retromobile 2012

Italians at Retro

February 15, 2012 By pete

Retro at its best shows off the latest discoveries like this 1954 Ferrari 250 Monza spyder Pinin Farina.

Hugues Vanhoolandt on some of the Italian cars that appeared at Retromobile this year.

By Hugues Vanhoolandt

Despite the success of the 202 coupe, Cisitalia was still struggling. In 1953 the company decided to create a line of cars based on both the 1900 and 1100 Fiat chassis. The line was called the ‘DF’ for ‘Deriving from Fiat‘. Notably, the Cisitalia tubular frame was now gone and the chassis was Fiat. The 1100 cars were designated 33DF and the first was a spyder with cut down doors shown at the 1953 Turin Auto Show. But the production models were almost all coupes, as shown here and given the name ‘Voloradente’ or ’low flying’. The engine was modified to produce around 70 hp. Less than 20 were produced.

The Siata 208S, equipped with the Fiat 8V engine, was the perfect car for the West Coast. Ernie McAfee imported nearly all of them to California.

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Graham Gauld at RetroMobile

February 8, 2012 By pete

There is no doubt that the legendary Retromobile historic car show in Paris kicks off the season with a lot of fun, a lot of surprises, and just about every known dealer in expensive automobiles is prowling the stands with anguished looks at cars they might have sold if offered.

The show was bigger than ever this year taking in two halls and there was something for everyone. If you want a throttle cable for a 1929 Salmson and amidst barrels of what one would otherwise call junk, you will find one. As for cars, well, Retromobile always brings surprises. For a start, stroll with me to Christophe Pund’s stand. Christian is a jolly smiling Frenchman who manages to dig up the oddest cars from the oddest places and this year was no exception. Restored, but thankfully not to Pebble Beach standard, was a fascinating little Moretti 750 dating from 1955 that was bought by a dealer called Lino Fayen who was kind of French/Venezuelan. Shortly after he bought it he exported it to Venezuela which was just as well because the French tax men wanted to chat with him about tax and customs duty. He fled.

In Caracas the car went through various hands and thanks to Christophe you see here a picture of Edward Speluvela racing the Moretti in Venezuela. It was a twin cam producing 70 bhp and the odd bodywork was by Aperta. You will note it has a head rest and this is the only thing missing from it today. It is very original and no doubt will be snapped up and let’s hope we see it out racing again.

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Hugues Vanhoolandt at Retromobile

February 8, 2012 By vanhoolandt

Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Graham Gauld brought you the commentary this year, and below, Hugues Vanhoolandt provides a look at the colors of red and blue at this year’s event. Here are the selections from the cars of France.

Cooperation between France and Italy resulted in this Ferrari-like 1950 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport with a barchetta body by Motto of Torino in 1952.

Back to the future with this Renault Dauphine with electric motor. Henney Motors and Bell Labs, both American companies, experimented with an electric powered car, fifty years ahead of their time …or perhaps fifty years after!

After Ralph Lauren last year, it was the turn of another US collector, Peter Mullin, to show his best pieces in Paris, among them the Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic s/n 57374 …

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