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Event Ferrari Video

Mille Miglia 2009 Videos Are Up

It’s only been a few short days since this year’s Mille Miglia and already videos are starting to trickle online. There’s aren’t just quick shoot and post phone-cam videos either. Some of these are quite lovely, like this first short video from Ricky Montalvo. He was able to stake out some of the more interesting areas the Mille passes through—the tiny villages that are ordinarily closed to automotive traffic. These picturesque little towns make for some lovely vantage-points to take in the amazing field of Mille Miglia participants and some excellent atmospheric shots of spectators. Take a look.

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Video

Singapore Grand Prix: 1966

Nowadays, the Singapore GP makes headlines for being the only F1 night race, but I tend to prefer this newsreel of sorts from the 1st race. I adore the fact that a motorcycle race supported the main event (with a win for Honda), I wonder why we don’t see more cross-vehicle race weekends?

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Racing Ephemera Vintage Racing Advertising

Vintage Koni Ad

Koni should just re-run this ad in current magazines. It’s fantastic.

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Classic Sportscar Ferrari

Ladies and Gentlemen, the $12,000,000 Ferrari.

Holy crap.

The much-discussed 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa #0714TR sold this weekend at RM Auctions’ Leggenda e Passione sale in Maranallo. It brought in a staggering €9,020,000. This of course, shatters last year’s record 250 California sale by a good $2Million. Why do I even bother anymore?

Octane has the story.

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Classic Sportscar For Sale

Escaped the Hammer: Ermini 357 Sport Barchetta

Cliff from Etceterini contacted me about this lovely little barchetta while I was travelling so I figured I wouldn’t have time to post about it before it fell under the auction hammer at today’s Les Grandes Marques à Monaco. It looks, however, like this magnificent little red machine failed to meet reserve and, while there’s always the chance that a deal will still be struck before the auction ends, I couldn’t resist posting up these pics.

I’m not terribly familiar with the Ermini name, but readers of Etceterini will no doubt know that Pasquino Ermini spent the 20s and 30s throwing Bugattis and Talbots around Italian racetracks before finally taking up the wrench to build a number of Fiat based specials. Ultimately he started building complete cars under his own nameplate in ’49. Like so many of the small Italian manufacturers, the Ermini competition machines are based on a Fiat chassis. Interestingly, though, Ermini’s early cars used a Dual Overhead Cam 1100 engine of his own design. The engine proved quite successful. Wrapped in a lovely coachbuilt body, she was even more impressive. Bill Devin used an 357 Ermini as the mold for a line of his successful sportscar fiberflass rebodies.
This example, chassis 1855 has quite a lovely history. She competed in the 1956 and 1957 Mille Miglia and still houses her original Ermini 1,431cc 4-banger.

The hammer fell on this afternoon’s auction without the 357 reaching reserve—which means you still have a chance. Just phone up your banker (if you haven’t already murdered him) and secure the €330,000 – 370,000 this remarkably beautiful little barchetta was estimated to bring in.

Then let me take her for a spin.

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Classic Sportscar

Daytona Coupe Photo Gallery

Well, the much-hyped 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe CSX2601 failed to sell at this weekend’s Mecum auction (bidding stalled at $6.8Million), but that’s no reason not to check out AutoBlog’s wonderful photo gallery of the machine on the track and off.

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Video

The Green Hell

I’m not usually into “Crash Porn”, but this video of folks taking on the Nurburgring in their road cars demonstrates a few things: 1. road cars of the 60s and 70s were fragile and made an enormous mess when you rolled them (Except for Beetles, which look to

Green Hell, indeed.

And what’s more; the Adenauer Forest esses are still kicking people’s asses today.

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Classic Sportscar

Bandini Barchetta Restoration

Bandinis are too precious to waste, my friends. Thankfully, the crew at D&D Classics agrees. The car was quite a mess when the pulled it from an open shed in 2002. A weaker stomach would have just given up on her. The aluminum body panels were bad enough, but once they cracked the engine and gearbox, it just got worse and worse. Seriously, the photos of the gearbox internals are enough to make you ill.

This Bandini has an interesting history all it’s own. This very early single overhead cam Crosley powered version was imported to New York in ’56 and to be delivered to Flash Gordon creator Alex Raymond. Sadly, Raymond was killed in a car crash before he was able to take delivery. The car sat for a year before being snatched up by Connecticut racer, George Tipsword who took the Bandini to a few podiums. The car changed hands several times before arriving in the service station of Larry Melsheimer, who held the car for 30 years waiting to restore it. Apparently, the car is still under restoration with her new owner in Germany. I’m looking forward to seeing it complete. I absolutely adore these little Bandinis.

For more on the marque, Etceterini is the definitive source.

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Classic Sportscar Video

Lizzy’s Bugeye Sprite Restoration

Mark Evans hands over the restoration duties to the non-experts in the British show, Wreck Rescue. When 20 year old Lizzy takes on this absolute basket case Sprite for her first-ever restoration project, there wasn’t much to be optimistic about. She did a hell of a job though.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Categories
Porsche Video

LeMans Onboard in a Porsche 962

Let’s take a spin around La Sarthe with Jonathan Palmer in his 962, shall we?

This is probably from 1987, the year Jonathan Palmer shared a car with James Weaver and Price Cobb for team Liqui Moly Equipe. They DNFed after 112 laps.