Merry Christmas

Photo by Greg Vack. Click on pic to read more about a Scalextric Christmas.

Six of the Most Talked-About Articles in 2013

The comments from our readers are not numerous: however, they are indicative the intelligence, knowledge and thoughtfulness of our readership, and pro or con they are all well written and honest. Thankfully most (and we publish all) are positive and helpful. All are worth reading, and a learned comment from just one of our astute readers is worth 1000 of the less serious remarks found on many other websites.

For this Christmas Eve, we decided to list six of this year’s most talked about articles. Read on and add your comments as well.

Comments aren’t always an indicator of how good an article is…some of our best articles elicit few comments simply because they are no errors or don’t raise any controversy. Case in point, the superb work done at Goodwood this year by both Jonathan Sharp and Hugues Vanhoolandt only came home with a total of ten comments over a five article special feature. Both Sharp and Vanhoolandt worked endlessly all year providing VeloceToday with stunning photography and astute and accurate reporting. Well done!

With 15 comments, Wally Wyss’s article about the Faux French Hot Rods of Californian Terry Cook really struck a note with our readers, but were the remarks good or bad? We all knew we’d have controversy, and yet when all was said and done, almost all of the comments took to Terry’s side and congratulated him on his automotive art. We thank Wyss for continuing to provide interesting and provocative articles such as this and we applaud Cook for accomplishing what many of us can only dream of doing.

Paris, 1954, how sweet it was. The Editor’s uncle Gerald Vack, then serving with the U.S. Military in Germany, got a break and went off to Paris to see all the latest fashions at the Grand Palais. The stars of the show were the new 1300 Alfa Giulietta Sprint and the Ferrari 375 bodied by Pinin Farina, which director Roberto Rossellini purchased while at the show. The two-part article featured 20 still-brilliant Kodachrome slide shots of all the best cars at the show and gathered up 17 comments, all nice, of course!

Michael T. Lynch reported on the acquisition of the Road & Track archives by the REVS institute and added one of his favorite Brockbank cartoons to the article. When Road & Track was being moved to its new location in Michigan, said Lynch, the new owners didn’t want to take the tons of archives. Fortunately the REVS Institute saved everything for posterity. Twenty of our readers were happy that the archives were saved, but many sadly noted that the magazine is not what it once was and feared for its future.

Gijsbert-Paul Berk is one of our most senior and experience writers; he has been a journalist in Europe since the mid-1950s. His four-part article on Streamlining and Concept Cars was complete, full of new information, and told a story still relevant in today’s changing world. Beginning in 1888, Berk detailed decades of advanced aerodynamic vehicles and how the manufacturers influenced each other on both sides of the Atlantic. Twenty one readers added their opinions.

Graham Gauld needs no introduction nor does Henry Manney III. But Gauld’s remembrances of Manney immediately brought forth comments from Bill Warner, Toly Arutonoff, Jeff Allison, Mrs. Patrick Manney, Alan Boe, Sue Ellis (Russell Brockbank’s daughter), Chuck Queener, Charles Fox and Dick Irish, to name just a few who also don’t need introductions here. Over thirty comments made this article come in first with the most comments. A great writer on a great writer.