bear’ s junior - vintage racecar · vintage racecar 5 columns 26 fast lines:the age of the...
TRANSCRIPT
FEATUREthe Racing Photographer
HEROESJoakim bonnier
INTERVIEWaston Martin mechanic, Rex Woodgate
OCTOBER 2012
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 10USA $9.95, UK £6.50www.vintageracecar.com
We test drive Denny Hulme’s 1963 Brabham BT6-CosworthBear’s Junior
The Internat ional Authori ty on Vintage and Histor ic Racecars
Vin
ta
ge R
ac
ec
aR
o
cto
beR
2012
Vin
ta
ge R
oa
dc
aR
oc
to
beR
201
2
5VinTaGe raCeCar
COLUMNS 26 Fast Lines: the age of the Specials
Pete Lyons initiates a historical research project toidentify the subjects of some mysterious photographs.
30 Heroes: Joakim bonnierRobert Newman remembers the stylish Swede whoenjoyed success in both Formula One and sports cars.
32 Legends Speak: the French WayRene Arnoux discusses growing up in the Frenchracing culture and how the sport has progressed.
34 Art History: “Striking out”John Ketchell portrays Dan Gurney in the Cobra Coupehe and Bob Bondurant won with at Le Mans in 1964.
68 Greatest Racecars: Lotus 79 Doc Bundy reckons the car he’s driving now in vintage racing competition is his all-time favorite.
80 Last Lap: SuperhenMike Lawrence assesses the role of fitness in motorracing with F2 champ Brain Henton as one example.
DEPARTMENTS 6 First Turn: the World’s Most Slippery trophies
8 Fast Exposure 10 News Brief 20 Hidden Treasure: 1953 thompson
“Red Ram” Special
22 Mail Box 24 Time Capsule: october in Racing History
56 Market Guide: Prewar i
58 Photo Galleries: Hershey, cholmondeley,
blackhawk Farms, brooklands, goodwood Festival
64 Product Review 66 Hard Drive:Web Sites of interest
74 Market Place
ON THE COVER THIS MONTH:1963 brabham bt6-cosworth
Photo: Steve oom
26
32
56
Ozzie Lyons / www.petelyons.com
Maureen Magee
Peter Collins
Alix Lafontant
4 VinTaGe raCeCar
V I N T A G E VOLUME 15, ISSUE 10
OCTOBER 2012www.vintageracecar.com
FEATURES 28 Interview: Rex Woodgate Mike Jiggle speaks with the noted race mechanic about such diverse topics as his time with Stirling Moss, Aston Martin’s 1959 championship-winning sportscar team and racing in the Bahamas.
36 Profile: bear’s Junior Patrick Quinn climbs behind the wheel of the 1963 Brabham BT6 that helped launch Denny Hulme and Frank Gardner’s racing careers.
48 Feature:the Racing Photographer Carl Goodwin tells the story of Alix Lafontant, who chronicled our sport’s growth during the ’50s and ’60s.
the international authority on Vintage and Historic Racecars
36
48
Steve Oom
7VinTaGe raCeCar
by casey annis, editor
Even after almost 40years of followingFormula One, I’m
amazed that there arestill aspects of the sportthat surprise me. Case inpoint, a recent statement
by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.Hamilton was being interviewed about
his contract negotiations for 2013. Muchto my surprise, one of the areas he’s themost concerned about is whether he cannegotiate to keep the trophies that hewins! “Ron [Dennis] and the team have allthe trophies in the cabinet and the driversget replicas,” Hamilton commented to theUK’s Daily Mail. “In a lot of other teams,the drivers get their original trophies. As aracing driver, what you work for and whatyou want to take home are two things; oneis your crash helmet and the other is yourtrophy. For me, they are priceless.”
Apparently, despite the fact that thewinning manufacturer receives a trophy ateach race, McLaren also insists on keepingthe driver’s trophy as well! Well, we havelong lamented that Formula One hasshifted the emphasis from the driver to thecar…there’s your proof.
You would think that the hardest partabout winning at the pinnacle of motorsportwould be—err, actually winning the race—not holding on to your winner’s trophy.Yet, you’d be surprised how many trophiesare lost to time. I’ve seen a number ofStirling Moss’ trophies go up for sale atauction in recent years, but then again,Moss won so damned many trophies heprobably can’t open the front door withoutthree or four falling out into the street.
But occasionally really significanttrophies escape as well. A year or so ago,Edsel Ford II made an impassioned plea forany help in tracking down the famed“Punch Bowl” trophy won by his great-grandfather Henry Ford.
As the story goes, by the turn of thecentury, Henry Ford had already flopped inone business venture to build trucks andwas essentially broke. In an effort to raisemoney, and interest by investors in a newcar company, Ford entered the Oct. 10,1901 running of a sprint race being held bythe Detroit Driving Club at Grosse Point,Michigan. The race evolved into a 10-lap,
head-to-head race against the leadingAmerican driver/constructor of the day,Alexander Winton. For all intents andpurposes, Ford was out of his league. Yet,driving the two-cylinder racer he called“Sweepstakes,” Ford was able to outlastWinton to win the race, as well as a $1,000prize and a gorgeous cut glass “PunchBowl” trophy.
Winning that race enabled Ford to getback into the manufacturing game whichultimately led to the creation of the FordMotor Company, so that punch bowl has adeep significance to the Ford family.Apparently, the bowl sat in the family homeof Henry and Clara Ford until 1951, whenClara Ford passed away. Upon her death, thefamily put up much of the furnishings fromthe Ford home for auction, including, youguessed it, one cut glass punch bowl! Sincethen, the trophy has disappeared and asEdsel Ford II sadly pointed out, is probablyeither sitting on a sideboard somewherewith apples in it, or tucked away in an attic.
While Hamilton is justified in wantingto keep his arms around his trophies, thenotion of the winner not getting to keepthe original race trophy is certainly not anew one. Perhaps racing’s most famoustrophy, the Borg-Warner Trophy given tothe winner of each year’s Indianapolis 500,is a perpetual trophy that remains in theconstant care of the Indianapolis MotorSpeedway. Crafted in 1935 by Gorham, toa design by Robert J. Hill, and at a cost of$10,000, the Borg-Warner Trophy bearsthe bas-relief face of every driver to havewon the Memorial Day Classic. Whilewinning drivers are photographed hoistingthe trophy, kissing the trophy, andgenerally groping the trophy, at the end ofthe day they go home with an 18-inchreplica known as a “Baby Borg.” With theoriginal Borg-Warner trophy insured forwell over a million dollars, it’s a pretty safebet that the Hulman-George family won’tbe letting that one slip away at an estatesale any time soon.
I feel bad for Lewis Hamilton. Sure, hehas a fantasy life we’d all kill for—gettingpaid big bucks to jet-set around the globeracing with a top-notch Formula Oneteam. But in an era where the drivers inputand contribution has been ever moremarginalized by computer-assisted this andtwo-way telemetry that, isn’t it kind of thefinal kick in the crotch to win a GrandPrix and then have to hand your trophyover to the “Guvnor?”
The World’s MostSlippery Trophies
FIRST tURn
6 VinTaGe raCeCar
PUBLISHER ⁄ ED I TORCasey M. Annis
ASSOCIATE ED I TORJohn Zimmermann
EUROPEAN EDITOREd McDonough
SOUTH PACIFIC EDITORPatrick Quinn
GRAPHIC DESIGNERSJoon Lim
Brad [email protected]
OFFICE ADMINISTRATORLynne Gehrman
CONTRIBUTING WRITERSSir Stirling Moss, Harold Pace, Pete Lyons, Art Evans,
Michael Oliver, Robert Newman, Hal Crocker, MikeLawrence, Michael Stucker, Peter Collins, John Murn, JohnWright, Keith Booker, Mike Jiggle, Willem Ooesthoek, Carl
Goodwin, Mark R. Brinker
PHOTOGRAPHERSAllen Kuhn, Robert Harrington, Bob Krueger, WaltPietrowicz, Peter Collins, Thierry Lesparre, Steve Oom,
Hal Crocker, Pete Lyons, Ferret Fotographics, Dennis Gray,Jamie Hankin, Pete Luongo, Jim Williams, Mark Scheuern, Roger Dixon, Fred Sickler, Keith Booker, Chuck Andersen,Klemantaski Collection, Pete Austin, Brian Green, Michael
Casey-DiPleco, Jim Hatfield, Paul Bonner
ADVERTISING
(562) [email protected]
U.K./EUROPE ADVERTISINGMike Jiggle
Phone: (0) 1604 [email protected]
Vintage Racecar Journal & Market Report®is published monthly by
Parabolica Publishing, LLC5212 Katella Ave., Suite 206Los Alamitos, CA 90720
(562) 493-0737, (562) 493-0715 Fax.
U.K. Office:9 Green Lane, Wootton
Northants NN4 6LH, England(0) 1604 766645, (0) 1604 761813 Fax.
Australia Office:116 Warks Hill Road
Kurrajong Heights, NSW 2758, Australia(61) 2 45 677 380, (61) 0 417 673 065
SUBSCRIPTIONS1 yr. (12 issues) $54.95 (US), 2 yrs. (24 issues) $89.95
Foreign Rates: Canada & Mexico add $20, for all others add $35.
ISSN 1535-556XCopyright © 2012 by Vintage Racecar/Parabolica Publishing,
LLC., All rights reserved.Reproduction without per mis sion is prohibited.
Every effort is made to ensure that the in for ma tion enclosed is true andac cu rate. How ev er, we must disclaim any li a bil i ty for the timeliness, use,in ter pre ta tion, ac cu ra cy and completeness of the in for ma tion con tained
within. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, but should beprefaced by a query letter to the editor. In order to be returned,
all sub mis sions must be ac com pa nied by a SASE.
V I N T A G E
™
9VinTaGe raCeCar
Modena aerautodromo, May 1969; nello Ugolini, second from left, then
overseeing de tomaso’s competition activities, watches Jonathan Williams
about to go out to test the new monocoque de tomaso Formula two car. Photo courtesy of: tHe KLeMantaSKi coLLection
PMB 219 – 65 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06905-3814 USA., Tel: (203) 461-9804 • Fax: (203) 968-2970E-mail: [email protected] • Web site: www.klemcoll.com
8 VinTaGe raCeCar
FAST eXPoSURe
11VinTaGe raCeCar
Full 2012 Calender Available at:www.vintageracecar.com
As preparations proceed for the 2nd
Annual Bahamas Speed Week Revival,scheduled for November 24 throughDecember 2 in Nassau, a number ofexceptional cars and drivers havecommitted to the event. BSWR PatronSir Stirling Moss and Event AmbassadorDerek Bell, MBE, have recently beenjoined by Grand Marshal Brian Redmanon the celebrity front, while the list ofexpected cars is also growing.
Topping the entry will be the onlyremaining Ferrari 375MM PininfarinaSpyder (pictured below) that remains inoriginal, unrestored condition. Thendriven by Duncan Black, the Ferrari lastraced in the Bahamas in 1955, whenBlack contested both the Governor’sTrophy race and the Ferrari Race. Thecar had begun its competitive life atSebring in 1954 where Phil Hill and Bill
Spear dueled the leading Lancia D-24sin the early going before retiring. Afteraging quietly in a barn for 40 years, theFerrari was acquired two years ago by anAustrian collector who has refreshed itand believes it should be used asoriginally intended.
Among cars making their returns tothe Revival will be Mike and DawnFisher’s Corvette-powered Bocar(pictured above), and the pristineMercedes-Benz 190SL of Kurt andBriggitte Oberhänsli, while David andKate Cottingham will bring David’sFerrari 500TRC from the UK, and localresidents Peter and Pippa Vaslov willcompete in an Austin-Healey 3000MkIII BJ8 and a 1275 Mini Cooper S,respectively.
For complete information, pleasevisit www.bahamasspeedweekrevival.com
5 VIRHeacock Classic Gold Cup Historic Races & Car ShowVirginia international Raceway, alton, Va434-822-7700www.virclub.com
5-7 CSRG9th Annnual CSRG Charity Challengeinfineon Raceway, Sonoma, ca888-268-7126www.csrgracing.org
6-7 SOVRENMaryhill Loops Hill ClimbMaryhill Loops Road, Wa425-277-3177www.sovren.org
12-13 VSCCALime Rock FinaleLocation, city, ct973-383-1570www.vscca.org
12-14 CVARThunder on the Cimarron XIHallet Motor Racing circuit, Hallet, oK903-892-9870www.corinthianvintagerace.com
12-14 VRGVRG at the GlenWatkins glen international Raceway, Watkins glen, nY610-867-0288www.vrgonline.org
13-14 HSR-West13th Fall Formula FestivalWillow Springs international Raceway310-750-6933www.hsrwestrace.com
13-14 HGPCAAutodromo del l’UmbriaMagione, italywww.hgpca.net
13-14 Masters Historic RacingMasters & Top Hat Festivaldonington Park, [email protected]
21-23 AADMMThe Mille Autunno - Fall Colors415-479-9950www.californiamille.com
25-28 HSRSavannah Speed ClassicHutchinson island, Savannah, ga404-298-5616www.hsrrace.com
octobeR
Bahamas Revival Update
J R Sch
abow
ski
10 VinTaGe raCeCar
NEWS bRieF
Audi has recently reacquired anextremely rare Auto Union Silver Arrowracing car consisting largely of originalparts. It is the Auto Union twin-supercharger Type D dating from 1939, oneof the two legendary “Karassik cars.” AudiAG now owns three of the five Auto Unionracing cars that can claim to be original.
The Silver Arrow legend was born inthe 1930s when Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz appeared on the international motorracing scene with German racing cars oftotally new design, with a silver finish andfuturistic appearance, and enjoyed immediatesuccess. The two manufacturers dominatedGrand Prix racing until the outbreak ofWorld War II in 1939.
Drivers from that era such as BerndRosemeyer, Tazio Nuvolari and Hans Stuck(Auto Union), and Rudolf Caracciola,Manfred von Brauchitsch and HermannLang (Mercedes-Benz) are still revered bymodern motor sport enthusiasts.
While Mercedes-Benz was able torescue almost all its Silver Arrow cars inthe wake of Germany’s defeat, fate was lesskind to Auto Union. Its hometown ofZwickau was occupied by the Soviets, AutoUnion was liquidated and the factories shutdown. The Russian occupying forces foundthe Silver Arrows and spirited them awaybehind the Iron Curtain as part of Germany’s
reparation payments. All trace of themquickly vanished.
They had been regarded as irretrievablylost by the new Auto Union GmbH(today’s Audi AG) when it was establishedin Ingolstadt in 1949. Only one AutoUnion Type C remained accessible, havingbeen presented to the Deutsches Museumin Munich before the war, but subsequentlydamaged by Allied bombs.
At the end of 1970, the first rumorsbegan to be heard that one of the long lostAuto Union racers had been locatedsomewhere in the former Soviet Union.American collector Paul Karassik came toEurope and began searching for the car. Ittook more than a decade and numerousvisits to the USSR before he tracked downthe remains of two dismantled AutoUnion cars in Russia and the Ukraine andmanaged to acquire them.
Eventually he was able to liberate theparts and bring them out into WesternEurope. The engines, chassis, axles andgearboxes were then flown to Florida, andin 1990 Karassik made initial contact withexperts, including Audi’s Traditiondepartment, which acted as advisors for theimpending restoration. Karassik entrustedthe job to the respected British restorationfirm of Crosthwaite & Gardiner.
After a thorough examination of
available components, the decision wasmade to rebuild a Type D single-superchargerracing car to 1938 specification, and a 1939version of the Type D with twinsuperchargers. Both cars needed completereplica bodies to be constructed, sincenothing of the original bodies had survived.Rod Jolley Coachbuilding built the newbodies in England, completing the first one,to 1938 specification, in August of 1993. Ayear later the twin-supercharger 1939 carwas also finished and, with support fromAudi, both cars appeared on track for thefirst time in 55 years at the Eifel Classic atthe Nürburgring on October 1, 1994.
In recognition of its support for therebuild, Audi was able to exhibit the 1938car, which was eventually purchased byAudi AG in July of 1998. The 1939 twin-compressor car, however, returned toFlorida, and in the spring of 2000 Karassiksold it to a private collector. With itspurchase of the Type D twin-superchargercar, Audi AG now owns all three AutoUnion racing cars recovered from whatwas formerly the USSR.
As noted in our May issue, the revivedAuto Union Type Ds are to leave theirnew home at the Audi museum mobile inIngolstadt and make a guest appearance atthe Goodwood Revival on the weekend ofSeptember 14-16.
Audi’s Found ArrowsAud
i
13VinTaGe raCeCar
Inclement weather had battered andbruised England during the early summermonths, leaving people wondering howGoodwood’s Festival of Speed would beaffected. Although heavy dark cloudsbrought rain and gusting wind on Fridaymorning, almost on cue for the RedArrows aerial display the grey skycleared—as if commanded by Lord Marchhimself—and the gleaming Hawk jetssketched their smoke trails on a bright bluecanvass.
While the theme of the event wasofficially “Young Guns—Born to Win,”the 60th Anniversaries of Lotus and theMercedes SL mirrored that of QueenElizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. Indeed, HerMajesty had a number of vehicles enteredin the Cartier “Style et Luxe” RoyalVehicle Concours d’Elegance honoringthe royal celebration.
The ice-white, triangular-sectionedsculpture outside Goodwood House wasanother creation by festival regular GerryJudah, entitled “Light Curves” and payinghomage to Lotus. It represented a racetrackas a trefoil knot and was adorned with sixLotus racecars—the green and yellow 32BTasman car, the Gold Leaf 49, the black
and gold 72 and 79 cars, ayellow 99T and the currentLotus Renault E20-05—allsignifying the evolution of themarque. Some 40 or more carsfrom the Lotus stable encircledthe edifice on each of the threedays to record and mark theLotus lineage. Together thesecars collected 13 F1 WorldChampionships—six driversand seven constructors titles—and joined an impressiveselection of Indycar, sedan,sports and road cars, all of them part of theDNA of the marque.
Among the top cars makingdemonstration runs up the hill was themost recent race winner, the Audi R18E-tron Quattro fresh from victory in the80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans,Audi’s 11th victory in 13 years.
One of the most quirky of thosedemonstrated was the March F1 2-4-0, aGrand Prix car of the 1970s that nevercompeted in a GP. The six-wheeler, withfour drive wheels at the rear as opposed tothe four steering front wheels of the TyrrellP34, was an engineering exercise by
designer Robin Herd more to createpublicity and much needed funds in periodrather than be a serious racing contender.Other six-wheeled cars, the Tyrrell P34 (byfar the most successful) and the laterWilliams FW08 six-wheeler, completed thedisplay. Other marques on show includedMercedes, which was celebrating 60 yearsof the SL (Super Leicht) with the W194sthat won Le Mans and the CarreraPanamericana in 1952, and the #658Fangio 300 SLR that was runner-up to thefamous #722 Moss/ Jenkinson sister car atthe 1955 Mille Miglia. Renault alsobrought several cars from its racing heritagefor drivers Alain Prost, Rene Arnoux andMichel Leclère to demonstrate.
Intermingled with the machinery werethe men who drove them, from today aswell as former eras: Sebastian Vettel,Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, AlainProst, Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber, SirStirling Moss, Tony Brooks, John Surtees,Emerson Fittipaldi and Sir Jackie Stewart.
I thought I would leave it to newcomerProst, to have the last words: “TheGoodwood Festival of Speed is even betterthan I’d thought. What is impressive isthat the complete history of motor racingand the automotive industry is on displayhere. You can see the tradition and love ofmotor sport here in the UK. I believe thisis the only event that could do that.”
By Mike Jiggle
Mike Jigg
le
12 VinTaGe raCeCar12
Goodwood Festival
NEWS bRieF
Pete Aus
tin
15VinTaGe raCeCar
Jerry Grant was one of themany American racing drivers whocould, and did, drive virtuallyanything he could get his hands onor his behind into. He may havestarted his competitive career inthe visceral world of drag racing,but soon discovered the joys of roadracing and began carving out areputation as someone who couldmake anything go fast anywhere.
Jerry was a physically large manwhose abilities matched his stature.He raced in the USRRC, Can-Am,Trans-Am, Formula 5000, WorldSports Car Championship, stockcars and Indycars, and was always aforce to be reckoned with. He hadan unshakable faith in his ownability, and often wondered whyothers didn’t seem to share his belief.
He scored a class win at Sebringin 1964, sharing a Nickey Corvettewith Skip Hudson, and later thatsummer teamed with Dan Gurneyto win the GT class at the TargaFlorio in one of Carroll Shelby’sCobras. In 1966 he nearly wonSebring overall, as the Ford GT40MkII he was sharing with Gurneyled into the final lap only for itsengine to fail in sight of thechecker, leaving the car to bedisqualified when Dan tried to pushit across the finish line. Threemonths later at Le Mans, he andGurney started their MkII frompole position and led into the 21st
hour before a holed radiator endedtheir bid for victory.
Much of his success wasenjoyed while driving cars enteredby Gurney’s All American Racers.He won the USRRC race atBridgehampton in 1966 withAAR’s Lola T70-Ford, and nearlywon the 1972 Indy 500 in Dan’sMystery Eagle, derailed only by arefueling error during his last pit
stop that handed the win to MarkDonohue. Later that year, hebecame the first man in history tolap a closed circuit at more than200 mph when he took that samepurple Eagle Indycar around theold Ontario Motor Speedway at anaverage speed of 201.414 mph.
Gurney offered his thoughts onthe passing of his friend andcollaborator: “Jerry Grant was anatural; he was brave and playfuland always could rise to thechallenge. Apart from being anexcellent racer, he was anaccomplished storyteller and afterdinner speaker, an ability thatserved him well in his businesscareer after his retirement fromactive driving. In the middle ’60swe shared many adventures on andoff the track here in the U.S. and inEurope. We stayed friends eversince, and many Sundays wentriding our motorcycles in theSouthern California countryside.”
After retiring from driving Jerryheaded the Champion Spark PlugCompany’s motorsports program,becoming a valued ambassador forthe company for several decades.He also served as spokesman forProlong Lubricants.
Jerry Grant is survived by hiswife of 50 years, Sandy, daughtersYvon and Tammy and grandsonGrant, and to them as well as hismany friends in and out of thesport, we at Vintage Racecar offerour sincerest condolences.
More than 100 friends of John Fitchgathered at his home in Lime Rock,Connecticut, to honor him on the occasionof his 95th birthday. A number of interestingcars were on display, including the one andonly Fitch Phoenix and a beautiful two-tone burgundy Cunningham C-3 Cabriolet(#5233/5441) in which Lucie CunninghamMcKinney (Briggs’ older daughter) wasdriven up from the Cunningham familyestate in Greens Farms, Connecticut.
One of the highlights of the event was areading of a letter sent to John by MercedesBenz that included congratulations on hisfantastic class win and 5th overall finish inthe 1955 Mille Miglia driving a stock 300SL fresh from the showroom floor. Otherhighlights included John blowing out the95 candles on his cake (with a little helpfrom his grandson) and a champagne toast.John was kept busy signing autographs andseemed to enjoy every moment of it.
The party was organized by TerryDunne, whose efforts resulted in awonderful party and a genuine tribute toJohn Fitch, racecar driver, war hero,inventor and consummate gentleman.
By Will Monsell
Fitch Turns 95
Jerry Grant(1935–2012)
Road Racing drivers association of america (L toR) bob Sharp, oscar Koveleski, John Fitch, Judy
Stropus, Skip barber, Sam Posey, gordon
MacKenzie.
Ruth Mon
sell
Ruth Mon
sell
Hal Crocker
14 VinTaGe raCeCar
Renowned engineer and author BillMilliken passed away in his sleep July28 at the age of 101. Born in Old Town,Maine, on April 18, 1911, Millikencredited his interest in things mechanicalto a cousin who exposed him towheeled competition in his youth.Upon graduation from MIT in 1934with a degree in Mathematics focusedon aerodynamics, he began a 20-yearcareer in the aviation and aerospaceindustries, concentrating his efforts inthe areas of stability and control.
During World War II he served asassistant head of Flight Test for BoeingAircraft, going aloft on the first flightsof the B-29 prototype and severalversions of the B-17. He later providedconsultancy to the auto industry,applying his aviation knowledge andexperience to the automotive sector.
A founding member of theorganizing committee for the WatkinsGlen Road Races, he led the rulescommittee and, driving his BugattiType 35A, took part in the very firstraces through the streets there in 1948.
Milliken crashed on the last lap of thatinaugural contest, however, flipping theBugatti during an errant overtakingattempt and earning the dubious honorof having the turn in question namedMilliken’s Corner.
As the streets of Watkins Glen wereabandoned and a permanent racingcircuit constructed nearby, Millikenassisted with its design, and isresponsible for the resulting track’semphasis on high speed along itslengthy straights and through itssweeping turns.
Using the knowledge acquiredduring his various careers, Millikenauthored or collaborated on a series ofbooks explaining the science involvedin his passion. His Equations of Motion —Adventure, Risk and Innovation is allbut required reading for anyone goingracing, and two subsequent bookswritten with his son, Douglas, Race CarVehicle Dynamics, and Chassis Design,fall into that same category.
Milliken is survived by his wife of 59years, Barbara, son Douglas and daughterAnn. A second son, Peter, died in 2001.The family has requested that anymemorials benefit the InternationalMotor Racing Research Centerheadquartered in Watkins Gen. To allof Milliken’s family and his manyfriends in and out of the sport, VintageRacecar offers its sincerest condolences.
William F.Milliken(1911–2012)
NEWS bRieF
Ben
tley Pub
lishe
rs
� HANS® Performance Products, the inventors ofthe head and neck restraint, has announced its next-generation product, the HANS Adjustable. Thisnew device meets the SFI spec. 38.1 so drivers canpurchase a HANS with full confidence of a comfort-able fit no matter what type of car or racing seat theyuse. Previous HANS Devices featured a fixed anglebased on the driver’s size and seating position. For full details, please visit www.hansdevice.com
� The dates of the third Donington HistoricFestival have now been confirmed as Saturday May4 and Sunday May 5 2013, when the Festival will cel-ebrate the career of Ayrton Senna. The event will marktwo historic events from his life that took place at Don-ington Park, the 30th anniversary of the first time hedrove a Formula One car, and the 20th anniversaryof his phenomenal victory in the rain at the 1993 Eu-ropean Grand Prix.
� With its recent acquisition of Xanthos Sports Cars,manufacturer of Lotus 23 cars and components,Kelvin Jones Motorsports will now produceall the parts necessary to keep 23s running on theracetrack. The Liverpool company will also build exactreproduction FIA HTP (Historic Technical Passports)Continuation-certified 23Bs, with Arch Motor & Man-ufacturing Co. Limited, appointed to do the manufac-turing on behalf of KJM—as it did originally for Lotusback in the 1960s. For full details, contact Kelvin viaemail at [email protected]
� David Gathercole completed the restorationof his Lola T212 with a win in the Martini Race atJune’s 2012 HSCC Superprix meet at Brands Hatch. Hiswingless FVC-powered machine took on the laterwinged cars, and after qualifying 6th overall, 1st inclass, he came through to finish 2nd overall, 1st inclass in the first 20-minute race. The second racestarted dry, but rain fell on lap two and Gathercoletook the overall win by mastering the drying track inhis little yellow Lola.
� The Automotive Heritage and Preservation Foun-dation’s plans for a world-class museum and restora-tion school in Monterey, California, took another stepforward with the signing of a Letter of Intent withMonterey Peninsula College. The AHPF has been de-veloping plans for the Monterey Museum ofAutomotive Arts and the Technical School of Au-tomotive Restoration since 2009, recognizing few bet-ter places exist for such a joint venture than the homeof Monterey Classic Car Week, which annually fea-tures the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion andthe Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. For more information please visit www.mon-tereyautomuseum.com
PACE NOTES
17VinTaGe raCeCar
When event patron Peter Rickettswas asked what he had done in a previouslife to bring so much precipitation downupon the Cholmondeley Pageant ofPower yet again, he replied that he wascertain “it couldn’t have been that bad!”
As squishy underfoot as it got onFriday and Saturday, the sun on Sundayattracted a large crowd, so some 50,000visitors witnessed a weekend feast ofactivity on land, on the water and in theair. The spectators had much to choosefrom as both modern and historic cars andbikes ventured onto the track, along with20 of the fastest “supercars” anywhere.
There were a dozen classes forSupercars, Cobras (on their 50th
anniversary), pre-war classics, sports andsports racers pre- and post-1965, rallyand touring cars, post-war GP cars andsingle-seaters, as well as motorbikes,three-wheelers and sidecars andSuperMoto bikes.
In defiance of the conditions, ScottMansell set a new course record for carswith his Caterham, 61.89 seconds onthe 1.2-mile circuit on the magnificentCheshire estate, a very narrow trackwith two fast straights and somedaunting, tree-lined corners, as well as achance to “get air” over two bridges.
Justin Law took the Cobra class by alarge margin after one of the Cobrassuffered serious damage in a crash onSaturday. Chris Williams took awelcome win in the pre-war class in aNapier-Bentley, a class that includedfabulous cars from the SinsheimMuseum in Germany, one of which wasa VW Schwimmwagen that alsoperformed in the lake! Andy Bradshawdisplayed top form in his Lotus 30among the earlier Sports and SportsRacing cars, while Mansell’s Caterhambeat Justin Law in a Martini-liveriedJaguar in the group for later sports racers.
There was an interesting range ofmachines in the Post-war Grand Prixclass, from a Lotus 102-Lamborghini andWilliams FW06 to a Lotus 18 and yourstruly in the recreation of the 1954Mercedes W196 Streamliner (picturedabove). In fact Malcolm Ricketts in hisLotus 18 and the Streamliner led theclass briefly in the wet stages when themore potent cars took it easy or didn’tventure out onto the track! AndrewMorris blasted the Lotus 102 (pictured
below) to a class win on Sunday in thedry, followed by Andy Willis in the BRMP126, and Rick Hall in the BRM P153.
This year’s running was accompaniedby a great evening concert and anamazing fireworks display, as well asmany, many demonstration runs byspecial vehicles and lots of activityoverhead and on the water. Next yearthe date returns to July in hopes ofavoiding the horrid English rain!
By Ed McDonough
NEWS bRieF
16 VinTaGe raCeCar
Jane
t Wrig
ht
PAGEANTof POWER
19VinTaGe raCeCar18 VinTaGe raCeCar
NEWS bRieF
In honor of the 60th anniversary of Chevrolet’s Corvette, theRolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion has selected “America’ssports car” as the featured marque for next August’s edition of theannual vintage racecar festival at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
A large turnout of Corvette racers is expected to be on handas representative examples of each of the car’s six generations incompetition will be joining in the anniversary festivities.Corvette previously enjoyed featured marque status in 2002.
“Corvettes and racing have been inextricably linked since thevery moment Zora Arkus-Duntov slipped behind the wheel forthe first time,” said Chris Perry, Chevrolet’s global vice presidentof marketing. “His spirit is felt in today’s winning Corvette Racingprogram, which continues a proud legacy and one we’re lookingforward to celebrating next summer.”
Corvette’s lengthy racing heritage began at the 12 Hours ofSebring in 1956 with three Corvettes under Duntov’s direction,
and by 1960 Briggs Cunningham was taking a trio of Corvetteracecars to Le Mans where John Fitch and Bob Grossman gavethe marque a grand debut by winning the GT class and running8th overall. Corvette Racing has since won its class at the Frenchclassic seven times, most recently in 2011.
For complete information on the Rolex MontereyMotorsports Reunion please visit www.MazdaRaceway.com
Corvette forMonterey 2013
The 9th Annual CharityChallenge will be hosted by theClassic Sports Racing Group atSears Point Raceway in Sonoma,California, on October 6-7. Inits first eight years, the CSRGCharity Challenge has raised more than half a million dollarsfor local charities.
The event will include all the usual CSRG race groupswith cars dating from pre-WWII, while featuring the FormulaCar Invitational for Historic Grand Prix F1 (1966-’83),Formula Two, Formula Atlantic and Super Vees up to 1979,and the V8 Thunder Challenge for Historic Trans-Am cars(1966-’72), Historic NASCAR, V8-powered sports cars,
IMSA GTU and SCCA U2 Trans-Am / 2.5 Challenge sedansup to 1972.
The fund-raising activities will be highlighted by a raffle ofboth racing-related and non-racing items, as well as thealways-popular track rides in cars competing during theweekend. For more information, please contact Tom Franges,Race Director at (415) 342-1229 or visit the CSRG website,CSRGRACING.org
Jim W
illiams
Jim W
illiams
CSRG Charity Challenge
21VinTaGe raCeCar 2121
chose a peppy 241 cubic-inch Dodge RedRam Hemi V8 and race prepped it with noless than eight Stromberg 97s on a uniqueintake manifold. Front suspension was bycrossed leaf springs and rear suspension wasby leaf springs. Drum brakes did thehalting at all four corners and gearshiftswere executed via a Ford box. Thompsonhand-crafted the body of steel withforward-sliding pocket doors and aremovable roll bar.
The Thompson Special is an exampleof what was happening all over the PacificNorthwest as amateurs and enthusiastsdreamed up and built cars in their homegarages. If one is particularly interested inthe early postwar history of sports carracing in this region, Martin Rudow’s“Long Straights and Hairpin Turns” is thego-to book. Chronicling the racingactivities between 1950 and 1961, Rudowtakes the reader on a journey throughforgotten race courses like Abbotsford(British Columbia), Bellingham(Washington), and Tillamook (Oregon),just to name a few. And, of course, Anders’Thompson Special is discussed.
According to Rudow, the ThompsonSpecial was entered in the 1954 Seafairevent. Bill Cantrell was scheduled to drivethe car, but it failed to turn a wheel due tomechanical problems; a picture of the teamworking on the car is shown on page 35 ofRudow’s book. Lew Florence’s first-eversports car race was at the controls of theThompson Special; he drove the car to aDNF at the Shelton Race Circuit (SheltonAirport, Shelton, Washington) in 1955.
In addition, Gray has a photograph ofthe starting grid of the 1955 Seafair eventthat was held at Bremerton that year. Thephotograph shows three Ferraris on thefront row, and Enzo’s cars finished 1-2-3driven by Carroll Shelby, Phil Hill andKen Miles, respectively. And, just likeForrest Gump, there peeking through inthe photo on the second row of thestarting grid was the zany and wondrousThompson Special.
There is more history on this car yet tobe uncovered, as a classified advertisementfor the car in the March 1955 issue of Road& Track suggests. The ad reads:“THOMPSON SPECIAL. Competitionand touring roadster, Red Ram V8 modifiedengine, Ford transmission, front suspensionMercedes type, wire wheels, shownMOTO-RAMA 1953. Placed 2nd fiveevents this year. $3450. Anders Thompson,
4501 Airport Way, Seattle 8, Wash.” Like so many homebuilts of the era, the
Thompson Special went missing shortlyafter it stopped racing. Not much is knownabout where the car was hiding until MikeMersman stumbled upon it in the early1970s. According to Mersman, “The car hadbeen floating from body shop to body shopin Burien, Washington. When I first saw it Ithought it was a very cool old car and Iinstantly fell in love with it. The guy whohad it actually gave it to me in exchange forhauling it off as junk. At that time it still hadits original engine and transmission and Igot it running and driving.”
Mersman sold the car a few years laterand it passed through several owners.Oddly enough, Mersman ran across the cara second time in 2007. By then it wasrotting away next door to a junkyard inLynnwood, Washington. Mersman wantedto save it so he bought it and dragged ithome again. At this time the engine andtransmission were gone.
