Autosport had rarely featured colour photography on its covers since its inception in 1950. The exceptions were when an advertiser had bought the front cover space or if they were producing a motor show special.
June 25 1965 changed all that with Francis Penn’s photograph of the Willment Cobra coupé in action at Oulton Park during the RAC Tourist Trophy in what the magazine said was ‘the first in a regular series of Autosport colour front covers.’ So regular were they, Autosport never went back to a black and white cover, so you can take a closer look at this historic edition here.
That edition also contained full details of the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans race in which the much vaunted challenge from Ford had been swept aside by the triumphant Ferraris, taking all three places on the podium as the Fords all failed to go the distance.
