VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

pete

Etceterini Corner Number Five

By

Siata Daina 1500 Sport, Mille Miglia 2014

Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

We are up to Siata in this unusual look at Etceterinis in alphabetical order, as photographed by Hugues Vanhoolandt. Our focus this week is the publication and review of what is still the best book on small Italian sports racers, La Sport e i suoi artigiani 1937-1965. The review was written by Stu Schaller, who is generally considered the guy who coined the name “Etceterini.” The book was published 18 years ago, at about the same time as VeloceToday began weekly publication. Both, apparently, have held up well!

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Excerpts from “The Thrill of the Chase”

By

For those of us brought up in less interesting circumstances, Colin Crabbe’s life is something out of J. K. Rowling and Hollywood. Parents with connections to royalty, castles and ghosts, public schools, the ruins of mediaeval abbeys were all a part of his young life. Colin Crabbe never lost sight of the wonderful past that surrounded him which would eventually drive him to become one of the world’s great car collectors. Below, we have excerpted paragraphs from his autobiography; this segment focuses on his youth, and the next segment will deal with some of the fantastic cars he has found and raced. Edited and published with permissions from the publisher and author. BTW, the publisher is running low on copies, so order now!.

[Read more…] about Excerpts from “The Thrill of the Chase”

Cars ‘n Coffee, Malibu Style

By

Richard Bartholomew photo.

Story by Wallace Wyss

When I go to a Cars ‘n Coffee in Malibu, I expect a little different mix of cars rather than I find at some event inland. But it is rare when you see a car that raced -and won its class at Le Mans– being driven on the street. Even in Malibu.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Festival of Speed Revisited, Part 2

By

Mercedes-Benz W165

Photos by Jonathan Sharp

As we reported last week, Jonathan Sharp, as usual, attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed, held on July 6-7. He took photos of everything else that moved, or was stationary in the paddock, and while we generally just publish images of Italian or French cars, Jonathan’s enthusiastic eye includes cars from Germany and Great Britain. And so a year late, we present Jonathan’s unpublished, more comprehensive look at the cars that attended last year’s FOS, so many that we had to break it up into two parts, cars A-I and L-V. Last week we published cars in alphabetical order A-I, and this week we wrap it up with L-V, below. [Read more…] about Festival of Speed Revisited, Part 2

Goodwood: Will it last?

By

Til next year, Arturo….we hope.

Story by Staff
Photos by Jonathan Sharp from the 2019 Festival of Speed

Goodwood: The showcase of our passion…

There is nothing like Goodwood in the world; in our humble opinion and that of our two veteran race correspondents, Jonathan Sharp and Hugues Vanhoolandt, Goodwood puts on the three (Member’s Meeting, Festival of Speed, and the Goodwood Revival) greatest classic motoring events on earth and supreme showcases for our passion.

…is in trouble…

Every year we take for granted the long list of famous drivers, spectacular cars, shows, displays and outstanding racing, and assume it will always be there, bigger and better. But that may not always be the case. Due to the cancellation of all three of this year’s events, Goodwood is facing serious financial difficulties. According to the Goodwood Supporters Association, “…social distancing has had a catastrophic impact on our ability to operate. It is a worrying time and we are doing what we can to salvage a future for our events. We rely on our headline events to generate all of our operating profit, their absence places not only future events but even the long-term future of the estate under considerable strain.” [Read more…] about Goodwood: Will it last?

Online Car Auctions in the Age of Covid-19

By

This Ferrari 288 GTO s/n 55223 is the answer to a crucial online auction question: Can $1 million cars sell online? Not only is the answer “yes” with a final price of $2.3 million, but it is one of two seven-figure cars sold in RM Sotheby’s second Online Only auction, Driving into Summer. The other was a Ferrari Enzo that brought $2.6 million a few lots later. Photo courtesy RM Sotheby’s.

By Rick Carey

Other than home repairs, yard work, baking and Netflix binging, much of life has gone remote and online.

