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• Petula Clark Supports the Sports Car Building Home Team [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 8 March 2013

  

  Although most people are familiar with the male acts of popular music’s “British Invasion” of the 1960s (e.g The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, The Who, The Animals), not very many people – even some who were around then – can name the female British invaders right away. And that’s too bad, because there were some truly talented lasses on the scene in those days: Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Marianne Faithfull and Petula Clark all achieved some degree of notoriety on this side of the Atlantic.

  Ms. Clark in particular found success on these shores, racking up many appearances on the go-to TV show for entertainers in those days, The Ed Sullivan Show. However, it is her appearance on the April 17, 1966 episode of Mr. Sullivan’s really big shew that catches our attention. Specifically, that matched set of red convertibles from Pet’s homeland: An Austin-Healey 3000, a Jaguar XK-E Series I, and an Aston Martin DB5. Did Britain’s Board of Trade (as it was known back then) have a hand in the automotive casting for this performance? Probably not, but then again, Aston Martins weren’t exactly dime-a-dozen in 1960s Manhattan. Also, we aren’t sure what’s more impressive: The fact that the Jag was able to move under its own power on cue, or that Petula is still performing and still looks great today at the age of 80!

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• The Top 10 Under-a-Liter Sports Cars of All Time

  In Lists / By Tom Anderson / 19 May 2012

  

  When most people think of sports cars, they probably think of two seats, maybe an open top, and stupendous agility. Of course, that agility tends to be compromised the larger and more powerful a sports car is. Thus, designers and engineers who are serious about giving their new machines genuine handling prowess put a lot of effort into reducing their weight.

  And, as we all know, the lighter a vehicle is, the less power it needs to get moving and keep moving. So it’s only natural that many of history’s smallest sports cars were powered by engines displacing less than one liter (or 61 cubic inches for all you metric-phobes). But rather than try to list all of the sports cars that fit this criteria, we’ll instead tell you about 10 of the most iconic, most entertaining and, yes, cutest members of the under-1,000cc club.

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