Gray wound up buying the car fromMersman in 2011. Gray said, “I bought thecar because I couldn’t stand the idea of itjust decomposing to nothing. Now I wantto restore it and race it if I can afford to.My goal is to have it running for the 2013historic racing season, which will be thecar’s 60th birthday. The ’53 race at Seafair
was the first-ever national points sports carrace in the Pacific Northwest, and the factthat the car competed in that event makesit all that more special to me.”
Gray’s roots in Pacific Northwestracing can be traced back to his childhood.Gray said, “My dad became interested inracing because he had a friend drivingmidgets in the ’50s. After buying a brand-new Corvette in 1957, dad got involvedwith SCCA as a tech inspector. Beforelong he was chief tech inspector for theNorthwest Region. After that he startedbuilding and racing his own cars and I waspart of his crew.”
The early sports car events of the PacificNorthwest were important and lots ofpeople like Gray’s dad and AndersThompson were building their own racingcars. These races also attracted the bestdrivers of the day like Shelby, Hill, Milesand von Neumann. What’s particularlyinteresting about 1950s Pacific Northwestracing is that while there was as muchactivity in the region as anywhere else inthe country, it was a bit of a well kept secretback then, and now most people areunaware that any of it ever happened.
Do you know of a Hidden Treasure? If so, sendyour photos and stories to Mark [email protected]
NOW
Martin
Rud
ow Archive
s
20 VinTaGe raCeCar
HIDDEN tReaSUReS
by Mark R. brinker
The photo captionon page 31 of theNovember 1953
issue of Road & Track read:“A strange assortment ofcars lined up for thefeature of the day.” The
author was Bill Brant and the feature racenoted was the Seafair Trophy at theinaugural Seafair Sports Car Races held onSaturday August 8, 1953 at Paine AirForce Base in Everett, Washington.
Not only was the assortment of cars“strange,” this was a race weekend thatalmost didn’t happen. Apparently theSeafair Committee did not initiallyunderstand the level of interest in sportscar racing at this time. However, withconsiderable prodding from theNorthwestern Region of the SCCA, the
Puget Sound Sports Car Club, the AirForce and the Seafair Celebration, the racewas not only approved, but was scheduledin conjunction with the following day’sunlimited hydroplane “Gold Cup” race onLake Washington. It turned out that thesports car guys were right as spectatorsarrived in droves…25,000 of them!
The 48-lap, 100-mile feature race wascontested by an assortment of 11 strangeand wonderful automobiles driven bysoon-to-be racing legends and someforever-unknowns. Bill Stroppe and hismighty Mercury-milled Kurtis was theoverall race winner that day. Bill Pollackfinished 2nd in a C-Type Jaguar, followed byFrank Hern in a modified Jag and PeteLovely in a Porsche Super. Eric Tiedemannran 5th (Jaguar) and Fred Falkins finished6th behind the wheel of an MG-TC. Lou
Fageol was running near the front in hismadcap (and lightening fast) twin-enginedPorsche but dropped out on lap 10 withclutch problems. Ray Hansen, driving hisearliest Hansen Special, had completed 18laps when his oil pressure dropped to zeroending his day. G. Kolar’s Special and AlTorres’ mount DNF as well. According toDick Saunders’ race report in theNovember-December 1953 issue of SportsCar, “Oddly enough the only Special tolast the race (finishing 7th) was the DodgeV8-powered car of Anders Thompson.”
According to the car’s current owner,Curtis Gray of Ocean City, Washington,Thompson was a skilled fabricator whobuilt bodies and did work on the cars ofmany local racers. For his own Special,Thompson started with a one-off steelladder frame of his design. For power he
1953 Thompson “Red Ram” Special
THEN
Martin
Rud
ow Archive
s
But no more…
Dear Editor,A correction to Mike Lawrence’s
correction of Tom Schultz: The finish lineat Le Mans very much does signify thefinish of the race. The rules were alwayssuch that the cars must cross the finish lineafter 24 hours have elapsed. In the past thetotal distance was measured as thatnumber of laps plus the distance back tothe starting point on the grid. Nowadaysthe rules call for the distance to bemeasured as the total number of completelaps once 24 hours have expired.
János L. WimpffenLangley, WA
My friend Mike Stott
Dear Editor,On July 31, 2012 at St Gabriel’s
Church in Saddle River, N.J., we saidgoodbye to our good friend MikeStott. Our love and thoughts go out to hiswife Alison, who Mike always called the“love of my life.” We also extend ourcondolences to his sons David, Gregory,Tim, TJ and his daughter AmyTominovich and their families. Sadly,in 1997 Mike and Alison lost their oldestson, Michael Jr.
My first memory of Mike Stott wasback in 1997 just after I purchased SVRA.Vintage racing is about collecting,preserving and driving the racecars wehave all grown to love. Vintage racing canbe both frustrating and fun; however what
is most important are the friendships wemake along the way. One of my mostmeaningful friendships was with Mike Stott.Just after making the announcement, Mikewas the first person to step up, stick out hishand and say, “Congratulations! I’mexcited about what you are doing, and if Ican help, please ask.” Over the next 15years, SVRA asked, asked and asked again.Mike never said “No.”
Later, in the fall of 1997, when SVRAmade a commitment to help with thefundraising for the InternationalMotorsports Racing Research Center,Mike was the first person to step forwardwith a generous contribution. Beyond hissignificant financial support, Mike broughtgreat enthusiasm and passion to vintageracing. As a member of the IMRRC Board,Mike continued his generosity. Preservingthe history of motor racing in the U.S. wasimportant to him, and I know that he tookpride in helping leave this legacy.
But way beyond all of this positiveenergy was something much moreimportant. Although he was a very privateperson, Mike and I developed a deepfriendship. I admired the intensecommitment and love he had for his familyand for his success, as a business executive.Mike was a man of great integrity and hewas my loyal friend.
We seem to have come full circle. Imentioned before my first memory of Mikewas 15 years ago when I bought SVRA.My last memory was seeing him a few daysbefore he died. We talked about me sellingSVRA and about him selling his Cobrawhich seemed like the end of an era. Invintage racing tradition, Mike’s familyburied him wearing his red Cobra tie.
I will miss my old friend Mikedriving his big red Cobra on the track, andwe will all miss his racing passion andenthusiasm in our paddocks!
Peter McLaughlinChairman SVRA
23VinTaGe raCeCar
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed here do not
necessarily reflect those of Vintage Racecar, Parabolica
Publishing, LLC or its employees.
Write to: Vintage Racecar Journal, 5212 Katella Ave, Suite
206, Los Alamitos, CA 90720
Email: [email protected] (please include mailing
address) The editor reserves the right to edit all letters.
Tiger Tales
Dear Editor,I have to point out a rather large error
in your article about the Sunbeam Tiger.To be specific, Ken Miles did NOT score "acommanding victory" in the Badger 200.The race was won by Dan Gerber in aCobra 289. Miles was 2nd in the Tiger, buthe in fact never really challenged for thelead, and if there was any commandingvictory, it was by Gerber.
Regards,Tom Schultz
Dear Tom,Thanks. Actually that was in reference to
the rest of the B Production field, not overall.Considering, that he was second overall andfirst in class, it was a pretty amazing win.
All the best,Casey Annis, Editor
Comstock Lotus 19
Hi Casey:I, too, enjoyed the photo of the above
car in the June issue. I first saw this car race back in 1961 at
Mosport, and have tried to follow itswhereabouts since. I spoke to Carl Moorewhen he brought the car to Mosport inJune 2007, and when I saw it for salerecently wondered who might buy it. It’snice to see it still on the track.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure that LudwigHeimrath never drove this car. Heimrathwon the Canadian drivers championshipin 1961 driving a Porsche RS60. In 1962,the 19 was sold to R.M. Hollingshead carcare products and was raced as the WhizSpecial driven by Francis Bradley who won
the 1962 drivers championship. In 1963, itwas driven by Dennis Coad to that year’schampionship.
In both 1962 and 1963, the driverschampionship was hotly contested byHeimrath, still in the RS60, and Bradleyand Coad, so I doubt that Heimrath everdrove the car. Maybe in practice, but notlikely ever in a race.
In 1964, the 19 was sold to anotherCanadian driver and Heimrath went on todrive the Comstock King Cobra chassis6/63. He won the ’64 championship.
If you have Mr. Kater's email and/orstreet address, feel free to give him myemail address and he and I can discussfurther if he wishes.
Current issues of Vintage Racecar arenow even better with the addition ofVintage Roadcar.
Keep up the good work. Regards, Bill DerbyshireBrantford On Canada
Shelby on Gregory
Dear Editor,Your send-off to Carroll Shelby in the
August issue was a nice farewell to a greatman, but I noted his remark that he wishedsomebody would tell the story of his friendMasten Gregory. He must have beenthinking of periodicals at the time because,if it’s books, there is already a very goodone out there. It’s titled Masten GregoryTotally Fearless, and it's written by MichaelJ. Cox, who grew up in Kansas City,Gregory's hometown. Perhaps it is time torun this book, or parts of it, in serial form.It tells the story well.
Sincerely,Carl GoodwinColorado Springs, CO
Strange Passing of Shelby
Dear Editor,I’ve been meaning to send you a note
about the Carroll Shelby “remains”brouhaha. Actually, I thought it quiteappropriate that the main man ofautomotive litigation, in our lifetimes,would end up having his body be thesubject of court actions and deeds done inthe dark of night—hell, he might even geta kick out of it!! You know, somewheredown in a Houston Mortuary, I think Ihear a tall Texan having the last laugh...
Best,Steve Cleere
Right Pic Wrong Date
Dear Editor,I enjoy Robert Newman’s column, but
would point out that your photo and captionof Jack Brabham is incorrect. The photo youshow is correctly identified as a BT24 in1967, but Brabham's first win was a yearearlier in a BT19 at the 1966 French GP.
Best wishes,Locke de Bretteville
22 VinTaGe raCeCar
MAILboX
25VinTaGe raCeCar24 VinTaGe raCeCar
TIME caPSULe October in Racing History
Eddie Rickenbacker François Cevert
Compiled by MicHaeL StUcKeR
Phil Hill and Jin Hall, driving chaparral 2es,
finish 1-2 in the Laguna Seca can-am race, the
only can-am victory for chaparral.
Ian Welsh
Jim Hatfie
ld
Sauber team founder Peter Sauber born,
october 13, 1943.
Jean-Pierre beltoise and Henri Pescarolo drive
a Matra M650 to victory in the Paris 1000K
sports car race at Montlhéry, France.
1 Helene Delange, who raced between the world wars under the name of Hele Nice,dies in Nice, France, at age 83 (1984).
2 Bernd Rosemeyer, driving an Auto Union, wins the British Grand Prix atDonington, the last race of the 750kg racing formula (1937).
5 Pierre Goutte drives a Salmson to victory in the 124-mile race for 1100-cc cars atMontlhery, France (1924).
6 François Cevert dies in a crash during practice for the United States Grand Prix atWatkins Glen, New York (1973).
8 Edward Vernon “Eddie” Rickenbacker, early 20th century racer, WWI fighter ace,owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway between the world wars, and founder ofthe Rickenbacker Motor Company and Eastern Airlines, is born in Columbus, Ohio(1890).
9 Mario Andretti DNFs in his last CART Indy Car race. Paul Tracy wins the race atLaguna Seca, California (1994).
12 Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo drive a Matra M650 to victory in the Paris1000K sports car race at Montlhéry, France (1969).
13 Sauber team founder Peter Sauber born (1943).
14 Mark Donohue drives a Penske Porsche 917/30 to victory in the Can-Am race atLaguna Seca, California (1973).
16 Phil Hill and Jim Hall, driving Chaparral 2Es, finish 1-2 in the Laguna Seca Can-Am race, the only Can-Am victory for Chaparral (1966).
17 Al Unser drives a Lola T332-Chevy to victory in the SCCA F5000 race at RiversideInternational Raceway in Riverside, California (1976).
19 Count Louis Vorow Zborowski dies in wreck during the Italian GP at Monza.Antonio Ascari, driving an Alfa Romeo P2, wins the race (1924).
20 Nigel Mansell leads a Williams-Honda 1-2 finish in the South African Grand Prix.Keke Rosberg finishes second (1985).
21 Alfonso de Portago drives a Ferrari 250 GT to victory in the sports car race in Rome,Italy (1956).
24 Nino Farina gives Ferrari their first F1 victory when he wins a minor event at LakeGarda in a Type 125 (1948).
25 Jacky Ickx wins the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguezdriving a Ferrari 312B (1970).
27 Rodger Ward, at the wheel of a Watson-Offenhauser, wins the USACChampionship race on the dirt oval in Sacramento, California (1963).
28 Bernie Ecclestone, one-time owner of Brabham and president and CEO of FormulaOne Management and Formula One Administration, born in Suffolk, England(1930).
30 Fred Agabashian, driving a Kurtis-Offenhauser, wins the AAA Championship raceon the dirt oval at Sacramento, California (1949).
Bernie Ecclestone Hele Nice
It’s futile to wish I’d gone with Popthat day. I was too young to be thinkingabout taking notes, and I wouldn’t havebeen interested anyway.
When racing enthusiasm finally didignite within my adolescent breast, however,cars like these were spark plugs. I neededno notebook to remember for all time thefirst ride I ever had in such a device.
Think of a Lotus 7. It wasn’t one, but itwas of that style, a petite brick of a thingthat caught my eye with a saucy sparkle ofsunlight from her bare metallic body. Shewas parked in a gas station lot near homeand as I walked around and around her, myadmiration was so overt that the ownercame out, showed me her finer points andthen—incredibly—offered to demonstrateher performance.
The engine was an MG, and Iremember a small skeptical thought: Howimpressive could this be?
We wheeled out onto the Bronx RiverParkway, the driver stroked the gas pedal,and my head snapped back—all the wayback. Literally, all I could see was blue sky.It’s the kind of vision that sticks with aguy. The term “power-to-weight” alwaysbrings back that flash of blue.
During those, my motorsports-formative years, the magazines were full of
stories and pictures and cutaway drawingsof homebuilts or one-offs like these. Theypopulated races I went to. Some of the bestspecials led to the establishment of propermarques, like Cunningham, Scarab andChaparral. Long after, books were written
about them, about their builders, aboutthat time.
Homebuilts are still an important partof private aviation, but most of today’sracing world has left that ethos behind.A pity.
27VinTaGe raCeCar 27
building racecar bodywork; location, date and people unknown.this car has i4 Lea Francis engine.
Ozzie Lyo
ns / www.petelyo
ns.com
Ozzie Lyo
ns / www.petelyo
ns.com
Ozzie Lyo
ns / www.petelyo
ns.com
Ozzie Lyo
ns / www.petelyo
ns.com
Ozzie Lyo
ns / www.petelyo
ns.com
26 VinTaGe raCeCar
by Pete Lyons
Any idea whatwe’re lookingat here? Don’t
wait for me to tell you,I only have the faintestof notions.
These are scans of4x5 negatives that I’ve just found in myfather’s archive while prowling forsomething else. He left these imagesunlabeled as to place, date and subject,passing down a pretty mystery, and Iimmediately wanted to bring you in on it.
All I can offer is that the negs arehand-numbered in a range consistent withother work Ozzie was doing in 1953, a fewhundred exposures after he used the samecamera at that year’s Sebring, but before itwas time to set it up for our annualChristmas family photo.
Where do you suppose this little olde-timey metalsmithing shop was? I can onlysuggest southern New York state, where welived then, or within a Saturday morning’sdrive of there, somewhere in Connecticut,New Jersey or possibly Pennsylvania.
Even without knowing much aboutthem, aren’t they keen pictures! Don’t youlove the pot-bellied stove, the darkercorners of the shop hiding from the frostywindow light, the ambience of woodshedsimplicity? Don’t you sense the pride in thedapper craftsman hand-making thesealuminum racecar bodies?
You can see his background is inMidgets, but he’s developing a niceclientele among the sports car road racingset, a new breed in America, who arecoming to him to clothe their specials. Ican make out four very different ones inprogress:
• An oddity that seems to be trying toreconcile the cycle-fender style withstreamlining, the new rage of the age; itsV8 might be a Studebaker;
• That relatively sleek job clearlyinspired by Jaguar’s C-Type has a4-cylinder Lea Francis engine;
• Parked next to the stubby littleenvelope-bodied car—I have nothingmore to say about that one—is an “EnglishUpright” MG wearing a peculiar tailfeaturing twin head fairings.
Can anyone in the vintage communityadd to this story? Do you recognize any ofthese cars? The bodymaker?
The Age of the SpecialsFAST LineS
Ozzie Lyo
ns / www.petelyo
ns.com
Ozzie Lyo
ns / www.petelyo
ns.com
Ozzie Lyo
ns / www.petelyo
ns.com
VR: When researching, I found some editorial in a magazinethat described your mechanical abilities as being “as meticulousas a nanny.” Could that be a reasonable description?
Woodgate: Yes, it could. Whatever job or profession you’re in, ifyou do a job it has to be correct and look right. What is the pointof doing a job if you’re not going to do it correctly, or if it doesn’tlook right when you’ve finished? Yes, I’m a bit bloody fastidiousand finicky.
VR: After parting company with Stirling where did you go?
Woodgate: Ironically, I went to work with John Heath andGeorge Abecassis. That would be in 1949, it’s where the HWMswere built and Stirling became one of our drivers. This was thefirst British racing team in Europe after the war, and they werereally quite successful. In winter of 1950-’51, we built the firstsingle-seaters, but I left them after the first race at Goodwood andjoined Gordon Watson, who owned a F2 Alta. I drove the car onoccasions when he wasn’t available.
After that I messed around a little, building cars here andthere. I worked for a while for John Lyons working on hisConnaught. When he disposed of that I ended up at ConnaughtEngineering, eventually landing the job of team manager. Of
course, I think I was a little too young and naive for the post. I goton the wrong side of Basil Putt one day at Snetterton, we’d had abit of trouble there and I gave him some “stick.” What I didn’trealize, Basil was a good friend of Rodney Clarke, founder of
Connaught. After they’d had words my days were numbered.After my problems at Connaught I had to rebuild my career,
which I did at the TT Garage, Farnham with Leslie Hawthorn—I’m not too sure who suggested I go there, but that’s where I endedup. That would be in 1954, the year I married Joyce. Theworkshop of the TT Garage was behind the cottage offices andthe long showroom. Leslie worked on his own cars for Mike torace, and also on Sir Jeremy Boles’ cars, which were for DonBeauman to race. Don was a local lad, born in Farnham, and afriend of Mike. Sir Jeremy, already racing sportscars, wanted to
29VinTaGe raCeCar
“Whatever job or profession you’re in, ifyou do a job it has to be correct and lookright. What is the point of doing a job ifyou’re not going to do it correctly?”
george constantine savors his victory for aston Martin in the nassau trophy race in the bahamas in 1959. His non-championship win capped a season of
grand success for the aston, which also won the nürburgring 1000K, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, goodwood’s tt and the World Sportscar championship.
continued on page 78
Mike Jigg
leINTERVieW
With the recent passings of Carroll Shelby, Roy Salvadori and TedCutting, all key players for Aston Martin’s World SportscarChampionship-winning team of 1959, it seemed reasonable to speakwith another racer who worked in that fabled John Wyer-run team, RexWoodgate. Woodgate is a notoriously detail-oriented mechanic whobecame an early collaborator of Stirling Moss and also drove onoccasion. He then had a brief tour of duty as team manager for theConnaught Grand Prix team before hooking up with Mike Hawthorn’sfather Leslie and taking a job with the family’s TT Garage. This ledhim to his tenure with Aston Martin, which in turn sent him to theUSA where he eventually became the company’s North Americanrepresentative. VR’s Mike Jiggle recently sat down with Woodgate todiscuss some of the more memorable experiences of his life and career.
VR: I’ll start with a question I ask many of those I interview,how did you get involved in motor racing?
Woodgate: It was when I found I couldn’t afford to go flying,which from a kid I always wanted to do. But really, I was alwaysinterested in bike racing, car racing and bike trials and so on andso forth. My father knew Alan Hess quite well, he was thecompetitions manager at BMC (British Motor Company), andapparently he asked Alan, “How’s my son going to get into motorracing?” Alan told him to try Thomson and Taylor at Brooklands.I went and had a word with Thomson and Taylors, theirworkshops were based inside the circuit at the Brooklands andwere famous for record breaking cars such as the Napier-Railtons,
in the 1930s and ’40s. After talking with them, they agreed toemploy me. I was put to work on big diesel generators, but I usedto try and chat as much as I could to Nobby Clark and BennyBenstead who worked on the record and racing cars. I was veryinterested in their racing experiences. I’m not too sure whathappened to Nobby, but later I met Benny Benstead. He wasworking for Connaught as one of their main engineers.
I guess it was in 1948, when Stirling Moss was running thegreen “anodized” Cooper, we were running the 500-cc JAP andthe 1000-cc JAP engines at that time, as the 1100-cc hadn’t yetcome in. My job was to look after the car, which includedchanging the engines back and forth at some races. At the firstGoodwood meet of the year, we practiced with the 500-cc engine,Stirling came in and I replaced the 500-cc with the 1000-ccengine for the next practice. The following day it was the samejob for the races. We were always very busy at meetings where weneeded to change the engines; it kept us on our toes. I think wewon or did very well in those Goodwood races. However, there isone thing I do remember about that weekend. The 1000-ccengine was a recirculating engine with a tank and a dry sump,whereas the 500-cc engine used to take oil in and dump it outfrom the bottom of the car. Well, I had a friend helping mechange these engines, and I asked him to check the oil in thetank—which was a bit low. I was busy doing other things and hefilled the oil tank quite full. What I’d omitted to tell him waswhen the engine was tested the oil in the sump would flow outand back into the tank—of course with all this added oil it wasoverfilled. I managed to suck the excess oil from the tank, and onnoticing an empty lemonade bottle on the grass nearby I squirtedit in that. I continued working on the car when Papa Moss,Stirling’s Dad, came by. He picked up the lemonade bottle andtook a long swig before I could stop him. He swallowed the oil,Stirling’s mother, Aileen, shouted to me, “You’ve poisoned myhusband!” I said, “There’s no need to worry, it’s just straight castoroil, it’s just been around the engine a couple of times.” The nextmorning I saw Papa Moss and asked how he was doing. He said,“I’m clean, clear through!” I was with Stirling for a while workingat White Cloud Farm in Bray, and living in a caravan on theestate. I enjoyed my time with him. He was a good lad, but yet tomake his name in motor sport.
I left because it got to the point where JAP wanted to do itsown engine servicing, maintenance and development. So, therewas very little for me to do. One thing I was pleased of, whileworking for Stirling, was the idea I had to modify the airflowthrough the engine of the car. I designed a cowling with an under-chassis scoop to overcome the engine overheating problems. Ishowed Papa Moss my idea and asked who we should get to buildit. Unfortunately, he insisted Coopers would make it; muchagainst my wishes as I felt we should have kept the idea quiet. Iwas really pissed off when Papa Moss had the work done atCoopers, and my reservations were proved right at the nextmeeting at Manx. We turned up with our cars modified, andStirling had done a couple of laps in practice. John Cooper rushedover and when the bonnet was opened he spat on the rearcylinder head. In amazement, he said, “It didn’t spit back!” Wewere then aware that three additional cowlings, already in theirtransporter, were fitted to his works cars. Unfortunately, in therace Stirling had magneto problems, which caused him to retireand John Heath eventually won in the HW Alta.
28 VinTaGe raCeCar
Rex Woodgate
Stirling came crawling into the pits threelaps later with an equally uncooperativegearbox, and stayed there. Bonnier led forthe remaining 12 laps to cross the finishline the winner of his one and only GrandPrix at an average speed of 93.48 mph.
Jo did best in sports racers, though. Hesigned for Porsche for 1959 and immediatelystarted to bring in the results. Like 3rd inthe 12 Hours of Sebring, the year’s first roundof the World Sports Car Championship,and 2nd in the last counter, RAC TouristTrophy at Goodwood in a 718 RSK—shared in both races with Wolfgang vonTrips. A year later, he scored the first of hisTarga Florio wins with Hans Herrmann ina 718 RS60: he was the fastest in practiceand put in the quickest lap of the race witha mighty 42 minutes and 46 seconds overthe 44.739-mile circuit. He took anothersecond in the ADAC 1000 Kilometers atthe Nürburgring a couple of weeks later,this time with Belgian Olivier Gendebienin an RS60, and helped Porsche into 2nd
place behind Ferrari in the championship. The Porsche 718 RSK was also
converted into Formula 2 single-seatersand re-designated 787, which pulled off anastonishing 1-2-3 at Britain’s Aintreecircuit driven by Moss, Bonnier andGraham Hill, respectively. Amid thesqualls and glowering black clouds of theEifel mountains, Jo pulled off a courageouswin for Porsche in the German GrandPrix, which had been downgraded by thelocals to a Formula 2 event and run on thesouth loop of the Nürburgring.
There was more of the same in 1961,when Jo and Dan Gurney came 2nd in theTarga driving a Porsche 718 RS61, andBonnier got 1962 off to a good start withvictory in the 12 Hours of Sebring drivinga Ferrari 250TR with Lucien Bianchi, thena convincing 3rd in the 1962 Sicilian eventwith local star Nino Vaccarella driving a718 GTR. Better was to come in 1963,when Jo won his second Targa Florio withCarlo Maria Abate in a Porsche 718 GTR,the car’s agility a major advantage in thewet, slippery conditions that did almost asmuch to defeat the challenging Ferraris asthe German cars.
Jo also came close to winning the 196424 Hours of Le Mans with his old palGraham Hill in a Ferrari 330P, where theytook a fine 2nd place. The two did win theyear’s 12 Hours of Reims together in a Ferrari250 LM, and in early October they scoredagain with a win in the 1000 Km of Paris atthe Montlhéry circuit in a Ferrari 330P.
After a dismal 1965 driving Brabham-Climaxes, Jo ran his own Cooper-Maseratifor a couple of seasons from 1966, thencompeted in a string of other cars includinga McLaren-BRM, Honda, Lotus 63 and aMcLaren M5A-Cosworth without much toshow for his efforts. The M5A literallyended up hanging on a wall in Bonnier’shouse as a little home decoration.
Jo became more interested in otheractivities, like his art gallery in Lausanne,and was the first GP driver to take upresidence in Switzerland for fiscal reasons.Together with Jackie Stewart, Bonnier was
also a major driving force behind theGPDA, which was formed in 1961; hebecame its first vice-president and thenpresident, fighting for greater safety inmotor racing.
Meanwhile, Bonnier came 2nd withHerbert Müller of Switzerland in theAustrian GP for sports cars driving a LolaT70-Chevrolet, and won the 1970 European2-Liter Sports Car Championship in a LolaT210-Ford. The following year he won the1000 Km of Barcelona with fellow SwedeRonnie Peterson in a Lola T212, and took3rd once more in the Targa Florio in the car,co-driven by Dickie Attwood.
It all ended, however, at about 8 a.m.one foggy Sunday morning during the1972 24 Hours of Le Mans. Bonnier wasovertaking a slower Ferrari, but clipped theItalian car. The Lola flew off the track,threw Jo to his death and exploded onimpact with the ground.
31VinTaGe raCeCar
(Above) bonnier claimed victory in the United States auto club Road Racing championship contest at Watkins glen in September of 1958, driving
this Maserati 250F under the series’ Formula Libre regulations. (Below) Prior to the 1962 United States grand Prix at Watkins glen, bonnier consults
with Porsche teammate dan gurney, who would that day be driving his finale race for the Porsche factory team.
Porsche
by Robert newman
Fluent in sixlanguages, tall,with regular
features set off by animmaculately clippedgoatee beard andmoustache, Jo Bonniercrammed a lot into his
42 years. He was an accomplished FormulaOne and sports car racer, president of theGrand Prix Drivers Association andproprietor of his own art gallery. But henever quite hit the big time, althoughwinning the Targa Florio twice and aGrand Prix was not far off the mark.
Born into a wealthy family with itsown publishing business called BonnierAktiebolag in Stockholm, Sweden, onJanuary 31, 1930, Jo was educated in theSwedish capital, Paris and Oxford, butrejected the business life. He yearned tobreak loose and race. So he started with anold Harley-Davidson motorcycle when hewas 17, then went rallying and ice racing.Before settling for a motor racing career,
he became an officer in the Swedish navyand saw service on destroyers.
After that, Jo graduated to sports carsand first competed in an Alfa RomeoDisco Volante before his first Formula Onerace in the 1956 Italian Grand Prix atMonza. He shared a rather tired Maserati250F with 47-year-old Gigi Villoresi, butthe car expired after seven laps. Bonniercontinued in 1957 with a Scuderia CentroSud 250F and came a reasonable 7th in theArgentinean GP, followed by a handful ofretirements. He ran his own 250F for mostof 1958 and drove that into 2nd places atboth Syracuse and Caen. Thoseperformances caught the eye of BRM,which were struggling to make its enginescompetitive on the newly stipulatedaviation fuel, and he was given a two-yearcontract. Jo showed the team was on theright road when he took 4th in the last GPof the season at the Ain Diab circuit nearCasablanca, Morocco, which was nowalkover as he was up against the GPcream, including winner Stirling Mossand, thanks to Stirling’s sense of fair play,new World Champion Mike Hawthorn.
The BRM P52s had brake problems at
Monaco, so they went off to Zandvoortwith Moss to do some extensive testing aweek before the 1959 Grand Prix ofHolland on May 31. Gradually, the greatEnglishman honed the brakes and car intoa contender on the Dutch circuit, thenwent back to his usual Rob WalkerCooper-Climax, while Bonnier and HarrySchell took their BRMs back. Blusteryweather conditions on the Dutch coastmeant lap times were down, but comeSaturday evening who should be sitting onpole but Joakim Bonnier! He led from theoutset, but was overtaken by a hard-charging Masten Gregory in a Cooper-Climax and that began a nose-to-tailpursuit by the Swede until the American’scar began to jump out of gear, so Joovertook him on lap 12 and led the racecomfortably for a while. But Stirling andJack Brabham were making up ground intheir Cooper-Climaxes and alternated inthe lead. Then Jack Brabham’s gearboxstarted giving the same erratic performanceand Bonnier overtook him. Moss caughtBrabham on lap 46 and by the 60th Stirlingwas right on Jo’s tail, He slipped past theSwede and it seemed it was all over—until
Joakim BonnierHEROES
30 VinTaGe raCeCar
Porsche
Porsche teammates dan gurney and Joakim bonnier enjoy the chance to stand on the top two steps of the podium after running 1-2 at Solitude in 1962.
still regularly compete for podium places ateach Grand Prix. Sometimes, in my periodof racing it would be possible to win a raceif you didn’t have the best car, but thedriver had to make all the decisions on thetrack—we didn’t have strategists. Usually,the best driver in the best car won. I thinkthe modern drivers must have to have fullconfidence in their teams of engineers andstrategists because drivers are told when tobrake, when to speed up, when to make pitstops, all these things. Again, in my periodwe were given some advice by our pitboards and by the limited radio messages,but not to the level it is today. When I hadthat memorable dice with Villeneuve atDijon in 1979, it was pure racing betweentwo experienced drivers. We made all thedecisions, we had complete confidence ineach other, we didn’t crash and itentertained the crowd then and is stilltalked about today. We were good friendsaway from the circuit and the best of rivalson it. For me, Gilles was an acrobat, that’show I saw him—an acrobat of the racingcircuits. I’m not too sure what a strategistor engineer would be saying to us today. Ithink we’d both be banned from racing fora long time by the officials for dangerousdriving!! In that period racing was simplystarting as high as you can on the grid andracing to win. If our race in 1979 wasunder the regulations of today, spectatorswouldn’t have seen Villeneuve and mebanging wheels, they would see a pit stopor two. There would be an engineer tellingus to come in and change tires, a strategistwould tell us to run very fast for five or sixlaps before the stop to make up time,another engineer would decide whatrubber compound to use and the teammanager would tell the driver he must dowhat he was being told.
It’s completely different now, but 33years afterward I still am asked about Dijonnearly every day, especially when I’m askedto sign photos or books. I don’t think Vettelwill be asked in 33 years time why he madea certain pit stop—pit stops are forgotten.And don’t forget, in 1979 Villeneuve and I
were racing for 2nd and 3rd place. Jabouillewon the race, the first for Renault and theturbo engine, but many forget that. Dijon1979 will always be remembered forVilleneuve and the red Ferrari againstArnoux and the yellow Renault.
Today’s racing cars are very different tothose I raced, too. Recently, I was given theopportunity of driving the last of MichaelSchumacher’s championship Ferraris. I cantell you it is a very easy car to drive and it’svery comfortable. It is always a fantasticopportunity for me to drive more modern F1cars. Of course, it’s very different than itused to be, but the feeling of driving fastremains the same. The testing of the cars hasbeen banned now, so everything has to bedone at the race. I’m sorry this has to be, Ialways enjoyed the development of the car.Racing is racing, but to improve the car andto make some real progress between raceswas something special. I especially gotsatisfaction from the development of theturbocharged engine at Renault, it was avery exciting time—everyone in FormulaOne was looking at us, especially in thebeginning. It was very difficult at first, butwe almost ended up as World Champions!
Today’s racing drivers are different, Ifind it such a pity that there aren’t toomany drivers who say what they think.Nowadays, I think journalists have torequest an interview at least a monthahead. If you’re lucky you only get to speakto a driver for a few minutes. Drivers arenot allowed to say what they think thesedays. There is always a team media personat their side telling them what to say andwhat not to say, it’s corporate-driven. Ithink they should be allowed to show theiremotions a lot more, motor racing is veryemotional. The audience should see morepassion in Formula One to make it moreinteresting. I can remember racing in mydays it didn’t matter if it was a practice,pre-qualifying, qualifying or racing, as soonas the car stopped a French TV crewalways came to me to ask me a fewquestions—I would tell them exactly whatI was thinking at that time too! I wouldlike to think people will remember ReneArnoux as an exciting, emotional,passionate driver, and his character andspirit truly revealed in those final laps ofthe French GP at Dijon, in 1979.
As told to Mike Jiggle
33VinTaGe raCeCar
a smiling trio of French drivers—Prost, alliot
and arnoux—together at Monza in 1987.
Mau
reen
Mag
ee
Jean-Pierre Jabouille debuted Renault’s “yellow tea pot” turbocar at the1977 british grand Prix.
BRDC
by Rene arnoux
On the whole,French racingdrivers are
quite friendly towardeach other andgenerally there is a
good rapport and camaraderie between us. Ithink this stems from the roots of our motorracing careers in France. Most, if not all, ofus came through the motor racing schoolsystem where we learned our racing skill andcraft. I was at the Winfield Motor RacingSchool, which was a great training groundfor drivers. Elf petroleum worked hand inhand with the school to promote andsupport the rising stars of French motorsport. If we were very strong or very fastdrivers, we were helped up to the next level,and the best of us went on to race inFormula One. The Winfield school was avery good training ground, it was not veryexpensive, but it was very selective; therewas always room to progress for thesuccessful drivers, and I think these thingsmade Winfield very strong. The drivers I’mtalking about are Alain Prost, PatrickTambay, Jacques Laffite and Didier Pironi.There were strong Winfield drivers beforethis time like Pescarolo, Beltoise and Jarier.We would start at the beginning of the yearwith, say, 300 drivers all competing againsteach other. Some would fall away, the restwould compete until the end of the seasonand there was just one winner, onechampion, who would be supported to go on
and race in other championships outside theschool. My progress got me all the way tothe top. I was able to win in Formula Three,then in Formula Two and Formula One, too.
As for Formula One, it was very difficultfor French drivers to enter until Frenchteams such as Renault and Ligier started. Inmy time, it was easier for English drivers toget into F2 and Grand Prix racing thanFrench, because most of the teams of my erawere from England. I think the mother ofthe Formula One championship is inEngland; Ferrari have been in thechampionship from it being very young, too.The English teams soon joined, but whenthe French teams entered the championshiptrain was in the middle of its journey. It wasvery complex to get into an English teambecause first you had to compete with manytalented drivers, not just in Grand Prixracing, but most of the major formulas too,then you needed a lot of money.
