Next week we will be inundated with stories from Monterey by Michael T. Lynch, Brandes Elitch and super shooter Hugues Vanhoolandt. This week, catch the Oldtimer Grand Prix by Alessandro Gerelli, plan to see the Lancia D50 at Radnor Hunt in September, and, we present again the amazing adventures of Robert Little as he goes inside the walls of Autodelta.
Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, 2016 Part 1
Photostory by Alessandro Gerelli
The Oldtimers Grand Prix at the Nurburgring has been covered by Alessandro Gerelli since 2002 and is always a refreshing contract to the Monterey Car Week. What is remarkable is that so many of the great Grand Prix and sports racing cars keep returning to the Ring, always in the best of condition and often with new owners. The old never gets old and is newly appreciated by succeeding generations of owners and enthusiasts. Ed. [Read more…] about Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, 2016 Part 1
Oldtimer Grand Prix 2016 Part 2
Photostory by Alessandro Gerelli
In previous reports, Gerelli has usually made a split between the Ferraris and Maseratis at the Ring and does so this year as well. “If many of the old cars are the same, the photos are always different,” says Gerelli. The annual event was held on August 12-14. [Read more…] about Oldtimer Grand Prix 2016 Part 2
Lancia to be a Featured Marque at Radnor Hunt
This year’s concours is the 20th anniversary and is featuring Lancia, Mercedes Benz 300 SL coupe and roadster and Previous Best of Show winners and class winners from the past 19 years to celebrate the 20th anniversary event. The featured motorcycle classes are Fast from the Past, Land of the Rising Sun and Mid-Century Motorcycles. The event is also unique in that it features horse-drawn coaches and carriages which illustrate the evolution of wheeled transportation. [Read more…] about Lancia to be a Featured Marque at Radnor Hunt
VeloceToday for August 16, 2016
Silverstone and the Alfa Giulietta production line, circa 1961
This week we present a Silverstone extravaganza courtesy of Jonathan Sharp and a complete scan in high resolution of the 1961 photographic tour of the Alfa Romeo manufacturing and production line; 25 pages with 78 individual photos. Clicking on each page will result in a very large image. And, please help us continue our work by subscribing.
Birth of a Giulietta Part 1
A decade ago we published a few images from this 1961 Alfa advertising supplement, probably from an insert in Quattroruote.
This time, with improved scanning techniques, we present the entire 25 pages, consisting of 78 photographs which illustrate the complete assembly of an Alfa Romeo from raw materials to a ready for the road product. Actually, there are 79, but we do not have the very first page, which had photo number one. We don’t know what that photo was.
I can’t recall or confirm where I came upon this fascinating look at the Portello works and we apologize if we can’t give credit to the photographer, or even the source of these photos. No doubt the rights lie with Alfa Romeo, though, and if so, thank you Alfa Romeo.
But not only have we scanned each page for you, but when clicked each page will expand to 1200 pixels in hi res. That’s a pretty large file so have patience, and we have split the supplement up into two parts, pages 2-14 and 15-26 for easier downloading.
The following is the process from casting to the completion of those fantastic finned brake drums.
Bearing in mind that this was a photo-op and the workers and foreman knew to clean up their act beforehand, nevertheless one must be impressed by the overall cleanliness, and the pleasant appearance of the assembly line workers. And there were many workers, as in the days before robotics, almost everything needed to be hand assembled, welded, cast, adjusted and tested. The employees seem to be carrying out a useful and somewhat technical task, and knew that they were putting together a car which was respected around the world.
Silverstone Classic Part 1
Photos and Story by Jonathan Sharp
Back from a very long day (July 30th) at this year’s Silverstone Classic. It’s funny I had looked at the few entry lists that I could find on line and was not that fired up about attending, especially at 5am on Saturday morning when my alarm went off. Yet I had a great day and I wish I could have attended for more than just the Saturday.
[Read more…] about Silverstone Classic Part 1
Birth of a Giulietta Part 2
Part 2 of the Birth of a Giulietta takes the manufacturing process of the 1961 Alfa Romeos from to loading the cars onto the truck for shipment to distributors. We have labeled these as pages 15 through 26; note the actual pages are numbered differently as they were apparently part of a longer magazine.
Bear in mind that the Sprint coupes were made in the Bertone factory and the completed bodies then shipped to Alfa for the engine and drivetrain installation; the same applied to the Pininfarina Spider. The Berlina was the only Alfa completely constructed at Portello.
Today, most cars are assembled from rather than produced. Not so at the old Alfa works, where virtually everything was produced in-house (a Ford idea). The carbs, electrics, gauges, lights, and some interior items were made by outside suppliers such as Bosch, Marelli, Weber, but at least on the Berlinas, virtually all mechanical items and body panels were produced in the same factory.
Silverstone Classic Part 2
Photos and Story by Jonathan Sharp
The racing this year at Silverstone (July 29-31) was great, especially the Can-Am and Historic sports car races, both of which were won by V12-engined Matra sports cars, driven on each occasion by Rob Hall. For a change of scene and photographic view point I decided to stand on the outside of copse corner for the Masters F1 race rather on the inside as in previous years. I know it is an over-used adjective but the F1 cars really do corner as if on rails, especially the Williams FW07C of race winner Nick Padmore. I can only imagine what a current F1 car corners like. [Read more…] about Silverstone Classic Part 2
VeloceToday for August 9, 2016
Once Upon a Long Time Ago
VeloceToday.com began publishing weekly online articles in January of 2002.
Having just compiled all of Alessandro Gerelli’s Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti reports which also began fourteen years ago (see below), we took pause to reflect just how long ago that was, particularly in terms of technology.
*Websites: In 2000 only about 30 million websites. Today there are 863 million.
*Internet users: 400 million Internet users in 2000; 3.2 billion today.
*Digital Cameras: In 2002, film cameras were still outselling digital cameras; in 2000, Nikon had just introduced the D1, with only 2.74 megapixels. Today we have 16 megapixel smartphones!
*Cellphones: Very few phones had Internet access.The iPhone was 5 years away yet.
*Google: No gmail, Google Maps or Analytics yet.
*Social Media: Did not exist!
Seems like centuries. But it also underlines the fact that VeloceToday.com is arguably the oldest Classic Car online magazine in existence. We think (as do our readers) that we are also the best, and we are still going strong. So stay with us, and help us continue by subscribing.
Gauld at Silverstone: Tojeiro, Tyrrell and a Bristol Zagato
By Graham Gauld
Regular readers will know that whatever historic race meeting I go to I tend to sniff around all the paddocks looking for cars that I either have never seen before or ones that I have not seen for years. At the Silverstone Classic July 30-31, there were a few and, of course, behind every car lies a story. [Read more…] about Gauld at Silverstone: Tojeiro, Tyrrell and a Bristol Zagato
Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti: 2002-2016
Stories and photos by Alessandro Gerelli
Alessandro began attending the famous Coppa d’Oro events in the 1980s, when the first retro events were organized. He first reported on the event for VeloceToday 14 years ago in 2002, shortly after we began publishing weekly. Since then he has attended twelve times, right up to this year’s edition. We thought it might be appropriate to show a few images from each year and provide a link to the entire report. Click on the year to read the report. Editor. [Read more…] about Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti: 2002-2016