author: Dennis Adler asin: 1400064635 binding: Hardcover list price: $45.00 USD amazon price: $29.70 USD

In 1945, Enzo Ferrari, the onetime director of Scuderia Ferrari, Alfa Romeo’s fabled racing program, emerged from Alfa’s shadow to create his own legend. Out of the rubble of World War II, Ferrari established an auto works whose products would surpass anything before seen. Demand for handcrafted racing cars in postwar Italy, however, was slight. At the urging of a former colleague, Ferrari found a profitable niche for his creations in America–which still remains Ferrari’s biggest market.

The Ford GT40 was a high-speed monster that dominated the racetracks back in the ‘60s. Auto fans back then fell in love with its sexy, aerodynamic lines and that love affair hasn't cooled off yet.

Personally, the low-slung good looks of the GT40 are enough to get my pulse racing and my heart pounding.

I recently read an article about the SPF GT40 from Superformance, one of the world's leading component car manufacturers. Turns out that this particular component car's serial numbers are actually continuation numbers from the revered Safir GT40 Spares LLC out of Milford, Ohio.

Have you ever heard of the Ultimate Aero supercar? I've got to admit, I had no idea this insanely fast hyper-car existed. I just watched a video of this production car - that's right, production car - blowing the doors off of the world speed record.

The Ultimate Aero took to the flatlands of Wyoming a couple months ago with representatives from Guinness World Records filming the whole run. This muscle-bound beauty was clocked at an astounding 256.18mph!

Manufactured by Shelby Supercars, this electrifying speed demon may share the legendary Shelby name, but it's no relation at all to Carroll Shelby or Shelby North America. In fact, Shelby Supercars is the brainchild of a guy by the name of Jerod Shelby.

I recently read up on the handcrafted cars offered by the Mullen Motor Company (www.mullenmotorco.com) out of Las Vegas. In particular, I was absolutely captivated by the Mullen M-11, which has a distinctively exotic look.

Turns out, the Mullen M-11 has an impressive pedigree. At an Association of Handcrafted Automobiles Show just a couple months ago, she was named winner of the Special Interest award, and then took the Kit Car Illustrated Editor’s Choice Car of the Show trophy as well.

Tiff Needle: Now you probably know that I’m not very keen on old cars.  They’re usually uncomfortable, they don’t handle very well, they’ve got rubbish brakes, and they leak.  But there was one old design I was willing to travel 6,000 miles to have a go in.

For the past 15 years, the designers and engineers at Mongoose Motorsports (http://www.mongoosems.com) have been fine-tuning their powerful Grand Sport Replica. Recently, this team unveiled their newest endeavor – the GTP replica. And is she ever hot. This GTP kit car is Mongoose Motorsports’ homage to the super-rare Corvette GTP race car (only seven were ever built), and its looks are spot-on perfect. In fact, I’ve read that Corvette GTP aficionados have to look closely – two or three times – to be sure that the Mongoose GTP isn’t actually one of the extremely scarce originals. Of course, the Mongoose GTP has something the original GTP race cars never had – air conditioning. But this sleek beast isn’t just for the racetrack.

If you were ever a Boy Scout, chances are you tap into many of the skills and experiences the well-known youth organization provided you even today as an adult, relying on outdoor expertise you learned, safety know-how or social adeptness your Cubmaster helped you develop way back when.

However, your passion for cars wasn't likely started there. But for Boy Scouts in Pack No. 323, in Exeter NH, this passion is being ignited with the annual Pinewood Derby, which now boasts 31 Boy Scouts and Webelos (younger scouts), all of whom design, create and paint-by-hand their own cars and enjoy a day of camaraderie and competition, as well as a little showing off.

As the old saying goes, a picture's worth a thousand words. In the case of this website: BarrysBuildPage.com, the pictures may be worth even more for they carry the site by providing eye candy that's sure to get every car lover's salivary glands working overtime.

A chronicle, or "diary" as kit car builder Barry Johnson affectionately calls his website, viewers of these pages are privy to a written account, well, actually a visual account of Barry's hand-built works, which are certainly admirable and run the gamut from a Euro Works Countach to a Diablo Roadster.