When the Silver Shadow first wafted out of the Crewe factory in 1965, the starting price was around £6,500; equivalent to about £130K in today’s money. It was originally going to be called the Silver Mist, until somebody worked out that the word Mist had another meaning in German.

The famous ‘Derby Bentleys’ were first presented in 1933. Fitted with a 3669cc version of the six-cylinder engine already fitted in the Rolls-Royce 20/25, Bentley maintained its sporting credentials through a higher compression ratio, twin carbs, a more aggressive camshaft and a cross flow head.

The factory Ferrari team returned to the top class of the Le Mans 24 Hours last year for the first time in half a century. The scarlet machines would line up on the front row of the grid on the Saturday afternoon, Antonio Fuoco having taken pole in the #50 499P from team-mate Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51.

The other day, AUTOart furnished us with a preview image of the first of its new 1:18 replicas of the iconic Aston Martin DB5. It is of the car finished in Caribbean Pearl Blue. It will be joined by Silver Birch, Dubonnet Red and British Racing Green. These models will all come with opening doors, bonnet and boot, and are all slated to be delivered later this year.

The Sunbeam Tiger is a high-performance, V8 version or the Rootes group’s Sunbeam Alpine roadster, which had first been introduced in 1959. Rootes realised that the Alpine needed more power if it was to compete successfully in world markets, but the company lacked a suitable engine, and the resources to develop one.

The Jensen Interceptor was a luxurious Grand Tourer launched by Jensen in 1966. The Interceptor name had been used by Jensen for a previous model made between 1950 and 1957. But that car had a glass-fibre body; the new car, made at the Kelvin Way factory in West Bromwich, was steel bodied.

In 1988, Jaguar formally entered into a 50:50 partnership with Tom Wilkinshaw who was, at that time, Jaguar’s racing partner, and whose cars were starting to become successful in endurance racing. The partnership with Wilkinshaw’s TWR operation was established to create sportier versions of the company’s existing range of cars.

AUTOart recently provided us with preview shots of its 1:18 replica of the McLaren MP4/6 that Ayrton Senna used to secure his third and final Formula One world championship. And what’s more, we have been told to expect to take delivery of it in the next couple of months or so.

The XK120 OTS (Open Two Seater) was first revealed at the 1948 London Motor Show. It was basically little more than a test bed to show off the new XK engine that had been designed by Chief Engineer William Heynes. It caused a sensation, which persuaded founder and chairman, Williamn Lyons, to put the car into production.

As had often been the case during its turbulent history, Aston Martin was facing financial pressures in the mid-1970s. They needed something to bring in much needed funds. Now, traditionally, Aston Martin had always produced 2+2 sports cars, but the company decided to create a full-size, four-door, luxury saloon using the Lagonda name, derived from the marque that Aston had acquired in 1947.

2008 saw a fantastic championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, that lasted all season long. Going into the final race at Sao Paulo, the duo had five victories apiece, although Lewis had a fairly healthy seven point lead (these the days when only 10 points were awarded for a race win). But, after rain arrived in the closing stages, Massa was leading the race while Hamilton was toiling away in sixth position. This would have seen the two combatants tying on points, but the Brazilian prevailing on a countback of most wins.

Tecnomodel has just announced a quartet of 1:18 replicas of the 1950 Alfa Romeo 158. This, of course, was the dominant car in the inaugural season of the Formula One world championship. Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio were the key players in the 1950 title fight. They would end the season with three wins and three fastest laps each from the six races that made up the campaign (discounting the Indy 500, which was officially a round of the championship back then).

In early 1936 Aston Martin developed a completely new two-litre engine, fitted with a dry sump. The top brass were so impressed with the new power unit that they felt it was deserving of a completely new chassis to be installed into!

The March 721X can definitely stake its claim as one of the most recalcitrant F1 cars of all time! It was so bad that it almost ended Niki Lauda’s grand prix career before it had even begun. Lauda’s team-mate Ronnie Peterson was similarly hampered by the machine, ‘Superswede’ giving it a best result of ninth place in the 1972 Belgian GP.

Opening its doors in 1919, the Alvis Car and Engineering Company went on to produce road cars, racing cars, aircraft engines and armoured cars. Car production came to an end shortly after Alvis became a subsidiary of Rover in 1965, although more recently it has been announced that 'continuation' versions of some of Alvis's more famous models would be re-manufactured.

At the time of going to press, Spark and Minichamps had both confirmed their initial line-up of 1:43 2024 Formula One replicas, while Look Smart had also announced the Ferraris that it will be producing in both 1:18 and 1:43. We assume that Spark and Minichamps’ 1:18 offerings will follow in the near future.

Craig Breen scored a sensational second place finish in last year’s Rally Sweden, having fought tooth and nail with eventual winner Ott Tanak. Sadly this would prove to be the eighth and final podium finish of the immensely likeable Irishman’s career, as well as his last ever WRC appearance, as he would pass away after an accident during testing for the Croatia round.

One of several recent new announcements from Tecnomodel is a quintet of 1:43 replicas of the legendary Ford P68 from the 1968 sportscar racing scene. The FIA completely rewrote the rules for sportscar racing for 1968, but Ford opted not to design a new car to carry on competing in the category. So Alan Mann decided to build a brand new prototype car around Ford’s recently introduced 3.0 litre DFB V8 Formula One engine. The P68 was born.

In the days leading up to Christmas, Minichamps announced a new collection for the legendary Ayrton Senna. It will commemorate 30 years since the Brazilian tragically lost his life in the San Marino Grand Prix. The series will incorporate 1:12, 1:18 and 1:43 replicas of many of the significant Formula One cars from Ayrton’s career, as well as a sextet of helmets in 1:8 scale.

As 2023 drew to a close, we received Minichamps’ 1:18 replicas of the Williams-Renault FW15Cs that were campaigned by Alain Prost during the 1993 Formula One season. The FW15C was the most technologically advanced grand prix machine of all time, featuring several gizmos and gadgets that were outlawed at the end of the year.