VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Driving the Type 135 M Delahaye

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By Ed McDonough

Want a video clip of this drive? Send an email to pete@velocetoday.com.

A Chapron Delahaye

It seemed extraordinary to me doing the research for this series, reading a large number of period articles and reviews in notable journals, that many of these totally failed to mention who provided the body for some of the cars reviewed. Was it just a matter of routine that performance cars would have special bodies or could it have been that the reviewer didn’t know? After all, specialised car production was just that, and the history is complex.

Henri Chapron gets a few mentions in 1938, and when the Paris Salon V-12 car was sent to England in 1939, Figoni and Falaschi started to get some attention. But bodies for Delahayes had also been built, often to specific customer orders, by some intriguing people…a 1949 135M with a body built by Pennoch of the Netherlands to a design by Selborne of Mayfair, London. While Figoni and Falaschi may have executed some of the most ‘daring’ designs, bodies were also built by Saoutchik, Franay, Carrozzeria Motta, Carlton Carriage Company, Henri Labourdette, Letourneur et Marchand, and others.

Delahaye Chapron

Delahaye used Chapron for its more conservative designs but they were always effective.

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Westchester County Concours 2011

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Ferrari TR/61 S/N 0794

Best of Show went to the 1961 250 TR/61 entry of Scuderia N.E. as did the People’s Choice Award. Yes, car # 10 is well known to the Tifosi. It is the very same Ferrari factory prototype car which Phil Hill drove to a 1st place in the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans race in the same year that Hill also became the first USA racer to win the Formula 1 World Driving Championship! Unlike today, in those days, racing drivers were well rounded and raced anything on two and four wheels.


Text and Photos by Werner Pfister unless otherwise noted

Raging bulls, rampant horses, man eating snakes, poisonous scorpions and three pronged spears were very well represented at the 2nd annual Westchester Concorso d’Eleganza held on October 2nd. In keeping with the mission of the organizing committee of the Westchester Italian Cultural Center, attendees were educated and entertained with a comprehensive cross section of Italian cars, their exotic badges and other automobilia on display at this great event.
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This Week, of Interest

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Here’s a great event to attend at the end of this month. The Petersen Automotive Museum will have its first annual Automotive Authors Book Signing on Saturday, October 29, 2011 and several authors of particular interest to readers of VeloceToday will be present. The first is Wallace Wyss, who will be introducing his new suspense thriller, “FERRARI HUNTERS“, as well as signing some of his previous non-fiction books and art work. The second is Iso/Bizzarrini expert Mike Gulett, author of “European Style with American Muscle“. They will be accompanied by some other familiar names; Matt Stone, author of “McQueen’s Machines”, Michael Furman, “The Art of Delahaye”. Richard Addato, “French Curves” are among the confirmed authors so far. “Enthusiasts, historians, and gear heads will have the opportunity to meet their favorite automotive authors as they learn about the history of the automobile and its impact on our life and culture from a variety of perspectives. The event will be open to the public and included in the regular price of admission to the museum,” says the Petersen, so make plans now. More Info Here.

Watkins Glen Memoirs Part 2: 1949

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By Eric Davison

For the 1949 event we were ready. My Dad and I had a cabin reserved at the Seneca Lodge and many of the Detroit Region were going to caravan to the Glen. There were but few sports cars, mostly MG TCs and the trip was planned so that passengers could be rotated and everyone could experience a ride in a sports car.

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Delahaye: The Grand Touring Tradition

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By Ed McDonough

Introduction
Like many Veloce Today enthusiasts, the UK-based American automotive writer Ed McDonough (and author of “The Ferrari 156 Sharknose”) has had a long-standing and more-than-passing interest in French automobiles as well Italian machinery which he has written about in numerous articles and books. He has owned an Alpine A110 and the occasional Renault, Peugeot and Citroen, and raced in several 24-hour events with a Citroen 2CV. He has been competing this year in a 1951 DB-Monomille…more of that later!

He has now discovered a rather unique collection of cars, many of which are housed in England, with others stored in France and New Zealand. The owner has kindly agreed to a series of articles and Ed will be testing most of this extensive and relatively unknown collection of cars. It includes over a dozen Delahayes, all of which have been painstakingly restored and are in superb condition. These are not so-called ‘barn-finds’ but cars on which the very meticulous owner has lavished much attention. We start this series with a 1948 135M with a charming coupe body by Parisian designer/coach-builder Henri Chapron, and some background information on the Delahaye firm.

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14th Annual Trofeo Aido September 25, 2011

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The fourteenth running of this classic charity event in Brescia.

By Charles Schoendorf
Photos by Dino Brunori

Give them umbrellas and it won’t rain. That was the strategy this year at Trofeo Aido. And it worked. Which is nice when most of the cars are open, not to mention the grueling mountain driving!
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This Week, of Interest

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This week we begin an exclusive seven part mini-series of memoirs written by Eric Davison, who, in 1949 at the age of 15 began to accompany his father Charlie to the races at Watkins Glen. Eric’s story is not only about the cars and racing that he witnessed at the Glen, but his relationship with his father, the growth of the sport in the U.S., and the effect it had on families. It is a story many of us can relate to and share, but as we will see, Eric’s experiences are above and beyond the norm.

On many occasions the Davison’s traveled from their home in Detroit to the Glen with their friend Harold Lance, who photographed the Glen street races in rare color film. Philippe Defechereux’s forthcoming “Waktins Glen, The Street Years”, uses this collection to great effect. Lance’s photos, along with Davison’s, are sprinkled throughout these memoirs. In addition, never before published images from the Frank Shaffer collection complement the Davison memoirs. Shaffer was then a twenty year old car enthusiast from Youngstown Ohio who used a BSA to get the Glen and a Leica camera to record what he saw, both on and off the track.

Also, catch Goodwood as seen by Hugues Vanhoolandt, the Circuits des Remparts event in France, Giro d’Italia is back, and the WRC is still wide open as the Mini gets a podium.

Postcards From Vanhoolandt at Goodwood, 2011

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Alfa romeo 308 GP

In additon to providing the wonderful ‘cars of Fangio’ which appeared in last week’s VeloceToday, Hugues took many other outstanding photos (exclusive to VeloceToday) of this year’s Goodwood Revival, which seems to get stronger every year and is now the greatest vintage car race and show on earth. Out thanks to Hugues for taking us there. Captions are unnecessary, but if you want to know more about any of these photos, just ask.
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