My period with Renault was justfantastic, because when Renault arrived inFormula One it didn’t find the best way tostart. Renault was a new team and wasbringing a new technology to the sport, allother cars were 3-liter aspirated engines, butRenault had developed a new 1.5-literturbocharged engine. The rules said that3-liter aspirated and 1.5-liter turbochargedwere on a level and produced the samepower. I don’t think too many people in thepit lane believed that when Renault firstcame along, but I remember speaking withBernard Dudot and Jean-Pierre Boudy, whowere responsible for the engine design, andthey told me that within one year of Renaultstarting in F1 many of the existing teams
would want to make the change toturbocharged engines. They both had aconviction that the power would be veryhigh, and with development would exceedthe power of normally aspirated engines.Ken Tyrrell was a good example of whatGrand Prix managers thought aboutRenault. He laughed when it was first atSilverstone and called the car a “yellow tea-pot” because there were overheatingproblems. Not too long after, he too wasusing Renault turbo engines. In France wehave a saying, “il ne faut jamais dire, fontaine,je ne boirai pas de ton eau” (We should neversay, fountain, I shall not drink of thy water).I think this applied very well to Ken Tyrrellat Silverstone in 1977. Yes, there was a lot oftrouble at the start, but hard work anddedication helped Renault succeed. I firstraced the Renault turbo in 1979, and despiteall the testing, and racing the car was still alittle unproven and troubled. It took a littlepressure off of the ability and performance ofthe driver—not that I didn’t give 100percent all the time. However, by midseasonwe’d had our first win and the car lookedgood and the reliability problems improved.
Today, and for the last 8-10 years or so,the Grand Prix drivers championship hasbecome one where the driver has becomeless important and the engineers andstrategists have come to the front. I’ll giveyou an example of what I mean from thisyear (2012): the Red Bull is not socompetitive as it was last year when Vettelwon the championship. However, thestrategists have told both Vettel andWebber what to do and how to race anddespite having a relatively poor car they
The French Way
LEGENDS SPeaK
32 VinTaGe raCeCar
arnoux had his first season in the Renault turbo in 1979, as teammate to Jean-Pierra Jabouille. He’s seen here at Monaco.
Mau
reen
Mag
ee
35VinTaGe raCeCar34 VinTaGe raCeCar
ART HiStoRY
“Striking Out”Historic car art
contact info:
Foremark Park Farm
ticknall, derbyshire, de73 7JP, UK
tel. +44 (0) 1332 694538
fax. +44 (0) 1332 863115
Medium: acrylics on canvas.
www.historiccarart.net
historiccarart.blogspot.com
Dan Gurney shared this 4.7-liter Cobra Daytona Coupe with Bob Bondurant for the1964 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They finished 4th overall and won the GTcategory, and as none of the GT40s finished that year, were the highest placed Ford.
Gurney’s drive is featured in this 33x24 John Ketchell painting titled “Striking Out.”
36 VinTaGe raCeCar 37VinTaGe raCeCar
Steve
Oom
RACECAR PRoFiLe
by Patrick Quinn
1963 Brabham BT6-Cosworth
Bear’s Junior
39VinTaGe raCeCar
and its 6th place finish in its first race at Mallory Park was certainlynot auspicious. However, in August 1961, Youl lined up for aFormula Junior race at a major meeting at Goodwood and thistime the car was powered by a Holbay-modified 1,100-cc engineresulting in pole position with a new lap record! MRD was on themap and after a few more events Youl took the car back toAustralia with him.
Formula JuniorInterestingly, the car that eventually became BT1 was the first
water-cooled racing car designed by Ron Tauranac. FormulaJunior was settled on as a logical choice because while it waseconomical it was also the closest thing to Formula One, makingthe car the first Junior designed by Tauranac as well.
The success of the Youl win also meant that the word was outon who was behind the car. Brabham then put out the news in themotoring press and while John Cooper had previously learned ofwhat was happening, not so Charles Cooper. He, of course, wasnot impressed, and from all reports was offended. Not so John, ashe understood Brabham’s ambitions.
It was at this time when an up and coming French driver bythe name of Jo Schlesser showed an interest in two new MRDs ashe thought the model was so clean and straightforward. He hadreservations, however, about the name MRD, as it’s pronouncedmerde in French which is their word for shit. Thus, the name of
(Opposite) the author found brabham bt6 FJ-9-63 to be a very
comfortable fit and didn’t want to get out of it. (Above Right) cockpit
is essentially Spartan, with only minimal gauges on the flat-panel dash.
(Right) Fed by twin Weber dcoe 45s, the 1.5-liter cosworth-tuned
four-cylinder produces 185 healthy horses at 7500rpm. (Below)Wakefield Park is a safe circuit with ample runoff areas so that our man
Quinn could stretch the car’s legs and get a good feel for its capabilities.
Steve
Oom
Steve
Oom
Steve
Oom
38 VinTaGe raCeCar
Steve
Oom
Frankly, I was surprised at how easily it drove after someprevious experiences I had with other open-wheelers.Owner Ed Holly and I are about the same size and shape,and once my bum was in the seat of his Brabham BT6 Ifelt perfectly at home. No names of course, but some
open-wheelers I have had the pleasure of experiencing have beenreally quite the opposite, and I have been only too pleased tohand them back to their owners.
Wakefield Park is about two hours south of Sydney, and is theperfect circuit to test an unfamiliar car. Not too long, so it’s easyto remember what the next corner is like and plenty of runoffroom should you wish to test the cornering capabilities of a car.
Not to worry with the Brabham of Ed Holly, as it is as agreeableas its good looks. It is also a car with impeccable provenance, beingthe launching pad of a future F1 World Champion in the form ofNew Zealander Denny Hulme.
Any Brabham car story starts during 1961 when it was becomingclear to Jack Brabham that despite World Championships in 1959and 1960, his success with the Cooper Car Company was destinednot to continue.
Ron TauranacLooking back, the name of Ron Tauranac is synonymous with
the world’s most prolific manufacturer of racing cars. Tauranacstarted out with his brother Austin in the 1950s, building theirown Ralt racing specials, before being the T in the BT modelprefix number of later Brabhams built, and later returning to thename Ralt, producing a total of 1,051 Ralts from 1975 to 1993.
However, the name of Tauranac is also connected withBrabham during the Cooper days. During the late 1950s Brabhamformed an opinion that the handling of F1 cars from Cooper couldbe improved by lowering the Climax engine. However, father
Charlie Cooper took the line that there was no need to changeanything while they were winning.
Brabham and Tauranac had worked together in Australia withboth doing work for the other. So Brabham scribbled out what hehad in mind on a piece of paper and posted it off to Tauranac backin Australia. In response, Tauranac not only designed a set of step-down gears, but also had them made in Australia for Brabham totake back to England for the 1958 season. Later it was Tauranacwhose input was received for the new Lowline Cooper.
In addition to driving for Cooper, Brabham also had a garage inLondon called Jack Brabham Motors, selling Rootes Group andStandard-Triumph cars, as well as his own branded tuning kit forthe Sunbeam Rapier. Having the ’59 and ’60 World Championshipsto his name meant the garage was doing well, and as a resultBrabham was able to offer Tauranac a job in England.
Motor Racing DevelopmentsOf course Ron Tauranac wasn’t brought out from Australia
just to hop up English road cars, as Brabham had ideas of makinghis own racing cars. However, there was a hitch to this as Brabhamwas still contracted to Coopers for 1960-’61, and he couldn’t beseen as being involved in the manufacture of a new racing car.
Brabham’s ideas soon turned to plans that Tauranac wasworking out on his drawing board. Motor Racing Developmentswas formed with Brabham and Tauranac being partners and thefirst car, MRD-1 was ready in mid-1961.
Money wasn’t all that available to the fledgling company andonce completed MRD-1 was sold to a visiting Australian drivernamed Gavin Youl. Carrying the chassis number FJ1 there wasnothing unconventional with the MRD. Spaceframe chassis,alloy body, Ford 1-liter engine, modified Volkswagen gearboxwith drum brakes all round. Retrospectively it became the BT1,
wet, I thought fellow New Zealander Denny Hulme’s win in theworks Brabham FJ was very good.
“He is now being trained in the Brabham tradition bybuilding, working on and developing his own car. He looks afterthe car and tunes it in the Brabham racing shop.”
Hulme’s last race in FJ-9-63 was at Snetterton on September 28,1963, where after setting pole position he went on to be first acrossthe line while also setting a new lap record. It was also destined tobe the car’s last outing as a Formula Junior and in England.
Tasman SeriesFrom the late 1950s through to the early 1960s the southern
summer in Australia and New Zealand was the scene ofcompetitive and enjoyable racing that attracted a number of thetop drivers from the Northern Hemisphere. While earlier, theraces were a loose arrangement in both countries it was theintroduction of the formalized Tasman Series from 1964 thatprovided significant inducement for manufactures not only toproduce cars, but also to send race teams and drivers.
While the Australian National Formula at that time was 1.5liters, the Tasman Series itself allowed engine capacities of up to2.5 liters. In doing so it was catering to the aging CoventryClimax four-cylinder FPF engine.
In a letter from Frank Gardner to the previous owner, IanMcDonald, Frank said that FJ-9-63 was the first Brabham to befitted with a twin-cam Ford engine in place of the Ford 105EJunior 1100-cc engine. Frank goes on to say that it was freightedto Australia in late 1963, and he drove it for the Alex MildrenRacing Team in local races and later the 1964 Tasman Series.
Gardner’s first race in FJ-9-63 was at the Catalina Circuit inKatoomba west of Sydney. The feature race of the meeting, theBlue Mountains City Council Trophy Race was for racing cars of upto 1500-cc and carried the not insignificant prize money of £400.
Unfortunately it was not destined to be an auspicious start forthe car in Australia. Throughout the race Gardner had beenduelling with the older Brabham of Greg Cusack, but there was acoming together of the two with both going into the safety fence.
Cusack’s car was extensively damaged and as a result local driverLeo Geoghegan went on to win in his Lotus 27-Ford.
The Tasman Series consisted of eight separate races overalmost the same number of weekends, in both New Zealand andAustralia. For the 1964 Series FJ-9-63 was entered only for theAustralian rounds.
At the first race, the Australian Grand Prix held at SandownPark in Melbourne, Gardner was the first on pole of the non-2.5-liter brigade. However, while leading the smaller capacity cars tonine laps from the finish he retired with gearbox problems. Hisbest result that year was a highly credible 4th place at the Tasmanround at Lakeside on February 23, 1964.
Following the Tasman, the overseas drivers returned fromwhence they came and FJ-9-63 stayed in Australia as part of theAlec Mildren stable.
BathurstWhile the Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst these days is
usually the reserve of sedans and the like, not so in 1964 when itwas used for national race meetings, including open-wheelers.
Enter a driver by the name of Charlie Smith who traded in anolder Elfin on a Lotus 23 and was offered a drive in FJ-9-63 at theMount Panorama “1500.” Here the car was timed at 152.54 mphwhere it was wise to hug the left-hand side of the track goingacross the infamous hump on Conrod Straight. In Smith’s case hequickly found that FJ-9-63 would virtually swap from the left tothe right side while crossing the hump.
Throughout the race it was a neck-and-neck tussle betweenthe Lotus 27 of Arnold Glass and Smith’s Brabham. Then, withjust two laps remaining and Smith in the lead, a tire burst on theBrabham while at the top of the mountain, causing him to spin offinto the fence, slightly bending the chassis.
Throughout the rest of the year FJ-9-63 was run at diversecircuits such as the country circuit at Towac, Catalina Park andWarwick Farm. In the hands of fellow Mildren driver Ralph Sach,it was even run in the 1964 Australian Hillclimb Championshipat the Silverdale hill west of Sydney.
41VinTaGe raCeCar
Autop
ics.co
m.au
after the car was acquired by the alex Mildren Racing team, Frank gardner raced it in the tasman Series, as shown here at Warwick Farm in 1964.
the cars into the future were called Brabham, an arrangement thatdidn’t sit 100 percent well with Ron Tauranac.
As an aside, it is perhaps important to reflect on the names ofthe companies involved. Motor Racing Developments Limitedhad originally been a 50/50 partnership between Brabham andTauranac, but later it became a 60/40 partnership due toBrabham’s insistence, as he put up £2,000 in capital. Brabham’swholly owned company, Brabham Racing Organisation was thecompany that went motor racing and was actually a customer ofMotor Racing Developments.
GoodwoodSpring 1962 heralded the release of the Brabham BT2, with
Brabham having left Cooper some time beforehand. It was alsothe time for testing of the new car at Goodwood. Brabhamhimself set about the task of testing and slashed the FormulaJunior time of 1m 33.6s, with a 1m 26.8s, which was also underthe 1.5-liter Formula One time.
The BT2 was more a progression on the earlier car than acompletely different construction. The bodywork was then madeof fiberglass and Hewland were now supplying a five-speedgearbox using the Volkswagen casing. Australian Frank Gardnerhad been retained to drive the works cars.
The Brabham BT3 was to be the first Formula One car, but itwas very much a poor cousin against the money-making customercars and production was constantly delayed. In total eleven BT2swere built, against the single BT3. While waiting, the BrabhamRacing Organisation ordered a new Lotus 24.
PromisingThe best word to describe the first trading year for Brabham
cars was “promising.” The cars certainly didn’t win every raceentered, but each car had left its mark and—crucial for futuresuccess—the customers liked their cars.
For the southern summer of 1962, Frank Gardner travelled toAustralia to run his BT2 and wiped the board in almost everyrace. This opened the eyes of a number of team owners and Franksoon found himself driving a Brabham for Ian Walker. This, of
course, left a gap in the Brabham team that was filled by youngNew Zealander Denny Hulme.
Brabham offered Hulme a mechanic’s job and, perhaps, anoccasional drive. He accepted of course, and soon proved to be adriver of some caliber. Hulme had a drive in a Brabham atLondon’s Crystal Palace and after setting pole, came in 4th. Notlong after, he won his first race at Brands Hatch, during which heset a new lap record.
The New BT6Always keen on releasing revised models, rather than each
being a completely new design, Motor Racing Developmentsreleased the new BT6 in early 1963. Its design was a developmenton the BT2 Formula Junior car, and like its predecessor it provedto be popular, with a total of 20 built—some of which wereadapted to Formula Two and Three the following year.
The success of Hulme in his brief showings impressed bothTauranac and Brabham. So impressed infact, that during thenorthern summer of 1964, Hulme was loaned a Brabham BT6that he and wife Greta trailered all over England and Europetaking part in the Express and Star British Championship Seriesand the European L’Equipe Series.
Denny and Greta Hulme travelled without a mechanic andraced for over five months, in 14 events, managing six outrightswins, four 2nds, one 3rd and three DNFs. At the Reims circuit inFrance, where Hulme won, he set the fastest lap of2m 41.4s for an amazing lap average of 115.06 mph.
The chassis number of that particular BT6 was FJ-9-63 and itis this car that features in this issue and is currently owned by EdHolly of Sydney, Australia. Hulme finished in 2nd place in both theEuropean Formula Junior and the “Express & Star” Formula JuniorChampionship, behind Peter Arundell who was driving a Lotus-Ford 27 and ahead of Frank Gardner, also in a Brabham.
Hulme’s success in the Brabham certainly generatedsignificant wordage in the contemporary motoring press. In hiscolumn in Autosport of May 10, 1963, Bruce McLaren said afterHulme’s win at Aintree:
“For a driver who professes to be not particularly good in the
Rac
ebea
rs
40 VinTaGe raCeCar
(Left) Sitting in FJ-9-63 in the pits prior to a race at Snetterton in 1963, polewinner dennny Hulme discusses his race strategy with Jack brabham
as Ron tauranac lurks behind the car in his blue coveralls. (Right) Jim clark admires Hulme’s trophy in the aftermath of the bear’s victory that day.
Rac
ebea
rs
43VinTaGe raCeCar
as to where the money would come from. They decided that theycould make a reasonable offer for FJ-9-63 if a much loved LotusElite could be sold, along with a Lotus 20.
Both were sold and with an addition of some further funds theoffer was made. To Ed’s excitement, it was accepted. That wasaround July 2006, which was enough time to prepare the car forthe 2006 Tasman Revival at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway.
Needless to say, Ed was not only delighted to have his originalTasman Series car on the grid, but that the whole meeting had beenorganized by a team headed by himself was very much a bonus.
MagnificentWhen Vintage Racecar tested Ed Holly’s Brabham BT6 at the
Wakefield Park circuit, Ed answered a few questions as to how itwas when he brought it home.
“It was absolutely magnificent.” he answered. “I was so enthralledwith the car, and still am. Plus, it has to be the easiest to maintainracing car that I have ever been involved with. For instance theengine was rebuilt 11 years ago, and since then it’s done threeTasman Revival meetings, three other major race meetings and I’velost count of the number of minor meetings. Plus, it holds the classlap record at both Phillip Island and Eastern Creek.
“It’s a great car that really talks to you,” Ed added. “It sort of tapsyou on the shoulder when you’re trying to be a little too enthusiasticand getting on the power too early. I know when to be careful.
“What is really interesting is that it’s just wonderful oncircuits that are more of a driver’s track than those that demandpower. Sydney’s Eastern Creek, for instance, is quite like WarwickFarm and there have been quite a few times when it has beenmore than competitive against larger-capacity cars. It certainly isa great leveller on such circuits.
“I want to own FJ-9-63 for a long, long time as it’s such anenjoyable car. It’s funny as lately the Formula Junior boys havebeen having a go at me saying I should convert it back to a Junior.
I just smile and remind them that it really ran as a Junior for justsix-months and has spent most of its life as a 1.5-liter car. It’s justa wonderful and enjoyable car. Oh yes, I am really looking forwardto the next Tasman Revival.”
A Word with RonRecently I was at Eastern Creek, which has had a name
change to Sydney Motorsport Park, and I was standing next toFJ-9-63 when along came Ron Tauranac. Ron attends most historicrace meetings in this part of the world, and it’s always enjoyable topass a little part of the day with him. So, with FJ-9-63 looking justwonderful next to us I had to ask what he thought of it.
“The BT6 cars were made in 1963, and in total 20 weremade.” Ron said. “It was a development of the BT2 and went onto be developed into the 7, the 7a and so forth.
“As there was many hundreds of cars, I don’t remember anysingle one in particular, however the BT6 was the first Brabham inwhich we introduced the rubber doughnuts and also added a ballto centralize the shaft. Some haven’t got that fitted, so that theshaft flails around, breaking the coupling and damaging the car.
“One of the aspects I do recall was when in Australia thosewho bought a Brabham would buy a complete car as import dutieswere very high at the time. When they wanted spares the tax wasvery high so that I would send drawings for the part to be madelocally and therefore avoid any tax.”
In response to my comment as how easy to drive Ed’s car was,Ron said. “I think all our cars were easy to drive. The regulationschanged frequently and people with enough money would buy anew car each year and sell the old one on. So what I used to do wasto design the ultimate car I thought and back off in the design sothat it would be just good enough to beat the opposition. Then wecould update individual cars year by year. Other manufacturersemployed designers who had to come up with a new car every year.This meant that their second-hand cars weren’t worth so much
Kiwi Roly Levis purchased the car for the 1965 tasman Series, during which he was the top non-2.5-liter finisher on five occasions, a showing good
enough to secure the australian national Formula championship. He’s shown here leading graham Hill’s newer brabham bt11a-climax at Sandown.
NZ Bound
In late 1964 FJ-9-63 was sold to New Zealander Roly Leviswho first saw action in the car, not in NZ but at Warwick Farm,where the car was entered by Mildrens. However, it was the 1965Tasman Series that Levis had in his sights.
The 1965 Tasman Series must have been quite a commitmentfor Levis as he entered every single event, of which there wereseven that year. While the final points score for the series showsthat Levis finished with two points and Jim Clark had 35, itdoesn’t tell the true story. Of the seven races, Levis in FJ-9-63 wasthe leading non 2.5-liter car five times and 2nd once. In theseventh race, Levis was involved in an accident in the NZGP atPukekohe where the car lost its nose cone and cockpit surround.Levis’ results provided him with 1st place in the AustralianNational Formula Championship.
The following year Levis again drove FJ-9-63 finishing theTasman Series in 9th place overall, 1st in the Australian NationalFormula Championship and 2nd in the New Zealand Gold Star.Unfortunately, later in the year while testing at Levin, Levisflipped the Brabham and sustained minor back injuries.
Guy FawkesIt was Guy Fawkes Day, November 5, 1966, and FJ-9-63 was
entered by Bill Stone, its new owner. (Stone later went on to bea co-founder of Reynard Cars.) Levis was also in the event, butdriving another BT6 that had been previously owned by AndyBuchanan/Bill Caldwell. Later Stone lined up for the TasmanSeries, but restricted his entries to the New Zealand events only.The results show that he wasn’t at the sharp end of the field,especially against the likes of Jackie Stewart’s BRM P261 and theLotus 33 of Jim Clark. However, he was certainly not among thealso-rans of the 1.5-liter cars.
It was destined not to be a good year for Stone, as while he didn’tcross the Tasman Sea he did stay at home to run in the Timaru RoadRace on February 4, 1967 through the streets of the South Islandcity of Timaru. Unfortunately, oil had been spilled on the very roughsurface of the circuit and FJ-9-63 quickly spun end for end, turnedover and cannoned off the circuit upside down, coming to rest afterscraping along the concrete walls of a school ground.
While the car certainly was looking very second hand, Stonewas lucky to escape with just a broken collar bone.
Despite the accident FJ-9-63 was rebuilt and was used duringthe remainder of the 1967 season. Stone also backed up for theNew Zealand rounds of the 1968 Tasman Series, but at the Levinround on March 25 he had a narrow escape when the car spunand rolled, trapping him underneath. He walked away with ablack eye and a few abrasions.
Amazingly, FJ-9-63 was rebuilt and after one further run byStone it was sold that September to Gerald “Jiggs” Alexander. Then,like so many older racing cars, while it still performed, the rest of thefield had caught up with it and in most cases left it far behind.
RestorationAlexander continued to compete in the car to around 1970,
by which stage it was sorely in need of a restoration. This wasstarted with great enthusiasm, and FJ-9-63 was completelystripped. However, that’s how it stayed until 1999 when it wasbought as a basket case by Australian Ian McDonald, whoundertook its complete restoration.
Following the restoration, McDonald, to his credit, didn’tbelieve in maintaining FJ-9-63 in cottonwool, and wouldcompete in the car whenever the occasion arose. Entering thescene was Sydneyite Ed Holly, who first saw the car at PhillipIsland in 2005 and just fell in love with it.
Ed has been a leading light in the Historic Sports and RacingCar Association in Australia, and has owned and competed in awide range of cars from an MGA to a Brabham BT21C. Ed wasalso the instigator of the inaugural Tasman Revival race meetingheld in 2006. This year marks the fourth Tasman Revival, towhich enthusiasts from all areas of Australia are looking forwardto on November 23-25.
Ed was at Phillip Island to run his Brabham BT15 F3, and hisfirst sight of FJ-9-63 was in the garages. Later Ed shared a race withFJ-9-63, which was being driven by Ian McDonald’s son Nick, andhad to be content with watching from the infield due to a spin.
Not long after, Ed became aware that FJ-9-63 had come up forsale, but when he looked further down the ad he had to take adeep breath upon seeing the price asked. This did not deter him,however, and both he and wife Lorraine put their heads together
Frank gardner leans FJ-9-63 into a turn at Lakeside Speedway in 1964.
Brie
r Tho
mas
42 VinTaGe raCeCar
45VinTaGe raCeCar44 VinTaGe raCeCar
money at the end of the year, while ours maintained their value.“This attracted people back to us as those who were buying a
new car from us always got a good price for their old car. Icontinued doing that right through my career.”
FJ-9-63 at WakefieldThose who recall my earlier missives would also recall that many
cars have been tested at Wakefield Park. Designed as a club circuit,Wakefield Park has gone from strength to strength and is booked upall year round. It is important to realize that its success has alsobrought considerable trade into the local Goulburn area, much tothe agreement of the local stores and accommodation providers.
Sadly, one of the enthusiasts behind the establishment ofWakefield Park, Paul Samuels, recently died after a long battlewith cancer. Paul was also a previous president of the HSRCAand a very enthusiastic competitor in his Lotus 15 that he ran notonly in Australia, but also the U.S. and England.
Looking back, the predominant memory of Ed Holly’s BrabhamBT6 is how comfortable I felt while driving it. As mentioned, Ed isabout my size or perhaps a little taller, and as I lowered my bum intothe seat I was simply surprised at how easy it all was.
The right-hand gearchange was exactly where I wanted it tobe, the instruments were in easy sight, my helmet didn’t clang onthe roll bar (believe me, this happen so much, and it’s verydisconcerting) and most importantly there was enough room formy size 8s with sufficient left over to rest my clutch foot. Plus,even the clutch was progressive and easy to feel so that I knewexactly where I was. Additionally, it was a real bonus that the carlooked and felt immaculate.
Wakefield Park is perfect for testing as there are plenty ofrunoff areas for those silly moments, but luckily with such aforgiving car as FJ-9-63 this never happened.
Of course, I was mindful of not searching for the 7,500 to8,000 rpm that Ed commonly reaches. In fact I keep it to a timid5,500 rpm, which is more than enough for me to sense how it all
felt. The gluteus maximi are an amazingly sensitive set of musclesthat allows the perceptive to know how a car is performing.
I will admit that Ed’s BT6 handles like a dream, especially asmost corners at Wakefield Park are right-handers. When I get tothe left-handed twin-apex dogleg, which is about halfway round,I felt my gluteus maximus tense up as I have less than pleasantmemories of this corner. It was back to second for the trickycorner and around without any fuss. I am pleased to say that eachtime I tried the dogleg I tried a little harder, and while my lapsweren’t timed I knew I was getting faster. I also knew that in Ed’sBT6, I was the boss of the corner.
After ten or so laps I was getting really comfortable. Okay, Iconfess to taking it to 6,000 rpm plus a bit, (sorry Ed) but it wasjust so much fun. Plus, it wasn’t my fault that I felt socomfortable.
(Above) as gardner sits in FJ-9-63 (#16) behind him, ill-fated young
american racer timmy Mayer gathers his pre-race thoughts in the cockpit
of his cooper. (Below) Roly Levis sets up for a left-hander at Sandown
international Raceway during his successful 1965 tasman Series campaign.
Autop
ics.co
m.au
Brie
r Tho
mas
47VinTaGe raCeCar
Steve
Oom
Steve
Oom
46 VinTaGe raCeCar
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / RESOURCES
Many thanks to Ed Holly for the opportunity of gettingup close and very comfortable with his Brabham BT6.Thanks also to Wakefield Park for the tracktime and alsoto the Golden Era Auto Racing (GEAR) for allowing meto pinch some time from their mid-week meeting.
Graham Howard & Stewart Wilson, The Official50-race History of the Australian Grand Prix. R & TPublishing. ISBN 0 9588464 0 5
John Blanden, Historic Racing Cars in Australia.Turton & Armstrong. ISBN 0-908031-83-1
Mike Lawrence, Brabham Ralt Honda – The RonTauranac Story. Motor Racing Publications. ISBN1899870 35 0
Sir Jack Brabham with Doug Nye, The JackBrabham Story. MINIDI Pty Ltd. ISBN 0-9577060-30
SPECIFICATIONS Chassis/Body: Tubular steel chassis and fiberglass body
Wheelbase: 7ft 5.56ins (2,275mm)
Track: 4ft 2.78in (1,290mm) front – 4ft 3.96in (1,320mm) rear
Weight: 903.90 lbs (410kgs)
Suspension: Front & Rear: Independent with coilover shock absorbers and anti-roll bar
Steering Gear: Brabham MRD rack and pinion.
Engine: Cosworth twin-cam 1,500cc
Power: 185hp at 7,500 rpm.
Carburetor Twin Weber DCOE 45mm
Clutch: Single-plate.
Gearbox: Hewland Mk5
Gears: 5 forward, 1 reverse.
Foot Brake: discs all round
Wheels: Brabham MRD 6 inch front & 8 inch rear
Tires: Front 4.50M x 13 Rear 550M x 13 Dunlop Tires.
Steve
Oom
the racing photographer:
an essential part of the early sports car scene was the racephotographer. He was the guy with three camerasstrapped around his neck – probably Leicas, Hasselbladsor Nikons. He knelt by the side of the track as the carswhizzed by at 140 miles an hour only a couple of feet
away. He chronicled the races at venues from Watkins Glen toBridgehampton to Elkhart Lake, Put-in-Bay and Brynfan Tyddyn. Hiswork went into magazines like Speed Age, Road & Track and SportsCar….not to mention the various SCCA regional newsletters.
Of course, anyone can buy a camera, but not everyone can useone. Professional photographers in motorsports were confronted withthings their counterparts in regular news photography could neverimagine: extreme high speeds, access to vantage points (re: safety),spectators, officials and distances (e.g., getting yourself and your geararound a three-mile road course).
The better ones overcame all of this and captured some greatimages…images that will last for all time…images of the Golden Ageof Sports Car Racing. Some of their names: Alix Lafontant, HempOliver, Pierre Perrin, Arthur Richards, Ray Boldt, Pete and OzzieLyons, Jim Sitz, Joe Brown, Dan Rubin, Irv Dolin, Taz Rufty, JackCampbell, Bob Canaan, Bob Tronolone, Allen Kuhn, Pete Biro, FredVytal, Dave Freidman, Tom Burnside and Warren Ballard, withapologies to those omitted.
Alix Lafontant took pictures of the sports car racing scene fromBrynfan Tyddyn to Road America and from 1953 to 1963. He wasthe Regional Executive of the Finger Lakes Region of the Sports CarClub of America from 1957 to 1960. As ex-racing driver Dave Wild(MG-TD and Elva Courier) recalls, Alix did a lot of photography forFinger Lakes Region and Watkins Glen. Beginning in 1956, therewas a Sportsmanship Award, otherwise known as the Alix LafontantTrophy. It is still awarded today. He was a rally driver and owned anumber of interesting cars from a red MG-TD, to a Jaguar XK-120called “The Tomato” (due to a repaint in an unusual color), an AlfaGiulietta and two Porsche coupes (a red one and a silver one).“When he first got the Jag,” says racing driver Dave Elder, “hethought that spark plugs should be in very tight. They had troublegetting one of them out and had to repair it with a Helicoil.”
Alix and his wife Nicole had come from Haiti and both wereFrench; they spoke fluent English with a pleasant French accent.Walt Marshall sponsored their entry into the U.S. His daughterElizabeth remembers Alix and Nicole. “They were sophisticated,elegant people,” she says. “Nicole was charming and sweet. Alixwore an ascot. He came from a wealthy family. When he playedtennis, a servant ran to get the ball. He taught me how to dive in thepool at our home. It was a neat time in my life.”
Alix Lafontant
the Paddock at Watkins glen in 1954 is filled with a representative sampling
of the caars being raced, including Jaguar XK120 coupes and roadsters, a
couple of Porsche 356 roadsters and a coupe, an austin-Healey 100 and lots
of t-series Mgs, all getting their numbers on and preparing to go racing.
by Carl Goodwin
48 VinTaGe raCeCar
51VinTaGe raCeCar
on the grid prior to the ’62 USgP at Watkins glen. that’s innes ireland in the #15 Udt Lotus 24 and count carel godin de beaufort in his Porsche 718.
a characteristically airborne tex Hopkins brandishes the green flag to unleash a full field of Formula Junior competitors at Watkins glen in 1960.
50 VinTaGe raCeCar
Elizabeth’s brother Mike recalls: “My father wenton rallies with Alix in the early ’50s. Alix had anMG-TD, a red one, and he brought it over to thehouse. I’ll never forget the smell of the leather seats.We had seven kids in my family and they all swarmedover the car. I thought, ‘boy, this is something.’ Onthese rallies, Alix would be the driver and my fatherwas the navigator. One time they came back from anight rally and my father was practically frozen! ThenAlix had a Jag 120. The lines on the car werebeautiful. Later he had a silver Porsche 356. Alix andhis wife Nikki were great people. She was an elegantwoman. They came over to our house quite often.Either his or her parents were involved in governmentin Haiti; they were pretty high up. He had a good jobat Kodak. We all went to Watkins Glen when theyraced in the streets. It was a dangerous course and awonder more people weren’t hurt. The racing carswere parked in garages in town. One of them was theCunningham—it was spectacular. They had two ofthem: a coupe and convertible.”
Another one of the Kodak people who was a friend of Alix wasDavid Cunningham, who knew him between 1955 and 1959. “Alixand Nikki were in the Rochester Yacht Club,” Cunningham recalls,“and I used to socialize with them there. We both lived in the sameapartment house in Rochester, and the people who owned it had asailboat of about 23 feet in length that they used to take out on LakeOntario. They did not race it, just day-sailing.”
A man named Ned Junker also worked with Alix. His son Chrisrecalls, “Dad was a cinematographer for Watkins Glen. His specialtywas film transport systems. Alix did the mechanical systems for thephoto reconnaissance cameras.
“After a while, they moved out of the Rochester area into a suburbcalled Pennfield. Alix was very good with children, though he andNikki had no children of their own. He taught the children French. Itwas ‘bonjour Alix; bonjour Nicole.’ When they were in the garden theyspoke French. For cars I remember they had a tomato red Jag, an AlfaGiulietta and a 1600 Super.”
Alix and Nicole were such a nice couple that Jim Kimberlyautographed a picture: “To my very good friends Nicole and Alix—always the best.” And Porsche meister Bob Holbert noted, “Best wishesto a fine couple.” As Alfa racer Dave Elder recalls, “his wife Nikki wasgood looking and I remember at the Holland Hill Climb, wherever shewent, all the engines were quiet.”
Nicole was pretty and popular, and both of them had many friendsamong the U.S. and European drivers. These friends were figures in thesport both American and European, including Briggs Cunningham, JimKimberly, Cameron Argetsinger, Paul O’Shea, Phil Hill, Chuck andSuzy Dietrich, Doc and Peg Wylie, John and Evelyn Mull, FrankDominianni, Otto Linton and Lester Smalley of Smalley’s Garage—aswell as Jim Clark, Jack Brabham, Roy Salvadori and Graham Hill.
Among Alix’s friends at Kodak was Fred German. In World War II,Fred was an aide de camp to General MacArthur and stood on the deckof the USS Missouri as the Japanese signed the papers of surrender. “Fredhad a very responsible job at Kodak,” notes Louis Willsea, a distributor ofsports car accessories. “He was responsible for relations with Hollywood.He had an office in the Eastman Theater, built by George Eastman.” Inthe sports car world, Fred German first organized race workers into aneffective safety team with a group called Race Communications
three figures who made a name for themselves in the sport, (left
to right) three-time World champion Jack brabham, famed
Watkins glen starter tex Hopkins and photographer alix
Lanfonant. alix is carrying a 35mm Leica iiif with a 90mm lens and
variable rangefinder, as well as a 2¼ format viewfinder camera.
brabham in his brabham bt7-climax at the 1963 U.S. grand Prix.
graham Hill leads away from the start of the ’63 USgP at Watkins
glen. He and bRM teammate Richie ginther ultimately finished 1-2.
53VinTaGe raCeCar
Association. It was the prototype for all the racing organizations tofollow, including Bill Benham’s Lake Erie Communications inSCCA’s NEOhio Region.
When they went to the races, Alix would shoot the cars andNicole would head the Timing and Scoring section. On the wayhome after the races, Nicole would read off the finishing positionsand they would talk about how the race report would be written.
