As Found Classics

As Found Classics(.com)

Welcome to our newest page!

Here’s the thing. I have a ton of photos of cars in an ‘as found’ condition. Most were taken in the last century. I would guess that our readers also have a few stacks of photos of cars that they’ve found lying about here and there over the past several decades. No sense in wasting them so we’ll share them!

What is “As Found”?

Good question. Try this:
“Any classic car prior to a complete restoration, discovered by a person or persons with a camera, found in an interesting background, location, or situation.” The older and rarer the better.

What do you have?

We have enough to get the ball rolling, but we are really interested in seeing what our readers can come up with from their respective shoe boxes. Old film photos are preferred, but recent digital images are fine too. It’s just that it is getting harder to find ‘as found’ cars!

If you have any, let us know. We’ll be glad to publish them. If you can, send the images along with a short paragraph or story like the one below, elaborating about when, where, and why the photo was taken; if not, send what you know. Only French and Italian cars need apply. Scan at 300 dpi and send to me at vack@cox.net. You can also send via snail mail and I’ll scan, and return. Please make sure there are no copyright issues!

As Found Classic Number Twenty Four

By Pete Vack

The last automotive star of the movie The Racers has been found and is now under restoration and being readied for Pebble Beach 2017. The Vignale-bodied 1400 Fiat had a very brief role in the movie. It was difficult for even the hard core among us to determine exactly what make and model it was.

But sharp eyes would have noted that a similar cabriolet had appeared on the cover of the February 1953 issue of Motor Trend. And that in turn appears much like Michelotti’s 1952 sketch, which was a part of an ad for Vignale with other designs. Could the Motor Trend cover car be the same as the car in the movie?

According to Motor Trend, the model was “…Mrs. Dorothea Herrscher, who, incidentally, is the owner of the trim $6000 Fiat. She bought the car, designed by the Italian auto stylist, Vignale, over from Itay. Not too long ago she entered the car in the Oakland Sports Car Show where it won first place in its class. Considerable interest in the car was evident at our own Motorama show. Interior work is exceptionally well done.”

Not mentioned by the magazine was the fact that the designer was really the remarkable Giovanni Michelotti, and the Fiat was among his many achievements during the early 1950s. (Read Vignale Parts 1-3). Below is his original sketch for the Fiat 1400.

Our feature on The Racers several weeks ago prompted long time reader and historian Jim Sitz to comment on the find…

“That special Vignale bodied FIAT 1400 cabriolet belonged to a lovely lady in Beverly Hills named Dorothea who could certainly afford such a machine. I met her at Concours d’Elegance on the lawn of the Ambassador Hotel, on July 11th, 1953, which offered Stars and their Cars–it was quite a day! She was accompanied by my friend John Hart who was better known then as The Long Ranger, They made quite the couple. Hart was riding high back then, and best known for having replaced Clayton Moore in 1952 for one season of the television series, The Lone Ranger.”

Jim couldn’t confirm that the Herrscher car was the same one used in the movie, but like real estate, location is important. The scenes in the Racers with Kirk Douglas were all filmed in Hollywood, so the Fiat Vignale was not in Europe at the time, but in Los Angeles.

While John Fitch worked as a consultant in Europe on the film, on the West Coast Phil Hill was hired to help keep the competition machinery in running order. “In August of [1954] I joined the Racers company out at Twentieth Century Fox as their technical adviser…..The studio had a camera crew in Europe in the spring of ’54 equipped with 12 CinemaScope lenses. They got much more than 90,000 feet of color film, most of it at events such as the Mille Miglia, French Grand Prix, Nurburgring and Spa.

“On the Fox back lot they’d duplicated the pit areas….Douglas and other the others would roll in for a tire change, or accelerate out of the frame. I taught them how to take off without spinning the car or stalling.” 1

Sitz recalled talking to Phil Hill about the movie. “In late 1954, the cameras crews returned from Europe and then realized a shortage of film from the German Grand Prix, so they had Phil Hill and his old racing friend Dave Sykes take a pair of Maseratis down to north San Diego county on road at bottom of Mt Palomar, to shoot more.

“I asked Phil about this 40 years later and he laughed about it, comments How they merely unloaded the GP cars and made a few runs up the Hill At village called Rincon Springs—I told Hill I knew it well from still using it for fast motorcycle rides over to Borrego Springs in 1990s.

