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Tripoli 1939: Italian Job That Mis-fired

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The late Clyde Berryman’s diorama of the Mellaha pits and timing tower.

Story by Robert Young

The fabulous ‘golden era of motor sport’ of the 1930s was dominated by the silver German Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union racers. The Italian challengers in their brave red Maseratis and Alfa Romeos were outgunned in a motor sporting equivalent of the blitzkrieg. From 1934, when the German teams came on the scene, to 1937, the European Championship ‘750kg’ formula for Grand Prix cars saw engine capacities of up to 6 liters employed, but in 1938 this was reduced to 3 liters and once again the silver cars ruled the roost, with the ‘titans’ driving the Mercedes V12 W154.

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Gauld Checks Out the Ferrari Estate Car

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The Series II Ferrari 330GT. American design, Italian coachwork. Hugues Vanhoolandt photo.

Story by Graham Gauld

At the risk of a rebuttal, I would say that the terminology “Estate Car” or “Shooting-brake” came from the good old United Kingdom. One can trace this class-conscious terminology applied to a motor car to the early days of horse-drawn travel in the 1880’s when rich landowners needed a bulkier carriage to carry the guns and shooting impedimenta for blasting partridge and grouse out of the sky.

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Juan Manuel Fangio Tribute

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Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt,
Captions by staff

From the Archives, September 2011

Juan Manuel Fangio impressed the European racing scene the second he stepped foot in the Old World in 1949. In his first season with the Maserati 4CLT/48, he won the San Remo, Pau and Roussillon Gran Prix. In 1950, he won the Gran Prix of Pau again, with a Maserati 4CLT/50. But it was at San Remo where Fangio truly proved his worth as both a driver and mechanic. A big end went the day before the event. That night he removed the sump, found the bad bearing, and polished the crankshaft with a piece of emery cloth. This alone took him two hours. Then he installed a new bearing and fixed it so it wouldn’t spin. Finally, “I told the mechanics to put the sump on while I went to bed. And the next day I won the race.”

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Sports Car Racing at Midland, TX, 1958-59

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Local resident and oilman Hap Sharp was instrumental getting the Midland Airpark Races established. Seen here during the October 1959 edition, he is at the wheel of chassis 2432, his hybrid entry: a Maserati 250S with a 3-liter Ferrari Monza engine. It was hot and humid, so in practice Hap tried the use of a rubber air hose to stay cool. It probably did not work too well. It was discarded during the actual races.

Story by Willem Oosthoek
Photos by Bob Jackson

When the name Midland is mentioned, people automatically think of Rattlesnake Raceway, or the more recent Petroleum Museum, which displays the various models of Jim Hall’s Chaparral 2 sports racer. But Jim Hall didn’t even participate when sports car racing began in the early days at Midland, and those activities weren’t held at Rattlesnake Raceway, which did not exist yet.

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Behind the PBS SOCAL Story: My Extra 5 Minutes of Fame

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I brought the very same Canon IVS 2 35 mm camera that took so many B&W and even a dozen in color, to the interview for the program, “Lost L.A.” The first episode is called “The Fast and The Forgotten.” The five minute episode concentrating on me is called “The Forgotten Racetrack.”

By Allen R. Kuhn
Photographs courtesy of Matt Bass, Director of Photography PBS

Behind the PBS SOCAL Story: My 15 Minutes of Fame and some Additional Footage from the Original Interview

In November of 2024, I was working on a project for VeloceToday, I heard “Ride of the Valkyries” playing on our phone. Another spam call, I thought. I looked over, and the name Tom Young showed up; by gosh, a real phone call! He was calling to see if I would help PBS SOCAL put together a half-hour show for a program called “Lost L.A.” This would be the opening season episode called “The Fast and the Forgotten.” [Read more…] about Behind the PBS SOCAL Story: My Extra 5 Minutes of Fame

Sharp’s Retro Part 4: French Classics

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The Renault 4cv based Le Tank Burnel.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

You may recall that last week I mentioned that for a French show it contained a lot of Italian Cars, well having finished sorting through over a 1000 photos I can now say that for a French show it also contained a lot of very interesting French cars, and British cars too, and not forgetting the Germans and even a few American cars for good measure. I also mentioned that the themed displays this year were of a very high standard with the highlight probably being the Bugatti display. Titled “Bugatti, Les Insolites De Molsheim,” aka “Bugatti, the Unusual creations of Molsheim,” simply stunning and not a Type 35 in sight.

