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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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When Citroëns Invade New York

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Festive caravan of vintage French autos going round Columbus Circle. The “Bastille Day” Celebration in NYC!

From the VeloceToday Archives, May 2017

Story by Philippe H. Defechereux © 2017

The One Day Every Year When French Unicorns Run Free in New York City Streets

To certain onlookers, they may briefly evoke unicorns, except that their outer surface is often quite colorful and their one horn is inside the car. To hear most New Yorkers who catch a good glimpse, they look more like UFOs on wheels. But not to the numerous French car aficionados, expats or tourists on a visit from France. For them the strange vehicles are quite familiar and a propitious apparition to behold.

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Jeff Allison Captions Ferraris by Glendenning

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By Jeff Allison

This article first appeared in Prancing Horse, the quarterly magazine of the Ferrari Club of America.

Before his passing in 2014, Glen Glendenning sent David Rex a box full of loose photo scrapbook pages—you know the kind with the black mounts that you’d slip over the corners of a photo, lick the glue on the back of the mount and position the photo on a page. Remember, they tasted terrible! Rex provided the photos to editor Pete Vack for possible use in VeloceToday.com. Luckily, Glendenning had written brief descriptions under some of the photos, and the pages were in chronological order. Taken with a 35MM single-lens reflex camera, Glendenning obviously had access to the pits, the track, and the people. He owned a public relations firm with a film lab, producing twenty-six films for the Schlitz brewery, so photography probably was natural for him. [Read more…] about Jeff Allison Captions Ferraris by Glendenning

Sharp at the Salon Prive, London

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Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

The kindly gentleman looked resplendent in his scarlet coat, the uniform of the Chelsea Pensioners. We were all staring at the new Ferrari. He turned to us and began to speak. “Do you know, I was at the Nurburgring in 1960, when Moss and Dan Gurney were driving the Camoradi Maserati Birdcage?” No, we didn’t know that as it was from out of the blue. But he continued. “Gurney had just handed over to Moss whilst at the same time the whole of the Ferrari team were in the pits refueling. The Ferrari team manager, I forget his name, got into a panic and ordered the cars to resume racing ASAP, one car leaving before refueling from the large fuel urn had been completed. In the next second, whoosh flames everywhere!” We asked him “Did you take any photos at the event”?

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Gauld’s Glorious Gaylord Gladiator

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Found while in Florida…Graham Gauld photo.

Story by Graham Gauld

I was reminded of the fact that this is my seventieth year as a motoring journalist – yes I started early! – when a photograph I took of a car in a relatively obscure motor museum in Florida fell on to my desk.

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Rare 1958 Lancia Dealer’s Brochure

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From the VeloceToday Archives, March, 2017

Now we think this is neat; a car brochure with its own history. Note the dealer’s stamp – Falvey Motor Sales Company – which despite, or because of its location near Detroit, was a favorite hangout of the 50s sporty car set and located on the famous drag strip of Woodward Avenue. Eric Davison recounted the story of Falvey for VeloceToday in “Requiem for a Salesman”. This bit of Lanciana came from Robert F. Pauley, an engineer for Chrysler who also hung out at Falvey’s and wrote many great articles for VeloceToday such as “Giovanni Savonuzzi’s Detroit Odyssey” Pauley found this booklet in 1958 at Falvey’s when Lancia was at the top of their game.

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Dr. Moon’s Precarious Bridgeheads: Only the Rich Need Apply

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Stunning Mercedes Benz SS Tourer at MOMA in the fall of 1951, one of eight cars featured in the exhibition. Photo by Jerry Lehrer

The below article was part of an unfinished manuscript about the foreign car invasion, written by the late Howard Moon. This is part one of a series. Our apologies for the photos, which are of pre war cars taken in an early post war environment. Editor


By Dr. Howard Moon

Imported cars in the 1930s saw the last years of the carriage trade yielding to the beginnings of the sports car movement and the revival of road racing in America. That world largely was for a privileged minority, unapologetically Eurocentric and elitist. Cosmopolitan magnates from Detroit like Edsel Ford would make an annual pilgrimage to New York to catch the latest developments in luxury coachwork design. The last coachwork Salon at the Commodore Hotel occurred in November 1931 with 50 cars, half the complement of the 1930 show.

