Vote for the 2026 Car of the Year

A team of experts have selected the ten cars that have made the biggest impact on the collector car world over the past year, whether it be for breaking new ground in concours or on track, being newly rediscovered or freshly restored or recreated, or for being a fascinating restomod or an historically important new-build.

Now a public vote will decide the winner, which will be revealed at the International Historic Motoring Awards ceremony, hosted by Amanda Stretton at the Peninsula London on 13 November.

All you have to do to play your part is pick a favourite from the list and vote here. 

The Contenders

Auto Union Lucca

The Lucca is the lost Auto Union V16 streamliner, with which Hans Stuck achieved over 200mph on a public road (in 1935!). This year Audi Tradition has painstakingly recreated it, the project taking masters Crosthwaite & Gardiner three years to complete with a large 6-litre V16 so the Lucca could make a sensational debut at Goodwood Festival of Speed. 

Bluebird K7  

A full 25 years after Bill Smith and the Bluebird Project raised the wreck of Donald Campbell’s World Water Speed Record boat from its watery Coniston Water grave, this magnificent piece of British engineering finally ran publicly on the lake again, tentatively perhaps and not without hiccoughs, but in front of huge and hugely appreciative crowds. Now resettled in the Bluebird Wing of the Ruskin Museum, its brief rebirth was one of 2026’s highlights. 

JCB Hydromax  

Wing Commander Andy Green OBE completed the triumvirate of fuel-powered speed records at Bonneville by achieving 406.320mph in this 32ft long hydrogen dual digger engine powered missile. It adds to the diesel powered record he set (at 350.392mph) he set 20 years earlier when propelled by a pair of JCB diesel engines and, of course, the sound barrier-breaking 763.035 mph he and Thrust SSC set in 1997.  

Sunbeam 1000hp 

There have been few more compelling on-going stories this year than that of ‘The Slug’, the Land Speed Record titan in which Sir Henry Segrave became the first man to breach 200mph at Daytona Beach in 1927. As its frenzied against-the-clock restoration continued, it started the year with one of its two 22.4-lite Matabele engines in pieces and ended the summer on display in the Petersen Automotive Museum after a triumphant debut at Pebble Beach. Next stop, Florida…

McLaren M6GT recreation

The 1969 McLaren M6 GT was Bruce McLaren’s own car, in essence a CanAm car for the road. Trailblazing in its time, the project faltered after only a few prototypes had been built. Then this year, MSO (McLaren Special Operations) spent 3000 hours meticulously building an exact replica from scratch complete with period-correct Chevrolet small-block V8 and using original glassfibre moulds. 

The 1-2-3 1966 Le Mans GT40s

The French racing authorities may have controversially managed to separate these cars after their famous Ferrari-humbling blanket finish at Le Mans in 1966, but the awards team could not so they will be judged as a trio. The accomplishment that qualifies them for this award is their Goodwood Festival of Speed reunion, the first time they had been seen together in a decade. 

The Clark Gable Duesenberg SSJ

Actually not really the Clark Gable Duesenberg because, while pal Gary Cooper bought his SSJ, Gable’s sister car was only on loan. Evenso, this pre-war American beauty leapt to the fore again in 2026 when it took Best of Show for owner Harry Yeaggy at August’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Expert motoring historian David Burgess-Wise unravels its history on pages 100-106.

Lola T70 continuation

Lola is reborn and with it its ubiquitous giantkilling T70, the car that more than any other put the major manufacturers to the sword in period. The new car comes in a road or track version (T70S GT and T70S respectively) and is powered by a naturally aspirated 6.2-litre Chevrolet V8 driving through a six-speed Hewland box. Fascinatingly it is build using Lola Natural Composite System (LNCS), plant and basalt fibres (from volcanic rock) bound in a sugar-cane-derived resin, significantly lowering the carbon footprint. 

McLaren F1 GTR

This vibrantly liveried prototype for the later, more track-focused McLaren F1s became the most expensive British car ever sold at auction when it crossed the block for $34.7m (all-in) at RM Sotheby’s in Monterey this year. Our in-depth feature on this fascinating ex-Nick Mason car starts on p50 and shows that there is a lot more to it than its lofty price tag.

1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

This car’s record-breaking sale at Gooding Christies in Monterey for $43m may be what has thrust it into the limelight this year, but is just as much the previous 60 years of this more-or-less constantly campaigned car’s life that make it eligible for this award. You can read its full story in this issue of Octane, starting on p62.