The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Elizabeth Junek, Helle Nice, and Miranda Seymour weren’t the only women to enjoy the power, speed and ecstasy of a Bugatti. Once upon a time, VeloceToday’s Office Manager Mary Decker Vack had a chance to become intimately friendly with a Type 35. Like others who have experienced Ettore’s masterpiece, the adventure was not easily forgotten. But how did our brave (in retrospect) come to catch a track ride in a magnificent unrestored Bugatti T 35?
David Beaumont with his 15 year-old grand-daughter Emelda in the 1929 Amilcar Surbaisse.
Words by Doug Gordon
Photos by Roger Foster, Doug Gordon & Vince Johnson
The weather forecast for the southern coast and Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia for the weekend of September 27, 28 & 29 was fine. Cool, but sunny with very little chance of rain. So what? You might well ask. These three days were set aside for the third running of the now familiar Tour de Fleurieu Rally for vintage and pre-war cars of French origin, very few of which are fitted with any form of roof or weather protection.
By Pete Vack
From the VeloceToday Archives, April 18, 2012
According to Bill Milliken, the acquisition of his first sports car was simply elementary. While visiting New York City in 1946, he happened upon a shiny black MGTB, asked the owner if he’d like to sell, wired home for the $1500 necessary to title it in his name and drove it up to Albany. [Read more…] about Milliken’s Bugatti T35A
Bizzarrini-not listed in program but sure made a great photo!.
Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp
CLICK on each photo to ENLARGE
Photos below include: Squire, Capri, Alfa 1300 Berlina, Maserati 300S, Maserati 250F,Bugatti T35, Pantera, Bizzarrini, Ligier, Ghibli Targa, Breadvan Ferrari, Lancia B20, Alfasud, Gipsy Dino, Alfa 8C 2300 Zagato, Alfa GTA, Talbot, Delahaye and more.
The numbers certainly make impressive reading; one hundred thousand spectators, over one thousand race cars, one hundred twenty car clubs displaying on the infield, fifteen hundred classic cars, all painted silver parading around the circuit on the Sunday, July 26. [Read more…] about Silverstone Classic Race Meeting, 2015
Bugatti EB110 by the Palladian bridge.
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Another weekend and yet again the grass has not been cut! Events keep getting in the way.
Not such a long journey this weekend, (June 6-7) just a two-hour jaunt to Wilton House near Salisbury in Wiltshire, the home of the Earls of Pembroke since 1540. The reason for the visit was not to view the recently restored, Inigo Jones designed South Front of the house, or indeed the glorious state rooms; no it was to attend Lord Pembroke’s Classic and Super car weekend.
This is an event that I have never attended before and judging by what I saw laid out on his Lordship’s lawns I can safely say it will not be my last visit. In front of the house, two rows of prize Bugatti’s with three Veyrons (to Celebrate its 10th anniversary) lined up between them. To the left of the house an enviable line up of classics whether you classic of choice be a Ferrari or a VW Camper. The right of the house, a further selection of Classics from a Mini to a Muira.
Corrado Lopresto’s recent find as displayed last weekend at the Wilton Concours. See this week’s related article.
Did the daring new designs by Voisin and Bugatti advance the art of race car engineering? Read Gijsbert-Paul Berk’s surprising analysis. (Above, Alfas at Lyon, 1924.)
By Gijsbert-Paul Berk
When the dust had finally settled down and the excitement of the race was ebbing away, many of the French spectators went home somewhat disillusioned. The expected duel between the Bugatti and Voisin cars never happened. It was obvious from the beginning that the six-cylinder sleeve valves of the Voisin “Laboratoires” were no match for the more powerful eight cylinders of the Bugatti Tanks. The new V12 Delage had retired within a few laps from the start, and after a valiant struggle the two Tours-based Rolland-Pilains were also forced to retire with mechanical problems.
No, it had not been a glorious day for the French manufacturers. In spite of the fact that a Bugatti and a Voisin had finished in third and fifth place, the foreigners in their Fiats and Sunbeams had dominated this Grand Prix de France from the first lap onward.
And even more importantly, did the outcome of this battle between conventional Grand Prix cars and the revolutionary and daring new designs from Bugatti and Voisin have much of an influence on the future of Grand Prix racing?
