The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
By the staff of Giorgio Nada Editore
When the Mille Miglia emerged from the ashes of the Second World War in the June of 1947, among the crowds thronging Brescia’s Piazza della Vittoria in those early summer days was a young man with a camera slung around his neck, absorbed in capturing faces, cars and views with his Leica. [Read more…] about Alberto Sorlini: Visual Poet of the Mille Miglia
Story by Dino Brunori
Enrico Nardi, described by the Americans ‘the wiz who can squeeze more power from an engine than the official R&D of the factory’ is a name well known to all car enthusiasts. His career began in 1930 with Fiat as a test driver. In 1932 he went to Lancia where he became the pupil of Vincenzo Lancia, then in 1937 landed a job with Scuderia Ferrari with increasingly greater responsibilities, so much so that from 1940 he was Enzo Ferrari’s right-hand man. [Read more…] about Etceterinis in the Mille Miglia
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Enzo Ferrari once reportedly called the reenactment of the Mille Miglia “the travelling museum that is unique in the world.” And it is remarkable that since the event was reconstituted in 1977, it is still going strong after 35 editions. This year, some 450 cars of 73 different manufacturers were due to cross 7 regions of Italy and over 200 locations of art and culture, from Brescia to Rome and back.
The Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Pinin Farina s/n 0418 MD finished 15th overall in 1954. Today it is a Mille Miglia regular with the Bean family from Atlanta.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
A few days ago, the Mille Miglia celebrated 90 years since its first edition in 1927.
It is also 60 years since the last ‘real’ thing happened.
For more than 30 years, a regularity rally has resurrected the glorious days of the Mille Miglia.
From Brescia to Roma and back, the long caravan of more than 400 classic cars goes through the old cities of Italy and the landscapes of Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Marche and Tuscany to name a few. Here is but a small overview of this anniversary edition.
This 1932 Fiat 508 S “Balilla” is one of the prototypes built by Ghia for the Fiat 508 S.
Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
2016 Mille Miglia May 19-22
A few days after the Monaco Historic Grand Prix another important event on the classic car calendar, the glorious Mille Miglia takes place, snf that is immediately followed by the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the shores of Lake Como, near Milano.
Reunited in the same image (and now in the same VW group), the car of the people and the car of the Kings, the VW Beetle and the Bugatti Royale.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
More than 190,000 visitors attended the 27th edition of Techno Classica in Essen, Germany, making it once again the biggest indoor classic car show on earth, despite the competition from the more recent Stuttgart Retro Classics show.
More than 2,500 classic cars were on sale and 1,250 exhibitors were on stage as well as 220 clubs. Of course, as we are in Germany, the offers of local dealers mainly concentrated on Porsche 356s or 911s as well as Mercedes 300 SL or 190 SL. But the demand on Italian classics remains as strong as the prices.
As ever, the local German manufacturers took the opportunity to show their heritage and every German make had special displays celebrating model or racing victory anniversaries like 30 years of the Porsche 959 and the BMW 3 series or 60 years since the Mercedes-Benz victory in the Mille Miglia.
Mercedes-Benz also focused its exhibition on aerodynamic research through the ages. But enough speeches, let’s see a selection of what was not to miss in Essen.
Based on the popular Alfa Romeo 1900, this coupé was built in 1957 by the Swiss coachbuilder Ghia-Aigle on a design by Giovanni Michelotti. Only five examples were built.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the legendary victory of Moss and Jenkinson onboard their Mercedes 300 SLR at the 1955 Mille Miglia. In perfect weather conditions, they established a record average of 97.90 mph that remained unbeaten.
Ready for another Mille Miglia? This year more cars and specatators than ever. This year, Alessandro Gerelli attends the start at Brescia.
Story and Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
[Read more…] about Mille Miglia at Brescia, 2014
An OM 665 on the ramp at the Mille Miglia. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
By Pete Vack
Note: Black and white photos are from the new book “O.M. The men, the cars, the races” and are typical of the oustanding and rare photographs presented in the book. Click to enlarge and our thanks to Fondazione Negri for permissions.
A two o’clock in the morning, Giovanni Canestrini was awakened by the sound of someone calling his name. Going to the window, he saw four figures in the courtyard below gesturing to Canestrini to let them in, for it was cold in December in Milan. The four – Count Aymo Maggi, Count Franco Mazzotti, Renzo Castagneto, and Flaminio Monti – wanted to talk, and Canestrini knew about what.
No sooner had he invited the foursome inside than they began the familiar complaint…Brescia needed to regain its place as the center of motorsports, lost to the nearby city of Milan when the new Monza Autodrome was constructed in 1922. And they presented another scenario; Italy’s car manufacturers were no longer building race cars. Bugatti dealer and racer Aymo Maggi well knew that if one wanted to buy a car to race, it seemed the only choice was to buy a T35 from Bugatti. Something needed to be done. If a successful cross-country race were launched, it would encourage the manufacturer to enter, and build Italian cars like the Bugatti. Automotive journalist Canestrini, of course, we help to promote the event. It would be good for the state, the roads, the people, communications, and of course improve the breed.
The winner of the 2013 Mille Miglia was the Argentinian crew Tonconogy-Berisso on a Bugatti Type 40 of 1927.
Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Last week was the 31st edition of the Mille Miglia Storica Rally, which is the world’s biggest mobile car museum, travelling along the beautiful roads of Italy from Brescia to
Roma and back. This year there more more cars entered than ever before: 415 cars at the start compared to the traditional amount of 375.
[Read more…] about Mille Miglia 2013 by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Staff comments are followed by the verbatim entry list information from the Mille Miglia Website. Photos are in order of year and or entry number.
Pre-War Cars
OM was the first winner of the Mille Miglia in 1927, so the OMs have the privilege to be the first cars on the starting ramp. OM 665 Superba (1927) – Sport Wetz (LU)- Fedi (IT)
The French make Rally specialized in the production of ‘voiturettes’ like this ABC model which finished 3rd at the Double Twelve of Brooklands in 1929. RALLY ABC (1929) - Sport Fiorentini (IT) - Fiorentini (IT)
1930 OM 665 Superba in need of a little help from its friends. Co-driving is not an easy task … OM 665 Superba (1930) - Sport Fuchs (DE) - Falk (AT)
By Pete Vack
Photos Copyright Alessandro Gerelli
Alessandro Gerelli has accumulated hundreds of photos from the many Mille Miglia events over the past few years. We thought we might use a few to help illustrate OSCA’s meeting with Porsche in the 1954 race. In addition to Alessandro’s photos, we are fortunate to have obtained permission from LMG Auto and the widow of Carlo Demand, to publish the image of the Hans Hermann Porsche Spyder as the occupants ducked under a rail crossing. The drawing was first published in “The Big Race”, in 1956. More of Carlo’s work can be seen, and ordered, from www.lmgauto.com.
Carlo Demand's work depicts some of the greatest moments in racing history, such as Hans Hermann's remarkable 1954 Mille Miglia.
1927 BNC 527 Monza (1075 cc).
Captions and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
[Read more…] about French at the Mille Miglia 2011 by Vanhoolandt