VeloceToday Select Number Three:
Montier’s French Racing Fords
by Chris Martin
Our Features This Week, Tuesday December 17, 2013
Distler’s Porsche
Christmas, 1955: Couldn't find an OSCA so a Porsche would have to do...
By the Editor
The Santa jig had been up for a few years now but the Allied Powers still demanded a hand written ‘wish list’ for Christmas. This resulted in a kind of a game we’d play; I’d write an honest but unreasonable list and the Powers would search all over to try to fill the bill.
This was difficult, I know. The list, circa 1955 – scratched out on yucky brown pulpy school paper with blue lines to keep the sentences on a horizontal plane – was formidable, even for loving and knowledgeable parents. Where, for example, would they find a toy OSCA MT4 (I gave them a break, I’d take a Tipo 2000S if an MT4 couldn’t be found. I was very understanding). Next on the list was a Porsche 550 Spyder, a Ferrari 212, a Lancia like the one that won the Mille Miglia the year before, etc. Further down, primarily because it was a mere street car, I listed a Porsche 356 Speedster, Max Hoffman’s baby that was just making the scene. It’s amazing they even saw it, buried so far down on the list.
But I had done my duty, signed sealed and delivered the list per instructions, handily ignoring chemistry sets, crystal radio sets, planetariums, books, or other such toys which might enhance one’s education and broadened the learning curve. My parents had given on that about same time Santa went up in smoke.
The Distler Porsche's model, and the oldest documented sale in the U.S. was this rare 1952 356 Cabriolet owned by Dr. Robert Wilson of Oklahoma City, Okla. According to the company, Wilson's car was imported in November of 1952 by Austrian businessman, Max Hoffman, in New York, who brought the first Porsche cars to the U.S. beginning in 1950. Courtesy www.carscoops.com.
A Porsche for P.D.
By mid-December they had exhausted themselves in a vain and futile search for Pete’s Christmas presents and asked themselves over and over what the hell was wrong with our kid anyway? Why couldn’t he be like the others and get a hockey stick or baseball glove and be happy? They didn’t even know where to look; there weren’t any Toys ‘R Us, Hobby shops, F.A.O. Schwartz (not in our town, or even our state), no Macy’s, no large departments store, and forget the Sears Christmas catalog, which catered to real kids with real Norman Rockwell toys.
Eight-year old P.D. boy, in other words, was a royal pain in the ass.
Book Review: Porsche Brochures
LIMITED NUMBER OF SIGNED COPIES ORIGINALLY PRICED AT $75
ON SALE NOW FOR ONLY $40 USD US SHIPPING FREE
$60 USD FOR ALL OTHER LOCATIONS INCLUDES SHIPPING
Porsche: Brochures and Sales Literature, A Source Book 1948-1965.
By Susann C. Miller and Richard F. Merritt
Hardbound, 317 pages, black and white
Send Check or Money Order in US Funds to:
Susann C. Miller
Suite 1703
4734 Stratford Court
Naples, FL 34105
susannart@aol.com
Review by Pete Vack
Back in the 1980s, Susann Miller lived in Clifton, VA outside of Washington D.C. (she has now settled in Florida) and we met once or twice. A Porsche expert, Susann was the author of several books on the marque and was about to become famous along with Dick Merritt, for their work which has become a standard reference source for Porsche enthusiasts, the Porsche: Brochures and Sales Literature, A Source Book 1948-1965. It consists of “all the known sales literature on the Porsche 356 including paint numbers, accessories, Beutler, 904 and Spyder brochures; a rare look at the 917, Carrera RS, Marine and Aircraft Engines, and Rotorcycle; and the early Speedster to name but a few.”
Ferrari specialist Dick Merritt also lived in the D.C. area. Although Dick owned a large number of Ferraris, he drove a Porsche 356SC coupe that was, he said, “the best car I ever owned.” Merritt not only co-authored Ferrari: The Sports and Gran Turismo Cars with Warren Fitzgerald (1968), but in 1976, with John Barnes and the help of many Ferrari owners, created the Ferrari Brochure and Sales Literature- A Source Book, 1946-1967.