“The Racers” movie poster is really a lobby card now in the collection of Paul Chenard.

“After Hill mentioned this I made point to re-run the movie and sure enough, the greenery of the ‘Ring turns to the brown of your typical Southern California surroundings, with a grove of orange trees on each side of the road. I had to call Phil back to report those oranges still growing in California— rare now with so much development. Hill also spoke of shooting more scenes In San Fernando valley… I think Chatsworth of Northridge… to simulate French GP at Rheims. That area is 100% covered in cheap homes now!”

Hill, however, said nothing about the Herrscher Fiat 1400 Vignale and the scene with Kirk Douglas on the back lot.

A “Motor Trend” shot of the interior of the Herrscher car in 1953.

Interior of the Fiat 1400 as found.

But Jason Wenig, CEO of Creative Workshop in Dania Beach Florida, has determined that the Herrscher Fiat is the one in his shop; the Italian registration that came with the car identifies it at the same one as sold to Dorothea Herrscher.
Wenig has laid out his case below:

1) Italian license plate info for plate 163933 confirms this is the plate shown on the car in the Motor Trend cover. This document also lists the chassis number of this car. This document definitively ties our car to the “Motor Trend” cover car. That said, we are unsure if the car in “The Racers” carried the same plate (163933)…but we continue to review the film to see if there may be a glimpse…

…SO the opposing argument would be:
– They must have made two (or more) (although we have found no evidence that this is the case and that would mean any/all of the cars they built are still lost – except of course, for ours).
– They were painted identically (highly unlikely).
– They were both in LA at the same time (would be a remarkable coincidence).

View the film clip below to see the similarities:

If our readers can be of any help, here is how to contact Jason Wenig at the address below or send an email to the Editor at vack@cox.net.

The Creative Workshop
www.TheCreativeWorkshop.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheCreativeWorkshop/
118 Hill Street, Dania Beach, FL 33004

1 Phil Hill Yankee Champion, 1962, Putnam, William F. Nolan

As Found Classic Number Twenty-Three

Is this a rare Pinin Farina body? And on what chassis?

Santa Croce – PARMA
Italy

Dear Peter:
Last fall I found this car parked in the basement of a closed Fiat dealership in Cremona Italy. It had sat since 1979 and been “sort of” taken care of first by the now deceased owner and then his son. We know very little about it.
(Read Full Story)

As Found Classic Number Twenty-Two

Car as found at Elkhart Lake. Pure beauty here. But was it Figoni?

This photo was taken by my father Don Vack on June 18, 1960 at Road America near Elkhart Lake Wisconsin. At a time when American cars could be called many things but rarely beautiful, my father made an effort to show me, and later my brother Greg, that there were in fact cars that were beautiful, stunning, and well-proportioned; most did not hail from Detroit. This Talbot Lago was one of them. For over a half century, we wondered who the coachbuilder was, for lack of other ideas, assumed that it was a Figoni et Falaschi creation. Now, thanks to Peter Larsen, Bruno Martin and current owner Steve Hamilton, we can answer that question.

(Read Full Story)

As Found Classic Number Twenty One

Read last week’s article by Graham Gauld; this had Dino Brunori stumped…for a while.

In early 2013 I was asked to inspect a car in Turin that was abandoned in a garage in the 70s and had never seen the light until our inspection. The car had a BMW 750 twin engine and a tubular chassis, so someone suggested the owner that it could be a Nardi.

As you know, the tubular chassis and this type of engine were the cornerstones on which Nardi built a bunch of his winning hillclimb model, the ND 750 beginning in 1947. The ND 750 had a tubular chassis designed by an old Nardi acquaintance named Augusto Monaco, whilst the engine came from the ARAR war surplus scrapyards and was originally fitted to the BMW R75 motorbikes of the German armed forces.

Both these elements were on our mystery car, but it was definitely not a Nardi. The design of the chassis was different, the size of the tubes was different, the engine had none of the tuning elements that Nardi used to modify the engine and so on. I went on with my researches and discovered … here it is what I discovered.

(Read Full Story)

As Found Classic Number Twenty

Carl Goodwin on a Siata find that needs your help

Somewhere south of the border, a Siata waits for someone.