Taking pictures at races began as a hobby but then Alixbecame a professional by virtue of selling his pictures to Road &Track and Sports Car, and writing the stories to go with the raceresults. This was the era before digital cameras. He generally useda Leica IIIF 35mm rangefinder camera. Some photographers preferthe larger 2-1/4-inch format, but Alix liked the light weight andportability of the little Leica, and the results speak for themselves.Later on, he added a Hasselblad and a Nikon to his repertoire.
In addition to shooting races, he occasionally did somecommercial work. “Alix took pictures of some German fendermirrors that my company imported. They were Talbot mirrors,”says Louis Willsea, longtime member of the Finger Lakes Region,SCCA. “I was also a distributor for Bell Helmets.” Louis workedon race communications with his wife, and drove an Alfa Duetto.On request by certain racers like Alfa driver Dave Elder, he wouldeven do weddings as Dee Elder notes, “He did all the pictures forour wedding—it was 50 years ago!” In addition, he acceptedorders, on occasion, for copies of the photos he took, from thedrivers he took them of. SCCA president Jim Kimberly ordered63 photos of himself, including two enlargements of one takenwith Phil Hill. Alix was in demand as a speaker on the subject ofthe sports car scene, addressing corporate audiences includingGeneral Dynamics and Eastman Kodak top management. He alsojudged the photo contest at the 1958 New York State Fair, per arequest by Watkins Glen race announcer John Duvall.
As a graduate of the University of Rochester, Alix Lafontantwas employed by Kodak in Rochester, and most people thoughthe worked as a photographer for them. He was actually a productengineer. One of his projects was a high-resolution, high-altitudeaerial spy camera for the U.S. government that took the picturesof the Soviet rockets on Cuba. Walt Marshall also worked on thatproject, but that’s another story for another time.
No, wait a minute, let’s hear it now! The U.S. governmentneeded a camera that would take high-resolution photos fromhigh-altitude surveillance planes. Naturally they came to Kodak,the leader in photography. Alix was assigned to design andconstruct the camera. He was a very methodical man and helocated a lens supplier in Germany. When he learned how criticalthe cooling schedule was and, if too much or too little the lenscould crack, he ordered an extra one of the expensive lenses.Midway through the construction process, a meeting with theCIA was scheduled. Alix’s boss was nervous about it. “Justremember,” he said, “no small talk. Just start the meeting, answerall their questions, finish the meeting and say goodbye.”
The conference room was reserved, the door opened, andthere they were. “The men from the CIA looked exactly like theBlues Brothers,” Alix recalled. “They had dark suits, pork-piehats, the same briefcases and they were wearing sunglasses. Ianswered each of their questions, for two hours. Then the meetingwas over. Just as they were going out the door, one of themstopped, looked back at me and said, ‘Will we see you at Beverlythis weekend?’” That, of course, was the national sports car race
Paul o’Shea drove his #30 Mercedes 300 SL roadster to the 1957 d
Sports national championship, his third straight Scca title. this is at
Lime Rock.
Stirling Moss enjoys the spoils of victory after the Fia Formula Libre race
at Watkins glen in 1960. it was the second consecutive win for Moss.
52 VinTaGe raCeCar
Above carroll Shelby’s relentless intensity is readily evident in this classic Lafontant portrait.
Above Friends and co-drivers briggs cunningham and John Fitch wait on the starting grid before
the 1956 Road america 500 with cunningham’s #58 d-Jaguar.
Right Fred Walters,
father of driver Phil
Walters, took this
photo of photographer
Lafontant sitting in
Phil’s cunningham c-
4R, a car so new it
hasn’t even had its
racing numbers applied
yet. “i just pre-focused
the Leica and gave it to
him,” recalled alix. “i
got in the car and he
pushed the button.”
Below isabelle Haskell of Redbank, new Jersey,
takes her Siata Spyder under the checkered flag
at the 1954 Lockbourne aFb races near
columbus, ohio.
Above in 1962, Lafontant captured reigning
World champion Phil Hill displaying the
determined look that often graced his visage.
Below Jim clark won the 1962 USgP and
afterward enjoyed a kiss from Pat gannon and a
little champagne, as a mildly amused Lotus team
owner colin chapman looks on.
55VinTaGe raCeCar
Railbirds Jim clark, Richie ginther and Pedro Rodriguez (left to right) share
a laugh prior to the start of the 1963 U.S. grand Prix at Watkins glen.
this all-star group assembled at the drivers meeting before the Road
america 500 at elkhart Lake in 1957, (left to right) Phil Hill, denise
Mccluggage, Jack Mcafee, Jim Kimberly, Walt Hansgen and carroll Shelby.
USaF general curtis LeMay,
seen here at the Lockbourne
aFb sports car races, organized
the Strategic air command
base races as a way to improve
morale and raise funds for
airman and officer recreational
facilities. He owned a 170 mph
allard, a former Le Mans car,
and was mechanically adept,
working on the car himself. His
friends were ace fighter pilots
who also had allards.
this Lafontant image was Jim Kimberly’s favorite picture of himself, and
the one that he would regularly distribute to all of his many friends.
54 VinTaGe raCeCar
at the Beverly, Mass., airport. The man’s face did not ring a bell.Alix knew all the drivers and officials. The CIA man must havebeen a crewman for one of the teams. After the spy camera wascomplete, there came the test. Alix told the pilot to fly over hishouse. He could recognize everything there. When the films cameback, Alix reviewed them. “Yes, yes,” he said, “those are thepebbles on my driveway.”
Over the years, Alix took pictures at Watkins Glen, BrynfanTyddyn, Road America, Bridgehampton, Thompson, Lime Rock,Road America, Beverly Mass., Westover AFB, Lockbourne AFBand Brynfan Tyddyn. The events included SCCA regional andnationals, NASCAR and Formula One races. His reports of theseraces appeared in Sports Car, the magazine of the Sports Car Clubof America, and in Road & Track. With the best of words andpictures, Alix and the beautiful Nicole covered American sportscar racing from ’53 to ’63.
In 1964, Alix was offered a chance to open up some newmarketing opportunities for Kodak on the West Coast. He set upan office in Whittier, California, and began the expansion ofKodak’s market dominance. Work, however, kept him out of thecar scene. He lived in Whittier, but he also had a cabin up at BigBear Lake. Then Nicole died. After a while, he remarried—to hissecretary, Pat Iannotti. Alix and Pat went to Baja together. “It wasa beautiful time,” Pat recalled. They bought a vacation home onthe water, at Big Bear Lake, California. It was there that theybecame interested in the shooting sports. “Pat would sometimesbe at the lake by herself,” Alix said, “so I bought her a .45automatic for protection.”
Pat recalled, “I had grown up in the city, in Los Angeles, andwe didn’t have guns.” So they went to a shooting range topractice. The pistol they had was a Colt that had been targetized.Pat became so good with it that she entered some target matchesand frequently won. One of these was a match entered by a lot ofyoung policemen.
One of them wasn’t very nice and he said, “What’s the littlelady doing here?” At the end of the tournament, Pat outscoredeveryone else, including the one with bad manners. Shortlyafterward, both Pat and Alix gravitatedinto trap shooting. They took it quiteseriously, with $6000 shotguns and a three-turret shot shell reloading machine in thegarage. They competed in California,Arizona and Colorado. Meets are scored onthe basis of clay pigeons hit. Both werehigh-scoring clay pigeon shooters, but Patwas a little better, and a few times shot 200out of 200. As Harry Hufford, pastpresident of the Prescott Trap and SkeetClub, has said “Pat was one of the topwomen shooters in the west.” We used tocall her Annie Oakley. Alix had a shootingcap covered with “100” score badges fromFederal Ammunition.
After he moved to California, he spenta lot of time down in Baja and went intoMexico City from time to time. He got toknow the culture there. One of thetraditions is the Mordido or bribe. Alixexplained the way it worked. “Let’s say you
drive down a one-way street the wrong way and a policeman stopsyou. You do not just hand him a ten-dollar bill. You tell him, ‘OhI have been so careless. I was rushing to go to a business meeting.I am already late. I do not have the time to see the judge. I wonderif you would do a great favor for me. Please tell him I plead guiltyand hand him the fine.’ At that time, the money is transferredquickly, smoothly, and legally.”
In California, Alix also took up motorcycle riding. He waspracticing for the Baja 1000 race and went over a hill with anunexpected backside. He flew through the air and when he landedbroke his tailbone, a painful injury. With no ambulance to call, herode back to a Mexican hospital for medical help on his own.
During treatment, he received tainted blood, and this was tocause health problems for him later in life.
He did keep in touch with some of the people in racing anddid some work with magazine and book writers doing work thatinvolved his photographs. The subjects included Jim Kimberly,the Cunningham Team, Brynfan Tyddyn, Watkins Glen andracing at the Lockbourne SAC Base. Eventually, those healthproblems took his life, and Pat passed away shortly afterward. TheLafontant photos live on in numerous published accounts ofracing history and books that include 50 Years of Watkins Glen byBill Green and J.J. O’Malley, They Started in MGs by CarlGoodwin and Formula One at Watkins Glen by MichaelArgetsinger. Alix also contributed photography to a veryinteresting book written by Gene Kira about his friend RayCarroll. It was titled The Unforgettable Sea of Cortez: BajaCalifornia’s Golden Age, 1947-1977.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to these people, without whom this articlecould not have been written: the late Cameron Argetsinger and hisfriends at the International Motor Racing Research Center at WatkinsGlen, Elizabeth Lee Mulcock, Mike Marshall, Chris Junker, LouisWillsea, Dave and Dee Elder, David Cunningham, Louis Willsea, DaveWild, George Morris, John Castle, Chris McAllister and Carl Dresie ofthe Finger Lakes Region, Sports Car Club of America, Harry Huffordand of course Alix and Pat Lafontant
this is Maserati Row in the grassy paddock at beverly, Massachussetts, in 1955. all are 300S models,
for briggs cunningham, bill Spear and bill Lloyd.
57VinTaGe raCeCar
W. O. Bentley, founder of BentleyMotors Ltd. near London, was anautomotive designer with tremendoustechnical knowledge and high standards.His cars were extremely well-built,reliable and fast. W.O. had a clear visionfor his cars and his company and hisstandards were seen in the cars’construction and competition success.With the introduction of the new 6-cylinder engine, a new model was tofollow, the Speed Six. The Speed Six hada sturdy ladder frame, was powered by aninline, 6.5-liter engine, mated to a 4-speed gearbox, a solid rear axle, runningon large wire wheels with drum brakes.They were available with differentcoachwork and were magnificent in bothtouring and race trim. They were builtfrom 1926-1930. Bentley, having wonthe Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race
from 1926-1928, had a car inthe Speed Six capable ofwinning again in 1929-1930—astunning achievement. Thisadded up to a total of 5 Le Mans24 Hours wins for Bentley inthe 1920’s and inspired EttoreBugatti to remark that W.O.Bentley built the most reliableand fastest trucks in the world.
Woolf Barnato, the Bentley Chairman,successful businessman and diamondmining heir, headed the team of BentleyBoys in their adventures. One creativechallenge was Woolf Barnato saying thatthe Speed Six could get him from theFrench Riviera to London before thedeluxe “Le Train Bleu” MediterraneanExpress train (with blue railroad cars)could get from the Riviera to Calais.Racing through the night, Barnatoarrived first in London before the trainarrived in Calais and the “Blue TrainSpecial” legend was born. This is afurther example of Bentley’s stunningperformance and reliability. A pointBarnato wished to make. Bentley is aspecial marque, and the Speed Six is anicon from a golden age of motorsports,making it a must-own car for thecollector of prewar cars.
After the end of World War I, whereAlfa Romeo had manufactured for thewar effort, owner Nicolo Romeo setabout building a new touring car. Prior tothe Vittorio Jano era, designer GiuseppeMerosi penned the RL. It was built on aladder frame with a solid rear axle, drumbrakes and front-mounted, in-line 6-cylinder 3.0 liter engine. The coachworkwas varied including Castagna andZagato and it was available in touringand competition form. The RLTF or
Targa Florio was a successfulcompetition car having won thefamed 1923 Targa Florio raceoutright. It was lighter than theother RL versions, had a sevenmain bearing engine and doublecarburetion. In its final form ithad a 3.6-liter engine producing125 bhp. Drivers were UgoSivocci, Antonio Ascari and ayoung Enzo Ferrari. It was
Sivocci who won the 1923 Targa Florioin a red car with the green cloverleaf.That symbol would stay with Alfa Romeoto this day. The RLTF deserves credit forthe start of a new era of racing success forAlfa Romeo. It was followed by the 6Cand 8C series of Jano-designed cars.Today it is a rare sight to see an RLTF andone to enjoy. An example of the designand engineering excellence that AlfaRomeo was to become well known forand a solid automotive investment.
Prewar 1
Alfa Romeo RLTFOverview
Bentley Speed Six
Den
nis Gray
From the very beginning of theautomobile, man built cars to competewith a passion for speed and technology.These early innovators are in an elite clubwith their place in automotive historyguaranteed as the creators of a true classicsports car, a genuine thoroughbred.
The development of the racing sportscar can be traced to specific manufacturers,who at one time in history dominatedmotor racing, in particular, the world’smost challenging road races, such as theMille Miglia, Targa Florio and endurancecontests such as the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The creation of an automobile thatcould win in international competitionwas usually the inspiration of onepassionate man, an engineer, a genius, whoput all of his design and engineering skillstoward his goals.
Part One of this pre-war market guidewill feature some of these exciting cars, theirfounders and designers: Bentley Motors withW.O. Bentley, and Alfa Romeo with NicoloRomeo and Vittorio Jano.
Today, these pre-war masterpieces arehighly sought after by the sophisticatedcollector. They and their current ownersare often invited to partake in the mostprestigious historic racing venuesworldwide—the Le Mans 24 Hour Classic,Mille Miglia Storica, Monaco HistoriqueGrand Prix and the Targa Florio, to namebut a few.
Due to the age of these cars and theirracing heritage, their value is determinedby their originality and provenance. Oldcars built up from parts are not the same astrue complete survivors. In many cases,this attrition can bring the remaining totaldown to less than ten good survivingexamples of a particular model.
56 VinTaGe raCeCar
MARKET gUide
MARKET GUIDE EDITOR:
Mark LeonardGrand Prix Classics7456 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla, CA 92037, (858) 459-3500 www.grandprixclassics.com
MAKE MODEL LEVEL III LEVEL II LEVEL IVEHICLE CATEGORY
Criteria Used For Assess-ing Valuations for thisGuide:• Degree of Originality• Overall Condition, Restoration• Technology, Design, Coachbuilder• Production Numbers/Rarity• Competition History• Ownership History, Documentation• Modern Event Eligibility
Regional Variances
The prices stated in this guide are based onU.S. values. The values of historic racing carscan vary as much as 25%–35% in othercountries, depending on local marketappeal, currency rates, import duties, andVAT. Most of the time, we are able todocument known sales or closed escrows, asthey say in real estate. When this is notpossible, a logical estimate of the car’s valueis given, based on its sales history andrelationship to cars of its type.
The valuations tabulated here are suggested guidelines; they are in no way absolute. The valuation of an individual example may be significantly higher or lower depending on a number of the
factors listed above.
IIIIII
LEVEL
VALUATION CATEGORIES
In need of restoration. Meetsonly a few points of criteria
The best combination ofall criteria.
Satisfies mid-range of criteria.
AC 12/24 $125,000 $150,000 $175,000
12/40 $125,000 $150,000 $175,000
Ace 16/56 $150,000 $200,000 $225,000
Ace 16/66 $175,000 $200,000 $250,000
Ace 16/80 - 16/90 $200,000 $250,000 $300,000
Alfa Romeo RL Targa Florio $900,000 $1,100,000 $1,250,000
6C 1500 SS/SC $900,000 $1,100,000 $1,250,000
6C 1750 GS/SC Zagato $1,500,000 $1,750,000 $2,000,000
Tipo B Monoposto P3 $6,000,000 $7,000,000 $8,000,000
Tipo C Monoposto 8C35 $5,000,000 $6,000,000 $6,500,000
Tipo 8C 2300 $5,000,000 $6,500,000 $7,000,000
Tipo 8C 2300 Lungo (Le Mans) $5,000,000 $7,000,000 $7,500,000
Tipo 8C 2300 Corto (Mille Miglia) $6,000,000 $8,000,000 $8,500,000
Tipo 8C 2300 Spider Corsa (Monza) $6,000,000 $8,000,000 $9,000,000
Tipo 8C 2900B Lungo $7,000,000 $8,000,000 $9,000,000
Tipo 8C 2900B Corto $8,000,000 $9,000,000 $10,000,000
Alvis 4-Cyl., FWD $250,000 $300,000 $350,000
Amilcar 6C $200,000 $250,000 $300,000
Aston Martin Ulster Mk II $400,000 $500,000 $600,000
Lemans $500,000 $600,000 $700,000
2-Liter Speed Model $300,000 $350,000 $400,000
Bentley 3-Liter Speed Model $850,000 $1,000,000 $1,200,000
Big Six $1,800,000 $2,000,000 $2,200,000
4.5-Liter $1,800,000 $2,000,000 $2,200,000
Speed Six $4,500,000 $5,000,000 $5,500,000
4.5-Liter Blower $5,000,000 $5,500,000 $6,000,000
BMW 328 $700,000 $800,000 $900,000
Bugatti Type 35 $3,000,000 $3,500,000 $4,000,000
Type 37A Supercharged $3,000,000 $3,500,000 $4,000,000
Type 51 $4,000,000 $4,500,000 $5,000,000
Type 57SC Atalante $6,000,000 $6,500,000 $7,000,000
Prewar 1
59VinTaGe raCeCar
CHOLMONDELEY PAGENT OF POWERCholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire, UKJune 15–17, 2012Photos: Janet Wright, Simon Wright
1 this beast is Mark Luney’s 47-liter 1917
brutus bMW aero.
2 there was action aplenty in the Historic
Sidecar Scramble.
3 this is arnold Mings in the novel edison-
Puton Monocycle.
4 duncan Round raced his 42-liter Packard
bentley from 1930.
5. braving the mists were david Ham and his
1958 Lister Jaguar.
1
5
2
Jane
t Wrig
ht
Sim
on W
right
Sim
on W
right
4
Sim
on W
right
3
Jane
t Wrig
ht
VinTaGe raCeCar58
PHOTO gaLLeRY
See more photos from this event at www.vintageracecar.com
1
4
2 3
VSCCA HERSHEY GRAND ASCENTHotel Hershey Back Road, Hershey, PAJune 8–9, 2012Photos: J. Michael Hemsley
1 this ex-duntov ardun-powered allard J2 was driven
by gerald Lettieri.
2 david north took his 1936 bugatti t57 Sc up the hill.
3 Racing this austin-Healey 100 was Michael bartell.
4 don Rose guided his 1937 aston Martin 15/98
carefully to the top.
61VinTaGe raCeCar
VSCCBROOKLANDSDOUBLE TWELVEBrooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, UKJune 16–17, 2012Photos: Peter Collins
1 the distinctive austin 7 Ulster
of Joe tisdall at speed.
2 Sounding wonderful Walter
Heale’s gP delage d6-60
circulates the track.
3 Hard cornering from Martin
tinsley in his aston Martin
Lagonda 2-liter.
4 Robert glover cuts the curbs in
his alvis 12/50 Sd Sports.1
2
43
VSCDA BLACKHAWK VINTAGECLASSICBlackhawk Farms, South Beloit, ILJune 15–17, 2012Photos: Jim Hatfield, J R Schabowski
1 charles Rydberg's Jaguar XK 120 leads dave
bralich’s 1969 Mgb through turn 4 during Sunday’s
Feature race.
2 Locking a front wheel while braking his 1966 alfa
Romeo gtV into turn 6 during Sunday’s dad’s day
Scramble Handicap race is erik Wood.
3 during Saturday qualifying, bob Wismer’s toronado
talisman leads Jeff Freers’ Sprite out of turn 3.
4 Mike Rankin raced his raucous 1965 Ford Mustang.1
60 VinTaGe raCeCar See more photos from this event at www.vintageracecar.com
Jim Hatfie
ld
Jim Hatfie
ld
Jim Hatfie
ldJ R Sch
abow
ski
2 3
4
63VinTaGe raCeCarSee more photos from this event at www.vintageracecar.com62 VinTaGe raCeCar
1
Pete Aus
tin
Mike Jigg
le
2 3 4
5
GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEEDGoodwood, Chichester, UKJune 29–July 1, 2012Photos: Pete Austin, Mike Jiggle
1 Rene arnoux demonstrated the original F1
turbocar, Renault’s RS01.
2 Four-time World champion alain Prost made
his first visit to goodwood, driving his
former Renault Re30.
3 george Wingard takes his Fiat S74 grand
Prix car through Molecomb.
4 emerson Fittipaldi, in a gold Leaf Lotus 49c,
leads Johannes Willenpart, driving a Lotus 72.
5 brian Redman made a run in dan gurney’s
gorgeous belgian gP-winning eagle-Weslake.
Pete Aus
tin
Mike Jigg
le
Mike Jigg
le
65VinTaGe raCeCar64 VinTaGe raCeCar
PRODUCT ReVieW
Gulf-Mirage 1967 to 1982by ed Mcdonough
No stranger to VR readers, ourEuropean Editor Ed McDonoughnot only test drives and writes about
unique racecars, but also has a growingbibliography of books devoted to varioussignificant machines. As part of VelocePublishing’s series on the “WSC Giants” Edhas previously written about the history ofthe Matra prototypes, and in this latest workexplores the fascinating history of the JohnWyer-built Gulf Mirages.
In 1966, John Wyer, John Horsmanand John Willment set up JW AutomotiveEngineering Ltd., to take over productionof the Ford GT40. In 1967 JW producedits own update of the racing GT40, theMirage. With financing from Gulf Oil, theMirage would evolve and succeed inprototype racing well into the 1980s.
In this book McDonough chroniclesboth the Mirage’s development and itsracing career, including the fullcompetition record of each individualchassis and a season-by-season account ofthe team’s racing exploits, as well asprofiles of all the drivers and personalitiesthat made Mirage a fascinating andsuccessful organization. And, of course, itwouldn’t be a book by McDonough if hedidn’t manage to get himself behind thewheel for his own take on what made theMirage so great!
With a 128 pages of rare color and b/wphotos, there is a tremendous amount ofinformation packed into this excellentlittle book. Available for US$29.95(£15.99) at www.veloce.co.uk
Reviewed by Casey Annis
Not Rec om mend ed Moderately Use ful Recommended Excellent
Grand Prix Who’s Who4th edition by Steve Small
It’s more than a decade since Ipurchased the first edition of thispublication, and I’ve bought every
edition since. Each time author Small hastweaked and improved the layout andincreased the content. Every year too, thebooks have grown in size, the first twoeditions were handy soft-back editions, the3rd a more formal hard-backed edition. Thenew 4th edition has grown in similar style,weighing in at more than nine pounds.
This mighty tome now sports its ownslipcase replicating the artwork of thebook’s front cover. As for content, it is an832-page, alphabetical directory of namesof all those who took part in Grand Prixevents from 1950 to the end of 2011. Eachdriver record gives a color or black andwhite portrait of the subject driver, a briefresume of their career (more detailed thanbefore), followed by a comprehensive listincluding surname, forenames, date andplace of birth and, where appropriate, dateand place of death, championship yearsand races entered, result, race title, venue,car number, entrant, tire manufacturer,engine capacity, car, engine name, raceoutcome comment, qualifying result andnumber of competing cars on the grid.Each entry ends with a summary of thedriver’s total Grand Prix achievements.
Available from www.autocourse.comfor £55.00 for UK orders; £75.00 forEuropean orders; and £85.00 for Rest ofthe World orders; all including postage andpacking. Buyers at autocourse.com will alsoget free access to the online Autocoursearchive, currently worth £25.00 per year.
Available in the U.S. and Canada fromwww.qbookshop.com while in AustraliaNew Zealand it’s available from Rennicks.
Reviewed by Mike Jiggle
Conspiracy of Secretsby bobby neate
When considering Louis Stanley,there are those who love him,and those who hate him. Just like
the well-known UK food product Marmite,there seems to be no shade of grey. Likewise,in motor racing terms, he could either bedescribed as BRM’s savior or slayer. AuthorNeate, Stanley’s stepdaughter, makes it clearwhere she stands, always describing Stanleyas “stepfather” and never “father.”
The first part of the book sets the sceneand gives background observations ofStanley’s murky past, where many claims aresubstantiated in a calm and orderly fashion.However, next comes a tirade of revelationsconcerning Stanley’s parentage, behaviorand alleged sexual abuse of Neate herself.Taken literally, the book shows Stanley as anillegitimate ogre who was wild, pompous,overbearing and, from the accusations made,should have spent much time detained atHer Majesty’s pleasure rather than in hislavish apartment at the Dorchester Hotel, orat his Cambridge Manor House.
Unfortunately, this part develops intooutrageous ramblings where it becomesdifficult to ascertain if Neate is asking thereader to assist in her mission to prove hermany theories, including that Stanley wasthe illegitimate son of Prime MinisterHerbert Asquith, or is she simply ventingfrustration that her stepfather dodgedprosecution for offences against her and, inlater life, her dear mother, Jean Owen—daughter of Sir Alfred Owen and the linkto BRM—when she was in poor health.
The book only makes mention of motorsport as supporting evidence of background,but if you’re curious it may be for you.
Available for US$29.95 (£17.99) frompublisher John Blake Publishing atwww.johnblakepublishing.co.uk
�
Reviewed by Mike Jiggle
67VinTaGe raCeCar66 VinTaGe raCeCar
HARD dRiVeWe investigate some of the more interestingsites for vintage racing enthusiasts.
Man Behind the Throne
Jack Brabham met Ron Tauranacwhen Ron showed up as a customer forJack’s machine shop in Australia in 1950.Within a year they had more or lessjoined forces to tackle the localHawkesbury Hillclimb with a midgettrack racer. They won, but their victorywas disallowed by officials who ruled itwasn’t a “proper” car, forging the first linkin their long-running bond.
Eventually Jack went to England,drove for Cooper and won two WorldChampionships. Then he and Ronreunited and formed Motor RacingDevelopments to build Brabham-badgedracecars. That turned out well, and in 1966Jack became the first and only man to winthe F1 World Championship in a car withhis name on the nose. The next year theywon again with Denny Hulme driving.
Tauranac continued designingBrabhams until Jack sold MRD to BernieEcclestone, then went off on his own tobuild Ralt racing cars, opening anothersuccessful chapter of his life as Raltsdominated secondary categories aroundthe world for a number of years.
The story of Ron Tauranac’saccomplishments in motor racing is toldhere, along with details on all theBrabham and Ralt cars he designed. Havea look and learn more about one ofracing’s backstage stars.
http://rontauranac.com.au/
69VinTaGe raCeCar
Mau
reen
Mag
ee
68 VinTaGe raCeCar
GREATESTRacecaRS
by doc bundy
For me, my greatest racecar is mycurrent car—the Lotus 79. I love thatcar. When I first started out I thought
I’m gonna drive Formula One, Indycars,and do endurance racing just for fun. Well,it didn’t quite work out that way, financialsand whatever got in the way. If I’d made itto Formula One, the Lotus 79 would havebeen the current car for me to drive. It’sthe time when I would have surfaced inGrand Prix racing. The reality is that Iended up in “tin-tops” for most of myracing life. However, I’ve been luckyenough to have driven some amazing cars,each one has its own personal niche in mymind. It wasn’t until I found Lotus and theEsprit program that I really knew I’d foundhome. I’d worked with many factory-basedentrants prior to that, and some wonderfulrace names, but I’d never worked with agroup that understood just what a racerneeds to win with. I learned more fromLotus than I had with any of the teams Ihad before, including prototypes. Lotusreally helped me to become a better driver.Now I get to drive the Lotus 79, the car ofmy dreams, at historic events such as theGoodwood Festival of Speed.
Many remember me for the accidentwith Lyn St. James and Chip Robinsonduring the 1986 IMSA Camel GT race atRiverside. Boy, that was a big one! The carI was driving was just phenomenal. I’d saythat Chevy Corvette GTP was the fastestthing I ever drove. I never knew how muchpower it really had because the enginebuilder wouldn’t tell me, it wasn’t untilmuch later that I found out the true powerof that car. I was at Laguna Seca sometimein the ’90s, sitting on the pit wall waitingfor my next practice session, when the guywho built that engine sat next to me. Iasked if he would tell me the true power ofthat car. He said, “For the most part it wastuned to just over 900 hp, but occasionallyI’d turn up the wick to give in excess of1250 hp.” I was amazed and thanked himfor not telling me at the time. It was theonly car I’d driven that would never quitgaining down a straightaway. I sometimesfelt if I’d pulled back on the steering wheelit would simply take off!
Another car I liked was the JaguarXJR-5, but I had philosophical differenceswith its owner, Bob Tullius. I just wanted totest, test, test, test, test, break it, find out
whatever it was that was wrong with it, fixit and do whatever to it to improve it. Thecar had a fundamental weakness with thethird gear. We had a problem racing duringthe night at the 1984 Le Mans. Theychanged the ’box, but on replacing it theypinched an oil line. I’m not too sure ifanyone will remember, but I sat in that caras I wanted to finish at Le Mans, I wantedto drive the last lap. I was constantly askedto get out of the car, but I sat firm—I wasn’ta quitter! At the time we were swapping 2nd
and 3rd with the Porsche. We hadn’t at thattime pushed the car, when it developedproblems and was fixed, then developedmore, I still thought we had enough to dothat last lap to take the flag—we’d earnedthe right. I still sat tight until Mr JohnEagan told me the car wasn’t going to move,it was too dangerous even to drive that lastlap. He said, “We’ll fix it for next year, don’tgive up—but you’ve got to get out of thatcar!” They did convince me of the dangersof doing that last lap. Le Mans is amazing,in my day it was a “pace race,” but now forboth car and driver it’s a 24-hour sprint—amazing.
As told to Mike Jiggle
Lotus 79
71VinTaGe raCeCar
It had now got to the point where the 3S was no longer awinner and there were no private cars being raced. So, I returnedto the works racing department to work with Fred Shattock onthe DBR1, DBR2 and also the DBR3.
VR: You mention Wyer, who was a big name at Aston at thattime. Many people have opinions about him. What was he liketo work with, how did you get on with him?
Woodgate: You have to understand, things in those days weredifferent, he was “Sir” to me because I was a mechanic and he wasthe team manager. You just knew your place, more importantlyyou understood he was the boss!
In the same building as the racing department was the R&Ddepartment and the machine shop. Seemingly, I had upset theforeman of those departments. He suggested to John Wyer that Ishould be fired. However, John simply told him not to be sobloody silly, as it wasn’t right to get rid of an experienced racemechanic such as me. By this time, Reg Parnell had taken over asteam manager and sometime later decided to combine all threedepartments. My “friend,” the foreman, decided that Tug Wilson,Peter Ling, Paddy who swept up and me were surplus torequirements and we all had to go. Fortunately, Reg asked me tosee him after working hours that day and offered me a job lookingafter George Constantine’s car in the U.S. It was the time whenthe DBR2 went to the U.S. Jimmy Potton had been given the jobof looking after things, but apparently he wanted to return to theUK. So, Reg offered me the opportunity of replacing him. I wentto the Nassau Speed Week in the Bahamas, in 1957, racing withStirling Moss in the Aston—things had come full circle. I wasworking with Moss again, who by now was a world class driver. Itwas through this that I met Elisha Walker Jr., and after meetinghim I agreed to stay in the U.S.
VR: Can we talk about Nassau, what happened in 1957?
Woodgate: Yes, I went to Nassau in ’57, ’58 and ’59. I went overwith Reg and Stirling. John Wyer joined us later. Stirling had toldReg Parnell that he didn’t think he had a chance of winning thebig race, but he thought there was a chance of the car winningsomething. Ruth Levy had a good chance of winning the Ladies’race; he thought she could beat Denise McCluggage. Both RegParnell and John Wyer thought it was a good idea too, until Ruthrolled the car in the second heat.
VR: What was Wyer’s attitude to racing in the Bahamas? I’veread that he suggested racing there was an “end of seasonjamboree, noted more for the parties than the racing.”
Woodgate: I’m not sure what his attitude was. He came to the 1957event and seemed all for it. Yes, it was a jolly. While we’d go to adifferent hotel every night for a cocktail party, the racing was deadlyserious. However, I did hear some say that Nassau was “a bloodygood fun event, but what a shame we had to bring the cars!”Seriously, most comments about the event were good. Teams wouldturn up after a good season of racing with whatever car had made itthrough, it was a time when drivers could “let their hair down” a bitand enjoy a more social side of the sport, rather than focusedcompetition—although in the races no one wanted to lose.
VR: You mention the Ladies’ race, Ruth rolled the car?
Woodgate: In the Ladies’ race Denise McCluggage drove aPorsche 550RS and Ruth Levy drove the Aston Stirling haddriven. Denise and Ruth were the top U.S. lady racing drivers atthat time; they were very feisty. There were two heats, and Denisewon the first of the heats by a narrow margin. The accidenthappened, as you say, in the second heat. The two ladies were outin front swapping the lead. On the fourth lap they entered theBritish Colonial Loop. Ruth was in 2nd place and tried to out-brake Denise, but got caught out by the tight corner. WhenDenise braked it was too late for Ruth, she’d lost control of theAston and rolled it. Luckily she was thrown out of the car withoutany serious injury—other than dented pride. However, the carwas too badly damaged to race again.
VR: I’ve read that Stirling wasn’t too displeased, his car wasdamaged as he was finding it hard to keep up with the Ferraris, sohe was offered a Ferrari to drive in the Nassau Trophy and won?
Bah
amas
New
s Burea
u
denise Mccluggage (left) and Ruth Levy chat before the Ladies race at
nassau in 1957. Ruth would roll the car Woodgate had prepared for her.
Pau
l Skilleter
Mike and Leslie Hawthorn.
70 VinTaGe raCeCar
continued from page 29
enter Grand Prix racing and purchased a Connaught A type; hesaw potential in Don. They were reasonably successful togetheruntil Don was killed when he crashed the Connaught during the1955 Leinster Trophy race in Ireland.
My workshop at the garage was in an end part of theshowroom, which I’d sectioned off. I worked on Reg Parnell’sFerrari 500. We had a lot of fun with that. Strictly speaking, RoySalvadori, driving a Maserati 250F, should have beaten Reg everytime, but we managed to beat him on most occasions. Reg was agreat racer. After a particular race, we’d found a crack in theblock, so I took the engine out and was preparing to take it backto Ferrari for repair. A couple of days before a Crystal Palacemeeting Reg rang to say he’d been offered an enormous amount ofmoney to race, so I had to put the car back together, change theaxle ratios and generally prepare the car for racing. I worked allnight and remember driving the car up and down Farnham HighStreet at three o’clock in the morning to see if it ran properly. Iput it in the truck and set off for Crystal Palace. When I got to thecircuit I unloaded the car, it was still warm from my testing it.Anyway, we won the race.
After another race victory at Goodwood, we stopped at a pubat Midhurst, the Spread Eagle, Les Hawthorn popped in and saidto my wife Joyce, “Tell him not to drink too much, he’s gotvaluable cargo in the back of the truck!” On the way home wespotted Les’ B20 Lancia off the road, I can still see the car bearingthe TT Garage “trade plates.” I said, “My God! That’s Les’ car.”We later realized that Les had been killed. When we got back tothe TT Garage Brit Pearce drove onto the forecourt, he’d justreturned from Italy with Sir Jeremy Boles’ Connaught, he wasable to contact and inform the family. In the aftermath of all thisI ended up working for Mike. Unfortunately, Reg’s Ferrari leftHawthorn’s to be prepared by someone in Derby.
