VeloceToday.com – Page 183 – The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Gauld at Retromobile

February 10, 2015 By pete

The Pegaso Le Mans Coupe on Gregor Fisken’s stand.

We’ll have a lot more from Retro, but here’s a sneak peak from the most senior of our correspondents at Retro this year….more from Gaul coming up as well! Ed.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

Paris in February can really chill the blood and this year was no exception. However inside Retromobile – that truly great annual historic event – there were plenty of things to keep the blood warm and in my usual mooching round I came across a number of interesting cars and stories which in turn I hope will keep you warmly entertained.

Now, as my first journalistic efforts took place around 1952, the whole of the fifties saw me absorb everything, and one marque which really caught the imagination was a car made by a Spanish truck company called Pegaso. It was a sensation when it was introduced; it was designed by Wilfredo Ricart, formerly of Alfa Romeo, and just sixty-eight of them were made. The company was in business for just six and a half years as the cost of building them was greater than the income from selling them.

The Retromobile organizers went to a lot of trouble to gather together the largest display of Pegasos I think anyone has ever seen, as they had twelve in a special area that my colleagues will no doubt photograph for you. But, there was a thirteenth Pegaso at the Show, and to me the most interesting. It was my Scottish pal, Gregor Fisken,who had it on his stand and it was one that was raced.

Fisken holds open the trunk lid on the Pegaso to show the twin fuel tanks.

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VeloceToday for February 3, 2015

February 3, 2015 By pete

Scuderia Brescia Corse, Autodelta constructs the 33TT, Cavallino 2015.

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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

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

The Porsche 924 Carrera now available. Author of the four volume Alpine & Renault series, “Gordini-a true racing legend” and a VeloceToday correspondent, Roy Smith is photographed signing a limited number of copies of his latest book “The Porsche 924 Carrera”.
Order your signed copy from Veloce Publishing now.

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 .

Scuderia Brescia Corse Part 1

February 3, 2015 By pete

1969: Gigi Taramazzo in an Abarth 2000 at the Trento - Bondone hillclimb. Photo courtesy G. Tomazzoni

This week we present an exclusive story about the famous yet little known Scuderia Brescia Corse. Dino Brunori, author of “Nardi, A fast life”, has done a lot of research on the team from Brescia; this is the first of two parts. Ed.

This is a story of men, cars, races and a story of Brescia. Called ‘the lioness of Italy’ for its strong and fierce resistance to the Austro-Hungarian army before surrendering during the first war of independence in 1848, Brescia became the capital of car racing from the very beginning of the automobile.

Brescia is not just the Mille Miglia; on September 14, 1899, it hosted one of the first road races in the world, on a circuit touching Brescia, Cremona, Mantova and Verona; on March 3, 1904, the ‘Coppa Florio’ road race held there by Vincenzo Florio, a precursor to the fabled Targa Florio; September 10, 1905 and September 2, 1907, were the dates of the ‘Brixia Week’ with races of cars, airplanes and boats on Lake Garda; and on September 1921, Brescia hosted the first Italian Gran Prix. The Mille Miglia was a latecomer, established in Brescia in 1927.

This story, however, begins with the ashes of the 1957 Mille Miglia; its demise left Brescia with no famous auto racing event. But there was fire smoldering in the ashes. With the 1960s came the young and rebels, miniskirts, fast cars, the incredible economic boom, all of which also affected Brescia. Car racing boomed as well; on any Sunday there was a hillclimb or a circuit race to be found somewhere. [Read more…] about Scuderia Brescia Corse Part 1

Inside the Walls of Autodelta Part 4

February 3, 2015 By pete

Story and photos by Robert Little

(Read Part 1)
(Read Part 2)
(Read Part 3)

Constructing the World Famous 33TT12 Chassis and body

“Descendants of the Italian Renaissance”

The very heart of race car fabrication are the artisans who mold and shape raw materials with their bare hands …transforming metal into valuable and highly unique works of art; all in a day’s work for these exceptionally skilled individuals.

This segment of “Inside the Walls” goes to the very core of Autodelta – featuring those men I choose to term “the true Descendants of the Italian Renaissance” – creating some of the most emotionally captivating and fastest moving pieces of art we as mere mortals have ever seen.

The photographs you are about to see are among my most highly treasured, recapturing the hours, days and weeks spent on the shop floor with these men, who were entrusted by Ing. Chiti to execute his aspirations to perfection.

