VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

michael t lynch

Reunion at Saratoga

By

Among Peter Sachs’ tasty collection was the perfect car to bring to the NART Reunion, held at Saratoga, New York on September 10-12. This Ferrari 365 P2 was sold new to Luigi Chinetti and entered under the NART banner. It won the Reims 12 Hours in 1965 for Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet, was 2nd at the Bridgehampton 500 Kilometers (Pedro again) and had top-10 placings at Le Mans and Daytona in 1965 and 1966 respectively. It is shown in its Le Mans livery.

By Michael T. Lynch

Photos by Michael T. Lynch unless otherwise noted

From the VeloceToday Archives, September 2009

Saratoga, New York is a beautifully restored city that thrives on horse racing (both thoroughbreds and harness racing) and the performing arts.  It became a spa in the 19th Century because of its mineral waters and gambling also became part of its attraction. [Read more…] about Reunion at Saratoga

Larry Perkins, August 4, 1932-April 26, 2024

By

We have just learned that the irrepressible and multi-talented Larry Perkins passed away on April 26. Our sincere condolences to his wife Petra. We thought it fitting to republish this 2021 review/interview with Larry on the occasion of publishing his book Full Circle.

Review by Pete Vack
Full Circle: A Hands-on Affair with the First Ferrari GTO
Hardbound, 228 pages, Foreword by Denise McCluggage
ISBN 978-0578-97104-9
US $45
Order here: www.FullCircleFerrariGTO.com

Larry and Petra Perkins are no ordinary couple. They met while both were working at an aerospace company and began to share a life of travel, sailing, cycling; they married in 1991. Then one day Petra overheard Larry talking about a Ferrari GTO he raced at Sebring in the 1960s. She had attended one race there, and hoped it would be her last. It was the year of the scary fire in the pits; earlier in the day she remembered watching a red number 82 car go round and round and so asked Larry if he was at that race. Larry was taken aback.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Michael Lynch and the First GTO

By

When Pebble Beach announces a special display, the enthusiast community immediately comes to life. No one who saw the six Bugatti Royales at Pebble Beach in 1985 will ever forget the spectacle. A class for Bugatti Type 57s with coachbuilt bodies in 2003 was extremely impressive, with a large entry and car histories on placards mounted on standards. (This article originally was published in September 2011.) [Read more…] about Michael Lynch and the First GTO

Bill Pollack, Remembered

By

Pebble Beach, 1956. Bill Pollack in the Stovebolt Chevy HWM leads Phil Hill in a Ferrari 860, Ernie McAfee in a Ferrari 121LM, then the Jag D-Type of Pierce Woods, Bill Murphy’s Kurtis 500X, and the Aston of Jack Graham. Photo by Jim Sitz.

West Coast racer Bill Pollack passed away at the age of 92 on July 16, 2017. We originally published this appreciation on August 25, 2017, and a week later published a second article with material sent by our readers. We have combined the two articles for our Archives feature this week.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Pebble Beach, 2016 by Michael T. Lynch

By

fgdfg

Vicki and Michael T. Lynch, Pebble Beach, 2016.

From our Archives, September, 2016

Story and photos by Michael T. Lynch


The Capstone

The Pebble Beach Concours is the emotional finish of Holy Week on the Monterey Peninsula. Events continue into the next week, but none can match the feeling of climax that the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance provides.

If your pilgrimage is five days or longer, the fall days are losing enough sunlight that it seems one is leaving in the summer and returning home in fall. Certainly, it is clear that another year has passed. [Read more…] about Pebble Beach, 2016 by Michael T. Lynch

Pebble Beach 2016 by Hugues Vanhoolandt

By

Sunday morning, 6 am, the cars are waiting to be placed on the Pebble Beach lawn. Here is another creation of Michelotti, also on Fiat 1100 chassis, and shown at the 1953 Turin Auto Show but this time the coachbuilder is Vignale. It is back to the Pebble Beach Concours 61 years after its first appearance here.

Sunday morning, 6 am, the cars are waiting to be placed on the Pebble Beach lawn. Here is another creation of Michelotti, also on Fiat 1100 chassis, and shown at the 1953 Turin Auto Show. The coachbuilder is Vignale. It was back at the Pebble Beach Concours 61 years after its first appearance here.

From our Archives, September, 2016

Photos and story by Hugues Vanhoolandt

In its 66th year, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was celebrating among other things the Ford GT40, Chapron, Delahaye, Bizzarrini and the centennial of BMW. [Read more…] about Pebble Beach 2016 by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Scaglietti: An Appreciation by Michael Lynch

By

Sergio Scaglietti (l) is seen here with Piero Ferrari. Piero issued the following statement; ‘He was one of my father’s best friends. He was next to me with Marco Piccinini also the day my father died and stayed with me the whole night until the funeral. I loved him and he was a very important part of my life. The world is emptier without Sergio.’