VR: Mike Hawthorn was really affected by the death of his father?
Woodgate: Yes, yes.
VR: Did you stay at the TT Garage long after that?
Woodgate: No, just shortly after that Mike had talked with TonyVandervell. Tony was running the Vanwall team and suggested Icontact them—which I did. They offered me £1,000 per year towork for them, a ridiculous amount of money in those days, so Itook the job as manager. I didn’t stay there too long, as I wasn’t tooimpressed with the attitude of some of the hierarchy. Later, RegParnell asked me to help him with a Ferrari he’d borrowed and runat Silverstone. Reg had a word with John Wyer at Aston Martinand suggested I should speak to him. After that, I agreed a dealwith Aston Martin and worked on the production DB3S cars. Partof this job was to look after the cars raced privately by a U.S. NavalCommander, Arthur Bryant, who unfortunately lost his life atOulton Park. I think it was the one and only race I hadn’t attendedwith him as I was on the way down to Italy with three Lagondas.These were to be used in the making of the film Checkpoint.
I worked with another private driver, Hans Davids, who usedto race D-Type Jaguars and had some success racing the DB3S. Heapproached John Wyer, who agreed to fit his car with a workstwin-plug head, this considerably improved performance. Havingdone this we raced the car in Yugoslavia, at a circuit in Opatija.Franco Cortese was racing at the same meeting. It was a shockingcircuit, just a road up a steep hill out of the village and a returnback on a parallel road. I said to Hans, “Don’t worry aboutCortese, you’ve got him. Just sit behind him and take him on theclosing laps.” Despite this Hans overtook Cortese and led therace. Hans clipped the kerb, bent the de Dion axle and retiredfrom the race. Cortese went on to win.
I repaired the car ready to race at Zandvoort. We were upagainst Carel Godin de Beaufort and his Porsche. It was aforegone conclusion that de Beaufort with his works-supported carwould win the race. It was to be Hans’ last race. He wanted to dowell, which he did. Not only did he win, but he set fastest lap anda new record for the circuit. It was bloody wonderful! There wasnothing wrong with de Beaufort’s car, Hans won on merit.
(Above) Woodgate (cap) and Moss (helmet) look on as Reg Parnell
tweaks the aston engine during the 1957 season. His stint working with
Parnell led to Rex joining the aston Martin works team. (Right) after
conferring with Woodgate (left), Moss went on to win the nassau trophy
in 1957 behind the wheel of a borrowed Ferrari 290MM.
Woo
dgate Archive
57
73VinTaGe raCeCar
the New York Times; George for best U.S. Racing Driver and mefor best mechanic.
VR: 1959 had been a good year for the works Astons as they’dwon at Le Mans and won the sportscar championship. I noticeRoy Salvadori missing from the list of drivers?
Woodgate: I don’t know too much about Roy, I can’t recall. Idon’t recall Tony Brooks coming to Nassau either, but CarrollShelby had already competed there.
VR: Was 1959 your last year at Nassau?
Woodgate: No, I really wanted to run DBR3 in 1960, a real petcar of mine. It was a DBR1 with a bigger 3.9-liter engine, whichbecame 4.2-liter, but had oil scavenge problems. Stirling ran thecar once, set fastest lap, but had to retire as the scavenge pumpfailed and the bearings seized up. R3 was one of my babies that Iwanted to develop, but by then new regulations came in andlimited the engine size. Aston Martin became involved with theirGrand Prix car and competing in Formula One. Everything elsetook a back seat.
I went back in 1961 and worked with Bob Grossman, whodrove a Ferrari 250GT SWB. The first three in the big race wereGurney, Penske and Pedro Rodriguez, Bob finished just outsidethe top ten. Not too bad given the opposition, Graham Hillfinished in the top five, too.
I worked with Bob for a couple of years. Then I worked foranother Brit, who I’ll just describe as a “loveable crook,” or
“scurrilous rogue,” all he wanted me to do was cobble up vintagecars—I didn’t last long with him!
Soon after, John Wyer approached me with a proposition. Hewanted me to become the Aston Martin representative to coverthe U.S. and Canada. I worked out of J.S. Inskip Inc. in New YorkCity. Subsequently, convincing the factory that we should do ourown importation and distribution, we set up Aston MartinLagonda Inc in The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. I did that forsome years. When I eventually returned to England, I set up myown engine business in Blisworth, Northamptonshire. Later Irelocated to a unit at Silverstone Racing Circuit. I continued toprepare engines and my son joined me to prepare chassis. He stillruns the business today.
Reg Parnell won at crystal Palace with this Ferrari 500 after Woodgate
worked through the night in order to reassemble and reinstall the engine,
which had initially been scheduled for major maintenance.
BRDC
72 VinTaGe raCeCar
Woodgate: I’m not so sure about the first part of your question,but yes Stirling drove a Ferrari 290MM that had been loaned tohim by Jan de Vroom. I think Luigi Chinetti prepared the car—both he and de Vroom were friends and, of course, part of NART,which was very much in its infancy then. Moss won the race,Shelby was 2nd and Phil Hill 3rd.
VR: A certain Ricardo Rodriguez finished 8th. He was so youngone author described him as “only being able to produce ashavable beard once a week?”
Woodgate: I wouldn’t know about his shaving habits, but I dorecall there being a tremendous amount of discussion as towhether he was old enough to race—he was just 15 years old. Ididn’t really have a view about his age, he was just a bloody gooddriver—just phenomenal. Looking back, personally, I thoughtRicardo was better than Pedro—sadly, neither lived long enoughto show their full potential.
VR: In 1958, Nassau became embroiled in the politics of SCCAand USAC. Only amateur drivers were allowed to race, did thataffect you?
Woodgate: Not at all, Stirling didn’t drive that year as hewouldn’t be paid starting money. He was in Nassau and joined ourteam. He helped me in the pits when the long exhaust systembroke on the DBR2 and had to be secured with strong cable. I wasassisting George Constantine, whose car was entered andfinanced by Elisha Walker Jr. In fact, George had campaigned afull season of racing with that car in ’58. I think George was ableto win one of the minor Nassau races in 1958, but it came goodfor him in 1959 when the professional drivers came back. He wonthe Nassau Trophy and the $13,000 prize money.
In America, at that time, there weren’t any “sportscars” as wecalled them in Europe. Americans called their cars “sporty cars,”and they were all amateur drivers. Their racing was somethingquite different to Europe, they had midget racing, dirt track, shorttrack on dirt and boards, and Indy cars. All their racing was gearedto a ladder of competence that would ultimately lead them to thepinnacle of their sport, which was Indycar racing and their blueribbon event—the Indy 500. So, I think, 1958-’59 was the dawnof proper professional sportscar racing on a par with Europe. Asprofessionalism grew in the U.S., so did their cars. They quicklycaught up with the European sportscar scene, too.
VR: As you have already said George won the Nassau Trophyin 1959, wasn’t that the coveted trophy of the races there?
Woodgate: Yes, 1959 was very good. George was a veryaccomplished racer and won many races that season. AstonMartin had sent their highly developed “works” car over withStirling as driver. I had worked all season with George and Elisha,preparing and developing the car myself. The Nassau Trophy racedidn’t turn out too well for Stirling, I think there was a problemwith the battery and Stirling got sprayed with acid. Eventually heretired, or at least finished in a very minor place, whereas the carI’d prepared came 1st with George at the wheel. It was so pleasingfor me to think I’d prepared the car that had beaten the works car.That was the year both George and I were awarded trophies by
enjoying the relaxed ambience of nassau in 1959 are Rex (left) and Joyce
Woodgate with eventual race winner, american driver george constantine.
Woo
dgate Archive
those muscular legs belong to one Stirling Moss, who helped out in the
aston Martin pits during george constantine’s winning drive at nassau ’59.
Bah
amas
New
s Burea
u
1967 Brabham BT-21 FB. Full-race Lotus twin-cam. 4 hours on 193hp motor. Hewland Mk85-spd. Fresh track setup. Many updates and newparts. Email for pictures, history and details. tom [email protected] (s/03)
FF, FV, F3, FJr.
1959 Evla 100 front engine Formula Junior,s/n 49. Ready to race. Competed at CVAR May2012 event. Three weekends on 1100-cc BMCengine. Replaced rear stub axles. Recent fuel cell.Replaced transfer case. Very Presentable.Accepted at major events. $39,500.bruce tel. 512-755-2128 (s/09)
FIA
1976 Chevron B36 #36-76-02. 2-liter CosworthYBM, Hewland gearbox, race prep by KTRMotorsports. Complete known ownership. For more information:tel. 858-459-3500 [email protected] (a/04)
75VinTaGe raCeCar
F1, Indycar, F5000
87C March #12 Cosworth DFX 2.65. Originalowner Frank Arciero, backup for FabrizioBarbazza Jeff MacPherson livery. Restored by CalWells of PPI in 2000. Bob Slade motor, newexhaust, fuel cell, EFI ignition, hydraulics, Hewland,starter available more info/video of enginerunning. $78,000. Jacktel. 805-450-0196 [email protected] (s/10)
March 84C Indy Car. Chassis #30, driven byGeoff Brabham in '84 CART. Podiums @ LongBeach and Portland. Qualified 8th @ Indy.Powered by DFX Cosworth 2.65 turbo. Fullyrestored by Andy Riggs. Vintage legal. (a/10)
Jon tel. 925-786-8643 or [email protected]
1995 Lola Indy Model T9500 Ilmor. PorscheCollection. Bankruptcy Auction. Mercedesengine. Los Angeles – September 22nd 11a.m. braunco.com tel. 310-798-3123 x 100 (a/10)
F2, FB, Atlantic, Super Vee
1971 Lotus 69B. Immaculate condition 100 PTmechanical and body restoration. Good USAhistory with Lotus Racing East. Asking $80,000USD or preferably swap for a good Series 2 roadgoing RHD Lotus Elite type 14. Email for details. Richard tel. 61 7 3269 [email protected] (s/10)
MARKET PLace
Prewar
1930 Rally ABC, s/n 662K. Captivating and rareFrench racing voiturette. Competitive withBugatti T-37. Ford of England 2.2-liter flathead V8.Eligible for most vintage racing events. Californiatitle. $125,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/08)
1928 Brooklands Riley Nine. An importantgenuine, original Brooklands Riley. Imported toAustralia in 1928 and a veteran of threeAustralian Grands Prix (1929, 1930 and 1932).Factory prepared engine from George Eyston’sIrish TT car. Requires completion of restoration.AUS$160,000.Peter briggstel. +61 412 105 374 [email protected] (s/07)
Sports Racer, Can-Am
1960 Omege Jaguar, s/n SYCC34. Wonderful,minimalist English special. Period competitionrace history. Jaguar drive-line, four-wheel discs.Extensive documentation. Suitable for track andtours. $225,000.Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/10)
74 VinTaGe raCeCar
Subscribers: FREE UNLIMITED CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS* (40 words or less) Vintage Racecar subscribers can now run an unlimited number of 40-word classified ads for free!* Ad Duration: 3 Issues (unless renewed or terminated)
Photo: $25.00 Subscribers can run a color photo with their ad for just $25.00 and it will run for all three issues. Photos can only be returned if accompanied by a S.A.S.E.
Non-subscribers: $25.00 40-word Classified Advertisement. Ad Duration: 1 Issue (Additional words $.25 each)
Photo: $50.00 Photos can only be returned if accompanied by a S.A.S.E.(extra charge)
MARKET PLace
Name:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Country:
Phone: Fax:
Year: Make & Model:
Subscribe Today & Place Your Ad for FREE!
1 Year (12 Issues) $54.95 Save 35% off the newsstand price!
2 Years (24 Issues) $89.95 Save more than 45% off the newsstand price!Prices listed are for U.S. subscriptions only. For international rates and subscriptions please visit: www.vintageracecar.com
TOTAL: $___________
All ads are to be prepaid by check or credit card (Visa / MasterCard).
Please make checks payable to Vintage Racecar Journal.
Check Enclosed Charge My Visa /MasterCard:
Card Number: Exp:
Signature:
Send to: VinTaGe raCeCar Journal
5212 Katella Ave., Suite 206, Los Alamitos, CA 90720E-mail: [email protected]: (562) 493-0715
Classified Advertisement Order Form
Please complete the following information:
*Free classified ads for current, paid subscribers only. Ads will be accepted on a first
come, first served basis and are based on space availability. Ads will be accepted at
Publisher’s discretion. Subscriber ads will run for 3 issues unless renewed or terminated
by subscriber, non-subscriber ads will run for only 1 issue.
C L A S S I F I E D A D S F O R S U B S C R I B E R SFREE
____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ (5)
____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ (10)
____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ (15)
____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ (20)
____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ (25)
____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ (30)
____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ (35)
____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ (40)Please attach sheet for additional words (25¢ each)
77VinTaGe raCeCar
MARKET PLace
1964 Bolwell Mk4. 1964 Australian Group MSports Car. Holden Grey motor, 4-Speed C/Rgearbox and 3 LSD diffs. Available with all sparesand custom-built trailer. Lap record holder atWakefield Park and Oran Park. AUS $55,000.Peter Mahonytel. 61 209680 2305 or 61 414 625 634 (02)
1983 Lola 596, s/n HU-16. Multiple Endurowinner. Vintage eligible, fully sorted and eventready. Drummond bridgeported 12A Mazda.$69,500. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/03)
Big Bore GT, Stock Car
1961 Corvette VIN: 10867S103377. 1 of 25RPO/PLO’s built. Fuel injected, big brakes, 292Traco. Comes with correct date-coded 283block. Successful Monterey Historics and WineCountry competitor. $225,000.Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/10)
BMW 3.0 CS Racing Car. Original 1970s racingcar, not a replica. Complete restoration to lastnut and bolt, including engine, gearbox, axle, allnew suspension and brakes. Running on carbs.Ready to race.david gathercole tel. 00 44 (0) 1733 208228 (ad) email. [email protected]
1976 Porsche 914/6. Recent complete bare-shell race prep at a cost over $80,000. 2000lbweight, 200bhp, 2.0 liter 6-cyl. Low time, excellentrecords, fast, reliable.For more information:tel. 858-459-3500 [email protected] (a/08)
1966 Shelby Coupe. FIA Group 2 notchbackracer, #2 of 16 production cars, built by ShelbyAmerican, history in registry, partial Shelby trade. Michael tel. 309-963-4231 (s/07)
1987 Porsche 944 Turbo. One of the fastest inNorth America. 2.5L, 600shp only 4 hours. Drysump. 1.07 Glen, 1.28 Mosport. No expensespared, Stack, Tec 3, Leda. Run HSR, SVRA,VARAC. Many podiums. Dyno results and detailfor interested buyers. $57,500. John Hawkestel. 416-890-3992 [email protected] (02)
Small Bore GT
1974 BMW 2002 Tii Rally. Polaris Silver/blue,carbureted engine with 32/34 downdraft Weber,high-compression E12 head, custom exhaustheaders/side exit, 5-speed gearbox, Bilstein/H&Rsprings, roll bar, Cibie Oscars/Hella Lamps, Ireland320 hubs/disc brakes, Turbo tail, S/S Strut brace,Momo Prototipo wheel, ATS 5 star wheels/Yokohama 205 tires, full body/suspensionrestoration in late ’90s, too many upgrades to listhere. Excellent condition, fully sortedstreet/event car. Asking $20,000 OBO.colincel. 949-244-4604 [email protected] (s/10)
1969 Lola T70 Mk 111B, s/n T76/144. Ex-TrevorTaylor with wins at Silvertstone and Oulton Park.Maintained by Wolf Motorsport. Turnkey.Documentation and spares. $395,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/10)
1966 Porsche 906, s/n 906-007. Deliverednew to Alan Hamilton and 1967 AustralianChampionship winner. Ex-Teddy Yip. Meticulousand documented restoration by MEC auto ofBelgium. Extensive spares. $965,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/09)
1959 Devin SS, s/n SR4-5. Restored to originalspecification by Orion Engineering with directconsultation from Bill Devin. Known ownershiphistory. Well equipped for tours and rallies.$285,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/06)
1957 Sadler Meyers Special, s/n SC008.One-off built for John Meyers. Excellent history.Beautiful aluminum body, 425 hp 339 smallblock. Colorado Grand participant. Californiaregistration. $650,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/06)
1970 McLaren M8C, s/n 70-90. Original periodTrojan (production) tub. Lozano Brothers 600HP injected 355 Chevy. Sorted, (freshly) race-prepped by Collins Racing. Trojan VerificationStatement. $350,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/05)
1963 Lotus 23B, s/n 23-S-92. Jim Groomrestoration with low hours on Twin-Cam engine.Known West Coast competitor. CSRG/HMSAlog books, Extra set of Lotus wheels. $135,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/04)
1955 Abarth 207/A Spyder 1100, s/n 001.Michelotti “Assimetrico” by Boano. Welldocumented period race history, including 1955Sebring. California title. Event eligible. $275,000.Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/02)
76 VinTaGe raCeCar
MARKET PLace
79VinTaGe raCeCar
MARKET PLace
1960 Porsche 356B Roadster. EmoryMotorsports restoration in Outlaw trim. Zerotime on Rothsport engine. Has successfully runSOVREN, HMSA, CSRG and SCCA. $125,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/04)
1953 Lotus Mark 6, Chassis #125. Listed withthe Lotus Historic Register. (100 built). FordConsul 1500-cc powered. Wins at MontereyHistorics and Watkins Glen Zippo. Lap times;1m8s Lime Rock; 2m37s Watkins Glen. Manyspares, including 4 engines. $45,000. Phil tel. 508-473-5005 [email protected] (03)
1963 Lotus Cortina Race Car. AustralianHistoric 1600 Twin Cam. Steel motor - 185+ HP.“A” frame rear end. c/r gearbox with magnesiumbellhousing, rear extension and remote control.Minilite wheels 13 x 6. Lockheed BR alloycallipers on front with ½” solid discs, drum onrear. Bilstein shocks. Alloy panels. Lap times –Phillip Island 1.57.8, Sandown 1.28.2. Aus$85,000. Paul trevethan tel. +61 427 885 075 [email protected] (pq/10)
1959 Austin Healey Sebring Sprite, s/n AN5/815.Stiles/Sutherland 1959 12 Hours of Sebringfactory built class winner. Correct and impeccableButch Gilbert restoration. $135,000.Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/10)
1966 Alfa Romeo 105 Giulia Sprint stepnose.FIA historic logbook (CAMS Sb). Professionallybuilt 2008. One race meeting since engine rebuild.Many inclusions and extras. Ideal for historic raceseries worldwide. AU$50,000 or near offer. Leigh tel. 61 (0) 292 378 104; 61 (0) 438 267 641 [email protected]
MISC.
Tony Steele Restorations. Restorations andrefurbishment undertaken specializing in FormulaJunior and 500, F3, also Classic Bikes. Anythingfrom complete vehicles to basket cases. tony Steele Restorationsmob. +44 (0) 7767827966 home. +44 (0) 1524 261668 [email protected] (mj/09)
WHY NOT DONATE YOUR UNWANTED AUTOBOOKS & MAGAZINES to the Automobile DrivingMuseum Library in El Segundo, CA?Please call 310 909 0950 (s/08)
Engine
Maserati 300s engine and transaxle, togetheror separately. Both Cameron Miller replicas withextremely low hours. Dyno sheet and otherdetails available upon request. $225,000. (s/10)
Jamie tel. 650-216-6740 [email protected]
78 VinTaGe raCeCar
MARKET PLace
1965 Riley Elf MK II. Full Rally specs, cage, seats,dash, wheel, 1293-cc, Kent 276 cam, H/L rockers,Stage III head, Metro mains, 45 DCOE, headers,c/r straight cut box, L&B flywheel, comp/clutch, 91BHP, S disc w/alloy 4 pots, Minilites, excellentcondition, street or race. Asking $20,000 OBO. 2000 Downton-Hopkirk Tribute Rally Mini.One of two, 1310-cc twin-point injection Sport 40Downton conversion, 97 bhp/103 lbs/ft torque,full rally spec exterior/interior, looks like 1965 MkI“works department” rally Cooper S, long detaillist, like new, cannot be duplicated for price,$35,000 OBO or $50,000 for both cars.Henrytel. 949-533-3064 [email protected] (s/10)
1965 Alfa Romeo GTA, s/n AR613913. RomanTucker bare metal restoration. Exceptionally welldocumented including original invoice. Eligible forgrowing number of premier events worldwide.$225,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/09)
Alfa Romeo 1300, built by Al Leake in Californiaand raced in VSCCA. Recent engine withlightweight Wiesco pistons, Carrillo rods, 10/10nitrided and drilled crank, Megacycle cams, runscool with 75 psi and recent suspension upgrades.$36,000 OBO. Jack Mella tel. 212-223-3200 (s/09)
1963 Abarth 1000GT Bialbero, s/n 1290268,eng. 2291334. Beautifully restored. Ex-JudgeParker. Earls Court Motor Show and Bonnevillehistory. Eligible for growing number of historicraces, tours and concours. $250,000. Fantasy Junctiontel. 510-653-7555 fax. 510-653-9754 www.fantasyjunction.com (a/08)
81VinTaGe raCeCar80 VinTaGe raCeCar
by Mike Lawrence
Once upon atime, RobWiddows and I
ran a weekly motorracing program onradio. One person wefelt we had to have onwas Brian Henton, and
I dreaded that because I had heard he wasan arrogant bastard. He turned out to beone of the most pleasant guys I have met inany context.
Robin Herd has always put Henton asfirst equal with Niki Lauda as the best testdriver he worked with.
Brian was raised in a council house byhis widowed mother. He left school at 15,but soon found his metier in business. Hemade a start in motor racing and ajournalist whom he had impressed saidthat he should shout about himself, asMuhammad Ali had done.
It was dumb advice, ten years too late,but Brian was new to the game and waseasily influenced. It backfired.
In 1979, Henton seemed to have theEuropean F2 Championship in the bagwhen he spun on the last lap atDonington. I heard him in the pits blamethe fact that he had a green helmet andgreen was unlucky. Thereafter his helmetwas blue with the same demented chickenas a logo, and “Superhen” writ beneath.
Years later, I discovered the real story.Brian had been driving for Toleman and amember of the small team had been killedin a road accident. The funeral hadinterrupted preparation for the final racein the series, and brake pad wear had notbeen calculated. Brian had spun becausehe had no brakes.
It says a lot for the man that the storyemerged only after he had retired from racing.
Brian won the European Formula 2Championship the following year and sowas invited to compete in the BBC TVseries, “Sporting Superstars,” an idea boughtfrom America’s ABC network. Competitorswere all top sportsmen who competed inevents that were not their own.
Brian was a racing driver, with thecunning of a racing driver. He turned upfor the event but—oops!—he “sprained”an ankle. He had not, but he had to sit outthe round he was scheduled for.
Brian told me, “I saw what all the
events were. I went home and boughtmyself a canoe and a bicycle and I traineduntil I could have won every single round.
“I was asked to return later. What I hadnot taken into account was that athleteshad returned from the Olympic Games. Iam well built, but they had muscles inplaces where I do not have places.
“I would go into the cafeteria and callfor a couple of steaks and plenty of chips,and they would be with their trainersselecting the perfect lettuce leaf.”
Brian finished bog last in thecompetition, but that was 32 years ago.
Now racing drivers have personal trainers,and they need them because the forces ontheir bodies are so much greater.
Recently, a national newspaperinterviewed Stirling Moss on keeping fit—it is now 50 years since his career in thetop flight ended. He said that, even whenracing, he did not work out in a gym. Hewas, however, very active, he swam andwent water skiing. His great contemporary,Tony Brooks, played tennis and squash andstill plays tennis. They pursued regularleisure activities, they did not undertakefitness regimes.
It is true that some drivers tookstimulants, benzedrine was popular, andsome would have failed a breathalyzer onthe starting grid. For many, however,driving to a race meeting gave themexercise enough.
I saw an article recently about a guywho took part in the 10,000-meter race atthe 1948 London Olympics. He was luckythat the event took place on a Saturdayafternoon because his boss was not goingto give him time off from the building sitewhere he worked. He reached the stadiumby bus and Tube.
Sports medicine was then unknown,though stimulants had been used incycling since around 1905. A PE teacher
in a school was given a rope to hang on inthe staff room. If you remember your PEteacher, you know this is true. I think thatI am right in thinking that, around 1977,Niki Lauda was the first F1 driver to use apersonal fitness adviser, the late ProfessorWilli Dungl.
The introduction of ground-effectswith the Lotus 78 in 1977 began to putpressure on the upper body strength ofdrivers. There was a time when Englisharchers using war bows (aka long bows)were formidable. It was law to practicearchery, and it took at least ten years to
develop the upper body strength to draw awar bow, the pull was around 240 lbs.
Upper body strength is why no womanwill succeed in Formula One, unless theRuskies breed one, as they used to breedshot putters in frocks.
In 1983, I saw Stirling drive a BrabhamBT52 during a test at Brands Hatch. Heavenforfend that I should be negative about theGreatest Living Englishman, but he was notquick. He was still quick in Historic racing,but an Aston Martin DBR1/300 drives likea regular modern sports car, though withoutthe crisp gear change.
Times change. A while back I found theOlivetti portable typewriter that had beencherished for years. I could not use it, I hadforgotten the pressure on the keyboard.
Sport medicine has come on, both thephysical and psychological, and as driverscan now employ science to gain an edge, ifit’s available. You’d be silly to ignore it whenlap times are calculated to 0.001 of a second.
One of my heroes remains AlbertoAscari, whose nickname was “Ciccio,”which translates as “meat,” because he cuta mature, manly, figure. In 1954, he wasthe first solo driver to win the MilleMiglia, so there was nothing wrong withhis stamina, by the standards of 1954, butthat is no longer the date.
SuperhenLAST LaP
“I am well built, but they had muscles in placeswhere I do not have places.”
RM Auctions St. John’s Sales in Plymouth: Rock Solid
Art Deco and the AutomobileFrench Design: Mild to Wild
Driven1974 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000
The Internat ional Authori ty on Classic and Vintage Roadcars OCTOBER 2012
Twiggy’s Miura SA Supermodel’s Supercar
RANDY EMA INTERVIEW: RENOWNED RESTORER & DUESENBERG EXPERT SHARES HIS INSIGHTS & PASSIONS
Vin
ta
ge R
ac
ec
aR
o
cto
beR
201
2
Vin
ta
ge R
oa
dc
aR
oc
to
beR
2012
3VinTaGe roaDCar
4 From The Editor
6 News
14 ProFilE: Twiggy’s ’69 Miura S
A Supermodel’s Supercar
24 iNTErviEw: randy Ema
Renowned Restorer and Duesenberg
Expert Shares His Past and Passions
28 FEATUrE: Art Deco and the
Automobile Ooh Lá Lá
The French: Mild to Wild
40 ShowcASE: Product review
43 ThE rESTorErS
Cavaglieri Restorations
50 DrivEN
1974 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000
48 PhoTo GAllEry
48 Dana Point Concours d’Elegance
49 Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance
50 Bonhams Goodwood Sale
51 Artcurial Le Mans
52 Cartier “Style et Luxe”
53 RM Auctions, St. John's
54 ShowrooM: classified Ads
56 collEcTiNG from the web
eBay Motors
VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 7 • OCTOBER 2012
Vintage Roadcar is published byParabolica�Publishing�LLC5212�Katella�Avenue,�Suite�206Los�Alamitos,�CA�90720�www.parabolicapub.com
Copyright�©�2012�by�Vintage�Racecar/Parabolica�Publishing,�LLC.,�All�rights�reserved.
Reproduction�without�per�mis�sion�is�prohibited.�Every�effort�is�made�to�ensure�that
the�in�for�ma�tion�enclosed�is�true�and�ac�cu�rate.�How�ev�er,�we�must�disclaim�any�li�a�bil�-
i�ty�for�the�timeliness,�use,�in�ter�pre�ta�tion,�ac�cu�ra�cy�and�completeness�of�the�in�for�-
ma�tion�con�tained�within.�Unsolicited�contributions�are�welcome,�but�should�be
prefaced�by�a�query��letter�to�the�editor.�In�order�to�be�returned,�all�sub�mis�sions�must
be�ac�com�pa�nied�by�a�SASE.�Cover�photograph�by�James�Nicholls.
Contents
14
28
48 51
2 VinTaGe roaDCar
5VinTaGe roaDCar4 VinTaGe roaDCar
Driving�in�to�the�office�the�other�morning,�I
was�listening�to�a�comedian�on�the�radio.�His
name�is�Adam�Corolla�and�much�to�my�pleasant
surprise�he�was�riffing�on�having�just�come�back
from�competing�at�the�Rolex�Monterey�Motor-
sport�Reunion.�When�asked�about�the�race�he
described�how�all�these�fabulously�rare�and�ex-
pensive�collector�cars�were�battling�it�out�on
track.�When�the�DJs�asked�in�disbelief�how�any-
one�could�put�a�multi-million�dollar�car�at�such
risk,�Corolla�quipped�that�not�unlike�wearing�a
wristwatch�fashioned�from�a�gold�nugget,�it�was
the�ultimate�expression�of�“having�arrived.”�For
this�and�a�number�of�more�poignant�barbs,�he
had�me�laughing,�but�perhaps�even�more�than
usual,�due�to�the�novelty�of�having�the�jokes
turned�on�something�so�close�and�familiar,�i.e.,
the� collector� car� hobby.� Of� course,� another
reason�that�Corolla’s�jokes�cut�so�sharply�is�the
fact�that,�as�a�collector�and�historic�racer�him-
self,�he�knows�right�where�our�exposed,�tender
underbelly�lies.
Listening� to� essentially� a� stand-up� routine
built� around� the� collector� car�hobby� got�me
thinking�of�the�surprisingly�strong�connection
between�car�collecting�and�comedians.�Is�it�a
coincidence�that�so�many�comedians�are�promi-
nent� collectors?� Certainly� one� of� the� most
prominent�collectors�is�Jay�Leno.�Leno�can�be
regularly� seen�on� the� lawn�at�Pebble�Beach,
roaming�the�paddock�at�Laguna�Seca�or�driving
around� the� streets�of�Burbank,�California,� in
one�of�his�many�vintage�vehicles.�Leno’s�auto-
motive�tastes�span�the�full�spectrum�of�auto-
motive� history;� from� the� unusual� like� the
Eastern�Bloc�Tatra�to�the�sublime�such�as�the
Walker-bodied�Duesenberg�that�we�featured�on
these�pages�back�in�May.�A�good�friend�of�the
magazine� and� the� consummate� enthusiast,
Leno’s� collection� is� so�diverse�and�expansive
that�if�we�featured�two�of�his�cars,�every�month,
we�wouldn’t�be�able�to�cover�his�entire�collec-
tion�before�I�die�of�old�age!
Where�Leno’s�automotive�focus�is�broad,�co-
median� Jerry� Seinfeld’s� is� laser-like� focused.
Seinfeld’s�passion�is�for�anything�Porsche.�With
nearly�50�Porsches� in�his� collection,�Seinfeld
owns�significant�racecars�such�as�the�iconic�917
and�550�Spyder,�as�well�as�numerous�important
roadcars� including� the� first� production� 911.
Seinfeld�has�even�managed�to�find�an�interest-
ing�way�to�blend�his�comedy�and�collecting�in
the�launch�of�a�new�web�series�called�“Come-
dians� in�Cars�Getting�Coffee.”� In� these�webi-
sodes,� Seinfeld� picks� up� another� comedian,
oftentimes� in� a� unique� classic� car,� and� they
drive�to�get�coffee.�In�a�recent�episode�Seinfeld
picks� up� comedian� Ricky� Gervais� in� a� 1967
Austin-Healey� 3000,� with� the� duo� driving
around�New�York�City�with�Seinfeld�behind�the
wheel�scaring�the�crap�out�of�Gervais.�You’ve
heard�of�comedy�in�the�round?�This�is�comedy
on�the�confining�stage�of�a�MkIII�3000.
Sharing�Seinfeld’s�penchant�for�Porsches�is
Leno’s�late-night�rival�David�Letterman,�who�in
addition� to� being� a� co-owner� of� an� Indycar
team�with�Bobby�Rahal,�also�has�his�own�im-
pressive�collection,�which�includes�numerous
classic�Porsches�and�Ferraris,�as�well�as�a�num-
ber� of� British� sports� cars.� And� speaking� of
Britain,�this�connection�between�car�collecting
and�comedians�is�not�an�intrinsically�American
phenomenon,�as�the�British�comedian�perhaps
best�known�for�his�work�as�“Blackadder”�and
“Mr.�Bean”,�Rowan�Atkinson,�is�also�a�keen�col-
lector�who�owns�numerous�supercars�including
an�Aston�Martin�V-8�Zagato.�He�also�regularly
participates� in� historic� racing� events—often
with�smashing�results!
While�the�list�of�collecting�comedians�is�even
larger�than�described�here,�I’m�drawn�back�to
the�underlying�question�of�where�does�the�con-
nection�lie?�Are�comedians,�as�a�group,�some-
how�naturally�drawn�to�collecting�cars?�Or�is
collecting�cars,�somehow�inherently� funny?� I
guess�when�looked�at�objectively,�many�of�us
devote�inordinate�amounts�of�time�to�finding
and�paying�as�much�as�1,000�times�the�original
sales�price�for�a�vehicle�that�may�run�around�on
skinny�bicycle�tires,�may�or�may�not�have�wind-
up�windows�and�might� go�no� faster� than�70
mph.�When� viewed� in� that� light…it� is� pretty
funny!
Casey�Annis
Publisher/Editor
Comedy Collectors
FROM THE EDITOR
What can we infer from the fact thatsome of the most prominent membersof our community are comedians?
7VinTaGe roaDCar
The�Dana�Point�Concours�d’Elegance�was
a� spectacular� success,� attracting� huge
crowds�and�a�stunning�field�of�vehicles�in-
cluding�a�1934�Voisin�C-25�Aerodyne� that
won�the�prestigious�Best�of�Show�title�during
the�30th anniversary�event�on�Sunday,�June
24,�at�the�St.�Regis�Monarch�Beach�resort�in
Dana�Point,�California.�The�two-day�celebra-
tion�of�Southern�California’s�automotive�her-
itage� honored� Bruce� Meyer� for� his
contributions�to�the�hobby�and�featured�a
Private�Collection�Tour,�automotive�fine�art
exhibition,�a�flyover�of�six�vintage�airplanes
organized�by�Capt.�Jason�Dwinger�and�the�
inaugural�Beach�Cruisers�Show.�
As�part�of�the�celebration,�the�Dana�Point
Concours� also� honored� 50� years� of� Shelby
American.�Notable�Southern�California�Collec-
tor�Bruce�Meyer�was�recognized�for�his�1962
Shelby�Cobra,�which�is�the�first�pro-
duction�Cobra�ever�built;� it�placed
first�in�the�Shelby�Cars�class.�Meyer
was�also�honored�during�the�week-
end�with�the�2012�Dana�Point�Con-
cours� d’Elegance� Automotive� Icon
Award�for�his�tireless�work�in�the�au-
tomotive� industry� and� passion� for
growing�the�hobby.
The�“Best�of�Show”�award� in� the�motor-
cycle�class�was�bestowed�upon�a�1926�Brough
Superior� (pictured� below),� while� the� 1934
Voisin�C-25�Aerodyne�from�the�notable�collec-
tion�of�Peter�and�Merle�Mullin�was�crowned
the�automotive�“Best�of�Show”�for�its�excep-
tional�lines�and�remarkable�details.�Originally
an�airplane�manufacturer,�Frenchman�Gabriel
Voisin�turned�his�attention�to�building�expen-
sive,�luxury�automobiles�in�the�early�20th cen-
tury� that� became� known� throughout� the
world�for�their�innovation.�Additionally,�this
year’s� “Featured�Marque� Award”� was� pre-
sented�to�a�1956�Jaguar�D-Type�from�the�“Leg-
ends�of�Le�Mans”�Racecars�class.�Owned�by
Greg�and�Debbie�Johnson�of�Irvine,�California,
the�Jaguar�captured�the�trophy�because�the
English�sports�car�best�embodied�the�spirit�of
the�Le�Mans�racers.
