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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

The Constant Search Part 3

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By Brandes Elitch

After reading the first two installments of The Constant Search, my friend Phil Goldberg sent me a seminal article on this subject. The author is Larry Givens, and it is a ten page article called Five Essays on Collecting. Mr. Givens collected mechanical musical instruments. His specialty was the Ampico reproducing piano. While he wrote about that, his focus, clarity, insights, and guidance are so incisive, relevant, and important, that I want to share them with you. We’ll begin with the four phases of collecting.

Phase One
“The early birds in any collecting field catch the fattest worms.”

This Alfa Romeo 2600 Zagato was purchased for the princely sum of $1800 with very low mileage and in excellent condition. But that was in 1971.

That’s because the item being collected (actually, “accumulated” is more accurate at this stage) has been replaced by something newer, and has thus been rendered nearly valueless. This has been the case with almost every car ever made. In many cases, even today, there is a 25 or 30 year cycle before the car is considered “collectible.” Many cars we consider desirable today went through a period when they were scrapped or selling for nominal amounts. Charles Chayne found a Bugatti Royale in a wrecking yard. [Read more…] about The Constant Search Part 3

Shell Game

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By Stephen Mitchell
Photos by Jeanetta Dumouchel

Matthew Ettinger’s long time game of cat-and-mouse with Shell Oil memorabilia

I’ve known Matthew Ettinger since I was in my late teens. When I first met him, he was a nightclub owner and, like me, a Ferrari owner. As our friendship developed and we really got to know each other, we had both moved on to Ferraris that were even more exotic, choosing racing cars as our daily transportation. I had moved on to a GTO while Matthew had acquired the famous Ferrari Breadvan. Matthew was also a serious collector. He loved going through antique shops and knew many of the dealers in Los Angeles personally. His home was filled with original art and rare objects of one sort or another and it would take several visits to get a sense of all that he had.

Matthew Ettinger today.

By Shell obsessed
One of the more obvious pieces one saw upon entering Matthew’s house was an Art Deco Shell Oil gas pump. It was imposing, topped by its white globe with red letters (referred to as the lollipop) proclaiming Shell. This was not Matthew’s first gas pump. He previously had a 1947 Union 76 pump that he had put on display in his Sunshine Meat & Liquor Company, a restaurant/nightclub that he owned. However, Matthew fell in love with the Shell pump when he visited the home of the infamous Gas Pump Ronnie who, according to Matthew, could spray on paint that looked like porcelain. He wanted that Shell pump and traded his Union 76 pump to get it.

More fun than eBay
The Shell pump was significant because it set Matthew on a quest for Shell products, signs, promotional toys and memorabilia. No other brand interested him from that point forth. In those days, there was no Internet to facilitate networking or scavenging. One had to look in the back of magazines and attend flea markets–or jumbles as they are called in the UK.

Ferrari and Shell memorabilia together are a natural.

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1923 French Grand Prix Part 2: Press and Regulations

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Program cover, 1923 Tours Grand Prix.

By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

The race generated an immense amount of advance publicity. Numerous articles in the national and local newspapers and the sporting magazines created a great deal of curiosity and even greater expectations.

The Press
One of the reasons was that the editors of these publications were well aware of the growing interest of the French public in motorcars and motor racing. They properly reasoned that giving support to this great event would increase their circulations and advertising revenues.

Beautiful artwork by the French illustrator Mahias for the cover of Omnia magazine No. 27 portrayed a typical French racecar.

Since the Armistice in1918, France was rapidly recovering from the austerity and misery of the war, despite the death of nearly 1.4 million French soldiers. During their service in the army or with the Red Cross units, men and women from all social classes had learned to drive and to understand the mechanical mysteries of motorbikes and cars. Now that the French economy was flourishing, many of them aspired to own one.

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Ferrari and Cobra Art by Wyss at Automobilia

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By Brian Winer

There are many automotive fine art painters, most of whom cover the board on marques, depicting first one and then another, as whim dictates. Wallace Wyss, a relative newcomer to the field (his first painting was done in 2007) has intentionally focused on only two makes—Ferrari and the cars of Carroll Shelby, which includes Cobras and GT40s. Wyss will have a booth at Automobilia in Monterey. The booth will be open August 14 and 15th, 2012 from 10 a.m. to the early evening. The location is the Ballroom of the Embassy Suites hotel, located on US 1, just north of 68.
[Read more…] about Ferrari and Cobra Art by Wyss at Automobilia

Our Features This Week, July 25th 2012

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–Ferrari F40 Invasion of Silverstone by Jonathan Sharp–

We begin with an exclusive story by historian Michael T. Lynch about Project S 11, the revival of a rare pre-war V8 Alfa Romeo. Your opinions, please! Then a walk through the Silverstone Paddock with Graham Gauld who finds the ex-Jim Clark Porsche. There is only one Graham Gauld and only he can tell these stories with so much insight and first hand experience; Renault Alpine expert and multiple book author Roy Smith finds blue oddities at Silverstone; Automotive journalist Gijsbert-Paul Berk launches Part 1 of the Tours epic; walk the course, circa 1923 with these historic photos. You won’t find these stories anywhere else but here. Lastly a report on the Ferrari/Alonso win at the German Grand Prix.

