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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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A Car Life, by Larry Crane

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crane bugatti
Legend has it that Mrs. Bugatti would pass through the race shop periodically and hold her pack of Gaulois cigarettes next to the latest group of team cars to verify they had not drifted too far from the official racing color.

Bugatti Type 51 in Gaulois Bleue

Bugatti’s famous snarl grows quickly. The tiny clutch pedal snaps up and we are underway. Every metal component that is in motion makes noise and it is all in the cockpit with you. There is no firewall and the gearbox is pressed against my left leg. It doesn’t take long before there is heat everywhere. The rev counter has inexplicably failed and we are running on sound. [Read more…] about A Car Life, by Larry Crane

“CD” and the Last Racing Panhard

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cd panhard
The Panhard-CD exhibited a Retromobile by Autodrome is chassis #LM64-01, race number 45, driven by Pierre Lelong and Guy Verrier. The car retired at 4.00 AM, after twelve hours, due to a failure in the transmission. Photo courtesy Autodrome Paris.

By Pete Vack

When you read the letters CD in terms of aerodynamics, it is usually assumed that they stand for “Coefficient of aerodynamics”, Cd, or Cx as some would have it. Others would have it differently, for the letters CD also stand for Charles Deutsch, whose lifelong ambition to create efficient race cars has been largely overlooked and yet is so important.
[Read more…] about “CD” and the Last Racing Panhard

New Motorcycle Event at the Quail in May

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As the Quail Lodge prepares for the Quail Motorcycle Gathering, this is the quality of entry they hope for. This Ducati 750 Imola is thought to be Paul Smart’s backup bike for the 1972 Imola 200, which Smart won, putting Ducati on the road to unmatched success in World Superbike racing. It is seen at a vintage race at Laguna Seca, just a few miles from Quail Lodge. Credit: Michael T. Lynch

By Michael T. Lynch

In 2003, a new event was added to the August Monterey Peninsula Automotive Festival Week, The Quail–“A Motorsports Gathering.” Since then, this brilliant combination of cars, cuisine, celebrities and cognoscenti, set on the verdant grass of the golf course that is part of the Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club, has become the hottest ticket during the week, with a sellout taking place each January in less than two hours. The Management of that event hopes to repeat their success with its premier all-motorcycle concours on Saturday, May 9th. [Read more…] about New Motorcycle Event at the Quail in May

South Australia’s Carnevale Festival

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fiat
This Topolino is an Italian-built 1948 A series side-valve engined car which was restored around 10 years ago by Ray Gallagher of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

By Vince Johnson

La Dolce Vita, South Oz style

South Australia’s Italian community enjoyed the centuries-old tradition of a final celebration before Ash Wednesday and the 40 days of Lent with the “Carnevale Festival” on February 7 and 8. Held this year at the Adelaide Showgrounds, locals shared in La Dolce Vita with regional food, drink, music, fashion and cultural festivities. [Read more…] about South Australia’s Carnevale Festival

A Car Life by Larry Crane

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ferrari 250tr
Crane enjoying the echo of that famous song at the exit of Laguna Seca’s famous Turn Eleven in 1978. Notice “vintage” Italian flag helmet with “disappearing” bottom half.

Ferrari’s “Song of the Twelve”
reverberated off the concrete wall at the exit of turn eleven and filled the little canyon that contains Laguna Seca Raceway near the California coast. The legendary Italian aria filled my helmet too as the 250 Testa Rossa sang a 6000-rev crescendo. I pushed in the clutch and slid the heavy steel gearlever through its gate to select the next chorus.
[Read more…] about A Car Life by Larry Crane

Retro 2009: Significant Other Italians

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retro
Take a seat, fill up, and have a good read about Italians at Retro.

All Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
Captions by Pete Vack

There were few Ferraris at Retro this year, some well known cars of the Ferrari Historic Challenge prepared by Roelofs Engineering, a 250 LM, a 500 F2 and a brace of production cars, but perhaps more interesting was the concentration on the Significant Others.
[Read more…] about Retro 2009: Significant Other Italians

The French at the Schlumpf

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schlumpf
Panhard-Levassor CD Coupe. With only 702 cc, this CD (for Charles Deutsch) coupe won the Index of Performance at Le Mans in 1962 driven by the team of Gilhaudin and Bertaut.

Photos by Lorenzo Marchesini

There are collectors and there are Collectors, those whose passions lead to strange obsessions, like the Asphalt Museum in Sacramento founded by Scott Gordon. On to the median, we can visit Brian and Sue Radam’s British Lawnmower Museum. And if we really want to get nit picky, we can call on Graham Barker, from Brisbane Australia, whose belly button lint collection is the best in the world. But few collections are in the same class as the Brothers Schlumpf.
[Read more…] about The French at the Schlumpf

A Car Life, by Larry Crane

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lamborghini Lamborghini’s Murcielago is the most beautiful model in the line since the first generation of the legendary expletive “Countach!” As an open car with the side windows aligning perfectly with the windshield, the LP640 Roadster becomes an impossibly seductive show car for the road. Photo courtesy Lamborghini.

MURCI! MURCI!

Part of this car guy’s life has been the opportunity to live the fantasy. Let’s take a step into today and sample one of the finest Lamborghinis to date.
[Read more…] about A Car Life, by Larry Crane

Cavallino 2009

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cavallino Cavallino 2009, focusing on the Mondial 500 S/N 0556(0446)/MD.

Story and Photos by Werner Pfister

(Palm Beach January 23-26 2009)
In spite of Bernie Madoff, the economy and a mid-week cold spell, Palm Beach rallied to once again host the Cavallino Classic; number 18, in fact! While many predicted a weak turn out, I observed many happy Ferraristi at every event of the Classic throughout the week. John and Alicia Barnes did a great job in getting a very enthusiastic group of participants and spectators to turn out despite the odds.
[Read more…] about Cavallino 2009

Ferrari Shell Historics at Palm Beach, One

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ferrari We focus on Bob Benedict’s Ferrari Michelotto 308GT/M. “Most people who see the M for the first time don’t know what it is. Some think it is a baby BBLM, which makes sense, as it is built by the same company. The correct S/N is 001, as designated by Michelotto. There were only three built.”–Bob Benedict.

Story by David Seibert
Photos by Richard Prince except as noted

(PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL, January 26) Peter Giddings and Lawrence Stroll are both past champions in the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge. [Read more…] about Ferrari Shell Historics at Palm Beach, One

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