The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Santo Spadaro, 1965 Lancia Fulvia GT 2C
Story and photos by Sean Smith
On September 3 through 7th, 2020, Lime Rock Park held their 38th edition of the Historic Festival. There were five days of beautiful Connecticut weather at a beautiful track, but no spectators to witness the racing, and a very small crowd allowed in for the Sunday in the Park Concours and gathering of the Marques.
Mike Hawthorn, Concentrating hard on the exit from the hairpin with the Jaguar D-Type in the 1955 Tourist Trophy race at Dundrod.
From the Archives, September, 2013
Story by Denise McCLuggage
Photos and captions by Graham Gauld
The late Marquis de Portago was once passing judgment on various Grand Prix drivers and marking the ones he thought most likely to succeed to Fangio’s throne. One famous name he dismissed with a shrug: “He’s too hard to classify. He’s erratic. He seldom finishes. He never takes care of himself.”
If Portago had lived until 1959, he would have seen the driver he named least-likely-to-succeed become the 1958 driving champion of the world. But he would be no more surprised than the tall, tow-headed wearer of the crown — Mike Hawthorn — himself.
Lunch at the Ristorante Lauro in Modena in 1997 just a few months before Luigi Villoresi died at the age of 88. He is seated with Don Sergio Mantovani the former priest to Maserati who ran the hospice at his church, Santa Catherina in Modena. Graham Gauld photo.
By Graham Gauld
I had first met Villoresi years before and once he became rather frail and had moved into the hospice, I wanted to sit down with him and talk about his life. He surprisingly arrived at a Ferrari event in Italy where I think Schumacher presented him with a trophy, and had been brought by Lauro Malavolti, who owned Lauro’s restaurant in Modena and was another pal of mine. I said to Lauro I would like to talk to him and so he asked me if I could wait a few months and then come down to Modena, and he would arrange a lunch with Villoresi.
Driving fast, having fun….
Story by Bob Birmingham
Photos courtesy Bob Birmingham
Augie Pabst biographer Bob Birmingham is a long-time friend of Dick Eisenmann, who has raced and cared for a very special Cooper Fiat since 1963. This is Dick’s story as told to Bob.
It was during a Christmas party in December of 1962 at Augie Pabst’s home in suburban River Hills, Wisconsin, that raucous guests were enjoying fine food, libation and good conversation, mostly related to sports car racing. Late in the evening, one young man named Richard Eisenmann slurred to our host, “Augie, I’m gonna race some day and when I do, I’ll whip your ass.”
By Pete Vack
Photos by Mary Decker Vack
The below article first appeared in the April 1991 issue of Car Collector and Car Classic magazine. We republish it as a tribute to the late Howard Moon. A postscript follows.
There have been, at various times, Jaguars, Citroens, Alfas and BMWs parked at Howard Moon’s halfway house in Falls Church, Virginia—most of his boarders are halfway between the local scrap yard and total restoration. Moon’s unspoken mission is to save them from the former whenever possible. But despite the attempts to maintain diversity, Moon is best known for his 25-year dedication to saving pre 1975 Lancias. In his words, post-1975 Lancias are “gross parodies of a once-proud house tradition, originally typified by quality, innovation, and an almost sculptural approach to parts manufacturing,” and as such, simply not worth saving. [Read more…] about Howard Moon: Saving Grace
And what have we here? The Maserati factory circa 1963 was full of surprises.
From the Archives, October, 2014
VeloceToday reader David Hewitt ads his impressions of his time in Europe in 1963, and a visit to Maserati. While trying to identify the cars in Hewitt’s photos, we stumbled across two rare and interesting cars once owned by John Simone, head of Maserati-France. But before we get that, David’s photos of the Nurburgring are equally fascinating and all in color!
Photos courtesy David Hewitt unless otherwise noted.
Text by Pete Vack and David Hewitt
David Hewitt’s father was an Air Force pilot stationed in Europe from 1960 to 1964. Hewitt was only 15 when his family lived in France for the first year and Germany for the remaining years. Hewitt recalls those years:
Fred Puhn and his Maserati V8RI at Laguna Seca, 2014. Photo by Randy Reed.
Story by Fred Puhn
Read Part 1, The Fred Puhn Story
It was 1981 and we were selling old parts at the Big 3 swap meet in San Diego. A nice man came up to our booth and he said he had just moved in from Minnesota. Our chatting turned to stories about “I saw an old car in a barn better than anything you ever saw in a barn.” Naturally such stories are nice to listen to but everyone knows not to take anything too seriously. When my new friend said he found a prewar Maserati race car in a barn in Minnesota for $1000 that story topped anything I could ever bring up. He said the car had raced at Indy according to the owner, but he knew nothing else about it.
This line up alone was probably worth the price of admission.
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
The London Concours; at last a classic car event to attend, my first since Retromobile in February, and by the time it came around I would have been happy just to photograph a field of Morris Minors. But as you will see in the following photographs there was not a Morris to be seen.
The present owner spotted this Alfa Junior Spider under a car cover in his neighbor’s garage. Finally, after a wait of two years the neighbor agreed to sell the car. Re commissioned after six years off the road the current owner has motored extensively around Europe in the Alfa, just as its makers intended.
Captions and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Lancia and Hot Rods took precedence in our pages this week (Read Part 1) but Mr. Sharp did not neglect the rest of the London Concours field, most of which appear below. [Read more…] about London Concours: Best of the Rest
From the Archives, January 2018
Text by Peter Darnall and Museum Curator Lorenzo Montagner
Museum photos by Gian Maria Pontiroli
Museum Curator Lorenzo Montagner has previously written a short biography of Tazio Nuvolari which appears after the below article, in which Mr. Montagner and Peter Darnall take us inside the fascinating museum that houses Nuvolari’s treasures.
Museo Tazio Nuvolari is located in Mantua, Italy, a few miles from Castel d’Ario, where Nuvolari was born on November 16, 1892. The Nuvolari Museum is housed in an historic fifteenth century building, which served originally as the Church of the Carmelino. One visitor to the museum commented that the unique setting seemed to enhance the sense of intimacy; in his words, the museum was “much more than a collection of trophies.” [Read more…] about Nuvolari Speciale
Fred Puhn and the Santee SS.
By Fred Puhn
All photos courtesy Fred Puhn
I was born in 1939; my childhood was spent in a country environment near Lakeside California. We lived on a dirt road and played outdoors most of the year. A big activity was the design, construction, and driving of “coasters” (gravity powered race cars). Not having much money, we scrounged materials such as old shopping cart or wagon wheels, scrap lumber, and old bolts and nails. Our coasters ranged from very nice to very crude, and we spent many weekends and summers riding down hills, crashing, and rebuilding. I learned how to throw a coaster sideways in the dirt to stop it because they never had any brakes. It was during these early years I learned to control a vehicle and to design and build one.
By Peter Darnall
Any of the racing Alfa Romeos from the decade of the 1930s will fetch a king’s ransom in today’s collector market. Put a Tipo C on the block and the opening bids would normally be associated with high-end real estate properties. When the rarest of them all, a 1935 8C-35 with matching engine and chassis number 50013, was offered by Bonhams in 2013, the winning bid was the highest price ever paid for a single seat racer! [Read more…] about Flying With Pegasus: The continuing story of Alfa Romeo #50013