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Three Barn Find Nardis Come to Light

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By Dino Brunori

A couple of years ago VeloceToday did the book review of my book Enrico Nardi, A fast life and wrote, “Once the book is more widely distributed, more information will no doubt surface.” I’m sure that regular aficionados of VeloceToday are curious to know if something happened in the meantime. The answer is yes, and here are three different stories of recent Nardi barn finds.

In spring 2010, eBay listed an ad showing a BMW 750 twin motorcycle engine with a ND (Nardi Danese) stamping on it with a serial number of 110. A quick across-the-ocean call to John de Boer to cross-check our databases, and we ended up with the same conclusion: this particular engine was originally installed in Nardi chassis number 952/2. This car was purchased by Ferdinando Gatta, the brother-in-law of Gianni Lancia, and had a long racing career in seasons ’52 and ’53 in Italy before being sold in the USA by Tony Pompeo, continuing its career in SCCA races up to the early sixties. 952/2 was still in the States, in the hands of a collector who lives in Florida, and at the time had a Ford engine installed.

Once the owner of 952/2 knew of the BMW engine, it took him only 10 minutes to decide to purchase it to bring back the car to its original condition. This alone was a breakthrough, but the best of the story had still to come.

Barn Find Nardi Danese 750

Recently we had reason to get in touch with the seller of the Nardi Danese BMW engine as listed on eBay. During the conversation, he mentioned that he knew of a person with who had kept a Nardi BMW parked in the garage for the last 50 years with a blown engine. This led us on another chase but several attempts to contact the Nardi owner had no result at all; he did not reply to messages on the phone, to emails, nor would he even open his door when de Boer went to visit him. A dead end, it seemed. [Read more…] about Three Barn Find Nardis Come to Light

Our Features This Week, October 24, 2013

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This week is largely devoted to scrounging up money; we tell you several colorful ways to fatten the coffers at VeloceToday. Brandes Elitch and John Sexton tell us about Rush, and we snitch photos from the movie off the official website. We hope Opie doesn’t mind. Ed McDonough drives a Chapron Delahaye in an archived article and a news item about a Kickstart campaign.

Don’t forget that the Maserati T60/61 book is a classic work and can be yours if you win. The force may not be with you but the odds are.

Reviewing Rush

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Perhaps No shot from the Rush website says more than this still from the movie.

Two of our most experience contributors ring in on Rush…

Images from Rush Movie

Thoughts on Rush: Brandes Elitch

Last night I saw the film Rush. To get right to the point, it is an excellent film, and anyone who has even a remote interest in auto racing should not miss it. Don’t wait for the video, because watching it on a small screen will not do it justice. It has to be seen in a theater with a wide screen and a powerful sound system.
[Read more…] about Reviewing Rush

Breck Rothage Art Kickstarter Begins

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This one is literally hot off the press. It is another Kickstarter campaign (last week Roy Spencer’s MotorBinder Kickstarter more than met its goals so that project will become a reality). For the next 30 days, there will be another project campaign to raise money for the publication of a Portfolio Collection featuring the artistry of Breck Rothage.
[Read more…] about Breck Rothage Art Kickstarter Begins

Helping VeloceToday: Become a Premium Subscriber

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Lead image by Jonathan Sharp

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Helping VeloceToday: Buy an Ad

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Lead image by Jonathan Sharp

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One time, one month, banner ads, 300 pixel ads, link to sites or custom pages all your own…whatever you think you need, we can help. Guaranteed audience of over 10,000 avid Italian and French car enthusiasts around the world; U.S., Australia, U.K., Low Countries, France, and Italy are our prime audiences.

Rates are a fraction of what you’d pay in classic car magazines and we have a uniquely targeted audience. Ad prices vary by size, location, frequency, etc.’ but whatever, they are INexpensive! [Read more…] about Helping VeloceToday: Buy an Ad

Francois Chevalier by Graham Gauld

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Francois Chevalier's latest, a 1949 Stanguellini sports racer. Prices range from 3000-3500 Euros.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

If you should ever be in Monte Carlo, keep a look-out for an almost life-sized bronze statue to “Williams”, or William Grover-Williams to give him his correct name, the winner of the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. It is an expressive, rough-hewn work that usually stands right in the middle of St. Devote, the first corner of the Grand Prix circuit. Naturally, the statue is craned out of the way for the race but it is then craned back again after the grand prix as a permanent reminder of the first winner. The man who crafted this superb piece of work never had a single art lesson in his life but admits that he enjoyed drawing cars when he was young. He is Francois Chevalier, a 60 year-old ex-racing driver and former manager of the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France. [Read more…] about Francois Chevalier by Graham Gauld

John Fitch and the Bridgehampton Oldsmobile

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Original story By Eric Davison

Photography by: Albert Fisher, Eberhard Luethke, and Noel Werrett for the March 1966 edition of Car and Driver. Photos reproduced with the permission of Hearts Men’s Group.

It has been over a year since John Fitch died and I don’t suppose that all the great John Fitch stories will ever be told. He was a force of nature and while he always seemed to be the consummate gentleman, he was a fierce competitor, and while rules were rules, sometimes the application of common sense gave him an edge.

'An as yet beardless David E Davis checks the stopwatch.

In 1965, during his first stint as editor of Car and Driver, the late David E. Davis, Jr. conspired with his associate and good friend Brock Yates to do some wonderfully crazy things to make the magazine interesting, fun, and relevant. It would be hard for us old timers to forget the hypothetical match-up they created between a Pontiac GTO and a Ferrari GTO.

Naturally the story outraged Ferrari purists and tickled mightily the Pontiac fans. But it sure sold magazines and it sure did get talked about.

One of the other big ideas that they cooked up was a showdown between what were then called “super cars.” Invitations were sent to all the makers of such vehicles. The Pontiac GTO, Olds 442, Buick Skylark GS, Chevy Chevelle SS396, Mercury Comet Cyclone GT, and Ford Fairlane GTA; all these makers decided to participate. Wiser heads at Chrysler declined and warned that the folks at C&D were opening a real can of worms; basically an all-out track war. They were prescient.

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Bev Spencer: A Legacy Comes to Life

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Josie von Neumann in the Ferrari Testa Rossa, Riverside 1959.

By Pete Vack
Photos courtesy Roy Spencer and can be obtained via Kickstarter.com

A successful Kickstarter campaign will unleash new photos from the 1950s
As many of you know, Bev Spencer was a Ferrari dealer in San Francisco during the 1960s, did a fair amount of racing and wheeling dealing, and owned and raced a GTO. Lesser known is that along the way, Spencer hired a professional photographer to record his racing activities. And therein is the story of a son, a dream, and now a Kickstarter campaign. [Read more…] about Bev Spencer: A Legacy Comes to Life

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