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Talbot Lago Awarded Best of the Best

September 6, 2016 By pete

SEE MULLIN’S “BEST OF THE BEST” WINNING 1937 TALBOT-LAGO AT THE PETERSEN

[The following is a press release from the Petersen Automotive Museum, but very much in accord with this week’s coverage of French Classics at Monterey–Ed.]

The Mullin Automotive Museum’s 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS ‘Goutte d’Eau’, which was just honored as the very first recipient of the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award at The Quail, will be on public display in the Mullin Grand Salon at the Petersen Automotive Museum for the next 10 weeks. [Read more…] about Talbot Lago Awarded Best of the Best

VeloceToday for August 30, 2016

August 30, 2016 By pete

Don’t miss Peter Darnall’s exclusive interview with Peter Brock; Michael Lynch does Monterey, Brandes Elitch gets a sneak preview of a great new museum in Carmel and Jonathan Sharp contemplates cheap classics.

Michael T. Lynch at Monterey, 2016

August 30, 2016 By pete

For some, the Ferrari 206 S is one of the best looking Ferraris ever. Others think it looks like a P4 left out in the rain to shrink. This one was owned by the Swiss Filipinetti team and ran at Sebring in 1967. At the Nurburgring that year, it had a bad fire and ended up with famous French collector, Pierre Bardinon. Now with the Moghadam collection in Canada. This was shown at The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering.

Story and photos by Michael T. Lynch

Another Holy Week has passed on the Monterey Peninsula, and once again, the aging historian and Vicki enjoyed an abbreviated schedule. It consisted only of the Pebble Beach Tour lunch stop in Carmel, The Quail, the Rolex Reunion and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. [Read more…] about Michael T. Lynch at Monterey, 2016

Peter Brock and the Amazing Triumph K Car

August 30, 2016 By pete

Montage by Peter Darnall.

Story by Peter Darnall
Black and White photos courtesy Peter Brock

The K-car has always been one of my favorite designs – Peter Brock

High praise indeed! Peter Brock can include the Corvette Stingray, the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, and the Hino Samurai in the portfolio of exciting cars he has been involved with. I first saw the Triumph TR-250K in person at the David Love Memorial event at Sonoma earlier this year. The sophisticated wedge-shaped profile of the car was simply elegant. The K-Car, on its looks alone, might have saved Triumph from oblivion, but it was never put into production.

And therein lies a tale… [Read more…] about Peter Brock and the Amazing Triumph K Car

The Last Refuge of the Enthusiast

August 30, 2016 By pete

Yep, this one has correct hose clamps on the radiator…

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Let us make no mistake: the upper end of the classic car hobby has always been for the very wealthy. But at one time there was a discrete middle class who could afford to own the lower end of the upper end, perhaps a Dino 246 GT or a Maserati 3500 or a Lancia Aurelia in good shape. But eventually even the lower end sports cars became ultra-expensive, out of the reach of the normal enthusiast. Those days are gone and probably gone forever. So what is left for the real car enthusiast who has a family, a mortgage and a moderate income?

Between his coverage of Goodwood, Salon Prive and Windsor Castle, Jonathan Sharp took the time to attend a down- to-earth-event at a golf course near Silverstone. Ed. [Read more…] about The Last Refuge of the Enthusiast

Brandes Elitch: True Believers and Monterey

August 30, 2016 By pete

(Randy Wilder / Talbott Motorcycle Museum)

Brandes Elitch gets a sneak preview tour of the new Moto Talbott Motorcycle Museum, a home for True Believers. (Randy Wilder / Talbott Motorcycle Museum)

Story by Brandes Elich
Photos by Bill Green unless otherwise noted

The “Historics” is a catch-all phrase given to the multiple events occurring during “Car Week” on the Monterey Peninsula, including the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Historic Car Racing at Laguna Seca, the Quail Lodge extravaganza, and the Concorso Italiano, among others. [Read more…] about Brandes Elitch: True Believers and Monterey

VeloceToday for August 23, 2016

August 23, 2016 By pete

Next week we will be inundated with stories from Monterey by Michael T. Lynch, Brandes Elitch and super shooter Hugues Vanhoolandt. This week, catch the Oldtimer Grand Prix by Alessandro Gerelli, plan to see the Lancia D50 at Radnor Hunt in September, and, we present again the amazing adventures of Robert Little as he goes inside the walls of Autodelta.

Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, 2016 Part 1

August 23, 2016 By pete

Photostory by Alessandro Gerelli

The Oldtimers Grand Prix at the Nurburgring has been covered by Alessandro Gerelli since 2002 and is always a refreshing contract to the Monterey Car Week. What is remarkable is that so many of the great Grand Prix and sports racing cars keep returning to the Ring, always in the best of condition and often with new owners. The old never gets old and is newly appreciated by succeeding generations of owners and enthusiasts. Ed. [Read more…] about Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, 2016 Part 1

Oldtimer Grand Prix 2016 Part 2

August 23, 2016 By pete

Photostory by Alessandro Gerelli

In previous reports, Gerelli has usually made a split between the Ferraris and Maseratis at the Ring and does so this year as well. “If many of the old cars are the same, the photos are always different,” says Gerelli. The annual event was held on August 12-14. [Read more…] about Oldtimer Grand Prix 2016 Part 2

Lancia to be a Featured Marque at Radnor Hunt

August 23, 2016 By pete

Lancia D50 entered by the REVS Institute.

This year’s concours is the 20th anniversary and is featuring Lancia, Mercedes Benz 300 SL coupe and roadster and Previous Best of Show winners and class winners from the past 19 years to celebrate the 20th anniversary event. The featured motorcycle classes are Fast from the Past, Land of the Rising Sun and Mid-Century Motorcycles. The event is also unique in that it features horse-drawn coaches and carriages which illustrate the evolution of wheeled transportation. [Read more…] about Lancia to be a Featured Marque at Radnor Hunt

VeloceToday for August 16, 2016

August 16, 2016 By pete

Silverstone and the Alfa Giulietta production line, circa 1961

This week we present a Silverstone extravaganza courtesy of Jonathan Sharp and a complete scan in high resolution of the 1961 photographic tour of the Alfa Romeo manufacturing and production line; 25 pages with 78 individual photos. Clicking on each page will result in a very large image. And, please help us continue our work by subscribing.

Birth of a Giulietta Part 1

August 16, 2016 By pete

A decade ago we published a few images from this 1961 Alfa advertising supplement, probably from an insert in Quattroruote.

This time, with improved scanning techniques, we present the entire 25 pages, consisting of 78 photographs which illustrate the complete assembly of an Alfa Romeo from raw materials to a ready for the road product. Actually, there are 79, but we do not have the very first page, which had photo number one. We don’t know what that photo was.

I can’t recall or confirm where I came upon this fascinating look at the Portello works and we apologize if we can’t give credit to the photographer, or even the source of these photos. No doubt the rights lie with Alfa Romeo, though, and if so, thank you Alfa Romeo.

Part 1 takes the process to the machining of the finned brake drums. This is a blow up of one photo.

But not only have we scanned each page for you, but when clicked each page will expand to 1200 pixels in hi res. That’s a pretty large file so have patience, and we have split the supplement up into two parts, pages 2-14 and 15-26 for easier downloading.

The following is the process from casting to the completion of those fantastic finned brake drums.

Bearing in mind that this was a photo-op and the workers and foreman knew to clean up their act beforehand, nevertheless one must be impressed by the overall cleanliness, and the pleasant appearance of the assembly line workers. And there were many workers, as in the days before robotics, almost everything needed to be hand assembled, welded, cast, adjusted and tested. The employees seem to be carrying out a useful and somewhat technical task, and knew that they were putting together a car which was respected around the world.

Read Part 2