36th Annual Auto e Moto d’Epoca
She thinks we should change the name of VeloceToday to AmoreToday…
Story and photos by Alain Raymond
Three Canadian friends and Italian car enthusiasts returned to Padova for the 36th annual Auto e Moto d’Epoca, one of Europe’s most comprehensive collectible car show and flee market. [Read more…] about 36th Annual Auto e Moto d’Epoca
Cars Accelerating the Modern World Exhibition
The new exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum covers a wide range of topics with great thought and imagination.
Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone to the newly named Victoria and Albert Museum in May 1899, and proclaimed “I trust it will remain for ages a monument of discerning liberty and a source of refinement and progress.” Whilst it is said that she did not say “we are not amused” I think the latest exhibition ‘Cars Accelerating the Modern World’ would have amused her.
It Must be B.A.T. 1
Story and photos by Rick Carey
This article originally appeared in VeloceToday in 2003 and again in 2018. Due to the many requests we had to see this article after the series on the B.A.T.s as published last week, we thought it might be nice to give everyone a chance to read it again without a premium subscription.
I’ve always admired the work of Franco Scaglione. Anyone who could create the B.A.T.s on the tall-engined Alfa 1900 chassis, who displayed such sympathy for airflow and was willing to challenge convention with shape and curve rather than embellishment and accoutrement, was an exceptional talent. And full credit also to Nuccio Bertone who gave Scaglione free rein to reinvent extravagantly. [Read more…] about It Must be B.A.T. 1
B.A.T. 5: A Stunning Achievement
Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Text by Pete Vack
The display of the three B.A.T. Alfas was held at the Phillips Auction House in Berkeley Square, London and only displayed for four days, November 20-23. Jonathan Sharp attended on a Wednesday afternoon and here is the first of three reports.
The first of the B.A.T.s was perhaps the most celebrated, gaining notice in magazines across the western hemisphere. But was it the first? Rick Carey, writing in VeloceToday, thinks the Packard-Abarth Bertone might have been B.A.T. 1. Nevertheless, B.A.T. 5 was shown first in April of 1953 at Turin. [Read more…] about B.A.T. 5: A Stunning Achievement
B.A.T. 7: The Best of the Bunch
Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Text by Pete Vack
The display of the three B.A.T. Alfas was held at the Phillips Auction House in Berkeley Square, London and only displayed for four days, November 20-23. Jonathan Sharp attended on a Wednesday afternoon and here is the second of three reports.
Oh, poor B.A.T. 7. It was, in our opinion, the best of the trinity, a refined 5 with an even more dramatic aft that was the quintessence of coachbuilder’s art. Just looking at the various views of those remarkable appendages is awe inspiring. How did they do it?
About a year after it was shown at Turin in the spring of 1955, someone came along cut them off. Those beautiful, inspiring wings. Let’s let the late Strother MacMinn and his cohort Robert Henry Gurr tell us what they thought about the car at the time: (Road & Track, July, 1955, Panel Discussion on Automotive Styling.) [Read more…] about B.A.T. 7: The Best of the Bunch
B.A.T. 9d: Ready for the Road
Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Text by Pete Vack
The display of the three B.A.T. Alfas was held at the Phillips Auction House in Berkeley Square, London and only displayed for four days, November 20-23. Jonathan Sharp attended on a Wednesday afternoon and here is the third of three reports.
While the BAT 9 (aka BAT 9d) will eternally be tied with the story of Gary Kaberle, it failed to attract a lot of attention when introduced at Turin in the spring of 1955. Press coverage had been high with the BAT 7 of 1954, but by the time the third and definitely less dramatic BAT appeared, it was no longer newsworthy, despite being much more roadworthy. It was not until December 1958 that BAT 9 appeared on the cover of Road & Track, no longer news. The Kaberle story is well known, but we’ll recap it here. [Read more…] about B.A.T. 9d: Ready for the Road
Scaglione, Strother MacMinn and the B.A.T.s
Courtesy Centro Documentazione Storica Alfa Romeo
From the VeloceToday Archives, April 2018. This is an updated version of Chapter 5 of Franco Scaglione, “My Father: His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna” as told to Robert Little, Renzo Carbonaro, Vladimir Pajevic and Ulrich Zensen. Republished with permissions.
The MacMinn Telefax
Instead of presenting a narrative based upon the writing of others who probably had no first or second hand knowledge of the true facts surrounding the creation of the Berlina Aerodinamica Tecnica series, we have chosen to simply quote from a facsimile of a Telefax which should serve to illuminate the B.A.T. process from the standpoint of Bertone. [Read more…] about Scaglione, Strother MacMinn and the B.A.T.s
Abarth Guy Revisited
Guy Moerenhout with the iconic original photo of the train of Berlina Corsa models on the Monza banking in 1966.
Story and photos by Alain Raymond
“A living museum, with no rope or cordon” This is how he describes his still-growing 340 car collection, housed in a 43,000 square foot ex-tool factory, located in the small town of Lier, in Belgium. “Some 80 percent of the cars here are operational. I believe in letting the cars live and be used for the way they were intended,” explains Guy Moerenhout, ex-factory rallyman for Abarth and present-day guru for all things Abarth. VeloceToday first visited Moerenhout’s museum in 2010 and I went back this past June to further explore this unique homage to Carlo Abarth and his many creations.
French vs Italian Coachbuilders
Story by Gijsbert Paul-Berk
From the VeloceToday Archives, March, 2015
Once a thriving industry in France, by the mid-1950s, French coachbuilders such as Saoutchik, Figoni et Falaschi and Marcel Pourtout had all but disappeared. Yet in Italy, coachbuilders such as Bertone, Pinin Farina and Touring were succeeding beyond their wildest dreams, becoming known the world over as leaders in automotive design. Why was this so? What factors encouraged the coachbuilding industry in Italy, while virtually destroying it in nearby France? Gijsbert Paul Berk reports.
Milano AutoClassica, 2019
Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Freccia d’Oro
Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
Our faithful correspondent in Milan recently visited one of the largest automobile shows in Italy, Milano AutoClassica, held from November 22-25. Alessandro Gerelli lives in Bresso, near Milan, and has sent us his reports from this event for many years. We thought that since the AutoClassica event is well -described elsewhere, it is an appropriate time to say a few words about the author/photographer before we present this year’s AutoClassica coverage. [Read more…] about Milano AutoClassica, 2019
Ferrari Roma Design Critique
Ferrari’s new hatchback is here. Top speed is estimated to be 199 mph.
Story and art by Wallace Wyss
Ferrari’s hit and miss marketing formula is to introduce model after model, then see what’s a hit, and then make more of that one. Witness the new Ferrari Roma. I enjoy analyzing new models so here’s a preliminary design critique, based on the current round of PR pictures, though subject to change when it is actually introduced and on the showroom floors.