Voisin Crowned Best of Show atDana Point Concours d’Elegance
� The highly acclaimed Desert Classic Concoursd’Elegance, which has been held the last week of Feb-ruary for the past five years, has announced February24, 2013 will be the day for the sixth renewal of theclassic concours. As in prior years, the week of eventswill include three days of historic Racing at the Chuck-walla Raceway, The "Tour Classique," The Desert Con-cours Classic Car Auction and a flyover of militaryplanes. For more details visit www.desertconcours.com
� The fourth annual, Renaissance Euro Fest, ex-pected to attract over 15,000 spectators, will be heldon Saturday, October 6, from 10:00 a. m. until 6 p.m.at the all-new, World Class Renaissance at ColonyPark, just North of Jackson, Mississippi. This will be anopen show for European autos and motorcycles, allof which must be 25 years or older. For more detailsvisit www.Euro-Fest.net
� On Sunday October 21, the UK’s Stoneleigh Parkin Warwickshire will play host to the NationalRestoration Show & Great British Autojumble. Fea-tures will include marque club displays, seminars andadvice from respected restorers, classic cars for sale,as well as what is being billed as the UK’s largest in-door “autojumble” or parts swap meet. For more de-tails visit www.restoration-show.co.uk
� The 36th Antwerp Classic Salon will be held March1–3, 2013, at Antwerp EXPO, in Antwerp, Belgium.
� On July 7, Artcurial hosted its second Le MansClassic sale with an impressive 80 percent sell-through rate and total sales of over $11 million. Topsales included a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTC for$1,925,000, a 1991 Peugeot 905 EV 13 for $818,300and a 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster for$696,814.
� The dates for the 25th Techno-Classic Essen havebeen announced as April 10–14, 2013, at Essen Ger-many’s Messe Essen Exhibition Center. Additionally,the 2013 iteration of the Essen Motor Show will beheld November 30-December 8, 2013.
� Mecum Auctions has announced their latest addi-tion to the 2012 auction schedule with a 3-day eventin Anaheim, Calif., Nov. 15-17, 2012 at the AnaheimConvention Center. Three full days have been sched-uled, with more than 750 collector cars expected tocross the block. Discovery’s Velocity Network willbroadcast live during all days. To consign a vehicle orto become a registered bidder, go to mecum.com orcall 262.275.5050.
CLASSIC NOTES
6 VinTaGe roaDCar
NEWS • what’s going on?
The 2012 Santa Fe Concorso, a gathering of
more than 100 rare and exotic cars and mo-
torcycles, will take place September 28-30 at
The Club at Las Campanas, a stunning devel-
opment located just 15 minutes from the his-
toric Plaza in downtown Santa Fe.
The event, now in its third year, features
three days of viewing a spectacular assem-
blage of "rolling works of art," including clas-
sic cars, racing champions and speed-record
seekers, as well as legendary motorcycles and
vintage aircraft.
The opening Friday Night Gathering is an
informal event for entrants and guests at
Hangar K, at the Santa Fe Air Center, that
will showcase a special speed display of
vintage aircraft, racing cars and speed-record
seekers.
On Saturday the focus turns to driving with
the third annual High Mountain Tour. En-
trants will drive their classic vehicles and be
treated to challenging roads and spectacular
New Mexico scenery before arriving at the
Valles Caldera National Preserve.
The Concorso main event takes place on
Sunday, Sept. 30, when the classic cars and
motorcycles will be displayed on the 9th
fairway at The Club at Las Campanas
Sunrise Golf Course and in close proximity to
the Clubhouse, where attendees will be sur-
rounded by panoramic mountain views.
There will be many stars in the field of
vehicles but some standouts include three
“cowboy cars,” one belonging to Tom Mix (a
supercharged Cord 812 roadster pictured
below), another to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
(a ’63 Bonneville embellished by Nudie
Cohen) and Cowboy Shane, Alan Ladd’s white
’59 Cadillac, round out the group. A 1988 For-
mula One Ferrari driven to victory by Gerhard
Berger is part of the open-wheel racecar class,
as well as the 1917 Peerless Green Dragon.
In addition, automotive luminaries such as
Sir Stirling and Lady Susie Moss will be on
hand, as well as Santa Fe’s own Denise Mc-
Cluggage, a legendary writer and racer, and
Albuquerque’s Al Unser, a four-time winner
of the Indianapolis 500.
For more information please visit
www.santafeconcorso.com
Santa Fe Concorso
"Rolling Works of Art" Take Center Stage in New Mexico
9VinTaGe roaDCar
On�June�20–24,�the�MG�Club�of�Brazil�staged�a�highly�successful�1000-mile
FIVA-sanctioned�historic�rally�across�Brazil.�With�52�cars�(manufactured�between
1919�and�1980)�the�rally’s�obvious�Brazilian�entries�were�joined�by�enthusiasts
from�Argentina,�Uruguay,�Portugal�and�even�Germany.�Star�quality�was�added�to
the�event�by�the�participation�of�former�F1�drivers�such�as�Nelson�Piquet�(Jaguar
E-Type�V12),�Roberto�“Pupo”�Moreno�(Alfa�Romeo�GTV�2000)�and�Wilson�Fitti-
paldi�(Porsche�911�Targa).�The�regularity�rally�(under�the�rules�of�the�FIA-Historic)
began�and�ended�in�the�city�of�São�Paulo,�and�covered�the�states�of�Rio�de�Janeiro
and�Minas�Gerais.�The�overall�winner�of�this�year’s�event�was�the�Jaguar�MKII�of
Gilbert�and�Raquel�Landsberg�from�Brazil.
The�2012�Hilton�Head�Island�Motoring�Festi-
val�&�Concours�d’Elegance�will�include�major
international�names�in�automotive�collecting
and�racing�when�the�event�returns�for�its�11th
annual�celebration�October�26-November�4.
Among�those�names�are�Frank�and�Milli�Riccia-
rdelli�of�Monmouth�Beach,�New�Jersey,�who
have� been� selected� to� receive� the� first-ever
Honored�Collector�title.��This�designation�re-
flects�appreciation�for�the�loyalty�the�Riccia-
rdellis� have� had� to� the� Hilton� Head� Island
Concours,�the�consistently�high�quality�of�au-
tomobiles�they�have�presented,�including�their
1933�Rolls-Royce�Coupe�that�took�home�the
‘Best�in�Show’�honor�at�the�2009�event,�and
their�overall�support�of�the�car�collector�hobby.
To� celebrate� this� title,� the� Ricciardellis� have
chosen�four�automobiles�that�represent�their
collection�and�passion�for�the�hobby.�These�in-
clude�a�1926�Hispano�Suiza�Cabriolet�H6B,�a
1930�Cadillac�V16�Convertible,�a�1935�Duesen-
berg�J-Dual�Cowl�Phaeton�and�a�1938�Jaguar�SS
Coupe,�which�will�be�on�dis-
play�at�the�Motoring�Festival
both�Saturday�and�Sunday,
November�3�and�4.
This�year’s� concours�will
also� include� participation
from�Bob�Lutz,�former�Vice
Chairman� of� General� Mo-
tors�as�this�year’s�Honorary
Chairman.��Lutz�joins�a�list�of
past� Honorary� Chairmen
that�includes�names�such�as�Nicola�Bulgari,�J.W.
(Bill)�Marriott,�Bobby�Rahal�and�Dennis�Gage,
last� year’s� Chairman.� Lutz� will� be� on� hand
during�the�Hilton�Head�Island�portions�of�the
2012�Festival�at�the�Coastal�Discovery�Museum
at�Honey�Horn.�In�addition�to�an�open-to-the-
public�Q&A�session�on-site�during�the�event’s
main�attractions,�the�schedule�also�includes�a
special�“Evening�with�Bob�Lutz”�at�an�exclusive
dinner�on�that�Saturday�evening,�November�3.
Lutz�will�also�participate�in�the�Concours�d’Ele-
gance�as�a�Guest�Judge�on�Sunday,�November
4.�For�more�information�visit�www.HHIMotor-
ingFestival.com�
Brazilian1000 Miles
Hilton Head IslandMotoring Festival &Concours d’Elegance
The�Ferrari�Club�of�America�International
Meet�will�return�to�Southern�California�for�the
first�time�since�2002,�to�be�held�from�October
10–14�in�the�California�desert�playground�of
Palm�Springs.�With�Southern�California�being
home�to�the�largest�concentration�of�Ferrari
owners�in�the�country,�the�2012�FCA�Interna-
tional� Meet� promises� to� be� a� spectacular
event.� The� luxurious� Hyatt� Regency� Indian
Wells�Resort�&�Spa�will�be�the�event�venue
and�host�headquarters,�with�the�track�activi-
ties�held�at�the�Chuckwalla�Valley�Raceway.�
This� year’s� program�will� honor� the� 50th
anniversary�of�the�Ferrari�250�GTO�and�the
Palm�Springs�Road�Races,�with�a�5-day�event
that� includes� a� Concours� d’Elegance;� track
and�rally�driving;�and�an�evening�awards�ban-
quet.�Open�to�members�of�all�Ferrari�Clubs
worldwide,�registration�and�event� informa-
tion�can�be�found�at�http://www.fca-�sw.org�
Eight�historically�significant�cars�from�the�Larry�H.�Miller�Total
Performance�Museum�at�Miller�Motorsports�Park�will�be�on�display
at�the�2012�Intermountain�Concours�d’Elegance�September�22,
2012,�held�on�the�grounds�of�the�beautiful�Gardens�of�Thanksgiving
Point�in�Lehi,�Utah.�These�special�cars�comprise�the�centerpiece�for
a�display�honoring� legendary�automotive�designer�and� racecar
driver�Carroll�Shelby.�“We’re�overwhelmed�by�the�incredible�cars
being�brought�to�our�event�by�the�Miller�family,�and�see�this�as�an
outstanding�way�to�not�only�pay�tribute�to�Carroll�Shelby,�but�to
also�carry�forward�Larry�Miller’s�passion�for�the�cars�Shelby�built,
raced�and�influenced,”�said�Chris�Purdhum,�Concours�Chairman.
For�more�information�visit�www.intermountainconcours.com
8 VinTaGe roaDCar
NEWS • what’s going on?
Ferrari
international
Meet to Be
held in Palm
Springs
2012 Intermountain Concours d’Elegance Honors Carroll Shelby
11VinTaGe roaDCar
Terry L. Karges New Director ofPetersen Automotive Museum
The Petersen Automotive Museum
Chairman of the Board Steven E. Young
has announced that Terry L. Karges has
been appointed Executive Director of the
Museum. Karges has succeeded Buddy
Pepp effective August 15, who is retiring
following a successful two-year run as
Executive Director where he made sig-
nificant contributions to the long-term
stability and prosperity of the museum.
Karges brings four decades of automo-
tive, entertainment and motorsports
management experience to the Petersen
Automotive Museum. He is known as an
innovative leader with a keen ability to
merge cutting-edge marketing tactics.
“Terry is a very well qualified busi-
nessman with a strong management
background that the Board of Directors
feels will do a terrific job as the Petersen
Automotive Museum Executive Direc-
tor,” said Young. “In addition to being a
Southern California native familiar with
our unique car culture, Terry also has
valuable experience leading sales and
marketing operations for major Califor-
nia theme parks, which makes him the
best candidate to lead the museum in
unique and exciting ways.”
Karges will be leaving his role as Vice
President of Sales and Marketing for
Venchurs Inc., a Michigan based OEM
supplier. As the former Vice President of
Sales and Marketing for Roush Perform-
ance, Karges helped grow the company
into the largest specialty high perform-
ance car brand in the world. As owner
of Karges Sport, he was involved in
motorsports marketing and ran his own
team. Karges also previously held mar-
keting management positions at Disney-
land, SeaWorld and Marine World.
“As a lifelong automotive design
enthusiast and someone who spent his
formative years at tracks like Riverside
and Laguna Seca, the opportunity to
take the reins at The Petersen – arguably
one of the premier automotive museums
in the world – is a humbling and
thrilling prospect,” Karges said. “I look
forward to working with the museum’s
incredibly talented staff of curators, his-
torians and restoration experts, as well
as with the knowledgeable and enthusi-
astic board, to come up with innovative
and interactive ways to share Robert E.
Petersen’s legacy and the world’s love
affair with the automobile.”
10 VinTaGe roaDCar
NEWS • what’s going on?
The�9th annual�Keeneland�Concours�d'Elegance�featured
many�of�the�finest�classic�automobiles�and�motorcycles�on
display�Saturday,�July�21,�at�the�Keeneland�Race�Course,
with�a� fabulous�1929�Stutz�Model�M�Lancefield�Coupe
taking�home�Best�of�Show�honors.
The�1929�Stutz�Model�M�Lancefield�Coupe�that�won
Best�of�Show�is�owned�by�the�Mitchell�Collection�of�Mont-
gomery,�Texas.�The�Best�of�Show�Award�is�presented�by�the
Indianapolis�Motor�Speedway�and�Keeneland�Concours�in
honor�of�Mari�Hulman�George.
The� 1929� Stutz� Model� M� Lancefield� Coupe� was
purchased�new�by�the�Woolworth�Brothers�in�1929�and
bodied�by�Lancefield�Coachworks�of�London,�England.�It�is
the�only�Lancefield�coupe�to�be�supercharged,�and�the�only
one�surviving�out�of�five�built.�It�was�restored�by�Old�Iron
Works�of�Montgomery,�Texas.�The�Stutz�also�won�its�class,
Coachbuilt�Classics.
"We�were�all�amazed�by�this�sinister�looking�car,"�said
Keeneland�Concours�co-chair�Tom�Jones.�"It�faced�some
very�tough�choices,�but�considering�the�rarity�and�exquisite
detail�of�the�restoration,�our�judges�made�the�right�choice
for�Best�of�Show."
The�10thannual�Keeneland�Concours�d'Elegance�is�scheduled
for�July�18-21,�2013,�when�the�featured�marque�will�be�Mus-
tang,�in�anticipation�of�the�40th anniversary�of�its�introduction.
Stutz Wins Keeneland Best of Show
1969 Lamborghini Miura
13VinTaGe roaDCar
Twiggy’s’69 Miura S
profile
12 VinTaGe roaDCar
A Supermodel’s Supercar Lamborghini Miura
Lamborghini Miura
15VinTaGe roaDCar
If�he�was�going�to�take�on�Ferrari,�his�engine�of�course,�would�have�to�be
a�V12.�Giotto�Bizzarrini�had�designed�Ferrari’s�latest�V12s�in�the�Ferrari�250
GT,�but�having�subsequently�set�up�his�own�company,�it�was�he�whom�Fer-
ruccio�chose�to�design�the�engine�in�the�Lamborghini�350�GTV�prototype.
This�enduring�engine�was�then�used�in�the�120�units�of�the�Lamborghini�350
GT�that�were�built�and�the�later�400�GT,�with�its�size�increased�to�four�liters,
and�in�many�subsequent�Lamborghini�cars.�The�400�GT,�of�which�(including
the�2+2)�273�units�were�built,�featured�Lamborghini’s�own�bespoke�in-house
designed�gearbox,�the�problematic�area�that�had�first�led�to�that�fateful
meeting�between�Enzo�and�Ferruccio.�The�cars�were�an�instant�success,�but
the�best�was�yet�to�come.
From�the�outset�Ferruccio�had�hired�two�young�and�very�talented�engi-
neers�to�create�his�cars�to�complement�Bizzarrini’s�marvelous�engine.�With
the�early�success�of�the�350�GT�and�400�GT�he�then�unleashed�the�promising
skills�of�Giampaolo�Dallara�and�Giampaolo�Stanzani.�Taking�their�inspiration
from�two-seater�sports�racing�cars�rather�than�from�Grand�Tourers,�the�two
young�men,�Dallara�at�the�time�was�just�28�(he�subsequently�went�on�to
form�his�own�company�developing�Formula�One�cars)�and�the�similarly�aged
Stanzani�created�in�essence�a�road-going�racecar.�
They�took�the�initial�innovative�step�in�sitting�the�four-liter�V12�Lamborghini
400�GT�engine�transversely�mounted�behind�the�driver.�The�chassis�needed
to�be�strong�but�light,�and�to�do�this�they�made�it�out�of�bent�welded�sheet
metal�that�had�been�drilled�with�holes.�Ferruccio�approved�the�project�with-
out�a�moment’s�hesitation�and�the�chassis�was�hurriedly�completed�to�be�ex-
hibited�at�the�October�1965�Turin�Motor�Show.�All�it�needed�now�was�a�body.
miura Birth
Nuccio�Bertone,�head�of�the�radical�thinking�Carrozzeria�Bertone,�saw�the
concept�and�volunteered�to�build�the�body�to�sit�on�the�revolutionary�chas-
sis.�Bertone�turned�to�26�year�old�Marcello�Gandini,�an�interior�designer,
and�his�first�project�for�the�Carrozzeria�was�to�interpret�and�fulfil�his�new
boss’�vision.�It�was�the�clarity�of�thinking,�unfettered�by�tradition�that�led
Gandini�and�Bertone�to�create�not�only�the�Miura�for�Lamborghini,�but�also
the�Fiat�X�1/9,�the�Lancia�Stratos�and�to�pioneer�the�Wedge�line�that�perhaps
reached�its�culmination�in�another�later�Lamborghini,�the�Countach.
Lamborghini�never�disclosed�the�origins�of�the�name�Miura,�but�as�he�was
a�Taurus�it�is�thought�it�came�from�that�of�a�Spanish�fighting�bull.�However,
Gandini’s�design�was�beautiful,�far-reaching�and�novel.�At�the�1966�Geneva
Motor�Show,�just�four�months�after�its�launch�at�Turin,�it�was�instantly�hailed
as�a�masterpiece�and�created�an�enormous�international�profile�for�Auto-
mobili�Lamborghini.�To�design�and�manufacture�a�completely�fresh�bodystyle
14 VinTaGe roaDCar
he�history�of�Automobili�Lamborghini�is�one�that�almost
parallels�the�success�of�post-World�War�II�Italy�itself,�and�is
synonymous�with�the�word�“Supercar.”�
The�founder�of�the�company,�Ferruccio�Lamborghini,�was
born�in�1916�in�Northern�Italy,�and�as�a�young�man�studied
engineering.�Following�World�War�II�Lamborghini�set�up�a
successful�tractor-making�business�that�provided�him�a�considerable�for-
tune.�While�from�a�relatively�poor�rural�childhood,�Lamborghini’s�achieve-
ments�coincided�with�the�industrial�development�of�the�north�of�Italy�in
the�1950s.�His�tractors�proved�to�be�successful�as�did�Lamborghini�himself.
While�still�a�young�country,�during�the�post�war�period�the�Italian�Repub-
lic�quickly�caught�up�with�and�surpassed�many�of�its�European�neighbors,
especially�in�the�area�of�design�and�sophisticated�machinery�from�coffee
machines�to�cars,�where�it�gained�an�enviable�reputation.�In�Italy�a�car�is
known�synonymously�as�macchina,�or�machine.�As�with�many�Italian�self-
made�men�of� the�time,� the�machine�Ferruccio�drove,�of�course,�was�a
Ferrari.�Enzo�Ferrari�had�created�his�company�on�the�back�of�a�racing�pedi-
gree�and�sold�fast�and�stylish�cars�to�those�who�could�afford�them.�
Ferruccio�Lamborghini�so�the,�apocryphal�or�not,�story�goes�was�unhappy
with�his�Ferrari�and�went�to�discuss�his�requirements,�concerns�and�improve-
ment�with�Sig.�Ferrari.�Apparently�the�meeting�did�not�go�well�with�Enzo
reputedly�saying�that�Ferruccio�knew�how�to�drive�a�tractor,�but�not�proper
cars,�to�which�Ferruccio�responded�that�he�could�and�would�build�a�better
car�than�Ferrari.�
The�story�has�been�heard�many�times,�but�so�they�say,�as�with�any�good
story�it�is�worth�hearing�again.�Whatever�the�validity�of�the�facts�behind�the
meeting,� the�outcome�of� it�was� that�Lamborghini�did�decide� to�use�his
considerable�wealth� to� create�a�motor� car� company�and� the�history�of
Automobili�Lamborghini�officially�started�in�1963.�
Sant’agata
Lamborghini� bought� a� large� plot� of� land,� about� 25� kilometres� from
Bologna,�in�Sant’Agata,�Bolognese,�where�he�established�a�large�and�modern
factory�to�start�building�his�dream�cars.�Due�to�his�previous�experience�in
industry�he�knew�how�to�establish�the�best�form�and�function�facility,�and
the�infrastructure�and�environment�at�the�factory�was�state�of�the�art�for�its
time.�Many�people,�however,�were�skeptical�of�his�plans�as�they�felt�he
would�squander�his�fortune�on�the�extravagant�pursuit�of�building�sports
cars.�Ferruccio�knew�what�he�wanted�and�how�he�wanted�to�do�things,�and
his�money�gave�him�the�opportunity�to�achieve�it.�He�planned�to�launch�his
first�car�at�the�November�1963�Turin�Motor�Show.
T
profile
17VinTaGe roaDCar
we�see�in�this�issue�of�Vintage Roadcar.
There�is�a�good�deal�of�confusion�when�researching�individual�Miuras,�and
Twiggy’s�car�has�at�times�been�mixed�up�with�the�Miura�originally�owned�by
Nigel�Davies,�aka�Justin�de�Villeneuve�who�was�Twiggy’s�manager.�That�car
(chassis�number�3676)�which�is�in�the�UK,�was�originally�a�left-hand-drive
P400�and�rebuilt�by�the�factory�in�1970�as�a�green�right-hand-drive�S,�and
subsequently�rebuilt�again�in�1990�after�being�damaged�in�a�fire.�
Our�test�car,�a�Miura�S,�is�chassis�number�3961�with�engine�number�30399.
It�has�been�in�Australia�for�the�past�34�years,�and�from�its�current�owner
comes�definitive�factory�documentation�signed�by�Ubaldo�Sgarzi�on�Auto-
mobili�Lamborghini�letterhead�dated�July�4,�1988,�stating.�“Your�car,�produc-
tion�no.436,�was�sold�indeed�by�us�to�Twiggy�through�our�U.K.�Importers�in
1969.�It�was�painted�lime�green�with�orange-white�stripes,�probably�at�our
factory,�whilst�also�according�to�our�records�it�was�white�originally.”�Sgarzi
served�with�Lamborghini�through�thick�and�thin�for�30�years.�The�current
owner�has�also�had�verbal�confirmation�from�another�long-time�Lamborghini
employee,�Valentino�Balboni,�who�served�as�chief�test�driver�with�the�com-
pany�for�40�years�before�retiring� in�2008,�that�the�color�scheme�was�to
Twiggy’s�specification.
In�the�way�of�the�times,�things�moved�quickly�and�the�car�was�sold�in�1973
to�Eric�Beazley�of�Oxshott�in�Surrey,�UK,�before�coming�under�the�ownership
of�the�Hipperson�family�of�East�Anglia.�From�1974�to�1976�the�mileage�had
increased�from�17,000�to�21,004�(verified�by�the�UK�Department�of�Environ-
ment� Test� Certificate� issued� on�May� 2,� 1975� in� Thames�Ditton,� Surrey,
England).�Philip�McMaster�of�Sydney,�Australia,�then�bought�the�car,�paying
£8,000,�and�had�it�shipped�to�the�Southern�Hemisphere.�Subsequently,�in
November�1978,�Twiggy’s�Miura�S�was�sold�to�its�current�owner�by�Lolita
Automobile�Developments,�the�official�Australian�Automobili�Lamborghini
distributors�located�in�the�Sydney�suburb�of�Crows�Nest.�
During�the�last�34�years�just�8,880�miles�have�been�added�to�the�odome-
ter,�as�the�Twiggy�Miura�S�has�spent�much�of�the�time�in�the�Australian
National�Motor�Museum�in�Birdwood,�South�Australia,�some�35�miles�from
that�state’s�capital,�Adelaide.
There�it�has�been�in�good�company�alongside�some�of�the�owner’s�other
vehicles,�including�a�Maserati�Merak�SS�and�a�wonderful�early�Ferrari�Day-
tona�that�he�has�owned�for�a�similar�number�of�years�as�the�Miura�S.�He�ro-
tates�which�of�his�cars�are�on�display,�and�on�the�day�we�met�at�Birdwood
he�arrived�in�his�French�racing�blue�Bugatti�35B�complete�with�tow�bar!�The
Bugatti�is�sometimes�used�to�pull�a�small�trailer�in�which�sits�his�Australian
cattle�dog,�such�as�the�last�occasion�he�attended�the�historic�racing�at�Phillip
Island�in�Victoria,�some�ten�hours�drive�away.�
While�the�Miura’s�odometer�now�shows�a�genuine�29,884�miles,� it� is
regularly�maintained,�including�a�clutch�and�brake�overhaul�in�2010.�The
owner�recounts�how�the�vehicle�was�a�favorite�of�his�late�wife�and�how�they
both�used�to�enjoy�exhilarating�runs�in�the�beautiful�Adelaide�Hills,�through
fast�winding�roads�that�are�reminiscent�of�mini�Alpine�passes—think�Rossano
Brazzi�in�the�opening�sequence�of�the�original�film�The Italian Job,�made�in
1969,�the�same�year�as�this�car.
impressions
It�was�a�cold�sunny�winter’s�day�and�just�the�perfect�setting�to�view�and
enjoy�the�Miura�S.�First� impressions?�Well,�simply�staggering.�The�color
scheme�is�gorgeous,�and�while�it�may�echo�Kings�Road�or�Carnaby�Street�in
Swinging�London,�it�is�at�the�same�time�harmonious�with�the�lime�green,�or-
ange�and�white�complementing�the�sublime�lines�of�Gandini’s�bodywork.
Immediately�my�eye�is�taken�by�the�“eyelashes”�(truly�reminiscent�of�a�wide-
eyed�supermodel)�surrounding�the�pop-up�headlights.�This�feature,�missing
on�the�later�and�more�masculine�and�potent�SV�makes�the�S,�to�my�mind,
the�prettiest�of�the�three�Miura�iterations.
1969 lamborghini Miura
16 VinTaGe roaDCar
within�such�a�short�time�frame�was�amazing.�
The�successful�launch�in�Geneva�was�compounded�when�an�orange�Miura
appeared�at�the�Monaco�Grand�Prix,�attracting�incredible�attention�and�adu-
lation�when�parked�in�the�Casino�square�of�Monte�Carlo.�As�Car and Driver
magazine�said�in�its�August�1967�issue,�“Bold,�Individualist�and�unconven-
tional,�the�Miura�is�Lamborghini’s�latest�bid�to�out-Ferrari�Ferrari.”
The�success�of�the�Miura�as�part�of�the�“Swinging�Sixties”�and�as,�perhaps,
a�symbol�of�Italy’s�newfound�confidence�and�growing�wealth�was�nothing
short�of�astonishing,�and�in�turn�brought�considerable�revenue�to�its�manu-
facturer.�The�opportunity�to�develop�the�Miura�was�one�that�was�not�to�be
missed,�though�at�the�Brussels�Car�Show�in�1968�customer�response�to�a
Miura�Roadster�was�tested�to�a�muted�reception.�The�continuing�success�of
the�Miura,�however,�did�mean�that�other�models,�the�Islero�GT�and�the
Espada,�could�be�developed.
miura S
With�the�engine�up-rated�from�350�hp�to�370�hp,�Lamborghini�launched
the�Miura�S�at�the�November�1968�Turin�Motor�Show.�While�externally�the
S�looked�almost�identical�to�the�car�it�replaced,�it�was�inside�the�cockpit
where�it�offered�such�sought�after�features�as�electric�windows,�as�well�as
optional�air-conditioning�and�leather�seats.�Meanwhile,�work�continued
on�the�development�of�other�models,�including�the�less�than�successful
Jarama�and,�as�the�1970s�arrived,�the�Urraco.�
At�this�stage�Lamborghini�also�developed�a�competition�derived�Miura,
the�Jota,� the�project� leader�for�which�was�primarily�the�company’s�test
driver,�New�Zealander�Bob�Wallace.�Although�Lamborghini�did�not�continue
with�its�racing�aspirations,�the�Jota�experience�did�lead�to�the�final�iteration
of�the�Miura,�the�SV�which�first�appeared�at�the�1971�Geneva�Motor�Show.
By�this�time�however,�the�Miura�had�perhaps�lost�its�ability�to�stun�its�“shock
of�the�new”�as�Robert�Hughes�calls�it�for�Lamborghini’s�other�car�at�the�show
was�the�Countach,�another�Gandini�design,�which�created�nearly�as�big�an
impact�as�the�Miura�had�done�seven�years�previously.
Ferruccio�Lamborghini�had�already�achieved�his�objective�and�with�the
Miura�created�a�car�that�was�the�equal,�if�not�in�many�ways�the�superior�to
the�Ferrari�250�and�Ferrari�Daytona.�So�much�so�that�as�the�company�and
indeed�the�country�moved�into�the�more�turbulent�and�political�waters�of
unrest�in�the�1970s,�Ferruccio�had,�by�1972,�divested�himself�of�all�interest
in�the�business�and�departed�Automobili�Lamborghini�S.p.A.
Supermodel
Before�the�issues�of�the�1970s�and�its�attendant�problems—the�Arab-
Israeli�War�and�its�petrol�price�angst,�industrial�strikes�and�at�times�civil�dis-
order—there�was�a�more�innocent�and�unknowing�world.�It�was�into�this
world�that�the�waif-like�figure�of�a�young�North�London�girl�named�Lesley
Hornby,�but�who�became�better�known�as�Twiggy�was�thrust.�At�the�tender
age�of�sixteen�she�was�dubbed�by�the�newspaper�The Daily Express as�“The
Face�of�‘66,”�the�same�year�as�the�first�Miura�appeared.�The�images�of�her
modelling�epitomize�the�age�in�much�the�same�way�as�the�Miura,�and�she
became�internationally�famous.�It�was�fitting�then,�that�the�world’s�first�su-
permodel�should�in�1969�purchase�the�first�supercar.�It�is�Twiggy’s�car�that
profile
19VinTaGe roaDCar
the�three�spokes,�each�with�two�drilled�holes,�of�the�steering�wheel.�The
steering�column�features�just�one�stalk,�peculiarly�angled,�to�operate�the
indicators.�The�foot�pedals�are�quite�close�together�as�is�common�in�many
Italian�sports�and�racing�cars,�and�although�this�Miura�S�is�a�rare�factory
right-hand-driver�(number�eight�of�just�thirty�made),�there�is�no�significant
offset�deviation�making�it�in�any�way�uncomfortable�in�a�balanced�driving
position.�It�is�a�perfect�place�to�be�sitting,�though�as�again�befits�a�fast�Italian
car�the�handbrake�positioning�appears�to�have�been�an�afterthought,�and
it� takes�me� a�while� to� locate.� The� gear� knob� is� a�work� of� art� in� itself,
moulded�for�my�hand,�topped�off�with�the�marque’s�logo,�and�sitting�atop
the�lever�amid�a�big�aluminum�gate�for�the�five�forward�gears,�with�its�lock-
ing�mechanism�to�prevent�inadvertent�selection�of�reverse�gear.�
The�engine�has�not�been�started�for�three�months�and�takes�a�while�to
pull�the�fuel�through�to�the�four�Weber�40�1DL3C�carburetors.�It�starts�on
the�third�turn�of�the�key�and�is�immediately�running�on�song.�Some�say�it
is�difficult�to�get�Webers�running�correctly,�but�when�you�get�them�right,
they�are�the�best.�This�Miura�S�would�seem�to�corroborate�that—these
Webers�are�as�they�should�be.�My�only�other�practical�experience�of�Mi-
uras�is�with�a�couple�of�SVs�that�seemed�to�pop�and�bang�much�more�than
this�sweet�aural�sensation—perhaps�it�was�the�setup�or�just�an�idiosyn-
crasy�of�the�more�powerful�SV.�Whichever�it�is,�my�preference�for�the�S,
due�in�part�to�its�cheeky,�cute�“eyelashes,”�is�reinforced�by�the�way�this
car�sounds�and�runs.
As�expected�the�clutch�is�quite�heavy�and�the�gear�change�stiff,�especially
on�this�cold�June�morning�(do�not�believe�those�who�tell�you�it�is�always
hot�in�Australia,�though�of�course�Adelaide�can�regularly�be�over�40�degrees
Centigrade�in�the�summer�months).�I�do�a�few�“laps”�for�our�photographer,
and�as�the�car�begins�to�warm�up�and�the�lubricants�start�to�do�their�job,
changing� gear� becomes� smooth� and� precise.� The� impression� of� latent
torque�and�available�speed�being�present�is�always�there,�and�although�we
were�limited�by�being�on�a�public�road�the�owner�informs�me�that�even�at
over�200�kph�it�will�still�accelerate�toward�its�top�end�of�277�kph,�and�that
he�once�had�all�four�wheels�off�the�ground�as�he�and�his�wife�crested�a
humpback�bridge.�
I�do�not�doubt�it,�and�only�wish�I�had�a�greater�opportunity�to�explore
the�precise�steering�and�balanced�handling�of�this�mid-engined�marvel—
as�Matt�Munro�warbled,�“Questi giorni quando vieni il belle sole,�On�days
like�these�when�skies�are�blue�and�fields�are�green,”�it�is�a�car�that�one�could
wish�to�drive�forever�and�and�one�which�brings�about�that�elusive�feeling
of�man�and�machine�intertwined�that�is�so�rarely�experienced.
We�take�a�few�bends�and�accelerate�out�of�the�corners,�pushing�a�little
on�the�straights�and�briefly�testing�the�Girling�ventilated�disc�brakes�as�we
come�across�a�family�of�ducks�crossing�the�road�on�a�morning�waddle.�Our
test�drive�concluded,�we�do�a�few�more�setups�for�the�photographer.�The
car�is�turned�on�and�off�several�times�and�we�tootle�about�in�low�gear.�No
dramas,�no�fuss,�it�is�completely�tractable�(if�Signor�Lamborghini�will�excuse
the�pun),�and�does�whatever�is�requested�of�it�with�ease�and�poise.�Am�I
satisfied�with�the�drive?�On�the�one�hand,�of�course,�what�better�way�to
spend�a�day�than�driving�quite�possibly�one�of�the�finest�examples�any-
where�in�the�world�of�perhaps�the�most�iconic�of�all�cars,�the�very�first�Su-
percar?�And�yet�my�satisfaction�is�tempered�by�the�fact�that�this�marvellous
machine�has�so�much�more�to�give�any�driver�and�certainly�so�much�more
than�my�driving� talent�allows.�This�Miura�S,�and�especially� this�Twiggy
Miura,�is�an�outstanding�vehicle�in�highly�original�condition�with�the�only
modifications�being�a�thicker�anti-roll�bar�added�along�with�two�extra�rear
suspension�arms�to�later�Miura�SV�specifications.�The�spare�wheel�located
under�the�beautiful�long�bonnet�still�retains�its�original�Pirelli�Cinturato�tire.�
Like�all� supermodels,�give� it�a�new�pair�of� shoes�and� it�will� keep�on
strutting�its�stuff.�As�its�owner�says,�the�Italians�are�very�courageous�when
it�comes�to�style.
1969 lamborghini Miura
chassis Steel spaceframe, drilled, monocoque center
section alloy/steel body.
