The E26-chassis BMW M1 — the first car ever from a new subsidiary of BMW, creatively called “BMW Motorsport” — is one of few cars ever produced that started out as a race car and then was developed into a road car solely for homologation purposes.

Cars developed this way are in ultra-exclusive rarified air, but the M1’s development was so fraught with problems that it was never allowed to go racing.

However, the car’s fundamentals were spectacular, from its beautiful Giugiaro design to its powerful BMW M88 straight-six to its Lamborghini-Dallara racing chassis. It received nearly universal acclaim — as quick as the 12-cylinder Ferrari 512 BB and the Lamborghini Countach, but civilized and docile to drive.

The difficulties in getting production ramped up mainly were the fault of Lamborghini, which went bankrupt during the development after misappropriating funds received both from BMW for the M1 and from the U.S. government to develop an off-road military vehicle and then being sued for copying another company’s work.

BMW was able to break into the factory overnight and retrieve its parts and tooling and move production elsewhere. But the car was never produced in enough numbers to participate in FIA Group 4 and FIA Group 5 racing — the classes for which it was conceived.

As a race car first and foremost, it is the purest expression of any car created by BMW Motorsport GmbH — and its impact has trickled down into every car M puts its badge on today, which is, to say, the majority of cars that BMW produces.

Its backstory was a disaster, but the M1 itself is one of the most incredible cars of its time.

The post The BMW M1: a Race Car That Couldn’t Go Racing | Revelations — Ep. 29 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Lotus’ first and only-ever 4-door sedan was badged the Lotus Omega (left-hand-drive versions) or Lotus Carlton (RHD.)

Based on the European Car of the Year award-winning Opel Omega and Vauxhall Carlton twins, it was the fastest regular production sedan in the world, and that caused major controversy in the socioeconomic class-conscious United Kingdom.

180-mph supercars like the Ferrari Testarossa had already been around for years, but when a pedestrian brand like Vauxhall endeavored to sell a sedan that could be purchased by non-aristocrats, it rocked the establishment.

Still, the Lotus Carltomega was a tour-de-force, offering 377 hp — 2 hp more than the also Lotus-engineered, 4-cam, 32-valve, 5.7-liter LT5 V-8 from the C4 Corvette ZR-1. The Carlton/Omega sent that outrageous power (and 419 lb-ft of torque!) from its 3.6-liter twin-turbo, DOHC 24-valve straight-six to the rear wheels via the same ZF 6-speed manual used in that King of the Hill Corvette. It was the only 6-speed manual in the world that could cope with the Lotus’ power.

The Lotus Type 104 sedan was more than just a straight-line rocket, with huge Ronal wheels, AP Racing brakes, and a fully revised suspension. Period road tests demonstrated it would leave its contemporary competition (the E34 BMW M5 and W124 Mercedes 500E) for dead, both in acceleration and top speed.

Revelations goes into the history of why this Lotus was made — thanks to Bob Eaton’s desire to make GM Europe cool using newly purchased Lotus’ engineering — and how engineers at Opel’s Rüsselsheim factory tried to stand in its way.

But perhaps the most interesting part of the Lotus Carlton’s history was the ironic PR fallout when Autocar Magazine’s editor-in-chief asked Vauxhall to consider limiting its top speed — as the Germans had just voluntarily agreed to a 250 km/h (155-mph) limit. The British Parliament even got involved, with hearings condemning the Lotus’ performance, suggesting that because it was a “cheap car,” it could be purchased by those incapable of driving it safely. Or, worse, people who would use it to commit crimes.

The other great irony, Alanis (lol), is that this happened 5 years later when a stolen Carlton with the now-infamous license plate “40 RA” was used in a crime spree — but was too fast for the police to catch.

Of course, we’d be remiss in not mentioning Carlton Banks — the lovable character in Will Smith’s cotemporary-to-the-Carlton early-1990s TV hit “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” whose energetic dance to Tom Jones’ “Not Unusual” created a meme from which the talented dancer/actor Alfonso Ribeiro still cannot escape.

If you know Jason Cammisa, then you’ve already guessed that he spent hours learning the Carlton, so that he could perform it in the most pants-splitting way possible.

But only after having brutalized a windy back road with the Carlton’s enormous power. While in the factory Cheater Mode engine programming. Of course.

The post The Lotus Carlton / Omega Sedan Was a World-Beating PR Nightmare | Revelations – Ep. 28 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Pontiac Fiero — how could an 80’s economy car sport a mid-engine design, a V6 engine with 50-mpg, and eventually, four-wheel disc brakes? Weren’t these typically the characteristics of a sports car, like the iconic Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s of the time?

