VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

An Ode to Three Bugattis

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Correspondent and mentor Gijsbert-Paul Berk with his restored Bugatti T40 Grand Sport.

By Pete Vack, Gijsbert-Paul Berk, and Sandy Leith

It was Burt Bacharach/Hal David who wrote the popular song I’ll Never Fall in Love Again. After the last Ferrari I too vowed never to fall in love again, being too old for such nonsense anyway.

But I kept catching the Bugatti virus. It re-occurs every few years and like the plague, eventually it just dissipates, primarily because any Bugatti has been out of our price range for the past 50 years or so. I’d been through a torrid but platonic love affair with the T35, the T55, the T57 and even the Brescia Bugattis, and so it was recently when the charms of the lowly T40 attracted my attention. We then found three interesting T40s with three great stories all in some way related to the cast of characters at VeloceToday. We begin with the Correspondent’s Bugatti….

Correspondent’s Bugatti

Our most senior correspondent, Gijsbert-Paul Berk, once owned and restored a delightful Type 40 Grand Sport and wrote to tell me all about it and sent photos:

Thanks for your photos of that attractive Bugatti Type 40 cabriolet. (see below) They brought tears in my eyes. So here are a few photos of my Type 40. It had a body identical to the one in the 1928 Bugatti advertisement. Someone told me that the man next to the car is Louis Chiron. Who the woman was is not known. [Read more…] about An Ode to Three Bugattis

Alfa Romeo Berlinetta Stradale Giro d’Italia: “Il Mostro” Part 1

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We all know about the beautiful T33 Stradale coupe*. Here is the story about the other T33 Stradale…the one you have never heard of.

Text by Roberto Motta
Photos by Roberto Motta, Actualfoto, Archivio Gambi, Archivio Nastasi e Automobilismo Storico Alfa Romeo, Centro Documentazione (Arese, Milano)

Businessman, importer, mechanic and vintage car collector Joe Nastasi has owned many great cars, but perhaps the most interesting and certainly the rarest, is a T33TT V8 Stradale, a car that is not what it seems and was destined to compete in only one event. Roberto Motta brings us this story about the Alfa T33 “Mostro”, based on an article he wrote in 2007.

Only one example of the Type 33TT Stradale was constructed and is one of the most beautiful cars produced by Alfa Romeo. Little known to the public, this car holds a fascination for two main reasons: it is an Alfa Romeo and participated in a single race, the Tour of Italy Automotive in 1975. Its proper name, according to Joe Nastasi who still owns it, is the “Alfa Romeo Berlinetta Stradale Giro d’Italia”, whatever we might call it below. [Read more…] about Alfa Romeo Berlinetta Stradale Giro d’Italia: “Il Mostro” Part 1

From Sicily to Success: The Joe Nastasi Story Part 2

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Testing the Countach at the Lamborghini factory in Sant A'gata for the 25th anniversary celebration. This is Joe's personal Countach and has traveled only 400 miles.

Testing the Countach at the Lamborghini factory for the 25th anniversary celebration. This is Joe’s personal Countach and has traveled only 400 miles.

In Part I, a young Joe Nastasi grows up in Sicily, addicted to cars and speed. After a two year stint in the Italian Navy, he is ready to move on. Ironically, he finds his true calling not in Italy, but in the United States. (Read Part I)

Fresh off the boat

The newly-married but seasick couple arrived in New York, on the Queen Ann Maria on Friday May 8th, 1971. (It’s one of those dates one just does not forget). By that Monday Joe hit the pavement looking for a job. Amazingly, two blocks down the street, he saw a Fiat agency, walked in and was hired immediately–the owner was from Calabria, Italy. [Read more…] about From Sicily to Success: The Joe Nastasi Story Part 2

Milano Autoclassica 2016

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Fiat Abarth 1000.

Fiat Abarth 1000.

Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli

Milano Autoclassica, held between March 18 and 20, is a rather recent event for Milano but it has grown every year.This year the show attracted more than 50,000 visitors.

It is held in Milano Rho Fiera complex, and easily reached also by underground or train.

Inside there is a huge space for car exhibition, dealers and spare parts and also a small outdoor circuit for test drives.

As usual many Italian old cars exhibited by dealers and clubs, and an auction by Pananti with a few interesting cars and automobilia. Below, only a few of the many cars and items that were on display this year.

Ermini 357 Sport Scaglietti 1955.

Ermini 357 Sport Scaglietti 1955.

