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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Alfa Romeo 2600 S Zagato

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A Zagato for the Autobahn. Stefanie Schmidt photo

Story by Ralph Mantel
Photos by Stefanie Schmidt

Zagato cars always had and still have the potential to provoke strong opinions amongst car enthusiasts. Feelings vary between ugly to extremely beautiful. There is no such thing as common opinion or mainstream point of view on Zagato cars. You hate it, you love it, you might find them interesting or unusual, exciting or disturbing; there are many adjectives you could use. Some people just don’t know what to think when they see a Zagato. The mixture of lightweight and streamline, born from the race track, combines with a strong and striking design philosophy. The link between technical and aerodynamic needs and individual aesthetic character gave birth to cars with Zagato bodies. [Read more…] about Alfa Romeo 2600 S Zagato

Abarth Monomille Bialbero

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Fiat Abarth 1000, aka the Abarth Monomille Bialbero. Sean Smith photo

Story by Sean Smith

Do the posters we hang on our walls as kids really influence us later in life? A poster featuring the design and beauty of a black Porsche Turbo inspired Mike Pinkus. Over the years, the poster may have disappeared, but the ideas of design and beauty lingered. After graduating from high school Mike was moving aimlessly from job to job. He was a busboy in a restaurant, he worked for a moving company, but he had no real direction. Then Mike discovered the concept of industrial design. It lit a fire in him. With this revelation, Mike immersed himself in a five-year program at Syracuse University and came away with a bachelor’s degree in industrial design in 1984.

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1970 Targa Florio

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Gianni Petta’s incredibile diorama of the 1970 Targa Florio.

Story and photos courtesy Gianni Petta

Upon seeing our articles about Clyde Berryman’s Grand Prix dioramas, Gianni Petta of Palermo, Sicily, sent us a note about his World Sportscar Championship diorama of the 1970 Targa Florio which he has designed and constructed. Here is Petta’s description of the project…

This diorama reproduces the day of the official tests of the 54th Targa Florio on May 3, 1970, in 1/43 scale. That year there were the major race car manufacturers on hand to compete for the World Championship: Abarth, Alpine Renault, Alfa Romeo, AMS, Chevron, Daren, Jerboa (both of which sprang from the Ginetta), Ferrari, Lancia and Porsche.

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Iso Lele, 1969-1974

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The Iso Lele, the last of the line.


Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
Story by staff

Last week Alessandro Gerelli sent us these photos from a small but interesting group of Isos gathered at the old Bresso plant on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Iso Lele. Looking for additional information, I resorted to my copy of Winston Goodfellow’s book, ISORIVOLTA, The Men, the Machines,* published in 1995 by Giorgio Nada. It brought to mind the years that shook the world of the automobile as we knew it. The ten years of Iso cars, from 1963 to 1973, witnessed enormous changes in the industry, and the history of Iso is a chronicle of those times. [Read more…] about Iso Lele, 1969-1974

Renault Floride and Caravelle French Tour

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Tour’2 France – celebrating 60 years of Renault’s Floride and Caravelle.

Story and photos by John Waterhouse

“I take this opportunity to invite you to the 60 years of the Floride next year.” Our friend Alain Traon’s email in 2018 came as a complete and delightful surprise. Alain had organised the Australian contingent at the 50th celebration of the Caravelle in 2012. The “Cara’Boucles” (Daisy Tour) event in France included some 30 Australian rear-engined Renault enthusiasts, most of us from the Renault 4CV Register of Australia. This was a huge gesture of hospitality from our French friends. Alain’s tour planned for this year in May was even more ambitious. [Read more…] about Renault Floride and Caravelle French Tour

Hot Laps with Phil Hill

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Phil Hill and Dale LaFollette returning to pits in the 1902 D50 Napier.

By Dale LaFollette
Photos from the collection of Dale LaFollette

In 1980 Road & Track scheduled a day at the Portland race track where I worked so Phil Hill could test some vintage cars for articles he would be writing. On the appointed day several important old cars arrived including my favorite, a 1902 D50 Napier Gordon-Bennett racer that had been assembled from parts of the actual winner of the race. At the time the car was owned by the Harrah Collection. [Read more…] about Hot Laps with Phil Hill

Goodwood TT 1959 “I Was There”

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Jim Clark “up on tip toes” as he described the handling of the Tojeiro Jag to me. GP Library

Despite a fake fire in the pits, the appearance of several Porsche RSKs, Ecurie Ecosse Jags, Aston Martins and a Ferrari 250 TR, the Goodwood TT 1959 Revival fell a bit short of the real thing. But Graham Gauld was there on September 5th, 1959, interviewing the likes of Jim Clark, Dan Gurney and Oliver Gendebien, taking action shots with his indispensable Leica. He is here to tell the real story. [Read more…] about Goodwood TT 1959 “I Was There”

Tourist Trophy Revival at Goodwood

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Jonathan Sharp’s photo of the 1959 Tourist Trophy line up at the Goodwood Revival.

By Jonathan Sharp, Roy Smith, Pete Vack, and Hugues Vanhoolandt

One of Goodwood’s most interesting features year was the theme of the 1959 Tourist Trophy.  If you read Graham Gauld’s post, “I Was There“, you know that Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche were all battling for the World Sportscar Championship and any of the three could win. We check out the cars. [Read more…] about Tourist Trophy Revival at Goodwood

Vanhoolandt at the 2019 Goodwood Revival

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A part of the Goodwood Trophy field with the 1938 Maserati 6CM of Ewen Sergison in the lead.

We have seen the 1959 TT parade, now to the real racing. Hugues Vanhoolandt gives us a visual feast of the races at the Goodwood Revival (September 13-15).

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

A year has passed since our last visit to the West Sussex circuit of Goodwood, and every year we wonder what the Duke of Richmond & Gordon and his team have found for new ideas to entertain a crowd of 150,000 people; there is so much more going on than the races at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. [Read more…] about Vanhoolandt at the 2019 Goodwood Revival

Roy Smith and his Porsche RSK Tribute

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Along came a Spyder – but Roy Smith could not afford an original!

A story about a Porsche? Well wait up. Also in this edition of VeloceToday, we featured the RSKs that participated in our TT 59 coverage from Goodwood. This provided an opportunity for famous author (Alpine, Gordini, etc.) Roy Smith to talk about his street-ready Porsche RSK. You will enjoy!

Story and photos by Roy Smith

As a writer of few books on race cars including four about Porsche, I had the pleasure to meet one the great Porsche test and race drivers of the 1950s and 1960s, Herbert Linge, on several occasions.

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The Magical Summers of a Maserati 6CM

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Photos by Jonathan Sharp

Count Trossi’s Maserati Summer of 1936

Lead photo: Ewen Sergison in the cockpit of Nigel Griffiths’ Maserati s/n 1532 at Goodwood, April 6-7, 2019. See below for much more.

Recently we republished an old story by Ed McDonough about Count Felice Trossi, which prompted a reply from Nigel Griffiths, who told us he owned the ex-Trossi 6CM Maserati and would be at the 2019 Goodwood Members’ Meeting in April with the very same Maserati, s/n 1532.

Now isn’t that coincidental, I said, as Jonathan Sharp would also attend and could he get some photos of 1532? Of course, said Nigel. Jonathan checked the program and found that the 6CM is car 58 entered into race 4 with practice is on Saturday morning, and the Parnell cup is the first race at 9am on Sunday morning. We are good to go.

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