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VeloceToday for March 10, 2015

March 10, 2015 By pete

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FOR SALE! Style Auto duplicates: Numbers available are:
1,2,4,5,8,9,10,12,13,14,17,21,22,24,25,26,27,30,31,32,33,36,37. Most have English text, (4,14,27,33 are in Italian.) 1, 2 printed in (IT/EN). 1,2,27 are hard cover. Nice condition, #1 has a few loose pages but is complete; dust jacket on 2 70% complete. £495 GBP/$750 plus shipping Contact:willgrant@yahoo.co.uk

Rent a Race Car to drive in the 2015 Mille Miglia, Bassano, and other Italian Vintage events! Drive this rare Siata Daina Coupe, an A.C. Ace, or a Colli barchetta or others. This is an opportunity of a lifetime.
Don’t wait, these cars are rented out quickly for 2015!
Contact vack@cox.net for further details.

*$25 Ads for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, or to holler about. Ad will be placed above the fold and run for one month. Contact vack@cox.net .

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The Abarth-Ferrari-Chevy: From Bowtie Ferraris

March 10, 2015 By pete

Rear view of the Abarth Ferrari. The body was totally reconstructed from photographs of the Abarth body. Courtesy Bill Warner

This week we present a chapter from Randy Cook’s new book Bowtie Ferraris. Meet Randy at Amelia Island this weekend and get a signed copy of the only book ever published about Chevy engined Ferraris. Or, if in continental U.S., order below from VeloceToday.

By Randy Cook

This unusual Abarth-Ferrari has had more rebodies than any of its contemporaries. It was delivered as a Vignale spyder in March 1953 by the factory to Franco Cornacchia’s Scuderia Guastalla of Milan, Italy for Giulio Mussitelli. It was soon re-bodied by Abarth with a unique aluminum body consisting of multiple removable panels, held together with Dzus fasteners, with a very distinctive nose featuring a center headlight.

Musitelli with the Abarth-bodied Ferrari on the Targa Florio. Photographer unknown

This is the only Ferrari ever bodied – or modified –by Abarth. In 1953, Mussitelli drove it in many Italian races and hill climbs. In 1954, it was rebodied by Scaglietti and received a three-liter engine to 250MM specification. Mussitelli continued to race it in Italy until it was sold to Luigi Chinetti who resold it to Gary Laughlin of Ft. Worth, Texas in January 1956.

Paul Hill with the Scaglietti-bodied Chev-powered 0262 at Midland, Texas, 1959. Courtesy Willem Oosthoek

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Fiat X1/9 Prototipos Today

March 10, 2015 By pete

The best-known Fiat Abarth X1/9 prototipo, the chassis 128 AS 0023003 and the article's author.

Story and photos by Roberto Motta

Last week Roberto Motta described the rally successes of the X1/9 prototipo: This week he photographs two of these rare Fiats and wonders where the rest are…perhaps you can help!

The Fiat X1/9 provided a good basis for a new rally car: mid- engine, good weight distribution, excellent handling, a strong 16 valve engine and top speed of 200 km/h were the makings of a winner.

However, the Protoipo’s history is still shrouded by some mysteries. For example, we are not sure how many chassis were really built.

The first car was the chassis #128 AS 0000133. This car is still in Italy.

Then in the summer of 1974, Abarth prepared five new chassis with a numerical sequence from #128 AS 0023001 to #128 AS 0023005. The first three chassis numbers were definitely registered on September 4th, 1974.

Some years ago, the author endeavored to photograph three of these cars. All these car were found in Italy, near Torino;

#23001 Deila’s car which can be seen below.
#23002 Seen in a Volta, Italy, work shop.
#23003 Macaluso’s car and the first subject car here.
#23004 Legend says that in the chassis series, there was the ‘stradale’ and another spare chassis that was never used in race events. Some think #23004 would have been the stradale chassis, but I never seen the car. Reportedly, this car was in the Al Cosentino workshop, and some years ago the car was sold. Cosentino claims to have bought at least one, but never provided the chassis number.

Periscopes were all the craze at Cosentino's new Faza headquarters..apparently at least one of the prototipos found its way into his hands.Is it 23004?

There are many images of this car, but no one has confirmed the chassis number.

The second mystery is about #23005; was really built? If so, where is the chassis today?
Any reader that has some information or documentation that can help to solve the mystery can send a comment to VeloceToday.

The lateral image show us how aggressive a car can become a car after the 'Abarth Treatment'.