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Michael T. Lynch on the Alfa S11 Project

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This picture of the engine as found sent David Smith on the journey that resulted in the Alfa S 11 project.

By Michael T. Lynch
Color photos courtesy David Smith

This article was originally published in 2012.

When the world’s automotive elite gather at Monterey, they bring an amazing array of machinery with them. VeloceToday is previewing two cars that will be present, one Italian and the other French. Both will be the subject of much controversy. Some will see then as logical completions of concepts that were interrupted by World War II, done to the highest standards. Others will opine that they are sacrilegious creations putting false Gods before us. One thing is for sure. Much fine wine will be downed discussing their merits and shortcomings. Both have revered nameplates. One is an Alfa Romeo and the other, a Bugatti.

This week we will begin with the Italian vehicle, with the Bugatti following in the next issue. The nomenclature for the Alfa, chosen by the owner David Smith, is a 1938 Alfa Romeo S 11 Corto Spyder Speciale.

It all began when David was offered an unusual Alfa engine by an Italian broker. It was pictured strapped to a pallet, rough with no accessories. David realized it was one of the three S 11 V-8s made in 1938. Despite the fact that he was told the engine was frozen and there was water on the oil dipstick, the purchase was completed. [Read more…] about Michael T. Lynch on the Alfa S11 Project

1923 French Grand Prix Part 1: The Circuit and Practice

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By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

The circuit was a closed-off triangle of public roads, just north of the city of Tours. The starting line was situated just outside a small borough called La Noue-Guérinet, between the villages Neuillé-Pont-Pierre and La Membrolle on the Route Nationale 158. The numbers on the map above correspond to the photographs below. The 1923 Grand Prix of Tours was much tougher and much longer than today’s Grand Prix events. In order to finish, the participants had to cover a distance of 800 km (497 miles). As the ‘Circuit de la Touraine’ had a total length of 22.83 km, (14.1 miles) this meant 35 grueling laps. On the straights some of the cars reached speeds of nearly 200 km/h (125 mph). Around the circuit. 22 marshaling posts had been installed each of them equipped with a telephone in direct and permanent contact with the officials at race control in front of the grandstand.

Come with us as we take a lap around the 1923 French Grand Prix.

Photo 1: At the starting line. At one side were the tribunes and a grandstand for 4000 spectators. Note the direction of travel.

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Gauld at Silverstone

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Jim Clark at the wheel of UUL 442 at a small MG Car Club Sprint in 1958 winning the sports car class with the 356 Super. Photo by Graham Gauld.

It doesn’t seem like a year since the last Silverstone Classic event, and with the rain-soaked British Grand Prix just two weeks before, I was prepared for rain. It came on Friday but throughout the rest of the weekend the weather was good. There was an enormous entry this year split into both the old traditional Silverstone Paddock and the new “Wing” Paddock which is the site of the Grand Prix start and finish line.

I had various reasons to be there, but mainly to do research for a book. Thus, I had less time to go on the wander than in the past, but still I am always amazed at the surprise meetings and coincidences that just happen.

Jim Clark’s Porsche
Take for example the ex-Jim Clark Porsche 356 Super; well, it was his after he bought the car from Ian Scott Watson who was his entrant.

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German Grand Prix 2012

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Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button

By Pete Vack
All photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Ferrari has the new—well, seven-month-old—F2012 well sorted out. Pirelli has introduced new tire compounds. And Alonso is proving to be the driver of the year, a champion of champions. All is well in Maranello.
[Read more…] about German Grand Prix 2012

Smith at Silverstone

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Right before I left for Silverstone, your kindly Editor asked me to keep an eye out for any French oddities which might appear. At the auction, I found these two, both of which definitely fit the bill. Color photos by Roy Smith.

Claude in the Ferry during the 1950 Le Mans.

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Our Features This Week, July 18th 2012

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We sadly note the loss of L. Scott Bailey, founder of the influential “Automobile Quarterly”.
An obit can be found on the New York Times website.

Something that L. Scott Bailey would have appreciated is our landmark series by Gijsbert-Paul Berk on the 1923 Grand Prix of Tours…the famous race of the “Tanks”. Berk takes a different approach, and in doing so completely describes every detail of the event, accompanied by many historic photos. We’ll publish this in Internet-size bites over the next few weeks.

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