The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Story by Pete Vack and Howard Banaszak
Read Part 1
Our lead appears whimsical but in fact, Banaszak’s Stanguellini (CS04080), called a “Mercollini” by the wags at Kiekhaefer, did set the Class H land speed record at Daytona Beach on February 28, 1956, at 102.1 mph, driven by Herm Behm. The combination of the Mercury 55 outboard and the tiny, lightweight but sturdy Stanguellini was a winner out of the box.
At Thompson Raceway on September 5 1954 with the PBX in first and the Stanguellini CS04080 driven by John Gordon Benett in second. Here, Benett still has the lead.
By Howard Banaszak
One year ago, we presented the story of Candy Poole’s amazing PBX, which seemed to have no rivals in the east coast’s H Modified class. This month we tell the story of one of the few cars to give the PBX a run for its money, the Stanguellini 750 SN CS04080. Ironically, it found its greatest success after the installation of the all American Mercury outboard motor. It is a remarkable story in many ways.
After owning several Porsches, I decided to focus on the Italian sports racers and of course met Tim Ritter; Tim contacted me around 1985-86. He had found an interesting project car. It had a Devin body, but was mounted on an Italian chassis. Neither of us knew what it was, however, it sounded interesting. I purchased the car and it was shipped back to Florida. I removed the Devin body and gave it to Judge Parker for a project he was working on. [Read more…] about The Banaszak Stanguellini Sport P1
Sebring, leading up to Friday. March 25th. Jim Hall poses next to his DKW-powered Elva FJ. His body man Foy Barrett is on the left, and the fuel man is Chester “Chet” Hines. Chet was Hap Sharp’s aircraft mechanic, often drafted to serve as part-time race mechanic.
By Willem Oosthoek All photos taken by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection]
The 1960 edition of the Sebring 12 Hours was scheduled to start at 10 AM Saturday, March 26. But competition actually began a day earlier. For the first time in its history, the 12-hour event featured two opening races, one for Formula Juniors on Friday morning and a 4-hour event for Under-1-liter GT entries in the afternoon. [Read more…] about Formula Junior at Sebring, 1960
Ed McDonough taking the Autosud for a quick lap.
by Ed McDonough
Photos by Peter Collins
This article, first published in 2003, was noticed by the Italian creator of the Autosud Napoli, and eventually resulted in the fascinating story related by Mr. Rosa Rosa about how he constructed, lost and found again the three Autosud Formula Juniors in 2007. Below, Ed McDonough drives one of the Rosa Rosa Autosuds and compares it to the finest front-engined Junior of the era, the Stanguellini. [Read more…] about Autosud vs. the Stanguellini
Europe is finally beginning to see an influx of the Abarth Allemanos.
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
It’s the first week of February, and to many that means Retromobile in Paris. This large motoring extravaganza is the meeting place of those who are in the know and looking for customers for their cars, as well as those who are there to drink in a truly diverse collection of cars, memorabilia and artifacts that never fail to produce some surprising items.
I tend to overlook the big historic car dealer stands with the major items that are generally covered in depth by most of the historic rags. I tend to look in the corners and on some of the smaller stands where you can find some really interesting stuff.
The Bertone-bodied Stanguellini berlinetta.
I have known the Stanguellini family for over fifty years, but this was the first occasion I have seen one of the 1100cc Fiat-engined berlinettas produced in the early 1950s. They were built as a short run of cars aimed at racing, with beautifully styled coachwork by Nuccio Bertone. As you can see from the photo it was very stylish for 1951 and at the Coppa Inter Europa that year, four of them took part, Manzini’s car finishing 8th in the 1100cc class. The one on show was on the Belgian Marreyt Classics stand with a price tag a shade over $180,000.
You had a choice of Cisitalia 202SC cabriolets on offer at Retromobile. This one was the Marryet car finished in blue/grey...
Alessandro Gerelli captures the old and the new.
Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
We’re sure everyone has seen the news about the opening of the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari. We are also sure that no one covers it better than VeloceToday. No PR here, but a good many insights from the Man himself.
The workshop next to the new Museum building: ‘My brother and I shared a room over the workshop and were awakened in the morning by the ringing of the hammers. My father Alfredo…made gangways and sheds for the State Railways.’—Enzo Ferrari
The photo is at the entrance of the old buiding and reads 'I am the one who dreamt of being Ferrari.' The yellow museum poster reads 'If you can dream it, you can do it.'