In this video, Jason Cammisa examines the history of the Pontiac Fiero and the automotive con job behind its creation. Built under the guise of an ‘efficient commuter car,’ the Fiero aimed to usher in a new era of sporty, automotive design, and bring General Motors into the future (after a decade of malaise-era cars.) It was a mid-engine ray of hope for the domestic car market until Pontiac’s plan went up in flames…

How did the Fiero’s revolutionary design, still praised in the car enthusiast realm today, burn out in GM’s lineup, just to be discontinued four years later? Learn about the history of the Fiery Pontiac Fiero, in this episode of Revelations.

The post The Pontiac Fiero Was A 50-MPG Con Job | Revelations – Ep. 27 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

America is to the SUV, as Japan is to the kei car. Ever since the early 1950s, Japan’s government has been promoting an epidemic of microcars, or keijidōsha, to aid the post-WWII economy and offer accessible, inexpensive transportation to its citizens. The trend finally gained some traction in the 1960s, with motorcycle manufacturers Honda, Suzuki, and Mazda joining in the mix. Today? You can’t visit the island nation without bumping into dozens of packed streets, overflowing with these bite-sized, efficient little half-cars.

How did the 1991 Honda Beat, the 1991 Suzuki Cappuccino, and the oh-so-beautiful 1992 Autozam AZ-1, with its supercar styling, and iconic micro gull-wing doors factor into the minicar ‘horsepower war,’ mirroring the horsepower war across all Japanese auto manufacturers at the time? Why was 64 horsepower the minicar limit in the ’90s, and how did the boom economy factor into the rise and fall of sales? All this and more, as we tell the untold history and legend of the kei car.

Call us! Ask Hagerty is a service we offer to Hagerty Drivers Club members. Click the link to learn more.

The post The Kei Car is Japan’s SUV – Autozam AZ-1, Honda Beat, Suzuki Cappuccino | Revelations Ep.26 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Toyota’s 2000GT was one of the fastest cars in history. Its 16 international and world endurance-speed records have nothing to do with it: the Yamaha-built Toyota 2000GT did for Toyota in eight short years what took Hyundai more than three decades: it catapulted Toyota from the laughingstock maker of Japanese curiosities (like the 1958 Toyopet Crown) to the esteemed manufacturer of a Porsche-beating supercar.

Set out to be a world-beater, the 2000GT had the Jaguar E-Type in its sights (and its long hood) but the Lotus Elan under its skin. With a backbone chassis inspired by (read: shamelessly stolen from) the Lotus, the 2000GT competed directly with the best sports cars of its time.

In fact, its spec sheet reads like the best sports cars from decades later — with a 7000-rpm twin-cam engine, fully synchronized 5-speed manual, 4-wheel disc brakes, limited-slip differential, rack-and-pinion steering, and 4-wheel independent suspension with double wishbones at each corner.

The intricately and beautifully appointed interior features Rosewood and Mahogany woods finished by Yamaha’s musical instrument division.

Its exterior design is often incorrectly attributed to Albrecht Goertz but was in fact done internally at Yamaha and Toyota, with some inspiration taken from the Yamaha A5500X spec-built show car. Its similarities to the Datsun 240Z (Nissan S30 Fairlady) are unmistakable — but are the result of two cars designed in roughly the same era and with the same goals. Though let one thing be perfectly clear: the Toyota 2000GT cannot be a copy of the Nissan Fairlady Z; it came first.

In some ways, the 2000GT is the first Lexus, as it mirrors very closely the Lexus LF A: both had heavy influence from Yamaha, both were priced above their competitors, and worked as brand halos to catapult their markers’ reputations.

Learn about the history of the magnificent Toyota 2000GT here, in this episode of Revelations, researched, written, and hosted by Webby-award-winning automotive journalist Jason Cammisa.

The post The Toyota 2000GT was the fastest brand-building halo ever | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 25 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

On the heels of the 2023 Nissan Z, it’s worth looking at the history of the original Nissan Fairlady Z — sold in America as the Datsun 240Z, 260Z and 280Z.

And, in particular, the Fairlady Z432.

This S30-generation Z not only changed the definition of “sports car” from a 2-seat (British) roadster to a 2-seat enclosed coupe but changed the reputation of Japanese automakers around the world from manufacturers of curious cars to world-class automakers.

The 240Z was powered by the L24-powered, a somewhat-Mercedes-derived straight-six that gave it performance on par with Ferrari Dinos and Porsche 911s, at a fraction of the cost. But with all the looks of Ferrari’s front-engine V12-powered coupes.

The 240Z had waiting lists for years in America. It was such a runaway success that credit for its design became hotly contested, leading to a threatened lawsuit by Albrecht Goertz, a German aristocrat who had been hired by Nissan to consult on the project — which was originally a collaboration between Nissan and Yamaha.

