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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Our Features This Week, August 29th 2012

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The Dino Ferrari of von Trips photographed at Sebring, December 12th 1959 by Robert F. Pauley. The damaged nose was the result of von Trips rear-ending the Ferrari of Tony Brooks, who then spent two minutes inthe pits assessing his own damage. Brooks placed third and lost the Championship to the rear-engined Cooper of Jack Brabham.

VeloceToday features the work of Gijsbert-Paul Berk, Marshall Buck, Eric Davison and Brandes Elitch; Graham Gauld, Alessandro Gerelli and Carl Goodwin; Michael T. Lynch, Karl Ludvigsen, Denise McCluggage, Ed McDonough and Roberto Motta; Jonathan Sharp, Roy Smith and Hugues Vanhoolandt; we even do Wally Wyss. And that’s not the half of it!
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Marquis of Mystery: Barn Find

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A rare barn find in the States leads Roy Smith to Alpine’s Jean Rédélé, French Champion Louis Rosier, the post-war US sports car craze, Porsche champion Bob Hobert, and back to France for Retromobile, all in search of a car that never existed. An incredible story in three parts.

By Roy Smith

Barn Find

“The car belonged to my father, Raymond Buckwalter; he drove it for a while, and then parked it. I soon found out why he parked it when I wanted to drive the car for a few months in 1958. Every time I turned the motor off and left it for a while, the car wouldn’t start again without a push. This kind of thing you remember, believe me! I always parked in the same parking lot and the attendant always saved a spot for me. Five days a week they would push me to get it started. I guess my father figured I couldn’t go shopping unless I could find some kind person to push it a few feet, but as I was a young lady at the time, I always found some kind gentleman to give me a push. It was the battery; something was draining it. Rather than fix it my father liked to challenge me and he would often laugh at how I managed these small challenges. Now the memory of it makes me laugh – I can just imagine me in a parking lot at my age trying to get someone to give my car a push! When I went to get it painted in the late 90s we found traces of blue, so I assumed that was the original color.” —Mary Ann Wood

Redele Found-in-a-barn

Photo of the strange French special taken by the Wood family in 2009.

[Read more…] about Marquis of Mystery: Barn Find

The Grand Prix of Tours Part 6: The Race

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The 1923 Grand Prix of Tours

Friderich-refuels

Friderich refuels his Bugatti T32 during the 1923 Tours Grand Prix. He would finish third; ironically neither the Bugatti “Tanks” nor the Voisin “Laboratoire” would ever race again.

By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

July 2, 1923, 8 a.m. For the start of the Grand Prix, seventeen race cars were placed in two rows. In 1923 the positions on the starting grid did not depend on lap times during practice but were, like the numbers on the cars, allotted by the organizers. Hence, pole position was taken by the V12 Delage (No. 1) with driver René Thomas and his mechanic Lhermit. Alongside was Guiness in the Sunbeam, car number 2. Guyot’s Rolland-Pilain was in the second row next to number 4, the Fiat of Bordino.

The noise and smell of the seventeen racing cars on the grid, with a total of 126 screaming cylinders, must have been similar to the noise and excitement of today’s Grand Prix starts. The pace car, driven by local motorcycle champion Paul Meunier, led the field before René Thomas in his blue Delage sprinted away with the Sunbeam of Lee Guinness. Above, Thomas and Bordino are already out of this photograph of the start. Number 2 is the Sunbeam of Lee Guiness, number 3 is Guyot in the Rolland-Pilain, the Voisin of Arthur Duray and the Friderich Bugatti, number 6.

At the end of lap one, Fiat of Pietro Bordino was in front; the Sunbeam of Lee Guiness second followed by the Delage of René Thomas; then Enrico Giaccone and Carlo Salamano both in the Fiats, Henry Segrave and Albert Divo in Sunbeams, Albert Guyot driving a Rolland-Pilain and Ernest Friderich the Bugatti. The race of the decade was on.

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Our Features This Week, August 22 2012

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Eight feature articles this week include a look at events in both Europe and California. Lynch, Elitch and Dickinson sound off on the triumphs and tribulations of Monterey; Graham Gauld covers a unique concours on the Riviera, Alessandro Gerelli brings us the Oldtimer in Germany, Gijsbert-Paul Berk uncovers the Sunbeam and Voisins at Tours. Sadly, we lost Franco Zagari; Mark Spitzley and Graham Gauld remember the great photographer.

Franco Zagari 1930-2012

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Franco Zagari 2007

Franco Zagari in 2007.


This week we sadly note the death of famed Italian photographer Franco Zagari, who passed away on August 15th at the Maggiore hospital after a fight with cancer.

Photographs by Zagari and from his collections graced many outstanding books, some of the best produced with his longtime friend Luigi Orsini.

Below, Matt Spitzley and Graham Gauld fondly recall Franco Zagari. Our thanks to Matt and Di Spitzley for permission to use some of Zagari’s favorite photographs.
[Read more…] about Franco Zagari 1930-2012

Gauld on the Valescure Concours, French Riviera

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Alpine-A110

Christine Dacremont with the pink Alpine 110 she used to race and rally.

