1963 DIAMOND COLLECTION

Sixty years ago the automotive world was very different to today – but as is celebrated in this category, it was full of trend-setters, motor sport stars and budding legends

Words Jack Phillips

THE YEAR 1963 WAS AN unseasonably good one for cars. Pages and pages have been filled in the automotive press about the launch of the 911, née 901, that happened in September at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

The rear-engined sports machine transformed the genre and has been almost untouchable ever since. Few cars survive 60 years in such an unaltered state, or so clearly recall their lineage, but this Porsche has done it almost to a fault. The early 911 on track, and the later, newest, model, underline that: decades may split them, but more than simply three numbers connects them.

Among the Porsches is something special from nearby Tuthill. The SCRS is a limited-run 911 based on the 993 generation, calling on the technicolour liveries of the IROC race series and paying homage to the SCRS rally car Tuthill created for Prodrive’s David Richards. The result is something far away from the 1990s car underneath.

Another name that has endured, although not in quite the same way, is McLaren. Around the time Porsche unveiled the 911, Bruce McLaren was making an administrative decision that stretches to today: he created Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd and started running his own cars.

Making his own models followed, and reached a zenith in the early 1990s with the F1. The car delivered to Michael Andretti, briefly McLaren team-mate to Ayrton Senna in Formula 1, takes to the track on Saturday alongside a GT and Artura. While the F1 was the first McLaren road car (although the 1960s M6GT came close) the Artura is the first hybrid McLaren ever made – Grand Prix racing aside.

The year 1963 was also a big one for Alfa Romeo’s 105 Series coupés. The line began the year prior in saloon form, and the 105 Series spawned all manner of models. One of the most sought after of them all is the 2000 GTV, launched eight years after the first and boosting the outgoing 1750. It is surely the sweet spot, the perfect package.

OPPOSITE The Cooper S arrived in 1963, and proved a plucky little fighter that was rewarded with many victories. The 911 story also started that year.

The Mini Cooper S – the car’s factory peak from a power point of view – joined the fray in 1963, and went on to slide around tracks in the British Saloon Car Championship and on the roads to Monaco and the Rallye Monte-Carlo. It won the famous event three times in four years – just don’t mention the other… Rule-makers disqualified the victorious Minis in 1966, denying them a hat-trick. The example on track is a road car, owned by Bicester Motion CEO Daniel Geoghegan.

Autocar’s Matt Prior provides another of 1963’s pocket rockets, the Hillman Imp, while an Iso Grifo is on static display by RH45 in Building 123. It was revealed late in 1963, and went into production in ’65.

1995 McLaren F1

2023 Aston Martin

DB5

1996 Porsche 911 993 SCRS

1965 Hillman Imp

2023 McLaren Artura

2023 McLaren GT

1967 Austin Cooper S

1971 Alfa Romeo

2000 GTV