VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Motoring Artist Rodney Diggens Part 1

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Rodney Diggens is known for his dramatic paintings of automobiles and aircraft. But before he found success as an artist, Diggens experienced the bombing of London and the evacuation of the children to the safer countryside. This is his painting, and this is his story.

Editor: It’s hard to imagine that there are still many about who are old enough to vividly remember the war years in the UK. But Rodney Diggens lived through those years and in fact participated in one of the great social experiments ever – moving out thousands of school children from London to the countryside where they would be safe from German bombing. He was part of the biggest migration in British history. Augmenting his story is information gleaned from the Imperial War Museum’s website.

Story and art by Rodney Diggens

Back in 2015, VeloceToday’s editor Pete Vack came searching for that fellow Diggens, and in particular an illustration of Jean-Pierre Wimille. Seems that he remembered my work for the British magazine, Thoroughbred and Classic Cars. And that was many years ago, in the 1970s!

Well, of late, I’ve been taking a more leisurely approach to life. Painting mostly for my own amusement, slipping back in time hoping to recapture those wonderful days of yore. And thanks to VeloceToday I’m getting lots o’ that. This time around, the editor asked me to talk about my life as an artist. [Read more…] about Motoring Artist Rodney Diggens Part 1

Marquis of Mystery Part 1

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From the VeloceToday Archives, August 2012

A rare barn find in the States leads Roy Smith to Alpine’s Jean Rédélé, French Champion Louis Rosier, the post-war US sports car craze, Porsche champion Bob Holbert, and back to France for Retromobile, all in search of a car that never existed. An incredible story in three parts.

By Roy Smith

“The car belonged to my father, Raymond Buckwalter; he drove it for a while, and then parked it. I soon found out why he parked it when I wanted to drive the car for a few months in 1958. Every time I turned the motor off and left it for a while, the car wouldn’t start again without a push. This kind of thing you remember, believe me! I always parked in the same parking lot and the attendant always saved a spot for me. Five days a week they would push me to get it started. I guess my father figured I couldn’t go shopping unless I could find some kind person to push it a few feet, but as I was a young lady at the time, I always found some kind gentleman to give me a push. It was the battery; something was draining it. Rather than fix it my father liked to challenge me and he would often laugh at how I managed these small challenges. Now the memory of it makes me laugh – I can just imagine me in a parking lot at my age trying to get someone to give my car a push! When I went to get it painted in the late 90s we found traces of blue, so I assumed that was the original color.” —Mary Ann Wood

Photo of the strange French special taken by the Wood family in 2009.

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Sir Stirling Moss Service at Westminster

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

A service of Thanksgiving in Westminster Abbey is a very rare and special occasion, and not something you would expect to be conducted for a racing driver. Such is the respect held for Sir Stirling Moss, who was recently honored with a service at the Abbey, delayed after his death in 2020 by the pandemic. I found out about this unique happening from a friend, who in an email wrote, ‘Quick, there is going to be a service of Thanksgiving to Sir Stirling Moss at 11am on the 8th May, and it is going to be in Westminster Abbey! Go onto the web site now and see if you can book tickets.”

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The Birth of Thoroughbred & Classic Cars

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My first Thoroughbred & Classic Cars.

By Pete Vack

When I first discovered Thoroughbred & Classic Cars magazine in the mid-1970s, I was beyond thrilled. But until now, I knew very little about how it came about, so I asked an early contributing artist, Rodney Diggens, to give us his insights. He did so, then got in touch with TCC’s founder Lionel Burrell, who in turn emailed first editor Michael Bowler and features editor Jonathan Wood, and suddenly we had a great story! We hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed those early, breakthrough issues of this incredible magazine that changed our hobby. [Read more…] about The Birth of Thoroughbred & Classic Cars

The Quail Motorcycle Gathering 2024

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Story and photos by Brandes Elitch

The tagline from The Quail Motorcycle Gathering is “the world’s preeminent motorcycling celebration.” This is not an exaggeration. This is due to the hard work, dedication, vision, and contacts from two individuals that are responsible for this show. [Read more…] about The Quail Motorcycle Gathering 2024

And How! Speaking of Birthdays…

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Frank Lance on his 91st birthday.

Making it all worthwhile…

I’m sure you remember the massive nine part article written by Willem Oosthoek about the adventures of Lone Star Mechanic Frank Lance. It was another, and perhaps the best yet, of his histories of American sports car racing heroes.

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Imola WEC Hypercar Class

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Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

After experiencing a reawakening in 2023 with the arrival of new manufacturers and the resounding victory of Ferrari on the occasion of the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship continues its momentum in 2024 with the arrival of Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini in the premier category, the Hypercar class.

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Prive Concours de Vente

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1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider. A rare right hand drive example, subject to a full nut and bolt rebuild by DTR Sportscars in 2017 and still in lovely condition. £89,995

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, famous as the home of the annual Chelsea Flower Show, Salon Prive London is now in its third year and is the only concours in the world where all the entrants are for sale. Known as a Concours de Vente, over 50 cars of various ages were on display, and should you be lucky enough to be in the market, for you to buy.

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Imola WEC LMGT3 Class

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In the LMGT3 category, Ferrari is represented by two 296s entered by AF Corse. The best of the two finished 4th in category, the best it could hope for given the domination of the two BMWs and the #92 Porsche.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Throughout history, endurance races have consisted of a mix between prototypes and grand touring cars, based on commercially available vehicles. This is still the case today with the prototypes competing in the Hypercar class and the GTs in the LMGT3 category.

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Alfa’s Exclusive Swiss Facility Part 3

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Passing the torch. Peter’s son Dino at Hockenheim with Peter’s Alfa. Photo Peter Zahnd

By James Lanoway

Regarding the many exotic Alfas that Peter Zahnd saw and worked on at the Agno facility:

“The rare cars like the TZ, TI Super, GTA 1.6 and 1.3, went to wealthy customers or the sports drivers. Prominent Swiss drivers well-known on the TZ 1 included Clay Regazzoni, [Read more…] about Alfa’s Exclusive Swiss Facility Part 3

Auction at the Mullin

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Story and photos by Joseph Duray

Peter Mullin was a world-class collector of French cars from mainly the pre-war era. His collection was magnificently housed in warehouse that was recreated to represent a car show from the late nineteen thirties, with all the appropriate art deco architectural details. This museum was open to the public. Located in Oxnard, California it was a one and a half hour drive north of Los Angeles, but it was worth traveling to it. Once you entered the museum, it felt as if you were sent back in time to view the car displays of Bugattis, Delahayes, Delages, Voisins and Citroens, each with large advertising banners.

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