Delahaye
Humor By Richard Bartholomew
Taking the station wagon to new heights. From the VeloceToday Archives, August 2021.
The Final Word on Squarebacks!
car art
The Return of the Station Wagon
Francois Chevalier and His Art
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
Above: Somewhat ironic that the iconic statue of Williams in the Bugatti by Francois Chevalier is removed from St. Devote during the race! From the VeloceToday archives, October 2013.
If you should ever be in Monte Carlo, keep a look-out for an almost life-sized bronze statue to “Williams”, or William Grover-Williams to give him his correct name, the winner of the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929.
Painting with Light: From Digital to Analog
There are a lot of problems with this shot– crooked background, shadows from booth to right, but it conveys the ambiance of the event with European style outdoor cafes. I did the artwork for this article based on this photo.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Wallace Wyss is both a photojournalist and a fine artist. Here he explains how to use light to create “art” with photographs.]
Story and photos by Wallace Wyss
As longtime VT readers might know, I wear a few different hats. At a car show I am a reporter, i.e. photojournalist, taking the pictures to go with my report for Internet sites, magazines or for my Incredible Barn Finds series of books.
At the same time I see the show through the eyes of a fine artist and, if the light is right, try to attempt to portray the cars in my photos in a certain light and background that is not always identical to the pictures taken while wearing my photojournalist hat and “shooting for the record.”
And I’m here to tell ya that those two roles don’t necessarily mesh–often they fight each other tooth and nail…
For example, when I went to the Ferrari Club of America Southwest Region concours on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena in April, my overall assignment was to select the most interesting cars and shoot them for a straight story. [Read more…] about Painting with Light: From Digital to Analog
Monterey Round Up
Seems that dirt is in this year at the Auctions.
By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Wallace Wyss and Wayne Martin
McCall’s
One of my first stops was the McCall Motorworks Revival party. This is an evening event thrown at an airplane hangar at the Monterey airport and has a mixture of old planes (one bearing little swastikas for every German plane its pilots shot down—making me wonder, at displays of wartime airplanes in Germany do they have little stars-and-stripes on the fuselage?) modern biz-jets and collector cars and new cars. [Read more…] about Monterey Round Up
Terry Cook: Faux French
Strange but beautiful concoctions…
By Wallace Wyss
The Pacific. Bids to start at $250K.
If you are an old hot rodder, you might remember when Terry Cook was the dynamo editor of Car Craft, and later Hot Rod magazines. Most of the time, these gearheads don’t “cross-over” to classic cars but this writer was surprised to find Cook is the name behind Delahaye USA. He’s now a full-fledged classic car aficionado, designing cars and having them created from scratch via a number of fabrication shops. True to form though, his self-styled classics still have hot rod underpinnings. Sounds like a dream come true and Cook agrees. VeloceToday contributor Wallace Wyss, assisted by photographer Richard Bartholomew, interviewed Terry Cook at the Palos Verdes Concours in September.
The Pacific on the street as photographed by Richard Bartholomew.
WYSS: I saw your stunning Bugatti-styled car at Palos Verdes Concours d’Elegance. Are you a fabricator yourself?
COOK: Never a fabricator or builder, and not a mechanic. I’m a designer/bullshitter. A world-class bullshitter. I went drag racing in early 60’s, then quit racing myself and concentrated on journalism. I never had writer’s block.
WYSS: Is it true that you were unaware of classic cars until quite recently, like seeing a Bugatti in a NYC show?
COOK: It was in 1995 that I saw Oscar Davis’ 1939 Shah of Persia Bugatti and its pontoon fenders. That glimpse of that car changed my life for the better.
WYSS: I can understand… the Bugatti of the Shah will be featured in my next Incredible Barn Finds book. But how did you acquire the name “Delahaye USA?” Did you buy U.S. rights to the name? What happened to the last vestiges of the company?
COOK: The Delahaye Company went out of business in 1953. I started using it 8-9 years ago and nobody sent me a cease-and-desist letter; been using it for years with no objections from anyone. I received lots of nice letters from people with the Delahaye name thanking me for keeping the memory alive, and treating it with respect. I also have been making fiberglass Zephyr and boattail bodies under the flag of DECO RIDES.
