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45 Years Ago Today
Author: Harlo
Los Angeles based photographer Erik Jensen has dropped a set of never before seen photos of the April 1953 road races at Pebble Beach on his site. Motorsport photography will never again be as good as it was in the era that these shots were taken. No amount of telephoto lenses and levels of zoom will replace the immediacy of these photos—there’s simply no substitution for being able to get closer to the action than contemporary motorsport allows.
Among my favorites of the set is the photo above, which shows Hildebrand’s Nardi-Fiat battling K.J. Davis in his MG TD. Just look at how hard the MG’s suspension is working as Davis tries to catch up. There’s also this fun ‘staged’ shot of Ken Miles crossing the finish line in his Special. He was indeed the winner of the under-1500cc race, but apparently there was no adequate photo captured of the actual race win, so a quick photo-op was thrown together. Hilarious.
Head over to Erik’s gallery for the full set.
You’ll remember the panic that ran through the classic sportscar press last summer when David Love’s brakes went out as he rounded Laguna Seca during last year’s Monterey Historics. The car quickly met the wall and suffered an ugly black scar down her passenger side.
I’m happy to report that David took the car to this year’s Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance and it looks wholly restored. Looks perfect.
Sports Car Digest has a wonderful gallery from the event, where Porsche was the featured marque… Check it out.
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2010 InterMarque Spring Kickoff
I headed to the InterMarque Spring Kickoff event this morning in St. Paul, MN, which had a very good turnout of vintage sportscars despite the gloomy weather. The highlight of the show for me was this homebuilt Crosley Special, garage-built in 1951 and with hillclimb and gymkhana history in Indiana going to back to the mid 50s. It was a stunning little car, and far and away my favorite of the day.
As gorgeous as this little Crosley was, it was by no means the only show-stopper on hand. There was a very strong showing from a variety of makes: Plenty of Citroens, MGs, Healeys, Triumphs, and Jags—with a few Maseratis, pre-war luxury cars, and a few vintage bikes as well. A wonderful mix of cars, in conditions ranging from Pebble Beach Competitors (the Daimler pictured below has competed there), to well preserved, to rusty and rattle-canned. Excellent variety of cars at virtually every level of collecting.
The Vintage Foreign Motors of the Upper Midwest hosts a very fun event that has grown many-fold in recent years. Excellent!
Here’s a few more shots from the event.
If you had a Ferrari GTO at 19 or 20, I bet you’d have some good stories too.
Usually I try to space out my posts about cars for sale. The Chicane’s focus has always been about the larger world of classic motorsport, and car collecting and sales are only one small part of the sport. Furthermore, I always try to extend the time between posts about a particular make for sale and it was only 2 days ago that we featured a lovely Ferrari 500 TRC. Although I know I tend to prattle on about vintage Porsches, we really do try to represent many different makes and models of racing cars. It is, after all, the variety of cars that makes vintage racing so interesting. But when Jan Lühn contacted me about this one-off, Vignale designed, 212/225 Ferrari that just arrived in his showroom how could I not share it with you?
I’m a sucker for the European interpretation of the tailfin, which has become the hallmark of American automotive design of the late 1950s. It’s been made as big and as aircraft-inspired and rocket taillight adorned as possible stateside on businessman’s chariots and weekend cruisers. The european take on it though, has always appealed to me more—looking as functional and necessary as on this 212 as the solo tailfin of a D-Type.
Often the Ferrari coupes of the era are a little too much like a miniature luxury car to me. They look like lovely little cars, but lack the exotic good looks and racy stance of the spiders. Not so with this 212. The huge headlamps inset into the grille opening, the sloping roofline, and the great big competition fuel cap put this car’s appearance firmly in the utilitarian racer camp. The silhouette brings to mind the Ferrari effort at the 1952 Carrera Panamericana and the 340 Mexico, but this car predates them by almost a year, and—to my eye—looks like a more lithesome, subtle machine; simpler and more precise.
Ferrari 0179 EL was originally built early in the lifecycle of the 212 engine. The V12 was still a bit persnickety and after cylinder failure very shortly after she was built, the engine was swapped at the factory with the 225 before it was ever delivered to her first purchaser. After changing hands in Italy several times, Luigi Chinetti imported the car to the States and delivered her to a sports writer in Texas, Loren McMullen. These bits of automotive history always get under my skin. I know more than a few journalists, some of them have been quite successful. I don’t know any that drive Ferraris. This guy McMullen wasn’t the owner of a printing group or the city paper’s publisher or even the editor in chief—he was on the sports desk and imported a Ferrari.
