Birdcage and Lister and Corvette, oh my!
Author: Harlo
The restoration masters at Hall & Hall call this ex-Pedro Rodríguez BRM P133 one of the most original 3 liter Formula 1 cars left. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt as Hall & Hall have no shortage of remarkable Formula car restorations under their belts. Which means they’ve seen lots of F1 cars at their worst, and in desperate need of restoration. This car, chassis P133-01, on the other hand, retains a good portion of the car as it was when Pedro crossed the finish line in 2nd place at the 1968 Belgian GP at Spa. Or 2nd at the Brands Hatch Race of Champions in March, ’68. Or 3rd at the ’68 Dutch GP at Zandvoort. Or 3rd at the Canadian GP. Or 4th at his home race in Mexico.
And that leaves out entirely the car’s history with Jackie Oliver the following season. There’s no doubt the car has a brilliant history.
Hall & Hall mentions that the current owner bought the car directly from the team to enter in F1 races in 1971. They must mean Robs Lamplough, who entered the car in the ’71 Jochen Rindt trophy at Hockenheim and in Brands Hatch the same year (without much success, I’m afraid).
I’ve always thought that BRM’s 60’s livery as among the most beautiful of all time. The simple orange belt around the nose that is immediately recognizable but subtle. The dealer’s photos show the car both with and without it’s nose and rear wings. Which makes me think it’s still possible to run the car with the setup Pedro preferred in the ’68 season. See the dealer’s detail page for more.
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Racing Icon: The Momo Prototipo
Is there a single classic sports and racing car who’s view from the cockpit isn’t improved by the Momo Prototipo?
The 1909 Land Speed Record holder is a mighty, fire belching, 200hp, 21.5 liter engined dragon. It requires a driver of unending determination and incalculable courage. It is gigantic. It is angry. It is gorgeous.
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1937 GP Season on Film
In the comments on the ’36 Monaco post, Miguel pointed out this 16 minute two-part film compilation of the 1937 GP season, which definitely deserves its own post. Thanks for finding this beauty, Miguel!
The only thing that could make Man on the Move contributor Dave Pinter’s photo gallery of Le Belle Macchine d’Italia car show better would be if the Italian Cars at Pocono organizers had the event on the track and not a golf course.
Head over to Man on the Move for the complete gallery. Bellissima!
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Grand Prix Guide 1974
I’m often envious of Mister Jalopy’s garage sale reports, but this installment really took me over the edge. Each of these helmet graphics would make a fantastic t-shirt design… hmm….
Update:There’s a copy of this on eBay with a Buy it Now price of $24.99. Happy bidding!
Somebody bought it—was it one of you?
How great would these be on your toolbox or in the back window of your pickup?
More at kakeh.com via Death Spray Custom.
Grand Prix Comics, Issue 27
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Monaco Grand Prix 1936-37
Most of the prewar footage of Grands Prix that I come across are very short; a minute or two. The days of endlessly long recording time were still quite a ways off, particularly for cameras small enough to report trackside. As a result, we have precious little footage of Nuvolari or Caracciola. By these standards this wonderful clip is an epic film at 2 minutes and change.
It’s in clips like that that the legend of Monaco really shines. If this were any other track (except maybe Indianapolis) it would be so marred by change that this footage would be unrecognizable. Thankfully, the shots of the tunnel or Station Hairpin have meaning to us today. These aren’t simply clips of brave men careening through city streets, they’re the pioneers that allowed Jenson and Hamilton to round these same corners today. If not for these early GP giants, Monaco would have long since been replaced.