Il mercato; tutte le auto prebelliche in vendita

Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili, or OSCA, was established in Bologna, Italy, by Bindo, Ernesto, and Ettore Maserati in 1947, when they left the company that bore their name. Over the next two decades, the Maserati brothers built, in extremely limited numbers, an astonishing variety of sports racing, grand touring, and formula cars,..

Presented at the 1950 Paris Motor Show, the Alfa Romeo 1900 was designed by Orazio Satta, a one-time understudy to 1930s Grand Prix engineer Wilfredo Ricart. The marque’s first assembly line-built model, the 1900 utilized unitary construction that specifically allowed coachbuilders to re-body it. Advertised as “the family car that wins races,” t..

Universally recognized as a design and engineering masterpiece, the Mercedes- Benz 300 SL Gullwing Coupe firmly ranks among the finest postwar European sports cars. Based upon the W194 competition coupes which convincingly returned Mercedes-Benz to racing and utterly dominated the 1952 international racing season, the model was refined for produ..

At the 1950 Geneva Motor Show, Fiat revealed its first all-new postwar model – the 1400. Throughout the early 1950s, the 1400 served as a basis for many spectacular custom-bodied cars, designed and built by coachbuilders including Bertone, Pinin Farina, Ghia, Touring, and Vignale. Presented here is a charming coachbuilt Fiat 1400 from t..

First to the market with a personal luxury car, Studebaker introduced its Golden Hawk for 1956, inspired by the Raymond Loewy-designed Starlight Coupe three years earlier. Employing Packard’s 275 hp V-8 for 1956 only, the Golden Hawk combined luxury and performance in an elegant presentation. Less than 4,100 were built that year and approximatel..

Introduced at the 1954 Detroit Auto Show, Ford Motor Company dubbed its new two-place Thunderbird, a “Personal Car of Distinction.” Unlike Chevrolet’s new Corvette, the Thunderbird catered more to style and comfort than raw sports car performance. The striking Ford convertible was nicely appointed with standard equipment, while myriad available ..

In the 1920s, Cisitalia’s founder Piero Dusio was the star of Torino’s famed Juventus soccer team. He was also a gifted racing driver, finishing 1st in Class at the 1937 Mille Miglia and 4th Overall in 1938. By that time, he had created Compagnia Industriale Sportiva Italia (Cisitalia) and postwar, the company built the D46 Monoposto, thought to..

Perhaps the most technically advanced automobile of its generation, the Lancia Aurelia has appealed to connoisseurs since it first debuted in 1950. Developed under Vittorio Jano and Francesco de Virgilio, the Aurelia was an engineering tour de force that featured sliding-pillar front suspension, fully independent rear suspension, inboard rear br..

In 1953, Ferrari unveiled an exciting new model called the 250 Mille Miglia. A development of the experimental 250 Sport that Giovanni Bracco and Alfonoso Rolfo drove to victory in the 1952 Mille Miglia, the latest Ferrari sports racing car was the first series-built competition model to use the now iconic “250” appellation. Although Fe..

When the Frankfurt Motor Show opened in late 1955, the principal BMW attractions were two new variants of the V-8 powered 502: the 503 and the 507. Though both models were designed by Count Albrecht von Goertz, it was the spectacular 507 roadster that stole the show. The new BMW roadster was so pure and perfect from every angle that it ..