October 31st, 2007
Story by Pete Vack
Oh, what you will be missing. This is just one of hundreds of articles from our archives, which are available only if you subscribe to our premium service. This week, it’s updated and free. For a while.
Jim Kimberly at Watkins Glen in 1114. He placed second in class. Photo by Alix Lafontant.
From 1948 to 1955, OSCAs won hundreds of class victories in Europe and the United States. But one OSCA in particular was responsible for more than its share of wins. Built as a an early spider, OSCA number 1114 was completed just in time for the 1951 Mille Miglia. It was designated a factory team car, and was one of the first OSCA MT4s with the dual overhead cam head, but the displacement was still just under 1100 cc. In the 1000 mile race, 1114 placed second in class driven by Franco Bordoni.
Otto Linton's trophies--4 places out of 5 races, Harewood Acres, Canada. Otto Linton photo.
In June a young man from Verona by the name of Giulio Cabianca bought the car and registered it on tags VR 28745, and had it painted red over blue. Cabianca immediately embarked upon a six month campaign with his new race car. Almost every weekend Cabianca entered an event, and small as they were, the competition was fierce in the extremely popular 1100cc class, but the OSCA won almost every time out. From June to the end of October, Cabianca and 1114 achieved a remarkable 14 class victories along with nine 1st overalls.
For the 1952 season Cabianca had the old body modified by Coriasco to equip it with outboard headlights and additional lights in the oval grille. It’s looks were unique and the car can be instantly recognized as being the Cabianca OSCA. Otto Linton, who later owned 1114, told John Wright…”The work on my MT4 was done for Cabianca, the OSCA factory driver. Because it had run the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio and had been set up for LeMans, it had big headlights in the grille.”
OSCA, La Rivincita Dei Maserati, by Luigi Orsini and Franco Zagari was produced as the definitive OSCA book and remains so to this day. For a very good reason, OSCA 1114 was pictured on the cover.
By June, Cabianca had also purchased a 1350 cc OSCA engine, and during the ‘52 season swapped the engines to race in either the 1100 cc class or under 1500cc classes with the new 1350. Again, he was successful, totaling up another 8 wins. Before he sold it to a Philadelphia tire company executive by the name of Al Garthwaite in August of 1952, Cabianca had driven 1114 to a total of twenty two wins in less than two years.
Garthwaite lost no time in getting the OSCA back on the track. He entered it in the Watkins Glen Grand Prix to be held on September 21. Literally fresh off the dock and driven by Jim Kimberly, the OSCA placed second in class, beaten only by Bill Spear in the very latest OSCA 1350 MT4 (the build date on the Spear car was August 19th 1952). In October, Garthwaite, a good driver in anyone’s book, took the car to second place at Albany NY. The next summer, before selling 1114 to Otto Linton, Garthwaite, who would also head Algar (AL GARthwaite) Motors in Philadelphia, drove the aging OSCA to a first in class at the tough Bryfan Tyddyn course.
Linton at the unique Bryn Fan Tyddyn track garnering another first in class. Linton Collection.
Linton told VeloceToday correspondent John Wright that “.. In Pennsylvania, we had a good track called Bryn Fan Tyddyn. Now that course was just wonderful; it ran around a senator’s estate. It was a perfect track for my OSCA, and (if I remember correctly) I won there three years in a row until the last year it was in operation. That was when John Edgar came out from California with his great big trailer with Jack McAfee’s 550 Porsche and a Ferrari. So, the 2 liter Ferrari and the Porsche were slightly faster than my 1342cc OSCA.”
Linton also trailered 1114 to Sebring in 1954, where he took a third in class behind Stirling Moss, who won the event overall in another OSCA. For the next three years, Linton campaigned his OSCA up and down the east coast, entering the old warrior in ten more events. The last competitive appearance of 1114 was on July 25th 1956, when Linton took a second in class at Brynfan Tyddyn.
