The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Guy Moerenhout’s Abarth Works Museum is a must for any Italian car enthusiast. Get there before January 7 while the Italian French Affair is still on display.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
In addition to the remarkable collection of Abarths at
Guy Moerenhout with the iconic original photo of the train of Berlina Corsa models on the Monza banking in 1966.
Story and photos by Alain Raymond
“A living museum, with no rope or cordon” This is how he describes his still-growing 340 car collection, housed in a 43,000 square foot ex-tool factory, located in the small town of Lier, in Belgium. “Some 80 percent of the cars here are operational. I believe in letting the cars live and be used for the way they were intended,” explains Guy Moerenhout, ex-factory rallyman for Abarth and present-day guru for all things Abarth. VeloceToday first visited Moerenhout’s museum in 2010 and I went back this past June to further explore this unique homage to Carlo Abarth and his many creations.
Simca 8 Roux Speciale, 1939.
Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli
Automedon is a two day event held every year in the exhibition center of the Bourget Airport near Paris. This year to celebrate its 15th edition, the main theme of the event was Simca and the Club Simca France presented many Simcas of the 40s and 50s.
But as usual, in the parking lot outside, many production cars, including Italians, Germans and Americans, attracted the attention of the enthusiastic visitors, and for us, perhaps even more fun than the show itself!
Nice cars, nice weather, lot of people…thoroughly enjoyable!
Delahaye 135, winner of the Le Mans 24 hours of 1938.
Ligier JS2, 1972-75
Abarth Simca
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Review by Pete Vack
Of all the myriad of Abarths constructed between 1955 and 1972, among the fastest, most attractive and best handling are the rare Abarth Simcas, born in 1962 as a result of a deal between Carlo Abarth and Enrico Pigozzi, the Italian who established the French Simca firm, spurred on by the Viennese engineer Rudy Hruska, then working for Simca. [Read more…] about Abarth Simca Chronicles
One of our favorite shows is the “Best of France and Italy”, held every year on the grounds of Woodley Park in the L.A. area. It is low key, a true enthusiasts gathering, and brings out a great variety of unusual French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian and Czechoslovakian cars. Don Hodgdon was there for us.[Ed.]
Story and photos by Don Hodgdon
Rain was falling when I woke up Sunday morning, but it passed through quickly and I left Santa Barbara under sunny skies. I had thought twice about heading down to Woodley Park, having my doubts that anyone would show up. While the numbers were down from past years, considering the rain there was a good group of cars. Alfas and Fiats, along with a healthy group of Citroens made up the bulk of the show, and I think there were almost as many Tatras (3) as there were Ferraris.
[Read more…] about Best of France and Italy 2011
Photos and Captions by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Delage D6 of 1936.