VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

BMW’s Italian Designers Part 10

By

By Jackie Jouret
Photos courtesy The BMW Archive

Following its near-death experience at the end of 1959, BMW announced its renaissance at the Frankfurt auto show of September 1961. The Giovanni Michelotti-designed 1500 drew huge crowds, and the all-new midsize sedan tended to overshadow the other cars on the BMW stand. That’s a shame, because two of those cars were also making their debut: a convertible version of the popular 700 microcar—another Michelotti design—and the 3200 CS coupe wearing stylish bodywork designed by a young Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Geoffrey Goldberg and Lancia in Paris

By

Gilena’s impressive stand.

We’ll Always Have Paris…Like Art Buchwald, the Goldbergs will always have Paris. Geoff and his wife Lynne Remington traveled from Chicago to Paris with 130 lbs of Lancia books for the book dealers at Retro. “After the show, we did some non-car stuff in Paris – a number of museums, saw a wonderful show on the history of department stores, another one on magnificent hats (truly) that blew us away, backstage at the Opera, and exotic bakeries, after eating falafel in the Marais. It was enough to make one want to do it all over again.” Here are a few reflections.

By Geoffrey Goldberg

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Paul Wilson at Garage Steutel

By

Garage Steutel, photos from the website.

A Movable Feast…After a delightful time at Retromobile in Paris, Paul Wilson and Mark Bennett traveled to Belgium with Alfa doyen Frank Rameckers, then to the Netherlands, where Paul had been invited to give a presentation about the design and construction of his three amazing Alfas. Here is Paul’s story….

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Retro on the French Side

By

Presented at the 1962 Paris Motor Show, this DS19 with its fully faired underbody presented the new front of the DS with its faired headlights. The DS Totem symbolized the avant-gardism of the Citroën brand and delighted photographers, thus helping to establish the model’s reputation.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Retro thoughts

Every year, at the same time, the world of classic and collector cars comes out of its lethargy for the event that opens the season. I am talking about the unmissable Rétromobile show in Paris.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Ferrari at Retro

By

A very popular exhibit on the ‘Le Man Classic’ stand, the Ferrari 312P chassis 0872.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Pilgrimage to Paris

This year my pals and I thought we would attend Retromobile much earlier in the week as we are all mostly retired. Whilst the first full day of the show is on Wednesday, we decided it would be nice to also attend the preview Tuesday evening, assuming that it would be nice and quiet.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Italians and Others: Vanhoolandt

By

Mercedes-Benz presented this 300 SL currently being restored by its Heritage department. It was delivered to New York in May 1955 and remained in the USA until 2011 when it joined a German collection. Now for sale again, it has been undergoing a complete restoration since April 2024 while reusing as many original parts as possible. The work is scheduled to be completed in autumn 2025.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Retro thoughts, continued

Another development is the rise in quality of the show, with several dealers, particularly British ones, presenting some of the most expensive cars on the market as well as major manufacturers who communicate about their past to better sell their current range. Moreover, Rétromobile has attracted at the same time auction houses that organize their auctions in prestigious places such as Bonhams at the Grand Palais or RM Sotheby’s at the Louvre Museum.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Italians and Others, Jonathan Sharp

By

Martin Otto Lambert Heukeshoven’s simply amazing ISO Grifo/Berliet lorry barn find model.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Pilgrimage to Paris continued

I hate the sound of a mobile phone alarm in the morning. But it allowed time for a quick breakfast and rather too many coffees, then off to the show, ready for the 10am opening. Ah lovely; Wednesday being a working day, the halls were not too crowded and the aisles much easier to navigate.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

BMW’s Italian Designers, Part 9

By

By Jackie Jouret
Photos courtesy The BMW Archive

With his designs for the 700 and 1500, Giovanni Michelotti made an invaluable contribution to BMW’s survival at the start of the 1960s. The success of those cars put BMW on firm financial footing, which allowed the company to expand its product lineup to include a small coupe, a full-size sedan, and a larger but still sporty coupe—cars with the same kind of mass-market appeal as the 1500 sedan that also filled important niches in the marketplace. As the 1500 sedan had given BMW a recognizable brand identity, each of those cars would bear Michelotti’s imprint, to a greater or lesser degree.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

And How! CBS does the MM, Evan Wilson

By

Making the Big Time…

Hot on the heels of Allen R. Kuhn’s announcement that he’ll be appearing on a California PBS special on Paramount Ranch comes a note from Joe Hurwich, who told us that he had just appeared on CBS Sunday Morning on February 2 in a segment about the Mille Miglia. [Read more…] about And How! CBS does the MM, Evan Wilson

Jonathan Sharp’s Car of the Year

By

Advance and retard

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

So the ex-King Leopold Bugatti Type 59 was named car of the year at this year’s International Historic Motoring Awards (a public vote and a good choice, it got my vote). But this got me thinking. Of all the fantastic cars I have seen and photographed this year what would be my ‘Car of the Year’? That is a hard one, but the 1907 130HP Fiat that took part in this year’s London to Brighton Veteran car run would be very near, if not on top of my list.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Joe Hurwich on the 2014 Mille Miglia

By

In Tuscany, Joe Hurwich and co-driver Mike Ingegno. Photo by @1000Miglia

Story by Joe Hurwich

From the Archives, July 2024

The Mille Miglia (1000 Miglia) is or should be a bucket list item for all car guys. I have been fortunate to participate 5 times now, including June 2024. This year the event was held from June 11 to June 15, and joining me as my co-driver was a good friend and avid Alfa Romeo driver, Mike Ingegno. We made a good team and switched often between driving and navigating. For those who don’t know, navigating is probably harder than driving. [Read more…] about Joe Hurwich on the 2014 Mille Miglia

The Banaszak Stanguellini Sport P1

By

At Thompson Raceway on September 5 1954 with the PBX in first and the Stanguellini CS04080 driven by John Gordon Benett in second. Here, Benett still has the lead.

By Howard Banaszak

One year ago, we presented the story of Candy Poole’s amazing PBX, which seemed to have no rivals in the east coast’s H Modified class. This month we tell the story of one of the few cars to give the PBX a run for its money, the Stanguellini 750 SN CS04080. Ironically, it found its greatest success after the installation of the all American Mercury outboard motor. It is a remarkable story in many ways.

After owning several Porsches, I decided to focus on the Italian sports racers and of course met Tim Ritter; Tim contacted me around 1985-86. He had found an interesting project car. It had a Devin body, but was mounted on an Italian chassis. Neither of us knew what it was, however, it sounded interesting. I purchased the car and it was shipped back to Florida. I removed the Devin body and gave it to Judge Parker for a project he was working on. [Read more…] about The Banaszak Stanguellini Sport P1

MENU