That collaboration was for a closed two-seater sports car large enough to fit two Americans comfortably. It was not coincidentally the size of a contemporary Porsche 911, since Goertz had worked on that project also. Ultimately, Yamaha’s A550X concept was born from this project, but Nissan turned it down.

So, too, did Toyota, but who viewed Yamaha as a potential partner for its own sports car. That became the Toyota 2000GT, and its success spurred Nissan to continue work on its own sports car to replace the Fairlady, called Datsun 2000 Roadster in America.

The result was the Fairlady Z, sold in the US as the Datsun 240Z. And it was a revelation.

Featured in this episode is a Japan-only Fairlady Z432, which is a Z with the DOHC 24-valve S20 Prince racing engine from the Nissan GT-R. It cost double as much as the base Z in Japan, so it was largely unsuccessful, but Jason postulates that may be the best-sounding six-cylinder of all time.

Listen to it scream on a POV run up a mountain and perhaps you’ll agree.

The post The Nissan 240Z changed the reputation of a whole country | Revelations with Jason Cammisa appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Honda had the Prelude, Toyota had the Celica, and Subaru had a problem — at the end of the malaise era, sports coupes were getting fun and fast. And Subaru didn’t have a car to compete with them.

The company’s EA-series flat-four gradually got a turbocharger and overhead cams, and in the XT Turbo, it made a full 111 hp. With AWD traction and a 5-speed manual, it got to 60 mph in 10.2 seconds — which was genuinely quick for a Subaru. It had a coefficient of drag as low as 0.29, making it the most aerodynamic car sold in America.

Looking back, the XT previewed many technologies and features common in today’s cars: height-adjustable air suspension, turbocharged four-cylinder engines, all-wheel drive, digital dashboards, a hill-holder feature, speed alarm, a focus on aerodynamics, trunk pass-through, a trip computer, you name it!

That preview was done, however, through the eyes of what was possible using 1980s technology, which automatically means it was a bit weird. And then, it was a Subaru, and Subarus were very weird. Very, very weird. And yet also very cool

The post The XT was Subaru’s attempt to be normal | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 23 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It took 37 years of cranking for Ford to successfully start the mid-engined follow-up to the historic GT40 race car. In the process, Ford created — and abandoned — at least seven mid-engined cars meant to recapture the glory from the famous victor of the Ford vs. Ferrari battle at Le Mans. In this episode of Revelations, automotive journalist Jason Cammisa tells the fascinating backstory of the 2005-2006 Ford GT — and how it, like the seven mid-engined attempts before it — was almost killed off before it had a chance.

The post The Ford GT succeeded after 7 failures to exploit the GT40 legend | Jason Cammisa Revelations | Ep. 22 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In this episode, automotive journalist Jason Cammisa walks us through the difficult birth and runaway success of the Lotus Elise, both Series 1 and Series 2.

The Lotus Elise isn’t just lightweight — it weighed HALF as much as some contemporary “lightweight” sports cars (like the Porsche Boxster). That’s because it was constructed like no other car ever.

To hit its outrageous weight target — the same as the Seven — the Elise was never meant to have doors or a roof. However, safety regulations made a “step-in car” challenging, and so Lotus’ lightweight mid-engine sports car grew doors. Gullwing doors at first — in theory.

In practice, the Elise is a marvel of simplicity. It’s the first car ever whose chassis is constructed of bonded, extruded aluminum — a practice that’s still not common today. Combined with fiberglass clamshells, the lightest Elises weigh as much as today’s Formula 1 cars. And the heaviest barely touches 2000 lb.

The Elise and its derivatives (the hardtop Exige, Opel Speedster, Vauxhall VX220, Daewoo VX220, and Tesla Roadster) account for more than half of all Lotuses ever built, making this the company’s most successful model.

And at the end of the video, Jason takes us for a drive in the Series 1 — originally outfitted for US sale by a company called Sun, using a Honda B18C5 engine from an Acura Integra. Now with a Honda K-Series K20A (not to be confused with the car’s original Rover K-Series engine), we think you’ll agree: in sound alone, it’s one of the most incredible mid-engine sports car experiences of all time.

The post The Lotus Elise is unlike any other car ever made | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 21 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Within BMW circles, it’s a commonly held belief that the U.S.-spec M3 wasn’t a “real M3” because it didn’t have a real M engine.

The 1995 M3 used a 3.0-liter version of the regular 325i’s straight-six — whereas European cars used a special 3.0-liter straight-six with an Independent-throttle-body cylinder head taken from the McLaren F1. The horsepower difference was 240 hp (US) versus 286 PS (DIN.)