Suspension Fully independent, front by double wishbones,
coil springs, coaxial shock absorbers, anti-roll
bar, rear by upper wishbone, lower link, coil
springs, coaxial shock absorbers, anti-roll bar.
Steering manual, rack & pinion
Brakes Girling ventilated disc, front 300mm rear 307mm
Wheels & Tyres pirelli cinturato 225/70 VR15
Dimensions Wheelbase 2504mm. Track f/r 1412/1412mm.
Width 1780mm. length 4390mm.
height 1100mm. Weight 1292kg.
engine 60-degree V12 transverse layout, all alloy,
water-cooled. capacity: 3929cc.
Bore/Stroke: 82mm/62mm
compression: 10.7: 1
Valve gear: Two per cylinder, twin overhead camshafts,
chain-driven.
carburettors: Four Weber 40 1Dl3c
max power: 280 kW at 7700 rpm
max Torque: 388Nm at 5100rpm
Transmission: integral clutch/gearbox/final drive mounted
behind engine.
clutch: Single dry plate, diaphragm spring,
hydraulic operation.
Gearbox: Five-speed manual all-synchromesh.
SPECIFICATIONS
18 VinTaGe roaDCar
Other�aspects�crying�out�for�viewing�are�the�air�intakes�on�the�sills�de-
signed�to�cool�the�307mm�rear�disc�brakes,�the�black�slatting�above�the�en-
gine�and�the�rough�sand�cast�wheels�harking�back�almost�to�Ferrucccio’s
agricultural�tractor�background,�but�offset�with�enormous�spinners�seem-
ingly�borrowed�from�Ben�Hur’s�chariot.�The�closer�one� looks,� the�more
intriguing�it�becomes;�the�beautiful�Miura�badging�with�its�little�bull’s�horns
on�the�M,�the�louvered�handles�of�the�perfect-shut�doors�echoing�the�rear
window�covering,� the�detached� tail�pipes� from�the�main�exhaust�pipes
designed�to�draw�away�the�exhaust�at�speed.�The�car�has�been�repainted
correctly�during�its�life�to�the�original�specifications.�
Meanwhile,�the�interior�of�the�vehicle�is�finished�in�black�leather�that�is
all�original,�even�down�to�the�eight-track�tape�deck.�The�horizontally�ribbed
bucket�seats�are�close�fitting�but�accommodating,�and�on�slipping�behind
the�wheel�there�is�a�sense�of�comfort�and�luxury�without�opulence.�While
the�cockpit—let�us�call�it�that�for�all�Italian�drivers�are�piloti—is�airy�and
wide,�it�is�not�generous�with�headroom.�
There�is�a�big�center�console�replete�with�angular�passenger�grab�handle
(to�work�in�conjunction�with�the�passenger�foot�rest�no�doubt)�and�switches
for�the�electric�windows�and�pop-up�headlights.�Switches�to�actually�make
the�lights�come�on�are�positioned�above�my�head,�again�reinforcing�the
fighter�plane�cockpit�analogy.�This�is�continued�further�in�the�“binnacles”�of
the�precision�Jaeger�instruments,�the�most�prominent�of�which,�the�rev
counter�and�the�speedometer�showing�190�mph,�are�easily�viewed�through
profile
“Immediately my eye is taken by the ‘eyelashes’ (indeed reminiscent of a wide-eyed supermodel) surrounding the pop-up headlights.”
21VinTaGe roaDCar
pressive automobile and not only is it an
impressive automobile as far as its road
ability in its day, but it’s an impressive
automobile as far as its individual histories.
Every one of them has a very interesting
provenance to them, so it makes for a fasci-
nating package, which you really don’t get
in most cars today. Yes, you can buy a
Bugatti Veyron in blue or red or orange or
yellow, but you can’t get a Bugatti Veyron
with a totally different body on it that will
still do 280 miles an hour. They’re not
unique in that respect. Whereas a Duesen-
berg was the fastest thing in its day and
every one was definitely unique. And then
you add the ownership to it, it makes the
story that much more fascinating.
vr: yeah, i think the bespoke ex-
clusivity of it makes each one an in-
teresting historical piece in and of its
own right. Unlike a lot of other cars.
rE: So, as a historian, that was a natural
draw for me. I went into this from a busi-
ness perspective, never really having done
all…I mean I worked in a shop doing
restoration work, but so much of it I had
never done before, so I started off learning
as I went. First car we ever did I painted
myself and we ended up winning several
Best-of-Shows with it.
vr: what time period was that?
rE: 1976–1977. We had a second at Peb-
ble Beach with it. The only reason we lost is
that we were up against a Lincoln Phaeton,
a conversation with randy ema
One of the many significant Duesenbergs that ema has restored over the years is the 1934 Walker-bodied coupe owned by Jay leno.
an enthusiast of coachbuilder Walter murphy, ema has restored a
number of murphy-bodied cars including this one-of-a-kind Bugatti.
among many of ema’s award-winning restorations is this 1931 Duesen-
berg J Weymann “Taper Tail” Speedster owned by Gen. William lyon.
20 VinTaGe roaDCar
vr: i would imagine, like every
consummate car guy, cars must have
been a very early influence for you?
rE: As a little kid, I played with Match-
box and AMT models. I only liked those be-
cause they were exact to scale. They were
standard scale and they were exactly like
the real car. I didn’t play with some Auburn
rubber toy or any of the other makes be-
cause they weren’t exactly, and they varied
in scale. So, I was kind of anal even back
then when I was a little kid. It all came from
my interest as a kid and then…
vr: This is growing up where?
rE: Tustin, California. And it just contin-
ued on. Anything with wheels and I’m in
trouble. I love it all. It’s all fun to me. I love
history, I have my Bachelors Degree in his-
tory. So it just followed through, it was a
natural progression. When I got out of col-
lege, it was like, “Oh, gee, now what do I
do?” So I worked for a new car dealer selling
Maseratis. I worked as a district rep for
J.I.Case, I ran a dealership selling Lam-
borghinis, worked at Road & Track and did
some other things. And, really, wanted to
stay kind of car focused. I had had an
Auburn since I was 15 —I bought an Auburn
in high school—so I just started working on
Auburns. People wanted me to do this for
them, do that for them and it just grew into
a business.
vr: So the “hands-on” part of
working on the cars started at an
early age as well?
rE: Right.
vr: So, you’ve been involved in dif-
ferent aspects of the hobby, if you
will, really from day one.
rE: Sure, I was always interested since I
was a little kid. I still have those toys that I
played with even way back when.
vr: it’s interesting to me that a lot
of your early work was with Maserati,
lamborghini and a number of other
marques. you’ve become so well
known and associated with Duesen-
berg, how did that part of your life
evolve?
rE: I actually worked through college
working for a new car dealership, doing the
restoration on their Duesenberg. So, that
was my after-school job all the way through
college—well, the last two years of my col-
lege, let’s put it that way. And then I came
back later and ran a Maserati agency for
them also. But, I had been, since high
school, an Auburn owner and very active in
the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club. I had
ridden in Duesenbergs back in ’65.
vr: was your interest situational?
what i mean by that is did you ac-
quire a car just because it was a neat
car and that’s how you became pas-
sionate about the marque? or were
you always specifically passionate
about Auburn and that’s why you
bought that first car?
rE: I was always fascinated by Auburn,
initially as a kid, because I had a neighbor
who had an Auburn. So I was always fasci-
nated by Auburn. But, once I went to an
Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg meet, and got
exposed to Duesenbergs, then yes, I was
fascinated by Duesenbergs. It’s a very im-
Noted Duesenberg expert Randy ema
runs a successful restoration business in
Orange, california.
One of ema’s personal favorites is his
Jaguar e Type that received subtle
body modifications by Bill Decarr.
Randy Ema
Pebble Beach, and I use
this term a lot, is what I
call steroids for classics,
because for you to win
over the last guy who
won that show, you’ve
got to be better than him.
Restorer/Collector/Vintage Car
Historian Shares His Insights
vintage roadcar interview
23VinTaGe roaDCar
’66, the original designer of the Cord, lent me his car for my
grad night in high school…and like most kids, it was an “I al-
most got lucky in it” type of thing…so that is a fond memory. I
have a ’62 Jag XKE Roadster because I was just stunned by that
car and its design when it was new. And I have a ’63 Ferrari
250 GTE because I had several neighbors who had them when
I was a kid. I thought, “Oh man, I can afford that. I can buy one
of those. I can pay 200 bucks a month for the rest of my life!”
I got into this as a hobby. When I was 17, I was the Auburn his-
torian for the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club a number of
years, 15 years or something like that. So, I go way back with it.
It’s just something I keep doing. I love it.
vr: how many restorations do you work at one time?
rE: Two or three. I don’t want more than that. The average
run, if it’s a total restoration, can be as much as a year and a half.
It just depends on what we have to do, how far we have to go.
There’s cars that have been through here in six months, but we
haven’t had to do the whole car. Just all mechanicals. What I
like, my real thing is we can do Pebble Beach, that’s not a prob-
lem, my preference, what I like, is I like it to be authentic
because I’m a historian. And, I like it to run and drive and do
what it did when it was new. Those are my real bugaboos. Cos-
metics, that’s up to the customer. I’m not big on cosmetics my-
self for my own stuff. I like it presentable, that’s all.
vr: The customer’s always right, but do you find
yourself trying to guide them not to go that direction or
not be as obsessed with over-restoring?
rE: I will go whatever direction they want. We’ve been very
successful going to shows and winning shows. That’s not a prob-
lem. The problem with all that is the cost. So if you want to come
to me and you want a budget and you want to go to Pebble
Beach, that doesn’t work. That just isn’t going to work. Unfor-
tunately, Pebble Beach, and I use this term a lot, is what I call
steroids for classics, because for you to win over the last guy who
won that show, you’ve got to be better than him. So it’s just a
vicious cycle. The real trick to winning at Pebble Beach these
days is you bring an obscure marque and you do it cosmetically
perfect and they really don’t know what’s authentic. They can’t
judge it that way, so if you want to win at Pebble Beach, don’t
bring a Duesenberg, because they know. Don’t bring a Model A
Ford type of thing because they know. One of the big problems
in a lot of car shows is you’ve got a class that’s Packard, Lincoln
and Stutz and three of the four judges are inevitably Lincoln
guys. Lincoln always loses because those judges know what is
right on a Lincoln. But they don’t know that Stutz and that
Packard.
vr: you want a Tatra or a Zilch or something!
rE: Yeah, you want something real obscure. That’s why it’s
mostly European stuff that wins at Pebble Beach. They don’t know,
they really don’t know. And that’s why a lot of those guys bring
European stuff to Pebble Beach. Something zippy, something wild,
sporty looking with what would normally be a 90-point restoration,
but they don’t know so they can get away with murder.
vr: So, i imagine you’d be a very big proponent of
preservation class.
rE: Oh, I love that. I definitely love that.
vr: we like to ask everyone the same final question—a
genie pops out of a lantern and grants you one automotive
wish. what’s the one car—money is no object—you’d like
to have if you could?
rE: I guess I’m pretty fortunate to have what I want. Would I
own a model J Duesenberg? It’s just not my thing. So I’m pretty
much fortunate I have pretty much everything I ever wanted or that
I dreamed of owning at one point in time. I mean there are a few
little lesser cars, but I don’t really have a big goal.
a conversation with randy ema
22 VinTaGe roaDCar
which was a lot more exciting car. It wasn’t
a better restoration. I look back, and I mean
our total bill on that car was $18,000, so I
look back on those times and they’re not
comparative to today’s standards at all, but
it’s amazing what we could do for the
money in those days. Can’t do that any-
more. I can’t even do my own cars for that
anymore!
vr: So you’ve been doing, i guess,
the formal restoration work under
this guise since about 1976. That’s a
long time and a lot of cars. But you’re
also involved in the acquisition and
the location of cars as well?
rE: Well, it depends on the client and
what they’re looking for. I mean, I don’t
have it here, but I have a huge library that’s
Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg and in it, I keep
track of every single car built by the factory
and I have 16 legal sized filing cabinet
drawers on 481 different cars. You know,
people come to us every day looking for in-
formation or background information or
history or whatever on every single car
built, Duesenberg-wise and Auburn and
Cord, too. So we do a lot of that every single
day, but the business side of it is, you know,
I do consult, I do research. I do things like
that, but most of what we do is the restora-
tion jobs.
vr: is that more the passion for
you personally? i mean do you get
more satisfaction out of the hunting
and the history or the restoration?
rE: We haven’t found anything new
since 1961 or 1962, so there isn’t really any-
thing new out there that hasn’t already been
exposed. Yeah, occasionally we find a piece
or a bit or a part or a photograph. The other
day I guy sent me a photograph of Clark
Gable in his very first Duesenberg, which
was just lent to him. Never saw that before.
Brand new piece. Been out there all this
time and thank God for the Internet, you
know, that material now is coming out of
the woodwork. Never had seen it. I’ve been
active in this for, since 1965 so it’s going on
50 years.
vr: Are there specific cars, that
you’ve done work on, that stick out in
your mind as high-water marks for
you or that you are particularly
proud of?
rE: Sure. I’m a Coachbuilder nut. I’m a
Walter Murphy nut. We’ve worked on about
every body style that Murphy built, includ-
ing the Bugatti Roadster. We did a total
restoration on the Bugatti Roadster that
was bodied by Walter Murphy. We did the
Walker Coupe, which is a really wild aero-
dynamic Duesenberg coupé that your mag-
azine covered. So, we’ve worked on just a
whole variety. We’ve had over 60 Duesen-
bergs through the shop. We have eight first
places at Pebble Beach and one reserve Best
of Show. And then I don’t even know all the
other awards. A whole bunch of elegance
awards through the years so we’ve been
doing it a long time. We’ve been very fortu-
nate at it and it’s been a good living for a
long time.
vr: is there a car that you haven’t
been able to put your hands on? An
automotive “white whale” for you?
rE: No, we’ve played with Bugatti
Royales and driven and worked on every-
thing from them to Messerschmitts. We’ve
done the whole variety. I can’t think of any-
thing that we really haven’t been able to do.
We’ve worked on Hispanos, but not a lot of
them. We’ve worked on Bugattis, but not a
lot of them, but we’ve worked on almost all
models. Not all the models, but all the
major models. We’ve been very fortunate.
vr: So there’s no holy grail still out
there in terms of a car that you’d love
to find or work on?
rE: I follow what your question is. I’ve
seen all but three of the existing Duesen-
bergs and those three that are remaining
are two Murphy Convertible Coupés and a
Murphy Convertible Sedan. I have thick
files and photographs on those three cars.
If I don’t see them, it’s not the end of the
world. I know exactly where they are.
They’re all here in the States. I’ve seen
everything that’s in Europe. There’s one
Model A in Australia I haven’t seen. It’s not
the end of the world if I don’t see that. And
one racecar in Wisconsin I haven’t seen, but
it’s just a bunch of pieces. So there really
isn’t a whole lot yet to be exposed to, on my
part but like I said, thank heaven for the In-
ternet because we do still get material every
day coming through. So, no, there’s really
nothing out there that I’m really dying to
work on or dying to play with. Like I said,
I’ve played with it all, fortunately, through
the years. I’ve worked 37 years in the busi-
ness.
vr: Setting Duesenberg aside for a
minute, what are your other car in-
terests outside of that area?
rE: Personally, I have a variety…gosh,
a whole variety of different stuff. I have
Lincolns, I have Auburns. I have 10
Auburns, 4 Cords, 2 Duesenbergs, 2 Lin-
colns, something like 10 horseless car-
riages one-and two-cylinder, early
four-cylinder cars. I have a couple of elec-
tric cars. I have 37 cars total. The only
newer stuff, I have a ’66 Cord because in
vintage roadcar interview
another of ema’s favorite murphy-bodied
restorations is this pebble class-winning
1931 Duebsenberg model J Beverly Berline.
art deco third in a series
Art Decoand the Automobile
BY J. michael hemSleY
Ooh Lá LáThe French: Mild to Wild
25VinTaGe roaDCar
he�French�initiated�the�Art�Deco�movement�in
1924�with�the�Paris�exposition�of�the�industrial
and�decorative�arts,� so� it� is�no� surprise� that
some� of� the� automobiles� subsequently� pro-
duced�by�the�French�are�the�most�sought�after
of�the�Deco�cars.��But�not�all�French�automo-
biles� of� the� era� were� characterized� by� wild�
bodies;�some�were�quite�mild,�especially�those�produced
by�the�major�French�automakers.��This�month�our�story�will
focus� on� several� of� those� major� automakers—Renault,�
Delauney-Belleville,� Citroën,� and� Panhard-Levasor—and
one�of�the�coachbuilders,�Figoni�et�Falasch,�possibly�the
most�successful�of�the�coachbuilders�in�France�and�certainly
the�designer�of�some�of�the�wilder�shapes�of�the�era.
T
feature
24 VinTaGe roaDCar
The opulent ornamentation embodied in the taillight design of this 1937
Talbot lago T-150-c(SS) illustrates the level of commitment to capturing the
elegance of the art deco style, right down to the smallest details.
changed,�from�appreciating�the�grand�cars
produced�by�Delaunay-Belleville�to�prefer-
ring� smaller� and� less� formal� automobiles.
The�round�cowl�was�dropped�in�the�1920s,
and� eventually� the� company� produced� a
more�streamlined�model�in�1939.�It�looked
much�like�a�Panhard�Dynamic�of�the�same
era,�a�car�that�will�be�discussed�later�in�this
article.
WWII� stopped� production� at� Delaunay-
Belleville.� After� the�war,� the� company� at-
tempted�to�return�to�the�marketplace,�even
developing�an�attractive�sedan�whose�front
end� (grille,� headlights,� hood�and� fenders)
appear� to� have� been� taken� from� Buick
designs�of�the�late�1930s.�Six�cars�were�built
in�1947,�but�only�four�in�early�1948,�and�the�company�went�out�of�busi-
ness�later�that�year.
The�most�significant�design�of�the�pre-WWII�period�in�France—a�car
that�would�be�continued�from�its�inception�in�1934�to�1957—was�the
Citroën�Traction�Avant.�The�Traction�Avant�—French�for�“front-wheel
drive”—isn’t�as�Deco�as� its�contemporaries,�but� it�displayed�Deco
features�throughout�its�760,000-car�run.�The�first�thing�noticed�are
the�chevrons�on�the�nicely�sloping�grille and�its�dash—probably�the
most�Art�Deco�features�of�the�car.�Like�the�Renault�Nervastella,�it�had
bullet�headlights�and�sweeping�fenders.�Its�overall�shape�was�a�bit
bulbous,�but�it�appeared�to�be�aerodynamic,�and�the�appearance�of
aerodynamics�was�more�important�to�buyers�than�actual�aerodynam-
ics.�Its�origins�are�with�André�Lefebvre.
Lefebvre�was�an�aeronautical�engineer�working�for�Gabriel�Voisin
on�planes.��In�1923,�he�was�tasked�with�designing�a�racecar�to�compete
in�the�Grand�Prix�de�Vitesse�in�Tours,�France.��The�result�was�the�Voisin
C6�Course,�also�known�as�the�Laboratoire.�And�it�was�a�laboratory,
with�its�monocoque�chassis�and�very�streamlined�shape�for�the�time.
When�the�Depression�took�hold�in�France,�Voisin�was�in�trouble.�Lefeb-
vre�had�an�idea�for�a�new�kind�of�car�and�took�his�idea�to�Renault,
where�he�was�rejected,�and�Citroën,�where�he�was�given�work.� In
order�for�his�idea�to�be�commercially�successful,�the�car�needed�to�be
mass�produced,�so�he�visited�Ford�and�the�Budd�Company�to�study
their�process�and,�eventually,�to�buy�Budd�presses.��
Lefebvre’s�efforts�produced�three�milestone�vehicles�for�Citroën—
the�Traction�Avant,�the�2CV�and�the�HY�truck.�The�modern�shape�of
the�TA�was�designed�by�Flaminio�Bertoni.�An�auto�sculptor,�Bertoni
modeled� the� car� in� Plasticine� in� one� night� with� no� sketches.� He
designed�the�body�directly�in�three�dimensions.��
Manufacturer�Panhard�et�Lavassor�has�gone�through�several�tran-
sitions,�from�being�a�maker�of�woodworking�machinery�to�building
some�incredible�cars�to�being�a�manufacturer�of�military�vehicles�as�a
subsidiary�of�Auverland.�It�has�passed�through�the�hands�of�Citroën
and�PSA�(the�company�name�after�the�merger�of�Citroën�and�Peugeot).
Throughout�its�history,�however,�it�has�simply�been�known�as�Panhard,
even�though�it�was�Émile�Lavassor,�and�not�René�Panhard,�who�was
the�automobile�enthusiast.
Lavassor�met�Panhard�at�school�at�Ecole�Central,�where�they�be-
came�friends.�Upon�graduation,�they�went�their�separate�ways.��Lavas-
sor� moved� to� Belgium,� where� he� met� Eduord� Sarazin,� a� patent
attorney�working�for�auto�manufacturer�Deutz,�where�Gottlieb�Daim-
ler�was�chief�engineer.�In�1867,�Lavassor�was�approached�by�school-
mate�Panhard�to�run�his�newly�expanded�factory.�Panhard�had�become
a�partner�in�Périn�et�Panhard�making�woodworking�machinery,�and
business�was�booming.�About�that�same�time,�Daimler�left�Deutz�and
went�on�his�own,�and�Sarazin�became�his�representative�in�France.
With�his�new�position,�Sarazin�was�given�the�rights�to�Daimler�engines
in�France,�so�he�approached�Lavassor�about�producing�them.�After
considering�the�offer,�Lavassor�decided�to�build�his�own�cars�using�the
The most Deco features of the Traction
avant is its sloping, chevron adorned grille
and its dashboard. The car itself is mildly
streamlined.
in addition to the Traction avant, andré lefebvre designed two
other milestone vehicles for Renault, the hY truck and the 2cV
(Deux chevaux, or Two horses), shown here.
VinTaGe roaDCar 27
A�Peugeot�of�the�1920s�would�be�recognized�as�being�from�the�same
era�as�a�Packard�or�a�Pope.�As�the�world�reacted�to�the�Depression,
auto�manufacturers�saw�the�need�to�distinguish�their�products�from
those�of�their�competitors,�so�Peugeot,�Renault�and�others�began�to
include�streamlined�style�in�their�designs.�Some�of�those�companies
survive�today,�while�others�failed�to�adapt�to�the�economic�changes
that� followed� WWII.� Two� that� have� survived� as� automakers� are
Renault�and�Citroën.�Panhard�still�exists,�but�it’s�not�made�automo-
biles�since�1968�and�now�produces�only�military�vehicles.�Delauney-
Belleville�never�made�a�successful�transition�to�mass�production�after
WWII.�Each�of�these�companies�built�some�cars�whose�design�was�in-
fluenced�by� the�Art�Deco� style.�All�were� somewhat� limited� in� the
application�of�streamlining�and�Deco�details,�except�for�the�Panhard
Dynamic,�which�is�a�wonderful�example�of�how�a�designer�can�carry
significant�details�throughout�the�entire�car.
Louis�Renault�built�his�first�“baby�Renault”�in�a�garden�shed�in�a�Paris
suburb� in�1898.�The�next�year,�he� founded�Renault�Frère�with�his
brothers�Marcel� and� Fernand.� Through� racing� successes� with� his
voiturettes,�with�their�1.5-hp�engines,�he�found�the�solution�to�the
balance�of�weight�to�power.�His�lightweight,�low�power�cars�finished
first�and�second�in�the�1899�Paris�to�Trouville�race�at�an�average�speed
of�28�mph.�He�found�himself�with�orders�for�twelve�cars—Renault�was
about�to�become�a�“manufacturer.”
Not�many�of�his�cars�were�streamlined�or�showed�much�Deco�styling
until�the�1930s.�Probably�the�best�example�of�a�streamlined�Renault
is� the� Nervastella� 28CV.� It� had� an� eight-cylinder� engine� in� a� Le
Tourneau�body.�The�car�had�all�the�elements�that�make�for�a�Deco
design:�sweeping�fenders,�bullet�headlights,�a�sloped�grille�and�speed-
lines.�Renault�produced�a�small�aerodynamically�styled�coupe�in�1938
that�continued�some�of�the�lines�of�the�earlier�larger�car.��
During�WWII,�Renault�cooperated�with�the�Nazi�occupiers�in�order
to�keep�the�factory�open�and�running.��After�the�war,�he�was�convicted
of�being�a�collaborator;�his�estate�was�confiscated�and�the�factory�was
nationalized.�Renault�became�Regie�Nationale�des�Usines�Renault
(which�loosely�translates�as�state-owned�factories�of�Renault).�The�fu-
ture�of�the�Regie�became�small�cars,�much�as�it�was�in�its�early�days.
The�Delaunay-Belleville�autos�were�the�opposite�of�the�early�Re-
naults—they�were�the�super�cars�of�the�time.�Founder�Louis�Delau-
nay-Belleville�built�boilers�for�warships�and�steamers�in�Saint-Denis�on
the�outskirts�of�Paris.�He�and�his�son-in-law,�Marius�Barbarou,�diver-
sified�the�company’s�products�in�1903�to�include�automobiles.�Char-
acterized�by�their�round�engine�hood�and�radiator�shell,�these�were
big�cars;�in�fact,�the�largest�car�in�the�world�in�1912�was�the�Delau-
nay-Belleville.��In�1912,�however,�Louis�died,�and�his�sons,�Robert�and
Pierre,�took�over�the�company,�causing�Barbarou�to�leave.�Without
Barbarou’s�talent,�the�company�changed.�After�WWI,�the�market�also
feature
Two citroën Traction avants at the Tampa Bay automobile
museum, examples of fairly mild French styling of the Deco era.
French styling can also be wild, as shown by this Delage concept
drawing. Detroit public library National automotive history
collection.
left: 1936 magazine advertisement for the Renault le Nerva, a very
pretty, mildly streamlined car from the largest of the French man-
ufacturers. Right: magazine advertisement for the 1938 Renault 4-
place sedan, another aesthetically aerodynamic auto.
26 VinTaGe roaDCar
art deco third in a series
low�drag.�It�took�what�was�started�with�the�styling�of�the�X74�to�its
logical�conclusion:�every�detail�carried�the�Deco�theme�hood�ornament.
The�Dynamic�was�one�of�the�most�significant�production�cars�of�the
1930s,� both�because�of� its� engineering� and� its� styling,� as�Norbye
noted.�In�the�Depression,�unfortunately,�large,�luxurious�cars�were�no
longer�in�demand.�The�Dynamic�did�not�save�the�company�from�its
eventual�demise.��
These�French�manufacturers—Renault,�Delauney-Belleville,�Citroën,
and�Panhard-Levassor—all�included�some�Deco�styling�as�they�moved
from�the�upright�era�of�the�1920s�to�the�streamlined�era�of�the�1930s.
Other�manufacturers�who�produced�interesting�automobiles�during
this�period,�such�as�Salmson,�Hotchkiss�and�Peugeot,�will�be�covered
29VinTaGe roaDCar
The designer of the Dynamic carried
its art Deco styling throughout the
car, including on the hood ornament,
headlights, side marker lights, door
handles, oil filler cap and spare tire
hold down. even the taillight was
stylized, proudly proclaiming it was
French.
feature
Daimler�engine.�The�first�car�was�produced�on�February�17,�1890.
After�the�deaths�of�Lavassor�and�Panhard,�Panhard’s�son�Hippolyte
and�nephew�Paul�took�over�the�company.�Paul�became�the�president
of�the�company�in�1916�and�served�until�Citroën�took�over� in�the
1960s.��Under�Paul�Panhard,�the�company�focused�on�cars,�competed
in�racing�and�speed�trials,�then�left�competition�and�made�significant
changes�to�their�cars�thanks�to�the�arrival�of�a�new�technical�director
named�Pasquelin.�Together�with�designer�Louis�Bionier,�Pasquelin�and
Bionier�started�designing�cars�that�emphasized�quality�and�power.
There�was�also�a�move�toward�streamlining.�The�Panhard�X74 shows
more�streamlined�style�than�previous�examples�of�their�products.�The
car�has�several�Deco�details,�including�the�door�handle,�side�light�and
hood�ornament—the�design�theme�similar�for�each.
The�most�significant�achievement�of�the�Pasquelin-Bionier�collabo-
ration�was�the�Dynamic.�Designed�in�1936�with�2582�cars�produced
from�1936�to�1939,�the�Dynamic�was,�according�to�Jan�P.�Norbye,
“…one�of� the�most� outstanding� combinations�of� engineering� and
styling�that�came�out�of�the�Thirties”�(Automobile Quarterly Volume
VI,�Number�2).�This�car�was�as�much�dream�car�as�production�car.��One
of�the�most�unusual�features�was�its�central�driving�position,�allowing
three�people�to�sit�across�the�front�seat,�as�well�as�three�in�the�rear.
It�was�unibody�construction,�had�a�low�center�of�gravity�and�had�very
28 VinTaGe roaDCar
a 1934 magazine ad (left) for the newly designed panhard, and the
real thing (above), a 1933 X74 at the lane motor museum.
Wonderful art Deco details (above) on the 1933 panhard X74 at the
lane motor museum, including the door handle, side light and hood
ornament.
art deco third in a series
24-�and�48-hour�speed�records�at�the�Montlhéry�track,�records�that
were�set�in�order�to�help�the�rebirth�of�Delahaye�by�bringing�attention
to�the�marque�once�again.��
It�was�building� streamlined�bodies� for� road� cars,� however,� that
made�Figoni� famous.�Griffith�Borgeson�said�that�Figoni�“conferred
upon�mere�cold�sheet�metal�an�organic�form�the�flowing,�luxurious
31VinTaGe roaDCar
Two Figoni et Falaschi Delages (above & below). These are designs
Joseph Figoni created before Delage merged with Delahaye.
“Sweepspears” were the curved chrome features that Figoni used
to emphasize the shape of the fenders. They often started at the
nose of the car and continued to its tail.
feature
in�a�future�article,�but�now�attention�will�be�turned�to�possibly�the
most�successful�of�the�coachbuilders—Figoni�et�Falaschi.�It�was�the
independent�coachbuilders,�such�as�Figoni�et�Falaschi,�who�took�this
trend� toward�mild� streamlining�and�made� some�wonderfully�wild
streamlined�cars.
Born�in�Picenze,�Italy,�in�1894,�Giuseppe�Figoni�moved�with�his�fam-
ily�to�Paris�in�1897.�At�14,�“Joseph”�was�apprenticed�to�be�a�wagon
builder.�After�becoming�a�French�citizen�and�serving�in�WWI,�he�be-
came�more�interested�in�self-propelled�vehicles�than�wagons,�and�by
1923,�he�was�operating�a�body�repair�business�near�Longchamp.�He
soon�expanded�his�business�into�building�bespoke�bodies�on�chassis
brought�to�him�by�his�clients.�An�artist,�he�used�modeling�clay�to�sculpt
the�desired�shape,�then�detail�drawings�were�created,�and�wood�forms
were�built�on�which�the�body�panels�would�be�formed.��
By� 1925,� he�was�building�bodies� for� significant� cars� in� the�pre-
streamlined�era.�A�1932�Delage�drophead�coupé�on�a�D8S�chassis
seemed�to�herald�a�transition,�with�a�mix�of�the�older�style�vertical
grille�with�fenders�that�showed�the�beginnings�of�the�sweeping�lines—
not�to�say�wild—for�which�he�would�become�famous.�Soon,�his�cars
would�be�showing�what�he�called�enveloppantes,�or�curved�envelopes.
They�were�the�sensuous,�teardrop�and�compound-curved�fenders�that
appeared�in�much�of�his�work.�The�curving�chrome�accent�often�seen
in�his�designs�became�known�as�“sweepspear,”�since�they�often�swirled
and�curved�from�front�to�rear�to�accent�the�curves�of�the�car.
In�addition�to�being�a�designer,�Figoni�was�also�an�engineer�with
patents�for�a�convertible�top,�sunroof�and�a�windshield�that�cranked
down�into�the�cowl,�which�was�shown�on�a�Delahaye�165�V12�at�the
1939�New�York�Auto�Show.�He�was�involved�in�racecar�design,�produc-
ing�the�shape�of�the�Alfa�Romeo�8C2300�that�won�at�Le�Mans�in�1932,
1933�and�1934,�as�well�as�the�1934�Delahaye�18CV�Superluxe�that�set
30 VinTaGe roaDCar
grace�and�harmony�of�which�had�never�been�seen�before”�(Automo-
bile Quarterly Volume� XX,� Number� 1).�With� the� arrival� of� a� new
partner,�businessman�Ovidio�Falaschi,�a�new�financial�stability�came
too.�Business�boomed;�bodies�were�built�for�Alfa�Romeo,�Bugatti,�De-
lage,� Delahaye,� Duesenberg,� Hotchkiss,� Panhard,� Renault,� Talbot,
Simca�and�others.�
While�all�Figoni�et�Falaschi�designs�are�collectible,�it�is�the�French
chassis�that�seemed�to�receive�the�most�beautiful�bodies,�especially
Delahaye�and�Talbot�Lago.�Figoni�developed�a�very�close�relationship
with�Charles�Weiffenbach,�the�head�of�Delahaye,�and�Tony�Lago,�who
had�taken�over�Talbot�in�France.
Weiffenbach�saw�racing�as�a�means�to�get�Delahaye,�which�was�best
known�for�its�commercial�vehicles,�back�into�the�automobile�business.
The�records�set�at�Montlhéry�were� in�an�open-wheel,�single-seat,
enclosed�cockpit�car�bodied�by�Figoni�et�Falaschi.�The�impetus�Dela-
haye�received�from�those�successes�and�others�caused�people�to�look
more�closely�at�the�road�cars�that�were�being�produced.�Figoni�et
Falaschi,�who�were�there�at�the�beginning,�became�one�of�the�princi-
pal�coachbuilders�for�Delahaye.�Many�cars�were�bodied�both�before
and�after�WWII,�but�probably�the�most�incredible�was�the�Type�135
cars�bodied� in� the�middle� ‘30s.�The�car� is�streamlined� from�every
angle.�It�is�smooth�and�flowing,�eliminating�the�high�radiator�and�hood
of�previous�models.�This�model�established�Delahaye�in�the�grand
sport�category�and�made�Figoni�et�Falaschi�famous.�When�shown�at
the�Paris�auto�show�in�1935,�it�was�reportedly�bought�by�either�Aga
Kahn�or�Ali�Khan�for�150,000FF.�As�with�other�streamlined�cars�of�the
era,�it�was�full�of�Deco�details,�such�as�the�door�trim�and�dash. The
entire�car�was�designed�around�the�fenders,�which�were�its�dominant
feature.�The�passenger�compartment�flowed�into�those�fenders,�with
the�resulting�automobile�having�an�aesthetically�aerodynamic,�even
organic,�look.�There�were�problems�with�these�sensual�fenders—they
hampered�brake�cooling,�made�tire�changing�difficult,�and�restricted
the�car’s�turning�radius,�but�it�is�unlikely�that�bothered�the�Kahns�or
anyone�else�wealthy�enough�to�purchase�one�of�the�cars.
In�1933,�Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq�was�in�trouble�because�its�cars
were�dull�and�unpopular.�Tony�Lago,�an�Assistant�Director,�was�sent�to
Paris�to�energize�Automobiles�Talbot.�Lago�decided�to�spice�them�up
with� more� performance� and� to� take� the� car� racing� to� renew� its
image—much�as�Weiffenbach�had�done�with�Delahaye.�When�Rootes
bought�STD�in�1935,�Lago�got�control�of�Automobiles�Talbot.�It�took
the�marque�into�a�very�bright,�albeit�short,�future�with�many�racing
successes�and�the�development�of�possibly�the�most�significant�Art
Deco�automobile�design�in�history.�Interestingly,�it�was�the�repeat�of
a�pattern�for�Darracq,�which�had�once�produced�dull,�unpopular�cars
The owner of this Talbot lago T-150-c(SS) shown at the amelia island concours in 2012 described his car as the “ultimate” art Deco design.
it is certainly one of the most beautiful French automotive shapes. The Talbot lago screams art Deco from every angle and in every detail.