That’s true for collector car auctions, too

We’ve now seen enough online only auctions to reach some conclusions, the most important of them being: online only collector car auctions are a commercial success, if lacking in the excitement generated by their live counterparts.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

New Photos of Goodwood’s Festival of Speed

By

Nice to see on the track: The Ferrari 166MM 212 Uovo

By Jonathan Sharp

Last year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, held on July 6-7, Jonathan Sharp decided to concentrate on photographing the drivers, and created an unprecedented look at the champions who attended the event. This incredible gallery can be seen here. Ironically, the last photo was of Arturo Merzario walking away, and we said, ‘Til next year, Arturo…” We didn’t know at the time there would be no next year. [Read more…] about New Photos of Goodwood’s Festival of Speed

Itala over the Alps: A 115 Year-old Mystery

By

Chivasso-Turin 9-9-05 September 9, 1905

By Pete Vack with Dale LaFollette, Aldo Zana and Graham Gauld
Sidebar by Greg Vack

We really enjoy trying to solve automotive mysteries, but this is a real cold case… 115 years old, making it a daunting task.

The twelve photos below, all from 1905, came from the collection of Dale LaFollette, who tells the story of how they were discovered. “Dean Newton was one my partners in Vintage Motorbooks, the collectable book business that we formed in the late 1970s. (Logan Gray owns it today.) Newton found them in a desk drawer and surmised that they had been in a book…we would find all sorts of odds and ends in books we bought.” [Read more…] about Itala over the Alps: A 115 Year-old Mystery

The Short and Heroic Life of Donald Campbell

By

asdfsf

Before his second run for the LSR in 1964, Donald Campbell thought he had had it. But then, “I suddenly looked up and there was my father reflected in the windscreen as clearly as you are sitting there now…”

Why a story about the LSR Bluebirds in VeloceToday, one that has no Italian or French connections? Jonathan Sharp is our writer and our connection, as he not only has several Alfas but has a superb story to tell about the short and heroic life of Donald Campbell, including an exclusive story about the Campbell’s wallet, retrieved from his XKE right after the fatal accident in 1967 and never been on public display. A great story is a great story, whatever the country. Ed.

Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp
From the Archives, February 2017

On Friday the 17th July 1964, after four years of struggle, Donald Campbell, CBE, finally broke John Cobb’s 1947 Land Speed record speed of 394.20 mph, driving his Bristol Proteus Gas Turbine powered Bluebird CN7. His friend Craig Breedlove had gone faster but his J47 Jet powered Spirit of America was considered by the governing body to be a tricycle, and more importantly, was not wheel driven so did not at the time meet the rules laid down. [Read more…] about The Short and Heroic Life of Donald Campbell

The Revenge of the Trident

By

By Willem Oosthoek

Ferrari arrived loaded for bear at the Nürburgring in May 1956. The Scuderia was leading the five-race World Sports Car Championship at that point, with overwhelming victories to its name in the 12 Hours of Sebring [Juan Manuel Fangio/Eugenio Castellotti in a 3.5-liter, 4-cylinder 860 Monza] and the Mille Miglia [Castellotti again, in a 3.5-liter V12 290MM]. Only the season opener, the 1000 KM of Buenos Aires, had been captured by archrival Maserati, with their 3-liter, 6-cylinder 300S. The Trident’s 300S model was underpowered compared to the big Ferraris but it handled better, and the superb driving skills of Stirling Moss, ably assisted by local driver Carlos Menditeguy, had made all the difference in Argentina. [Read more…] about The Revenge of the Trident

Etceterini Corner Number Four

By

Patriarca Fiat 750 S Siluro, Mille Miglia 2016

By Hugues Vanhoolandt and Dino Brunori

In this installment of Etceterini Corner, Hugues Vanhoolandt shows us another set of six cars, and thanks to Dino Brunori, we focus on the Patriarca family, whose mission was the Mille Miglia.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Flajole was a Jag

By

So that’s a Jaguar?

Story by Graham Gauld

I have often mentioned in the past the power of coincidence, and the other day I happened to be going through my Jaguar notes for a possible book, and was amazed to find that I seem to have bumped into all sorts of Jaguars fitted with special bodies in a variety of places.

What makes this slightly different from normal is that Jaguar were not well known as cars attractive to specialist coachbuilders, yet it is surprising just how many well-known companies have built special bodies on Jaguars in period. Amongst them are Pinin Farina, Ghia, Michelotti and Zagato.

Two Jaguars I wanted to talk about were one clothed in the style of Ghia in Turin and the other in the style of Bill Flajole of Detroit.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe
MENU