And that they did.

In fact this entire website series “Inside the Walls” has been dedicated to those men and their legacy.

Beginning the process of constructing the T-33 is the physical transfer of the tubular chassis fabricated by next door neighbor Aletti and parting a leather curtain between the wall of the two adjoining firms and carrying the chassis through the wall to the Autodelta carrozzeria area. I had only seen it done once and was not in a position at that moment to get my camera and record the actual birth of the 105.33 chassis…much like, perhaps the fumbling that goes on in advance of the birth of a child.

I simply wasn’t ready. I missed it.

Everything else you will see was captured exactly as it occurred 43 years ago.

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Cavallino Classic 2015: Ferrari

February 3, 2015 By pete

Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli

Cavallino is the Ferrari enthusiast magazine that began publishing in 1978. In 1991 owner/editor John Barnes organized a winter event in Palm Beach with a gathering of classic Ferraris. This year was the 24th edition of the Cavallino Classic, held on January 21-25.

The event now takes four days. The first two days take place at the nearby Palm Beach International Raceway. This year on the track, there were Testa Rossas, a Dino 206, GTOs, and many newer Ferraris, but no Ferrari single seaters. There were also Alfas, Maseratis and Bugattis.

In the third day there is the traditional Ferrari celebration at the Breakers with a large exhibition of old and more recent Ferrari cars. This year, the cars shown at the Breakers were really fantastic with many never seen before 375s. In this article we feature the Ferraris seen throughout the four days; cars other than Ferraris can be seen here.

Ferrari 375 MM Pinin Farina spider

Ferrari 250GT SWB

Ferrari FXX ready to fly.

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Cavallino Classic 2015: Cars other than Ferrari

February 3, 2015 By pete

Delahaye 145 GP

Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli

This year was the 24th edition of the Cavallino Classic, held on January 21-25. The fourth and last day of the Cavallino Classic is dedicated to a charity brunch at Mar A Lago with the exhibition of stunning cars other than just Ferraris. At Mar A Lago, many wonderful cars were on the lawn. The parking lots were also full of interesting cars, many for sale. These photos were taken both at Mar A Lago, the Breakers and some at the Palm Beach International Raceway.

Delahaye 145 GP

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VeloceToday for January 27, 2015

January 27, 2015 By pete

Robert Manzon remembered, G.N, Georgano’s photos from Spain, Auotdelta and Don Black, Dino Brunori on the history of Scuderia Brescia Corse

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*$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 .

Inside Autodelta Part 3

January 27, 2015 By pete

By Robert Little
(Read Part 1)
(Read Part 2)

Settling in at Autodelta

After a short time, I settled into my new duties at Autodelta. I became the resident “Americano” who walked around learning the construction and assembly processes while becoming a friend to the mechanics. I also served as a type of exchange student to some of their families, who would invite me over to their homes for dinner.

That small door on the left side of the image with the circle and cross on it was known to others as the ‘Infirmaria’ but was known to me as my 'bedroom' for a short period of time in 1972. Photo copyright Robert Little

I arrived at a time of intense work and increased growth as well as competition, and Chiti needed to put his best foot forward. I believe Ing. Chiti came to recognize that team managers such as Roger Penske and Luca di Montezemolo of Ferrari were transforming the image of international racing, and raising the bar of meticulous appearance of the cars in much the same way that they had lifted the bar in their approach to the mechanical preparation of their cars.

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Robert Manzon Remembered

January 27, 2015 By pete

Robert Manzon in Rosier’s Ferrari 625 Grand Prix car in the 1954 British Grand Prix running ahead of Horace Gould’s Maserati 250F. Manzon retired with a cracked cylinder block.

By Graham Gauld

He was the last living driver to compete in the first World Championship Grand Prix for Formula 1 cars back in 1950 but now he is gone. Robert Manzon was perhaps not the best known Grand Prix driver but he was a much greater racing talent than his results would suggest.

Robert Manzon aged 95 up in the hills behind Cuneo smiling as usual.

