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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Dick Eisenmann and the Cooper Fiat

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Driving fast, having fun….

Story by Bob Birmingham
Photos courtesy Bob Birmingham

Augie Pabst biographer Bob Birmingham is a long-time friend of Dick Eisenmann, who has raced and cared for a very special Cooper Fiat since 1963. This is Dick’s story as told to Bob.

It was during a Christmas party in December of 1962 at Augie Pabst’s home in suburban River Hills, Wisconsin, that raucous guests were enjoying fine food, libation and good conversation, mostly related to sports car racing. Late in the evening, one young man named Richard Eisenmann slurred to our host, “Augie, I’m gonna race some day and when I do, I’ll whip your ass.”

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Howard Moon: Saving Grace

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By Pete Vack
Photos by Mary Decker Vack

The below article first appeared in the April 1991 issue of Car Collector and Car Classic magazine. We republish it as a tribute to the late Howard Moon. A postscript follows.

There have been, at various times, Jaguars, Citroens, Alfas and BMWs parked at Howard Moon’s halfway house in Falls Church, Virginia—most of his boarders are halfway between the local scrap yard and total restoration. Moon’s unspoken mission is to save them from the former whenever possible. But despite the attempts to maintain diversity, Moon is best known for his 25-year dedication to saving pre 1975 Lancias. In his words, post-1975 Lancias are “gross parodies of a once-proud house tradition, originally typified by quality, innovation, and an almost sculptural approach to parts manufacturing,” and as such, simply not worth saving. [Read more…] about Howard Moon: Saving Grace

Maseratis at the Factory in Color, Circa 1963

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And what have we here? The Maserati factory circa 1963 was full of surprises.

From the Archives, October, 2014


VeloceToday reader David Hewitt ads his impressions of his time in Europe in 1963, and a visit to Maserati. While trying to identify the cars in Hewitt’s photos, we stumbled across two rare and interesting cars once owned by John Simone, head of Maserati-France. But before we get that, David’s photos of the Nurburgring are equally fascinating and all in color!

Photos courtesy David Hewitt unless otherwise noted.

Text by Pete Vack and David Hewitt

David Hewitt’s father was an Air Force pilot stationed in Europe from 1960 to 1964. Hewitt was only 15 when his family lived in France for the first year and Germany for the remaining years. Hewitt recalls those years:

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Fred Puhn and the V8RI Maserati

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Fred Puhn and his Maserati V8RI at Laguna Seca, 2014. Photo by Randy Reed.

Story by Fred Puhn

Read Part 1, The Fred Puhn Story

It was 1981 and we were selling old parts at the Big 3 swap meet in San Diego. A nice man came up to our booth and he said he had just moved in from Minnesota. Our chatting turned to stories about “I saw an old car in a barn better than anything you ever saw in a barn.” Naturally such stories are nice to listen to but everyone knows not to take anything too seriously. When my new friend said he found a prewar Maserati race car in a barn in Minnesota for $1000 that story topped anything I could ever bring up. He said the car had raced at Indy according to the owner, but he knew nothing else about it.

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London Concours: Lancias and Hot Rods

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This line up alone was probably worth the price of admission.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

The London Concours; at last a classic car event to attend, my first since Retromobile in February, and by the time it came around I would have been happy just to photograph a field of Morris Minors. But as you will see in the following photographs there was not a Morris to be seen.

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London Concours: Best of the Rest

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The present owner spotted this Alfa Junior Spider under a car cover in his neighbor’s garage. Finally, after a wait of two years the neighbor agreed to sell the car. Re commissioned after six years off the road the current owner has motored extensively around Europe in the Alfa, just as its makers intended.

Captions and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Lancia and Hot Rods took precedence in our pages this week (Read Part 1) but Mr. Sharp did not neglect the rest of the London Concours field, most of which appear below. [Read more…] about London Concours: Best of the Rest

Nuvolari Speciale

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From the Archives, January 2018

Text by Peter Darnall and Museum Curator Lorenzo Montagner
Museum photos by Gian Maria Pontiroli

Museum Curator Lorenzo Montagner has previously written a short biography of Tazio Nuvolari which appears after the below article, in which Mr. Montagner and Peter Darnall take us inside the fascinating museum that houses Nuvolari’s treasures.

