Cars

The idea of building a special version of the Lancia integrale came from the Dutch classic car dealer and restorer Paul Koot.

Coming from the pen of Zagato designer Marco Pedracini, the project had been commissioned in 1990 and was launched to the public at the January 1992 Brussels Motor Show. The styling immediately says ‘Zagato’ and recalls both the SZ Alfas and Lancia’s own, early 70s Fulvia Sport Zagato.

It proved once again that the sometimes controversial coachbuilder is at its best with small, compact designs.
 

Now, Texas-based company GWA has produced this reinterpretation of the classic sports car, which combines the sumptuous curves of the original with modern creature comforts.

Using the recently replaced Porsche Boxster (i.e. the 987, on sale from 2005-2011) as a basis, Arturo Alonso and his company have created a contemporary tribute to the legendary 904 GTS, of which few more than 100 road-going examples were built to satisfy homologation rules.

Mr. van Braeckel, are you fully satisfied with the concept, and how long have you been working on it?

Like its ceiled stablemate, the drophead version of the XKR-S provides no opportunity to confuse it with tamer members of the XK family. Derived from the fastest car Jaguar has ever made, by default it’s the firm’s fastest ever convertible – and it has styling to leave little doubt of that fact.

For many years, ‘retro’ has been a buzzword not only in the car industry, but throughout society. Often, it’s the result of a marketing department capitalising on the memories of yesteryear. Indeed, some efforts have been so successful, there’s no need even to name them.

Louis, can you please tell us a bit about the original Disco Volante and what importance it had for Touring, and automotive design in general?

The original car was made in 1952 and the focus of the briefing was clearly on aerodynamics. It was the first car that had enclosed wheels both at the back and the front. And also, there were no spoilers to break the clean lines of the design.

While the drip, drip of carefully planned leaks and pre-Geneva announcements inevitably serve to dull the impact of a new car’s debut, actually seeing something in the metal is still to be savoured.

Not obviously apparent in the studio shots released on 29 February, for example, were the wonderfully executed aerodynamic sail panels that topped the F12berlinetta’s wings, channelling air across the bonnet and around the windscreen.

Perhaps the most eye-catching of all the Ottu Vu incarnations was the futuristic Supersonic by Ghia, drawing inspiration from the burgeoning aerospace industry in terms of its stylised, streamlined forms and subtle tail fins. The very first of the Ghia-bodied Fiat 8V Supersonics was ordered new by Paul Farago, but in 1955 he sold it on to Paul Lazaros, an engineer and machinist who worked for him and who had long admired the car.

So what is better about the Phantom Series II family of models? Nothing revolutionary, perhaps, but Rolls-Royce has introduced a number of improvements in the design, drive-train and technology of the cars. First, there’s the “striking” new front end, with re-styled bumpers and rectangular light apertures – plus the first full LED headlamps to be standard on a production car.