Robert was French and born into a family that could trace their origins to Italy. Small, compact, tough and yet highly amusing Manzo was quite a character.
As Pete has mentioned elsewhere he started out racing with one of those wonderful little Cisitalia D46s that created quite a stir when they were produced. However, the Cisi did not turn out to be as successful as they might have been, at a time when there was a dearth of new racing cars coming along, particularly ones ideal for drivers coming into racing.
[Read more…] about Robert Manzon Remembered

VeloceToday for January 20, 2015

January 20, 2015 By pete

Peter Larsen wraps up the Saoutchik discoveries, Roy Smith freezes at Bicester, London takes on Paris, and deeper inside the walls at Autodelta. Thanks for all the donations, please keep them coming!

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WANTED! I would like to put together a set of STYLE AUTO QUARTERLY (ARCHITETTURA DELLA CARROZZERIA). Bimonthly from 1964 – 1978. 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.
Contact:willgrant@yahoo.co.uk

Limited Edition, numbered Stanguellini prints available now from Graham Gauld. Email directly for prices and shipping; several numbered copies of the below art still available. Shipping location is Southern France. Click on photo to see all selections.
Contact:Grahamgauld@Gmail.com

FINE ART T-Shirts
Classic car portraitist offering fine art tees of his favorite paintings. All have caption pertaining to art services. Available now, L,S,2XL, and M.Other sizes require two weeks wait. $50 each.

CONTACT Photojournalistpro@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 .

Baillon Barnfind of the Century Part 3

January 20, 2015 By pete

Chassis #110109 as found in the Baillon Collection. (Artcurial Motorcars)

By Peter M. Larsen
Click on photos to enlarge

This is the third amazing Saoutchik-bodied barnfind in the Baillon collection. The chassis was delivered on November 5, 1949 to the Carrosserie Saoutchik at no. 46 rue Jacques Dulud in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Only 32 short wheelbase (265 cm) race-derived Grand Sport chassis were constructed by Talbot between 1948 and 1952. T26GS #110109 is one of these very rare and extremely desirable chassis.

1949 TALBOT-LAGO T26 GRAND SPORT SAOUTCHIK #110109

Read Part 1 chassis #100239.
Read Part 2 chassis #100272

On the Talbot production card, which is reproduced in the book Talbot-Lago Grand Sport – The Car from Paris by Peter M. Larsen and Ben Erickson, “Saoutchik” is written into both the carrosserie and the client fields. This indicates that Saoutchik ordered chassis #110109 directly from the Talbot-Lago factory to be bodied at his own expense for show purposes. Saoutchik fitted chassis #110109 with an exquisite fastback coupé design which had first been shown at the 1948 Paris Salon. A total of six Grand Sport chassis received this swoopy body. The first two had a low roofline. When it was discovered that the car was difficult to drive for anyone much more than five feet tall, a new version was developed with a slightly higher roofline. Four of these “high-roof” coupés were built, and #110109 is one of these four cars.

Grand Sport #110109 in the Bois de Boulogne, February 1950. (Collection Peter Larsen)

A masterpiece of French coachbuilding. (Collection Peter Larsen)

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Inside the Walls of Autodelta, Part 2

January 20, 2015 By pete

(Read Part 1)

By Robert Little

The photographs you are about to see are the only images known to privately or publicly exist of the inside of Autodelta taken since 1967. Not even the factory, nor the Alfa Romeo Museo Storico has any images inside the high walls of the Autodelta factory, nor has any Alfa Romeo S.p.A. employee ever seen these images…until now. All materials are under the copyright protection of the Bern Convention. All Rights Reserved.

Via Enrico Fermi 7, Settimo Milanese

As related in the Introduction, in 1972 I abruptly left Michigan State in my senior year and hopped a Milan-bound British Overseas Airlines flight. After a long and fairly expensive taxi drive, I finally reached the tiny farming hamlet of Settimo Milanese, the rural area chosen by Alfa Romeo S.p.A. for its walled compound, located in what was at the time a rural farming community in a distant suburb of Milano.

Above: The agrarian surroundings of Settimo Milanese as taken from the neighboring village of Baggio; Via Enrico Fermi served as a busy passageway for local farmers tending their flocks while passing the employee parking lot of Autodelta in the 1960s and 1970s. Years of political struggle in Italy between the Communist Party, Socialists, Democratic Libertarians and the strong labor union movement caused labor strife throughout the country, but did not seem to affect the production of Autodelta and it’s relatively highly-paid workers…who would see freshly painted political slogans and ‘manifesti’ on the outer walls.

The Autodelta compound is shown to the right side of the small tubular fabrication shop 'Aletti' visible on the extreme left.

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