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Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance 2018

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Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Let me start by saying right out that the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was so utterly surprising and overwhelming that I suspect I cannot convey in mere words the totality of the experience. I doubt if so many fabulous automobiles have ever been assembled in one spot, anywhere, at one time, and with logical and consistent themes as well.

Now I realize that these are strong words, so let me provide a bit of perspective. I started attending the events at Monterey back in 1979, and I have never missed a year since, although the events have changed from year to year. I attended the Pebble Beach show for about 25 years, and I have some great memories, such as helping John Bond push his Railton to the field when it would not start. But eventually, I got tired of the traffic and the crowds and the impossibility of finding parking, and finally I just decided to go home Saturday night after the AFAS reception. [Read more…] about Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance 2018

Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Photos

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Photo Gallery by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Up early and stay late; every year Hugues Vanhoolandt does this during the Pebble Beach Concours to find a way to avoid the constant congestion of people who quite naturally get in the way of a good photo. Can’t blame the crowds, after all, they want to see the cars up close as well! His long hours and hard work resulted in the photos below. [Ed.] [Read more…] about Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Photos

Fiat FreakOut and the Fiat Club America

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By Philippe H. Defechereux © 2018
All photos courtesy Fiat Club America

“Timing is Everything.” Here’s a ubiquitous American adage implying that if you start something new at a time of related good news, the wind will blow strongly behind your sails. And vice versa.

So, how about starting a club of American Fiat owners, fans or both in 1983, the very year Fiat of North America announced it was pulling out of the United States market for good, and still be going from strength to strength 35 years later? That would be like defying gravity. Yet one Fiat hyper-enthusiast from Pennsylvania by the name of Bobb (with double b) Rayner set out to do just that.

And lo and behold, as you are now reading this wondrous story 35 years later, Bobb and hundreds of kindred friends just returned home from the biggest annual four-day event the Fiat Club has ever staged held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. For magically, the organized love fest for Fiat begun in 1983 America never stopped; it only grew and grew, against all odds. So here is the amazing story of the Fiat Club America. [Read more…] about Fiat FreakOut and the Fiat Club America

Racing Fiats in the U.S.

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By Karl Ludvigsen
This article was originally published in three parts at a length of 4,500 words in 2009. Links to the original articles are posted at the end of this article.

Louis Chevrolet, Louis Wagner and Walt Hansgen are among the best-known racing drivers the world has seen. What do they have in common with Don Parkinson, Pietro Bordino and Paul Richards? Just this: all of them were race winners in America driving Fiat-or Fiat-based racing cars. For over a century Americans and racing Fiats have been linked together in the world of auto competition. [Read more…] about Racing Fiats in the U.S.

Alpine Renault M64 Chassis 1711

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Story and photos by Sean Smith unless otherwise noted

Sometime form doesn’t follow function.

Sometimes it follows revenge.

In 1962, the diminutive Lotus 23 gave the racing world a kick in the seat of its pants. Making its entrance at the Nürburgring, the 1.5 liter, 100 hp racer with Jim Clark at the wheel left cars with 4 times the horsepower in its rearview mirror. The first lap was run in the rain; by the end of lap one Clark was 27 seconds ahead of Dan Gurney in a Porsche, adding more and more seconds each lap until the track dried.

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Alpine Renault M64 Chassis 1711 Le Mans

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Story and photos by Sean Smith

When Mitch McCullough was in junior high school, he was reading Autoweek instead of doing his homework. The magazine was covering the international rally scene. Mitch fell in love with the images of A110s sliding around on foreign roads. It was exciting; exotic. He had dreams of one day driving a rally car. That happened in the early 90s when Mitch raced in the California Rally Series as well as the SCCA Pro Rally series.

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Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Spider by Michelotti

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By Wallace Wyss
Photos courtesy RM Sotheby

One of the pains of being a car historian is that there’s a lot of Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda that comes with the job.

Take this white (and red and blue) Daytona targa-topped car.

