VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Italians at the Birmingham NEC Classic

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Star of the Lancia Motor Club stand and voted best car at the show, The Lancia Stratos Zero Concept car which is currently in the UK being lightly recommissioned by Classic Motor Cars (CMC).

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

I had not visited the Classic Motor Show held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham for a few years, and to be honest I had no plans to attend this year. It is far away from my home and often badly lit for photographs, it is huge, and being that it is a UK show, it will contain lots of British cars. If it’s Fords and Vauxhalls you want, then this is your show.

But out of the blue I received a press release from the Lancia Motor Club UK about the show, to be held November 11-13. The center piece of their stand this year was to me the Bertone Lancia Stratos Zero concept car currently in the UK being fettled for the road, so it was straight onto the internet to find a hotel near the show and away I went. Plus the Alfa Club had a showing of AlfaSuds. So were there lots of Fords and Vauxhalls? Of course, plus plenty of Austins and Rovers but I am pleased to say I did manage to find lots of stuff to interest me. Yes, it was big and it was often badly lit and one day was not long enough to see it all!

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Driving the Lancia Zero

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Striking in 1971, and no less effective today. Driving it was unworldly.

Story and Photos by Roberto Motta

[Fourteen years ago, in 2008, our Italian correspondent Roberto Motta had a chance to drive the Stratos Zero. It is doubtful the same opportunities will be offered again. Below is his report on driving the magnificent show car, which we republished in 2016, eight years after the original version. In light of the recent activity accorded the Zero, we think it appropriate to present Motta’s engaging article once again. In an earlier article, Motta also explains how the Zero came to the attention of the powers that be at Lancia: Italian UFOs and the Stratos Ed.]

In February 1971, Beppe Panicco drove the Stratos Zero through the streets of Milan and stopped on the square of the “Duomo”, the cathedral of Milan. Panicco had to stop as there were so many people crowding around the car to get a glimpse of that strange object. Many thought there was a UFO in Milan! The Stratos tied up traffic in every direction, the police arrived, and Panicco finally succeeded in driving between the legs of the onlookers.

Would it be half as fun for us, more than 35 years later?

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St James’s Palace International Concours

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1904 32HP 4 cylinder Mercedes Simplex.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

In previous years, the day before the London to Brighton Veteran car run, (Saturday) has seen a large number of the entrants displayed on the busy Regent Street as part of the Regent Street Motor Show allowing members of the public to view the cars in detail prior to the following days run. This year things were different, with the introduction of a new event ‘The St James’s Palace International Concours’ held on November 5th. Approximately 75 vehicles from the more than 350 entrants for the run were displayed in Marlborough Road next door to St James’s Palace, just off the Mall a few hundred meters from Buckingham Palace.

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Precarious Bridgeheads Part 3

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“Mac” Halley’s Alfa 2.9 chassis 412014, when owned by Frank Cantanzariti in the early 1950s. Alfas and Bugattis comprised a good part of the foreign cars in the U.S. before the war. Jerry Lehrer photo.

By Dr. Howard Moon

This is Part 3 of an unpublished manuscript by Dr. Howard Moon. Links to previous articles appear at the end.

Americans were unaware of the full variety of European cars. There were no enthusiast’s magazines – this was a post war phenomenon – and the few interested in foreign cars subscribed to the British weeklies Autocar or Motor. Aside from the two hot spots, New York City and Los Angeles, cars from Europe were never seen on the road, in dealerships or garages.

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RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Run

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Made it! 1899 Wolseley single cylinder 3.5HP two seater Voiturette from the British Motor Museum, 1904 single cylinder 6hp De Dion Bouton two seater of John and Jez Field.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

You may notice from the photos that the weather was not at its best. To say it rained would be an understatement, but as the entrants are not in any way trailer queens the rain did not stop play. Close to 350 ancient cars entered this year’s RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (6 November) as crews faced one of the wettest trips ever in the famous event’s 126-year history. It wasn’t like this last year, or the year before. In fact, as long as I’ve been covering the event, I can’t recall rain like this. It was torrential.