To make matters worse, the 1996 and later U.S. M3 used a 3.2-liter that also made 240 hp, whereas the Euro car got a 3.2-liter with 321 PS.

The primary reason for the US engine was financial — the E30 M3 was a sales failure in North America, and BMW NA didn’t want to risk another one. The E36 M3 was a bargain — unlike the E30 M3, which was a buzzy, four-cylinder homologation-special race car, the six-cylinder M3 did everything better than the 325i. And instead of an $8000 price premium over the base car, the M3 cost just $3000 more.

The US car was a huge sales success, selling three times the number of cars BMW anticipated. And BMW NA then convinced Germany to add a 4-door sedan, and it outsold even the coupe. The reason – it was a handling high watermark for BMW, a perfectly balanced sports car with a real back seat and daily usability.

The Euro M3 engines were fizzier than the US — the S50B30 revved to 7280 rpm; the S50B32 3.2-liter revved to 7600 rpm. They made amazing noises — but also suffer from some big maintenance issues that the lower-stress U.S. engines don’t: spun bearings being the biggest.

Most importantly, in a drag race between the U.S. and Euro cars in this video (both 3.2-liters), they were dead even to 60 mph — and stayed that way through third gear, leaving Cammisa to conclude that the more reliable U.S. car, especially in sedan form, is the E36 to own.

The post The U.S. E36 is the M3 to have, even without a real M engine | Jason Cammisa Revelations | Ep. 20 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Miura is the ultimate Delegation Special — it exists only because Ferruccio Lamborghini backed off and allowed his team of young, talented engineers and designers to do what they do best.

A finicky mid-engined supercar is the opposite of the Rolls-Royce-like GTs that Ferruccio wanted to build, yet it’s the Miura that singlehandedly elevated Lamborghini to the likes of Ferrari.

The four men chiefly behind the car were all in their twenties when the Miura debuted:

Giampaolo Dallara, 29, senior engineer
Paolo Stanzani, 29, assistant engineer
Bob Wallace, 27, chief development engineer
Marcello Gandini, 27, designer

The Miura used the 4-liter Bizzarrini V-12 designed for the 350GT and 400GT, rotated by 90º and mounted transversely in a casting that included the transmission and differential. Power claims were all over the map, but Road & Track’s test car banged off a 0-60 in 5.5 seconds, through the quarter-mile in 13.9 sec @ 107.5 mph, and achieved a top speed of 168 mph, making it the fastest car in the world, at the time.

Performance numbers are only a small part of the Miura story. Learn the full backstory here — and see why delegation is so important. To quote Marcello Gandini: “To make exceptional things, you must have complete freedom.”

The proof is in the Miura.

The post The Lamborghini Miura is proof that your boss needs to back off | Jason Cammisa Revelations | Ep. 19 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Mercedes W194 300SL racing car was a recipe for failure, using heavy components from the S-Class luxury car.

And yet, in the summer of 1952, it took to the podium in the Mille Miglia, Bern Grand Prix, Le Mans, the Nürburgring, and then, that fall, the Carrera Panamericana, humiliating Porsches and Ferraris and everything else.

The 300SL became a legend in just a few months.

Convinced there was nothing left to win, Mercedes killed off the racing program, and the 300SL was set to be relegated to the history books.

Except that the brilliant Max Hoffman knew a legend when he saw it and convinced Mercedes to make a roadgoing version. The W198 300SL was a barely modified version of the race car, with an even nicer, “Bordello on Wheels” interior and even more horsepower — thanks to the world’s first direct-injected gasoline engine.

The 300SL’s swing-axle rear suspension came straight from the S-Class but was tuned for oversteer at the input of the talented race-car drivers who could control it. For less-skilled drivers, the 300SL’s handling was fearsome — but those who survived were treated to what was unquestionably the best-driving sports GT of the 1950s. And of all time.

Only Mercedes, a company whose tagline is “The Best of Nothing” could start out with all the wrong parts and turn nothing into the best.

The post The original Mercedes 300SL should have been a failure | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 18 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The 3rd-gen Mazda RX-7 has it all: beauty, performance, a Le Mans tie-in, and a sales failure. Like so many other legends, it’s everything we want in a sports car. Which made it a hard sell in its time.

The FD RX-7 was developed at the same time, by the same man, as the 4-rotor 787B that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It was a lightweight, fast, focused sports car that walloped its competition on the road and on track, thanks to a sequential twin-turbocharged rotary engine and an obsessive lightweighting.

But it might have gone too far. The 13B-REW engine is fragile and finicky, and the chassis was one last-second reinforcement away from being too light to be structurally sound.