Merritt and Miller teamed up with Barnes again to publish the Porsche Brochure and Sale Lit book. Known among Porsche owners as the “M&M” book, it was first published in 1978, a second edition in 1985, and the third edition, with 28 new pieces found since the first edition published again in 2005.
The Merritt Ferrari brochure book can still be purchased through Veloce Press, (a company this writer co-founded in 1999 with Stephen Glen). Susann went on her own to take over publication of the third edition of the now classic M&M brochure book from her home base in Naples, and we are proud to be able to offer a special signed edition for only $75 with FREE shipping through VeloceToday.
A list from the book's back cover shows the titles of brochures included in the book.
[Read more…] about Book Review: Porsche Brochures
Our Features This Week TUESDAY December 10, 2013
The winner of November’s Dalton Watson book drawing is Premium Subscriber Peter McFadyen.Congratulations!
Coming to Retromobile: This Isotta Fraschini 8A once owned by Rajah Sajid Hussein of Kotwara and Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant, is part of a special exhibition of the cars of the Maharajas. Get your tickets now.
O.M.’s MM
An OM 665 on the ramp at the Mille Miglia. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
By Pete Vack
Note: Black and white photos are from the new book “O.M. The men, the cars, the races” and are typical of the oustanding and rare photographs presented in the book. Click to enlarge and our thanks to Fondazione Negri for permissions.
A two o’clock in the morning, Giovanni Canestrini was awakened by the sound of someone calling his name. Going to the window, he saw four figures in the courtyard below gesturing to Canestrini to let them in, for it was cold in December in Milan. The four – Count Aymo Maggi, Count Franco Mazzotti, Renzo Castagneto, and Flaminio Monti – wanted to talk, and Canestrini knew about what.
No sooner had he invited the foursome inside than they began the familiar complaint…Brescia needed to regain its place as the center of motorsports, lost to the nearby city of Milan when the new Monza Autodrome was constructed in 1922. And they presented another scenario; Italy’s car manufacturers were no longer building race cars. Bugatti dealer and racer Aymo Maggi well knew that if one wanted to buy a car to race, it seemed the only choice was to buy a T35 from Bugatti. Something needed to be done. If a successful cross-country race were launched, it would encourage the manufacturer to enter, and build Italian cars like the Bugatti. Automotive journalist Canestrini, of course, we help to promote the event. It would be good for the state, the roads, the people, communications, and of course improve the breed.
Charles Montier’s French Racing Fords
Le Mans, 1923: Ford's first attempt to conquer the 24 hour race.
VeloceToday’s latest Select Folio is hot off the press. Because the subject matter is relatively unknown, immensely interesting and concerns both the U.S., France, Le Mans, and Grand Prix racing, the story of the Montier Fords was clearly a great topic for a Select Folio. Below, Chris Martin tells us a little about the Montiers, but to get the rest of the story, you’ll have to read the Folio; unlike our earlier Select series, this one is not in the electronic VeloceToday.
By Chris Martin
First Fords at Le Mans
Most of us tend to think that Fords did not play much of a part at Le Mans until the early 1960s. But that does not appear to be the case. Charles Montier, a French Ford dealer, (called “Le Sorcier” by the locals long before Gordini) entered the famous endurance race in 1923, 1924 and 1925. Few people even realize that a Model T Ford not only raced in that grueling event (won by a Chenard Walcker) but finished in 14th place in the first ever 24 hours of Le Mans. But the Montier-Fords were just getting a start; amazingly, by the 1930s Montier-Fords would participate in a number of Grand Prix events, racing against Alfa Romeo, Mercedes Benz and Bugatti.
[Read more…] about Charles Montier’s French Racing Fords
News for VeloceToday
This week’s VT on Tuesday
A full edition of VeloceToday will be sent on Tuesday, December 10th. If the response is favorable, we’ll publish on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays.
Winner on Tuesday
We will announce the winner of the Maserati “Birdcage to Supercage” drawing on Tuesday. If you are a Premium Subscriber and would like to put your name in the hat, you have until tomorrow, December 6th to do so. If not a Premium Subscriber, sign up below.
New VeloceToday Select, Order Tuesday
Did you know that Henry Ford’s famous Tin Lizzie raced at Le Mans?
Di you know that there was a Grand Prix Ford that raced against the Alfas and Bugattis?