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David Beare and the Stinkwheel Story

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By Pete Vack and David Beare

From the VeloceToday Archives, January 2020

First the name; we have to explain the name for those of us unfamiliar with British jargon. “The name Stinkwheel derives from 1930’s slang amongst motorcyclists for small-capacity, feeble two-stoke powered cyclemotors and autocycles which buzzed noisily but slowly around in a cloud of blue oily smoke- a stinkwheel,” writes Beare. His first two books were histories of such cyclemotors- “The Stinkwheel Sagas.” Thus came the name of the publishing company, which is at the very least, unforgettable. How Stinkwheel went from cyclemotors to Hispano Suiza is another good question.

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Unusual Sports Car Venues circa 1956

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Moretti

Photography by Glen Glendenning courtesy of Dave Rex

Sports Car Trials

While most professional photographer chose to spend their time and film on real racing events with the big cars and big names, Glen Glendenning also set his lens on the minor events around the extremely active Wisconsin sports car scene, from rallies to trials to ice racing and hillclimbs. It was club racing at the grassroots level. [Read more…] about Unusual Sports Car Venues circa 1956

Castle Hill VSCCA Hillclimb, October 16, 2022

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Richard King and passenger in the Alfa RLTF.

Story and photos by Charles Seavey

The Vintage Sports Car Club of America should need no introduction. Founded in Boston, MA, in 1958, currently headquartered in New Britain, PA, it is all about cars produced up through the 1950s.

But the club’s Castle Hill Hillclimb may not be as familiar. Castle Hill is the centerpiece of the Crane Estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Built by Chicago industrialist Richard T. Crane in 1928, the 59 room mansion has a commanding view of the ocean and the Great Salt Marsh of the Massachusetts coast. It is roughly 140 feet above sea level. As it happens, the starting line for the hill climb is at about 5 feet above sea level. Thanks to the efforts of VSCCA members, the hillclimb was re-established in 2021, after an 18 year hiatus from an earlier concours canceled in the early part of the century,

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Gauld Remembers Forghieri

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Not another pesky journalist!

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

I must admit I was saddened to hear the news that Mauro Forghieri, the man who designed some of the finest Ferrari cars during the modern era, died in Modena at the age of 87.

Mauro was quite an engaging character who had a great sense of humor. On occasion, he could turn prickly, as though he was tired of hearing the same questions again and again. Wherever he went, he was always surrounded by people asking him questions.

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Lane Motor Museum in Nashville

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Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos courtesy Lane Museum

From the VeloceToday Archives, February 2018

Last October I had a chance to visit the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, which had been on my list of things to do for some time. With over 300 European cars displayed on two levels, it is likely the largest museum collection of European cars in the U.S. What I found compelling is that the Lane is full of the kinds of things I like: production cars or prototypes that are obscure, rare, technically advanced for their time, designs full of passion and creativity that fulfilled all the things a collector or historian would want, but not necessarily successful in the marketplace because of various eccentricities of design or presentation. At the top of that list for obscurity would be the Tatra, of course, and while the Lane lacks the Type 77, it has just about every other Tatra.

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Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cattaneo/Riva

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The Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cattaneo/Riva at Pebble Beach, 2022. Photo by Brandes Elitch

Story by Pete Vack

Earlier this year, Brandes Elitch returned from Pebble Beach with photos of one of the most significant and interesting Alfas we have encountered recently, igniting our curiosity. From a variety of sources, VeloceToday uncovered letters from the designer himself, Count “Johnny” Lurani, a description of how the car was found by an American Alfa enthusiast, original drawings of the tubular chassis, a Touring drawing of a proposed body for the chassis, a rare Colli bodied sister car, and a few photos of other cars bodied by the Riva brothers of Merate, Italy. And that’s just for starters! [Read more…] about Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cattaneo/Riva

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