Classic cars and classic car insurance are more than just our job – they’re our passion. That’s why we travel around the country attending car shows, and why we know that classic cars are so special to their owners. We’ve been blogging a lot about classic cars, collector cars, and antique cars. Here are the most popular blogs from recent weeks.
All hail the DAF! The DAF 600 set the world on fire in 1958, introducing several clever design features, but more importantly – the world’s first CVT! A good forty years before CVTs became popular in mainstream vehicles, DAF was blazing the trail with a transmission that had no gears. The CVT, or continuously variable transmission, operated on a belt that would infinitely adjust the transmission ratio to keep the engine in the power band whenever it was needed, and reduce the engine revs for maximum economy when the power wasn’t called for. A brilliant design that can now be found in trucks, sedans, sports cars, and hybrids, owning a DAF is truly owning a notable piece of car history.
There are so many things that can make a car special – the way it looks, the way it drives, the way it was built… and all of these are great reasons to own a classic. What makes this car special? Find the answer next week!
This car represents the bold thinking that swept postwar America. A beautiful, if sad reminder of a bygone age of dreamers. Almost everything about this car is unusual and intriguing…
The Mazda RX7! Mazda has long been a proponent of the Wankel rotary engine design used in the RX7 and its kin, but this was the first car to achieve mainstream success, a reliable track record, and popular following, paving the way for the modern and much-loved RX8. The Wankel engine featured in this vehicle is brilliant because it has so few moving parts and takes up so little space. It’s power-to-fuel-economy ratio is strong, its form factor is tiny, and it’s big on fun, making it a clever implementation of an even cleverer design. This car is certainly to Mazda’s credit.
A Citroen DS19! Truly a car that took the world by storm, Citroen received ten times the number of orders it had anticipated at its debut in 1955 at the Paris Auto Show. The car showcased many novel features for its time including power windows and power steering (among others), but its true innovation was the hydraulic system underlying most of the operating aspects of the vehicle. The hydraulics served as motivation for the power windows and steering, but also the suspension, widely considered a revolution in the trade-off of ride comfort for handling. To this day, a late and well-kept example can sell for six figures. But any model from its two decades of production can make a unique contribution to a collector’s garage, as it did to the modern automobile industry.
What makes today’s mystery collector car special? A number of engineering feats for its time that still challenge us today. Admittedly, the car is a bit iconic, though much less for Americans that elsewhere. What is this classic, and how is it unique? Check back next week to find out.
