Graham Gauld, By The Way
Bäumer at the wheel of the Mercedes when he had his driver test at Monza, 1937.
Graham Gauld talks to Maserati 300S author Walter Bäumer
Two years ago Walter Bäumer Jr. launched his tome on Maserati and in particular to the Tipo 300S and since then he has been working on an equally complicated book on the Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato models. However,If you are of a certain age the name Walter Bäumer might mean something to you for there was a Walter Bäumer who raced for Mercedes-Benz in 1938. He was the author’s uncle.
Young Walter is a very amusing and affable enthusiast who specializes in Maserati history (www.internationalMASERATIresearch.com) but about a year ago we talked a bit about his family and particularly his uncle.
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Racing a Maserati 300S
In this archived article, Peter LeSaffre discusses driving the ex-Musy Maserati 300S back in the good days of the Ferrari Shell Historics.
By Pete Vack
Color photos by Richard Prince Photography
In his epic book, Maserati 300S, Walter Bäumer tells us a fascinating story about a little-known race driver by the name of Benoit Musy.
He was the son of a President of Switzerland and “a brave man, who saved the lives of many German Jews in the last months of WWII.” Musy purchased a Maserati 300S, chassis 3057 new from the factory in June of 1955. He bought a truck to haul the car, his beautiful wife Consuela and young son Edouard. In 1955 and 1956, he entered seventeen events throughout Europe, winning six outright. But at Montlhléry in late 1956, Musy entered a Maserati 200S Maserati as the 300S was being overhauled. Tragically, Musy was killed driving the 200S, and his grief stricken wife sold the 300S immediately.
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Our Features This Week, December 7
Amilcar: The Poor Man’s Bugatti
Vintage Motorphoto’s Dale LaFollette recently found this remarkable, captivating photo of the Indy Delage. Click to enlarge.
All photos in this reveiw are from the book “Amilcar”
Book Review:
Amilcar by Gilles Fournier, Translated by David Burgess-Wise
Dalton Watson, 2006
300 pages 84 page French supplement
500 black and white photos, diagrams, and advertisements
Two volumes, hardbound with dust jackets and slip case
Review by Pete Vack
“Once an Amilcar, always an Amilcar!” declared Gilles Fournier, the author of the only serious book on the subject. Amilcar—its name reputedly an anagram of founders Emile Akar and Joseph Lamay–was a small displacement “cyclecar” built in France between the wars that according to Stan Grayson in Automobile Quarterly “…possessed undeniable charm and a healthy dose of that intangible quality that makes some cars stand out.”
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Our Features This Week, November 30
Graham Gauld: By The Way
This Dino 206S was seen again at the Algarve Historic Festival in Portugal. Here it is in 1965 at the Cesana-Torinese hill climb, its first outing as a hill climb car. Driver Ludovico Scarfiotti has his back to the camera and team manager Eugenio Dragoni.
Four from Portugal, by Graham Gauld
I have been humbled by the response to the first column and only hope I can keep you entertained for a few more months. I think one of the problems is that each chance meeting or race meeting provides an opportunity to dig out even more stories to flesh out information we have on some of the odder pieces of motor sport history. They might otherwise disappear when boring old farts like me arrive at the eventual pit stop hopefully in the sky.
This opportunity to flesh out more information was underlined for me a couple of weeks ago at the final big International European historic meeting, the Algarve Historic Festival in Portugal.
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1957 Ferrari Transporter in 1/18 Scale
Ferrari's means of getting to the track in the 1960s.
Story and photos by Marshall Buck
I’m not sure exactly what it is, but there is something hypnotically attractive about vintage racing car transporters. I’m talking about the kind from the 1930s through the 1960s. Just like the rare competition cars they carry, old race transporters draw crowds anywhere they park. Especially the vintage European kind, of which there have been so very many types, configurations, and manufacturers of. Numerous magazine articles have been written, and even a couple of books have been published on them.
Big pencil, even bigger model!
Old race transporters appear to be one of the next phases of collector vehicles within the Vintage race car community. They are the “in” thing, and they are very cool. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if someday in the future, you find a special showing of these at one of the premier concours. Stranger things have happened.
Imposing rear view, and gives just a hint of extensive and complete underside detail.
The Most Successful Series in the 10 years of VeloceToday
Eric Davison’s stirring memoirs of his family and the early years at Watkins Glen evoked many great comments from young and old alike. The series is over, but PDFs of each chapter and the CD of the Davison/Lance photos are still available for Premium Subscribers.
If you are NOT a member, subscribe to our Premium Service now at receive a Free Watkins Glen CD while supplies last! Click below for details.
Our Features This Week, November 23rd
More features and reports below!
Boniface Picnic Benefits St. Elizabeth Health Center
By Carl Goodwin
Photos by Chuck Hazle
The Annual Ray Boniface Picnic is more than a car show. It’s a way to make free breast cancer exams available to women in eastern Ohio who could not otherwise afford one. The Picnic raises money for and schedules two yearly programs providing free mammograms for women in the Warren and Youngstown area of Ohio.
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McDonough Drives a Delahaye 135M Skiff
By Ed McDonough
Photos by Mike Jiggle
It isn’t really fair to call this car a Guillore Delahaye. It might be more accurate to say that a Guillore ferry has been transformed into a racy Delahaye ‘skiff’, for indeed that is the interesting history of this 1938 135M.
As mentioned in our introductory piece, pre-war Delahayes had bodies designed and built by a very wide range of European coachbuilders, and that range covered the spectrum from fairly simple to wildly extravagant. The Guillore cars were generally at the former end of that spectrum characteristic of the Delahaye output in the immediate pre-war and post-war periods.
At 1300 kilograms, the Guillore skiff flies...if you can say that about a boat-shaped device. My only criticism is that as I was lucky enough to be driving, I couldn’t see it go by!
Who was Guillore?