VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Gentlemen’s Historic Challenge at Le Belle Macchine

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(Hershey, PA, March 8, 2010) Italian CARS together with Brickhouse Communications are pleased to announce a new historic racing series to be called the “Gentlemen’s Historic Challenge.” The first races will be held as part of the 24th Annual Le Belle Macchine d’Italia at Pocono International Raceway, June 25th to the 28th of 2010. The races will be managed by David Seibert, the Project Manager for the Ferrari North America Shell Historic Challenge Series from its inception.
[Read more…] about Gentlemen’s Historic Challenge at Le Belle Macchine

Now, Vote for Your Favorite Etceterini

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The Moretti Barchetta 750 cc of Michael Schwartz is one of the ten final entrants eligible for the most popular Etceterini prize. Vote from the below entrants.

Here are the final entries for the Amelia class of Etceterinis. All have been featured in the past few weeks in VeloceToday.

The entries are numbered 1-10 and the photos are below. Please send us your choice by number or exact description.

Send your vote to me at pete@velocetoday.com before March 8th 2010. The most popular Etceterini will be announced in the March 10th edition of VeloceToday and the owner of the winning Etceterini will be awarded a copy of “Nardi, A fast life”, by Dino Brunori. The book will be presented by Cliff Reuter of etceterini.com, who was the driving force behind the creation of this new class at Amelia.
[Read more…] about Now, Vote for Your Favorite Etceterini

Classic French Car Museum to Open in Oxnard California

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1939 Delahaye 165 is part of the permanent display a the Mullin Museum.

Photos by Michael Furman Photography

Oxnard, Calif. (February 22, 2010) The Mullin Automotive Museum, a facility that will pay homage to the art deco and machine age design eras (1918-1941) that produced exquisite art and magnificent automobiles, will officially open its doors for the first time in the beach community of Oxnard, Calif., Spring 2010. [Read more…] about Classic French Car Museum to Open in Oxnard California

Carnevale Adelaide 2010

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1978 Ferrari 512BB owned by Peter Tyson.

Story and photos by Vince Johnson

February means Carnevale to Italians the world over and in South Australia it’s no different. Held indoors once again at the Adelaide Showgrounds, the summer sun couldn’t daunt the annual festival of Italian culture held February 6th-7th. Style on wheels never fails to attract attention and Italian machinery is always a popular drawcard. The local Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ferrari and Maserati importer, Prestige Formula, had current models on show to contrast with the impressively turned out classics. [Read more…] about Carnevale Adelaide 2010

This Week, of Interest

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Larry Crane
Larry Crane gave me a call the other day. He is well and doing good work and keeping busy. We talked a lot of many things, and the next day I received a package full of copies of his old magazine, “Vintage Racer”. We’ll be using some of the material from that vintage magazine in the near future. In the meantime, all of Larry’s columns entitled “A Car Life” can be found on the pages of VeloceToday…click here.
Thanks Larry, and stay well and busy.

Subscriptions
Among the many things needed doing when we overhauled VeloceToday recently was to clean up a 10 year old subscription list. We may have deleted one or two that bounced but were still active. Send an email to pete@velocetoday.com if you aren’t receiving your normal weekly dose of VeloceToday. Or, if you just want to subscribe or have a friend who wants to subscribe, send an email.

Visit the Archives
We have now completed the archive access capabilities. For the old VT articles, click the “Search Archives” button in the top bar. For archives from the past two years, use the find, monthly, or by catagory functions at the top of the right column.

Below, we help find information about those elusive Etceterinins, listing both books and Internet sources, two more entries for Amelia, and Lynch on the Desert Classic Concours.

Etceterini Books

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Books
What is surprising is that there are so many books about Etceterinis. While most books on the subject are in Italian, but today, with Google Translator, just type in the text you wish to read and it will translate, instantly and accurately enough for general purposes. Increasingly, more are being printed in both English and Italian, or one can find English text copies about.

We list here only the books we-being Cliff Reuter, Stu Schaller and myself– have on our shelves. There are many others to be found and we hope you will let us know what they are and a bit about them. We have limited the choices to those books which directly address the subject; books on coachbuilders or special bodied Fiats will be covered at another time.

