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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Etceterinis

Bill Warner finds the Don Vitale Nardi

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A photo of the Nardi in the driveway of the owner’s house in St. John’s (Jacksonville), FL. Credit Bill Warner

Story by Bill Warner

When you are into old cars, particularly old race cars, over the years they tend to find you rather than you finding them. I’ve had a lot of luck over the years, starting in 1976 when I found the Denny Hulme Tourist Trophy winning Brabham BT8 in a South Carolina junkyard followed by the Lang Cooper, an Elva Mk 4, the Group 44 TR6 and TR8, a 1928 Chevrolet powered beach racer, the 1934 Ford Model 40 Special Speedster (Edsel Ford’s sportscar) and more recently a 1977 IROC Camaro driven by Al Unser and Niki Lauda, to name a few. Last year I received a call from a friend who is an officer on the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office who was trying to help a lady who had inherited a strange sports car from her recently departed brother and would I come to her house to tell her what it was. No problem in that the car was about 4 miles from my Garage Mahal in south Jacksonville.

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Etceterini Corner Number Two

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Fiat 508 C Ala d’Oro, Mille Miglia 2017. More on this in our mini feature below.

Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt unless otherwise noted

Read Part 1

For our second edition of Etceterini Corner, we present another series of images by Hugues Vanhoolandt taken over a period of years. Although seven of the eight images are of different Erminis, we focus on the Ala d’Oro, a fascinating car meant more for the street than the track. How many were made is a good question.

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Etceterini at Atterbury

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The McArthur Bandini in the paddock area. He won his class.

From the Archives, August 2007

This is collection of photos from the Clair Reuter Collection, which provide a window into the H modified classes in the Midwest during the early and mid-fifties.
Many of the images were taken at a SCCA race at the Atterbury Airforce Base near Columbus, Indiana, on May 30th 1954. [Read more…] about Etceterini at Atterbury

The Cars of Rudolfo Patriarca

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Story by Dino Brunori

In the Mille Miglia won by Marzotto and his Ferrari in 1950, there was a great victory by one of the small builders – what we today call the Etceterinis. The first car that arrived on Viale Rebuffone in Brescia was not, as usual, one of the most powerful cars which left between five and seven o’clock in the morning, but a little red berlinetta from the 750 sport class.

It was the first time that such a thing happened. [Read more…] about The Cars of Rudolfo Patriarca

Gerelli at the Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti

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Photos by Alessandro Gerelli

The Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti, Alessandro Gerelli, and the Editor are all 71 years old. While this is purely coincidental, Alessandro’s phenomenal coverage of the modern event is not. It is the result of years of dedication to his photography, his passion, and his ongoing and remarkable support of VeloceToday.com. He began reporting the event, a re-creation of the original race that began in 1947, sixteen years ago in 2002 when Phil Hill was an honored guest. [Read more…] about Gerelli at the Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti

Siata 1400 Coupe

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We first ran this story in April of 2006. Peter Voorhees was well into restoring this one off 1400 Siata. Then we lost track of both Voorhees and the Siata. Find out what happened-Ed.

By Peter Voorhees
Photos by the author and as noted

This is the abbreviated story of a Siata that I bought in 1985 at a flea market in Stowe, Vermont. Restoration process has been slow, however. I’ve been telling my friends ‘This is the Year!’ for so many years it’s really become a joke. But the journey has been so much fun I don’t mind at all. Every year I learn a little more and finish a little more, but there are still things to learn and do.

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Etceterini Guy Cliff Reuter

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Jack and Cliff Reuter in Bandini #358 at the 2010 Amelia Island Concours

By Pete Vack and Cliff Reuter
Photos courtesy Cliff Reuter

VeloceToday has been publishing articles weekly since 2001, but Cliff Reuter’s excellent site, Etceterini.com, is almost as old. “I started my first web site cliffreuter.com in 2002 as a way to connect with friends around the world (before Facebook) and then in 2005 launched Etceterini.com”, said Cliff.

In 2006, Cliff and VeloceToday shared a unique experience we found the ex-Clair “Sonny” Reuter Bandini. VeloceToday did the story and Cliff and his father Jack (no relation to Clair Reuter) rescued the car and it is now being restored. A few years later in 2010, Cliff helped organize an Etceterini show at Amelia Island Concours, and with Sportscardigest.com, we ran a series of articles and a contest for the favorite Etceterini entry at Amelia.

Etceterini.com has turned out to be the ‘go to’ site for anyone interested in SCCA racing in the 1950s and 60s. “I started my SCCA results pages in 2006 after we purchased the ex-Sandy MacArthur 1951 Bandini Siluro Motto Crosley Mercury Devin. We knew some of the history of the car but wanted to know more. I searched the Internet for 1950s SCCA results and was VERY disappointed with what I found – almost nothing. I then began going through my Father’s boxes of 1950s-60s race photos, car magazines, racing memorabilia, SCCA race programs and these yielded some very enlightening information!”