In his great book on Siata cars, and especially the 8V model, author Tony Andriaensens includes even the remains of a derelict 208 Spyder. That’s the one that John Dunham and a motorcyclist friend found in Tijuana, Mexico. It is Siata serial number BS 527.

A group of friendly guys who protected the Siata in Mexico.

It could have been taken to the scrap yard and sold for the value of the aluminum body, but John and his friend found it first. And now, thanks to this fortuitous event, the car will be saved. In fact it is being saved.

(Read Full Story)

As Found Classic Number Nineteen

Dear Pete,

One of my favorite photos to share…my 1934 Alfa Romeo 6C2300 Pescara, S/N 700.610. It was your copy of “High Performance Italian Cars” that I had the good fortune to buy from you, which in turn led me to become a premium subscriber to VeloceToday!

Sincerely,
Robert Piltch

Robert Piltch with his fantastic Rometsch-bodied Alfa Pescara.

Read Full Story

As Found Number Eighteen

The response to the Alfa in search of a chassis was so helpful that our French collector sent another mystery Alfa for our readers to solve. Surely someone in Europe or the U.S. might remember this chop job…who would forget this attempt make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse. Here is all we know:

“This is an Alfa Giulietta SS 1961, sold new in Belgium. Someone wanted to make it more streamlined, or it was in an accident and perhaps they wanted a more fancy body, or someone got the urge to make a Sprint Speciale look like the Bertone Ferrari. They raced or rallied with the car, so perhaps someone may have a picture? This car a part of my collection, in Bar le Duc France.

Contact me at trustclassics@wanadoo.fr”

Behind that hideous grin is a Sprint Speciale.

As Found Number Seventeen

A body in search of a chassis.

A mystery in Italy, France and anywhere there might be an Alfa SZ without its original body. A VeloceToday reader and collector from TrustClassics in Bar le Duc, France, sent these photos of a front and back section of an Alfa SZ.

All we know is that they were found in Italy, but are now with the collector in France.
There does not appear to be any Zagato stampings or marks to indicate the body run, nor any idea of what the chassis number that was associated with the body.

Clearly, the panels were once on a chassis, but no one knows which one. They could be spare Zagato parts as offered by Zagato in the 1960s.

If anyone knows the history, chassis number, Zagato number of any information that might help, please get in touch with Luck Rockx at trustclassics@wanadoo.fr

As Found Number Sixteen

A period photo of Richard’s Simca 8.Back of photo reads: 1951 Simca 8 Sport, 1100cc, 4 cyl Fiat based Gordini modified engine. Farina Envelope Aluminum body. Restored and owned by T.A. Glendening 1953-1955

Reader Richard Plavetich writes:

When you started the As Found Classics column on VeloceToday, I submitted photos of my Simca 8 Sport I bought a few years ago. (see above). Well, suddenly, the story has become much more interesting!

This week I was contacted by the son of the (deceased) prior owner. His mother found a poster from the 1950 Sebring 6 hour race listing the results. She said the prior owner of the Simca was named John Bentley. His name was on the poster, shown as having finished the race in a Simca, in 21st place (out of 23).

I found a March 1951 issue from Road & Track in my archives showing the Bentley Simca at Sebring. The car shown is dark (black?).

Bentley at Sebring with the Simca 8. Is it the same car?

My car is white – having been painted in the early 50’s. However, from some flaking paint on the front of the car, clearly it was originally painted black. Additionally, it is fit with a period fabricated dual-carb manifold.

In doing some further research on John Bentley’s racing career online I learned that he also ran a Simca in the 5/12/51 Giants’ Despair Hillclimb.

While this information is very exciting, I am trying to find additional images or information linking the Simca to John Bentley, Sebring 1950, or the Giants’ Despair Hillclimb of 1951. I never imagined that the car had such a past! Any help with this mystery would be much appreciated!!!

Many thanks,
Rich Plavetich
Laguna Beach CA
949-606-5791

As Found Number Fifteen

What a neat little coupe, but the lot of us can’t figure out the coachbuilder or chassis! Thanks to Dale Lafollette of VintageMotorphoto for these photos of yet another mystery Lancia. As LaFollette wrote, “This is in my collection, I need to dry mount it as it is damaged but I really love it. It is French I am sure, I would love to have this car as it is somewhere between an Bugatti Atlantic and a cartoon!”

