Last Week’s Comments From Our Readers

We introduce this “Comments from our Readers” section because we realize that we get many interesting comments from readers which are posted to the article in question but then rarely seen, as the article and the comment section then go to the archives. Plus, we get many emails which are sent directly to the editor at vack@cox.net, but do not get posted under any particular article. Herein then, are some selected comments and emails we received in the past week that might have been missed. Feel free to comment at the bottom of this article!

Talbot Darracq (via email)

Recently I did a search to look up the Talbot Darracq and Jack Day and found some of the articles and photos in VeloceToday.com very interesting.

My father Alf Porter was Evelyn Porter’s brother, and we met Jack on visits to his sister. At some time about 1958-63 we spent some school holidays at Jack Day’s farm at Cloverleaf in Gipsland, while on these holidays Jack had myself and my brother riding Go Carts with a victa 125 motor and later racing with 2 carts ( 98cc Villiers powered) Vic.

The Talbot was there in the latter part of this period. Jack told us that he had purchased it from someone to whom he had sold it 20 or 30 years prior. It was in parts and the previous owner had fitted white metal bearings in place of the needle rollers and had run it with the supercharger disconnected. He showed me the cage rings to hold the end pins on the rollers with the correct spacing that he was making, and the mottle polishing he had done on the block.
Thanks, Graham Porter

Graham, Wow, I almost forgot about that wonderful series of articles on the history of the Talbot Darracq Grand Prix Cars. It’s from 2010, and here is the link describing the Jack Day car: Talbot Darracq, The Cars

A New Premium Subscriber (via email)

Pete,
I had no idea what I was missing as a non-subscriber. What you’ve created is a treasure trove of vintage motor racing stories, photos, etc. I will enjoy this for years to come.
Thanks, Bill Barker

Bill, thanks for becoming a Premium Subscriber! We have thousands of articles in our archives. Be sure to use the ‘search this site’ function at the top of the right column on the homepage. Just type in a car, a writer, a personality or subject and related articles will appear in the left column. Ed.

Abarth Bialbero

This was my Monomille, found in an ad in Hemmings or maybe Autoweek in the early 1980s. The body was stripped to bare aluminum, straightened and repainted in the original color. I ran the car with a pushrod engine for many years till I found the parts to convert it to Bialbero. There is nothing on the car that I did’nt personally restore or replace with my own hands. By this time the only cylinder head I could find was from a 750cc Bialbero which had identical dimensions to the 1000 cc, but without some minor improvements Abarth added when it built the 1000 cc versions. The Abarth pushrod block was identical to Bialbero, needing only minor modifications to accept the new cylinder head. I also added a 5-speed All Abarth transaxle. First time out in a major event was Sebring 1986. During my ownership I strived to keep the car original in all other respects, including keeping the original interior unrestored, including the original Wilton carpets. All these years I followed the first rule of preservation “Do no harm.” Here’s where I add little dig to new owner Michael Pinkus who (as near as I could tell) glued the carpet to the floor–at least on the right side foot-well. Otherwise It was a really great thing to see that he drove it so well at the VSCCA Fall Finale at Lime Rock, doing 1:18’s, something I only did towards the end of my ownership. Take good care of her Michael!
Very best, Mahlon Craft

Mahlon,
Good to hear from you! It is very heartening to see a younger generation take over our old cars…Mike in the case of your Abarth, and Ralph in the case of the Alfa 2600 Zagato (though not the particular one I owned). Both the cars and the owners are in good company.
Editor

Tell us more about the mechanicals. Is it Fiat based or Simca? Is the aluminum head something like a one-off? Is the transmission from Getrag, ZF, or Fiat or Simca. Excuse my ignorance but would like to know more about the mechanicals.
Thanks, David Cherrick

We’ll let Scott Marshall answer David’s questions…

The engine block is a special casting that Fiat made for Abarth. It is identified by the letters AH cast into the side of the block. It made the increase in bore to bring the engine to 1000cc from the previous 850cc, possible. The head is all Abarth. Abarth engines had many in-house made parts. Con rods are one example. So were crankshafts, which were numbered. They are quite beautiful. My Monomille camshaft had roller bearing at each end, and there were parts like distributor drive gears that were made only for the Abarth engines. Gearboxes were Fiat based, but had hardened gears. In this case, Abarth took the 4 speed Fiat gearbox and added a fifth gear to the end of the box. Later cars such as the Abarth Simca 2MILA had all Abarth built engines, and modified Simca chassis.
Scott Marshall

Alfa 2600 Z

We received more than 13 comments on the Alfa 2600 Z. Here is a slightly edited version of the most interesting of the lot…

Great to hear from a fellow 2600 SZ enthusiast. I’ve held on to a couple of these for 40+ years now. Pete, if I remember correctly you had one yourself, correct?

To answer your question about the lack of rockers, guess you would have to ask Spada himself, but none had rockers. And it gives a distinctive look to the profile. I met Elio Zagato at the factory in 1984 and though we had a definite language barrier, he took note of my car’s pictures and quickly escorted me through the modest plant securing all he had left for this model, carefully placed in a cardboard box and given to me, he then signed my newly acquired book! Quite a gentleman, as is his son.

Note the SZ is built on the shorter, and lighter 2600 spider chassis. I also have the Bertone Sprint, both have the optional intake with Weber carbs and about 165 + SAE Gross hp. The SZ has about 7 mph+ on the top end, due to the superior aero. About 125 mph for the Bertone, 132 or so for the SZ. The greatest improvement one can give these wonderful GT cars is a tire/wheel upgrade, from the OEM 165 X 400 mm tires on a 400 x 4.5? or 5? (steel on the Bertone, 2-piece Borrani disc on the SZ) to a 16? X 6.5? wheel with 215/65-16 VR upgrade. The brakes are fabulous and their size is what dictated the original 400 mm wheel size. At the time, a decent 16? tire was scarce, and a 15? wheel would not clear the calipers, so they chose the 400 mm (about 15.75?). Not only does the car handle better with the wheel/tire upgrade, it looks as it should as well. Much more aggressive.
Denton Smith

Denton,
Yes, I owned a 2600Z for a while in the early 1970s. It was quite a car! (See lead photo.) We paid about double the price we would normally pay for a used Alfa Giulia at the time… a whopping $1800! And, we’ve been in contact with Ercole Spada and his son. Hopefully we’ll get an interview or at least an answer to the rocker panel question. Editor.

1970 Tabletop Targa Florio

Very, very nice. I’ve done my version of the 1970 Le Mans Paddock with every car in the race including the movie version cars. What is really nice is the fact you could actually have real pictures to build your diorama from. All I could do is search for pictures on the internet. You have a lot of nice detail in your diorama. Congratulations on a very well-done display. How long did it take you to put your display together? I had over two years either finding, building, or modifying the cars alone for my display.
Tom Ciryak

Giovanni answers…

I thank you for the praise.
From design to implementation and presentation in May 2006 I spent 18 months. Then once I started I never stopped. Still today it is in continuous evolution. Just a week ago I added the Porsche 908-2 Flunder n.18 driven by Van Lennep-Laine.
Giovanni Petta

Renault Floride and Caravelle French Tour

My first car was a 4 CV, my dad had a Renault Dauphin, and also a Floride , which was a very flashy car in England at the time with a 850cc inline rear engine. I used to drive it from Manchester to Cornwall in the early sixties. My 4 CV had several trips to Europe always over the Swiss alps down to Italy…non synchromesh gearbox, double de clutch all the time.
Peter Leech