pete

Well, yes, we do in fact. Not our business, really, but apparently we do ok anyway. Remember the Siata we had on the site a few months ago? Gone in sixty seconds. Here’s what Carl Goodwin just sent in, and we didn’t even have to twist his arm:

Thanks a million for your help in selling my Siata Gran Sport! Not only did Veloce Today find a person with the right automotive interests and the ability to buy a Siata but your web site attracted a lot of other inquiries and four other offers. In addition, I sold two Alfa Guiliettas earlier this year through an ad on your site. Amazingly enough, for the Siata, we didn’t even place a regular ad on the site; the Siata was simply featured as a one time news item on “This Week, of Interest”! This international sale is indicative of the growing audience and stature that VeloceToday has and that results from an outstanding editorial product.–Carl Goodwin

What Premium Membership means right now is, if you want to read any of the articles no longer on the homepage, you’ll be requested to join our Premium Member service.

At the same time, VeloceToday will continue to deliver three or more articles to our regular subscribers every week, absolutely free. But when those articles disappear from the homepage after a week or two, they will be put into the Premium Membership column.

But our Premium Membership program can’t just consist of archived articles. We have to give you something new and additional to justify paying that $4.95 per month. Therefore several times a month we will present exciting new feature articles offered to our Premium Members only. And that’s only fair, we think. And only the beginning.

There will be more benefits for those who choose the Premium Membership Service. It opens up a brave new world of options, such as free pdfs, merchandise, e-books, and more. We’ll take this a step at a time, beginning December 1st with an exclusive ‘premium’ story served in three installments.

Finally, let us repeat this again and again. VeloceToday will continue just as before providing excellent, exclusive reports, articles and images every week, free. You do not need to join the Premium Membership service unless you want to, and this will NOT affect your current free subscription.

That way everyone wins.

NOTE: There will be no VeloceToday next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Holiday Schedule
There will be no VeloceToday for the week of November 24th due to the Thanksgiving holidays.
There will be no VeloceToday for the week of December 29th due to the Christmas holidays.

New Premium Service is in addition to our normal free subscription:
VeloceToday remains FREE to all of our susbcribers

You may notice that you can no longer access many of our old archived articles without purchasing a “MediaPass subscription” to the view the archives. What is going on here?

The answer is a new “Premium” service VeloceToday will offer that includes all archived articles. The new service will also offer in-depth, exclusive articles, the key to all the archives, and down the road e- books and PDFs as well as exciting new offerings.

But let us be clear:

The new premium service is separate and optional. There is nothing you need to do if you don’t want the premium service. If you are currently subscribed to VeloceToday, service will continue as before, with three to six exclusive articles mailed to you every Wednesday, for free.

We are currently installing and beta testing the new system. If you have any questions, issues or problems, please email me directly at pete@velocetoday.com.

We are still in need of a few more comments about where our readers like to go for family vacations in the U.S. Please drop us a quick note if you can–all info will be kept private, of course. Send to pete@velocetoday.com Thanks!

Maranello, 12 October – Roberto Motta writes: We would like to dedicate this picture to the memory of Mexican driver Nicolas Zapata, who was the victim of a traffic accident on Saturday 9 October on the Mexico-Toluca highway in the region of Santa Fe. The image shows him racing in one of the recent rounds of the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge. With the loss of Zapata, the new Ferrari Historic Race loses its most fervent supporter, a racer for over ten years in the extraordinary series dedicated to the classic jewels from the home of the Prancing Horse. In November 2009 Zapata was crowned champion at the fourth and final race at the world finals in Valencia, behind the wheel of a legendary 1956 Ferrari 625 TR. Photo by Roberto Motta, insert Ferrari Media.

Mario Marchesini of Budrio and our “Italian eye” caught this transporter with Polish tags (many FIAT models are made in Poland). Mario thinks the much taped up Prototype might be a new four door Lancia Ypslion. Photograph copyright Mario Marchesini.

Best of France and Italy to be held November 7th 2010
Get out to Woodley Park, Van Nuys, California for a day with the best of French and Italian motoring machinery. This a non-judged show, from the rough restoration project to the serious concours offering. All are welcome, and our pricing structure is geared toward the collector with more than one vehicle. The intent of this gathering is to provide a meeting place for those marques that get little attention at the fancier concours. The registration fee is the same for both cars and swap meet vendors. A parking area is provided for trailers and tow vehicles. Food will be available or bring a picnic (no alcohol please).
Click here for a map and directions.
Contact us at info@franceanditaly.com or by voice, (626) 797-4221

And now for a question or two.
We know that most of our readers travel a great deal and that many attend automotive events all around the world.
But–where do you go for U.S. non car related vacations? What is your family’s favorite vacation destination? Will you be taking such a vacation in the next year? The reasons for such a question will be revealed in time, but if you send your comments to this post or to pete@velocetoday.com, privacy is assured. Send us a note if you can, it will be of great help!

Jeff Allison is presently the editor of Prancing Horse, the quarterly magazine of the Ferrari Club of America. He’s previously served in editor positions with MG Abingdon Classics and Vintage Motorsport magazines, including editor of “Vintage Stuff” in Automobile magazine. Since 1976, he’s produced almost 400 articles in over 40 magazines and web sites relating to motorsport activities. We think you’ll enjoy his photo collection of Alfas on the Track, Part 1 this week, and Part 2 next.

Jeroen Ekeler, 41, is a newcomer to VeloceToday from Holland who has been a free lance motoring writer for twenty years. He covered the always impressive concours at the Palace Het Loo for us and we hope to see more of his work in the near future.

Moretti. One of our readers is restoring a very rare Moretti. Although he has checked the usual sources both online and off, he is unable to find anyone who is a Moretti historian or who can help with researching this car which spent a good deal of it’s life in France. Any ideas here? Please let us know. Email us at pete@velocetoday.com.