The sad truth is that from an engineering point of view, it set the clock back.
The 1924 contenders: Improved engines, horsecart chassis, minimal streamlining.
While Graham Gauld brought us insights and personal stories from the pits at this year’s Historics, Hugues Vanhoolandt delivered his usual outstanding imagery from around the circuit. Below, twenty top shots for our readers.
Two early Gordinis. Number 16 is the very first Gordini single-seater,
The Lancia Marino, built by Marino Brandoli who drove it at the 1957 GP of Naples, Italy, here driven by ex-F1 driver Beppe Gabbiani. See Graham’s article for more information.
Tec Mec 250F was the ultimate evolution of the Maserati 250F. But it was immediately outpaced by the rear engined cars, its only outing being the 1959 US Grand Prix.
The Maserati A6 GCM (M for monoposto) was not accepted that year at the Monaco Grand Prix as it was reserved for Sports Cars. But they took part in the F1 World Drivers Championship, and did very well.
Julia De Baldanza battling at the ‘Swimming Pool’ corner with a Cooper T41.
Grid C commemorates the 1952 Monaco Grand Prix in which Ferraris took the five first places. Three 166 MM Touring barchettas like this one were at the start.
There is much more to the Milliken Bugatti Type 35A than just an incident at Watkins Glen.
By Pete Vack
According to Bill Milliken, the acquisition of his first sports car was simply elementary. While visiting New York City in 1946, he happened upon a shiny black MGTB, asked the owner if he’d like to sell, wired home for the $1500 necessary to title it in his name and drove it up to Albany.
At a time when the average price of a new American car was about $1200, the TB was a bit pricey, being a 1940 model and right hand drive. It was very similar to the later TC, with the same snazzy wire wheels, upright chromed radiator grille, and the same 54 hp engine, but only 379 TBs were made before the War stopped production at Abingdon.
Milliken was in seventh heaven; his previous transportation was a secondhand Chevy that was “…little more exciting than a grocery cart.” His thoughts of the early Duesenbergs and Millers of his boyhood returned to him and he found himself in a “machine that turned on all my senses and made driving a delightful experience….my childhood euphoria of driving had returned, and I was to never lose it.”
[Read more…] about The Milliken Bugatti T35A
Del Lee in the Bugatti at Lake Orion Michigan. Note the leather strap holding the crank. Photo by Harold Lance
Imagine, if you will, the prototype Bugatti T35 on an ice-covered lake in Michigan. Eric Davison tells the true story of Ettore’s first T35.
There is no doubt in my mind that I grew up in the most fortunate of circumstances. While my family was not wealthy we were comfortable. We had a nice house, three square meals a day and loving parents. What made my circumstances so fortunate was the fact that my dad was an absolute gear head. He loved great cars and he dragged me along on his wonderful adventures into the world of sports cars. He had been born in England and his preference was for English sports cars but all great cars were covered by his enthusiasm. Detroit, Michigan was where he found work as a commercial artist, painting cars and trucks for ads for ads and catalogs for the Big Three.
While “Detroit” was a word that was instantly recognized by most as a euphemism for big, strong and chrome plated automobiles, it was also the home of a small cult of serious car worshippers who by 1948 had banded together to form the Detroit Region of the Sports Car Club of America
Among those early revolutionaries was Harold Lance, a car enthusiast, original Detroit Region of the SCCA member and a Bugatti fanatic. In those days, the early 1950s, you could count on your fingers and toes, the sports cars to be found in Detroit. There were few Bugattis except the beautiful Royale that was owned by Charles Chayne, then the chief engineer of Buick. There was also a Type 37 that had been the property of Edsel Ford. That car was on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield Village on the Ford property in Dearborn, Michigan.
While Lance was a young army veteran who was just starting a family and could not afford a Bugatti, he had a subscription to the English Motorsport Magazine and spent considerable time scouring the classified ads.
One day, in the June 1951 edition of Motorsport, he found an ad for what was declared to be a Type 37A Bugatti. This particular car had been fitted with a supercharged Brescia engine and the price was only 400 pounds sterling or around $1600. [Read more…] about Bugatti on Ice