Wally Wyss on the new Ferrari California Spyder.
Is Wyss on the money? Let us hear your opinion..
[Read more…] about Ferrari California Spyder: Design Critique
From Starving Author to Starving Artist
“500 Mondial at Monterey 2008” See VT Store for More, click here.
By Pete Vack
According to Wally Wyss (rhymes with reese) only a handful of automotive writers earn a living writing. Recently, after having authored over ten books so far and hundreds of articles, Wyss figured that in order to really succeed he would instead become an automotive illustrator.
But he also admits that the successful automotive artist is even a rarer breed than the well paid automotive writer. So we all wondered, what is Wyss thinking, using the duh word and circling our temples with an index finger.
[Read more…] about From Starving Author to Starving Artist
Best of Pebble Beach, Laguna and Concorso
Hugues Vanhoolandt gives us the Best of Monterey.
Pebble Beach
The best of show, 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B, Jon & Mary Shirley. Wheel discs by Lmarr Disk LTD.
[Read more…] about Best of Pebble Beach, Laguna and Concorso
Alfa’s Pre War Titans, Part II
Tazio Nuvolari, Peter Greenfield
and two Tipo C Alfa Romeo 8C35s
Color photos by www.rprincephoto.com
By Pete Vack
Greenfield at Mt Tremblant with Tipo C 8C35 chassis #50015C, the last “C†standing for clone.
At Monterey, Greenfield brought out the real thing; the ex-Nuvolari, ex-Ruesch, ex-Poore 8C35, chassis #50013.
Peter Greenfield is in the enviable position of owning and racing not one but two pre-war Alfa Romeo Grand Prix cars. Furthermore, chassis 50013 which he acquired from Peter Giddings in 2005, is the only complete, original Tipo 8C35 in the world.
[Read more…] about Alfa’s Pre War Titans, Part II
Phil Hill, On Record
Hill with a Peugeot in a R&T ad. Now listen to the recording below.
Below, we give our readers a chance to hear a rare 33 1/3 rpm recording, sent to us on a plasticized square piece of cardboard which measures seven by seven inches. For the record, it is simplistic, it is advertising, and it is not particularly well executed, even for the late 1950s. But it offers us a unique insight into what was then a new world for Americans, that of sports car racing and strange foreign cars with even stranger names. Despite being scripted, it says something about Phil Hill we may not have been able to ascertain elsewhere. Most telling, even though it is obviously a bought and paid for commercial, it is honest, as honest as Phil Hill always was.
Click on record to listen to Phil Hill.
Note that there is a 20 second
pause at the start.
This rare audio record came our way via Serge Dermanian, a retired Ferrari restorer living in Nice, France. Shortly after publishing an excellent article by Philippe H. Defechereux, which used an ad in which Phil Hill was photographed with a Peugeot 403, we received an email from Dermanian who mentioned that he had a record to go along with the ad. He added that he would be glad to send it along. We hooked up our stereo phonograph, carefully played the ancient audio device for pickup to a digital recorder, and finally converted it to the digitized format for use on a computer.
In addition, on this old, scratchy record, we hear Road & Track Editor John R. Bond, almost a lone voice in the wilderness, who used the magazine’s power and platform to beg Detroit to build cars with good handling, quality, common sense and good gas mileage. There is a message here, then, and now.
Our thanks to Serge Dermanian for finding and sending along this rare recording of the late Phil Hill. Note that there is a 20 second pause before the actual voices are heard, so have patience.
Lynch at the Quail 2008
We lost one of our finest when World Champion Phil Hill left us on August 28. He was enjoying cars and his many friends and admirers right up until the end. Phil won three races at the old Pebble Beach road course and also won the Pebble Beach Concours twice with cars he restored personally. Here, he poses at The Quail with former Ferrari President, Jean Todt, who managed Ferrari’s racing team during the Schumacher era. Credit: Marcel Massini
Michael T. Lynch reports on this year’s Quail Logde happenings.
The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering has now established itself as the hottest ticket of Monterey Peninsula automobile festival week. The tickets sold out back near the beginning of 2008 in a matter of hours. [Read more…] about Lynch at the Quail 2008
Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue
Michael T. Lynch looks at an August Legend in Progress
Photos by William Edgar
Ferraris were thick on the ground Monday. Jeff Abramson’s 500 Mondial Pinin Farina roadster was one of the nicest.
The second edition of the Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue again led off the Monterey Peninsula auto festival week concours parade. [Read more…] about Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue
Bugatti Goes Targa
by Wallace A. Wyss
Wallace Alfred Wyss is a historian recently turned to depicting exotic cars on canvas. A sample can be obtained via email by contacting him at Photojournalistpro@hotmail.com
Allright, already. The Bugatti Veyron was already an over-the-top car; what with more than 1,000 horses, no less than 16 cylinders, four turbos, all-wheel drive, 12 radiators and a wing that would not look out of place on a small airplane. Plus did we mention it goes over 250 mph? [Read more…] about Bugatti Goes Targa
Alfa’s Pre War Titans, Part I
Rex Mays, Peter Giddings and the Alfa Tipo C 8C35
By Pete Vack
Color photos by www.rprincephoto.com
Giddings at Mt Tremblant with the Tipo C, 8C35 Grand Prix car.
Given the might of the Mercedes and Auto-Union teams, the Alfa Romeo 8C35 had a brief but reasonably successful two seasons in Europe. Designed to be fitted with either a V12 engine, or an 8 cylinder, the 8C35 used a longer version of the famous Alfa 8C 2.3 engine, running almost concurrently with the initially unreliable V12 (12C36) while it was being developed. In 1936 Tazio Nuvolari drove the 8C35 to great victories at Coppa Ciano and the Hungarian GP.
[Read more…] about Alfa’s Pre War Titans, Part I
Book Review: Alfa Montreal Companion
Alfa Romeo Montreal, The Essential Companion by Bruce Taylor
2008, Veloce Publishing Limited, Dorchester, England, Tel 01305 260068 ISBN 978-1-845841-58-4
$130.00 USD
Order here
By Pete Vack
All photos courtesy of author and publisher
Who could ask for anything more?
If you owned an Alfa Montreal, you would need only three documents to completely restore the fabled Alfa V8; the factory technical publications, the factory parts book, and a new book, Alfa Romeo Montreal: The Essential Companion. In fact, most owners could get away with just the last, as it is one of the most complete, compelling, engaging, colorful and informative books ever published on a single make.
[Read more…] about Book Review: Alfa Montreal Companion
Andrea Pininfarina Dies in Road Accident
Andrea Pininfarina.
Andrea Pininfarina, CEO of Italian design and contract manufacturer Pininfarina, died August 7th, 2008 in a road accident near Turin at the age of 51.
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Peugeot Struts its Stuff in London
Peugeot 207 spider
The British International Motor Show
(London 23 July- 3 August 2008)
Story and Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
The British Motor Show is held in London every two years and includes exhibitions of cars, accessories and a boat show. It is held in the ExCeL premises, just a bit out of London near the Millennium Dome.
[Read more…] about Peugeot Struts its Stuff in London