The winner of the 2013 Mille Miglia was the Argentinian crew Tonconogy-Berisso on a Bugatti Type 40 of 1927.
Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Last week was the 31st edition of the Mille Miglia Storica Rally, which is the world’s biggest mobile car museum, travelling along the beautiful roads of Italy from Brescia to
Roma and back. This year there more more cars entered than ever before: 415 cars at the start compared to the traditional amount of 375.
If, in the glory days of the ‘real’ Mille Miglia, between 1927 and 1957, the fastest cars made
the trip in 10 hours or more (the record of Stirling Moss in 1955 being 10 hours 7 minutes), the reborn version of the rally is spread over three days and consists in regularity tests.
Nevertheless, the rainy conditions of this edition put the competitors and their cars to their limits. But the sun did shine and that’s when we went to work!
Also, we just learned that well known American Alfista Mark Gessler and his co-driver Giordano Mozzi driving a 1933 6C 1500 Gran Sport came in second only 576 penalty points off the lead. So congratutions Mark and Giordano!
This year we’ll begin with the French cars in the Mille Miglia, followed in the same article by the more numerous Italians. So keep scrolling to see them all.
Although more modern, the Peugeot 403 was not a rally car either. But its robustness was nice feature on tough rallies like the East African Safari.
This lovely Panhard Dyna X86 was designed by Michelotti and bodied by Allemano.This particular example took part in the MM in 1954.
Specializing in luxury models, Panhard had to built more popular cars to survive after WWII. Nonetheless, the Dyna X86 was very original with a flat 2 cylinder engine.
Some Citroën Traction Avants took part to the original race in 1954 and 1955.
1952 Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport coupé.
The Delahaye 135 S took part in the MM in 1937.
Although Lorraine Dietrich is better known for winning the Le Mans 24 hours in 1925 and 1926, at least one Lorraine Dietrich took part to the Mille Miglia in 1928 and 1929.
The BNC 527 Gran Sport Monza was equipped with a Scap or Ruby 1100 cc engine. BNC stands for Bollack, Netter & Co.
Expect to see many Alfa Romeos at the Mille Miglia like this 1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport entered by US team Steven Adler and Jakob Griesen.
Another 6C 1750 of 1932 with attractive bodywork.
Again another 6C 1750 of 1929.
This Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B MM spider Touring is due to the famous engineer Vittorio Jano. Franco Cortese finished 9th in the 1938 Mille Miglia in this car.
Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint cabriolet by Pinin Farina.
One of the two Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva in existence. This one comes from the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo.
The original Mille Miglia saw lots of artisanal creations by many Italian enthusiasts. The 1949 Dagrada 750 Sport, built by Angelo Dagrada, was one of them.
The Ermini 357 Sport of 1955 was equipped with a 1,500 cc engine and a Scaglietti body.
Osca (Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili) built the 372 FS in 1957.
The Fiat Roselli 1100 Sport from 1949.
Built by Clemente Biondetti, four times winner of the Mille Miglia, this car had a tubular chassis and a Jaguar C-Type engine and is known as the Biondetti Jaguar.
Bodied by Vignale,the Ferrari 225 Sport won the 1952 Mille Miglia. This example was entered by US crew of Khan/Braslow.
Originally a Vignale berlinetta, this Ferrari 212 Export received a spyder body in 1951.
A 1957 Ferrari 250 GT Boano coupé entering the medieval city of Sansepolcro in Tuscany.
1956 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Tour de France back home, entering the Maranello factory.
The strange looking Fiat 508 C berlinetta aerodinamica was credited to Dante Giacosa, and took part to the 1940 and 1947 editions of the Mille Miglia
Another example of the Fiat 508 C berlinetta aerodinamica.
Originally born as a spider, this 1947 Rovelli Fiat followed the tendency for aerodynamic shapes and was equipped with an hardtop.
This beautiful coupé is another realization of Stanguellini, still with the Fiat1100 engine.
The Fiat 1100 Turismo Veloce was very popular among competitors of the Mille Miglia between 1954 to 1957.
Another Aprilia by Zagato took part in the 1938 event with Gigi Villoresi.
The Lancia Aprilia 1350 Sport took part to the 1949 and 1950 editions, but with no success due to its lack of power.
1956 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT bodied by French coachbuilder Pichon Parat.
Chasing the BMW, an A6 1500 berlinetta Pinin Farina the first real road car produced by Maserati.
Followed by a Bentley, the O.M.s, (for Officine Meccaniche), were well represented as O.M. was born in Brescia along with the Mille Miglia. O.M. also won the very first edition in 1927.
Results can be seen on the Mille Milglia website.
For the photographers of the recent Mille Miglias, it must be a love-hate relationship. With 415 cars, you have a large number of and a wide variety of subjects. At the same time, you have over 500 support cars that often closely follow the M.M. cars and mess up the image. I give the current photographers credit for their ability sh-can the support cars.
Hugues does a wonderful job. It is almost as good as being there……almost.
Congratiolations to Hugues Vanhoolandt for the splendid photos of the cars that participated in the 2013 Mille Miglia. What an event! Hugues must have had great luck that the sun came through the moment he started shooting his photos, because most competiters started the race during a torrential rain.
Best regards, Gijsbert-Paul
Bravo pour la selection des modèles.
Du rarement vu, bien éclairés et cadrés !
Merci !
H