By Graham Gauld

Every August I am asked to judge a Concours held at the Valescure Golf Club just behind St. Raphael in the South of France. There is no entry fee and the cars are lined up on the 18th fairway for all to see.

Being a French event, there was a class for Renault Alpines and there was a raft of the factory racing cars including one of the long-tail 1967 Le Mans cars that had been raced at Le Mans. [Read more…] about Gauld on the Valescure Concours, French Riviera

MAD about Monterey

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Mary Ann Dickinson (MAD) eyes Monterey

Check out this 1938 Lancia Aprilia Sport Aerodinamica, a modern reconstruction of a pre-war car. Andrea Zagato built this one in recognition of his father’s original design, following the images from old photographs as there is no other record of the car. It is a sleek beauty, with lines way ahead of its time.

Every August we all trek to the Monterey peninsula in California for the Holy Grail of vintage car events, which have grown beyond control over the years like an abandoned garden zucchini. It is now a plethora of car shows, auctions, races, exhibitions and collector markets, all occurring in the same frantic week. And this car fun is pricey; attending Monterey has become a compulsory – and expensive – pilgrimage.
[Read more…] about MAD about Monterey

1923 Grand Prix of Tours Part 5: Sunbeam and Voisin

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By Gijbsert-Paul Berk

Louis-Coatalen

Louis Coatalen, Sunbeam's chief engineer.

Established in 1899 and based in Wolverhampton UK, Sunbeam was known for its sturdy but unexciting line of cars. Things changed in 1909 when Louis Hervé Coatalen (1879 -1962) became chief engineer. [Read more…] about 1923 Grand Prix of Tours Part 5: Sunbeam and Voisin

Our Features This Week, August 15 2012

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One of our favorite charity events combines a show of vintage cars and aircraft. Held in Englewood CO, we'll send the ex-Matra team USA principal (see below story) Al Axelrod over to cover the action. Click the pic for RVSP and more info.

Passings

William F. Milliken died July 28 at home in Buffalo, NY. He was 101 years of age. VeloceToday was honored to have fully reviewed his extraordinary life with the kind help of his son Douglas. Our deepest sympathies go out to all of his family. More about Bill Milliken and his cars and aircraft can be read here:
Bill Milliken and Equations of Motion
The Milliken Bugatti T35A

Lucie Bedford Warren, age 104, died July 17 at her home in Westport, CT. She was a large part of her husband Briggs Cunningham’s successful racing team that set the standard in American road racing in the 1940s and ’50s and into the 1960s. She was the mother of their children, Briggs Cunningham III, Lucie Cunningham McKinney and Cythlen Cunningham Maddock. Lucie was the granddaughter of Edward Thomas Bedford, who was a director of Standard Oil Co. with the Rockefeller family. (Credit IMRRC)

The Grand Prix of Tours Part 4: Fiat and Rolland-Pilain

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By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

From the moment Giovanni Agnelli (1866 –1945) and his business associates founded the company in 1899, it grew within a few decades to be one of the leading industries in Italy. It even had its own branches in the USA and Russia. In 1916 Fiat began building a completely new car factory at the outskirts of Turin. When it was completed in 1922, the Lingotto plant was the largest and most modern in Europe. Its assembly lines were spread over five floors and the finished cars were driven on a test track constructed on the roof of the entire building.

Louis Wagner with the Fiat at Savanah, Georgia in 1911. Courtesy Ludvigsen.

During WWI Fiat produced weapons, aircraft and vehicles for the allied armies and in the postwar period, Italy was confronted with serious social unrest. Fiat also suffered, as workers of the Italian Socialist Party briefly occupied its factories. However, by 1923 Fiat was again showing signs of healthy growth on both the national and international markets.

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Our Features This Week, August 8th 2012

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Photographer Jonathan Sharp exhibits select photos from Prescott. Click on the Bugatti in the rain above to see a preview of what we have coming up in Prescott, the Climb, the Cars.
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We have not been publishing all the comments about the Ferrari mystery car. Suffice to say, Ferrari historians Lynch, Seielstad, Seibert, Goosens, Massini et al figure this is the 335S Ferrari s/n 0674 when owned by Chinetti sometime in 1958. But no one has been able to definitely nail down the exact date and place…either the Ford Museum in Dearborn or the Franklin Hotel in NYC yet. Back to you.
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All Star issue: This week we are proud to welcome Denise McCluggage to VeloceToday. She joins Michael T. Lynch, Graham Gauld and Gijsbert-Paul Berk for our features this week. In additon, Roberto Motta’s Finish Rally report and Jonathan Sharp’s Prescott gallery help create a very special edition. Don’t forget, we need your dollars to continue to bring you articles such as these.If you enjoy VeloceToday, Donate or become a premium subscriber; only your support will keep these articles coming to your inbox every week

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