Naturally, McMullen raced the car a bit in Texas. In one race meeting in 1961, he raced against one of Jim Hall’s Chaparrals, one of which crashed out of the race. McMullen negotiated the purchase of the car’s big V8 and it was somehow shoehorned into the 212. The power of the American V8 was such that some modifications were required. An air scoop added to feed the huge volume of air needed, and a new rear windscreen—reportedly necessary after the acceleration force of the new engine caused air to push the rear window out!
Some time later the car was imported to Holland and restored—apparently immaculately—by Piet Roelofs. Today, the car looks absolutely majestic. Everything from the paint to the interior to the engine bay looks ready for a weekend drive up the coast or the next Concours. There’s no information on Jan Lühn’s site on the car yet, but I’m sure details will be arriving on their inventory page.
Bellissimo!
What a beautifully photographed example of the Ferrari 500 TRC. This dramatic angle in particular is eye-catching. Hard to imagine an angle that this car wouldn’t look great from though. This paint is absolutely remarkable. I love the choice of this almost buttery english white for the stripe. It is so much richer and full of character than a pure white and contrasts the red marvelously. The polished grille and Borrani’s almost make it look over-restored. It’s some of the shiniest chrome I’ve seen this side of the Oakland Roadster Show.
That is not to call this car a trailer queen that’s lived a pampered life. Chassis 0686 MD/TR has been around the block once or twice. Some of those blocks were the 1957 Mille Miglia (10th overall, 2nd in class), the ’57 Nurburgring 1000km (1st in class), the LeMans 24 Hours, the ’58 Cuban Grand Prix, and Sebring. That’s quite a resume for any car. To even compete in such a storied list of events is noteworthy, to be a strong contender at them seals the deal. That she came through all that and look this good is remarkable.
Ok, she doesn’t just look this striking by chance. Although this isn’t her original bodywork (it was reskinned during her restoration by Ferrari specialists DK Engineering), the 0686 has been reunited with her original engine after spending some time with an ill-advised American V8 engine swap. Despite her rebody and exquisite detailing, the car is a regular competitor at the Monterey Historics and looks well poised for next year’s Mille Miglia. Stunning.
More on dealer Kidston’s details page and DK Engineering’s restoration gallery.
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Chris Evans Rounds Out his Collection
It was only a year ago that the UK radio personality grabbed headlines when he was the top bidder on the ex-James Coburn 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder. The car captured the imagination of the sportscar collecting world both for it’s gorgeous lines and for the astronomical sum that the car commanded. Now it looks like Evans is again the envy of the Ferrari world by picking up the ultimate.
This photo that Evans posted on his Twitter feed lets the world know that he’s the purchaser of 1963 Ferrari GTO chassis #4675. The car was sold via private treaty by RM Auctions in the past few days, which led to wide speculation both over the purchaser and the amount paid. None of you will be surprised to learn that GTO ownership is an exclusive club indeed—not only are the cars incredibly rare and incredibly expensive, but once one is in hand the owner rarely parts with it. I’ll fight my seething jealousy just long enough to congratulate Mr. Evans on his admission to the club.
Sports Car Market has more details on 4675.
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Welcome Mike Jacobsen to The Chicane
I am pleased to announce that Mike Jacobsen will be joining The Chicane as a contributing writer. In a sense, Mike has already been a valuable voice on The Chicane for quite some time, he’s easily our most active commenter and has consistently enhanced the conversation on the site.
Mike grew up around sportscar racing; introduced to the sport at an early age by his father, who joined the sporting ranks in an unusual way. Mike says, “My Father, Lars Jacobsen, was hit by a car in a crosswalk in at age 16 in 1932 and had his spleen removed. Because doctors gave him only a few years to live, my Grandfather bought him a Bugatti. He went on to race sprint cars, father me in 1942, and race sports cars throughout the 50s (he lived to be 79)”. Fantastic!
Mike went on to crew for his father’s racing efforts at the wheel of two MG N Magnettes. One of these was converted to a homebuilt racing special, which Mike continues to race to this day. Mike’s own experience as Professor of art history and student of archeology is the perfect crossroads for racing fans—after all, isn’t every great vintage racecar a mixture of art history and archeology?
Welcome aboard, Mike!
“The disc brakes fitted to the Sprite were masters of the situation under all conditions and their high speed behaviour was beyond criticism”
Call me crazy, but I actually find the hyperbole of this ad copy charming. Not to mention the tremendous graphic fantasticness of the Girling “G” logo.