Museo Tazio Nuvolari is located in Mantua, Italy, a few miles from Castel d’Ario, where Nuvolari was born on November 16, 1892. The Nuvolari Museum is housed in an historic fifteenth century building, which served originally as the Church of the Carmelino. One visitor to the museum commented that the unique setting seemed to enhance the sense of intimacy; in his words, the museum was “much more than a collection of trophies.” [Read more…] about Nuvolari Speciale

The Fred Puhn Story

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Fred Puhn and the Santee SS.

By Fred Puhn
All photos courtesy Fred Puhn

Read Part 2 Fred’s Maserati

I was born in 1939; my childhood was spent in a country environment near Lakeside California. We lived on a dirt road and played outdoors most of the year. A big activity was the design, construction, and driving of “coasters” (gravity powered race cars). Not having much money, we scrounged materials such as old shopping cart or wagon wheels, scrap lumber, and old bolts and nails. Our coasters ranged from very nice to very crude, and we spent many weekends and summers riding down hills, crashing, and rebuilding. I learned how to throw a coaster sideways in the dirt to stop it because they never had any brakes. It was during these early years I learned to control a vehicle and to design and build one.

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Flying With Pegasus: The continuing story of Alfa Romeo #50013

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By Peter Darnall

Any of the racing Alfa Romeos from the decade of the 1930s will fetch a king’s ransom in today’s collector market. Put a Tipo C on the block and the opening bids would normally be associated with high-end real estate properties. When the rarest of them all, a 1935 8C-35 with matching engine and chassis number 50013, was offered by Bonhams in 2013, the winning bid was the highest price ever paid for a single seat racer! [Read more…] about Flying With Pegasus: The continuing story of Alfa Romeo #50013

Reflections: Forty Years of the Monterey Car Week

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The Alfa 6C 1750 was produced in six series from 1929-33. In 1929 it won every major racing event, including the GP’s of Belgium, Spain, Tunis, Monza, as well as the Mille Miglia, the Brooklands Double Twelve, and the Ulster TT.

Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

I first time I attended what has become known as “The Monterey Historics” was back in 1979, when I moved to California from New York City. I have not missed a year since – 40 years is a long time for anything.

In the early years, my focus was primarily the Laguna Seca racetrack. These were the beginnings of historic racing, the genius of Steve Earle creating the blueprint for what was to come worldwide. I was amazed that I could walk anywhere in the pits, and go right up to the owner and talk about his car, exotic racecars I had never seen in person before, just read about in Road & Track. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. [Read more…] about Reflections: Forty Years of the Monterey Car Week

Hugues Vanhoolandt, World Class Photographer

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Abarth 1000 Record Pinin Farina “La Principessa”

Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

What can you say about Hugues Vanhoolandt, who almost every year travels the world, attending and reporting on almost every major classic car event in the UK, the U.S., and Europe? [Read more…] about Hugues Vanhoolandt, World Class Photographer

Coming Up in VeloceToday

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VeloceToday rarely gives our readers any idea of what’s coming up. We like surprises and assume the readers do as well. But we are so pleased and excited about the articles coming up in September that we just had to show you a few. We hope we haven’t ruined any surprises, but there are still many more in store. And don’t miss the Archive selections this week, just past the coming attractions. They are free for all readers.

Coming up in VeloceToday: Paul Wilson finally tells all about how he created a very special body – entirely on his own – for an Alfa 6C 2500. Something we all wanted to do but few have the talent and tools to complete such a daunting task.

How about a little Kimberly? No, not Jim but his nephew Bill. Willem Oosthoek presents life in full with a six chapter feature on this little known driver.

Much more well known was Luigi Villoresi. Toward the end of his long and active life, Graham Gauld sat down with him to learn about this fascinating Italian race driver.

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