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Uhle’s 8C Maserati

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From the VeloceToday Archives, November 2017

Story by Pete Vack

It was not unlikely that Henry W. Uhle II should have decided to own a Grand Prix Maserati. He was, after all, an engineer and a yacht designer whose career spanned 48 years. From 1945 until retiring in 1987, he was a project engineer for Sparkman & Stephens Inc., New York City and before that, from 1941 until 1945, he was a naval architect for various shipyards. Born in 1920, Henry was also one of the breed of postwar U. S. foreign car enthusiasts and had the kind of mentality that could appreciate what the Maserati brothers were doing in Italy.

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Eight Cylinders for the Type 40 Bugatti

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Type 40 Chassis No. 40432 in 1948 after the installation of 8-cylinder Bugatti engine, at Glen Ewin Hillclimb, South Australia. Photo: Bob King collection

By Frank Studstrup

In the summer of 1926 Ettore Bugatti presented his new type 40, which replaced the old ‘Brescia’ sports car. In the mid-1920s, with the type 35 racing car of 1924, Bugatti was setting new standards for his effective and refined automobile designs, both in regard of engines, chassis and bodywork.

The type 40 incorporated many of the unique design features presented in the Bugatti racing cars, but of course offered in a less expensive and more versatile package aimed at customers for both daily and sporty driving.

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Tales from Le Circuit, St. Jovite, Mt. Tremblant

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Planning the new racetrack near Quebec are, from left to right: Norm Namerow, John Fitch, Unknown, Jim Horne BP Canada, Sales, and Marketing, unknown, Ross de St.Croix.

By John R. Wright and Ross de St. Croix, 1967 Canadian Sports Car Champion

Le Circuit Mont Tremblant, also known at one time as St. Jovite is a 4.26 km (2.65 mile) race circuit about 13 km (8.1 miles) south of the village of Mont Tremblant in the province of Quebec, Canada. Pete Lyons in his book CanAm called it “…the swoopy, 2.65-mile mini-Nurburgring…”

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79th Goodwood Member’s Meeting, 2022

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1956 Renault 4CV entered by Frederic Fatien, driven by Pierre-Brice Mena, Sopwith Cup for saloon cars of a type that raced up until 1956.

Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

Did you know, the rear lights of a Porsche 956 are the same as those fitted to a late 1970s Eriba Puck Caravan? No, neither did I, Thanks Gary Axon and Goodwood Radio for that wonderful piece of trivia.

Why am I mentioning Porsche 956s? Well the recent 79th Goodwood Members Meeting included a track demonstration of 956/962s, twenty of them. Also demonstrated/displayed were approximately 20 F1 cars from the V10 era, lead on the track by Bruno Senna in his uncle’s 1990 McLaren Honda MP4/5B, a wonderful sight and an amazing sound. In addition to the demos the program also included 13 races covering a period from prior to WW2 right up until Group 1 saloons from the 1980s.

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Why Mess With History? Sandy Leith’s Type 37

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In 1935 George Rand installed a Ford Model B engine into this Bugatti T37. 82 years later it is still there. Sean Smith photo.

From the VeloceToday Archives, July, 2017

Story by Sean Smith
Color images taken at Lime Rock by Sean Smith
Historic photos courtesy Sandy Leith

If anyone was born to the VSCCA it is the current President, Sandy Leith—his father Bill Leith was a founding member. At a very young age Sandy was in the paddock watching his father race his Type 35B Bugatti against others in the fledgling club. Formed in 1958, the Vintage Sports Car Club of America was seen as a kinder, gentler version of the growing Sports Car Club of America. It was a place where their pre-war cars could shine. Then as now it was a place for racing, rallying and good old fashion socializing, but the prime focus was racing. “Isn’t this what all parents do on the weekend… zoom around in old race cars?” Sandy thought so! Classic cars, especially Bugattis, were ingrained in Sandy’s soul. At 17, there would be no snarling muscle car or modern sports car for him.

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