getting there, it was the driving.
As the automobile evolved, some manufacturers kept that spirit alive with cars that were a little lighter, a little quicker, and a lot more rakish than the mainstream fare.
In the Forties, American servicemen in Europe caught their first glimpse of the continent's lithe runabouts. Startling contrasts to Detroit's heavy iron, cars like MG's T-Series, with its cutaway doors and jaunty wire wheels, lit the fuse of a sports car explosion.
By the Fifties, Jaguars were coming to the United States in regular numbers, carrying the hopes of Britain's post-war recovery. Likewise, Ferrari's race-proven marvels were expanding the American automotive landscape.
Sports Car Chronicle continues into the whirlwind Sixties. It was then that Chevrolet's Corvette grew from six- cylinder afterthought to big-block road burner. From the workshop of an Italian tractor-maker came the first Lamborghini. And as domestic and European sports cars battled on racetracks and in showrooms, mainstream automakers tested the waters. Datsun's Fairlady, Saab's Sonnet, and Volvo's P1800 expanded America's sports car selection.
The first Golden Age of sports cars closed with the Sixties, but from the unlikely clouds of the emission-controlled Seventies came a new breed: the supercars. The shapely Berlinetta Boxter became Ferrari's first midengined road car, while Lamborghini's outrageous Countach and Porsche's "whale tail" 911 Turbo vied for poster space with Farrah Fawcett. And while some cars lost their edge in the struggle to comply with federal regulations, Datsun's fresh 240Z established a new benchmark for affordable performance.
Sports Car Chronicle recalls the disappearance in the Eighties of such classic makes as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, MG, and Triumph. And while the stock market rocked, the star-crossed stainless- steel DeLorean came and went.
The Nineties ushered in a new Golden Age of sports-car power and spunk. Dodge's fearless V10 Viper, a literal show car come to life, McLaren's million-dollar F1, and Chevy's supercarbargain ZR1 supplied the power, while Mazda's cheeky Miata, a back-to-basics revivalist roadster, paved the way for BMW's Z3 and Porsche's Boxter.
Design reemerged for the 2000s. Audi's ultramodern TT was a melding of bright metal and bold arcs. BMW's striking Z4 seemed the union of stealth fighter and British roadster. Trumping all corners was Ferrari's Formula 1- inspired Enzo, whose styling drew more attention than its V12 engine or its $600,000-plus price tag. They're all here in Sports Car Chronicle.
Told in a style as lively as the cars themselves, this is a celebration of the cars and people that make driving great.
