Alfa Sprint Veloce Zagato looking refreshingly original. But we have no idea if that is actually the case...
By Rick Bartholomew and Wallace Wyss
Italian cars were a definite draw at the Art Center Classic for 2013, the annual show held at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The college is the premier art school in the world for training car designers.
The most impressive part of the show was the Mullin Museum (Related story: Exclusive at the Mullin) tent which had several Bugattis and a wooden buck of the type used in Europe to check hand-hammered body panels to see if they are conforming to the general shape. The car itself was about 90% done.
There was also the Cadillac Ghia, ex-Princess Rita Hayworth from the Petersen Museum, (Related story: Rita’s Ghias) and two significant Alfas, a GTZ in mint condition imported from Italy, and a round-tail Alfa Sprint Veloce Zagato.
Hayworth's Ghia Cadillac made an appearance at the Art show.
One car that was rare, rare, rare, and the first one we’ve seen in person was a Gmund Porsche 356, an aluminum-bodied Porsche from the very early days of Porsche production when they were still in Gmund, Austria. (Related story: Silver Speedster) It belonged to famous photographer Jeff Zwart. There was also an Italian-bodied 356, an Abarth Carrera, one of 20 made in Italy when the Germans thought the Italians had a secret lock on lightweight bodywork.
Gmund coupes had wrap-around side windows and were all aluminum.
A significant blend of America and Italy was the Kelly Corvette, a Vignale-bodied Corvette that was once a Car and Driver cover car. The family showing the car handed out a booklet that contained the whole story. More about the car and the book can be read here (Related story: More on the Kelly Vette).
Side view of the Kelly Vignale Vette from the book by Larry Edsall.
The Art Center show is very eclectic; it presents cars from various niches of the car world, not all of which are embraced by regular concours. For instance, they had a great rat rod there; rat rods are cars that are unpainted, rusty, and look like they are from some backwoods town in Utah, but they have real character. Pebble Beach may not be ready for rat rods yet but Art Center is!
Rat Rods: Accidental artists.
A custom Pontiac Grand Prix shown by a designer who was hired by William L. Mitchell back in the sixties. The designer’s tribute car went so far as to have William L. Mitchell’s name writ large in chrome on the car. The designer told us he was grateful to get hired by Mitchell, hence the tribute. I guess we never had any bosses worthy of a tribute…[hey, wait a minute, what about your Editor?]
There was also a Ghia barchetta Ford show car. This was a tiny two-seater, designed at Ghia Carrozzeria when Ford still owned it. We don’t know if it’s a runner or a pushmobile, but for owner Scott Grundfor, who spent almost a million on getting Gilda turbine-powered, (Related story: Gilda, Showcar to Turbine), getting a piston engine car running should be duck soup!
A Zagato-bodied Ferrari seemed to combine the best of the lines of the Aston Martin DB4GTZ and the Ferrari of the time.
Just for laughs, Gary Wales was showing a superbly crafted car called something like “The Beast” in Italian, a huge car with his usual plethora of gauges on the dash and a powerplant that looked positively Stone Age. Gary long ago left restoring cars dead stock and now makes the most whimsical cars this side of the Disney studios.
Among the Ferraris, a BB and one of the few Ferrari Zagatos.
Corvette buffs got off on the Mako Shark I Corvette and the original Sting Ray race car, brought all the way out from the GM Heritage Center Warren, Michigan to display next to the 2014 Corvette. Both were parked next to Pete Brock, one of the most illustrious former Art Center students, who was displaying his wife’s Brock coupe, basically a modern update of the Cobra Daytona coupe. Brock and his wife own two of the retro cars, 130 of which were made in South Africa before Shelby took over marketing them under his own name.
Touring's Aston Martin perched on a hillside at the art center.
Car companies also showed prototypes such as Infiniti with a 2009 design that looked Aston Martinish, and Tesla with a gull-winged car.
There were several guest speakers, a panel discussion with luminaries, among them Freeman Thomas, Ford’s director of Advanced Design and GM’sTom Peters, responsible for the new Corvette.
Leno and photographer Rick Bartholomew.
The nice part of this show is that you can wander about the school and see various works on display, such as in their own little museum. This is a very expensive school, but deemed worth it by gearheads whose vision is to become a car designer, and it’s interesting to see their “works in progress.”
Dante Giacosa's Fiat 500 Topolino is often part of art and design forums.
Special thanks to the PR staff who not only paved the way for our reporter-photographer team but a separate team of videographers to see if there’s enough subject there for a reality TV show in the world of designing cars.
Below, the complete list of awards
ART CENTER CAR CLASSIC 2013 “INSPIRED BY NATURE” AWARDS
ATTENDEE CHOICE AWARD WINNERS
Kids’ Choice Award
1961 Chevrolet Corvette Mako Shark
Owner: General Motors Design
Student’s Choice Award
1964 Alfa Romeo TZ (Tubolare Zagato)
Owner: Ron Hein
People’s Choice Award
1917 La Bestioni 14-liter 900 cubic inches Boat Tail Speedster
Owner: Gary Wales
Inspired by Nature Award
1959 Chevrolet Corvette Racing Stingray
Owner: General Motors Design
Meguiar’s Best Finish Award
1934 Bugatti Type 57 Aravis
Owner: Paul Emple
BEST IN CLASS
Big Bold American
1962 Chevrolet Impala SS 409 two-door coupe
Owner: Tony Garcia
Classic Beauty
1934 Bugatti Type 57 Aravis
Owner: Paul Emple
1939 Bugatti Type 64 Coupe
Owner: Peter and Merle Mullin
1938 Alfa Romeo 6C2300B Mille Miglia Berlinetta
Owner: Barry Hon
Hot Rod & Custom
1946 Lincoln Club coupe ICON Derelict
Owner: Jonathan Ward
Sports & GT
1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray split-window
Owner: Bill Galloway
1953 Siata 208S Spyder
Owner: Richard Darling
1956 Ferrari 250 GTZ Berlinetta Zagato
Owner: David Sydorick
Motorsport Innovation
1976 Tyrrell P34 F1
Owner: Bruce Canepa
Exotic
1976 Lamborghini Countach LP400
Owner: Chuck Gayton
Innovation on Two Wheels
1912 Indian Board Track Racer
Owner: Larry Freese
Designer’s Choice
1930 Bugatti Type 46 Petite Royale Gaston Grummer Faux Cabriolet
Owner: Richard Adams
1960 Ferrari 250 Pininfarina Coupe
Owner: Paul Colony
1947 car hauler with three Nash cars inside, pulled by a 1949 GMC
Owner: Peter Dunkel
1929 Bentley 4.5-liter Tourer by Vanden Plas
Owner: Bruce Meyer
1964 Shelby 289 Cobra
Owner: Ben Reiling
1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sport Saloon
Owner: Chuck Swimmer
1937 Cord 812 convertible coupe
Owner: Aaron and Valerie Weiss
1963 Lotus Elite two-door coupe
Owner: Shin Yoshikawa