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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Non Classified Ads

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$25 WHAM-BAM-THANK-YOU-SAM AD!

Over the fold, Under the table, Around the world!
*ONE TIME ads ($25 USD) for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, to holler about (a special sale), a change in address, venue or schedule, you name it.
*Ad will be placed RIGHT here RIGHT UP FRONT where it will be seen by 10 to 20 thousand eager beaver car nuts all over the globe.
*For only $25USD we’ll post your ad below with one photo and four lines or about 50 words, ONE TIME. And if you sell your wondercar via this slot for enough money to retire on, remember us in your will or use the Donate button. Space is limited to only FOUR ads in one week’s VT. Pay via Paypal and contact me at vack@cox.net for ad insertion. Here are a few for this week:

1956 Austin Healey 100M, S/N BN2L228887, 9,000 miles. Frame-off restoration finished with M kit in 2003. 2013 addition of new alloy head, clutch, transmission synchronizers. BMIH Trust Certif. Mille Miglia eligible. Contact John Piccin 352 351 5446, john@piccinlaw.com (FL)

1949 Ferrari Yearbook with Peter Coltrin Translation iinsert. Excellent but aging condition, no rips, tears. This is the Richard F. Merritt version from 1969. For sale now for $400. Original versions are worth thousands. Check Contact me at vack@cox.net.

Wallace Wyss is now into French Classics. So far he’s completed a dozen canvases in oil including a Talbot Lago and a Bugatti. “If an owner or fan of these cars wants me to depict their French classic, they can reach me at Photojournalistpro@gmail.com.”

Martini Racing at Museo dell’ Automobile

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The Beta Montecarlo Turbo, driven by Riccardo Patrese, Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimaki which won the 1980 Giro Automobilistico d’Italia.

Text and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

Captions by Martini PR and staff

It was always the stripes that caused me problems.

As a child, like most children I would spend hours putting the car kits together, even more hours painting the bodywork, usually using an aerosol paint which made the house stink. Then it came to the Martini stripes. Even though they came as decals there was always one set of stripes that would not sit right on the bodywork no matter how many times you lifted them off and put them back on again. But the picture on the box looked so neat one had to get it right.

I had forgotten how cool they looked until I had made my way through the turnstile entrance of the Museo dell’ Automobile in Turin. Right in front of me was the Martini Racing-striped Lancia Beta Monte Carlo Turbo of 1981- oh those stripes. With the car parked next to a blue lit Christmas tree I wanted to dig out my model making box again and have another go at those stripes.

The reason the Monte Carlo was sitting in the middle of the Museum’s main atrium was because of an exhibition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Martini & Rossi Brand and 45 years of Martini Racing. (Exhibit closes January 26th). The cars on display covered the entire history of Martini Racing, starting with the Porsche 917, winner of the 1970 Le Mans 24 hour race,to the 1973 Targa Florio-winning 911 RS, right up to the current Porsche 918 Hybrid race car of 2014. [Read more…] about Martini Racing at Museo dell’ Automobile

Pegaso Z 102

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Francisco Godia in his Pegaso in May 1955 while another Pegaso is on the shoulder.

Book Review Pegaso by Monsalve by Pete Vack
Purschase from: autodromo@autodromo.es. (any questions? contact vack@cox.net)
Direct link to purchase page (in Spanish)
Softback, 90 pages, B&W and color
$55 USD in Europe, $65 USD rest of world

Naturally, VeloceToday includes the Pegaso in our portfolio of strange and wonderful cars that don’t quite fit in the regular scheme of things French or Italian. Pegaso has links to Alfa Romeo, Touring and the Swiss-French-Spanish Hispano Suiza, so it fits well within our borders.

The problem is, or has been, a good lack of information about these cars. They are not only rare, but extremely rare in the U.S., and come to find out, a lot are held dear within the borders of their native country. [Read more…] about Pegaso Z 102

Montier Model A Ford

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VeloceToday’s Australian Agent

Our latest VeloceToday Select Folio, Montier’s French Racing Fords, was an idea developed by author Chris Martin who became intrigued by this unusual story about a French family who raced their modified Fords at Le Mans and at Spa.

The restored 1923 Montier-Ford at the Le Mans Classic.

Chris contacted VeloceToday with his idea and it was decided that the story deserved to be published in its own right as a booklet or Folio.
Chris lives in Australia, VeloceToday is located on the East Coast U.S.A but the distance did not hinder this union with Chris becoming the contact point in the Asia Pacific region for his new book. In the making of this publication, ideas were collaborated from the very start, proofing the copy, researching the photos and permissions, and working on the design, even sharing the printing costs. From Virginia where it was printed, half of the run was then shipped to Chris.

[Read more…] about Montier Model A Ford

Lancia 037 and S4

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Lancia 037 at a recent meet.

Story and Photos by Hugh Doran

Ever since Lotus boss Colin Chapman took out a competition license in the name of “Gold Leaf Team Lotus”: motorsport has been a rather colorful sport. Today we are well used to seeing racing cars painted in the colors of all manner of various products. Looking back over the years there have been some bad paint jobs on the cars, but there have also been some good ones. Then there are the ones that really stand out. One such livery is the Martini colors worn by Lancia in the World Rally Championship
[Read more…] about Lancia 037 and S4

Our Features This Week, January 7th, 2014

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News Briefs and Hot Items

Incredible Barn Finds to first three Premium Subscribers!

