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Here comes “Ferrari.” Are you ready?

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By Pete Vack

Hollywood strikes again. Your friends will ask, was it really like this? You will be amused. Or you will not be amused. But it is coming. Deal with it.

Remember when Ford vs Ferrari came out? In those pre-pandemic days, seems like all of your friends and relatives went to see it in the theaters. Then they called or sent you a message or even visited you and asked you, you being the expert on all things foreign and Ferrari, a bunch of questions. Did you know Shelby, what was he like, or was he like Matt Damon, did Miles and Shelby really have a fight, was it really a close finish at Le Mans, why did Ferrari lose etcetera, etcetera.

Hollywood got it close to right and it was a great film. But Ferrari, the movie which will be in theaters around Christmas, is darker, with more conjecture, and like the book on which it is based, may be less accurate than one might wish. And more truthful and less comfortable. And will it hurt Ferrari’s image? [Read more…] about Here comes “Ferrari.” Are you ready?

Ferrari’s SUV

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Has it come to this?

By Wallace Wyss
Photos courtesy Ferrari

Picture the following glimpse of The Good Life. You have a mountain cabin in Telluride, Aspen or some such but would never want to take your Ferrari GTC4 Lusso there because of coping with snow and ice. But with the Purosangue (“purebred”) Ferrari, a 4wd SUV, you can tackle winter and still enjoy a purebred Ferrari.

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The Ghia 450 SS: Sugarman’s Dream

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From the VeloceToday Archives, September, 2010

By Wallace Alfred Wyss
Photos by John Huggins

Long ago, you could go to an Italian coachbuilder and order custom-made bodywork for your Chrysler, or Cadillac or whatever and pay a few thousand bucks and have a car that looked like a million bucks.

There were plenty of workmen and in the early ‘50s, and many factories were still in ruins. Italy was still on the rebound from the war.

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The Significance of Scottsdale Vis-à-vis Ferraris

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Lot 23 at the Gooding Auction brought $737,000. It was a 330 GTC.

Opinion by Wallace Wyss
All photos courtesy of Gooding & Company Auctions.

We are still reeling from the prices achieved at Scottsdale auctions. For example, $737,000 for a mere 330GTC is mind-numbing. It is about three times what GTCs usually get at auctions.

Other mind-numbing numbers at the Gooding auction were: [Read more…] about The Significance of Scottsdale Vis-à-vis Ferraris

Palos Verdes Concours September 16th, 2012

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Find all the Palos Verdes Concours winners at end of article.

By Wallace Wyss
Pictures by Richard Bartholomew and Wallace Wyss

Palos Verdes is a peninsula that sticks out into the ocean between LA harbor and Redondo Beach in Southern California. It can be a spectacular place, especially when the weather is acting up on the way there, as it was September 16th when the Palos Verdes show kicked off. It was dewy, cloudy, sunny, and variations of all of these every five minutes, but was very photogenic. Fortunately once we got there it all turned out to be the best weather imaginable–82 deg. or so with clouds hanging on the top of the hills. I bet those who didn’t go because they saw bad weather outside their window regretted it later. [Read more…] about Palos Verdes Concours September 16th, 2012

Ferrari and Cobra Art by Wyss at Automobilia

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By Brian Winer

There are many automotive fine art painters, most of whom cover the board on marques, depicting first one and then another, as whim dictates. Wallace Wyss, a relative newcomer to the field (his first painting was done in 2007) has intentionally focused on only two makes—Ferrari and the cars of Carroll Shelby, which includes Cobras and GT40s. Wyss will have a booth at Automobilia in Monterey. The booth will be open August 14 and 15th, 2012 from 10 a.m. to the early evening. The location is the Ballroom of the Embassy Suites hotel, located on US 1, just north of 68.
[Read more…] about Ferrari and Cobra Art by Wyss at Automobilia

Interview with Michael Cannell, Author of “The Limit”

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The book is out, the reviews are rave. The Boston Globe says “The Limit, Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit” reads “like a thriller”; the Wall Street Journal calls it a “well researched chronicle” and “an enthralling history of road racing’s golden era”; USA Today said it “deserves a spot in the library—if not, soon enough, on the DVD rack” Indeed, author Michael Cannell, a lifelong New Yorker who is not a car nut and who doesn’t even own one, sold the rights to the movie before the book was even written.