Then again, what sports car doesn’t suffer from a few problems? At least the RX-7 had incredible performance and looks to kill. It was designed to be a classic, with forms that would make it one day appear on the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Given how well it’s aging, there’s little doubt the most beautiful sports car to come out of Japan in decades will one day appear on the lawn.

Which is also a shame, because where this RX-7 really shines is on the road.

The post The FD RX-7 is everything you want in a sports car, including failure | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 17 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

One of the design briefs for the C4 Corvette was that it had a minimal frontal cross-section, so it was less visible to radar. In other words, it helped you get away with speeding.

Another target was to be the most powerful car sold in America. The 1990 – 1995 Corvette’s ZR-1 option package was the most expensive in the history of Detroit, but it gave the Corvette world-beater firepower.

Its LT5 V-8 was designed by Lotus and built by Mercury Marine, an all-aluminum, four-cam V-8 that was developed from the Lotus Etna concept engine, not a Small Block. It shared the traditional Small Block 4.40-inch bore spacing (after a quick redesign) and used an early form of passive Variable Valve Timing.

The 32-valve V-8 breathed through 16 individual intake runners, half of which could be closed off at low loads. When opened, those runners breathed through valves that ran on a far more aggressive cam profile. This allowed the engine to be both torquey and efficient at low-rpms, but powerful at the top.

The 2023 Corvette Z06 is the first DOHC V-8 in a Corvette, but the ZR-1 was the only ever installed in the front.

And through the ZR-1 broke records, it wasn’t the sales success that Chevrolet had hoped for — and there are many very interesting reasons why – culminating in the grudge-match development of the LS-series Small Block.

Host Jason Cammisa takes us through the story in this episode of Revelations.

The post The ZR-1 was too expensive to succeed — but too good to ignore | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 16 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Saab 99 Turbo and 900 Turbo were Swedish Crystal Balls: they more accurately foretold the future of automotive powertrains better than perhaps any other car until Tesla’s EVs.

The similarities are many: Saab wasn’t a car company; it was an airplane manufacturer, so it did things differently than other automakers. Saab was obsessed with safety. And Saab was concerned about real-world speed and efficiency rather than looking just at numbers.

And as a result, Saabs were bought by non-mainstream buyers. Just like today’s EVs.

In this episode, Jason Cammisa explains why the 99 and 900, which were effectively the same car, were revelations. They included a handful of world-firsts, including low-boost-pressure, high compression-ratio four-cylinders that more closely resemble today’s turbos than anything else of the era.

The post The Saab 900 Turbo was the Tesla of its day | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 15 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Beauty is only skin-deep, but the Alfa Romeo SZ is also beautiful underneath its composite skin.

The love-it-or-hate-it design was chosen because it was so attention-grabbing, but the SZ’s mechanicals trace back directly to Alfa Romeo’s 1938 race car, the 158 “Alfetta.” More than a decade later, a small upgrade turned it into the 159 Alfetta, which competed in Formula 1 — and together, the Alfetta was one of the most successful race cars in history.

Giuseppe Busso did more than design the lusty V-6 in the SZ; it was his dream to put the Alfetta’s rear-transaxle and de Dion-suspension layout in a street car. He realized this dream with the original Alfetta (Type 116) in the early 1970s, and that basic layout carried over directly into the SZ, giving this two-door coupe (and the RZ, its roadster twin) predictable, easy handling.

The SZ’s styling is polarizing but its driving experience is not — it’s universally praised as a driver’s car, with great visibility, an incredibly responsive 3.0-liter Busso V-6, and a forgiving, playful rear-drive chassis.

Though its name stands for Sprint Zagato, the SZ was not designed by Zagato. It was instead done in-house by early CAD at Fiat Centro Stile — after proposals from both Zagato and Alfa Romeo’s internal styling department were rejected. The SZ was, however, built by Zagato.

Today, it still looks like nothing else — a magnificent period piece of incredible design with speed and sound to match.

Our many thanks to Marco Marini of EuroClassixCars for allowing us to film and experience this stunning piece of history. (Marco, you’re lucky Jason returned it to you. He almost kidnapped it!)

The post The Alfa Romeo SZ is a monstrosity with a Formula 1 past | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 14 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The GMC Syclone wasn’t just quick — in its day, it was among the quickest vehicles ever tested. And that success was lingering: the Turbo Truck was, by a significant margin, the quickest pickup truck in the world for a staggering 30 years. That’s nearly twice as long as the McLaren F1 held the top-speed record.

Surprise: it also handled well, keeping up with the supercars of its day.

What’s not a surprise: the Syclone, and its SUV-bodied brother, the Typhoon, were not conceived through the regular product-planning channels at General Motors: they were dreamt up by a Real Car Guy — Kim Nielsen — and pushed through using the help of outside consultants.

