By Joe Hurwich
Color images by a variety of photographers. Thank you all!
It started in the summer of 2020. I found a car online that I thought would be great for the Mille Miglia – a 1931 Aston Martin. There were a couple of problems though. The car was in England and Covid 19 was rampant. I negotiated a bit, and we struck a deal, subject to an inspection.
The Aston Martin in a contemporary photo circa 1931. This is an exceedingly desirable SOHC four cylinder 1.5 liter “International Le Mans” Bertelli Aston Martin.
Well, as you might imagine that never worked. From then through early 2021 it wasn’t possible to go to England to test drive the car. I had an expert in Aston Martin’s inspect it for me, closed my eyes and wrote a check. I arranged for the car to be shipped to Brescia, Italy, the starting point for the Mille. The car was to arrive on the Sunday before the event started but when I called the transit driver, he said he wouldn’t arrive until Monday around noon. So much for my Monday 10 AM appointment for my car to be inspected.
I’m at right with the previous owner, who told me he did 36000 miles in this car over 12 years.
When we arrived at the location, I saw a transporter with the name of the company I used for shipping and on the upper deck of this truck was an Aston Martin. I checked to see if it was mine. Yes, it was, and it was my beautiful 1931 Aston Martin. The driver said he had been there for a few hours but couldn’t unload because his hydraulic system wasn’t working, but not to worry he had called a mechanic two hours earlier. Three hours later my car came off the truck and I was able to register without further issues and drive my car for the first time!
The Aston as is came off the transporter in Brescia. It was the first time I’d laid eyes on it.
It wasn’t my first Mille Miglia, and I have been interested in cars for years. My first car out of college was a Fiat 124 Spider, which I eventually drove cross country when I moved to California. I moved on to normal daily driver American cars after that! A friend got me interested in Ferraris in the early 2000s. I also got interested in classic cars. I couldn’t afford older Ferraris so I started seeking out other marques. My first was (and still is ) a 1959 Alfa Giulietta Veloce Spider which I drove twice in the CA Mille. I currently have 3 Alfas and a Lancia B 24 Convertible along with a modern Ferrari.
I had wanted to do the Mille for about 10 years and had entered various cars that were not accepted. Finally I had the opportunity to buy a 1957 Fiat 600 which was the first car to start the race in 1957 so it was almost a guaranteed entrant. I drove the Fiat in 2019 and had friends drive my Fiat in 2021 MM and it finished again for the 3rd time.
The Mille is a 1,000-mile road rally, not a race, on 2 lane roads from Brescia down the west side of the country to Rome and back on the east side to Brescia, all in 3 days. It is known as the “most beautiful race in the world” and certainly lives up to that in my mind. The countryside is beautiful. We drove along both the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic arms of the Mediterranean and traversed three mountains this year.
At scrutineering. I’m at left, and my cousin and co driver Andy Hurwich on right.
It seems like an endurance rally, as two of the days are over 16 hours in the car, then dinner, and maybe 4 hours sleep. It started in 1927 but was stopped as a race in 1957, due to too many deaths. Admitted cars must be either the exact vehicle that was in the race during that period or the same model as a vehicle that was in the race between 1927 and 1957. Admittance is based upon the car, not the driver. You can see just about every make of car produced during that period from inexpensive Fiat 500s to multi-million-dollar Alfa Romeos, Mercedes, and Ferraris.
Unlike Americans who generally just look at their expensive classic cars, the Europeans all drive their very expensive classic cars. It looks like a big classic car show and is always won by an Italian and one might ask if the fix is in! It is one of the most exciting things I have ever done, and this was my 3rd time. My goal was to finish and secondarily to be in the top 50%. I was driving a right-hand drive open car, so we hoped for no rain, and were rewarded.
The Mille is a “regularity” rally with over 100 different scoring opportunities. These include driving a short specific distance in a specified number of seconds, driving a 5–10-kilometer distance at a specific average speed, and arriving at specific cities in a specific number of hours, minutes and seconds. Everything is timed to the hundredth of a second. Arriving early comes with big penalties.
People stand along the side of the road out in the country and in the towns and villages to cheer the cars on. This isn’t just car enthusiasts, but just about everyone. Men, women, children, office workers, Italian grandmothers, etc. People hold out their hands to slap hands with the drivers as we pass by and women even hold their infants up to slap hands with drivers as well. Onlookers hand you things from their towns: Prosciutto from Parma, cheese from the Emilio Romano and wine from the wine regions. It was quite hot this year, so as we passed through many of the towns, people handed us bottles of water and in one town someone brought us each a bottle of beer from their roadside table.
Right after scrutineering and finally able to drive my ‘new’ Aston.
In 2019, it was reported that over 2 million people, or roughly 5% of the Italian population, watched the event. Speed isn’t important, you just drive a steady speed, watch the scenery, and have a good time. My car performed beautifully, and we finished the rally in 4th place of the American teams and in the top ½ of all teams. This car and event met all my expectations. On the plane home I had two thoughts: I’m getting too old for this and probably won’t do it again (I said that twice before) and oh my God, I just drove 1,000 miles in a 90-year-old car!
Here’s a few of the photos supplied to us, taken of our Aston during the Mille Miglia. Great memories indeed!
More information on Pre War “Bertelli” Aston Martins can be found here: http://www.ecuriebertelli.com/amcinternationalcont.html
Click here to subscribe!
Take away the rondels and some of the photos transport you back to the Thirties.
Woah… Voisin C28 Aerosport in the background of the third pic.
Great article Joe. It makes me want to do the MM or something like it. Carter
Molto bella l’Aston, nonostante i 90 anni. Ma neanche il proprietario, anche lui avanti con gli anni non scherza.
Complimenti a tutti e due.