“La Sport e I suoi artigiani 1937-1965” is the one absolutely essential book for anyone who is interested in Etceterinis. Published in 2002, it is the bible, an encyclopedia of virtually every single small displacement Italian car built for the Italian national classes in the post war era. It is complete, fascinating, full of photos, in alphabetical order, well indexed, but all in Italian. You can read a review of the book from 2002, here.
[Read more…] about Etceterini Books

Etceterini Internet Sources

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Websites and Links

There is a growing amount of information on the Net, and we are just scratching the surface here. Say or type the favored word into Google or Bing and they will appear.

Below are some of our favorites along with some good things found in our very own pages, compiled from our archives. But no where is there more information in one spot than at Etecterini.com. Almost singlehandedly Cliff Reuter has turned his site into a veritable Wikipedia for Ecteterinis. You’ll spend hours just cruising through the vast amounts of material Cliff has accumulated and organized and don’t miss the SCCA results and programs: Etceterini.com.
[Read more…] about Etceterini Internet Sources

This Week, of Interest

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This week we feature the Moretti Branca Formula Junior, one of the first rear engine Juniors built, raced in Europe and then in the U.S. by Augie Pabst, used as a restaurant sign and finally ending up remarkably intact, in the hands of VeloceToday correspondent, Australian Ean McDowell.

It fits in nicely with our work on the Amelia Etceterini contest and entries. Every week we receive more great photos of the entrants, and what a great class they are. From iconic cycle fendered siluros to tiny but thrillingly artistic barchettas to streamlined sports racers, they are all assembling here for your perusal. And vote.

Finally, what may be the last report on the Ferrari Historic Series, which has been “suspended” in Europe. In North America only one date in September appears on the Ferrari NA web site (and that under the 430 Challenge). None of the traditional dates are scheduled. These are not good times in Italy, and we have heard several rumors about Fiat’s plans for the future which include the possible elimination of the Alfa Romeo brand and closing of the famous Museum. We hope they are rumors only, and we’ll keep you posted on future developments.

The Salvation of a Moretti Branca: Origins

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By Ean McDowell

Australian Ean McDowell is no stranger to the pages of VeloceToday, and one of his most interesting articles is Night Drive in an ASA. Ean knows that while the climate, road conditions, availability of restoration services, events, and the general social environment make Australia an ideal country for car enthusiasts, the opportunity to purchase special cars is not as great as in USA or Europe. That has not stopped him amassing a private collection that includes cars imported from UK, USA, Spain, France, and Mexico. Whether a high revving V12 or a rusty Fiat 1100, Ean has a love for all Italian cars. In this article he describes the amazing history of a Moretti Formula Junior that will be restored and used in events “down under”. Ean has a Stanguellini FJ and compares the Moretti design and innovation to the 1959 championship winning Stanguellini.

“Like you, I bought my most interesting cars unseen, and instantly!!!!” These words came as warm reassurance from Duncan Rabagliati, a very well known motoring historian and Formula Junior expert, in response to the slight apprehension that, without an inspection, I had just bought a 50 year old racing car in need of total restoration. [Read more…] about The Salvation of a Moretti Branca: Origins

The Salvation of a Moretti Branca: Tech Description

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Moretti Branca under construction as Buscate. One of several original photos supplied by Mr. Branca in 2009

By Ean McDowell

In Part I, Ean McDowell interviewed Aquilino Branca who told him how he had created Championship winning 750cc race cars in the mid 1950s and how, in 1958, a new rear engine Formula Junior car was created. In Part 2, McDowell describes the mechanical aspects of the three Moretti Branca Formula cars.

In the initial discussions leading up to the birth of Formula Junior there was consensus only on the fundamental principle that it should provide low cost racing. There was no agreement at first on how this would be achieved. [Read more…] about The Salvation of a Moretti Branca: Tech Description

The Salvation of a Moretti Branca: The Races

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Madero at Monaco in what is almost certainly chassis 2.18 judging by the rear suspension, color scheme, head rest, and the position of the panel fixing bolts.

By Ean McDowell

In Part 1, Ean McDowell interviewed Aquilino Branca who told him how he had created Championship winning 750cc race cars in the mid 1950s and how, in 1958, a new rear engine Formula Junior car was created. In Part 2, McDowell describes the mechanical aspects of the three Moretti Branca Formula cars. Part 3 concludes with the racing history of the owner‘s Moretti Branca.

The earliest appearance of a Moretti Formula Junior appears to have been on 29th June 1958 at Monza. Stanguellinis dominated but were challenged by the lone Moretti (probably the front engined car) driven by Aquilino Branca which placed sixth. [Read more…] about The Salvation of a Moretti Branca: The Races

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