Note the wheels and compare to the Belnas Pourtout stand below, and the writing in the lower right corner. What did it mean?

We were stumped so we sent the photo on to our senior correspondent Gijsbert-Paul Berk. He in turn wrote:

Concerning your mystery car: I searched in my files but did not find anything resembling the car on the photo. Then I tried to read the text on the photo. It is not very clear and a rather difficult handwriting, but by enlarging the photo this is what I could decipher:

1e Prix d’Or de l’Juauiame
Creations Henri Leuyx? Ferrel or Ferral
Victor Hugo Meusuufuvile? 1935
Puteaux

PM. Jusquiames are plants belonging to the Hyoscyamus group and are family of the Solanacées. In Europe two types are known; the White Jusquiame (Hyoscyamus albus) that grow mainly around the Mediterranean basin and the Black Jusquiame (Hyoscyamus niger) which is more widespread. Both plants have attractive flowers but are extremely poisonous.
NB. There is also a very successful 4 year-old racehorse in France with the name “Black Jusquiame.”

My guess is that the car is a custom-bodied Lancia Belna. The Belna were the Lancia Augusta produced in the French Lancia factory at Bonneul-sur-Marne. Telltales are the right-hand steering wheel and the wheels. The car was probably made by a small coachwork shop in Puteaux (a suburb of Paris).
I think that the workforce of this enterprise is proudly posing behind the car in 1935 after their ‘creation’ won the Golden First Prize de l’Juauiame in a local Concours. Unfortunately, I could not find a trace of a Carrossier called Ferrel or Ferral in the phone book or business register of Puteaux.
For your information I include a photo of a Lancia Belna so you can compare the wheels.

Best regards, Gijsbert-Paul

Lancia Belnas on the Pourtout stand. Click on pic to read more about Pourtout.

LaFollette counted the holes in the wheels and they are not the same…but the Belna connection still makes the most sense here. Now it is your turn! Email me at vack@cox.net if you have any information.

As Found Number Fourteen

One of Lancia’s late and perhaps unlamented last-ditch efforts to capture a share of the U.S. market was the Beta, which in turn gave way to the much more interesting mid-engined Monte Carlo, or Scorpion, as it was known in the U.S. as Chevy had claimed the tag for its oh-so-sophisticated Chevy Monte Carlo. The Beta sold in decent numbers but not enough. A few remain, here and there, this one hidden behind fishing gear in a remote area of Virginia. We don’t know if it is still there.

The sign gives some clue as to the location. We think, however, that it may sleep with the fish today.

As Found Number Thirteen

Thanks to Dale Lafollette of VintageMotorphoto for these photos of a Lancia. Clearly it is an Astura, and thanks to Paolo Giusti and Geoffrey Goldberg, we even know some of the history of this particular car. But what we don’t know is where these photos were taken, by whom, exactly when, or who owned it at the time.

In the mid-1950s, when these photos were taken, the Lancia was apparently in Indiana or at least licensed in that state. To help you help solve the mystery, the two photos below can be enlarged to twice the size if clicked.

The tag reads: Top, 198891 IND55, middle, AD 43, bottom, INDIANA. Look at the Roman columns behind the Lancia; are they in Indiana? Are they even in the U.S.? Could these be in Trieste where the car was presumably found?

From the same time, or so we think, is another photo of the Astura at an airfield. Is this a SAC event in the U.S.? Or an Army base, as the owner at the time was reported to be an Army Officer? The tag on the Allard reads 4T 4326. The car behind the Astura is left-hand drive and there appears to be an American sedan in the background, so odds favor it being in the U.S.

We have a great many readers in the U.K., Italy, and the U.S. Can you help?

As Found Number Twelve

Another not quite “as found” but we would like to know if any of our readers might shed some light on this recent entrant at the Art of the Car Concours in Kansas City. Here is what Michael T. Lynch reported about the car:

“Ralph Marano’s Vignale-bodied Packard is a mystery. The body is on a 1939 Packard 120 chassis, named for the length of its wheelbase. Several questions arise. Was it sent to Italy as a bare chassis? If not, did it lose its body during the war? How did it find its way to Vignale? It is thought that the coachwork was done in 1948, which would make it one of the first cars Vignale did under his own name. Whatever happened, the car is very Vignale with wonderful details. Alfredo was already a master. Despite the size of the car, his fluidity of design is just as evident as on the smaller cars he usually worked on.”