Don’t feel bad, neither did we until Chris Martin introduced us to Charles Montier and family. This exciting story has never before been told in any detail in English. Martin describes how two generations of the French Montier family raced Fords with passion and success from 1921 to 1935. We proudly present Montier’s French Racing Fords as the third in our series of VeloceToday Select Folios available for orders next week. Only $20 with FREE shipping. For more about this new line of publications, click here or ask me at vack@cox.net.
Coming up on Tuesday
We won’t say. Yes, we know what’s coming, but it is more fun to be surprised every week. While you are waiting please, give in the spirit of the holiday season and become a Premium Subscriber. Click on the Lancia below to sign up today.
Our Features This Week, November 28, 2013
We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving..even if it doesn’t happen in your part of the world!
Panhard Dyna Racers
By David Beare
From the VeloceToday Archives, November 2013
It is unlikely that Louis Delagarde, the designer of Panhard’s flat-twin engine, could have foreseen the scale of competition successes his diminutive power-unit would achieve when he began work at his drawing-board during the dark days of World War II.
New Fiats at the L.A. Auto Show
Retro on retro.
Fiat Innovates at LA Auto Show
By Richard Bartholomew
Photos by Wallace Wyss
At the LA Auto Show, Fiat had a large display, and showed signs of continuing to offer models that will appeal to those nostalgic for the “good old days” of Fiat. For instance, they came out with what is called the 500 1957 edition, copying the colors of the ’57 model imported to America. Of course back then it just had a two-cylinder city car but still was a worldwide hit, Autoweek saying 3,893,294 were built before production ended in 1975. [Read more…] about New Fiats at the L.A. Auto Show
Our Features This Week, November 21, 2013
A Nardi, an Alfa, a Mystery
The Bonetto Alfa Romeo as rebodied by Vignale in 1951. It disappeared in 1955. Photo from ‘Alfa Romeo Milano.
This article is from the VeloceToday archives, November 21, 2103
By Pete Vack and Dino Brunori
Perhaps the mystery of the missing Alfa Romeo 412 began back in 1975 with the publication of the photo book, Alfa Romeo Milano. British journalist Michael Frostick captioned a picture of Felice Bonetto’s special-bodied Alfa Romeo thusly:
Something of a mystery. The Alfa Romeo files say “16 cylinder 4500 Mille Miglia 1954 (Bonetto).” One can only assume a car was made up with a bored-out version of the Type 162, 3 liter, 16-cylinder car, or more likely, someone has made a mistake somewhere!
Indeed there was a mystery and a mistake, as Alfa 2.9 sleuth Simon Moore realized. The Bonetto car was fairly well documented in a variety of contemporary magazines as one of the four 1939 V12 (not a V16) Tipo 412 Alfas, rebodied post war by Bonetto via Vignale. The serial number was 412151, and after it was retired from competition in 1952, it was offered to Henry Wessells III for $3200 by Franco Cortese in 1954. Henry missed the deal and the car reportedly went to Spain. But by 1955 there was no trace of the car. It had seemingly disappeared, as old race cars are wont to do.
Tracing the engine
Although the Bonetto car was not specifically an Alfa 2.9, it nonetheless was part of the family and of great interest to Alfa historian Moore. By the time Moore wrote the second edition of his landmark book The Immortal 2.9 in 2008, he was on the trail of the remains of the car and the engine, but couldn’t quite pull it all together. The rare Alfa V12 engine provided the clue. It was known that the 412 engine was in the possession of Roberta Nardi, daughter of car builder Enrico Nardi. Enter Simon Kidston, working for Brooks Auctions. In mid-March of 1996, Kidston recalled for Moore, “I was contacted by Gino Macaluso, the owner of the Girard-Perregaux watch company. Roberta Nardi, whose father Enrico had left her an old Alfa Romeo engine which was languishing in the basement of her home near Turin.” Kidston recalls that Roberta didn’t know which car it had come from, but she wanted to sell it. Kidston put it up for auction in 1998, and it went to Lawrence Auriana from New York. Moore put the information in his 2008 revised edition, but the whereabouts of the body and chassis remained a mystery. [Read more…] about A Nardi, an Alfa, a Mystery