The Art of Francois de la Cloche
Bugatti Atlantic by Francois de la Cloche. ©Francois de la Cloche
By Brandes Elitch
All art and images courtesy and copyright Francois del Cloche
One of the joys of attending Retromobile (see Art and Retromobile) is that it’s not just a collection of cars, it’s a multimedia experience. There is a whole section of the hall dedicated to artists, sculptors, model-makers, dioramas, jewelry, posters, plaques, automobilia, photographs, mascots, racing trophies, and more. When I first started attending this show, around twenty years ago, it was pretty low-key. Today, there has been enormous price appreciation in the cars themselves, and by association, with the collectibles that seem to inevitably accompany them. I cannot think of a single “car guy” I know whose home does not have a few prints, posters, drawings, or photos on the wall reflecting their passion. The marvelous thing about art is that each piece is original and unique. Art is personal, very personal. [Read more…] about The Art of Francois de la Cloche
Richard Pietruska: Form Follows Fantasy
Ferrari GTO and another familiar form. Photo courtesy Pietruska.
Interview by Wallace Wyss
RICHARD PIETRUSKA is a professor and an artist living in Venice, CA who has the distinction of having escaped the clutches of the auto industry to become an Internationally known sculptor. Contributor Wallace Wyss saw him at the FCA convention and asked for an update.
WYSS: I notice the patina on that one sculpture. Is that fiberglass, or have you gone to metal?
PIETRUSKA: That’s metal, bronze. The finish is a very unique silver nitrate patina that lends itself to that particular sculpture of the Ferrari 250/599 GTO.
[Read more…] about Richard Pietruska: Form Follows Fantasy
Racing Car Transporter Art
Mike's depiction of the Scuderia Lancia Transporter, circa 1955.
By Pete Vack
Inside the Paddock was one of those very special books for this reviewer as it was not considered a job, but a joy. Reading was therefore accorded the status of pleasure, something to be done slowly at the end of the day while relaxing and extending the happy experience of turning the pages one at a time, a few each night from beginning to end without need to jump about.
[Read more…] about Racing Car Transporter Art
Master Class Stylist: Mark Stehrenberger
Mark Stehrenberger is an artist, familiar to most Road & Track and Motor Trend readers for his many projected visions of what the world’s automakers are building next. Mark has also been involved with real life car design and in the past has been a consultant to various automakers such as VW, Peugeot, Renault, Ford, KIA, Subaru, Rolls Royce, Jeep, and Toyota. He resides alternately in Montreux, Switzerland, and Ventura, CA but comes over to Ventura, CA every so often to recharge his batteries (yes, three AAA batteries, not included).
By Wallace Wyss
WYSS: I often look at the major car magazines such as Road & Track, just to see what you are going to predict. Where do you get your information?
STEHRENBERGER: By listening what the car honchos do NOT tell at press conferences, by info obtained from within and without the car makers’ studios, by doing my own, sometimes elaborate and extensive, research, then connecting the dots!
[Read more…] about Master Class Stylist: Mark Stehrenberger
City of Turin
Captions Not Applicable
Photography by Simon Grand
Simon Grand has contributed to these pages in the past, and recently he sent us some of his artful images of the “automotive jewellery” that was on display at the Concorso D’eleganza in Turin. While VeloceToday, unlike many websites, does not simply publish scattered images without thought or identification, captions here seem superfluous.
[Read more…] about City of Turin
From Starving Author to Starving Artist
“500 Mondial at Monterey 2008” See VT Store for More, click here.
By Pete Vack
According to Wally Wyss (rhymes with reese) only a handful of automotive writers earn a living writing. Recently, after having authored over ten books so far and hundreds of articles, Wyss figured that in order to really succeed he would instead become an automotive illustrator.
But he also admits that the successful automotive artist is even a rarer breed than the well paid automotive writer. So we all wondered, what is Wyss thinking, using the duh word and circling our temples with an index finger.
[Read more…] about From Starving Author to Starving Artist