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Four door Lambos, beautiful Bandinis, fast Fiats

Mark Stehrenberger’s work is familiar to us all, we probably just don’t know it. Sorta like James Patterson, that mysterious writer who has sold more books than both Stephen King and John Grisham. Our man Wallace Wyss uncovers the man, presents his work and his many interesting comments about the state of the art.

What exactly is an Etceterini ? Are they fun to own and drive? What’s the history and what does one do with one? We start this week, but the final word will come a bit later from the author of “La Sport e i suoi artigiani” himself, world famous Italian car historian Andrea Curami. Only here in VeloceToday.

New to VeloceToday is Simon Wright, who totes a good camera, knows his cars and how to write as well. His first for us is a short on the Fiat 500 Trofeo cars at Birmingham UK. We wish the new Fiats were in the U.S. now, but Chrysler seems intent upon NOT. Much more of Simon is on tap for next month as we get deeply into Citroens, designers, and old old Renaults.

Remember this week to give generously to my favorite organization, VeloceToday.com and become a fan of VeloceToday on Facebook, where you’ll see updated information and comments from around the world on a daily basis. Like, a little bit of VeloceToday, every day!

We have for you an unusual piece by Brandes Elitch about an unusual person behind an unusual car blog; Wallace Wyss begins a series of Guest Speakers, and we chat up one of the Amelia Etceterini entries.

This year, we’ll try to feature two cars in depth per month, one French, the other Italian. We’ve gotten off to a good start, for in January, we worked up the Talbot Darracq and the Nardi. The other two weeks of each month will be reserved for events, races, odds and ends and guest editorials.

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This week, Nardi for our readers. Click on the story of choice;we hope you choose all four. Thanks to Dino Brunori, Cliff Reuter, Mary Decker Vack and Frank Shaffer.

Don’t forget to read Philippe Defechereux’s updated review of the silliest season ever, in part II of The Inter-Seasonal Sounds of Fury. What else should we expect from the greatest spectacle in racing? We hope the races will be as interesting as the pre-season games. BTW, Defechereux’s James Dean book is on sale at a special price for VT readers.

Below. We have four photos of Etceterinis to illustrate that this year’s Amelia Island Concours on March 12-14 will be the first time a large event has recognized a class for Etceterinis, thanks to the efforts of Cliff Reuter and Bill Warner. The class is already filled, but we will feature each entrant in VeloceToday in the next two months. Hopefully you’ll be there to see all of these rare jewels in person.

And, while we are at it–if you like what we are doing at VeloceToday, please, tell a friend and get them to subscribe. No, tell three friends. Subscriptions are easy, and no strings attached…we don’t use or sell lists or email addresses.