Categories
Classic Sportscar Grand Prix

Art Appreciation: Talbot-Lago T150C SS Roadster

Figoni Falaschi Talbot-Lago T150C SS Roadster

In 1908 a 14 year old boy arrived for his first morning of his apprenticeship with a Parisian wagon builder. It’s an almost impossible career trajectory in my mind from that first day sweeping up and sharpening files to crafting the luxurious lines of this staggering French Racing Blue beauty. Then again, Giuseppe Figoni may simply have had beautiful machinery in his blood as a crucial part of his DNA that followed him from his native Piacenza, Italian hometown to Paris.

We tend to think of the notion of a “celebrity designer” as a fairly recent phenomenon but Figoni was not unfamiliar with being the center of a rippling design movement. The eliptical teardrop fender and body arced enveloppantes on a Delahaye 135 he presented at the Paris Auto Salon of 1936 caused a minor design explosion. His bodies borrowed from the burgeoning aerodynamic sciences in the airplane industry and gave his machines a slippery silhouette that suggested high speed even when standing still.

If we turn our attention to his Talbot-Lago T150C SS, you can’t help but wonder if it was this particular car of Figoni’s or an amalgamation of the era that helped inform much of the design aesthetic that we so associate with American hot-rodders. The crossover appeal of the 1930s GP cars and voiturettes should be obvious for fans of 1930s Fords—fenders removed or otherwise.

Look at the details of this Figoni’s creation and you’ll recognize many of the design hallmarks of the American hot rod. The close-set headlamps that might well have inspired Clarence ‘Chili’ Catallo to modify his ’32 Ford that famously adorned the Beach Boy’s Little Deuce Coupe album cover. Those motorcycle fenders were fairly common on prewar racing cars and voiturettes but were also popular with American hot rodders trying to skirt fender laws designed to squash hot rods.

Figoni Falaschi Talbot-Lago T150C SS Roadster

And can I get an “amen” on those blue headlamp covers?

There’s no question that cars are cheaper to produce in bulk but part of me yearns for the option to deliver a freshly-built frame and drivetrain to a coachbuilder and craft a truly unique machine. In many ways, these kinds of one-off builds are at an all time high today, and command the attention of not only well-heeled buyers, but television audiences who admire their work. Sadly, I haven’t seen anyone take this common business model for custom motorcycles and extend it to (truly) custom cars.
More on the Figoni & Falaschi Talbot Lago T150C SS Roadster #90115 at coachbuild.com.

Categories
Grand Prix Historic Racing Photos Porsche

A Spot of Rain at the 1960 German GP

Dan Gurney’s Lotus 18 gridding up for the 1960 German GP

Ringmeisters and Regenmeisters

Ok, so it was on the Sudschleife. And sure, it was a Formula 2 race. But I still wouldn’t want to have to hold a line in weather this wet on tires this thin with that much power behind my spine.

Jo Bonnier won the day in his Porsche 718. His racing suit must have been soaked to the waist. Brave. Wet. And Brave.

Categories
Historic Racing Photos

Reader’s Racer: Christian’s Carrera Panamericana Lincoln

La Bestia. Chris Reichardt's Carrera Lincoln

Christian sent in this photo of his Lincoln, “La Bestia” tackling the mighty Carrera Panamericana. Even in its modern interpretation, the Carrera is no joke and participants tend to be of one of two camps: Those that just had to do it once—and after a week of grueling conditions wonder what made them do this treacherous thing—and those that return year after year ready for more. Christian is the latter, and that deserves some props, don’t you think?

I love sharing photos of readers’ cars, guys. Keep ’em coming: tips@thechicane.com.

Categories
Historic Racing Photos

Gearbox

No problem

In photos like this, opening up the gearbox looks so orderly and meditative, but I’m still too nervous to crack open my Triumph’s transmission… and procrastinating as a result.

Categories
Grand Prix Historic Racing Photos

Art Appreciation: Early Honda F1

There’s no shortage of love for the mid sixties cigar shaped Formula 1 cars. The levels to which we praise Lotus and BRM and Cooper often unnecessarily push Honda’s debut efforts out of our minds, but these are just lovely.

Categories
Historic Racing Photos

Lyntonh’s Formula Vees at Warwick Park, 1969.

Formula Vees at Warwick Farms, December 1969

Over on The Nostalgia Forum, Lyntonh has dug into his seemingly inexhaustible archive of vintage Formula Vee photography to both showcase the great racing down under and to seek the assistance of the super-geniuses on the forum to help identify racers and cars. The whole Australian vintage vee thread is tremendous; with people swapping photos and stories of their time racing vees. Head on over and dive in. Better yet, get into the conversation and share your own tales of one of my favorite series.

Categories
Automotive Art Classic Cycle

The Motorcycle Artwork of Kenji Shibata

Kenji Shibata’s 1959 Honda Painting


Look back up at that ’59 Honda. Go on, Look.

That’s not a photo.

Let that sink in for a second.

I find that I tend to be of two minds on automotive art. I tend to be most drawn to either those pieces of work that come from one of two very different points of view. I love work that evokes the motion of a machine: Blurred splashes of color that are barely recognizable silhouettes of specific racing machines but with an emphasis on the frenetic movement of a high speed machine caught in a barely focused instant. But with almost equal reverence I can appreciate a meticulously detailed piece of work like these. It’s hard not to appreciate the careful study of the minutia of a racing machine. Kenji Shibata’s work is breathtakingly precise. It wasn’t until I saw this photo of his work in process that I realized I wasn’t seeing a beautifully lit studio photograph.

Kenji Shibata at work

In a lot of ways, it’s a lot like how we all appreciate the two essences of motorsport: The high paced courage and emotion on the track itself versus the slow, careful detail work of the long hours spent in the workshop in preparation for the track. I’m sure that’s why I am so drawn to these two apparently opposing aesthetics: because together they represent the full experience of motorsport.

More at Kenji Shibata’s site. Via 8Negro.

Categories
Vintage Racing Advertising

1st Prize: A Brand New ’67 Ford Mustang

Aurora Slot Car Ad

Trophies, special model motoring Fords, all-expenses paid trips to N.Y., TV appearances, a chance at a fully-equipped 1967 Ford Mustang: not bad for turning laps on the slot track.

Categories
Racing Drivers Racing Ephemera

Carlo and his Apples… and His Hotted-Up Cars

Carlo Abarth and a fleet

Do you think it’s just because Abarth started with small displacement engines that his name isn’t whispered with reverence by every hot rodder? You’d think that everyone tearing into a Ford flatty or Chrysler FirePower would offer a silent prayer to Abarth and the empire he built hot-rodding Fiat engines.

Why the apples? Under a doctor’s care as part of an intense weight loss program, Carlo apparently adopted a diet of apples and steak. Only apples and steak.

Categories
Ferrari Grand Prix Historic Racing Photos

Scuderia Ferrari Unloads at the '52 French GP

1952 French GP - Ferrari Team
Magnificent shot that Bertocchi uploaded to a thread at Ferrari Chat. Prepare to lose the rest of your afternoon.
Update: Back on the FChat thread, Andrea points out that I’m inaccurate on this post’s title. The #14 car being unloaded is the Ferrari 500 of Louis Rosier’s “Ecurie Rosier”, not the factory team. Thanks, Andrea.
Rosier qualified 9th but retired on the 17th lap with engine troubles.