The L’Art dl L’Automobile Exhibit is running at the Museum Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris until the 28th of August. Ralph’s cars have gotten a lot of exposure, but I for one appreciate that he isn’t hiding these remarkable machines away from the public. I like this quote from Ralph Lauren from the Speed, Style & Beauty book that accompanied the collection’s first museum exhibit.
“I’ve always seen cars as art. Moving art. While friends of mine were into paintings, I somehow felt that the real beauty of owning a rare and magnivicently designed car was the fact that you can use it. You can look at it, enjoy its visual qualities, as with a painting, but you can also get inside and drive it – which means both enjoying the drive itself and going somewhere with it. How these cars are put together, the purposefulness with which they were created, in every detail – the engine, the mechanics, the outside ornamentation, the design of the wheels, the whole spirit – is very, very exciting. And on top of that you have the men who created these cars, Mr. Porsche, Mr. Bugatti, Mr. Ferrari, and their backgrounds, their heritages, their fascinating histories, their reasons for driving and building these cars – I find it all very stimulating.”
Ralph Lauren. Speed, Style & Beauty
More images, engine sounds (!) and information on the exhibit on the Collection’s Site.
I usually think of Ruedelsarte as my destination for air-cooled VW and Porsche pics, so these shots of Gordinis at the Coupes de Printemps at Montlhéry in March caught me pleasantly off guard. There’s something about the particular shade of French Racing Blue that Gordini used in the 1950s that is so enchanting; not quite as dark as Bugatti’s blue, not quite as light as Gulf Blue, not quite as saturated as Mexico Blue. I ask you: is this the perfect blue?
Click on over for the complete set of shots on and off the track.
I’m a couple of weeks late with these, but I just noticed Straßenversion’s shots from his trip to Florida for the Sebring 12 Hours. Thankfully, he arrived early enough for the running of the vintage event. Check out his writeup on the 12 Hours on his blog, and see the complete set of photos on his Flickr.
Imagine yourself flipping through the newspaper classifieds in 1972 when you happen upon the deal of a lifetime: the original Bullitt Mustang, and cheap. That is exactly the scenario that happened to an unidentified (by choice) 24-year-old man who bought up the car—complete with reams of documentation verifying its authenticity—and owns it to this day.
I say THE Bullitt Mustang, although there were really 2 1968 Mustang 390 GTs puchased by Warner Brothers for the Steve McQueen production. One of these was heavily modified with chassis re-enforcement and uprated suspension for the dramatic jumps and crashes that punctuate the legendary Bullitt chase sequence. The other car was left largely stock, aside from the aesthetic enhancements of stripping the driving lights, grille emblem, and most of the trim and badging and replacing the wheels with customs from American Racing. This second car is the one that our lucky buyer picked up in ’72.
Steve’s Letter
Five years later Steve was fresh off his divorce from Allie McGraw and must have been feeling nostalgic. He contacted the owner of the Fastback and attempted to purchase her (letter above). Shockingly, he was denied. I suppose it might be for the best, however, as the current owner has no plans to sell nor restore the car. What’s more, by carefully remaining anonymous he has helped ensure that the car doesn’t become more incendiary McQueen fuel at auction houses. Unfortunately, that means that the Bullitt Mustang sits in a garage, hidden away. I don’t know which fate is worse.
Don’t let that get you down too much though, there’s a vibrant community that have exhaustively studied the film frame-by-frame to identify the parts and mods to make a replica of the Mustang. Here’s Motor Trend Classic’s take on it from their Sept. 06 issue.
Of course, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t watch the chase scene itself again to compare notes. While I actually come in on the Ronin tunnel sequence side of the “Greatest Car Chase of All-Time” debate, it’s hard to deny the greatness of this bit of film.
I wonder if whatever collector has the Charger today still has all 8 hub caps. More on the Bullitt Fastback at Mustang Specs. More ‘make your own’ tips at PonySite.de.