[Read more…] about Milano Autoclassica 2016

29th Reims Vintage Car Show

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Do you recognize a Citroën Traction Avant here ? This example is equipped with a radiator grill built by Emile Tonneline, a small coachbuilder from Courbevoie. After WWII, it was fashionable to give an American look to your car and Tonneline sold many of these radiator grills.

This car is equipped with a radiator grill built by Emile Tonneline, a small coachbuilder from Courbevoie. After WWII, it was fashionable to give an American look to your car and Tonneline sold many of these radiator grills. But what kind of car has been given this treatment?

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

If the French city of Reims is known worldwide for hosting many of the largest champagne-producing houses, the City of Kings is also famous among the motorsport enthusiasts for being the setting for fourteen French Grand Prix.

The 12 hours of Reims was also an important event of the endurance calendar and being held usually one month after the Le Mans 24 hours, it was often considered as an antidote to the Le Mans classic.

Although the old pits buildings have been recently restored, this is a bygone era as the fast Reims circuit ceased its activities in 1969.

The old pits building and the grandstands along the finish straight which is a national road between the villages of Thillois and Gueux.

The old pits building and the grandstands along the finish straight which is a national road between the villages of Thillois and Gueux.

Nevertheless, Reims is still attracting automotive enthusiasts from France and the neighboring countries. Every March the “Salon Champenois du Véhicule de Collection” is held. It is a big gathering of brand clubs and sellers of everything relevant of the vintage car passion. With hundreds of stands and stalls, you can be sure to find the parts you need to start your restoration project, to complete your miniature car collection or to find the old book you have been searching for.
[Read more…] about 29th Reims Vintage Car Show

Joe Nastasi: From Sicily to Success Part 1

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Joe with his new partner and the first Lamborghini Countach in the U.S. Business was about to boom.

Joe Nastasi with his new partner and the first Lamborghini Countach in the U.S. Nastasi would become involved in the importation of Lamborghinis to the U.S..

By Pete Vack

A need for speed took an impoverished kid from Sicily from bicycles to Lamborghinis.

In the annals of American literature are a series of short novels written by Horatio Alger (1832-1898). Alger’s books usually told a tale of a poor and disadvantaged young man who, by his own strong will, intelligence and enterprise, overcomes great obstacles to eventually win riches and respect, and “builds his own American Dream against the odds.” Thus, in America, when someone who starts with nothing and ends up rich and/or famous, their success is still often referred to as a “Horatio Alger story”. [Read more…] about Joe Nastasi: From Sicily to Success Part 1

1976 F2: Invasion Renault

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September 26, 1976; Hockenheim, Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the Elf Renault.

By Roberto Motta
Renault Internal Press Photos

The 1976 European F2 championship was certainly one of the most exciting. The season was rich in emotions and duels on the track that led to the championship being awarded only after the last race. It was one of the most competitive years of those between 1967 and 1984, when the F2 championship was replaced by Formula 3000 due to the decrease of the participants in the F2 series. [Read more…] about 1976 F2: Invasion Renault

Hypercars at Geneva 2016

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Sin Cars GT.

Sin Cars GT.

Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli

The Geneva motor show is a very important event where all the car manufacturers present new models.

I have concentrated my attention to the most impressive (and expensive) cars at the show, starting from the most famous Italian sport cars but also including a few more names of other Europeans such as the Pagani Huayra, Sbarro Ginevra, Koenigsegg Regera, and the Magna Lykan Hypersport.

It is a gallery of technology, incredible design and performances, but for most of the visitors, they will remain only dreams. [Read more…] about Hypercars at Geneva 2016

Italians at the Clipsal 500, South Australia, 3-6 March 2016

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Andrew Taplin/Dean Canto Lamborghini R-EX turn 11.

Andrew Taplin/Dean Canto Lamborghini R-EX in turn 11.

Story and photos by Vince Johnson

March sees the official start of autumn in Australia but no one had told the city of Adelaide. In the near-century (38C) temperatures, the Holden, Ford, Nissan and Volvo V8 Supercars rolled into town for their opening event of the year. Annually, the streets and parklands on the eastern edge of the South Australian capital are transformed for four days, with a full program over seven classes of racing.

The meeting is also the first round of the Australian GT Championships. Germany and Great Britain had the numbers over the Italians. With six Audis, two BMWs, five McLarens, five Mercedes and three Porsches lined up against four Lamborghinis and a sole Ferrari, it was no surprise that at the end of qualifying they occupied the first five places on the grid for Friday’s race. [Read more…] about Italians at the Clipsal 500, South Australia, 3-6 March 2016

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