Special Offer: A free copy (including shipping) of “Incredible Barn Finds” by Wallace Wyss to the first three NEW Premiums Subscribers to VeloceToday. Just sign up for a year and we’ll contact you if you are among the first three for your mailing address. Click here to get started!.

Wallace Wyss and others including Porsche expert Randy Leffingwell would like to know if anyone has any idea of what happened to the Bertone Porsche as seen in Randy’s photo. We’ll have a story on the car shortly but it would be nice to see if we could establish its current whereabouts first.

Coming up: Jonathan Sharp takes us on a tour of the Fiat Lingotto facility and the new museum. The Museum is an incredible visual feast and serves as a homage to the greatest cars of the 20th century; from Marlene to Moss and the cars they drove. Don’t miss Jonathan’s latest adventure.

For the New Year, a new banner, buttons and font size. Sharp’s image from Lingotto now graces our banner head; be sure to take note of our new buttons and shop at our store; notice the larger font size now used for our articles. We hope you approve of all!



Our Features This Week

Fiat 508 Balilla Mille Miglia Berlinetta

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The neatest, prettiest, most Italianate small displacement pre-war coupe ever made.

In one sense, the paltry 998 cc 36 hp Fiat Balilla Mille Miglia Berlinetta Coupe is much ado about very little. In another sense, it is the quintessential example of prewar Italian design in miniature and very nearly takes your breath away. And the name is no auction house hype; Mille Miglia Berlinetta it was from the day it rolled out of the factory in 1935.

If looks aren’t enough, consider that the ultra-rare MM Berlinetta may be one of the first true Grand Touring cars ever conceived, and most certainly one of the first small displacement GT cars ever built.
[Read more…] about Fiat 508 Balilla Mille Miglia Berlinetta

Epoqu’Auto in Lyon, 2013

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Story and Photos by Thomas Bromehead

Next month everyone will be headed to Paris for Retromobile, France’s largest classic car show. But last November 8-10, 50,000 people attended France’s second largest event, Epoqu’ Auto. No newcomer, the event celebrated its 35th anniversary and now boasts more exhibitors than even the fabled Retro. [Read more…] about Epoqu’Auto in Lyon, 2013

Autodelta at the Quail

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The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering August 16th 2013. Art by Evan Klein.

By Brandon Adrian as told to the Editor

How could we have missed this…not once, but twice…?

Somewhere along the way during Monterey Car Week, we overlooked an unusual display of Alfa Romeos gathered at the Quail. In November, the organizer of this small but potent affair, Brandon Adrian, reminded us of our oversight. We were going to include a short report in last week’s special Autodelta edition of VeloceToday but in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and deadlines, we forgot…again! By this time poor Brandon was about to run us over with a spare GTA.

We promised to make amends so here it is…Autodelta at the Quail. [Read more…] about Autodelta at the Quail

Our Features This Week, December 31, 2013

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Happy New Year!

We don’t want to let 2013 go by without acknowledging the birth of Autodelta fifty years ago. Roberto Motta helps us celebrate with a report on the anniversary meeting at Monza, the editor chips in with an appreciation of Carlo Chiti, and we present an Autodelta Gallery courtesy of Alfa Romeo Automobilismo Storico, Centro Documentazione (Arese, Milano). Due to space reasons, this week’s features will appear only once, below.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE SMALL PHOTO TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE ARTICLE.

249 Good Reasons to be a Premium Subscriber

Below, we roll out all the articles we’ve published in 2013, posted from December to January; just keep scrolling down to January. Our thanks to all of our contributors, authors, correspondents, proofreaders and all of you who have become Premium Subscribers, without whom VeloceToday would not exist. Point and click and thank you!

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Carlo Chiti: An Appreciation in English and Italian

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By Pete Vack

All images courtesy and copyright Alfa Romeo Automobilismo Storico, Centro Documentazione (Arese, Milano)

Carlo Chiti was many things: an engineer for Alfa Romeo from 1952 to 1957, Ferrari’s revolutionary chief engineer from 1958-1961, then the ATS chief engineer from 1962-1963. But above all, Carlo Chiti was Autodelta. Wrote his wife Luigia Fumanelli, “Autodelta was his creation. I think that he looked upon it as his second home, and it lasted so long – twenty years – that when it was no longer there he felt his life had been taken from him.”

Chiti admitted that his fortunes at Autodelta were closely allied to those of Giuseppe Luraghi, the colorful, novel- writing President of Alfa Romeo from 1960 to 1974. It was Luraghi who, via Orazio Satta, was invited to form a competition department of Alfa in 1962, but Chiti was tied up with ATS. By 1964 ATS was on the ropes and he was now able to take up on Luraghi’s offer to create a racing department, originally separate from the factory. Chiti had remarkable independence; although each project had to be passed through both Satta and Giuseppe Busso, according to Piero Casucci, “the freedom he enjoyed, together with his team, was virtually complete.”

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