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The Royal Enfield Flying Flea Motorcycle

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This story does not involve anything Italian or French, and is about a motorcycle instead of a car. Long-time contributor Eric Davison (Memoirs of Watkins Glen) has written this timely, delightful article about restoring a WWII era motorcycle designed for D-Day, and after all, it is Memorial Day weekend; next week on June 6 we celebrate D-Day. What could be more appropriate? We know you will enjoy reading of Eric’s hilarious trials and tribulations bringing his “Flying Flea” back to life. As there were only two wheels, a tiny single-cylinder engine and a basic frame, how hard could this restoration be?

By Eric Davison

I am not quite certain of why and when I became infatuated with the motorcycle with the improbable name ‘The Flying Flea!’

In thinking hard about it I have come to the conclusion that it was a seed planted in my head by my paternal grandfather Augustus ‘Gus’ Davison, an Englishman. [Read more…] about The Royal Enfield Flying Flea Motorcycle

Milliken’s Bugatti T35A

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By Pete Vack
From the VeloceToday Archives, April 18, 2012

According to Bill Milliken, the acquisition of his first sports car was simply elementary. While visiting New York City in 1946, he happened upon a shiny black MGTB, asked the owner if he’d like to sell, wired home for the $1500 necessary to title it in his name and drove it up to Albany. [Read more…] about Milliken’s Bugatti T35A

And How! Moto Guzzi’s Remarkable V8

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And How! features open and innovative formats for notices, short articles and posts

Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt

It is Brandes Elitch’s best loved motorcycle. “This is my absolute favorite bike and my vote for the most desirable bike ever made.” It captivated Graham Gauld at this year’s Monaco Historics. It even lit a fire under the Editorial bum. Find out why. Ed.

Story by Graham Gauld

For a reason I never completely understood, the Monaco Club invited a bunch of people with vintage racing bikes to drive round the circuit and wave to the crowd. But one bike, a Moto Guzzi of 1957, caught my eye. [Read more…] about And How! Moto Guzzi’s Remarkable V8

Monaco Historic Grand Prix 2018

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Story and color photos by Graham Gauld

The Monaco Historic Grand Prix meeting (May 11-13) has come and gone and, my, how time flies when you are having fun. As readers will know, I go to those events, never do reportage on the races, but keep looking for oddities and interesting sidelights that the others may not have noticed. Monaco this year was a rich source of items so let’s start off with an oddity, the Assegai Formula 1 car. [Read more…] about Monaco Historic Grand Prix 2018

The Quail Motorcycle Gathering, May 5, 2018

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Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Steve Snyder

In last year’s column about this show, I wrote, “The program says that ‘what began as a small gathering of enthusiasts has grown into one of the premier celebrations of motorcycling in the country’, and this is an understatement. There may be other events, such as Daytona Bike Week, but there is no other motorcycle show like this or anything close, anywhere else in the country.” [Read more…] about The Quail Motorcycle Gathering, May 5, 2018

Alfa Giulia, 4C, Stelvio and Quadrifoglio

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In the past few weeks and months, Sean Smith has given us a look at the new line of Alfa Romeos, from the 4C to the latest Stelvio. We’ve edited the articles and put them together in one short peice which gives the reader an overall view of all four cars. Ed.

Story and photos by Sean Smith [Read more…] about Alfa Giulia, 4C, Stelvio and Quadrifoglio

Ferrari 375 Pinin Farina, S/N 0355 AL

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Story and photos by Alan Boe

Three seventy-five. In the world of Ferrari this number often alludes to the twelve cylinder engine used in some of the company’s most savage, brutally fast, all out competition machinery built in the early to mid-1950s. There were topless spyders and a few berlinettas with bodies by Pininfarina, Vignale, and Scaglietti and of course, Grand Prix machines and even a few Indy cars. But not all 375 Ferraris were designed or destined for racing. In addition to at least one 375 engine adapted for marine use, Ferrari also used its big 4.5 liter engine to drive a limited series of luxuriously leathered-line high powered grand touring coupes and berlinettas, several of which were first trotted out for in an important European show before being sold off to a wealthy industrialist, entertainer, or titled personage. Only a handful of these road-going 375s were built, but in the mid-1950s, they represented the ultimate in exclusive, high speed European touring cars. [Read more…] about Ferrari 375 Pinin Farina, S/N 0355 AL