33VinTaGe roaDCar
art deco third in a seriesfeature
Figoni called his sensually curved fenders
“enveloppantes” or curved envelopes. This Delahaye
135m Roadster, seen at the first elegance at hershey
in 2011, is one of the designs that is characteristic of
Figoni’s work.
32 VinTaGe roaDCar
art deco third in a series
35VinTaGe roaDCar
feature
in�Italy.�There,�in�1910,�a�group�of�Italian�enthusiasts�bought�the�com-
pany�and�created�A.L.F.A.,�known�today�as�Alfa�Romeo.��
This�past�March�at�the�Amelia�Island�Concours,�J.�Willard�Marriott,
Jr.�called�his�Talbot�Lago�the�“ultimate”�Art�Deco�car.�Marriott’s�car�was
the�prototype�for�the�Goutte D’eau (“Teardrop”)�style�Talbot�Lagos,
and�it�is�an�incredible�automobile—one�of�the�wild�ones.�Only�eleven
of�the�T-150�Coupés�were�produced�on�the�shortened�SS�chassis�and
another�six�on�the�longer�T-150-S�chassis.�Marriott’s�is�designated�a
T-150-C(SS).�This�is�a�car�that�screams�Art�Deco�from�every�angle�and
in�every�detail.
When�WWII�broke�out,�Figoni�switched�to�making�aircraft�equip-
ment�in�support�of�the�French�war�effort.�He�left�Paris�after�the�fall�of
France�and�established�a�company�making�household�electrical�appli-
ances.�Lago,�because�he�was�Italian,�avoided�a�Nazi�takeover�of�his
company.��
Figoni�et�Falaschi�returned�to�Paris�after�the�war�and�continued�to
build�special�bodies�for�a�variety�of�manufacturers,�including�Dela-
haye,�but�French�taxes�on� large�and�expensive�automobiles�took
their�toll�on�the�grand�marques.�Talbot�Lago�tried�to�survive�making
smaller�cars,�but�was�eventually�taken�over�by�Simca.�Similarly,�De-
lahaye�was�bought�and�ingested�by�Hotchkiss.�Falaschi�left�Figoni�et
Falaschi�in�1949;�Figoni�and�his�son�Claude�continued�to�stay�busy
by�building�custom�bodies�for�Simca�and�Citroën,�but�when�Delahaye
ceased�production,�Figoni�went�back�to�the�body�shop�business.
Admirers�of�the�Deco�designs�of�Joseph�Figoni�probably�don’t�see
much�that�excites�them�these�days,�with�the�exception�of�a�few�one-
off�show�cars.�But�there�is�hope�for�those�who�lust�for�the�Art�Deco
lines�of�the�1930s—DELAHAYE�USA�(www.delahayeusa.com)�has�pro-
duced�a�number�of�very�Deco�cars�based�on�the�styling�of�the�premier
coachbuilders�of�the�Deco�era,�including�two�that�are�reminiscent�of
Figoni’s�best�Delahayes.�Maybe�someone�in�a�styling�department�at
one� of� the�major� automakers�will� decide� that� it’s�worth� taking� a
chance�that�there�is�a�market�for�a�car�like�those�of�Joseph�Figoni.�We
can�hope�for�déjà�vu�of�Ooh�Lá�Lá.
after WWii, Figoni’s designs weren’t quite as “wild” as they once
were (right) , but his work was still beautiful, as shown by this De-
lahaye 135m cabriolet.
There are beautiful Deco details in this Delahaye, especially the
design in the wood door trim and the incredible dashboard.
34 VinTaGe roaDCar
37VinTaGe roaDCar36
showcase
� Slime Smart Spare
For�many�classic�cars,�carrying
a�spare�tire—or�even�changing�a
flat�tire—is�not�a�viable�or�ap-
pealing�option.�Slime�has�come�up�with�a�compact,�easy
fix�for�virtually�any�tire.�Using�the�enclosed�valve�stem
remover,�the�tire’s�valve�is�removed�and�the�enclosed
bottle�of�green�“slime”�is�squeezed�in.�Replace�the�valve
and�then�re-inflate�the�tire�with�the�included�compact,
DC�compressor.�Drive�for�a�quarter�of�mile�and�then�re-
check�the�tire’s�inflation…that’s�it!�(Note,�Slime�will�not
repair�or�seal�tires�with�inner�tubes.)�$29.99
www.slime.com (888) 457-5463
� Garage and cellar picnic
What�better�way�to�cap�off�a�classic�road�trip�or�day
on�the�show�grounds�than�with�a�fresh,�gourmet�picnic
delivered�right�to�your�door.�Garage�and�Cellar�is�now
offering�custom�picnic�baskets�stocked�with�two�kinds
of�cheese,�Creminili�Barolo�Salami,�Bernard’s�Foie�Gras
Mousse,�cracker�selections,�Vosges�Chocolate�Bar,�Fresh
Seasonal�Fruit�and�Fiji�Waters.�Prices�range�from�$220–
$275�for�the�complete�picnic�with�basket�and�acces-
sories,�while�select�wines�can�be�added�and�consumable
refills�ordered�for�as�little�as�$75.
www.garageandcellar.com (203) 438-5757
alfa Romeo—a century of innovation
Founded� in� 1910,� the� Alfa� Romeo
brand�enjoys�a�very�long�and�rich�history
that�includes�everything�from�coachbuilt
supercars� to� mass� produced� people
movers,�Grand�Prix�triumphs�and�victories�at
Le�Mans.�This�new�release�is,�in�fact,�an�Eng-
lish�translation�of�a�book�first�published�in�Ger-
many.�Stylishly�produced�with�rich�illustrations,
Alfa Romeo—A Century of Innovation provides
a�sweeping�look�at�100�years�of�important�cars
and�the�people�who�created�them.�$29.99
www.schifferbooks.com
�
� chopard Grand prix de monaco
historique chronograph
Produced�in�honor�of�the�presti-
gious�Historic�Grand�Prix�of�Monaco,
this�42.4-mm�mechanical,�self-wind-
ing�chronograph�is�water�resistant�to
50�meters�and�features�an�exhibition
back,�sapphire�crystal�and�perforated
Barenia�leather�strap.�Also�offered�is
a�limited�edition�version�(500�exam-
ples)�in�two-tone�titanium�and�rose
gold.�$6,650–$8,540
www.chopard.com
39VinTaGe roaDCar
Porsche�550�prototype�Spyders,�including�the�very�first,�550-01,�for�the
Collier�Collection,�comedian� Jerry�Seinfeld’s�550-03�and� the�Carrera
Panamericana-winning�550-04�that’s�displayed�in�the�Porsche�Museum.
“I’ve�been�very�lucky�with�having�projects�come�my�way�that�have�had
great�historical�significance,”�Cavaglieri�explains,�“starting�with�Arciero’s
Lotus.�I�haven’t�come�across�another�car�that�has�had�the�list�of�signifi-
cant�drivers�that�that�car�does.�Doing�550-01,�Porsche’s�first�purpose-
built�racecar,�the�first�Spyder,�was�the�most�difficult�project�for�me;�that’s
when�I�realized�it�was�my�time�to�step�up�to�the�plate.”
The�proof�of�that�particular�pudding�came�at�Amelia�Island�in�2005,
when�550-01�took�home�Best�of�Show�in�the
Concours�de�Sport.�
“My�emphasis�is�to�be�correct�with�his-
tory,”�he�continues,�“because�I�kind�of�get
worst-case�scenario�projects—like�550-01
needed�almost�the�entire�body�rebuilt—so
I’m�pretty�heavy�on�research�before�I�start
on�a�car.�The�hardest�part�is�when�you�don’t
have�another�example�to�go�look�at�and�see
how�things�were�done.”
While� Cavaglieri’s� admitted� area� of
expertise� is� racecars,� he’s� no� stranger� to
roadcars,�and�would�gladly�tackle�more�such
projects�as�he�strives�to�broaden�the�reach
of�his�independent�operation.�
Small�independent�shops�are�keystones�of
the� automobile� restoration� industry,� and
among� the� more� notable� of� these� is
Cavaglieri�Restorations,�recently�relocated�to
a� new� 4,000-square-foot� facility� near� Van
Nuys�airport�in�L.A.’s�San�Fernando�Valley.
Proprietor�Joey�Cavaglieri’s�early�automo-
tive�experience�came�as�a�racing�mechanic,�beginning�with�Pete�Brock’s
BRE�operation,�then�working�with�Bruce�Burness�fielding�a�Formula�5000
Lotus�for�George�Follmer.�He�built�engines�with�Ryan�Falconer,�did�F5000
with�John�Morton,�IMSA�with�Brad�Frisselle,�Can-Am�and�Indycars�with
Rick�Galles�for�Al�Unser�Jr.�and�then�Indycars�with�Frank�Arciero’s�team.
By�1986�he�was�tired�of�“living�out�of�a�suitcase,”�and�told�Arciero�he
was�quitting,�but�Frank�said,�“Why�don’t�you�take�my�old�Lotus�19�and
restore�it�for�me?”�
Thus�did�Cavaglieri�Restorations�get�its�first�project.�“It�wasn’t�like�I’d
intended� to� do� restorations,”� Joey� explains,� “but�while� I�was� doing
research�on�that�car�I�went�up�to�Fresno�to�see�Don�Orosco�who�had�a
19�I�wanted�to�look�at,�and�he�asked�me�what�I�was�going�to�do�when�I
finished.�Then�he�said�he�had�a�Brabham�BT8�for�me,�and�that’s�kind�of
how�it�went,�one�car�led�to�another.”
Foremost�among�the�cars�he’s�since�restored�are�three�of�the�eight
Cavaglieri RestorationsOne Car Leads to Another anda New Facility in Van Nuys
the restorers
cavaglieri Restorations
7032 Sophia ave.
Van Nuys, ca 91406
(818) 994-2764
e-mail address: [email protected]
contact info
38 VinTaGe roaDCar
41VinTaGe roaDCar
spacious�for�what�is,�in�essence,�a�fairly�compact�car.�The�driver’s�side�of
the�cockpit�is�dominated�by�a�large�wood-rimmed,�three�spoke�steering
wheel�that�is�surprisingly�deep�dished.�Nestled�behind�the�wheel�are�two
large�black�binnacles�that�house�the�speedo�and�tachometer,�with�pres-
sure�and�temperature�gauges�nestled�in�mini-binnacles�in�between.�While
the�beltline�of�the�car�seems�a�little�high,�relative�to�the�driver’s�position,
visibility�is�outstanding�with�a�large�greenhouse�of�glass�and�relatively�un-
obtrusive�pillars�to�support�the�roof.�
The�2000�GTV’s�seating�position�is�very�comfortable,�though�some�driv-
ers�may�need�to�adjust�to�the�somewhat�odd�pedal�arrangements�that�in-
clude�a�pendulum-style� accelerator�pedal�mated�with�floor�mounted
clutch�and�brake�pedals�a la the�Volkswagen�Beetle.�However,�when�prop-
erly�adjusted�the�spacing�and�action�is�conducive�to�heel-and-toe�driving.
Turning�the�key�elicits�a�throaty�purr�from�the�engine�akin�to�a�big�cat
with�a�chest�cold.�While�all� the�Alfa�twin-cam,�4-cylinder�engines�are
delightful,�the�2000-cc�version�is�the�highest�iteration�of�the�family,�with
approximately�150-hp�on�tap.�Again,�the�key�to�this�engine’s�performance
and�behavior�(in�U.S.�versions)�is�the�state�of�tune�of�its�SPICA�fuel�injection
system.�When�properly�tuned�and�maintained�it�is�wonderful�to�drive�and
own.�Allowed�to�fall�out�of�tune�or�maintenance,�it�will�serve�as�an�endless
source�of�frustration.
Out�on�the�road�the�GTV�2000�is�a�true�delight�to�drive.�Light,�nimble
and�utterly�responsive,�the�GTV�communicates�what�all�the�wheels�are
doing�without�that�information�becoming�harsh�or�intrusive.�With�its�short
overhangs�and�good�weight�balance,�the�GTV�is�agile�and�precise�on�turn-
in�and�sure-footed�under�nearly�all�but�the�most�extreme�circumstances.
But�again,�the�joy�to�this�or�any�Giulia/Giulietta�is�the�engine,�which�freely
revs�and�hustles�the�little�Giulia�along�with�surprising�rapidity.
A�mere�10-15�years�ago,�one�could�find�Giulia�GTs�and�GTVs�in�plenty.
Nearly�every�town�had�cars�for�sale�on�the�street�and�donors�in�the�local
junkyards.�But�like�so�many�Italian�sports�cars�of�the�1960s�and�early�’70s,
the�last�10�years�has�seen�both�the�“beaters”�and�the�nice�examples�all
but�disappear�off�the�landscape.�Where�rough�drivers�used�to�be�available
for,�in�some�cases,�hundreds�of�dollars,�now�it’s�not�uncommon�to�find
nice�examples�like�the�one�pictured�here�selling�for�$30,000–$40,000.�Yet,
even�at�these�prices,�the�Giulia�GTV�is�still�a�tremendously�enjoyable�and
easy�classic�car�for�the�money.�With�the�prices�being�achieved�in�the�last
year�for�Giuliettas�and�Giulias,�who’s�to�say�where�these�classics�will�go
over�the�course�of�the�next�10�years?
driven classics at a glance
1974 alfa Romeo GTV 2000
Body Steel unibody, 2+2
Wheelbase 92.5”
Track 51.6” (front), 50.0” (rear)
Weight 2178-lb
Suspension (Front) independent with lower wish
bone and upper links, coil springs,
telescopic shocks, anti-roll bar.
(Rear) live axle with trailing arms,
T-shaped central locating arm,
coil springs, telescopic shocks,
anti-roll bar.
engine 1962-cc, twin overhead cam,
inline 4-cylinder
compression 9:1
induction Spica fuel injection (USa) Twin Weber
40 DcOe or Dellorto Dhla 40
(europe)
horsepower 150-hp @ 5500 rpm
Transmission 5-speed
Rear end mechanical limited-slip
Brakes 4-wheel disc, dual circuit
SPECIFICATIONS
Top Speed 115 mph0-60 mph 8.9-sec
average fuel consumption:24-mpg
performance
price at launch $4,950
excellent $42,000Good $28,500average $24,900poor $17,000
VALUATION
1974 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000
tarting� in� 1954,� Italian� manufacturer� Alfa� Romeo
launched�a�series�of�small,�affordable�sports�cars�based
around�its�all-alloy,�1300-cc,�inline,�4-cylinder�engine.
This�new�model�came�to�be�known�as�the�Giulietta�(750
Series)�and�for�the�next�10�years�would�prove�to�be�a
fabulously�successful�offering�for�Alfa.
By�1962,�the�Giulietta�was�badly�in�need�of�more�horsepower�and�so�a
larger,�1600-cc�variation�of�the�alloy�twin-cam�Giulietta�engine�was�pro-
duced.�This�new�engine�was�first�mated�with�the�older�Giulietta�coupé
and�spider�body�styles,�but�was�renamed�the�Giulia�(101�Series),�to�dis-
tinguish�it�from�the�smaller�displacement�Giulietta.�
However,�this�transitional�period�of�new�engine�in�an�older�body�was
only�temporary�as�Alfa�Romeo�worked�on�a�completely�new�coupé�and
spider�(105�Series).�The�new�Grand�Touring�coupé�was�known�as�the�Giulia
Sprint�GT�and�made�its�debut�at�the�Frankfurt�Auto�Show�in�1963.�Penned
by�Giugiaro�for�Bertone,�the�new�Sprint�GT�bore�a�strong�family�resem-
blance�to�the�earlier�Giulietta�Sprint�GTs,�but�in�a�more�modern,�updated
looking�package.�Despite�sharing�the�Giulietta’s�wheelbase�and�track�di-
mensions,�the�new�2-door�Giulia�featured�a�more�spacious�cabin�that
could�accommodate�four�passengers,�in�a�pinch.
By�1965,�Alfa�Romeo�came�out�with�a�“Veloce”�version,�known�as�the
GTV.�Up�to�this�point,�Alfa’s�Veloce�versions�of�any�given�model�had�signi-
fied�a�distinctive�upgrade�in�performance.�However,�with�the�Giulia�GTV
the�“Veloce”�more�reflected�an�upgraded�trim�designation,�signified�by
bucket�seats,�a�woodgrain�dash�and�cloisonné�“quadrifoglio”�emblems�on
the�C-pillars.�Despite�a�slight�difference�in�carburetion�the�GTV�was�osten-
sibly�no�faster�than�the�Sprint�GT�“normale.”
Over�the�following�decade,�the�Giulia�105�Series�GT�and�GTV�would
evolve,�most�notably�receiving�a�larger�1750-cc�engine�in�1967.�By�1971,
the�105�Series�GTV�would�receive�an�even�larger�1962-cc�engine�that
breathed�through�twin�Weber�40�DCOE�carburetors�in�Europe�or�through
Alfa’s�SPICA�fuel�injection�system�in�the�U.S.�versions.�Though�first�intro-
duced�in�Europe�in�1971,�the�GTV�2000�would�not�appear�on�American
shores�until�1973�and�even�then�would�only�be�offered�for�two�years,�end-
ing�in�1974.�Still�built�around�essentially�the�same�105�Series�Bertone
body,�the�GTV�2000,�with�its�larger�engine�also�benefitted�from�other�im-
provements�including�a�nitride-hardened�crankshaft,�limited-slip�differen-
tial�and�slightly�larger�disc�brakes.
While�considered�by�some�to�be�the�ultimate�iteration�of�the�venerable
Giulia�GT�line,�the�later�GTV�2000s�did�suffer�from�occasional�head�gasket
problems,�issues�with�the�SPICA�injection�when�not�properly�maintained
and,�of�course—like�nearly�every�single�Italian�car�from�the�early�1970s—
body�corrosion�problems�when�subjected�to�extensive�moisture.
Behind the Wheel
Lift�up�on�the�GTV’s�chrome-plated�door�handle�and�it’s�easy�work�to
slide�into�the�Alfa’s�comfortable�bucket�seats.�The�interior�is�remarkably
S
driven • 1974 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000
40 VinTaGe roaDCar
1974 Alfa RomeoGTV 2000
road test
43VinTaGe roaDCar
1) This 1950 alfa Romeo 6c2500SS Touring coupe owned by larry
Klein took 1st place in the class “Fiat corp 1945-1966”; 2) 1937 Roard
Roadster concept car, with body designed by Jay eitel and crafted
by Steve moal. 3) peter landsbergen’s 1954 chrysler Ghia Special won
the award for “most elegant closed”; 4) This 1957 Ferrari Gatto, owned
by Bill Grimsley, was part of the hot Rod class; 5) Steve moore’s
1937 cord 812 Supercharged phaeton claimed 3rd place in class S
auburn/cord/Duesenberg; 6) This 1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner, owned
by Robert 'Bob' Tiffin won the class for “convertibles manufacture
1956-1965”, as well as “Best in Show.”
Photography by David Gooley
Palo AltoConcours d’EleganceJune 24, 2012
Stanford University, California
2
3
4
5
6
1
42 VinTaGe roaDCar
Dana PointConcours d’EleganceJune 24, 2012
Dana Point, California
photo gallery
1) 1920 mercer Raceabout of Rick and lucy Rawlins took home 2nd
in “antique & Vintage horseless carriage (to 1925)” and also won the
Briggs cunningham award; 2) 1953 Glasspar G2 with 331 hemi owned
by Jerry Wood claimed 2nd in “custom coachwork with american Dri-
vetrains (to 1980)”; 3) michael malamut’s 1959 Berkley Roadster; 4) The
Nethercutt collection’s 1930 Ruxton was the winner in “american clas-
sics ccca (1925-1948) Open”; 5) peter and merle mullin’s Best of Show-
winning 1934 Voison c25 aerodyne also claimed 1st in “european
classics ccca (1925-1948) closed”, as well as the “honorary Judge’s
choice”; 6) The 1948 chrysler Town and country of Russ Neher.
Photography by David Gooley
2
36
1
45
45VinTaGe roaDCar
1) all three italian classics sold for over their top estimates: maserati
Ghibli for €95,300, Ferrari Daytona for €297,800 and maserati 3500GT
for €66,700; 2) Gordini Renaults sold well including a 1970 Renault 8
Gordini 1135 for €34,549; 3) heuliez citroen Sm espace went for
€109,600; 4) lancia 037 Stradale found a new owner for €109,600; 5)
Top sale of the auction was this 1976 Ferrari 275 GTBc 4, which sold for
€1,540,164.
Photography by Peter Collins
ArtcurialSport & GTSAu Mans ClassicJuly 7, 2012
Le Mans, France 1
2
3
4
5
44 VinTaGe roaDCar
Bonhams Goodwood SaleJune 29, 2012
Chichester, England
photo gallery
1) Well deserved £371,700 for 1929 alfa Romeo 6c 1750 SS Super-
charged Spyder; 2) £404,700 for 1970 aston martin DB6 mk2 Volante to
'Vantage' Specification was well over top estimate, while £225,500 was
raised for a 1973 Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona Spider conversion by au-
tokraft; 3) The ex-Works le mans, Birkin/howe 1932 alfa Romeo 8c-
2300 Spider fetched £2.69 million; 4) 50 percent over top estimate,
Bentley was huge at £628,700; 5) £561,500 staggering £140k over top
for Ferrari 275 GTS; 6) Barn find Ferrari 250 GTe went for £79,900.
Photography by Mike Jiggle
2
3
4
6
5
1
47VinTaGe roaDCar
RM’s�St.�John’s�sale,�held�in�conjunction�with�the�Concours�d’Elegance
of�America,�generated�$6.8�million�in�total�sales,�with�an�82% sell�through
rate.
1) 1937 Dodge Westchester Suburban Woodie Wagon sold for
$88,000; 2) Bullet-proof 1928 cadillac V-8 Town Sedan, formerly owned
by gangster al capone, sold for $341,000; 3) 1912 chalmers model 9 Tor-
pedo sold for $57,750; 4) 1933 packard Twelve, believed to be the last
one produced, sold for $385,000; 5) 1930 Duesenberg model SJ convert-
ible Victoria was the top lot of the sale, going for $957,000.
RM AuctionsSt. John'sJuly 28, 2012
Plymouth, Michigan
1
2
3
4
5
Xxxxxxx
46 VinTaGe roaDCar
Cartier “Style et Luxe”June 29-July 1, 2012
Goodwood, Chichester, UK
photo gallery
3
4
6
5
1Her�Majesty�had�a�number�of�vehicles�entered�in�the�Cartier�“Style�et
Luxe”�Royal�Vehicle�Concours�d’Elegance�at�this�year’s�Goodwood�Festival
of�Speed.�Celebrity�Judges�awarded�best�car�to�the�Aston�Martin�DB6
Volante�convertible,�owned�by�Prince�Charles—his�21st�birthday�present
from�his�mother,�43�years�ago—and�used�just�last�year�by�the�Duke�and
Duchess�of�Cambridge�to�drive�along�the�Mall�after�their�wedding.
1) Daimler De36 limousine landaulette; 2) lincoln cosmopolitan lim-
ousine “Bubbletop”; 3) Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost; 4) Rolls-Royce 20hp; 5)
Daimler V32 Shooting Brake; 6) Ford V8 pilot Shooting Brake.
Photography by Pete Austin
2
49
1974 Jaguar XKE Series III Roadster CompletelyOriginal�Unadulterated�14,000�Mile�Car,�OriginalPaint,�Original�Interior,�Automatic�with�A/C,�SingleOwnership�for�24�years,�True�Survivor�in�Time-WarpCondition,�Original�Owner’s�Manuals.�Leading�ClassicCar�Facility�for�33�Years�www.cooperclassiccars.comCooper�Classics�LTD,�212-929-3909
1970 Mercedes Benz 280se Floor�Shift,�A/C,�PwrWindows,�Grey�over�a�Parchment�Leather�Interior,�Ex-cellent�Restored�Condition,�Excellent�Mechanical�Con-dition.�Datacard.��Leading�classic�car�facility�for�33years.�Cooper�Classics�Ltd,�212-929-3909,NYC,�NY;www.cooperclassiccars.com
1953 Sunbeam Alpine Convertible Featured�in�6page�Hemmings�Sports�and�Exotics�Feb�2012�article,Orig.�Color�of�Ivory�With�Red�Interior�w/�White�piping,New�Pain�and�Interior,�Cosmetically�and�MechanicallyRestored,�Excellent�Condition,�One�of�Only�a�Few�Leftin�US,�Leading�Classic�Car�Facility�for�33�Yearswww.cooperclassiccars.com�Cooper�Classics�LTD,�212-929-3909
1967 Mini 1275 Cooper S $27,500�MKI,�Australianversion,�RHD,�Nice.�Offered�by�Chequered�Flag.�310-827-8665.�www.chequeredflag.com.
1969 Mercedes Benz 280sl Tobacco�Brown�withoutrageous�Pink�Leather�and�Leopard�interior,�electricwindows,�Automatic,�A/C,�perfect�Betsey�Johnson�StyleCustom�Interior,�Beverly�hills�car,�one�of�a�kind,�LeadingClassic�Car�Facility�for�33�Years�www.cooperclassic-cars.com�Cooper�Classics�LTD,�NYC,�NY��212-929-3909
1989 Mercedes-Bens 560 SEC 1�Beverly�Hillsowner,�66,000�Miles,�Exceptionally�Clean.��$21,500�Of-fered�by�Chequered�Flag.�310-827-8665.�www.che-queredflag.com.
1970 Mercedes Benz 280sl Original�Colors�of�Hori-zon�Blue�over�a�Black�interior�with�new�Black�soft�topand�horizon�blue�hardtop,�AC,�Automatic,�twoowners,52,000�original�miles,�original�interior�in�good�condi-tion,�new�paint,�good�documentation�including�all�orig-inal�books�and�tools.�Leading�classic�car�facility�for�33years.�Cooper�Classics�Ltd,�212-929-3909,�NYC,NY;www.cooperclassiccars.com
1948 Willys Jeepster Recent�Home�Restoration,Lovely.�$23,500.�Offered�by�Chequered�Flag.�310-827-8665.�www.chequeredflag.com.
1950 Cadillac Convertible 86,000�Miles,�Very�Solid.$49,500�Offered�by�Chequered�Flag.�310-827-8665.www.chequeredflag.com.
48
for sale
1952 Jaguar XK120M(SE) Roadster Red�with�RedInterior�and�Tan�Convertible�Top,�Engine�Recently�Re-built�by�Marque�Specialist,�C-Type�Head,�Two-inch�SUcarbs,�Excellent�Power,�Perfect�for�Vintage�Rallies�andRacing,�Heritage�Certificate,�Great�Driver,�Leading�ClassicCar�Facility�for�33�Years,�www.cooperclassiccars.com,Cooper�Classics�LTD,�212-929-3909
1974 Jensen Interceptor Coupe Orange/Chocolate,41k,�Very�Bright�&�Clean.�$34,500.�Offered�by�Che-quered�Flag.�310-827-8665.�www.chequeredflag.com.
1993 Bentley Continental Coupe 59,000.�RecentTransmission,�Green/Tan,�Super�Clean.�$38,500�Of-fered�by�Chequered�Flag.��310-827-8665.�www.che-queredflag.com.
1959 Porsche 356A Coupe Red�with�Black�Interior,Restored�Including�Engine�Rebuild,�Matching�Numbers,USA�Bumpers�as�Per�Certificate�of�Authenticity,�CorrectNew�Upholstery,�Excellent�Documentation,�ExcellentCondition,�Leading�Classic�Car�Facility�for�33�Years,www.cooperclassiccars.com,�Cooper�Classics�LTD,�212-929-3909
1971 Jaguar E Type Series II ConvertibleWhite�-�$34,500.�Offered�by�Chequered�Flag.�310-827-8665.�www.chequeredflag.com.
1966 Mini Traveler Woodie Wagon Red�with�RedInterior,�Celebrity�Owned,�Refinished�Paint�and�Wood,�Excellent�Original�Interior,�Recent�Service�by�ExpertBritish�Mechanic,��Leading�Classic�Car�Facility�for�33Years,��www.cooperclassiccars.com,�Cooper�ClassicsLTD,�212-929-3909
1975 Jensen Interceptor Series III ConvertibleWhite�-�$46,500.�Offered�by�Chequered�Flag.�310-827-8665.�www.chequeredflag.com.
11970 Mercedes Benz 280se Floor�Shift,�A/C,�PwrWindows,�Silver�over�a�Blue�Leather�Interior,ExcellentRestored�Condition,�Excellent�Mechanical�Condition�in-cludingrecent�Engine�Rebuild.�Leading�classic�car�facil-ity�for�33�years.�Cooper�Classics�Ltd,�212-929-3909,NYC,NY;�www.cooperclassiccars.com
1966 Chevrolet Corvette 427/390HP Coupe Fac-tory�427/390�4�Speed,�Orig.�Color�of�Milano�Maroonover�Black�Interior,�Matching�Numbers,�Factory�Side-pipes,�Positraction,�Original�Dealer�Delivery�Paper,�Ex-cellent�Condition�Inside�and�Out.�Leading�Classic�CarFacility�for�33�Years�www.cooperclassiccars.comCooper�Classics�LTD,�212-929-3909
1971 Mercedes Benz 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet Origi-nal�Color�of�White�(050)�over�Dark�Red�Interior�withBlack�Convertible�Top,�Power�Windows,�A/C,�PreviousOwner�for�over�20�years,�Beautiful�New�Wood�and�In-terior,�Nice�Paint,�Runs�and�Drives�Very�Well.�Leadingclassic�car�facility�for�33�years.�Cooper�Classics�Ltd,212-929-3909,�NYC,NY;�www.cooperclassiccars.com
ADVERTISE YOUR CAR IN
CLASSIF IED ADVERTISEMENT
Advertising your vintage car (or cars) in Vintage Roadcar is easy. Call us for completedetails or email us your information alongwith your digital photo. You are allowed upto 40 words to describe the car, which shouldinclude the year, make, model, sale price andyour contact info. Please provide a digitalimage of your car in JPG, TIFF or PDF format.Ads will be accepted on a first come firstserved basis and are based on space avail-abilty. Ads will be accepted at Publisher’s discretion.
Your ad will run one time in the next avail-able issue along with the color photo youprovide for the fee of $75. We accept Visa orMasterCard only. Thank you!
TEL: 1-562-493-0737EMAIL: [email protected]
Parabolica Publishing, LLC5212 Katella Avenue, Suite 206Los Alamitos, California 90720
vintage roadcarshowroom • The place to buy & sell
51VinTaGe roaDCar50
1923 Buick Series 55 This�1923�Buick�series�55,5-passenger� touring� car� is� powered�by� a� 242-cu.in.,�6-cylinder�engine�with�OHV�and�electricstart.��These�cars�featured�a�124-inch�wheelbase,2-wheel�mechanical� brakes,�weighed�3300-lbsand�cost�$1645.00�when�new.�12,587�exampleswere�built.�This�car�is�coming�out�of�several�yearsof�unoperated�storage.�The�seller�has�reportedlydrained� the� old� gas,� installed� a� 6-volt� electricpump�with�a�fuel�regulator,�and�rebuilt�the�carb.The�body�is�reported�to�be�great,�very�solid�andstraight,�with�no�rust�and�fair�paint.�The�interiorfeatures�new�seats�door�panels�and�carpet.�Allelectrical� seems� to�work�except� clock�and�gasgauge.�Sold at $19,500.
1910 hupmobile model 20 Runabout This� 1910Hupmobile�Model� 20� Runabout� is� reportedly� anAACA�first�place�winner�in�2002.��The�Hupmobilemodel�20�was�an�extremely�well�made�car,�featuringa� 112� cubic� inch,� 4-cylinder� engine,� with� BoschMagneto�ignition,�updraft�carburetion,�an�externaloiler�to�fill� the�crankcase�with�oil,�and�a�2�speedtransmission� -� 2� forward� speeds,� with� a� normalclutch�pedal�and�shifter,�as�well�as�reverse�gear.��Itonly�weighs�1,100�pounds.�This�car�has�the�Prest-O-lite� acetylene� headlamps� and� running� boardmounted�generator,�all�restored�in�polished�brass,as�well�as�kerosene�tail�lamp,�bulb�horn,�and�sidelamp.�Asking $39,500, not sold
1920 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost pall mall Tourer
According�to�the�owner,�in�1920�this�beautifulRolls-Royce�Silver�Ghost�was�shipped�to�Americawhere�its�owner,�Samuel�Hodgson,�had�it�fittedwith�a�body�by�Brooks-Ostruk�upon�its�deliveryin�April�of�1921.��It�also�received�a�trusty�Ward-Leonard�transmission,�which�would�become�afeature�common�to�later�Ghosts.�By�1927�it�wasre-fitted�with�the�body�that's�on�it�now�by�Rolls-Royce�Custom�Coach�Works.�In�the�1950s�the�carwas� subject� to� a� claimed,� award-winningground-up�restoration�that�has�remained�on�itfor�over�sixty�years.��The�car�has�sat�idle�for�thepast�15�years,�but�fluids�have�been�changed�andthe�engine�turned�over.�Reserve $150,000, sale
still active
collecting from the web
1908 Glide model G J.B.� Bartholomew�manufac-tured�Glide�automobiles�in�Peoria,�Illinois,�from�1903through�1920.�Always�an�expensive�car�of�limitedproduction,�the�Glide�was�the�first�car�to�use�inde-pendent�motor�mounts�to�help�eliminate�vibration.Their�slogan,�"Ride�in�a�Glide�and�Then�Decide"�wasaimed�at�the�upper�echelon�of�society�who�couldafford�a�$2500�touring�car�in�1908.�These�were�big,powerful�cars�at�the�time,�designed�to�compete�withPackards,�Cadillacs,�Locomobiles�and�other�luxurycars�of�the�era.�Total�production�over�the�17-yearhistory� of� the� company�was� less� than� 2500� cars.They�were�very�exclusive,�which�ultimately�made�itimpossible�for�them�to�compete�in�the�marketplace.By�1920,�the�company�was�out�of�business.�This�ex-ample�is�reported�to�be�the�only�surviving�Model�G
and�in�mechanically�excellent�condition,�with�2000miles�on�a� full� restoration�done� in�1988.�The� carfeatures�a�362�cubic�inch,�4-cylinder,�1908/09�Ruten-ber�with�a�3-speed�transmission.�The�complete�elec-trical� system� was� rebuilt� in� 2010.� Car� starts� onbattery�and�runs�on�magneto.�It�uses�the�originalcrank�starter,�but�a�modern�electric�starter�has�beenpurchased�and�can�be�installed�in�the�car�by�the�newowner,�if�they�desire.�Car�has�12-volt�electric�runninglights�and�stop�light�for�safety.�Headlights�are�theoriginal�acetylene�system.�Recently�the�rear�brakeshave� been� rebuilt,� new� factory� wheel� bearings�installed�front�and�rear,�and�a�new�correct�fabric�topand� new� headliner� were� installed� in� 2011.�Not Sold at $130,000
Internet VeteransWhile the internet may outwardly appear to be more conducive to the saleof newer, post-war automobiles, it isamazing the number and diversity ofveteran cars which can be found for sale.Who says you can’t teach an old dognew tricks?
eBay Motors.com