One of our favorite shows is the “Best of France and Italy”, held every year on the grounds of Woodley Park in the L.A. area. It is low key, a true enthusiasts gathering, and brings out a great variety of unusual French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian and Czechoslovakian cars. Don Hodgdon was there for us.[Ed.]
Story and photos by Don Hodgdon
Rain was falling when I woke up Sunday morning, but it passed through quickly and I left Santa Barbara under sunny skies. I had thought twice about heading down to Woodley Park, having my doubts that anyone would show up. While the numbers were down from past years, considering the rain there was a good group of cars. Alfas and Fiats, along with a healthy group of Citroens made up the bulk of the show, and I think there were almost as many Tatras (3) as there were Ferraris.
Luis Nunez is the owner of the slick Fiat 131 Abarth.
Psst...what's this? An Aronde? Gotta love this show...
The Aronde sports convertible may be the most collectable of the long lived Simca Aronde line, which was introduced in 1951 and produced until 1964.
A whale white T600 Tratraplan was one of three at the show.
This 1941 Tatra T87 is owned by Paul Greenstein and Dydia DeLyser.
Jan and Meredith Voboril took out time from the grape harvest at their winery in Paso Robles to haul out their ex- Dr. Riddell 1925 Bugatti Type 35C in a very cool custom Airstream trailer.
Lamborghini was well represented by Robert Huber's immaculate white Espada. Bob runs vintagelambo.com and is very involved in keeping these front engined Lambos on the road.
The Willys Interlagos, owned by Rex Parker, is an interesting piece. It/'s essentially an Alpine A 108 built by license in Brazil. Willys was branch of the American company in Sao Paulo.
Jay Leno brought out the Hispano Suiza. It made a most awesome sound heading down the road.
Analog instrumentation at its finest in the Hispano-Suiza.
The twin-turbo powered Citroen SM Bonneville racer on a hydraulic trailer that was towed by an SM truck was quite a unique combination. Jerry Hathaway built the rig and the race car while his wife Sylvia races the car. The team has been running Bonneville and El Mirage Dry Lake since 1979 where they still hold records.
One of my favorites, the '67 Renault Caravelle was being shown by Kurt Triffet.
The Caravelle came from the Floride, which was styeld by Frua. It is still a very attractive car.
The lovely pale green Series III Appia was parked in a mud pit when I arrived ...
...and it was there when I left. I never did see anybody with the car.
Facel Vega Facella is owned by Mark Morgan.
This '57 Talbot Lago Dupont is always a show stopper.
Take a good look at the Tatra T87 and you’ll where Preston Tucker got his ideas for the Tucker automobile. Rear engine, usually an air cooled V-8, aerodynamic body, and three headlights. It was Han Ludwinka that basically designed the Tucker car.
What a treat to see the Tatra’s. What an advanced design and engineering for it’s day. Sorry to see the Appia all by itself. I came very close to owning one in 1958 when I couldn’t get a 180-D in Germany. I was headed for Italy for an Appia of a Julietta. Frankfort Mercedes came up with a 190 gas for me and I took it. Keep up the good work Pete.
Those Tatras have been coming for a few years and have progressively gotten better. I can’t believe the shape they are in now.
One thing is glaringly missing form this article. Where are the Alfa Romeos? The Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Southern California brings by far the biggest Alfa Romeo contingency, but not even one picture? There usually is one or two specials.
I’m sad I missed the show this year. It is one of the greatest out there.
The Tatra was an 8 cylinder The Tatraplan (note no “E”as in plane was a 4 cylinder.
Thank you for the pictures of the Simca Aronde convertible, called the Oceane, but that name only appeared on the glovebox door.
My first car. With the reinforced convertible chassis, it was so heavy that a 1200 VW would outrun it. But so nice to look at.
Thanks for the picture of lovely Appia ,so small and so perfect .
I remember that the dark ones had the outer part of the wheel
painted with the same color than the car , but I don’t know
if it was the rule . Can anybody answer ?
The white Tatra, a 1951 Tatraplan or T600 was a First-Timer at this show. Drove down from Mountain View the night before and was very happy to see the rain stop before leaving the Motel. It appears to have been restored in the early 1980’s and the paint and interior date back to that time. Front doors are suicide, back doors are standard. It was fun to notice people (drivers and passengers) shooting pictures and video of the car as it was tooling down I-5.
With regard to the show stoppr 1957 Talbot Lago Dupont, as someone who has owned/ raced Lago Talbots for decades, I am really intrigued with this car — does anyone have further information on it?
Particularly intriguing is the inclusion of “Dupont”. Many years ago, the Duponts acquired all of the remaining banktuptcy Lago Talbot parts, etc., and have been helping fellow Lago Talbot enthusiasts ever since.
Is this car perhaps the result of their bodying a 57 running chassis with this stunning looking coachwork?