The Ferrari house has been completely restructured and adapted as an art gallery. Enzo Ferrari’s activities during his life are displayed via multimedia with video, documents and car displays. A very futuristic building has been built side by side to the old house: the new structure, when seen from above, looks like the bonnet of a car in yellow, the color of Modena. The new building was designed by Jan Kaplichy, who unfortunately died in 2009 without seeing the final result of his genius. It was completed by Andrea Morgante of the Shiro Studio. Photo courtesy Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari.
Stanguellini's Ala d'Oro bodied Fiat 1100. Photo by Graham Gauld.
Some time ago, reader Bill Spear emailed a photo taken from Life magazine back in the 1950s. We don’t know when or where the photo was taken but he had no idea what the car is or who built it. So of course he sent it to us. But after that was published, we hear more about this post war classic Stanguellini.
[Read more…] about More on the Ala d’Oro Stanguellini
Mystery car no more.
So of course he sent it to us. After doing a bit of searching, we could find nothing definite. It was time to call in the real experts. We turned to Dino Brunori, author of “Enrico Nardi, a Fast Life”, who replied:
The car is a Fiat 1100 body by Carrozzeria Ala d’Oro from Reggio Emilia, built in 1948. Carrozzeria Ala d’Oro was founded in 1946 by Franco Bertani, a gentleman driver italian champion in 1938 1100cc class, and Officine Reggiane in Reggio Emilia.
Officine Reggiane was a small factory that grow up during the war, manufacturing parts for airplanes, mainly wings and cockpits, and therefor had nothing to do at the end of the war.
The workforce was rescued by Bertani with the set up of Carrozzeria Ala d’Oro. The Ala d’Oro bodied most part of the first Stanguellini production cars and several sports models, plus artisans cars and trucks. This 1100 was originally fitted with an hard top very similar to an airplane cockpit (see picture). The design was an in-house work. The car still exist in the hands of an italian collector.
Our thanks to Bill Spear for the question and Dino Brunori for the answer!
Photo courtesy Dino Brunori.
Jim Jenne's Stanguellini heads up an impressive line up of entrants.
By Cliff Reuter
The 2010 etceterini meet has come and gone and I must say that it far exceeded my expectations!
Three years ago when I first thought of such an event, the goal was to gather the best etceterini cars in America for a show but most importantly I wanted to get the etceterini ‘isti’ together. [Read more…] about Amelia Etceterini Class a Smashing Success
Books
What is surprising is that there are so many books about Etceterinis. While most books on the subject are in Italian, but today, with Google Translator, just type in the text you wish to read and it will translate, instantly and accurately enough for general purposes. Increasingly, more are being printed in both English and Italian, or one can find English text copies about.
We list here only the books we-being Cliff Reuter, Stu Schaller and myself– have on our shelves. There are many others to be found and we hope you will let us know what they are and a bit about them. We have limited the choices to those books which directly address the subject; books on coachbuilders or special bodied Fiats will be covered at another time.
“La Sport e I suoi artigiani 1937-1965” is the one absolutely essential book for anyone who is interested in Etceterinis. Published in 2002, it is the bible, an encyclopedia of virtually every single small displacement Italian car built for the Italian national classes in the post war era. It is complete, fascinating, full of photos, in alphabetical order, well indexed, but all in Italian. You can read a review of the book from 2002, here.
[Read more…] about Etceterini Books
Websites and Links
There is a growing amount of information on the Net, and we are just scratching the surface here. Say or type the favored word into Google or Bing and they will appear.
Below are some of our favorites along with some good things found in our very own pages, compiled from our archives. But no where is there more information in one spot than at Etecterini.com. Almost singlehandedly Cliff Reuter has turned his site into a veritable Wikipedia for Ecteterinis. You’ll spend hours just cruising through the vast amounts of material Cliff has accumulated and organized and don’t miss the SCCA results and programs: Etceterini.com.
[Read more…] about Etceterini Internet Sources
Are F Jrs. Etceterinis? Only the Italian ones!
We continue to feature the cars entered in the Etceterini class at this year’s Amelia. We will combine them all into one article on March 3rd to present them all at one time for voting purposes. The winner will receive a copy of “Nardi, A fast life”, donated by author Dino Brunori. Below are four more excellent Etceterinis.
[Read more…] about Four More for Amelia