Porsche, Lamborghini, Corvette take centre stage at VanDusen show
VanDusen hosts Supercar weekend
The Shaughnessy Concours and Luxury Supercar Weekend takes place this weekend at VanDusen Gardens and will celebrate milestones of three very special marques.
The French car manufacturer Peugeot is responsible for creating the model name (in this case number) of the most famous and iconic German sports car ever built, I’m referring to the Porsche 911.
When the Porsche 901 prototype was launched, Peugeot protested that they had the rights to three-digit automobile model names with a zero in the middle. Porsche solved the problem by calling their new model, launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1963, the Porsche 911, and the rest is history.
Of the 820,000 plus 911s built to date, having gone through seven generations, an astounding two-thirds of those cars built are still on the roads and still in use today. A sports car that began life with a 2.0-litre, air-cooled, carbureted engine driving the rear wheels has evolved over the last 50 years. Air-cooled and now water-cooled, two-wheel drive to all-wheel drive, 2.0-litre to 4.0-litre, 130 hp to 620 hp, Solex Carburetors to fuel-injection and turbocharged, Coupe to Targa, Convertible and Speedster.
Despite all the changes, the ownership enthusiasm is undiminished.
Lamborghini is also celebrating its 50th anniversary. This car began when the successful Italian industrialist Ferruccio Lamborghini discovered that Enzo Ferrari was charging outrageous prices for off-the-shelf clutch parts from other suppliers. As a Ferrari owner and customer he complained to Ferrari about the cost of his clutch assembly that required replacing. Ferrari’s reply was “leave the cars to me; you stick to building tractors,” a response that motivated Lamborghini to go into the sports-car manufacturing business.
One of the most famous early Lamborghinis is the Miura, the utmost mind-blowing sports car of the postwar era and the first mid-engine, transversely mounted V-12 car ever built. Every rich man wanted one when they were launched and they are highly sought after by serious collectors today.
America’s favourite sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette, is celebrating its 60th anniversary with anxious customers waiting to take delivery of the new 2014 C-7.
It’s not uncommon for a sports car to begin life as a coupe like the Porsche 911 and later became available as a roadster. Just the opposite happened with the Corvette, which was only available as a convertible for the first 10 years of its life.
Michael Moore, a Corvette enthusiast and collector, has assembled and curated an incredible display of Corvettes. It will certainly be a must-see lineup at this weekend’s event.
The E-Type is not a feature marquee but it is being recognized to greet its new brother the F-Type which will be on display.
The E-Type Jaguar is considered one of the top 10 most beautiful cars ever made. Enzo Ferrari — he rarely complimented anyone or anything — made that exact statement in 1961 when the car was launched at the Geneva Motor Show. His comments stuck and the E-Type Jaguar is now a permanent display in the New York Museum of Modern Art.
Its successor, the 2014 F-Type, is in the process of becoming a legend in its own right and can be viewed with three E-Types flanking it on either side this weekend.
For more details visit luxurysupercar.com
