Review by Pete Vack
Ten years ago Chris Martin contacted us with an idea for a short book about the Montier Ford.
The wha? I asked, foolishly of course. Well it’s a very special French Ford therefore fit for the pages of VeloceToday and company. And it ran at Le Mans. It was a marque and a history I was totally unaware of. Martin didn’t actually discover all this…he did, however, discover a French book on the subject, Et Vint La Ford T by Fabien Sabates and realized there was no English language version.
The resulting discussions between Virginia and Australia were fruitful and in a short time Chris had expertly gathered up enough illustrations for us to produce the third in a series of booklets published under the name of VeloceToday Select, (the name suggested by Denise McCluggage).
Heady company. The Montier Ford is flanked by two Brescia Bugattis at Le Mans, 1923.
That was in 2013. It was 90 years ago then and 100 years ago this year that Charles Montier and Albert Ouriou entered the very first Le Mans and finished a surprising 14th overall—with what was basically a Model T. It was a significant accomplishment for a Model T based car. With the celebration of 100 years at Le Mans this year, it seemed a good time, perhaps, for a more in depth look at the racing Montier Fords, titled Charles Montier and His French Racing Fords.
Pierre Izaret found a circa 1925 Montier partially disassembled in France in 2012. The engine was seized but importantly, had an overhead valve cylinder head marked “CH MONTIER PARIS”. One of many new Montier findings in Martin’s latest book.
By late last year, Martin had compiled a wealth of new material about the Montiers, and took the original VeloceToday 32 page booklet to a healthy 132 pages with new illustrations and discoveries throughout. So even if you have a copy of the VeloceToday Select version it just serves to whet the appetite; there is so little overlap that you will definitely want…and enjoy, Martin’s latest. Not only that, Martin has wisely created a separate French language version, as there are a growing number of French Ford enthusiasts.
In the latest book, Martin expands our understanding of the Montier family. Charles was born not in France but in …Italy, and later resettled in central France where he became interested in anything mechanical. He also had a friend, Albert Ouriou, who became a co-driver and business partner as well as a brother-in-law. Via his Ford dealership, Montier would build a succession of Ford based race cars with successes throughout the twenties and thirties.
Although Montier was not really an innovator, he offered a line of speed equipment that was baptized on his own racecars. He followed the lead of the Model T speed shops in the U.S. a booming business after WWI. The exchange rate was such that it was too expensive to import the American built speed equipment so Montier and others built their own versions. In this way the Model T was modified with a twin plug OHV head, lowered front suspension and special brakes.
Montier’s special Overhead Valve head for the Model T.
What is probably the most interesting part of the book is the listing and history of every known Montier Ford, and the replicas, and known fakes. Slim as it is, Martin’s book is really the bible of the Montier Ford effort. With a lot of dogged research, Martin has found a Montier Ford belonging to the Mullin collection, and though it is not for sale, he remains hopeful that eventually it will be sold or restored.
The Montier Ford in the Mullin collection.
Like all of Martin’s work, the Montier story is well written, well researched and a pleasure to read. His book on Alfasud is a joy as well. This time he has done his own layout, and it is excellent, with a large clear font that makes it nice for us whose vision is now hindsight.
Click here for a short film celebrating the installation of a commemorative plaque in Richelieu attended by a few Montier cars. Film courtesy of Olivier and Hugo Chabanne.
English Version on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Montier-French-racing-Fords/dp/B0B6L3Q5TW
English Version at Autobooks:
https://www.autobooks-aerobooks.com/product/charles-montier-and-his-french-racing-fords/
French Version at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/-/he/Chris-Martin/dp/B0B6LNSNJX
A few of the ads that also appear in the book:
Levallois-p15
Englebert-ad
Chapron Model A
Starting and driving two Model Ts…in French
Starting and driving a Model T, in English
Montier cars are signalled in the book “les Ford au Mans” by François Hurel.
Indeed, again in French. I checked that, and some other French sources when I started on the Montier project. struggling to find much published in English. A small photo representing each of the three year’s attempts at the 24 hour race and a short bio in a sidebar on page 9 which concludes with the claim “Montier meanwhile had done nothing different to Carrol Shelby or Steve Saleen; transform Fords” (translation). Coincidentally that book was published by Editions du Palmier in Nîmes by Michel Delannoy the former editor of noted motor sport magazine, Échappement. My friend, proof reader and Montier owner, Pierre had met one of the partners of this business at Rétromobile last year who voiced an interest in taking on my project. I sent some samples of text and photos and received a favourable reply in April that they were considering it. False hope alas, by June Editions du Palmier had closed its doors for good; apparently a victim of the growth of the internet and the shrinking market for hard copy books. With planned events in Richlieu already in place for September to which I had been invited there was a need for fast action to get the book published, in two languages, hence the decision to go with Amazon.