Cabianca’s Record
1951 1100 cc class
June 2 1951 Coppa Della Toscana Cabina Zanelli, 1c
June 26 1951 Coppa Del Pasubio 1c 1o
June 29 1951 Corsa Sulle Torricelle Cabianca 1c 1o
July 1 1951 Lecco-Ballabio Cabianca 1c 1o
July 8 1951 Bozano-Mendola Cabianca 1c 1o
July 15 1951 Coppa D oro Delle Domiti Cabianca 1c 1o
August 12th 1951 Circuito De Senegallia Cabianca 1c
September 2 1951 Vittorio-Veneto Cansiglio Cabianca 1c
September 9 1951 Bologna-Raticosa Cabianca 1c 1o
September 16 1951 G. P. Vetturette, Monza Cabianca 1o
September 23 1951 Tieste-Opicina Cabianca 1c 2o
September 29 1951 Coppa Gallenga Cabianca 1c
October 10 1951 Treponti-Castelnuovo Cabianca 1c 1o
October 28 1951 Messina-Colle Sand Rizzo Cabianca 1c
1952 1100 cc class
March 23 1952 Corsa Sulle Torricelle Cabianca 1c 1o
May 4 1952 Mille Miglia Cabianca-Roghi 1c
June 12 1952 Giro Dell’Umbria Cabianca-Roghi 1c 1o
June 22 1952 Circuito de Caserta Cabianca 1o
July 13 1952 Coppa D oro Delle Dolomiti Cabianco, 1c
August 10 1952 Circuito di Senegallia Cabianca 1c
1952 1350 class
June 29 1952 Targa Florio Cabianca retired
July 6 1952 Bolzano-Mendola Cabianca, 1c
August 3 1952 Giro Delle Calabrie Cabianco-Roghi 1c
OSCA 1114 in America
September 21 1952 Watkins Glen, John Kimberly, 2c #57
October 12 1952 Albany, NY, Garthwaite, 2c
July 24-25 1953 Brynfan Tyddyn Garthwaite, 1c
March 8 1954 Sebring, Linton/Beck 3c, #61
May 2 1954 Andrews AFB, Linton, 3c, #61
July 24 1954 Wilkes Barre, Linton, 1c, 1o, #23
August 8 1954 Lockbourne AFB, Linton, 2c, #23
September 18 1954 Watkins Glen Linton, 4c, #23
March 13 1955 Sebring Linton/Stetson, R #73
September 9 1955 Thompson, Linton R #13
June 24 1956, Road America Linton, 5c #196
July 7 1956 Beverly Linton R #196
July 25 1956 Brynfan Tyddyn Linton, 2c
Next from the Archives, a Talk with Otto Linton.
What a great car. just after Al Garthwaite received the car he he drove over from Bryn Mawr to show it to my dad. I remember the day well. I was upstairs in my room when I heard this raucous growl coming in to the driveway. OSCAs had a particular exhaust note because of the firing order . Before I could see it I could smell it because it was using Castor oil….It was absolutely beautiful with its red and blue paint work. From that day on I was in love with OSCA. Still am. The attention to detail and the build quality was unsurpassed.
Saluti from Italy Stephen
mr. linton was certainly one of the famous osca chauffeurs.
later in 1960 i took my ex-sebring 750 with the 187N engine up to the glen & got soundly thrashed by ollie schmidt who had his 187N in a lola chassis, much lighter & better handling. glenn baldwin with his superlight lotus-17 and 750cc climax was also faster than me.
otto was there with an older model 750 with the 62×62 mm engine & down 5 hp by factory data sheet, so i had no trouble pulling him up the hill after the finish line.
> jack
Wonderful account of a car I saw every time it appeared at Brynfan Tyddyn. At 14, all I could do was lust after the thing. Otto Linton’s OSCA is one of the cars my brothers and I still remember from those wonderful SCCA days on that tree-lined up hill and down dale and extremely narrow course.
If the OSCA had a characteristic engine note, the Maserati AG6’s that raced there as well were not only characteristic, but otherwordly!
T. Newell Wood, a Pa. State senator for whose farm the race course was named, persuaded either the county or the state to pave a dirt road for the track. His rather grand farm bordered the main straight — marked by that white painted rail fence in the picture above.
Wood was an enthusiast who rode Tennessee walking horses, flew a Grumman Widgeon seaplane (if I remember rightly) and drove a succession of the latest world-class cars of the time. We saw (and heard) them tooling around on the country roads in the area: a Cunningham coupe, a Vignale Ferrari in 50s two-tone black and red, a Cadillac Allard of remarkably ungainly design (instead of traditional Allard sidemounts, it had a stretched rear end with a Continental spare), and a Jensen Intercptor among others; plus a MG TC for his son, and a TF for his daughter.
Thanks for the memories. Guess I’d better pay up to help keep this spiffy website on the road.
LDD
OSCAs are great!!Here is a picture of the 6 zylinder BIG BROTHER OSCA,a 2000S which used to race in the US in period.We are still researching its history.It was campaigned by the John Mecom racestable,aRoy Cherryhomes(Allardracer),Ron Hunterand the Hall brothers and friends.If somebody knows something,PLEASE contact us. I hope you all enjoy the funny picture where nobody aparently was hurt!
I used to insure a 2000s which was vintage raced out here in the West Coast. Owner/Driver was a Wm McKinley who since has sold the car and retired to Port Townsend, Washington. A very nice chap as I recall.
Hi Everyone:
Marvelous article on the evergreen Osca of Otto Linton. A few years ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Otto and his friend Denver Cornett at the Glen. I wished the afternoon would never end as the stories just kept coming and coming. That was when Otto told me about racing at Harewood Acres and winning. When I got home, I went to my files and found a program from the June 15th 1956 race weekend and there it was. In fact, I have the entry sheet from that weekend in front of me right now. His number was 196 and his car was an Osca MT4 with 1289cc displacement. How is it, tell me that the Italians could extract enough horsepower out of that engine so it could humble the drivers of faster cars? Perhaps it was because Otto was a very good driver. If you would like some additional photos of Otto’s car, please email me and I will be glad to send them to you.
Cheers,
John R. Wright