I saw it on a used car lot in West Los Angeles around ’78, when it was painted red and gave no hint of its competition DNA. I won’t name the car lot but I remember meeting a boxer there – not a Ferrari Boxer, a real boxer – who asked me if there was anybody I wanted beat up—but, alas, I am so peace-loving I couldn’t think of a single person! [Not even your editor?]

Anyway, this car was a genuine, built-in-Modena 1972 Ferrari 365GTB/4, but it had a different body shape. I liked the shape from the side and back but it had an unfortunate resemblance to the Corvette body style introduced in ’68. Does anyone really want to drive a Ferrari that would easily be mistaken for a ‘Vette?

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Employing the Services of a Classic Car Advisor

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By Pete Vack

Last week we introduced our readers to one of the younger generation of classic car enthusiasts. (Read Part 1) Jonathan Sierakowski has deftly managed to make his passion for classic cars into a profession as an appraiser and advisor, filling a growing need amoung car collectors and collections. Sierakowski offers four service categories: Acquisition & Sales; Consulting; Historical Research; and Appraisals & Estate Planning. They are listed and clearly laid out on his website. Our challenge was to ask him the difficult questions that arise in each category. Bear in mind that Jonathan focuses on the high-end coachbuilt classics. [Read more…] about Employing the Services of a Classic Car Advisor

Spa Francorchamps 24 Hour Blancpain GT

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Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

July 26-29

This year’s Blancpain GT 24 hours at Spa was won by Tom Blomqvist, Christian Krognes, Philipp Eng in the Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3. Alexander Sims, Jens Klingmann, Nicky Catsburg, Rowe Racing, BMW M6 GT3 took second and Kelvin van der Linde, Sheldon van der Linde, Jeffrey Schmidt, Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8 LMS finished third. But the race has a long, 70 year tradition of 24 hour motor racing that was featured at this year’s event.

The Spa 24 Hour race, which has now become the greatest endurance race for GT cars, was born in 1924, one year after the birth of the Le Mans 24 Hours. During a period from 1924 to 1953, the same type of cars were entered in both Le Mans and Spa, and wins were shared among manufacturers like Chenard et Walcker, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin and even Ferrari. [Read more…] about Spa Francorchamps 24 Hour Blancpain GT

Italian Gentleman Drivers: Franco Martinengo

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Story by Graham Gauld
Period photos courtesy ot Cesare Martinengo

From the Archives, August 8, 2012
Regular readers may remember my May 2012 article about the Monaco Historics in which I mentioned meeting Cesare Martinengo, whose father Franco was a typical Italian “Gentleman Driver” throughout the 1940s and ’50s. This sounded interesting and I had to find out more. Cesare then brought his scrapbooks to me in the South of France and I spent a fascinating day going back in time when people raced for the fun of it and enjoyed racing with their friends.

Cesare Martinengo, however, did some racing himself, mainly with small Italian sports cars. It was no surprise that thanks to his father’s long-time friendship with Elio Zagato, Cesare raced a double bubble Fiat 750 Zagato. (In the lead photo, Elio, left, with Franco Martinengo stand next to their Fiat 1100 Zagatos.) [Read more…] about Italian Gentleman Drivers: Franco Martinengo

Classic Car Advisor: Jonathan Sierakowski

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Interview by Pete Vack
All photos courtesy Jonathan Sierakowski

Jonathan Sierakowski is a Classic Car Advisor. He provides advice – or as he puts it, “discreet counsel and facilitation” while offering a host of services related to the research, inspection, purchase, sale, and appraisal of classic cars.

That’s something you and I probably did not need in our heyday. Or if we did, we got advice from clubs, friends, mechanics, books, and magazines plus personal experience. But it’s a different era now, and Sierakowski, in his early 30s – is onto something. [Read more…] about Classic Car Advisor: Jonathan Sierakowski

Silverstone Classic, 2018

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Silverstone Classic, July 20-22, 2018

This year at Siverstone, there were 100,000 spectators, 1000 plus entrants spread over 21 races from F1 to endurance legends of the 2000s; a host of tin tops from hulking great American V8s to Mini Coopers. [Read more…] about Silverstone Classic, 2018

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