Fairly often in the ’50s the various sports car clubs sponsored drag races at one or another of the strips operating in southern California. Local strips included El Segundo, Saugus, Irwindale (Azusa at that time), Colton, and San Fernando. Here are the results for the SCCA’s event at the latter on April 8th, 1956, as printed in the club newsletter the following month.
“The San Fernando Drags were held on Sunday the 8th of April with the results shown below. Fastest time was put up by Ernie McAfee in the 4.4 Ferrai–12.24. Eric Hauser, in the Victress, went thru in 13.09 as did Jerry Austin in a D Jag. John von Neumann clocked 13.15 with the Monza, and Jay Chamberlain put the Lotus through in 13.43 for fourth FTD.
Results
Class B Mod. 172 Hauser, Eric Victress 13.09 27 Salat, S.W. Jag 140MC s/c 14.10 10 Hagerty, Bob Wildfire 15.26 19 Sloan, Dan Olds Allard 15.85
C Mod 4 McAfee, Ernie Ferrari 4.4 12.24 133 Austin, Jerry D Jag 13.09 26 Cannon, John Cannon Spl 14.19
C Stock 3 Anderson, B.C. Thunderbird 14.50 28 Eurengey, Al Jag XK120M 14.74 163 Friedman, Bill Jag XK120M 14.81 42 Kinner, Bill Corvette 15.39 2 Peterson, Ralph Corvette 16.22 9 Dair, Jack Thunderbird 16.45 226 Hall, Cameron Jag XK120C 16.97 22 Watelet, R.P. Jag XK120 17.23 7 Wogan, J.C. Jag XK 140MC 17.42 21 Matheson, James Jag XK140MC 17.64 15 Fullien, F.J. Jag MK VII 18.48 14 Krueger, Rudolph Jag XK 120M 18.52
D Mod 111 Von Neumann, J Ferrari Monza 13.15 87 Anderson, Michael Hairpin Spl 15.29
D Stock 5 Jones, Harry MB 300SL 14.54 18 Buchanan, G MB 300SL 16.26 80 Weber, Ch Lancia Spyder 17.71
E Mod. 112 VonNeumann, Josie Ferrari 1.9 14.85 50 Sawyer, Bob Frazer Nash LeMans 16.34 24 Jacobsen, Lars MG NA s/c 17.23
E Stock 113 Bracker, Lew Porsche 1600 14.99 11 Bethell, Alan Triumph TR 3 17.16 29 Verrecchia, V Siata 208S 18.73
F Mod 159 Eschrich, Dr. W Lotus 15.14 23 Timanus, John MG Spl 16.91 F Stock 8 McArthur, S.G. Porsche 1500 18.73 30 Davis, D MG TF 19.73
G Mod 16 Chamberlain, J Lotus 13.43
G Stock 129 Lawrence, J MG TD MK II 18.38 13 Garlick, W Porsche 1300 19.86 20 Herrmann, Ben Volkswagen 20.32 25 Sargent, Earl MG TC 21.30 6 McKenzie, Dr A Porsche 1300 20.70 1 Gebhart, Art MG TF 20.24
Your writer was present at this event and was quite astonished at the announced time of Jay Chaimberlain’s Lotus XI climax, a quite impossible time no matter what the gearing was and remains my thinking. This was the first Lotus XI on the coast and it did well racing, but it did not beat the Porsche 550 engined Lotus of Bill Eschrich whose time seems about right–a wee bit quicker than Road and Track’s road test of John Porter’s 550. Other surprises are the time of anderson’s TBird–way too fast for stock, and Bracker’s Porsche, which was a frequent winner on the track and did have the lowest gears available as well as expert tuning. Remeber that “stock” really meant stock at that time-but some makes provided factory options for racing that made the difference between some of these results where two of the same model have significantly different times. A bit slower than expected are Sawyer’s LeMans replica F-N (the same car had won Sebring 5 years earlier!), and, alas, my Dad in the Magnette at 17.28 was more than a second slower than the previous drags we had run. Incidentally, I have transcribed this as printed, and several of the times for G Stock are listed out of order or the times are typos! The Canon Spl was the gull-winged car with a 240 Offy. Ernie McAfee was, alas, killed in the same Ferrari at Pebble Beach a few weeks later. The car was a beast to handle; those who saw it say he missed a shift and locked up the brakes coming into the bottom tight turn. He was a first-rate driver at this time.
