October 4, 2002
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Giulia Super Registry
VeloceToday was forwarded on to me by a friend in England and I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the various articles, particularly the story of the Ti Supers in Argentina. I have been in contact with the author previously but will certainly do so once again. I am the convenor of the Giulia Super Register (which started back in mid 80's) and from its quite humble beginnings the GSR has grown to currently list almost 700 Giulia Supers, Ti's, Nuovas, Ti Supers, Giulia Ti's and other variants of this model, in 20 countries around the world. Membership of the GSR is free to any owner. The aim of the GSR is to locate and list as many of this particular model of AR as can be located and to offer technical assistance and information about availability of spare parts to any members seeking to keep a car alive and or restore one. You are providing excellent reading material for lovers of Italian cars. Keep up the good work.
Super regards
Barry Edmunds
barrye@netstra.com.au
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Indianapolis F1
Erik,
Sometimes I believe you smell! Ferrari has every reason to do as they are doing. They were the F1 door mat for too long. What, 20 years?
The M&R show was fantastic. I do believe that in the past racing teams crossed the finish line in formation, so what Ferrari (M&R) did is certainly not new.
From what I saw on ABC, Ralf DID NOT cause the team problem, JP did. Ralf, I believe, had the corner, and as usual, in his youthfulness and dumbness, JP tried to take the corner from him. Big mistake.
Carry on Ferrari!
Ken Stutzman
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New York, New York
Pete,
I was surprised to read that the new Lambo had upstaged the Ferrari at the Italian avantgarde in car design show. It can be understood in rather base terms. it is analogous to Pamela Anderson causing a bigger stir walking down the street than Cindy Crawford. People enjoy the wild and raw, not the talented, beautiful and brilliant (Cindy was valedictorian of her high school class and went to northwestern). While I will admit the Murcielago has looked marginally better with time it is still a far cry from what it should be. Lamborghini has always been outrageous, salacious and ridiculously fast. This design has not come close to breaking new ground visually, in fact it leaves me entirely devoid of desire. Further, while the car may be more powerful and better made it has been entirely disappointing to me. Gone are the sensuous fenders of the Muira, the complex edges of the Countach, the sinister smoothness of the Diablo. What do we find with the Murcielago? It looks plain, uninspiring and fat. There are certain flourishes that seem added on (headlights, lower side ducting) and the tail is a hideous application of the most awful taillights I have seen.
In contrast we turn to the Enzo. Sculpted through years of aerodynamic research and careful application of that cutting edge technology into an automobile that is the pinnacle of performance. The Ferrari draws on it heritage through design cues as the heat vents behind the front wheels (F40), forward and up opening doors (512S), twin front radiator openings (360), not to mention those fabulous fender badges of the Scuderia. Ferrari applied its full F1 resources toward building this car and the unrivaled testing combo of Michael Schumacher and Dario Benuzzi. The Enzo is graceful, lithe, powerful and uncompromising. All of its elements have been blended seamlessly (the jury is still out on the taillights). The heritage, the technology and the overwhelming beauty of Pininfarina's execution make a mockery of all challengers.
David Kaiyalethe
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I was really pleased with the article describing the "Italian Avantgarde in Car Design". Such initiative is worth reporting on and will certainly contribute to enhance the credibility of Italy, its people and its industries. From the photographs taken by Ms. Dixon --- by the way, congratulations for the excellent job under the difficult indoor conditions -- I note that the majority of the cars selected for this exhibit are indeed relevant to the history of Italian car design, except may be the Ferrari Enzo and the Lamborgini Murciellago, the usual "millionaire's toys" overpublicized in every car magazinecalendar in the USA and abroad. Also, I note that the organizers have wisely not taken de route of re-introducing the same old show cars that have a proven huge investment potential or command million dollar figures at auction. It is pleasant to note also that the cars that are presented to the public are not necessarily over-restored, but give the impression that they are kept rolling --- even with missing hubcabs --- by the enthusiasts of Italian avantgarde engineering and design such as Mr. Moon --- in case of the Lancia Aprilia. The Bertone Corvair Testudo: I believe that the name Testudo stands for a certain variety of turtle. The shape of the car was reminiscent of a turtle. It was a car that encompassed several design clues that were seen later on other products by this and other coach builders --- see the front light that were used on the FIAT 850 spider (European version) and the fabled Lamborghini Miura; furthermore the front bumper of this car looked much the same of that of the earliest Lamborghinis. If I recall well the back of the Testudo showed great similarity with the louvered Sting Ray prototypes by General Motors and of course the Lancia Stratos --- a car that should not have been missing in the collection of cars shown in New York.
Finally, I wish to congratulate the Italian Trade Commissioner and the Association of the Italian Auto Manufacturers for supporting this initiative. However, I note that Italian car manufacturers completely lost the American market in the past decade or so, with the exception of Ferrari of course. Unfortunately many consumers here in the USA are compelled to buy American, Japanese and German cars there where they would have preferred to buy Italian products, in particular those of Alfa Romeo. Let's hope that the Italian Trade Commissioner will be able to convey this message to the Italian car manufacturers and that we will in the USA be able to drive Alfa Romeos ---as some of us were used too --- and thus without the General Motors engines!
Sincerely,
Lorenzo Marchesini
