During his 40-year career in the garbage-collection business, he amassed the world’s largest private vehicle collection, totaling 3,500-plus vehicles as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. LeMay told the drivers of his garbage trucks to keep an eye open for any interesting or derelict cars. The story goes that he would pay them a finder’s fee for every car found that he purchased.

Next month, I’ll be filling you in on one of the world’s most prestigious automotive events, “The 59th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance,” and also a new event which is poking fun at the other events taking place on the Monterey Peninsula, the inaugural Concours d’Lemons where cars worth more than $5,000 are forbidden, and picnic baskets and champagne are discouraged!

Swedish sports car! Say it quickly and it doesn’t sound as unlikely as oil and water mixing.

Perhaps I am being a little harsh. After all, Sweden is responsible for the $646,000 Koenigsegg CCX supercar.

The first post-war vehicles produced by Ford of England at its Dagenham plant were certainly very different from the type of vehicle the Brits were used to, and I have often wondered why Ford went down this road. The Ford Pilot was the very first American car, so to speak, that I clapped eyes on as a youngster in England.

Storied Italian sports car-maker Alfa Romeo built just five 8C-2900 Type B Berlinetta Coupés in 1938. And two of the powerful 2,900cc cars with a significant racing history have had strong B.C connections.

Malcolm Bricklin, a millionaire entrepreneur from New York, had an exceptional dream in 1972 – to build the world’s safest and most economical sports car.

I am no stranger to wrecking yards, having scoured more than my fair share since the early 1960s. A recent trip to Phoenix, Arizona unearthed the holy grail of wrecking yards which is laden with brand-new old parts; the sun-blasted area makes it a restorer’s paradise.

As I write this history of one of the greatest racing spectacles of all time, the wee Scot Allan McNish in his all-conquering Audi is being swarmed by a flock of Peugeot 908s, hell bent on victory at their home event. The 24 Heures du Mans is an annual celebration of speed, endurance, technology and great rivalries between great marques. This 2009 race represents the 77th running of the event since its inception in 1923.

The year was 1963, and the Beatles release their first album, Please Please Me, Alcatraz is closed, Martin Luther King Jr. gives his “I have a dream” speech, and President Kennedy is assassinated.