Revelations with Jason Cammisa

Lotus' first and only-ever 4-door sedan was badged the Lotus Omega (left-hand-drive versions) or Lotus Carlton (RHD.) Based on the European Car of the Year award-winning Opel Omega and Vauxhall Carlton twins, it was the fastest regular production sedan in the world, and that caused major controversy in the socioeconomic class-conscious United Kingdom. 180-mph supercars like the Ferrari Testarossa had already been around for years, but when a pedestrian brand like Vauxhall endeavored to sell a sedan that could be purchased by non-aristocrats, it rocked the establishment. Still, the Lotus Carltomega was a tour-de-force, offering 377 hp — 2 hp more than the also Lotus-engineered, 4-cam, 32-valve, 5.7-liter LT5 V-8 from the C4 Corvette ZR-1. The Carlton/Omega sent that outrageous power (and 419 lb-ft of torque!) from its 3.6-liter twin-turbo, DOHC 24-valve straight-six to the rear wheels via the same ZF 6-speed manual used in that King of the Hill Corvette. It was the only 6-speed manua

The E26-chassis BMW M1 — the first car ever from a new subsidiary of BMW, creatively called "BMW Motorsport" — is one of few cars ever produced that started out as a race car and then was developed into a road car solely for homologation purposes. Cars developed this way are in ultra-exclusive rarified air, but the M1's development was so fraught with problems that it was never allowed to go racing. However, the car's fundamentals were spectacular, from its beautiful Giugiaro design to its powerful BMW M88 straight-six, to its Lamborghini-Dallara racing chassis. It received nearly universal acclaim — as quick as the 12-cylinder Ferrari 512 BB and the Lamborghini Countach, but civilized and docile to drive. The difficulties in getting production ramped up were mostly the fault of Lamborghini, which went bankrupt during the development after misappropriating funds received both from BMW for the M1 and from the U.S. government to develop an off-road military vehicle, and then being su

This is the story of the Tesla Roadster — and thus, the beginnings of Tesla, which has grown to be the most valuable automaker in history. Tesla's promised new roadster is a very different thing — this Roadster went into production at a time when electric vehicles weren't just in their infancy, they were a joke, disregarded by enthusiasts and regular customers alike. The story begins with the Piontek Sportech, which was a home-built tube-frame sports car created by Ford Engineer Dave Piontek in his garage in Michigan. It used a 1300-cc Suzuki 4-cylinder motorcycle engine (with Nitrous injection) and could hit 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds, weighing only 1234 lb. A California-based startup called AC Propulsion bought one of the Sport-Techs and converted it to run on Optima Yellow-Top lead-acid batteries. They called it the tZero, and a prospective custome

Popular lore has taken an out-of-context quote from Enzo Ferrari that "a Ferrari is a twelve-cylinder car" to mean that Il Commendatore thought any car with fewer than twelve cylinders is not worthy of the Ferrari badge. And thus, the Dino Ferraris aren't real Ferraris. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dino was the name of Ferrari's only one legitimate son, who died young at the merciless hands of Muscular Dystrophy. Dino himself was named after Enzo's father and older brother, both of whom died when Enzo was a teenager. The "Dino" badge wasn't an insult — it was an honor. And it adorns two of the best-driving Ferrari road cars ever created. In this episode, automotive journalist Jason Cammisa explains the history of Enzo's Double Ds — the 206/246 Dino and the 308 GT4 Dino — and how they both foretold the future of Ferrari's road cars, both in layout (mid-engine sports car) and in engine (with the 308 GT4's flat-plane-crankshaft V-8.)

This is the story of the first-generation Acura NSX, known in the rest of the world as the Honda NSX. The all-aluminum NA1-chassis NSX was developed as Honda was on top of the world — it had just begun an incredible string of Formula One victories, its Accord was the best-selling car in America, and its new Acura luxury brand was a resounding success. The NSX would be the company's flagship, demonstrating that Honda could apply its F1 know-how to a Ferrari-challenging, mid-engined supercar. It was received with near unanimous praise from the American automotive media, but ultimately the NSX struggled to find buyers for the majority of its 15-year production run. In this episode of "Revelations," automotive journalist Jason Cammisa takes us through the history of the original NSX and why, in retrospect, it was actually a success despite being unable to live up to its sales expectations — and how it differs from the second-generation, Ohio-engineered and -built NC1 hybrid.

The Mazda Miata has succeeded where every other lightweight sports car has failed, by decidedly NOT giving the customer what they want. No more weight, complexity, speed, or luxury. On this episode of Hagerty's Revelations with Jason Cammisa, we welcome special guest and father of the Miata, Tom Matano, to tell the story of how the Miata has survived economic downturns and done the impossible. In the process, it's proven every other carmaker wrong — cars can indeed be light, simple, and fun, even while meeting modern emissions and safety regulations. But it all almost never happened — battles between Mazda's North American office, which conceived the Lotus Elan-like roadster, almost resulted in a front-wheel drive or mid-engined car, and led the original team with Matano and Bob Hall, to ask for the project to be killed off. Forget the whole thing. Just kill it. Thankfully, Mazda didn't. And 35 years later, the Miata reigns King of Sports Cars, selling the same amount of cars in t