Aurelia Butler

Here’s a wonderful little Italian camper van, ideal for a slow-rolling holiday.Yes, Alfa Romeo did really once build vans. And isn’t “Autotutto” just fun to say?It won’t hit 50 mph, but taking it easy is the whole point.Fancy a little Roman Holiday? Check out this vintage camper built by Alfa Romeo. It’s up for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). It will require a plane ticket and a bit of time off to properly enjoy, but we can’t imagine a more fitting way to meander through sun-kissed Mediterranean climes.Bring a TrailerAlfa Romeo is better known as the marque that built the racing cars Enzo Ferrari cut his teeth on. This wonderfully green T10 Autotutto is one of Alfa’s often-overlooked commercial models, vans and small trucks that delivered fresh foccacia and olives and who knows what else through the streets of Rome and beyond. Starting out life as a conventional van, this example spent its early life in Sicily and then Modena, and was later converted to a camper and refurbished. We love the details, from the white piping on the green vinyl seats to the roof-mounted 16-inch spare tire it wears like a beret.Bring a TrailerWhen new, the T10 could be optioned with a 750-cc engine shared with Alfa’s sedan range, or a small supercharged diesel inline twin. This camper has the latter, displacing 1158 cc, and it offers a very modest 31 horsepower. With a four-speed manual transmission, top speed is just 47 mph.Bring a TrailerThat’s not great for hammering down the autostrada, nor tackling the Alps. Instead, you’d simply have this little camper shipped down to Sardinia or Sicily, and spend a few weeks nosing around small towns on back roads, stopping in cafés and generally taking it easy. There’s a gas stove for cooking, a sink for cleaning up, and a picnic set for lunching in the shade of some gnarled olive tree.Bring a TrailerTake along a vintage film camera to document the trip, and you’d complete the 1950s European holiday experience. La dolce vita is waiting. The auction ends on February 27.Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. More

The Etna is a restomod take on the Lamborghini Gallardo from a Croatian firm. The V-10’s power gets a bit of a bump to 592 horsepower, but the big story is the 450-pound weight reduction.The build looks to capitalize on old-school baby Lambo charm and includes a conversion to six-speed manual.Built between 2003 and 2013, the Gallardo was a success for Lamborghini, with just over 14,000 sold over its production run. A decade later, it’s somewhat overshadowed by the Huracán, while the V-12-powered Murciélago of the same era is undergoing something of a renaissance. However, a Croatian coachbuilder says it has the fix for the first-generation cars.You probably haven’t heard of Zagreb-based Tedson Motors before, but the company has been around for a few years in the restomod 911 business. Its launch product was a reworked Porsche 964, although one that took a slightly different angle than similar 911 reimaginings from Singer or Guntherworks. Called the Daydream, Tedson’s machine incorporated a 540-hp air-cooled flat-six that paired with an electric flywheel to provide hybrid power. The added low-end torque was claimed to fling the car past 60 mph in under three seconds.Goran Turkić, Tedson’s owner, caught the restomod bug after studying physics in Irvine, California, and building his own 1975 911 project. The first Daydream was revealed in Monaco in 2022, and this new Gallardo-based restomod, called the Etna, now adds to the company’s portfolio.As is the case elsewhere, you have to provide your own Gallardo to start, although Tedson says it won’t mess with the rarer manual-transmission models. A full carbon-fiber body replaces the original sheetmetal, and when combined with a titanium exhaust sees a weight drop of an impressive 450 pounds. The car is also wider, with aerodynamic upgrades, but overall it looks quite subtle, capped off with 19-inch wheels.From an engineering standpoint, Tedson will convert the transmission to a six-speed gated manual unless a customer really wants to hang on to the E-Gear automatic, and the 5.0-liter V-10 is reworked to provide 592 horsepower. The factory suspension is also sorted with components from some of the Super Trofeo cars, and the brakes are upgraded too.Suitably remastered, the Etna retains some old-school Gallardo elements like hydraulic steering and an even-firing order for the V-10. (Quick sidebar here: later V-10 Lamborghinis share the Audi R8’s odd-fire order, which results in slightly more vibration and a different tone. Some Lambo purists prefer the note of the old even-fire.) Tedson says only 77 cars will be made, and each of them will take about a full year to make. Customers can of course choose all kinds of customization options, as you’d expect for the steep nearly-$800,000 price.The restomod 911 market is fairly saturated now, so it’s not surprising to see a company expanding into new space. The Etna looks like a well-executed effort, we’ll have to wait to see how many buyers want to dig deep for a modernized Gallardo. From the C/D ArchiveBrendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. More

Cosworth builds some of the best engines in the world. Here’s one in a sensible, practical package.This rare Ford Sierra Cosworth takes the brand’s European family sedan to another level.This one is in Texas and unlike many imported Cossie Fords, it has the steering wheel on the correct (left) side.The name Cosworth graces the engine bay of some of the world’s greatest exotics. The Bugatti Tourbillion. The Aston Martin Valkyrie. The Gordon Murray–designed, V-12–powered T.50. Each is breathtakingly fast, each highly tempting, each unfortunately also staggeringly expensive. Besides, you need a four-door for the kids. But what if you could get that sedan with the heartbeat of a hypercar?Bring a TrailerThis 1989 Ford Sierra sedan and it offers just that: a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine from the keepers of the flame at Cosworth, and it’s up for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos).Cosworth has a long history stretching back to the golden age of Formula 1. And it also have a history of imbuing European Fords with extra moxie. The Escort Cosworth and the Sierra Cosworth are hero cars across the Atlantic. Cosworth is based in the UK, as are many “Cossie” Ford fans, which means cars that find their way to the U.S. are often right-hand-drive. Happily, this example originally hails from Italy, so the wheel and pedal are on the left, where you’re used to finding them.Bring a TrailerEven better, perhaps, is that this Sierra is the sedan rather than the coupe. The four-door variant is hard to find and quite subtle, capable of surprising fellow drivers. “Is that a Merkur?” “Why the heck is that Tempo so dang fast?”Bring a TrailerThe answer lies under that anonymous white hood, the red-headed, YB-Series 2.0-liter inline-four. Fitted with factory turbocharging, this engine was rated at 204 horsepower and 205 pound-feet of torque, but of course racers and tuners could unlock much more power by pouring on the boost. Happily, this one hasn’t been fiddled with, and still puts down stock power through a five-speed manual transmission to the rear wheels. There’s the equivalent of 55K miles on the odometer.Bring a TrailerThe cabin is all business in light gray, the well-bolstered Recaro seats and thick-rimmed three-spoke wheel the only hints towards sportiness. The stereo’s non-operational, but a YB has a really unique yowl to it, so just roll your windows down and give the throttle pedal some welly.Related StoriesLeave the influencer crowd to pose in front of their seven- or eight-figure machinery that will rarely see anything more challenging than a London high street. Instead, fly under the radar with this white sedan riding on its discreet 15-inch alloys, knowing you’re using one of the best fast Fords just the way Cosworth intended. The auction ends on February 25.Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. More