I’m a bit ashamed to admit I can’t identify this car that was captured on the road by the Google Street View camera. The lines of the rear fender seem Italian to me, but the right-hand drive suggests British. Maybe a Morgan? Do you know this one? Drop some knowledge in the comments.
Unfortunately, whoever found it didn’t include a link. 9-eyes via Kottke.
The title of this post might seem hyperbolic at first, but in many ways it’s fair to say that the Fred Wacker Allard J2 made the American public think twice about opening their streets to road racing. The early 1950s were an amazing time for American racing; a time when both enthusiasts and local governments were having a remarkable love affair with street racing. Small towns could close their streets for a weekend, invite some barnstorming sports car drivers to town to have a bit of a race, and tens of thousands of spectators would flood the town’s restaurants and hotels. There seemed no end to the tourism and local business dollars that could be raised for little more than the cost of some hay bales and few extra police officers on duty.
The Fred Wacker Allard J2 at the 1950 running of the Watkins Glen Road Races
That romance came to a swift and brutal breakup during the 1952 running of the Watkins Glen road races, when this Allard piloted by Chicagoan Fred Wacker (a fascinating sportsman that I’m sure we’ll examine in greater depth in the future) had a brief tussle with a Cunningham. During the second lap of the featured race of the weekend, Wacker was following the Briggs Cunningham and John Fitch Cunninghams up Franklin Street as they approached the state park. Fitch began to prepare for the right hander by heading to the left side of the racing line, crowding Wacker’s Allard. They both swerved a bit when they realized how close they were to one another: Fitch back to the right, Wacker edging more to the left; closer to the throngs of spectators at the side of the street. The Allard’s back end came out slightly, clipping the curb and throwing the car’s rear into a group of people sitting on the curb(!). A 7 year old boy was killed, and 10 others were injured.
Fred Wacker and crew at the 1950 Watkins Glenn
There had been injuries at other runnings of American road races, including the fatal crash of Sam Collier during the 1950 Watkins. While safety efforts ramped up a bit, the bulk of the danger seemed limited to the drivers. If these swashbuckling racing drivers wanted to take their lives in their own hands, communities continued to allow in on their streets. Once spectators were in harm’s way, however, community sponsored road racing all but dried up overnight. The close-call between drivers and an overcorrection to avoid a crash happens dozens of times every race weekend, but the proximity of spectators turned what should have been a minor racing incident into a tragedy for the sport.
It’s easy to mourn the loss of small-town races, and easy to imagine how great they might have grown through the 50’s had this crash not spotted the entire sport in American eyes. But the truth is that spectator safety standards were so lacking that it was only a matter of time before an incident like this would have happened. Even so, it’s a shame that rather than take more gradual steps to increase safety for spectators and drivers, we saw the rapid extinction of the road race. While that extinction created the great American racing palaces that would come (Road America, Lime Rock, The Glen), I would sure like to see (legal) wheel-to-wheel racing on public roads again.
I adore the use of leaf springs in the Cooper Mk IV. When the FIA settled on a 500cc specification for the new International Formula 3 series they made a lot of motorcycle engine manufacturers and British garagistas very happy.
This iteration of the Cooper 500 has long been my favorite. It looks like a WWII fighter plane fuselage on wheels. It is small. it is nimble. It is utilitarian. It is—dare I say—cute. My friend Eric is always mocking me for my love of ‘cute’ cars, but I make no apologies. I’d rather race this humble little insect of a machine than most meaner, more muscular, more intimidating racers.
More of the absolutely stunning Guerry & Prat studio shots at their gallery page. More info on the Mark IV and the 500cc Formula at 500Race.org.
