Category: Culture
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Respect your elders
There are many branches to a family tree. Dissecting your history can be hit and miss. You may find that you had some questionable relatives or you could be descended from Kings. The reality is that we all have a story in our past. Sometimes though, these stories have become legendary. In the case of…
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The Imitation Game
The Imitation Game There is a saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. While that makes for a great saying, it might be a weak defence in a court of law. Inventors have long filed patents on designs, creations and all manner of things in order to protect them from prying eyes. Not…
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Door dropping ownership
Quirky cars aren’t always known to be that good. Every now and again, there are cars that do have something that is suitably different, that can polarise opinion and lately, it has been BMW. Although it turns out, this has always been their way. Welcome to the BMW Z1. In a previous life, I was…
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Perfectly Formed
Why can’t we have decent car names anymore? They can’t all be used up and taken, surely. I saythis purely selfishly as I have fallen slightly for a dainty Italian creature.And it is an Alfa Romeo. And why not? They have been building sports cars longer than anyone else in Italy. Since 1910,they have managed…
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The Most Extreme Jaguar in Wales / Project 8
As the season is changing faster than ever, I remember that not so long ago I was on a sun-filled trip exploring North East of Wales, hosted by my friends at Jaguar. A true celebration of British lifestyle and heritage, we took to the scenic roads of the local countryside in the new XE SV…
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The unexpected rise of Resto-mods
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years you will have noticed resto-mod companies garnering a lot of popularity recently. How has this become possible in the purist dominated classic car scene? One of the most attractive traits of classic cars is that they were designed and engineered without having to…
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Petrolicious Drivers meeting
When we heard that Petrolicious was holding a driver’s meeting in the heart of the British classic car scene, we had no doubt that it would be an event to remember. The team at Petrolicious have a long-standing reputation of putting a lot of care and heartfelt attention in everything they do, and this event…
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Permanent Ludicrous Mode: The V550
The 90s was a wild time; Tim Berners-Lee had just invented the World Wide Web, Will Smith was still The Fresh Prince, and Aston Martin decided to hand build what would become the most powerful production car in the world, the V8 Vantage V550. During the 90s, Ford had their Budweiser-drinking, burger-munching, American flag-saluting hands…
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Pure 80s Joy: Porsche’s 944 S2
Rear-wheel drive? Check. Manual transmission? Check. Coupé? Check. Naturally Aspirated? Check. Near-perfect 50-50 weight distribution? Check. The Porsche 944 S2 ticks a lot of the boxes on the petrolhead’s wish list and yet, for the most part, it hasn’t been hit by the massive appreciation that seemingly every other Porsche has. Maybe it’s time to…
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The Bugatti Queen
From cabaret dancer to Grand Prix racing driver, Hellé Nice was one of the most inspiring female pioneers of the 20th century, and one the most successful female racing drivers of her time: competing in the highest echelon of motorsport with some of the best drivers in the history of racing. On top of that,…
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The Supervillain Special: Jaguar’s XK120
There’s something intrinsically sinister about a Jaguar. Whether this impression is born from Jaguar’s association with the infamous Kray Twins, whose ride of choice was a Jaguar MK X, or the mark’s long-standing role as the transport for Bond villains such as Le Chiffre and Mr Hinx; these cars perfectly evoke the svelte ferocity of…
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The Concorde for the Road: Alpina’s B10 Bi-Turbo
Described as “the best 4-door in the world” by Road & Track, the Alpina B10 Bi-Turbo was also the fastest saloon ever when it was unveiled in 1989. Priced at nearly twice the value of a standard E34 M5, it became the best selling model in Alpina’s history up until that point. However, despite its…