VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Sebring ’58: Dawn of the Red Heads P2

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Pretty as they come, the 1.1-liter Stanguellini Bialbero of Carl Haas/Allan Ross/Chuck Dietrich awaits its turn for practice. [Bob Bellows photo]

By Willem Oosthoek All photos by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection], unless stated otherwise.

Waiting farther upfront is Jim Kimberly’s Maserati 200SI, just as elegant. But who is in the passenger seat of chassis 2412? Since he is holding a microphone, likely a reporter recording the car’s engine sounds for the racing LPs so popular at the time. [Bob Bellows photo]

[Read more…] about Sebring ’58: Dawn of the Red Heads P2

Those Lovely Italianate Aston Martins P2

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Story and photos by Allen R. Kuhn

In my duology of Aston Martin at venues other than Palm Springs, my viewfinder did not locate too many of them on my sojourns around Southern California back in the ‘50s and ‘60s. I saw my first Aston Martin in 1956 and only a few more in 1957 and 1958. Since 99.9% of my shots will be of the DB3S model I’ll just call them Astons. This chapter will concentrate on the myriad of other racecourses located in our beautiful Southern California. True, most of our courses, eight out of the thirteen I attended, were on runways or large parking lots. That’s what you can expect from mostly desert locations.

My first sighting, shooting with my folks’ Kodak Pony 135 camera loaded with Kodachrome, was of Bob Drake, the winner of the main event at Pomona on October 21, 1956. It wouldn’t be until some time in 1957 that I would graduate to my beloved Canon IVS2 35mm camera.

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Four Fab Zagatos

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Few of us were lucky enough to own a TZ1 or a SZ Coda Tronca. Al Morrison owned them both at the same time and would later own a Junior Zagato and a Fulvia Zagato. We present all four of his Spada-designed Zagatos in this feature.

Story and photos by Al Morrison
From the Archives, October 20, 2015 and from the archives February 12, 2019

Alfa Romeo GTZ 1

I first laid eyes on a new Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ 1 at the 1965 London International Motor Show when I was working in England as a very young architect. Right then I knew I wanted to own one someday.

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Sebring 1958: Dawn of the Red Heads

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Sebring 1958: Peter Collins at the wheel of chassis 0704, the works 3-liter Ferrari Testa Rossa he shared with Phil Hill.

Part 1

By Willem Oosthoek
All photos by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection], unless stated otherwise.

Saturday March 22, 1958, at 10 AM, would see the Le Mans start for the 8th Annual International Grand Prix of Endurance at Sebring, Florida, more commonly known as the Sebring 12 Hours. If the latter term is used, 1958 was actually the 7th edition, since the very first one – held in 1950 – was a six-hour event. Alec Ulmann had been the driving force from day one and he selected an abandoned airfield by the name of Hendricks Field near the town of Sebring.

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Those Lovely Italianate Aston Martins

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TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALLEN R. KUHN

On our trip down memory lane this week we will be gazing upon some of the beautiful Aston Martin “Chariots of Power” that I was able to capture through my viewfinder. All of those in this part were taken at Palm Springs between 1956 to 1958. I did not even discover one of them until a year ago. It was a photo taken at Pomona in early 1956 and was the first DB3S I ever shot. It was the winner of the main with Bob Drake driving. It will be featured in my Aston Martin Part 2 story.

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Medardo Fantuzzi by Graham Gauld

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Photographed together at a dinner in Sant Agata Bolognese in the late 1950s. Standing at the back are young Fiorenzo Fantuzzi and his father Medardo. Front row Jean-Paul Behra and his father Jean Behra, Maserati chassis builder Caiani and Omer Orsi of Maserati. ( Photo: Adolfo Orsi, Historica Selecta)

Story by Graham Gauld

One outstanding element in the rise of Modena as a center for high performance road cars and racing cars in the 1950s was the proliferation of specialist artisans each of whom contributed something unique to the picture. As a result, there were numerous coachbuilders, many of whom were linked to companies like Stanguellini, Maserati, OSCA and Ferrari, so it was normal that at one time or another they would intermingle.

A typical example would be Carrozzeria Fantuzzi founded by Medardo Fantuzzi, who was born in 1906 in Bologna and trained as an engineer. In 1927 he and his brother Gino joined Maserati as apprentices shortly after the Maserati brothers started building their own racing cars. [Read more…] about Medardo Fantuzzi by Graham Gauld

Fellini’s Fantuzzi Ferrari and the 540 Aperta

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The 540 Aperta is it appeared at Villa d ‘Este. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

By Wallace Wyss

From the VeloceToday Archives, 2010

Let’s say you have more money than God and way back you saw an old Italian movie that had a sexy car in it. The movie was by Fellini and the car, as near as anyone can tell, was a special by Fantuzzi, and/or originally installed on a racing chassis.

