British and European Car Spotters Guide - 1963

The bad-boy Rover with that honking great V8 made all the right noises and gave its driver big-time street cred - as well as proving that Rover could move with the times. For a while, anyway.

Known to some as the 'Ferrarina', the ASA 1000GT was a front engined rear-wheel drive two door coupe with a tubular spaceframe chassis. The body was designed by Bertone, whilst the mechanicals were designed by Giotto Bizzarrini (working at  Ferrari). It was powered by a 1032cc dohc engine producing a stunning 91bhp and fitted with two twin barrel carburettors. Disc brakes were fitted on all four wheels, together with a double wishbone coil spring front suspension and a coil sprung live rear axle. A four speed manual transmission (with overdrive on third and fourth) was fitted. Production began slowly, with about seven cars built by 1964. At this point Bertone ceased producing the bodies and production went to Ellena in Torino until 1967 when Marazzi in Milano took over. The chassis were all produced by Marchesi who also produced many Ferrari chassis. A total of 104 chassis were constructed allowing homologation, which required 100 examples, to be completed, but less cars were built, somewhere around 95, before production was stopped in 1967. Even rarer Six Spiders were also built.

Enjoyed fame as the first Bond car, but with its beautiful profile and searing performance, the DB5 would have become an English icon even without the silver screen.

The most chic two-door roadster of its day (1963-67), the 113-series SL was a design landmark. Still looks as beautiful and elegant as ever.