Michael Lynch’s OSCA Pocket History

Panel members, left to right: Bob Devlin, Michael Lynch, Tim Considine, Alfieri Maserati, Adolfo Orsi, Jr. Photo by Willie Considine.

S/N 1101
Leave it to Pebble Beach to dig out the first OSCA made. This is Lawrence Auriana’s MT4 1100. It made its debut on 15 August 1948 at Pescara with Franco Cornacchia driving. The first victory came soon after with Luigi Villoresi crossing the line first a month later at Naples. The legend of OSCA racers was underway. The Italian press nicknamed the car a Siluro (Torpedo) and the fenders were removable, so the car could run as a sports car or an open-wheel race car. It would continue to race through 1961. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1103
Ah, Pebble Beach. As long as you have the first OSCA built, why not have the second. This MT4 Siluro fits that description. Originally sold to one of Maserati’s financiers, Paolo Cordero di Montezemolo, it was repurchased and used as a team car. It was with a Swiss collector for fifty years before going to Japan. Present owners, Elad and Ronit Shagra have restored it to the condition in which it left the factory and the judges awarded it first in Class N-1 OSCA pre-1955. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1133 A Frua MT4, this was the first car fitted with a 1450 engine and went to Chicagoan, Jim Simpson, who was a Board Member and large shareholder in retailer Marshall Field. He was quite successful with the car, winning often in SCCA competition, including the season closer at March Field in California in 1954. The car would be sold on to Jim Kimberly, who would continue to be competitive. Simpson also had a special streamliner built by OSCA in which he set 18 records at the Bonneville Salt Flats, ranging from ten kilometers to twelve hours. Ann and Stephen Cortinovis were the entrants. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1114
This lovely dual tone OSCA MT4 is perhaps the winningest OSCA in history; beginning in 1951, it won 22 races with factory driver Giulio Cabianca behind the wheel. It is another example of an 1100 cc car that got a larger 1350 cc engine. The car then came to America where Pennsylvanians Al Garthwaite and Otto Linton continued to win almost until its final competitive appearance in 1956. The bodywork is striking with the brightwork spear spanning both the front and rear wheels. The driving lamps, which were installed for an intended Le Mans entry, are nicely integrated into the grill, although the car did not run there. Vienna-born engineer Otto Linton lived to be 100 and remembered his OSCA fondly until the end. T. G. Mittler is the owner. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1121
This MT4 was a prototype of a full-bodied OSCA designed by Ernesto Maserati with headlamps in the fenders. The bodywork is by Frua. The rear treatment differs from later cars, but the front profile established the OSCA look. Italian expatriate shop owner Alfred Momo ordered it for Bill Spear who won his class at Watkins Glen and Elkhart Lake. It was sold first to Bill David and then went on to Chick Leson who won his class at Pebble Beach in 1954, OSCA’s biggest victory there. It was campaigned heavily, posting seven wins and six second places. Canadian Dario Calandra had the car restored to its period appearance and performance and was rewarded with a third place in the N-1 class. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 2004
In 1953, OSCA built two open wheel Formula 2 cars which used a new 6-cylinder, two-liter engine. They also put the 6C engine in five sports cars. This Frua-bodied car is the second example. Luigi Piotti bought it and raced in Italy including the Tour of Sicily and the Mille Miglia. It carries his number from the Tour. It then passed through the hands of well-known American entrants including John Mecom, Roy Cherryhomes, and Jim Hall. In the 1970s, collector John Robson acquired a period experimental 2.5 liter 6C engine which remains with the car today. German Michael Trösser was the entrant and went home with a second in Class N-1. The green ribbon is the residual of having participated in the Tour d’Elegance.Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1135
This car was ordered by Bill David from Edgar Fronteras, who placed several OSCAs with American drivers. David was a theatrical impresario who brought New York stage shows to San Francisco. It was the second car to be fitted with the 1450 cc engine and David made the most of it. In 1953 and 54, he won at venues like Reno, Santa Clara, Golden Gate Park, and Seattle. He would go on to race another OSCA. Note the nicely faired taillights and the trim around the cockpit surround. Hidetomo Kimura came from Japan to exhibit the car. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1152
Manfred Lippmann was a leading coffee grower in Guatemala and was car crazy from his early teens. He indulged his passion mostly through Porsches, but entered this OSCA in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, where he failed to finish. At a time when advertising was not often seen in sports car racing, the Mexicans took a different view. Lippmann later had a Mercedes agency but sold it to concentrate on his coffee business. He traded the OSCA for a Ferrari from Luigi Chinetti and Chinetti in turn had his protégés, the Rodriguez brothers, in the car for a short time. Lippmann later bought it back and owned it for fifty years before selling it to Katharina and Michael Leventhal, who use the car on rallies and tours. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1183
Jerry Rosenstock’s 1500 S Morelli Spyder takes in the scenery at Pebble Beach. This car originally went to Argentine Alejandro de Tomaso, who would later own Maserati. He and his American wife, Isabell Haskell, campaigned it in Sports Car World Championship events in Europe and South America from 1957. It is one of three with this streamliner body style. It came to America where it was raced until 1960. Rosenstock bought the car in 1987 and has vintage raced it and taken part in two Mille Miglia Retrospettiva. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1132
This MT4 was ordered by Rees Makins through Edgar Fronteras in Chicago. It appeared at Le Mans in 1953 with a 1350 cc engine where it was driven by Phil Hill and SCCA President, Fred Wacker. It would be Hill’s first Le Mans drive and he would go on to win the French classic three times. Before going to the States, it had an 1100 cc motor put in. Driving with Frank Bott, Makins began the 1954 season with a 1100cc Class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring. The OSCA gang was riding high and the Jim Simpson/George Colby and Otto Linton/Harry Beck MT4s were 1-2 in the 1500 cc Class in the same race. Makins’ success continued throughout the year and he won the 1954 SCCA National Championship in the G Modified Class. Hideaki Suzuki has owned the car since 2003 and he recently had the car restored to the livery of Le Mans in 1953. Hugues Vanhoolandt photo.