According to our friends at Coachbuild.com, “Fantuzzi’s golden Spider body was first installed on the chassis of 330 TR-LM #0808TR in 1963. After its racing career, this 330 TR-LM also received a new Coupe body by Fantuzzi and the car was once offered for sale with both the Coupe and the Spider body. In 1964 the Spider body was constructed onto #4381SA – originally the first of four 1963 330 LM Berlinettas.” All this before appearing in its first and only movie.
[Read more…] about Fellini’s Fantuzzi Ferrari and the 540 Aperta

The Incredible F1 Alfa powered Racecars P2

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1962 Westmead ‘120’ – the first win for an LDS. Serrurier leads van der Vyver’s Lotus 21 Climax. (Photo: Tony de Wijn).

Story by Robert Young

Read Part 1

The 1962 South African Grand Prix season would also be see successful Alfa powered racecars. Ernest Pieterse, a proprietor of an Alfa Romeo dealership engaged Peter de Klerk to assist with the fitting of Alfa power to his championship winning Heron.

The South Africans were adept at building ‘specials’ and Doug Serrurier of LDS fame, a close friend of van der Vyver and de Klerk, used Alfa power in his early constructions. “Pure racing parts were hard and expensive to come by and I remember that to make larger valves Doug modified Model T Ford valves in his engine,” recalled Lew Baker.

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The Incredible F1 Alfa powered Racecars

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Bruce Johnstone inspects the motor. (Photo: Tony de Wijn)

Story by Robert Young

In the late 1950s, after years of austerity following WW2, as motor racing became more ‘professional’ in South Africa and factory-built racing chassis began to take their place on the grids and displace the ingenious ‘specials,’ the drivers sought the cheapest and most efficient engine power.

The 1½-liter South African Formula One Championship from 1960 to 1965 up to the adoption of the 3-liter formula was notable for the use of Alfa Romeo power for many of the contenders. Contrary to popular opinion these engines were not imported racing motors but were self-modified by the resourceful locals.

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Miska’s Models

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1/16 Scale Maserati 8C 3000 (Hank Uhle’s Maserati – 1959)

Story and photos by Herb Miska

Sixteen years ago, I moved for the second time since I retired – this time into an old ranch house with a huge basement which included a beautiful workshop. It gave me the place and incentive to resume a hobby I hadn’t practiced for over 50 years, the building of model cars from scratch.

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Ferrari Chassis 041S History

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Story and photos by Alan Boe
From the VeloceToday Archives

When recounting the story of one of Ferrari’s earliest models, the 166 series of coupes, cabriolets and barchettas, names such as Carrozzeria Touring and Vignale play an important part. Theirs was the job of providing coachwork for most of the early two-liter Ferraris.

But the names of other carrozzeria also come up when tracing the history of those little V12s. In addition to Touring and Vignale, Allemano, Ghia, Bertone and Stabilimenti Farina all had a hand, to a greater or lesser degree, in clothing Ferrari’s 166 Sport and Inter chassis. Allemano did a coupe and a cabriolet, Bertone a lone 166 cabriolet, Ghia bodied a berlinetta, Zagato did a fastback coupe and Stabilimenti Farina did five coupes and three cabriolets. (A ninth car, a 212 Inter coupe was the last Stabilimenti Farina bodied Ferrari.)

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Wilson’s 6C2500 Coupe Gets Roadworthy

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Story and photos by Paul Wilson

Lest we forget, over the past few years, Paul Wilson has designed and created three distinct cars on Alfa Romeo chassis; a beautiful coupe and sister roadster on 6C 2500 chassis, and a B.A.T. recreation on a 1900 chassis. He has chronicled each in the pages of VeloceToday. Below is an update on the status of his 6C2500 coupe, which is now roadworthy. Click here to read a previous story about the adventures of building the coupe.

When Pete first suggested that I write about my projects, I told him I couldn’t because they weren’t finished. What kind of story has no ending? Just write, he said. So I did, and it’s been fun.

But the problem didn’t go away, and now I’ve reached the mess that I foresaw. Supplier delays and unexpected problems have continually postponed the happy endings I was so eager to write. The 6C2500 coupe, nearly done seven years ago, is now truly done. But the final stages were agony. The roadster still awaits its engine, though there was still some work I could do on it. Only the BAT, seemingly the most farfetched of them all, has made steady progress.

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