In this brief tribute from the VeloceToday Archives, November 23, 2011, Michael Lynch tells us why Sergio Scaglietti is so important in Ferrari’s history. And as usual, so very well-told.

By Michael T. Lynch

The world has lost one of the great artisans of immediate post-World War II coachbuilding. Sergio Scaglietti died last Saturday night at his home. A son of Modena born in 1920, he joined his brother at Carrozzeria Emiliana when he was just 13, a year short of what Italian labor laws of the time allowed. This was due to the death of his father and the need for family income.

By 1937, he and his brother joined Renato Torcelli and formed Carrozzeria Torcelli & Scaglietti. The shop was directly across the street from Scuderia Ferrari and they were soon repairing the Alfas of the Scuderia.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Farewell, Michael Lynch

By

Above, Michael and Vicki Lynch, Pebble Beach, 2016.

By Pete Vack, Editor

Michael T. Lynch was a born writer. He wrote for Road & Track, Cavallino, Vintage Motorsport, and many more international automotive journals. He was respected around the world and always in demand. That he liked what we were doing with VeloceToday.com and that he was willing to contribute meant a great deal to me (and our readers). His approval tended to justify our existence; his continued support over the years meant that we were on the right path. [Read more…] about Farewell, Michael Lynch

Michael T. Lynch: Goodbye Dan Gurney

By

Jonathan Sharp photo, Goodwood 2012

By Michael T. Lynch

Dan Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) has left us, and we have lost one of the most charismatic American race drivers of any era. As the son of an opera singer on Long Island, he got the racing bug early, watching the midgets at Freeport Stadium. His hero of the day was midget driver Ted Tappet, whose real name was Phil Walters. Walters would go on to be the first great American postwar road racer, putting America on the international racing map with Briggs Cunningham’s cars. [Read more…] about Michael T. Lynch: Goodbye Dan Gurney

Bill Pollack, 1925-2017: An Appreciation

By

Pebble Beach, 1956. Bill Pollack in the Stovebolt Chevy HWM leads Phil Hill in a Ferrari 860, Ernie McAfee in a Ferrari 121LM, then the Jag D-Type of Pierce Woods, Bill Murphy’s Kurtis 500X, and the Aston of Jack Graham. Photo by Jim Sitz.

West Coast racer Bill Pollack passed away at the age of 92 on July 16. Our thanks to Jim Sitz, Michael Lynch, Allen Kuhn, William Edgar and Willem Oosthoek for their help with this article. [Read more…] about Bill Pollack, 1925-2017: An Appreciation

MIchael T. Lynch: Art of the Car, 2016

By

Tom Strongman photo

The panel of the Meet the Legends presentation enjoys a story while I look at my shoes. From left to right: the author, Peter Brock, Bob Bondurant, Pat Bondurant, Steve Volk and Allen Grant. The image on the screen is Cobra Coupe CSX #2287, the first car completed. It was entirely built within the Shelby American shop. It is shown at the Bonneville Salt Flats where it set 23 world records, including 12 hours at over 150 mph. The car can be seen today at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia. Tom Strongman photo

Story by Michael T. Lynch

The Art of the Car Concours celebrated its 10th Edition this year. Since the show’s inception, it has donated well over one million dollars to the Kansas City Art Institute Scholarship Fund. At a time when student debt has surpassed consumer debt, the event is to be complimented for doing its part to ease the burden.

The weekend’s festivities began with Saturday morning’s traditional Entrants’ Breakfast at Tivol, Kansas City’s leading jeweler, located on the Country Club Plaza, which was the first auto-centric shopping area in the country. The Plaza was built in 1927 and takes its architectural theme from Seville, Spain. The block was closed and many entrants brought their show cars, allowing the public to get a free preview of the leading Concours between the two coasts. [Read more…] about MIchael T. Lynch: Art of the Car, 2016

Michael T. Lynch at Pebble Beach, 2016

By

fgdfg

Vicki and Michael T. Lynch, Pebble Beach, 2016.

Story and photos by Michael T. Lynch


The Capstone

The Pebble Beach Concours is the emotional finish of Holy Week on the Monterey Peninsula. Events continue into the next week, but none can match the feeling of climax that the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance provides.

If your pilgrimage is five days or longer, the fall days are losing enough sunlight that it seems one is leaving in the summer and returning home in fall. Certainly, it is clear that another year has passed.

In the old days that would bother me. I used to think of the missed opportunities of the year gone by. The fact that the car in the back of my roofer’s shop didn’t turn out to be a round-door Wombat that I could buy for a fraction of its market value; the fact that another year had slipped away without taking part in the Monterey Historic Automobile Races as a participant, etc. I also liked to bitch about how many of my old buddies from years gone by were priced out of attending, more every year. [Read more…] about Michael T. Lynch at Pebble Beach, 2016

MENU