VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

2018 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

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Story and photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Nissan was the featured make at this year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and this is the first time that a Japanese automaker has been so honored.

More than 550 race cars were entered in the 15 groups, ranging from a 1911 National in Group 1A to a 1995 Nissan 240 SX in Group 7B.

The Formula 5000 group was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the series. This drew participants from around the world including 14 from New Zealand. [Read more…] about 2018 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Top Ten Italians at RM Sotheby’s London

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Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli

On September 5th, RM-Sotheby’s auction in London’s Battersea Park resulted in the presentation of 94 cars, of which 50 were sold for a total of 9.4 million pounds. Top sellers were the Italians, with a Ferrari Enzo making 1.9 million pounds, followed by a 1953 Ferrari Europa at 1.02 million pounds. Here’s a quick selection of the other Italians. [Read more…] about Top Ten Italians at RM Sotheby’s London

OSCAs at Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance

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Story By Michael T. Lynch

When the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance decides to have a Special Class, they leave no stone unturned, and the result is always spectacular. This year featured a marque dear to VeloceToday readers’ hearts, OSCA, the Maserati Brothers jewel-like masterpieces that dominated smaller displacement classes on both sides of the Atlantic in the immediate post-WWII period. Pebble’s foraging led to entries from Canada, Germany, Israel and Japan, as well as examples resident in the U.S. [Read more…] about OSCAs at Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance

Bob Temple Automotive Sports Car Photos, 1951

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VeloceToday presents photographs by Bob Temple, coming to us via the collection of Vintage Motorphoto’s Dale LaFollette. Originally published May, 2017 in VeloceToday.com.

Photography by Bob Temple courtesy Dale LaFollette
Story by Pete Vack

Recently, old friend Dale LaFollette sent me a group of scanned negatives, but he wasn’t sure of the locations, year, or event. Nor was I. Enter equally old mutual friend Jim Sitz. I knew Jim because he would fact-check my articles for R&T, AQ and Forza back in the last century. Dale and I sent the photos to Jim for identification. The event was so rare – an early SCCA regional in the Midwest – that even today there is no trace of it anywhere in magazines or the Internet (well maybe Motor Trend, says Jim). But, Jim doesn’t rely on the Internet. No. Jim Sitz has everything on index cards – a card filing system from the pre-computer era.

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Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance 2018

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Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Let me start by saying right out that the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was so utterly surprising and overwhelming that I suspect I cannot convey in mere words the totality of the experience. I doubt if so many fabulous automobiles have ever been assembled in one spot, anywhere, at one time, and with logical and consistent themes as well.

Now I realize that these are strong words, so let me provide a bit of perspective. I started attending the events at Monterey back in 1979, and I have never missed a year since, although the events have changed from year to year. I attended the Pebble Beach show for about 25 years, and I have some great memories, such as helping John Bond push his Railton to the field when it would not start. But eventually, I got tired of the traffic and the crowds and the impossibility of finding parking, and finally I just decided to go home Saturday night after the AFAS reception. [Read more…] about Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance 2018

Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Photos

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Photo Gallery by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Up early and stay late; every year Hugues Vanhoolandt does this during the Pebble Beach Concours to find a way to avoid the constant congestion of people who quite naturally get in the way of a good photo. Can’t blame the crowds, after all, they want to see the cars up close as well! His long hours and hard work resulted in the photos below. [Ed.] [Read more…] about Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Photos

Fiat FreakOut and the Fiat Club America

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By Philippe H. Defechereux © 2018
All photos courtesy Fiat Club America

“Timing is Everything.” Here’s a ubiquitous American adage implying that if you start something new at a time of related good news, the wind will blow strongly behind your sails. And vice versa.

So, how about starting a club of American Fiat owners, fans or both in 1983, the very year Fiat of North America announced it was pulling out of the United States market for good, and still be going from strength to strength 35 years later? That would be like defying gravity. Yet one Fiat hyper-enthusiast from Pennsylvania by the name of Bobb (with double b) Rayner set out to do just that.

And lo and behold, as you are now reading this wondrous story 35 years later, Bobb and hundreds of kindred friends just returned home from the biggest annual four-day event the Fiat Club has ever staged held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. For magically, the organized love fest for Fiat begun in 1983 America never stopped; it only grew and grew, against all odds. So here is the amazing story of the Fiat Club America. [Read more…] about Fiat FreakOut and the Fiat Club America

Racing Fiats in the U.S.

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By Karl Ludvigsen
This article was originally published in three parts at a length of 4,500 words in 2009. Links to the original articles are posted at the end of this article.

Louis Chevrolet, Louis Wagner and Walt Hansgen are among the best-known racing drivers the world has seen. What do they have in common with Don Parkinson, Pietro Bordino and Paul Richards? Just this: all of them were race winners in America driving Fiat-or Fiat-based racing cars. For over a century Americans and racing Fiats have been linked together in the world of auto competition. [Read more…] about Racing Fiats in the U.S.

Alpine Renault M64 Chassis 1711

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Story and photos by Sean Smith unless otherwise noted

Sometime form doesn’t follow function.

Sometimes it follows revenge.

In 1962, the diminutive Lotus 23 gave the racing world a kick in the seat of its pants. Making its entrance at the Nürburgring, the 1.5 liter, 100 hp racer with Jim Clark at the wheel left cars with 4 times the horsepower in its rearview mirror. The first lap was run in the rain; by the end of lap one Clark was 27 seconds ahead of Dan Gurney in a Porsche, adding more and more seconds each lap until the track dried.

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Alpine Renault M64 Chassis 1711 Le Mans

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Story and photos by Sean Smith

When Mitch McCullough was in junior high school, he was reading Autoweek instead of doing his homework. The magazine was covering the international rally scene. Mitch fell in love with the images of A110s sliding around on foreign roads. It was exciting; exotic. He had dreams of one day driving a rally car. That happened in the early 90s when Mitch raced in the California Rally Series as well as the SCCA Pro Rally series.

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Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Spider by Michelotti

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By Wallace Wyss
Photos courtesy RM Sotheby

One of the pains of being a car historian is that there’s a lot of Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda that comes with the job.

Take this white (and red and blue) Daytona targa-topped car.

I saw it on a used car lot in West Los Angeles around ’78, when it was painted red and gave no hint of its competition DNA. I won’t name the car lot but I remember meeting a boxer there – not a Ferrari Boxer, a real boxer – who asked me if there was anybody I wanted beat up—but, alas, I am so peace-loving I couldn’t think of a single person! [Not even your editor?]

Anyway, this car was a genuine, built-in-Modena 1972 Ferrari 365GTB/4, but it had a different body shape. I liked the shape from the side and back but it had an unfortunate resemblance to the Corvette body style introduced in ’68. Does anyone really want to drive a Ferrari that would easily be mistaken for a ‘Vette?

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Employing the Services of a Classic Car Advisor

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By Pete Vack

Last week we introduced our readers to one of the younger generation of classic car enthusiasts. (Read Part 1) Jonathan Sierakowski has deftly managed to make his passion for classic cars into a profession as an appraiser and advisor, filling a growing need amoung car collectors and collections. Sierakowski offers four service categories: Acquisition & Sales; Consulting; Historical Research; and Appraisals & Estate Planning. They are listed and clearly laid out on his website. Our challenge was to ask him the difficult questions that arise in each category. Bear in mind that Jonathan focuses on the high-end coachbuilt classics. [Read more…] about Employing the Services of a Classic Car Advisor

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