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David Brown Speedback at Techno Classica Essen

14 April, 2015

Following the recent appearance of the David Brown Automotive Speedback GT at Retro Classics in Stuttgart, the car is due to wow the crowds at Techno Classica Essen — the largest classic car show in the world.

The Speedback GT’s combination of modern engineering and retro styling provide a novel twist on a modern ‘Grand Touring’ design, and there is little doubt that this special car will receive a great reception at Techno Classica.

“We have had a very strong response in Germany since the early days of Speedback,” says David Brown Automotive. “We’ve taken several orders from the market, so we are aware that Speedback has many qualities that resonate very strongly with affluent German enthusiasts.”

1975 Suzuki RE5

1 November, 2024

Suzuki had high hopes for its RE5 Wankel-engined bike launched in 1975. It had started looking at the Wankel engine in the mid-60s and bought the licence to the concept in 1970.
Apparently all of the big four Japanese makers experimented with the design, Yamaha even showing a rotary-engined bike at a motor show in 1972. But Suzuki was the only one of the big four to go into production. Like many others at the time, Suzuki believed that the light, compact, free-revving Wankel design would consign piston engines — with their complex, multiple, whirring valves and pistons, which (can you believe it?) had to reverse direction all the time — to history.

Westside story

25 October, 2024

For the young Dave Blyth, the Sandman was always the coolest car and he finally got one when he was 50. “I have always had a rule. When you turn 50, you buy or can afford to buy the car you lusted after when you were 20. I was 20 in 1979 and the HZ Sandman came out in 1978. It was the coolest of the cool — I just wanted one,” he says. “Back then a Sandman cost $4500 new and a house was worth about $20,000. I made about $30 a week so it was an impossible dream then.”
Dave was heavily influenced by the panel van culture of the time. “I started with an Escort panel van and upgraded to a Holden HD panel van with a 186ci six cylinder. I started a van club, Avon City Vans.