While Cliff’s site focuses on Etceterinis, all cars are included, particularly Ferraris. “I’m constantly buying and adding to this collection of American sports car racing history so keep checking back (and refreshing)! Also, PLEASE help me grow these pages by sending YOUR scans of SCCA race results, programs and articles,” said Cliff.

Jack Reuter, left, with his 330 GTO Ferrari and at right, Dick Merritt.

Cliff’s background is as interesting as his site. He is originally from St. Louis Missouri, and his mother is from Liverpool, UK. Father Jack is from St. Louis and was a passionate car enthusiast from early on. Growing up, Cliff says he “played a lot of tennis and shared my dad’s love of European cars.”

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Moretti 750 Gran Sport Times Three

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Above: Posing with the Harry Jones Moretti are (left-to-right) Viola Jones, Pat McAfee (then wife of Jack McAfee), and Vi’s husband Harry Jones. Santa Barbara paddock, September 1954. Photo: John Edgar, Edgar Motorsport Archive
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By Pete Vack

Thanks to Peter Vanlaw, William Edgar, Alex Vazeos, Rex McAfee, Cliff Reuter, John de Boer, Karl Ludvigsen and Cindy Meitle.

Road & Track, August 1954. The color photo is by photographer and journalist Bob Rolofson; the car, a Moretti Gran Sport—the archetypical “Baby Ferrari”. No doubt many more people saw this photo than would ever lay eyes on the actual car itself; few subjected to the cover photo or the reality would likely soon forget the sight. Even today, the car stirs the imagination.

There might be ten or twenty of these 748cc Michelotti-designed “Gran Sport” Morettis around. John de Boer lists ten known berlinettas (Gran Sport) but emphatically states that the list is far from complete and is constantly updated and there may well be only eight in existence today. Two are very well known and have clear provenances… chassis 1293s (ex-Ludvigsen) and 1294s (now owned by Alex Vazeos), and a third the Road & Track cover car, is featured here for the first time in competition.

While doing last minute research for this article and with the help of William Edgar and Peter Vanlaw, we found some new insights about the Moretti Gran Sports that went though the hands of West Coast importer Ernie McAfee. The competition record of the GS is quite good, but hard to research. Next week in Part II we’ll provide what we know and hopefully readers can add to the list of events.

Saving the Gran Sports

Moretti-GS-750-Ludvigsen

Karl Ludvigsen at the Mille Miglia in 1998 with Moretti GS#1293s. He found, restored and cared for the car for twenty years before selling it to Larry Auriana in 1998.

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Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano 2011 Images

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Photo Story by Dino Brunori

Le Mitiche Sport brings out a wide variety of historic racing cars not seen elsewhere in the world including a great number of of our favorite small displacement Italian sports racers. But also eligible are the legendary big cars like the Mercedes SSK below making it an event not to be missed.

1928 Mercedes SSK is a huge affair next to the miniscule Italian specials. It was driven by the team of Bernhard and Henry Bauer from Germany.


[Read more…] about Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano 2011 Images

Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano 2010

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For our readers: This is a review of last year’s Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano.

For information about the 2011 event which will take place from 16 to 19 June and is open to 100 sport cars:

Click here for the Bassano website.

Click here for direct contact withe the organizers.

For information about renting a classic sportscar for the 2011 event, please contact the editor at pete@velocetoday.com.

A wonderland of Italian toys surrounds the Nardi of Dino Brunori, number 72.

Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano 2010, 17 – 20 June
By Dino Brunori and Chuck Schoendorf
Photo by Brunori unless otherwise noted.

When Italian journalist and race driver Count Giovanni Lurani coined the nickname “barchetta” after seeing the new Touring-bodied 166 Ferrari Spider, I’m sure he didn’t have in mind Bassano 2010.
[Read more…] about Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano 2010

The Essential Etceterini

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Why are we so fascinated by Ecterinis?
Because we don’t know much about them. Because they are so rare. Because they are so tiny. Because they are so cute. Because they raced the great races. Because they were built by artisans. Because they are like miniature Ferraris. Because they sound great. Because they represent an era we will never see again. Because they are Italian.

So, exactly what is an “Etceterini” anyway?
Broadly speaking, Etceterinis are tiny, jewel-like race cars from Italy with names that usually ended in a vowel. But today, with vastly increasing prices, limited availability, and international recognition, it might be time to definitively define the word, the class, the car. So we asked two who should know, Italian car historian John de Boer, and Stu Schaller, who reportedly coined the term back in the 1970s. [Read more…] about The Essential Etceterini

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