Cars

"From the silver-plated kidney grille to the model insignia on the bootlid, every relevant detail shimmers in silver..."

For more than two decades, BMW’s Individual department has been applying personal touches to BMW models before they even leave the factory. Now, the department can add another tradition-steeped name to the collaboration list, having produced the 760Li Sterling in conjunction with Robbe & Berking.

Thankfully, some of the most exciting competition series have required cars to be ‘production-based’: take the Group 3 Grand Touring category (which necessitated 250 GTO production), the GT1 class at Le Mans, or the famous Group B rally category of the 1980s. The rules resulted in ‘homologation specials’ of all shapes, sizes and configurations, but all with one thing in common: the quest to achieve the best possible performance, while meeting the legal requirements of the road – often by the very narrowest of margins.

Augusto – son of Domenico Caraceni, who founded the eponymous fashion house – was a keen racing driver. When he needed a car in which to compete in the 1951 Stella Alpina, the sartorial sage selected this sports-racing Ferrari. As well as being clothed in svelte Touring coachwork (it was the coachbuilder’s first closed Ferrari), the 212 Export Touring Berlinetta was powered by a tuned version of the Colombo engine, and had Plexiglass windows and a sparse interior to save weight.

At first glance, it looks unmistakeably like a late-Sixties fastback Mustang...

At first glance, it looks unmistakeably like a late-Sixties fastback Mustang, but on closer inspection you’ll discover that not all is as it seems. What of those piercing xenon headlights and the slightly awkward front grille, not to mention the bold Bass (yes Bass, not Boss) script adorning the rear?

Apparently, Hef named his empire after the recently defunct Playboy Automobile Company – and his interest in American cars doesn’t end there, as the picture above attests. But he’s also a big Mercedes fan: he’s known to have owned a 300 SL Roadster, as well as a pair of 600 Pullmans. The latter, rather unsurprisingly, came complete with champagne coolers, central partitions, rear privacy curtains and reclining rear seats.

The Veneno Roadster – a drop-top version of the Aventador-based Veneno – is a permanently open hypercar. That is, there is no roof; not even an impossibly clumsy, temporary tent to erect. A roof would simply not fit in with the lightweight ethos of the car... And besides, who wants to pilot their 3.3m-euro (excluding VAT) ‘street-legal racing prototype’ in the rain? An extremely strong carbonfibre monocoque, coupled with robust rollover protection, ensures safety for the occupants inside should the pilot lose control, regardless of the weather.

Things could have been so different. In 1977, founder David Cottingham realised that he could both earn a living and multiply his job satisfaction by developing his weekend hobby – in particular preparing and racing ex-Works Jaguars – into a business. Soon afterwards, having mastered the same basic six-cylinder design common to many competition Jaguars, his allegiance switched to Ferrari.

"The F40 offers sheer thrill and exhilaration. It’s so raw, it’s so basic and it’s so impressive. Everything about the car is great… except the brakes. And that's an easily solvable problem." So says James Cottingham of Ferrari specialist DK Engineering, about the last car that Enzo commissioned. "These days, people might climb out of a brand-new Ferrari and say that it’s fantastically fast, but a little bit cold and neutral.