Rear wheels had a size of 8.0 x 13 with tires of 235/55/13, or 10 x 13 with 270/40/13 tires.

Rear engine air intake.

[Read more…]

The Most Beautiful Car in the World

March 10, 2015 By pete

By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Jim Fetz

OK; I am going to get flack on this, making that claim, but it so happens I have a personal investment in this particular car–I’ve spent hours trying to find out if one of them was for sale. You might say I’ve been carrying a torch for this car for 49 years.

The first time I saw one was in 1966 when Dick Wingerson, my copy chief at the ad agency, said “You oughta go over to the Vette Shop, they got an Italian-bodied Corvette powered car.” I went there but the owner of the shop said it wasn’t for sale, only there for service.

So a decade or two later, I’m driving through Vegas, there’s the same damn car in a gas station with a flat tire. I put a note on it.

No answer.

Then another few years go by, I’m in Malibu going uphill from Pacific Coast Highway, there it is –the same damn car again–in front of someone’s house. I put a note on it.

No one answers.

Eventually I find out it belongs to Mark Sassak and he and I become friends.

Only now the damn Bitz spyders are worth like, I dunno, a million each?

Anyhow there’s going to be a display of all three at an upcoming concours.

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Ferraris at the Clipsal 500

March 10, 2015 By pete

Trass Family Motorsport 458 GT3 Turn 1.

Story and photos by Vince Johnson

Clipsal 500 Adelaide, South Australia, February 26 – March 1, 2014

The lunar New Year’s goat may have arrived but the horse was still rampant on the streets of Adelaide at the end of February.

The first round of the V8 Supercars Championship sees the east end of town turned into a concrete-walled, no-holds-barred circuit each year that leaves no room for error. Sadly, the Ford, Holden, Mercedes, Volvo and Nissan teams didn’t have any Italian opposition yet, but Maranello’s finest were still out on the track each day.

The Ferrari Supercar Display had its own air-conditioned marquee just inside gate 1. Headlined by the hybrid 350 km/h La Ferrari, the line-up included 288GTO, F40LM and F50. A second La Ferrari, ready for laps, was garaged in pit lane. Outside the Supercar marquee local dealer Ferrari Adelaide and Ferrari Club Australia – SA members displayed 30 current and classic examples from throughout the decades. Track time each day was described as ‘demonstration’ only, so the lack of serious run-off posed no problems and gave the marshals, as well as the public, time to enjoy the spectacle.

La Ferrari leads 458 Speciale on parade laps.

Corporate sponsorship and public donations to the Clipsal 500 official charity ‘Variety – The Children’s Charity’ saw companies’ logos across the windshields and on the giant screens. Naturally, passenger seats were filled. On Saturday and Sunday morning, the Ferrari ‘Drive for Kids’ Cavalcade gave Variety children the ride of a lifetime. Funds raised support the important work of Variety – The Children’s Charity, the Adelaide Women’s & Children’s Hospital and the Childhood Cancer Foundation. Alongside the Supercar display was Ferrari ‘Kids Zone’. Inside it wasn’t just the youngsters trying out the simulators.

Thirty years ago, the first of eleven Australian Grand Prix races was held on the Adelaide street circuit. To mark the anniversary, Scuderia Ferrari flew two F60 Formula 1 cars direct from the factory, along with the Corse Clienti team, for demonstration laps. Not that newly-signed test driver Jean-Eric Vergne was hanging about. While not officially timed, his ‘demonstration’ laps were 5+ seconds faster than the current lap record.

Jean-Eric Vergne, Ferrari F60, Turn 11.

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VeloceToday for March 3, 2015

March 3, 2015 By pete

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WANTED! Style Auto Many thanks to your readers for the leads! Location unimportant providing you will ship to the UK! I realize a full run is rare, willing to purchase a part/incomplete run of copies. The numbers I need are 3,6,7,11,15,16,18-19,20,29,34-35. Can you help complete the set?
Contact:willgrant@yahoo.co.uk

*$25 Ads for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, or to holler about. Ad will be placed above the fold and run for one month. Contact vack@cox.net .

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Fiat Abarth X1/9 Prototipo

March 3, 2015 By pete

Fiat Abarth X1/9 prototipo, chassis 128 AS 0023003.

Story and color photography by Roberto Motta

The Fiat Abarth X1/9 prototipo made a brief, but impressive, appearance in the rally World during the 1970s, but as soon it was competitive, it became the victim of Fiat politics. The history of the Fiat Abarth X1/9 prototipo started at the end of ’73 season, when the Fiat’s Rally Competition department began work on the project that would replace the 124 Abarth Rally.

