Bits and Pieces

Amelia Abarths---Maserati racing---Seiestad on Fraschetti—Black on Alfa V6 Orgins---Moss and OSCA---Bill Clark---Coming up in VT---

Thierry Lesparre attended this year's Retro in Paris, and sent along some images for VT. Here, an unrestored Alfa TZ1 owned by Paul Grant, next to a Bizzarrini 3500GT 1964 s/n BA4 0201-7414/73. Scroll down for more images from Retro.

Abarths at Amelia,
In addition to the debut of the Ferrari-Abarth, this year's Amelia Island Concours (March 14-16) see article will play host to a large gathering of Abarths. According to Amelia conductor Bill Warner, "there will be at least eleven Abarths on the field including the first (a 207A), a 750 "Double Bubble), a 750 Record Monza Bialbero, a 1000 Bialbero, a 1000 GT Bialbero, a Simca 1300 Corsa, a 695SS, and a 650 all the way up to a 1000SP, the Ferrari, a 1000 Berlina TCR (National Championship car), and an Abarth Carrera." Abarths don't gather very often, particularly on the East Coast, so make a point to attend. Once there, don't forget to meet Willem Oosthoek and pick up a signed copy of his new book, "Birdcage to Supercage".

Ours is a small world. At Retro, Theirry met up with Willem Oosthoek, at the show to promote his latest book.

The return of Maserati
We should make note of Maserati's recent re-entry into racing in the U.S. A note from David Seibert:
Ferrari/Maserati of Washington is preparing a Maserati for the upcoming Grand Prix of Miami at the Miami-Homestead Speedway. The team will race its Maserati Trofeo Light in the GT class, driven by Emil Assentato, Dr. Steve Earle, and Nick Longhi, in addition to the Ferrari 360. "We plan to do well both with the Ferrari and with our Maserati in GT." said Glen Marquis, FOW team manager. "We ran in the front of the class at Daytona, and we've learned more about the Maserati since then. We're going to be ready for Homestead."

Moss and OSCA
According to a blurb on SpeedTV, Stirling Moss will be reunited with the Cunningham entered OSCA (serial # 1137) with which he won the 1954 Sebring 12 Hours. How did an 1450cc OSCA win at Sebring? And without brakes? First, Moss was driving. Second, the Ferraris and all but one of the factory Lancias dropped out of the running late in the race. Still, a tremendous victory for Moss and co-driver Bill Lloyd, who beat the remaining Lancia to the flag. He will be inducted into the Sebring Sports Car Racing Hall of Fame on Friday, March 19, the day before the 52nd Annual running of Sebring's sports car endurance classic. The OSCA will be on display in the Gallery of Legends display in the paddock, courtesy of the Collier Museum in Naples.

The Death of Fraschetti
In Part I of "The Search for Stanguellini Sports Racers" see article author Jim Jenne wrote that according to Sandy McArthur, Fraschetti died in a Stanguellini during a hillclimb event. McArthur (not Jenne) may have been wrong. Historian David Seielstad writes, "The story says Ferrari engineer Fraschetti was killed hill climbing in Stanguellini.. If this means Andrea Fraschetti, he was killed test driving a prorotype 65 degree Dino 156 formula 2 car at Modena in August of 1957." Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Origins of the Alfa V6
Don Black was director of Alfa Romeo's N.A. Engineering office for 26 years. Now living in Florida, he caught the article on the Alfa GTV6 see article and made these comments: For the record, the motor in the GTV-6 was certainly not "new". The 119 engine family was frozen in 1971. Later to be used in the 119 sedan or "ALFA 6", originally with the dell Ortos. I was responsible for the certification of the Bosch jetronic configuration for the US ( yes, in the ALFA 6, which was determined to be unsuitable for the US market a full year AFTER I had spent two years on cert development, and the engine family did have an EPA Certificate of Compliance).The emission data vehicle is still here in the US, having been owned at one time by Tom Zat. Little known is the fact that the 119 was also powered with Alfa Romeo's own, in house electronic injection called "C.E.M", developed by Ing Bassi and Dario Radaelli in Portello. A few cars were run in Milan on durability, but were ruled out by upper management due to its high cost of production--enter Bosch. Yes, eventually the GTV wound up with this motor, which remains virtually unchanged today, except for current Motoronics and a small displacement increase. Not bad for a motor having had its run almost as long as the SBC. In the near future it will be replaced with a GM powerplant developed by the GM-FIAT powertrain group and to be shared on the new multi marque platform."

Obit, Bill Clark
Chris Obert, whose wife Genevieve passed away last July , emailed us with the sad news about Bill Clark, who passed on from cancer February 6 of this year.
"Bill basically ran Fiat Auto USA from the late sixties thru the early 90's, I don't know how old Bill was, or obviously the exact years he worked for and ran Fiat Autos USA's operations, but I can tell you that the major reason we even have these cars today that are the major part of our lives that they are, is because of Bill's love for the Fiat and Lancia marks. Bill had lots of stories to tell, but whenever my wife Genny spoke with him about sitting down and interviewing him so we could do a tribute issue of our company's newsletter telling his story, he always said he would be very interested, later. He hinted that the stories would be great, and possibly even tall, but certainly of interest to those of us that still have Fiat products today. I remember the time I became an authorized Fiat dealer. We were still in our 1800s redwood barn doing repairs mostly and selling parts secondly. Bill always had to do a site inspection of their new dealerships, and he paid us a visit and took pictures for his files. He joked that if the boys back east ever saw the pictures they would kill him for making us a dealer, but he knew our enthusiasm made up for the facility's visual appeal.. Bill was a major force in the presence of Fiat product in North America for a long time. A dear friend I will miss."

Coming up in VeloceToday
The Bandini Museum---Alf Francis, Racing Mechanic in Italia --- Alfa Formula Boxer---Driving the GTV6---The Photography of Mario Marchesini---Ferrari Testa Rossa---SCAT---Lancia Flaminia Zagato

All Spanish, even the designer, Wilfred Ricart, the Pegaso nonetheless is clothed by Touring. This one is s/n 145, a very special Z-102 Comp spyder which crashed at LeMans in 1953.

Tipo 33 Alfa either the 33TT12 or the 33SC12, can anyone tell which?

OSCAs were popular at Retro this year, with this 1957 Morelli-bodied Osca S273 s/n 1187 being one of the several examples on stands.

The few and beautiful---Pininfarina's efforts on the Maserati A6GCS were highlights of the 1954-5 European scene. This one is serial number 2059.

In 1954, Alfa made the Sportiva prototype, with a 138 hp 2000cc engine and a De Dion rear end. Car is from the museo Alfa Romeo d'Arese