On 17 April, 1970, the world paused in concern for a small command module, floating on the waves of the Pacific. Originally, its occupants – astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise of Apollo 13 – were destined to be part of the third NASA mission to land on the Moon, but it wasn’t to be. More than 200,000 miles away from Earth, an oxygen tank in their service module exploded. The crew’s survival skills, technical improvisation and courage allowed them to achieve the original trajectory once again, and turn back to Earth.

Begot of nothing but vain fantasy

Far from standard

Inspired by the countryside

Badged as a ‘daycruiser’, the 25-foot tender is constructed from lightweight aluminium (with a sprinkling of teak), making it not only extremely robust, but also ensuring usability and ease of maintenance – two of the most important aspects of modern yacht ownership. The SDC25 is offered in several guises, each with its own colour combination: modern, classic, racing or art (exclusively designed by Nora Linn Visconti).

Arosa in late summer. A place familiar to me, as it was here that – almost exactly a year ago – I introduced myself to the 76 corners of the Arosa ClassicCar hillclimb. As before, Porsche kindly invited me to tackle the event in one of its own sports cars from the museum in the Swiss canton of Graubünden but, for 2013, things have moved up a gear.

A 1934 car, the winning Dietrich Victoria was one in a small series of ‘semi-custom’ Packards, but stood apart from its brethren thanks to its cherry-picked features. Not only is it one of the rare ‘Vee-windshield’ cars, but it also has the distinctive twin-strip fenders of the LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaetons, making it unique. Enthusiasts consider 1934 to be a vintage year for Packard production: the mighty V12 had matured, and 1935 was to see a downturn in quality standards.

Without doubt, Audi wouldn’t be where it is today without the original Quattro of the 80s (and a healthy dose of capital from the Volkswagen Group, of course). At the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the firm paid homage to the car's 30th anniversary by showing a slick conceptual tribute.