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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Louis Bionier Part 1

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Panhard-Dynamic by artist Alexis Kow.

From the VeloceToday Archives, March 2014

Who is Louis Bionier? Gijsbert-Paul Berk explains the great French engineer

It is well known that Panhard et Levassor, founded in 1886, was one of the French pioneers as manufacturers of automobiles. Panhard et Levassor constructed their first ‘motorcar’ in 1891. Many are familiar with the names of the great designers that shaped the coachwork of French automobiles in the years before and just after WWII. Still, it would not be surprising if only a few can place Louis Bionier and his work.

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Maserati’s Last Stand

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The Larry Shinoda sculpted Weismann-Maserati heading of for qualifying before the engine destroyed itself. (Unser Archives, Indy 500 Museum)

Story by Graham Gauld

In my last column I talked about the first Maseratis to visit Indianapolis; but how about the last one?

Yes, it puzzled me too so I started to go through the records. I will not bore you with the various Grand Prix Maseratis from the pre-WWII era that came, saw, but did not quite conquer the Indianapolis 500 but I can tell you many of those cars stayed in action long into the 1950s with different owners and sponsors. [Read more…] about Maserati’s Last Stand

London Concours and Lord Hesketh

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

If only I had been able to record this! The key speaker at the London Concours for me had to be Lord Alexander Hesketh, the founder of Hesketh Racing. Lord Hesketh appeared at the show as part of the launch of the book Superbears, The story of Hesketh Racing. The new book can be ordered at

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London Concours, 2023

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In the Wild Card class, Harry Metcalfe’s 1972 Lancia Fulvia 1600 Zagato. It was this actual car that Harry saw outside his parent’s house in 1973 that first fueled his interest in cars.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Tuesday, June the 6th, time for my annual trip to the green oasis in the City of London that is the Honourable Artillery Company for the seventh running of the London Concours. As it is held in the heart of the financial district the event is held midweek as that part of London is nigh on deserted at the weekend. So what were this years classes? Eclectic as usual, from Land Rovers to Lamborghinis with a bit of bespoke and a few wild cards to boot. The sun shone (eventually) and everybody went home happy. The following is just a selection of the beauties on show.

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The Search for an Appealing Appia

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A hint of what was to come.*

Story and photos by Luc van Dobben
From the VeloceToday Archives, May 2021

Read The Search for the Perfect Ardea

The search is complete.

After two disastrous trips to Italy to find a correct Ardea, I came to the conclusion that an old Lancia for nice trips in the country should at least have some more legroom and sufficient power to move around. An Appia it had to be, but at least one with the lovely old type grille so I went for a second series.

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Sharp and Friends at Savile Row

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Keynote speaker on the Thursday of the event was none other than Jackie Ickx, a very interesting speaker and a cool dude to boot. Here he is being interviewed by the Journalist Simon Taylor.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Thursday May 25th and it is off to the heart of London’s Mayfair for day two of the second Savile Row Concours. It has grown a bit with cars displayed not just in the home of British Tailoring, Savile Row, but also in the street outside the Royal Academy of Arts. The idea behind the event is to tie in the art of fine automobiles with the art of fine tailoring and to that end most of the tailors in the street had thrown their doors open to the public for presentations and exhibitions, and all of the vehicles entered were hosted by the tailors located nearest to their display spot. Being a free event and slap bang in the heart of London, it was crowded, but fine tailoring was very much in evidence amongst the attendees.

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Dale LaFollette: Heroes at Long Beach,1976

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At first, a small group of famous drivers gathered for the cameras; Moss, Fangio, Dreyfus, Hill and Gurney.

Here is Dale LaFollette’s version of Heroes at the Long Beach Grand Prix of 1976. Please also read Larry Crane’s version (click here). Note the two photographers did not know each other at the time and didn’t know one was shooting the same scene from a different angle.–Ed.

Story and photos by Dale LaFollette

My May issue of MotorSport magazine arrived some time ago and as I thumbed through it, memories came flooding back as there was a story about a historic race in 1976 that I was quite familiar with.

