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The National Motor Museum Part 2

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This 1903 single cylinder De Dion Bouton is still a regular entrant in the annual London to Brighton Veteran car run. The car was purchased by the Montagu family from a tenant on their estate in 1913 and was one of the five original cars that launched the Montagu Motor Museum in 1952 when the cars were displayed in the entrance hall of the family home.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

From the Archive, January 2017

In Part 1 we mentioned that we would discuss the founder of the National Motor Museum, Lord Montagu. Here then, Jonathan Sharp does so as a prefix to Part 2 of the National Museum articles which will cover cars from A-L. Part 3 will show cars from M-Z and motorcycles. Part 4 will deal with the Land Speed Record Cars at the Museum. Ed.

Let’s get the elephant in the corner out of the room. In 1953 Edward, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, together with two other gentlemen, was convicted of the then crime of a homosexual act with two other consenting adults, who turned Queen’s evidence. Lord Montagu served 8 months in prison. Such was the public’s disquiet as what was perceived to be the unfair victimization of a public figure and the criminality of sexual acts between consenting adults, that a public inquiry was finally set up which ultimately led to the law on homosexuality being reformed. Ok that’s out of the way.

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Gary Laughlin by Graham Gauld

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Gary Laughlin and the famous Maserati test driver Guerino Bertocchi look over the Maserati 3500GT at Modena Autodrome. (Photo Graham Gauld/GPL)

By Graham Gauld

An old friend came to mind just recently when I stumbled upon a photo of someone I met in the old Scuderia Ferrari premises in the Vialle Tento e Trieste in Modena, where Scuderia Ferrari began in the Alfa Romeo days of the 1930s.

Despite the fact the actual manufacturing of Ferrari’s had long since moved to Maranello, Enzo Ferrari still maintained the old premises in the center of town, but not for much longer.

That day was over sixty years ago, in September of 1957, and the man I met was tall, smartly dressed in the “preppy” style of the 1950s, dark blue blazer and flannels. He was open and friendly and introduced himself as Gary Laughlin from Fort Worth, Texas “…..and I’m in oil.”

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The Laughlin-Shelby Scaglietti Corvette

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From the Archives, December 2011

By Wallace Wyss

In 1959 Carroll Shelby won the biggest race there was in sports car racing, and that was the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He quit driving shortly after that, and just in time, because a heart condition he had managed to hide from the SCCA medical techs was threatening to take him out if he didn’t quit. He wasn’t worried about what he would do next; he was already was working on a plan to build his own sports car.

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Bugatti Before the Cars

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The Mullin Automotive Museum entry includes a dramatic portico, made up of dozens of tinted windshields on an iron frame that would make Gustave Eiffel proud.

From the Archives, April, 2010

Larry Crane takes us on an exclusive tour of the furniture of Carlo Bugatti.
Photos by author except as noted.

Peter Mullin is a gifted artist, at least equal to his talents as a businessman. In spite of his new museum’s name, he wants the public home of his collections to be seen as an art museum, celebrating the art of the first half of the Twentieth Century with a focus on the decorative arts movement universally known as “Art Deco.” [Read more…] about Bugatti Before the Cars

Vintage Aircraft at the Goodwood Revival, 2019

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This week we take a bit of a break from our four wheeled friends to allow Jonathan Sharp to show you a few photos from his other passion, vintage aircraft, or as he insists on calling them, aeroplanes. They were part of the Goodwood Revival after, all, so fair game. Besides, we greatly enjoyed it! Ed.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

OK, so what is the Freddy March Spirit of Aviation?

It is a concours for aeroplanes built up to 1966. A Pebble Beach for aeroplanes. It was first run in 2007 and now is a key element in the annual Goodwood Revival event. These photos are from the 2019 concours.

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Sportscar Craze, Canadian Style

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Sports Car Craze in Canada

A 1971 Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina in the snow and ice and salt. Note Original Equipment rubber inserts in the grill for the Ontario winter.

Story and photos by Dave Willis

In these pestilential times, I am watching YouTube, with music and fast cars of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s at Goodwood where I can see cars of my era still competing. And of course, writing my memoirs —

I was and remain an only child, fortunate in my choice of parents. My father, Wallie Willis was a 1930s techie: photography, radios, motorcycles, airplanes, and cars made his day. We lived happily in a suburb of Toronto, East York, Canada.

I was car mad during my formative years in the 1950s. There were two Corvettes amongst my friends, a hot rodded Studebaker Lark fettled by an older brother. Famed comedy writer Bruce McCall, growing up about a mile southeast of us, remarks on this car mania in his memoir How Did I Get Here?*

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Gordini Transporters

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By Roy Smith, historical images copyright Bob Dance

From the VeloceToday Archives, April, 2012

Our lead photo is of the Gordini Transporter Recreation, based on a Laffly chassis and it is actually a race car transporter, not a support truck. Sadly, the original vehicle, based on a Lancia 3RO 6.8 liter, no longer exists as we are given to understand, though many stories abound.

We thought it might be interesting to recall some of the highlights or maybe lowlights of one of the most recognisable racing car support vehicles to grace the paddocks of Europe’s racing circuits in the 1950s.

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The 77 Year Old Drone

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The Drone after the fatal accident. (Wilkins Archive)

Story by Graham Gauld

Drones are popular these days, my eldest daughter just recently qualified as a drone pilot and the newspapers tell us that every time we step on a commercial airplane there is a possibility we may crash because we have hit one of those things, so I prefer to talk about another drone, The Healey Drone.

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Gentleman at Speed: Fred Wacker Jr.

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The below article is the second in a series.

A photo that says volumes about Grand Prix racing in the 1950s. Fred Wacker on the grid at Monza in 1954, where he will place sixth overall with a truly outclassed Gordini. Photo by Bernard Cahier

By S. Scott Callan
Photos by Bernard Cahier published with permissions

What could be more appropriate for VeloceToday than an American racing French Gordinis in Europe? Author S.Scott Callan allowed us to publish part of his full length interview with the late Fred Wacker, below. Stay tuned as next week we’ll review the new biography of Fred Wacker authored by his son and Bob Birmingham.

Fred was a friend of my Dad’s. He and Fred and Jim Kimberly spent a lot of time together in the early days of Midwestern racing.

After my Dad passed away Fred and I got into the habit of talking in the spring, when he was heading back to Chicago after wintering at the Palm Springs house, and in the autumn when he had just arrived. Fred would regale me his stories of getting started in racing with his black Cad-Allard, the eight ball. Racing at Sebring, around the roads of Elkhart Lake before they built Road America, at Watkins Glen, and down Argentine way.

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