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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Sharp’s Retromobile Part 1 Alfa to Ferrari

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Text and photos by Jonathan Sharp

“I wonder what car the hotel will have borrowed for display in its lobby?” said my pal to me as we sped across Northern France on the Eurostar train whilst looking out of the window at the snow. Last year they displayed a Ferrari Dino; the year before it was a London to Brighton style Veteran car. This year their choice was a Morris Minor saloon in Trafalgar blue with non-original front seats. That was to be the only disappointment of the show. We spent most of the weekend at the show and I know for sure that we must have missed things, or only glanced at them meaning to return to them having been distracted by yet another gem or rarity that demanded our attention more urgently. I hope the following shots give you a taste of what was on offer. We have divided up the sixty plus images to save your scroller. A to Ferrari here, Fiat to Renault in Part 2.

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Sharp’s Retromobile Part 2 Fiat to Renault

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Photos by Jonathan Sharp

Where the cars are

What, even more from Retro? This is part 2 of Sharp’s Retro, covering Fiats to Renaults. While it seems like overkill, Retro is big enough for the like of four or five great correspondents and photographers, including the amazing Jonathan Sharp from the U.K, the magical Hugues Vanhoolandt from Belgium, the dean of all motoring correspondents Graham Gauld, who lives in France, and the evergreen ever-present Italian Alessandro Gerelli. It is where the Italians and French cars meet in glorious abundance.

And so, we do cover it well. It is almost like being there, minus the usually dismal weather. Enjoy!

–Pete Vack, Editor

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Scaglione Part 5

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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
Copyright: 8 November 2017 All World Rights Reserved
Republished with permissions with changes to suit the format of VeloceToday.com

Part V: Franco Scaglione and the B.A.T.

Courtesy Centro Documentazione Storica Alfa Romeo

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 Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica series, we have chosen to simply reproduce the facsimile below which should serve to illuminate the B.A.T. process from the standpoint of Bertone. [Read more…] about Scaglione Part 5

Retromobile 2018: The Abarths

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Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

One of the highlights of the 2018 Retromobile show in Paris was the display of some 20 cars from the Abarth collection of Swiss Engelbert Möll. The collection of Mr. Möll, who is a former Abarth works racing driver, includes more than 40 Abarths as well as some engines that were also displayed in Paris.

This gathering was an opportunity to rediscover the extraordinary variety of the Abarth production as well as the ingenuity of this make to achieve great performances with small displacement engines.

It is interesting to note that the Abarth name is so famous that it was exhumed ten years ago by Fiat, like Renault did recently with the Alpine brand.
It is comforting to see that the great names never die.

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Retromobile 2018: Wimille and Company

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Story by Graham Gauld

There was a lot to talk about at Retromobile two weeks ago, particularly if you took a good look round some of the nooks and crannies, particularly in the upper floor of the exhibition hall.

For instance, Retromobile wanted to honor the great French racing driver Jean-Pierre Wimille who would have been celebrating his 110th birthday next week. Wimille was never truly appreciated outside his native France. Born in February 1908 he was immersed in motor sport from an early age as his father was one of France’s pioneering motoring journalists. Wimille took part in his first Grand Prix at the age of 22 in the French Grand Prix of 1930 held on the street circuit at Pau. He drove a Bugatti T37A and was immediately 5th fastest in practice but retired on the second lap when his supercharger broke. [Read more…] about Retromobile 2018: Wimille and Company

Retromobile 2018: Three Auctions

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Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli

During the long weekend of the Retromobile in Paris, as usual three auctions took place: RM Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Artcurial have had their sales with good results. About 350 cars were auctioned, of which 25% were not sold. The total amount sold was about 70 million euros.

RM Sotheby’s sold three Bugattis, one old and two recent for a total amount of about 4,8 mln euros, while Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes were at the top for Bonhams and Artcurial.

Here are our favorites from all three auctions: [Read more…] about Retromobile 2018: Three Auctions

The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville

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Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos courtesy Lane Museum

Last October I had a chance to visit the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, which had been on my list of things to do for some time. With over 300 European cars displayed on two levels, it is likely the largest museum collection of European cars in the U.S. What I found compelling is that the Lane is full of the kinds of things I like: production cars or prototypes that are obscure, rare, technically advanced for their time, designs full of passion and creativity that fulfilled all the things a collector or historian would want, but not necessarily successful in the marketplace because of various eccentricities of design or presentation. At the top of that list for obscurity would be the Tatra, of course, and while the Lane lacks the Type 77, it has just about every other Tatra. [Read more…] about The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville

Graham Gauld at Retromobile 2018

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By Graham Gauld
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Graham Gauld has covered Retro for VeloceToday since 2012

Press day in Paris last Wednesday was quite chaotic as the heavens opened and dumped a load of snow turning this dramatic city into a winter wonderland. But the local taxi drivers seem to have forgotten what happens to a car if, you maintain your usual mad dash through the traffic. That evening taxis were bouncing off the tails of buses or hitting other taxis. So Retromobile had a lively start.

Retromobile this year was the usual mélange of cars we know and as always, hidden away, were one or two cars we had either never seen before or else had interesting histories. [Read more…] about Graham Gauld at Retromobile 2018

Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 4

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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
Copyright: 8 November 2017 All World Rights Reserved
Republished with permissions with changes to suit the format of VeloceToday.com

Read Part 1
Read Part 2
Read Part 3

Part IV: Scaglione Achieves His Dreams with Bertone

Nuccio Bertone, who truly appreciated Scaglione’s work, was generally inclined to leave Scaglione completely alone to work through the young master’s ideas and fantasies, but Bertone always bore in mind the necessity to achieve economic success through the mass production of his line of cars. He impressed upon the young designer the need to convert his design ideals to big production numbers.

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Barn Find: Abarth 1500 Bertone by Scaglione

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Story and photos by Rick Carey

This article originally appeared in VeloceToday in 2003.

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.

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Interview with Giovanna Scaglione, Part 3

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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
Copyright: 8 November 2017 All World Rights Reserved
Republished with permissions with changes to suit the format of VeloceToday

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

To solicit employment in the early 1950s, Scaglione turned to calling design executives to initiate an appointment, as he learned it was better to speak personally, display his sketches and provide commentary about each one.

Scaglione would meet people such Balbo, Stanguellini, Pinin Farina, Bertone, Ferrari and others at various auto shows or at other venues, and then arrange to have a private meeting to present his skills and wide-ranging knowledge. Unfortunately, there were no letters from his job seeking years in Giovanna’s archives to examine.

In 1951 Scaglione moved to Torino and sought employment once again in the automobile design trade…far closer to the center of gravity of the automobile design trade. At first he and Luisa moved to Corso Matteotti, 29 and later to Via Osasco, 2.

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Adelaide Motorsports Festival, South Australia

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Story and Photos by Vince Johnson

The fourth Adelaide Motorsport Festival attracted record crowds in the South Australian capital on december 7-10. Perhaps it had something to do with the promotional video (https://www.adelaidemotorsportfestival.com.au/spectators/race-to-the-city), but more likely the event’s reputation now precedes it with a vengeance. Nine Formula 1 cars from the 80’s and 90’s vied for the lap record over the weekend, bringing back memories of the Grand Prix days on the Victoria Park section of the old circuit.

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