To get into production quickly, before the S-15 Sonoma pickup and Jimmy SUV ended their product cycle, Nielsen worked closely with ASC/McLaren and then Production Automotive Services to develop the turbo truck. And then PAS won the contract to engineer, certify, and build the SyTy (Syclone and Typhoon.)

With just a little wheelspin off the line, the Syclone blasted from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.3 seconds, quicker than the then-brand-new C4 Corvette ZR-1 and almost as quickly as the Ferrari F40.

30 years later, there are many fast SUVs on the market, but until the 702-hp 2021 Ram TRX, there’s never again been a pickup this quick. And certainly none this good-looking: available only in black, with black trim that includes a deep air dam and (of chief importance) integrated fog lights.

Learn everything you need to know about the GMC Syclone in this entertaining episode of Revelations with Jason Cammisa.

The post The GMC Syclone was the world’s quickest pickup | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 13 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Maserati Quattroporte V was developed while Ferrari owned the company, under the guidance of Enzo The Second, Luca Cordero Di Montezemolo.

It used a Ferrari-built V-8 whose sound was, thanks to a 2008 study, scientifically proven to increase sexual arousal.

This is just the beginning of its appeal — though, the Quattroporte wasn’t a home-run at first. Thanks to the Ferrari influence, it used a single-clutch automated manual transaxle called “DuoSelect.”

Automated manuals were, mercifully, a short-lived fad in sports cars, and in heavy luxury sedans, they worked even less well. Drive a Quattroporte 12,000 miles per year and you’re looking at $500 per month just in clutch wear.

Luckily, after FIAT took control of Maserati away from Ferrari, it re-engineered a huge portion of the car to fit a conventional 6-speed automatic. And the Automatica then gave the fifth-generation Quattroporte a chance at being the best-driving full-size luxury sports sedan of all time.

Which it became. Especially in Sport GT-S trim.

The post The Quattroporte was a scientifically proven aphrodisiac | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 12 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

This is an in-depth review of the 2022 Volkswagen GTI, delivered by a VW Fan with a close-up perspective on the previous Mk7 Golf.

The Mk7 GTI might have no bigger fan than Jason Cammisa — and in this episode of Revelations, he explains why he thinks it’s a better overall car than the new Mk8. This, after comically admitting that his house looks like a Volkswagen shrine.

Being a fanboy cuts both ways — it can mean blind adoration for a new car based on the previous version, or it can result in unrealistic expectations.

Perhaps both are true this time around.

The Mk8 is quicker than the Mk7 (we include testing results) but the problems start with cost-cutting and questionable decisions that seem to prioritize gimmicks over substance. Things like the overwrought exterior styling, GPS-blocking cell-phone holder, or worse — the fact that the interior accent lighting is infinitely color-adjustable, but there’s no illumination at all for the volume temperature controls; the two most-used secondary controls in any car.

At the end of the day, it’s the Mk8’s UX (User Interface) that lets the car down, not its inherent greatness. The GTI greatness — speed, capability, everyday usability, packaging, efficiency — is all there. It’s just covered in a layer of frustrating software and difficult-to-use capacitive buttons.

The post The Mk8 VW GTI isn’t as good as its predecessor. | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 11 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The recipe for a successful sports car is simple: great looks, great name, and a vocal engine. VW’s Scirocco replacement had gorgeous styling and an Italian-sounding name. But the supercharged G60 engine was a disappointment. Slower than the Scirocco 16V it replaced, the new-technology four-cylinder Corrado G60 didn’t find many fans. Resurrecting an engine design pioneered by Lancia in 1922, VW created the VR6 — originally called the RV6 internally, which was a 2.8-liter 15-degree narrow-angle V6/straight-six hybrid that fits in the place of the previous four-cylinder. The original 12-valve VR6 is one of the best-sounding engines in a production car; combining the smooth, sultry sound of a straight-six with a wookie warble and none of a V-6’s harshness. It was a revelation then and now — and combined with Mk3 GTI suspension components, the Corrado SLC cleaned the floor of the super-coupe class in every performance metric. Including price. It was easily the most expensive car in its class, which meant slow sales. Which is the fourth and final recipe in creating a special collector’s car.

The post The Volkswagen Corrado VR6 sounds like a winner | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 10 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Porsche 924, 944, and 968 were never meant to be Porsches. This lineup started as a consulting gig for Volkswagen, code named EA425. Which was to be sold as an Audi or VW.

VW killed the project, leaving Porsche without one of the two prongs for its 911 replacement, the 4-cylinder transaxle 924 and the V-8 928.

So Porsche bought the rights to the project, applied an arbitrary “924” badge to the EA425, and Audi built it under contract for Porsche in Neckarsulm.

There wasn’t a single Porsche part on it.