S/N 1137
The most famous OSCA of them all is this MT4 1500 with the distinctive cutaway fenders, seen here being driven on the show field. It was entered by Briggs Cunningham at Sebring in 1954. The drivers were Stirling Moss and Cunningham’s wife’s cousin, Bill Lloyd. It was up against larger-engine competitors including Jaguars, Aston Martins, Ferraris, and the factory Lancia team, but they all fell by the wayside as the 12 Hours ground on. Fewer than half the field finished, but the OSCA not only finished but won. It remains the smallest displacement car to win Sebring, 65 years later. It resides at the Collier Collection at the Revs Institute and is a two-owner car. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1178
Mitch Eitel’s MT4 TN Morelli Spyder was sold to ex-SCCA President and National Championship driver, Jim Kimberly. The improved TN was again able to occasionally challenge the Porsches and Kimberly and Carroll Shelby co-drove the car to win a four-hour SCCA National race at Elkhart Lake in 1956. The car was still competitive in 1958 and Hal Stetson, Harry Beck, and Otto Linton won the 1500 cc Class at Sebring that year. It was a good day for OSCA, with Alejandro De Tomaso and his wife, Isabelle Haskell winning the 750 cc Class in their S750. Eitel continues to use the car on road and track and won third place in Class N-2. Photo credit Mitchell Eitel

S/N 1153
Roger Hoffman’s Vignale Coupe is the only MT4 done by that coachbuilder. It was entered in the Postwar Preservation Class L-2 where it took third place. It first appeared at the 1953 Turin Auto Show. The car is an amazing time trip with its original interior and Nardi steering wheel. The fitted luggage that came with the car is still there, as are the original tool kit and jack. Hoffman bought the car, then sold it and bought it back from OSCA collector Elad Shraga. The car is seen at the edge of the Pacific on the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. Hugues Vanhoolandt photo.

S/N 767
After the Porsche 550s became dominant in the under 1500cc Class, OSCA continued to win in the SCCA H Modified Class which restricted engine size to 750cc. This Tipo S was another Briggs Cunningham OSCA. It was originally intended to have an 1100 cc motor but was delivered as a 750. The Cunningham team raced it in 1959-60 and it was then sold to a party in the Midwest, where an 850cc engine was installed. Owner Tom Shaughnessy returned it to its Cunningham colors during the restoration. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch https://velocetoday.com/when-osca-met-porsche/

S/N 769
John Gordon purchased this 750S new and got off to a good start by winning his class at Sebring in 1960 with John Bentley. The car continued to place well in SCCA racing in the East and Midwest. Gordon never won a National Championship but Jim Eichenlaub and Ollie Schmidt did, also driving OSCA 750Ss in 1959 and 60. Then Schmidt took his OSCA motor and put it in a Lola chassis and repeated as Champion in 1961. Later owners of the Gordon car were OSCA collector Peter Wessel and Oliver Collins. The latter entered the car often in vintage races. Collector Bill Pope purchased the car in 2014 and was this year’s Pebble Beach entrant, where he won second place in Class N-2. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1122
This was the first OSCA to race in California. It was imported by screenwriter Randy MacDougall, whose credits included Mildred Pierce with Joan Crawford, and Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor. It made its debut at Stockton in August 1952, where it retired. MacDougall enjoyed success in the 1100cc Class, including winning at Pebble Beach in 1953, before selling to another writer, Al Coppel, who was a prolific novelist who worked in various segments of the industry, including pulp, thrillers, and science fiction. Coppel continued the car’s success in the 1100 cc class, and then put in a 1350 cc engine for the 1955 season, moving him up a class, which he also won. A bit of trivia is that this was one of three OSCAs with the headlamps placed behind the grille. Israelis Elad and Ronit Shraga took home the first place trophy in the pre-1955 OSCA class N-1. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1168 This Morelli-bodied MT4 is a more streamlined version of the previous MT4 designs. It was especially built for an American customer in late 1955. This is the car that was raced by Moderator Tim Considine. At this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, owners Kingsley and Jack Croul were awarded first place in Class N-2 for OSCAs 1955-1960. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

We close with a remembrance of the humor and fellowship at the time when OSCAs raced. This logo on the Croul MT4 is a parody of the badge of the most successful big-bore sports car of the day, Lance Reventlow’s Scarab. On the door of his car was a similar insignia and the words Scarab Mk1. The OSCA was labeled the ‘Sparerib Mk1.’ The decal to the left advertises Ernie McAfee’s shop on Cahuenga Pass in Hollywood. Ernie bought, sold, and maintained many of the Italian exotics in the Los Angeles basin. He was killed in a racing accident at Pebble Beach in 1956. The incident brought the street races at Pebble to an end and engendered the building of Laguna Seca Raceway. We commend the Crouls for contributing this detail to the memories of the era. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch