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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Fiat 1100 History Part 1

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First called the Nuova Balilla, the new Fiat quickly became the 1100, or Millecento as the Italians called it. Inset: A 30-year-old engineer named Dante Giacosa was responsible.

Eighty years ago, in November 1937, Fiat introduced its first 1100 cc four-cylinder engine with overhead valves. This small, mass-produced engine not only powered a great number of Fiat’s bread and butter automobiles, but also became the heart of many exciting Italian and French specialist sports and racing cars. This article covers the years 1937 – 1940.

Story by Gijsbert-Paul Berk
From the VeloceToday Archives, 2017

In 1935 Italy was in the middle of a controversial colonial war in Abyssinia. In Turin that same year, Antonio Fessia, the manager of Fiat’s engineering department, asked the thirty-year-old engineer, Dante Giacosa, to develop a successor to the popular Balilla model. Giacosa had earned the respect of the Fiat management for his brilliantly designed 500 model, nicknamed Topolino (little mouse). Fessia explained that the new car should fill the gap between the small 500 and the recently introduced flagship of the Fiat range, the modern six-cylinder 1500 model.

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Romolo Tavoni Remembered

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Romolo Tavoni has passed away at the age of 94. During his years with Ferrari, there were times when Tavoni appeared to be something of a father confessor to the drivers. Here he calms down Phil Hill who obviously has been having a problem. (Photo Graham Gauld)

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

On December 21, we heard the news that Enzo Ferrari’s former private secretary and team manager, Romolo Tavoni died at the age of 94 at his home in Casinalbo near Modena.

For me it was a deeply personal loss as I have known Romolo for over 63 years since my first visit to Maranello to visit Ferrari. He came striding out from under the archway in his formal grey suit and tie, and made me and my old Scottish friend Sandy Forrest very welcome.

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Favorite Fourteen of 2020

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To effectively display our Favorite Fourteen articles, this week we are using a form of slide show. The slides do NOT automatically move from one to another; you must click the right arrow to see the next image. You can also click on the center arrow and it will take the you directly to the subject article. Place your cursor over the photo to see the arrows and begin.

But enjoy, and let us know what were your favorites articles of 2020!

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Thanks and Happy Holidays

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We wish to thank all the wonderful people who made VeloceToday.com possible in 2020, in alphabetical order:

Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Completed & Revealed

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By Paul Wilson

Read Part 1

Over the years my skills improved, but my income remained modest, and it was clear that the project would have to be done with my own hands, if at all. Was I crazy? The jury is still out on that question. I did cheat. I realized that, sitting quietly in junkyards, was sheet metal in many of the shapes I needed. The 1937 Lincoln Zephyr, for example, had gorgeous rear fenders, with skirts over the wheels. [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Completed & Revealed

Stop, Look, but don’t Listen…

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36 photos by Jonathan Sharp

Stop: Forget rivet counts and restoration details.
Stop: Enlarge each photo by clicking on it to double the size. Slow it down.
Stop: Enjoy the ambiance for there is nothing else quite like it in the world.
Stop: Look at the faces, feel the tension, imagine the noise, thrill with the excitement.
For this is Goodwood at its most glorious, and how great it would be there to see and hear and feel what Jonathan Sharp did on that wonderful September day in 2019.

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Bizzarrini in Paradise

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By Wallace Wyss

We’re supposed to be hunkered down because of the plague. I get it.

But being a car guy, I can’t help (properly masked of course) going to Malibu at dawn each Sunday morning to see what’s at the informal cars ‘n coffee. And recently I was rewarded with the sight of a 1967 Bizzarrini GT5300 Strada so fresh from France it still has French plates (or are those vanity plates?)

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Siata Balbo Coupe CS071 Part 2

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Story and photos by Sean Smith

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From our Archives, 2018

On June 4th, 2017, Walter and the SIATA won the “Vintage Rallies” award at the 2017 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance. But the car still was not running right—so off it went to Automotive Restorations in Stratford Connecticut.

They were chasing what they thought were some electrical gremlins. They got the SIATA running better, and technician Chip Webb took the car out for a road test.

On June 8th at 1:30 in the afternoon, Chip was waiting for a light at the corner of Stratford and Surf Avenues with his signal on, when a woman in a Toyota Camry came along doing something she shouldn’t have been doing… one hand on the wheel and the other on her ubiquitous cell phone… driving distracted.

BANG!

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This Offer Can’t Last! Free French Calendar

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Jim Donick, editor of the Vintage Sports Car Club of America’s quarterly magazine, Vintage Sports Car, created a 2021 calendar, “The Automotive Legacy of France.” You’ll love the photos and descriptions of rare French cars, but it also includes important dates in motoring history.

We’ll send one free, including shipping, to every U.S. Domestic reader who subscribes to VeloceToday while supplies last, and they are going faster than a 4CV! Read on for details. [Read more…] about This Offer Can’t Last! Free French Calendar

Coachbuilding on the Alfa 6C 2500 Chassis

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By Paul Wilson
All Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt unless otherwise noted.

In the late 1930s the fastest, most advanced, most beautiful sports car in the world was the Alfa 8C2900B, or “2.9.” So, of course, I wanted one.

This was back in the 1970s, when many great cars were cheap–one of the Bugatti Royales spent time in a junkyard, for example. But not the 2.9s, which dipped only to the price of a nice house. I was driving a rusty Valiant station wagon, bought for $175 when I was married. A 2.9 was laughably out of reach.

My solution, sort of, was to make one.

Not the whole car, just the body. Bodies on the great prewar classics, like the Alfas, Talbot-Lagos, Bugattis, and Delahayes, were mostly built by independent coachbuilders. [Read more…] about Coachbuilding on the Alfa 6C 2500 Chassis

Those Sexy Coupes of a Certain Age

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This Talbot Lago Grand Sport of 1948 is also a Le Mans veteran with no less than five participations from 1949 to 1953. Chantilly 2015

Photos and captions by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Text by the Editor

Hugues Vanhoolandt has traveled the globe, accumulating a great wealth of digital images from a wide variety of shows and events. This week, to accompany Paul Wilson’s Alfa Romeo coupe debut in the pages of VeloceToday, we searched the Vanhoolandt archives to feature those sexy Italian and French creations of a certain age – that age being between 1935 and 1953, give or take a year on either side.

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Bertone’s Z.E.R.

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Photo courtesy Dick Ruzzin

By Dick Ruzzin

In the 1990s I was Director of Design for General Motors of Europe, involved with all design work for GM, exclusive of North America. We had a design contract with Stile Bertone in Turin Italy and did many interesting advanced design projects there, most never revealed to the public. Included was the OPEL MAXX that was a big influence on the Swatch car.

Designers from Opel Design in Germany would spend time in Italy working with the Italians at Stile Bertone. It would be a gross understatement to say that an assignment at Stile Bertone was highly desirable by my designers. [Read more…] about Bertone’s Z.E.R.

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