However, over time, the 924 became the 924S and the 944, with a real Porsche engine, rather than the old Daimler-inspired, Audi-built 2.0-liter from the VW LT transit van.

By the end of the car’s 20-year run, the 968 had the second interior, second engine, third body — but still used suspension components designed for the Super Beetle (VW Type 1 1302), Mk1 Golf / Rabbit, Microbus, and Thing.

And yet it won awards for its handling. That is something only Porsche could accomplish — taking a flawed design and honing it to perfection over decades.

If there was ever a real measure of a true Porsche, that’s it. And thus, the 924, 944, and 968 weren’t born Porsches. But they very much became real Porsches.

The post The Porsche 924 wasn’t born a Porsche. It became one. | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 09 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

With a development budget of $3.5 billion, the Taurus was Ford’s most expensive project ever. It was also a Hail Mary for the company, which was in financial trouble.

And the SHO was the fastest version of the Taurus.

If the Taurus failed, so, too would Ford. It was so important to the success of the company that Ford restructured the engineering and design teams to work together on the new family sedan.

The Taurus’s design was so revolutionary that Ford kept its previous mid-size sedan, the LTD, in production at the same time, just in the new car failed — as the other American car executives predicted it would.

Instead, Taurus was an enormous success, eventually becoming the bestselling car in America. The performance version, the Taurus SHO, used the same basic 3.0-liter Vulcan V-6, but instead of pushrods, it used four overhead cams and 24 valves. The DOHC 4-valve heads were designed, manufactured, and assembled by Yokohama in Japan.

The SHO used a Mazda-sourced 5-speed manual and was the most powerful front-wheel-drive sedan in the world. The only four doors quicker or faster in America were the BMW M5 (E34) and 750iL. It was a performance bargain.

But although Ford sold around 400,000 Tauruses per year, it didn’t come close to its target of 20,000 SHOs annually. Except for the first year with the new, optional automatic transmission and larger 3.2-liter SHOgun engine.

Why didn’t the SHO sell? Well, because it looked like a Taurus — then, the de rigueur family sedan for the person who didn’t care about performance.

So the SHO was a victim of the Taurus’ success.

The post The Taurus SHO is the fastest, most expensive Ford sedan | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 08 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The original Bronco was a logic-based response to the Jeep CJ-5, Toyota Land Cruiser, and other 4x4s favored by aging, ex-GIs in the early 1960s who wanted creature comforts. And it was a massive success — in that very small market.

It wasn’t until the Big Bronco, modeled after the enormous Chevrolet K5 Blazer 12 years later, that Ford achieved real sales success.

But the small, billygoat Bronco has become a legend because of its incredibly simple good looks, powerful engines, and (compared to its rivals) easy on-road comfort.

History is repeating itself — the 2022 Bronco follows the same recipe, but this time, Ford knows a 4-door will sell in larger volumes. So the new car will be sold in both Big and Little versions. And we suspect it’ll be the little, 2-door Bronco that will wind up in videos like this one day.

The post The Ford Bronco was a Small Wonder | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 07 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the Porsche-built W124 Mercedes 500E, and Jason explains why the 500E and E500 was NOT a Porsche sports sedan with a Mercedes badge. First off, there’s not a single Porsche part on the car.

Porsche Engineering Services helped with reengineering the W124’s engine compartment to fit in the 32-valve, 4-cam M119 V-8 — for both the 400E and the 500E.

But the 500E doesn’t use the same V-8 as the 500SL. It needed shorter connecting rods so that it fit in the same physical space as the 4.2-liter 400E — this way only one structural variant needed to be produced.

The 400E was a response to the Lexus LS400. Why do you think it wasn’t called a 420E?

Porsche also did the engineering to bolt up wheels, tires, brakes, and suspension components from the wider and heavier R129 500SL and W124 500SEL. That necessitated fender flares so wide that the 500E didn’t fit down the regular W124 production line in Sindelfingen.

For both models, Porsche performed the physical modifications to Mercedes-built W124 chassis, and sent them back to Sindelfingen for paint. The 400E remained there, but because of its width, the 500E was sent back to Porsche, which assembled the 500E at a second Zuffenhausen factory.

With Bruno Sacco’s revolutionary looks, aerodynamics, obsession with safety, and Mercedes build quality and engineering might, the W124 was certainly among the best (and most expensive) sedans in the world.

Still is. It’s close to perfect. But it’s not a Porsche Sports Sedan.

The post The W124 Mercedes 500E was the world’s most perfect sedan | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 05 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s hard to imagine a world without Honda and Lamborghini, but they both first started making cars in the early 1960s.