Can anyone answer any of these questions? Note that the inset in the photo below is an even rarer Packard Vignale convertible reportedly built as late as 1953.

Morano’s Packard, with convertible Vignale in inset. Color photo by Bob Dinkins.

The photo from Road and Track as found by Jim Sitz. Note the word ‘Packard’ on the windshield. This appeared in the March 1951 issue, so the car pre-dates 1953. See comments!

As Found Number Eleven

From VeloceToday reader Doug Wink:
I bought a B20 Aurelia in England in 1976 and subsequently joined the American Lancia Club. I took this photo at one of the club picnics in the late 70s. I don’t remember where, or who the host was, but he had these two Aurelias (one spider and one convertible) in his garage. I liked the light, as well as the cars, so here it is.

Almost looks like Moon’s garage but it’s not, nor Tom Stewart’s. Help!

As Found Number Ten

JP Duhem sent us some tantalizing “As Found” photos of a sports racing car either under construction or being modified. Note the heavy tube chassis beneath the oddly placed steering box, and Porsche? type steel wheels. JP told us the cars is situated in Belgium and belonged to the Heers brothers, who were fond of racing. It has been sitting in a dark cellar for thirty years. Since the car is so tantalizing we have included four photos to help identify it or the chassis. No, we have no other information. Let’s hear it from our readers!

The body seems to be having a make-over when the project was abandon. But what is underneath?

Note the chassis member beneath the steering box.

Wheels are street stock something...

A lot going on in the cockpit, but what do you see?

As Found Number Nine

Reader Dave Rex submitted these photos and here is his story:

In 1961 I bought a very nice 1956 Corvette from the original owner. It had dual quads, been bored to 283 cu in and a 1957 four-speed added by the dealer. My dream car!

I had a real interest in road racing after attending some of the races at Road America and was excited about getting a sports car that I could enter in some rallies and autocrosses.

A few weeks after I bought the Corvette there was an ad in the local paper for a Ferrari located a couple of miles from my house in Wilmette, Illinois. I answered the ad and went to look at the car. They were asking $1,800 for the car which is exactly what I had paid for the Corvette. The car needed some bodywork on the left front fender but that was not a deal-breaker.

I struggled with the decision on whether to sell the Corvette and buy the Ferrari or to keep the Corvette. I finally decided to keep the Corvette. I had a lot of fun with the car for the next 30 years. I took it to race driver’s school, autocross events and rallies. Looking back I could have done the same with the Ferrari and would have had a much more unusual car…..In my next life I’ll be smarter!

This angle almost hides the fender damage...

That’s an Austin-Healey windshield holding up that top.

And the fender damage. Still, at only $1800, it was a deal, even in 1961. The Ferrari is 0336MM, now owned by Rob Walton.

As Found Number Eight

Marke Jaffe writes: I have another “As found” submission. In the early 1960s, a bunch of my buds and I used to travel from suburban Philadelphia to many surrounding SCCA events, and we even had a habit of hanging out in a little garage in Bryn Mawr, PA where Roger Penske (he was one of our neighbors in Gladwyne) was building and tuning his “Telar Special” which I believe was a Cooper-Maserati. One of our trips was to an event in Cumberland, MD where the photo at the following link was taken.

Ok, we know what this is but we’ll let you guess. Whoever knows what it is might be able to tell us more about the bodywork, which surely captures the essence of the 1950s Italian sports racer. Who hammered it?

As Found Number Seven

Or maybe an “As Built Classic” this week. At any rate, Toly Arutunoff purchased this oddity a few years back. He’d like to get FISA papers on it so he can enter it at Villa d’Este. And why not? So with that in mind, here is a bit about the car in Toly’s own words:
“This special, based on an MGA 1600 chassis and engine, was built in the early ’80s–don’t ask me how i know–by the Romanian sculptor Pistoi who lives/lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s an aluminum body that lifts off the chassis by removing about 9 bolts. It’s called a Savoy (written on the headrest plaque (I think) and there’s a little plaque on the side that says “3”. Various claiming-to-be-knowledgeable people have told me through the last decade or so that there’s a vaguely similar car in a collection in Japan. It’s asymmetrical with that lift-up door on the driver’s side only. It has many small art deco features that you have to get close to discover. It drives just fine, although bumpily because of the oversize tires for esthetics’ sake.