For us hardcore euro-car-nuts, much ado about an old subject. But Cannell thought that the story of Phil Hill and von Trips would resonate with today’s audience, and apparently he was right. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Spiderman Tobey Maguire snapped up the rights to develop the project at Columbia Pictures long before the book was published, perhaps in an attempt to keep ahead of filmmaker Ron Howard, who will begin shooting the Lauda/Hunt epic, “Rush”, in February. Then there is A.J. Baime’s “Go Like Hell”, also presumably in the process of getting to the big screen, not to forget that Wallace Wyss’s book SHELBY: The Man The Cars The Legend has also optioned its movie rights to a film producer.

VeloceToday will review “The Limit” in depth next week. But even before the book was published, Wally Wyss caught up with author Michael Cannell, and asked all the right questions. His interview follows.

Interview by Wallace Wyss

Wyss: Mike, what is your background? Are you a car guy per se?
Cannell: Strangely enough, I’m not a car guy. Quite the contrary, in fact. As a lifelong New Yorker, I don’t own a car. And I’m a pretty poor driver. It is a source of some embarrassment to me that I have shown up to interview great automotive figures in a compact rental car that I can hardly park. [Read more…] about Interview with Michael Cannell, Author of “The Limit”

One Man’s Pantera

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A Man and his Car Series: Al Axelrod going on 33 Years with one Pantera.

By Wallace Wyss

They say after many years of marriage a couple tends to look alike.

So far, after a 34-year “marriage” to his Pantera, Al Axelrod hasn’t yet taken on a silver patina (except for a wee bit of gray around the temples…) like his Pantera, but it could happen.

Why so long with one car?

“It meets my needs as far as an exotic,” says Axelrod, who for 24 years ran his own shop adjacent to Beverly Hills servicing special interest and exotic cars.

Axelrod now lives in Centennial, Colorado, where, even though he’s in his mid 70’s, he still looks forward to each ski season, especially at Copper Mountain and Vail, let alone A-Basin and Winter Park.

But when there’s no snow on the ground, for entertainment, he drives his 1972 Pantera. (or maybe his ‘32 Ford street rod stake truck) “I bought the Pantera with 26k miles on it, fried engine and all, back in 1976,” he recalls after maintaining it for the original owner who purchased it at a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Hollywood and refused to take it back there for “warrantee” work.

Hey, if you're 75 and you're still skiing, then you can handle a rip-roarin' sports car like a Pantera.

“I had looked at several and knew not to get the very early ones which had cooling problems and some detail issues needing upgrading. By the time mine (mid 72) was made they had sorted all that out.”

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Alfa 4C Appears at Frankfurt: In English and Italian

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Good retro-styled Alfa grille, front is pugnacious in the extreme. This is a short car and you can't scrunch together most of the design cues of a classic like the 8C into a shorter package and expect it to look good. Marco Tencone of Alfa styling should know better—Wallace Wyss.

By Roberto Motta
Caption critiques by Wallace Wyss

Photos: fiatautopress

At its world premiere last April in Geneva, the Alfa Romeo 4C was voted the “most beautiful concept car of the year” by readers of German magazine Auto Bild. Now, the Alfa Romeo 4C Concept is on display at the Frankfurt Motor Show now open from September 15 through 25.
[Read more…] about Alfa 4C Appears at Frankfurt: In English and Italian

Monterey with Wyss

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By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Note: There are three sidebars (short features) to the main article so be sure to click on the banners to read them all.

I cannot resist Holy Week even though it costs a lot of Money. The challenge is seeing how long you can last without spending it. I have some advantages, being a member of the media which allows us a few crumbs off the table of “The Automakers”. Increasingly the Detroit and foreign automakers have looked at the demographics of the visitors to Monterey that week and discovered, oh-my-God they have found the last people in America with change jingling in their jeans.
[Read more…] about Monterey with Wyss

Sidebar: Vallelunga and Promises Unfulfilled…

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One of two DeTomaso Vallelungas to appear at Concorso this year. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

At the 2011 Concorso Italiano, there were no less than two, count ‘em, two DeTomaso Vallelungas. Few of the show-goers realized what they were, because for most Americans the only DeTomaso car they know is the mid-engined Ford powered Pantera.
[Read more…] about Sidebar: Vallelunga and Promises Unfulfilled…

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