2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Driven

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Story and photos by Sean Smith

So if it’s too cold to take out your 8C 2300… or the snow is too deep for your GTV… and your two cases of Chianti just won’t fit in your TZ, but you have that deep-down urge to be looking at a steering wheel with a cross and serpent on it, just grab the proximity key to the Stelvio and be off!

The Stelvio is another of Alfa’s warriors in the battle for America’s hearts and minds. There were murmurs that a shooting brake/station wagon might be in the offering, but that was a bit too much of an outlier for a company such as Alfa trying to establish a beachhead in the USA. Better to stick with the more acceptable (in this day and age) crossover/SUV. [Read more…] about 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Driven

Italian Car Day, Brooklands, May 5, 2018

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

The organizers of the annual Brooklands/Auto Italia Italian car day like to coral the marques and models together, So…. “Fiat 500 sir? Next to the Concorde please, Lancia! Top of the finishing straight next to the banking by the flight shed. Maserati, over there, next to the bottom of the test hill. Moretti 2500SS! Wow, in front of the club house please.”

However by the time I arrived, and I was earlier than usual, the place was nearly full so my Alfa had to go at the end of a line of Abarths. When it comes to numbers, the Alfa Romeos outnumbered the other marques by at least 3 to one. For a marque that is not that common on the roads of the UK there was an awful lot of them in their coral.

For me, the show is not about the 20 modern Lamborghinis on the finishing straight, or the Ferraris in front of the Jackson shed; it is the as-new, early model Fiat Panda parked on the banking, the group of Fiat 131s by the Shell petrol pagoda, the Bianchini below the members bar.

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1958 FACEL Excellence sedan

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Story by Brandes Elitch
(Brandes is the US representative for the FACEL Amicale, the owner’s club based in France.)
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt and Steve Snyder

From the VeloceToday Archives, December 15, 2010

“I like cars that nobody can maintain!”
Dr. Rick Zeiger, on the restoration of Excellence sedan EX12A

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is still the most famous in the world, and likes to feature recently restored cars that have never been shown since their restoration. In 2010, Dr. Rick Zeiger entered his 1958 FACEL Excellence sedan, a car that he has owned for 12 years.

FACEL is an acronym for Forges et Ateliers et Constructeurs Eure et Loire. The Excellence debuted at the Paris Auto Show in October, 1956, and 152 were produced from 1958 until 1964. My favorite quote about it comes from esteemed author Richard Langworth, who wrote in the November, 1985 number of Collectible Automobile that, “The Excellence is a large vehicle…better suited as a Car of State rather than a daily driver.”

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The Schlumpf Reserve and Restoration

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Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

The Cité de l’Automobile National Museum-Schlumpf Collection is a fascinating institution. But have you ever wondered if the Schlumpf is allowed to sell any of their cars? Do they purchase new additions for the collection? If so, what are their standards? What cars are chosen for restoration? What are the criteria for restoration? Do they restore cars for others? What cars are in the reserve collection? Now, Hugues Vanhoolandt interviews Richard Keller, chief curator of the collection, who answers those questions while giving Vanhoolandt an exclusive look into the 200-car reserve collection. Ed.

In 1977, the Schlumpf collection consisted of almost 500 cars stocked in a woolen mill (which is today the museum) and some 80 others that were garaged on the Schlumpf’s private property. After the death of Fritz Schlumpf, these 80 cars were in the ownership of his widow, Arlette, until her passing in 2008 when most were then purchased by U.S. collector Peter Mullin. [Read more…] about The Schlumpf Reserve and Restoration

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