Gauld at Retro Take Two

Paul sadly died a few years ago but he was always concerned about preserving Berliet history. It was no surprise, then when, on one of the specialist stands, I found not any old Berliet, but the 1908 racer that had finished fourth in the Targa Florio driven by Frenchman Jean Porporato. Porporato also won the very first Targa Bologna race in September 1908. When you look at 1908 race cars you have to marvel at the strength of drivers of that era as the cars were big, heavy and hard to manage. To my mind one of the finest books on motor racing ever written was Ten Years Motors and Motor Racing by English driver Charles Jarrott. He covered the ten years from 1898 to 1908 and reading this, you cannot escape having great respect for the drivers and their courage. If you can find a copy of that very rare book prepare to be impressed.

The 1908 Berliet racer driven by Jean Porporato.

Berliet, of course, was more famous for trucks than for cars and eventually they were absorbed by Citroen. In the 1970s I was invited to go to the old circuit outside Marseilles to see a demonstration of the then-new Berliet Stradair truck, which was a streamlined affair. They had famed French stunt driver Reme Julienne out there on the track with a Berliet Stradair chassis and cab and he proceeded to do all sorts of things with it including a high speed jump off a ramp and it was amazing to see the bend in the chassis as it took off.

Berliet’s trademark showing the railway engine origins.

However, there is another interesting thing about Berliet and that was their car badge, shown here. As can be seen it represents the front of an American railway train complete with cowcatcher. The reason for this was that Berliet was one of the biggest manufacturers of early railway trains and the USA was their biggest market outside France.

Tony Crook and Touring

The Bristol 401 body that took center stage on the Carrozzeria Touring stand at Retromobile.

Touring of Milan, the coachbuilders, usually have a stand at Retromobile to promote their Superleggera restoration division. It was touching this year for the car they chose to feature on the stand was the Bristol 401 sedan that was built by the Bristol Car Company in England but the bodies built in Italy by Touring. The 401 was a tremendous car in its day, comfortable, luxurious and remarkably quick. The reason it was touching was that two weeks before Retromobile British racing driver and owner of the Bristol Car Company from the 1960s, Tony Crook, died at the age of 93. I will be telling you more about Tony in a later issue as I had the pleasure in recent years of helping him sort out his immense archives. Perhaps it was just a co-incidence but I like to think that Touring had paid their final respects to a truly remarkable man.

Strack and Shellette

I am often confused with descriptions of cars, and when I saw the pert little yellow Fiat 850 beach car on the Artcuriel stand at Retromobile, I had to hesitate before taking my notes. It was one of over fifty beach cars designed by Giovanni Michelotti in the 1960s and called the Shellette. Though it had an Abarth badge on the back I am not convinced that it had an Abarth modified engine.

The Michelotti “Shellette” beach car.

Then I overheard someone mention that the sometimes off-the-wall French interior designer Philippe Starck was the designer which I did not believe.
In fact this particular car was owned by Philippe Starck but not designed by him. The odd name of the model, the Shellette, was named after French yacht designer Philip Shell who had the idea of having a small beach car designed and built along the same lines as the iconic Ghia Fiat Jolly models of the 1950s and teamed up with Michelotti on the design. They sold a number of these Shellettes to rich yacht owners including Jackie Onassis who had one for the Onassis yacht.

Jag was for real

The 1949 Jaguar XK120 record car. Note the bubble over the drivers head.