Ordinarily when you roll your Ferrari 500 TR you might start to think of contingency plans—particularly in 1958 when they weren’t the precious objects they are today. Re-bodied special? Sell her for parts?
That this shop looked at the damaged hulk and said, “yeah, we can fix that” is admirable. That they pulled it off so successfully is remarkable. That this level of skill and craftsmanship likely wasn’t even that unusual and that coachbuilders of this caliber were probably working in every major metropolitan area is spectacular.
That these skills are largely forgotten is tragic.
More photos and the accompanying article from a 1958 issue of Tekniikan Maailma on Forum-Auto.
If the Ferraris in Justin Lapriore’s “Past Glory” don’t make you want to clear your calendar for next year’s Amelia Island Concours, I don’t know what will. Love that these jewels are being driven. Can you imagine this crew passing you on a country road?
Have I told you lately how much I love it when people digitize their old 8mm footage of races? Just look at the clips from the pits of the Hippie 917 with its cover still sitting on it carelessly. Just look at the Ferraris being lowered from the truck. Just look at the sheer madness of the flares on the class winning Greder/Rouget Corvette. Just. look. at. it. And that’s all before the opening parade.
I’m sort of surprised that Wes Anderson hasn’t bitten this dude’s lap update compositions.
The juxtaposition of the modernity of Czech architect Jan Kaplický’s design of the main museum with the restored Ferrari workshop makes for a marvelous set of bookends that describes Ferrari’s progression as a manufacturer. I can’t help but think that Kaplicky’s design (brought to fruition after his death by his protegé Andrea Morgante) considered the power of that; of showcasing the humble industrial-era workshop that was Ferrari’s foundations alongside the bold color and sweeping technological sophistication of the museum building.
On it’s face, I’m not terribly fond of this architectural style, despite it’s echoes of a Ferrari bonnet. But, this splash of hyper-modernism within the more gritty industrial landscape of this section of Modena makes such a powerful architectural statement not as a building, but as a part of the wider geography. It’s just incredible. Oh, and there are Ferraris in it.
BARCboys‘ photo archives never fail to turn up a unique angle on the races they travelled to. Dave Nicholas’ shots from the 1965 Sebring Endurance Race are no exception. The race was a wet one and the sparse accommodations for spectators at the race makes me wonder if a greater percentage of competitors or spectators made it to the end of the race. Thankfully, Dave stuck it out to document the race.
What interests me just as much, though, are these images that Dave managed to capture of the Mecom team making some final preparations on Friday night—and look like they could well have been included in our factories at work series. I always enjoy seeing the pit facilities from years past and while Sebring may be an extreme example owing to its reputation as a “primitive racetrack”, the team garages at LeMans or Monaco were little better.
Seeing the Hansgen/Donohue Ferrari 250LM and Cannon/Saunders Lola T70 wedged in here between the tractor and the steel tubing, though, really illustrates the shocking range of difference in amenities between contemporary racing facilities and those of 40 or 50 years ago. This is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about when I talk about the kinship that vintage racing teams had with Hot Rod garages. They were damn near the same thing.
Walt Hansgen and Mark Donohue’s Ferrari 250 LM finished 11th overall (4th in class). John Cannon and Jack Saunders qualified in 6th, and were fast runners in the opening laps of the race, but dropped out with a failed oil cooler after 55 laps. More of Dave Nicholas’ photos on BARC Boys’ 1965 Sebring Gallery. Sports Car Digest did a lovely profile of the race that’s well worth a read.
Love this shot of a sign painter at work from the USA Diligence Flickr stream of Jim Kimberly’s Ferrari 166 MM being prepared for a race at Palm Springs. Check out more of Kimberly’s Ferrari here.
These images from a wonderful thread on Pasion a la Velocidad reminds me that road racing in the Americas was so much larger than we typically remember today. For every Sebring or Paramount Ranch or Bahamas Speed Week or Argentine GP, there were countless communities that closed off a few blocks and made a weekend of it.
Stanguellini Formula Jr.
Ferrari at Premio Trinidad
Panhard at La Trinidad 1959
Again, I’m struck by the beauty of these tropical racing venues. These vistas from the Circuito Cuidad Satelite la Trinidad prove that the views from the countryside surrounding Caracas, Venezuela were every bit as majestic as those from Sicily or Brescia.
See the full thread for even more photos and remembrances from the Venezuelan road racing community.
Ferrari: Modena Italia presenta: 166 millemiglia. 250 millemiglia.
Love the high-contrast illustration style in this page from a 1953 Ferrari brochure. I’ve looked high and low for a higher resolution image with no luck, so I can’t read the listed specifications. Anyone have any idea what the olympic rings are doing here?
Update:I found another page from a 1955 Ferrari brochure that uses a graphical device similar to the olympic rings and discusses championship wins. Were the interlocking olympic-style rings used more generically to symbolize international competition in the years before the International Olympic Committee cracked down on unauthorized use? Worth noting that the graphical device used in the ’55 brochure page bears a resemblance to the Auto Union/Audi rings. Curiouser and curiouser.
I’ve sat on this photo for a while now. Partially because I couldn’t identify when this was at Ferrari. If I was a better sportscar trainspotter, I could probably identify the era of this photograph based on the parts in the background. Hell, I’m sure some Ferrari Chat members can identify the technicians in this image. So it’s just been sitting on my hard drive. Were these guys casting 166MM engine cases? or 375 F1 transmission housings? I don’t know. But this image kept being something I wanted to share, because despite how little I do know about this photo, there’s one thing I’m sure of: It wasn’t that long ago that there wasn’t much difference between a World Championship team and a bunch of SoCal hot rodders.