“It was advertised with a small photo on the back of a “L’Art et l”Automobile” catalog years ago. I was the only bidder. I picked up the car at Hyman’s in St. Louis and he couldn’t get over how he let this little work of art get away. “It was sitting right there for months,” he said. I told him his mind was clouded because of all the high-zoot automobiles on his floor and that anyway God wanted me to have it.

“Now, all we need are papers. Can anyone…like Jeremy Hall…help out?”

Toly’s find. Needs papers.

Someone must be able to help, Can’t even find any trace of the artist on Google. You try.

As Found Number Six

A true “as found” this week, and a very special car indeed. In 1964, Zagato designer Ercole Spada, fresh off the Alfa Zagato TZ2 project, designed a series of “frowning little rascals’ meant for the Hillman Imp (Zimp), the BMC Mini Cat, and for the Fiat 850, a unique and daring new coupe. At least two were made. One was found after 36 years of hibernation.

The Zagato loaded up.

As Found Number Five

Submitted by JVL, this photo was taken at the Reading Hillclimb in the 1950s. But what is it?

This week another old race car. We think Mr. Ludvigsen has provided the answer to number 4 below, and unexpectedly it was found to be an Austin Healey. But what is the car above? It looks like one of the early pre-DB Aston Martins, but the grille does not make sense. So have fun with this one!

As Found Number Four

Here is the photo courtesy of Darrin’s Old Car Photos, click on the photo to get to Darrin’s neat site. But, we simply don’t know what this is!

Ok, so like the Ferrari Number Three, this is not actually an “As Found” photo. But, we just can’t let these photos go by unnoticed! Randy Cook, author of the new book Bowtie Ferraris sent us this image found on Darrin’s Old Car photo site. Is it a Ferrari, he wondered? Is it a Chevy-engined Ferrari? We didn’t know so we passed it on. To most everyone who knew anything about Ferraris. NONE could come up with an answer. So, your turn…but this photo is ALL the information we have…just a date. No location, name, or car. Good Luck!

May 14, 2015 From Karl Ludvigsen: Number 4 looks very much like a Chevy-engined Austin-Healey about which I wrote in the day. I believe I did a story on it for Hot Rod of all people.

At the time I was in Red Bank, New Jersey learning how to fix radios for the Army. I ran across the project of a fellow named Dick Matthews and wrote it up. This fits exactly with the 1958 timeframe mentioned in the margin.

Having just found the article in the March 1958 Hot Rod I’m sure that’s what it is — although the paint scheme then was the reverse…

As Found Number Three

As Found Classic Ferrari, photo courtesy David Hewitt.

Reader (and contributor) David Hewitt sent this photo to us, an “as found”, more or less, at Watkins Glen in circa 1968. He couldn’t identify it so we hit the books to discover that it is a Vignale Ferrari, Serial Number 0238A. That makes it a 340 America. Originally the car was bodied by Vignale as a three-port spider, but suffered an accident and was rebodied again by Vignale as this Mexico-like coupe. But wait, the coupe body was later removed and the chassis again rebodied with a Vignale spider. Today, according to Marcel Massini, the body seen here has a non-Ferrari chassis. Our thanks to Hewitt and Massini!

As Found Number Two

An As Found Classic from Portugal…thank you Carlos!

This photo that I’m sending you is not exactly an “As Found” classic, but an original photo of the Plymouth Explorer 1954, circa 1959 with the owner’s wife posing. At least the body is Italian, by Ghia, as you did remark that only Italian and French were accepted.

Best Regards.
Carlos Reis de Carvalho, Portugal

As Found Number One

This Lancia Aurelia was found somewhere in Virginia in August of 1984. Photo by Pete Vack.

This photo elicited the following response from one of our readers, Montague Gammon III. It may well have been the same Lancia.

Hard on the brakes at well over the speed limit in the left lane of Route 13 on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, I spun the wheel of my slightly tatty Plymouth Horizon and screeched into the break in the median strip.