The X1/9 in road version, compared with the 'prototipo'. Here it is driven by the test driver Giorgio Pianta.The car was entrusted for the Swiss F1 driver Clay Regazzoni and the co-driver Gino Macaluso at the 1974 Giro d'Italia Automobilistico.

The Competition department was manned by Renzo Avidano, Abarth’s Director, Giulio Lampredi, the engine designer, Mario Colucci, chassis expert, Giorgio Pianta, the test driver and Gino Macaluso, one of the best Fiat Rally Team’s co-driver and future Fiat Sport Director.

The X1/9 1300cc and the aggressive 'prototipo.'

The first car used for the project was the Chassis 128 AS 0000133 and registered with the license plate number TO H29040. The car featured here is one of the Fiat X 1/9s used in the press presentation, on November 26th, at the Targa Florio’s roads. [Read more…] about Fiat Abarth X1/9 Prototipo

Interview with Nino Vaccarella

March 3, 2015 By pete

Young at heart Nino Vaccarella sits behind the wheel of a Type 33 Alfa. Photo by Pete Collins

This article originally was published on May 14, 2003

By Ed McDonough

Nino Vaccarella won the Targa Florio three times, and for this alone he remains a Sicilian hero. And, his name has become virtually synonymous with that great road race, where large painted letters appearing on the roads and walls on the eve of the event proclaimed ‘Vivo Nino’ year after year in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2001 Ed McDonough was fortunate to interview Vaccarella in depth.

The Palermo-born Nino Vaccarella is a relatively rare visitor to race events. But, not only did he show up at the 2001 Goodwood Festival of Speed, he was back behind the wheel of an Alfa Tipo 33, and spent the weekend in the company of those other colorful Italian racers of the period, Arturo Merzario, Sandro Munari and Marco Cajani. Phil Hill made a special point of meeting up with his old Ferrari teammate, and they disappeared into Italian for some while! I had the chance to interview him then, and in November, 2001, spent 5 glorious days in Sicily in the company of Nino, Art, Sandro and Vic Elford. What an experience!

Huge plaque given to Vaccarella for his victorious drives in the Targa Florio. Photo by Ed McDonough.

Vaccarella was known primarily for some superb sports car drives, though he had a number of non-championship F1 races, and four Grand Prix races. He drove for Scuderia Serenissima in 1961, and made his Grand Prix debut at Monza that year in a DeTomaso-Alfa. He didn’t qualify for the Monaco race in 1962 in a Lotus, finished 15th in the German GP in a Porsche, and retired at Monza in a Lotus-Climax, before getting a one-off Ferrari Grand Prix drive at Monza in 1965, where he was 12th. His sports car career, however, was much different, with a famous victory at Le Mans in 1964, sharing a works Ferrari 275P with Frenchman Jean Guichet. He won at Sebring in 1970 in a 512S, co-driving with Ignazio Giunti and Mario Andretti in that narrow victory over Steve McQueen’s Porsche 908. Vaccarella amassed a very high rate of finishes in long distance races.

A younger Vaccarella behind the wheel of a Type 33/2. Le Mans, 1968. Photo Credit Ed McDonough

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VeloceToday for February 24, 2015

February 24, 2015 By pete

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Delahaye 135M by Guilloré, 1949. Single carburetor, good condition with strong underpinnings;could do with retrimming of seats. Half of the car has been polished up to show how good the paint still is underneath. The Cotal box is in working order. 0nly 3 or 4 estimated to have been bodied in this pontoon shape. 128 000€. Contact Tom Bromehead at: lesalfistes@gmail.com

An Italian rarity: One-off Fiat Osca 1600 GT bodied by Savio in 1964 (one of two). Same owner since the late sixties, recent full restoration including engine rebuild. Correct-spec Osca engine with forged crankshaft and alloy pistons. Price on demand. Contact Tom Bromehead at: lesalfistes@gmail.com

*$25 Ads for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, or to holler about. Ad will be placed above the fold and run for one month. Contact vack@cox.net .

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Inside the Walls of Autodelta Part 7: Le Mans, 1972

February 24, 2015 By pete

Story and photos by Robert Little
All images copyright Robert Little

(Read Part 1)
(Read Part 2)
(Read Part 3)
(Read Part 4)
(Read Part 5)
(Read Part 6)

Following the absolutely heart-breaking loss to a Ferrari 312P driven by Sandro Munari and Arturo Merzario by only a mere 17 seconds over the course of nearly 500 miles of the Sicilian countryside in the Targa Florio only weeks before, Ing. Chiti was even more determined to break the domination of the 312Ps and to take on all challengers to the 1972 World Championship for Makes title.