In 1976, my closest friend Frank Fitch and I decided we needed to be at the first Long Beach Grand Prix, scheduled for March 28th. Frank was a service engineer for Mazda and a Formula B racer whose financial obligations had halted his racing program. I was three years into a career as manager of Portland International Raceway and I wanted to see how the folks in Long Beach would transform city streets into a racetrack overnight. Frank just wanted to see the race.

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Larry Crane: Heroes at Long Beach, 1976

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Heroes: International champions spellbound by their hero, Rene Dreyfus (in blue sportscoat), at the 1976 Long Beach Vintage Grand Prix.

Here is Larry Crane’s version of the same meeting. Note that Larry and Dale were not acquainted with each other; this was all pure coincidence. Click here to see Dale’s version:https://velocetoday.com/larry-crane-heroes-at-long-beach-1976/

Also, Larry still has prints to sell. An 11 X 14 inch signed copy of “Heroes” as seen above is available for $200 from Larry Crane at mailto:CasaVetturaProductions@gmail.com.

Story by Larry Crane

Joel Finn had been my host for nearly a week. We were assembling the pieces for his soon to be produced history of Ferrari’s 250 Testa Rossa. As I prepared my luggage for a next-day departure, he suggested I leave a little earlier the next morning to have time to stop in Manhattan for lunch at Le Chanteclair Restaurant and Bar on 18 East 49th, the legend-filled necessary stop for every one in the world of motor sport.

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Alfa Romeo Museum circa 2016: Fantastic!

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A sight one does not normally see in other museums.

A sight one does not normally see in other museums.

Story and photos by Roberto Motta

It’s Hoods Up at the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo for the 40th Anniversary
From the VeloceToday Archives, January, 2017

Wander through the many automobile museums of the world (or just follow VeloceToday!) and you will quickly note that they all have one thing in common; the hoods are usually closed and if not, one can’t get close enough to study the mechanicals. This is unfortunate, for unlike today’s plastic-covered engines, many powerplants of the 20th century were hi tech engineering, awesome to look at, art in and of themselves, and designed to be easy to work on. Yet they are so often hidden under the hoods of museum pieces. Not so in Milan however!

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Sharp at Ville d’Este, Villa Erbe

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

The Villa d’Este concours on Sunday (May 21) shifts over to the nearby Villa Erbe, still on the lake shore, for the public day. Having spent a day and a half, mainly getting wet, at the FuoriConcorso I had decided that a visit to Villa Erbe could wait for another year so my wife and I decided just to take a walk along the lake shore to just watch the boats and sea planes and just enjoy the scenery. [Read more…] about Sharp at Ville d’Este, Villa Erbe

Seavey Gallery Number Three

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A Jag XK120, painted a color of which William Lyons never dreamed. The owner is at the right, which explains the paint color. Taken at the 4th of July, 2017 in Santa Fe. The color is very close to what northern New Mexicans think of as Taos Blue.

Story and photos by Charley Seavey

My father was a car geek and I inherited his interests. I mean, the guy owned a Stanley Steamer back in the day, and a Stutz Bearcat. He and I went to sports car races at Thompson, CT, and Beverley (MA) airport when I was a kid. I have vivid memories of watching a yellow Ferrari belching flames from multiple exhaust pipes as it slowed down for turn one at Thompson. As a photographer I’m also fascinated with small details as well as the overall car. Hence things like the V-16 grill ornament on the 1930 Caddy you’ll see below.

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Ferrari’s SUV

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Has it come to this?

By Wallace Wyss
Photos courtesy Ferrari

Picture the following glimpse of The Good Life. You have a mountain cabin in Telluride, Aspen or some such but would never want to take your Ferrari GTC4 Lusso there because of coping with snow and ice. But with the Purosangue (“purebred”) Ferrari, a 4wd SUV, you can tackle winter and still enjoy a purebred Ferrari.

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