VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

pete

The Renault 4CV Part 3: The Competition Cars

By

Le Mans 1952 – the factory R1063 group just before the start. © Renault Communication

Story by John Waterhouse*

Read Part 1
Read Part 2

After the new Renault 4CV was exhibited at the October, 1947 Paris Motor show, the car went into series production. The new model was soon involved in competition, the first recorded example being the July 1948 “Rallye Internationale des Alpes” . After this, various private and factory (“usines”) entries followed in a range of events, initially using the 760 cc R1060 model, competing in the 751 to 1,100 cc class.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Fred Simeone: Honors and Displays

By

Our favorite diorama at the Simeone Foundation. Courtesy Simeone Foundation

By Pete Vack

On June 8th, Fred Simeone turned 84 years old, but his energy and enthusiasm for the Simeone Foundation has not abated. Perhaps that is another reason he topped The Classic Car Trust’s list of 100 car collectors. We explain the honor and also look at how Fred designed the fantastic dioramas that are so much a part of the magic of the museum.

The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum is the only organization to have been awarded “Museum of the Year” (2011), “Publication of the Year” (2012), and “Car of the Year” (2014) by the International Historic Motoring Group, and in 2017 the Foundation also won the Octane Award–Museum of the Year.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

The Renault 4CV Part 2: 14 years of production

By

The author’s late-1950 R1062 car, with wind-up front windows. The characteristic spider wheels were discontinued in 1957.

Story by John Waterhouse
Author photos unless otherwise noted

Read Part 1

Background

After being exhibited at the October, 1947 Paris Motor Show, production of the Renault 4CV gradually increased from 503 cars for sale that year to a peak of 138,000 in 1955. The grand total was 1,089,918 by the time production stopped in 1961.

The Renault 4CV was the first model in France to exceed a production total of one million, quite enough to put it in the automotive history books. The outcome was more noteworthy as it was a complete change for Renault, who pinned the very survival of the Regie to the success of a small, unorthodox car that was unlike anything they had built before.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Etceterini Corner Number Two

By

Fiat 508 C Ala d’Oro, Mille Miglia 2017. More on this in our mini feature below.

Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt unless otherwise noted

Read Part 1

For our second edition of Etceterini Corner, we present another series of images by Hugues Vanhoolandt taken over a period of years. Although seven of the eight images are of different Erminis, we focus on the Ala d’Oro, a fascinating car meant more for the street than the track. How many were made is a good question.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Dale Powers’ Fascinating Finds Part 4

By

dfsdff

1953 DB racer

Story by Eric Davison
Photos courtesy Dale Powers
From the Archives, December 2016

Read Part 1
Read Part 2
Read Part 3

Over the course of his life Dale Powers searched out, owned, repaired, restored and driven too many cars to be either recorded or described. They have included, Jaguars, including an SS100, Porsches, Fiats, a Sprint car or two, MGs and just about anything else that is interesting.” What an automotive life!

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Fred Simeone: Gifts of the Father

By

A young Fred Simeone stands next to the 1937 Cord owned by his father Anthony, who inspired him to not only become a great neurosurgeon but an avid car collector. The car is still part of the Simeone collection.

By Pete Vack
Photos courtesy Fred Simeone

Twelve years ago your Editor wrote an article for Automobile Quarterly about the Simeone Foundation Museum, which had just opened. Soon, the Museum will open once again after closing for the Covid-19 pandemic, and we decided to update that article for use in VeloceToday. Below is the our story about Dr. Simeone and his father Anthony, as published in V48 N3 of AQ; the first of several about the Simeone Foundation.

Fred Simeone inherited his father’s acute intelligence and penchant for medicine but also a passion for cars.  “What Dad gave me was more important than money,“ said Simeone.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

The Renault 4CV Part 1: First of a Million

By

Renault’s first 1942 prototype (destroyed when the factory was bombed by the allies). ©Renault Communication

Story by John Waterhouse*

The Renault 4CV was a child of World War II. The German army had occupied northern France, including the Renault works at Billancourt on the outskirts of Paris and production continued, under strong pressure to provide vehicles for Germany’s war efforts. [Read more…] about The Renault 4CV Part 1: First of a Million

The Final Splendors of Hampton Court, 2019

By

Following display at the Paris Salon this prototype Pegaso, along with two other cars, were presented to General Franco at the Pardo Palace.

Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Information in captions from event catalog

Bet you thought we were done with Hampton Court 2019, but we only gave you Alfa to Ferrari. Here are the rest in all of their splendor. We hope the swans will be return to the next Hampton Court Concours, still scheduled to take place on September 4-6, 2020, and they have lined up a number of very special Alfas for the event.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Dale Powers’ Fascinating Finds Part 3

By

ljlj;l

Dale and his very special 4 1/4 sports racing Bentley posed with the motor home that took him and Marcia to vintage events around America.

Story by Eric Davison
Photos courtesy Dale Powers

From the Archives, December 2016

Read Part 1
Read Part 2

Vintage racing was an activity ideally perfect for Dale Powers. He joined the SVRA in 1978; his membership is #9. In 1978 vintage racing was a great place for those who had dreams of being Stirling Moss, and magnificent old race cars were available on the cheap.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Monaco Grand Prix, 1968 in Color

By

The beauty that didn’t fly: the Eagle 1G Weslake by Dan Gurney. He qualified 16th and last, 1.32.9, and lasted 9 laps only in the race.

Story and photos by Aldo Zana

If you are suffering from Grand Prix abstinence you might be interested in remembering the Monaco F1 Grand Prix from so many decades ago, now akin to a fictional tale of times bygone. It was May 1968 when France and, later, the whole of Europe, were on the verge of profound social, economic, and cultural changes: students in Paris had started what went into the history books as “La revolte de mai”, the May revolution. The whole country was either on strike or shut down. [Read more…] about Monaco Grand Prix, 1968 in Color

Monaco Grand Prix, 1968 in Black and White

By

Pedro Rodriguez, BRM P133, on the final straight iduring his 15th lap of the race. Note how “light” the car appears on the tires. It was a hint of things to come; read on!

By Aldo Zana

We present Aldo Zana’s black and white photography from Monaco 1968.

The Race

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Chuck Daigh Part 4

By

Story By Willem Oosthoek

Read Part 1
Read Part 2
Read Part 3

During the 1961 season Chuck was mostly involved with development work on Scarab’s new aluminum Buick V8 engine, although he raced one of the old Scarab sportsracers twice for new owner George Lehmann in the West Coast series. He retired both at Riverside and Laguna Seca.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe
MENU