Unfortunately, a high stakes game of ‘cat and mouse’ ensued where Ferrari withdrew from Le Mans, Porsche did not enter a factory team, and Alfa Romeo Autodelta was facing 12 cylinder Matras, Cosworth-powered Lolas, Ligiers, a variety of French Ferrari dealer racing teams sporting Daytonas, the BF Goodrich Team of Chevrolet Corvettes, a couple DeTomaso Panteras and a vast plethora of privately-entered 908s, 911s.

The Autodelta team, sponsored by Alitalia, Shell, Goodyear and Koni brought three V-8 cars to the circuit along with a full and complete racing caravan of spare parts, a large Alfa Romeo autobus machining operation and a full staff…including the writer who was once again in charge of keeping the cars absolutely spotless, keeping the local Le Mans Alfa Romeo garage clean and guarding the assets of the company during off hours.

The FIA formula for the World Championship for Makes competition and this 1972 Twenty Four Hours of LeMans race specified that prototypes run with three-liter engines. The era of the magnificent 4.5-litre 917 in Le Mans was over, but a 908 long tail privately entered by Reinhold Joest turned heads. Joest, Mario Casoni and Michael Weber shared the car owned by Jo Siffert and scored third overall behind two factory entered Matra-Simca 670’s and a single Matra-Simca 660. The 908 benefited mainly from its sophisticated long-tail aerodynamics and low weight. Despite its substantially lower engine output compared to the works Matra-Simcas, the Porsche reached an identical top speed on the Mulsanne straight.

We enter the town of Le Mans...

The local Alfa Romeo authorized service facility in Le Mans kindly offered the use of its entire facilities to the Autodelta team. Note the Alfa sign on the building at right. Also peer closely on the left for a glimpse of the Alfa Romeo transporter in the process of unloading our three T-33 cars.

Combined with the Alfa Romeo machine-shop-autobus parked outside, this shop had every possible convenience required by the team to prepare the cars. Clean, well-lit, spacious enough to fit everything and relatively private. In the unlikely event that an emergency part or sub-assembly became necessary, the ride from Settimo Milanese to Le Mans was a relative short transit of perhaps six hours or so.

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Power and Art: Ferrari engines at Cavallino

February 24, 2015 By pete

Testa Rossa, 1958. 12 cyl V60° 3 liter 300 BHP

Photo story by Alessandro Gerelli

Alessandro Gerelli enjoys taking photos of engines…particularly Ferrari engines. So an event like Cavallino is a must-see and for the last five years Alessandro has traveled from his home in Milan to West Palm Beach to cover the traditional Ferrari extravaganza.

A few weeks ago, Alessandro Gerelli submitted his photos of the cars of Cavallino, Ferraris and others.

This week, he submitted the best of his photography on the Ferrari engines at Cavallino Classic 2015. Catching engine shots on so many cars is not easy; on our visit to the event, it was difficult to find any cars with hoods up.

Yet he came back with a huge variety of images, ranging from the 1951 212 to the 2013 La Ferrari, which, like several modern Ferraris, does not need its lid up to view the engine, and we find power and art in all of the Ferraris, no matter what the year, layout, or displacement. For the captions, he has listed the year, engine layout, displacement and horsepower (figures may vary on horsepower), which tell another story of consistent development of an idea and philosophy. (See Ferrari Brochures for Enzo’s words on the subject).

212 Inter Vignale, 1951. 12 cyl V60° 2.6 liter 155/170 BHP

250 Europa GT PF (212 export lungo), 1951. 12 cyl V60° 3 liter 220 BHP

375MM, 1953. 12 cyl V60° 4.5 liter 340 BHP

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Scuderia Brescia Corse Part 4

February 24, 2015 By pete

Bruno Ferrari with son Carlo, winners of the 2009 Mille Miglia with a Bugatti T35A.

Story by Dino Brunori
Photos courtesy members of Scuderia Brescia Corse

Due to lack of time last week, we could not publish as many photos of today’s Scuderia Brescia Corse cars and owners as we would have desired. Yet the number of events, cars and victories attributed to Scuderia Brescia Corse over the past 21 years deserves a closer look. So here are more significant cars from the team, entered in the most beautiful and evocative events in Italy, if not the world.