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Sharp’s Retro Part 5: Interesting Others

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A Hollywood star on the Kidston stand, but not for sale. Making its public debut at the show following a two-year restoration by RS Williams, this 1968 Aston Martin DBS Vantage, chassis 5234/R, featured in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service staring George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, and Telly Savalas. Two cars were loaned to Eon productions for use in the film and chassis 5234/R was the principal example. Once the filming had finished 5234/R was sold to the British School of Motoring in London and used for high speed driving tuition.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Retro 2026: The Golden Age of Rallying display covered the years 1960 through 1990. Alfa Romeo celebrated 60 years of the Duetto, Mazda celebrated the 35th anniversary of the win at Le Mans in the amazingly loud 787. It was GTis again, this time on the VW stand, celebrating 50 years of the original hot hatch. For Skoda it was 125 years of Motor Sport.

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Sharp’s Retro Part 6: Art and Neat Stuff

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The BMW art display featured the Jeff Koons 2010 BWM M3 GT2 and six more.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

One of the main themes at the show this year was a celebration of 50 years of the BMW Art car project which brought together the seven Art Cars that had raced at Le Mans. In the centre of the display was the 1975 3.0 CSL of Alexander Calder, to the left of which was the M1 of Andy Warhol, the 1977 320i of Roy Lichtenstein, and the Frank Stella 1976 750 BHP 3.0 CSL ((my favorite). To the right of the Calder car, the 1999 V12 LMR of Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons’ 2010 M3 GT2, and the 2024 M Hybrid V8 of Julie Mehretu.

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Sharp’s Retro Part 1: Ferrari

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From Kidston, This beautiful 1950 Ferrari 166 MM Le Mans Berlinetta. Chassis 0048 M was first registered in July 1950 to Angelo Biemmi of Iseo, Brescia who, in March 1951, sold it to Luciano Masseroni of Milan, the son of Carlo Rinaldo Masseroni, a large scale footwear manufacturer and owner/president of ‘Football Club Internazionale Milano’ better known as Inter Milan. Six weeks after purchase Luciano and his co driver Riccardo Vignolo took part in the Millie Miglia where they finished 3rd in the 2.0-Litre sports car class, 21st overall.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

For a French show in the French capital, Retromobile, on its 50th Anniversary, contained a great number of Italian cars, as you will shortly see. The themed displays put on by the event organizers were particularly impressive this year.

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Sharp’s Retro Part 3: Fiat and Others

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Surprisingly unsold at the onsite auction, 1953 Fiat 1100 Coupe Speciale by Allemano, styled by Giovanni Michelotti. One of only two examples built, and probably the sole survivor.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Jonathan Sharp shows us the Fiats and oddballs at Retro.

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Amore mio Ardea

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Fancy an Ardea?

Story and photos by Luc van Dobben

From the VeloceToday archives, May 2021

Luc van Dobben is no stranger to Lancias or VeloceToday. To read more about his adventures with Lancias, click here.

In 2019, after selling my last race car project, there was room for something else. But what? Due to my age, I didn’t want another project. So it had to be good restored car, and the only brand for me was Lancia, so the search began.

I preferred a model with the old Lancia grille shape and in a reasonable price range. I began searching for an Ardea, a lovely model, and several were offered for sale in Italy, from projects to fully restored examples. After a lot of Internet visits, I found one to my liking near Pisa. I was contacted by the daughter of the seller, who was helping facilitate the sale. She was familiar with our country, as she had studied in nearby Leiden’s University. She sent extra information, pictures and promised a chrome Ardea sign on the grille as well. All technical questions were correctly answered, and I made arrangements to collect the car ourselves.

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