Honda’s first-ever passenger car (its first “car” was actually the T360 “truck”) was first shown in 1962 as the Sports 360 and Sports 500 prototypes with 356- and 492-cc four-cylinders.

The S500 made it to production a year or so later with a slightly larger 531-cc four, which was eventually supplemented by the 606-cc S600 and the 791-cc S800.

The aluminum engine was the highlight of this tiny roadster (and coupe), with DOHC, hemispherical combustion chambers, and a roller-bearing crankshaft. Its design allowed it to rev to the moon — up to 9500 rpm in the case of the S600 — a redline that no other production passenger-car engine has beat even today.

The car itself was a marvel of simplicity and elegant engineering, with chain-drive independent suspension (later replaced by a conventional solid axle), a 4- or 5-speed synchronized transmission, rack-and-pinion steering, and (later) front-wheel disc brakes.

It was also available in red and white — two colors previously illegal in Japan, as they were reserved for police and emergency vehicles. Soichiro Honda fought the government on this — and won. This is one of many of his victories against the Man, and the Honda Sports series was one of his many victories against the challenges of engineering a car.

The post Honda S500 / S600 / S800: the highest-revving sports car | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 04 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Porsche has just announced the 992 GT3, and it’s the most extreme GT-car yet, with a wholly reengineered double-wishbone front suspension replacing the regular 992’s struts.

This is the 7th-generation of GT3, and the massive engineering signals a sea change for Porsche: the GT3 is now, unquestionably, the most important car in the 911 lineup.

Porsche’s GT-Car Division, run by the talented and charismatic Andreas Preuninger, exists within Porsche’s Motorsport Department — and has made the most desirable 911s of the last 20 years.

It’s time to look back at the 996, 997, 991.1 and 991.2 variants to understand the progression of the GT cars in Porsche’s lineup.

At the Porsche Experience Center’s Los Angeles track, Jason drives the 996 GT3 RS, 997 GT3 RS 4.0, 997 GT2 RS, 991.1 911 R, and 991.2 GT2 RS — while recording high-quality sound — so you can see and hear just how far the GT cars have come.

Think of this as Andy Preuninger’s Greatest Hits, Volume 1.

The post The new 911 GT3 is the most important Porsche of all | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 03 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Months away from production, no journalists have driven the Mk2 BRZ — but we’ve spent some time with its specs. And a calculator.

The BRZ’s torque curve tells an important story: adjusted for weight and gearing, at almost all engine speeds, the 2022 BRZ will pull harder than a 181-hp Mazda MX-5 ND2 Miata — a car that is almost universally agreed does not need a turbo.

The problem with the old, 2.0-liter BRZ wasn’t its peak torque — it was the outrageously high engine rpm required to hit that peak; the torque dip in the everyday rpm range; and the uninspiring noise the engine made. The Mk2 BRZ and Toyota GT86 solve that with a new FA24 engine variant — and fake engine sounds coming through the stereo speakers.

Adding a turbocharger at the manufacturer level means a cascading avalanche of cost. Had Subaru put a turbo on the 2022 BRZ, it would likely follow in the footsteps of every other affordable, sporty coupe: it would become so expensive that it would die off.

Toyota already has a $50,000, turbocharged four-cylinder “sports car” — the base Supra. (Which is also not a Toyota.) The BRZ is meant to be inexpensive, and if Subaru reengineered the whole car to cope with the turbo’s weight and torque, it would likely cost (and weigh) as much as the Supra. And then, like the F80 BMW M3 and F82 M4, its limit handling would be compromised.

Watch as techy automotive journalist Jason Cammisa uses math to demonstrate that — before anyone’s even driven the new BRZ — we know it’ll be quicker than a Miata.

The post Subaru fixed the 2022 BRZ’s torque problem, says math | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 02 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Renault 5 Turbo is hot-hatch fire: imagine if today’s hot-hatches out-accelerated and out-handled today’s mid-engine Ferraris. The R5 Turbo beat up on the contemporary Ferrari 308 — as well as every other supercar — by moving its turbocharged engine to the back, where rear seats used to be.

Compare that to enthusiast cars like today’s Volkswagen Golf R, which is merely a GTI+. VW, too, built a mid-engine, rear-drive GTI, the W12-650. But the Germans built one as a marketing exercise. The French put their Le Supercar into production and sold thousands of them to the lucky public.

The photo car is a Renault R5 Turbo 2 Evolution, owned by Bring-a-Trailer cofounder Randy Nonnenberg. The Evo added back in the aluminum bits lost in the switch from Turbo to Turbo 2, and had a bespoke engine with a fractionally larger displacement. For homologation purposes, of course — because this was a WRC rally car.

And what a car it was.

The post The Renault R5 Turbo is smoking hot | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 01 appeared first on Hagerty Media.