Let’s see how shrewd we can be with our trades. Pull out your shoebox of Topps World on Wheels cards and let’s get down to business.
From the card’s reverse:
“The Healey is an extremely light, very rugged car… build for competition. It is designed to stand racing abuse, and provide with moderate power a performance that cannot be equalled in its class. In seven seconds, this car can reach fifty miles per hour from a standing start!”
That zero-to-fifty time might not sound impressive today, but I guarantee you look better doing it in this Healey Silverstone than you would in any of the contemporary production sports cars that can achieve 60 in half this time.
After yesterday’s Lola T260 illustration post, KABay was kind enough to point us to this treasure trove of Werner Bührer’s illustrations of racing cars for Powerslide Magazine (and republished by Road & Track) ed: Thanks, M Needforspeed. Once I saw it, I knew I wouldn’t be able to let it just sit there in the comments: This is front-page material!
Spread out those trading cards on the bedroom floor and let’s make some trades!
From the card’s reverse:
The Twin Tanker is probably the first of its type to be built in the United States, and is patterned after an Italian design. The tanks, about three and one-half feet apart, are connected by a cross-piece through which all the controls run. The engine is in the right tank, and the controls in the left. Steel tubing and plates reinforce the interior of the tanks to make them strong and safe.
Strong and safe… riiiiiight.
More from the Topps World on Wheels trading card series in the archives.
Cruzin’ World’s line of jewelry featuring miniature engines in precious metals is magnificently executed. I’m typically not one for a lot of rings, but this beats the hell out of another skull and crossed bones. Now if they’ll just add a tiny Columbo 12 cylinder Ferrari 250 or a Type 547 4-cam to their lineup, then I’ll have start learning to type with more stuff on my hands.
Via A Sack of Hammers
Look at this behind-the-scenes production photo of James Garner on the set of Grand Prix and tell me that the Go-Pro isn’t a little electronic miracle. via Time Wasting Machine
The card box is open. Grab your set of Topps World on Wheels cards and let’s trade.
Enzo Ferrari, once a racing driver himself, decided he wanted a car exactly to his own design. He hired an engineer to translate his ideas into facts, and the famous Ferrari racing car was the result. Ferraris have chalked up an amazing record of wins on almost every track in Europe. In addition to this car, Ferrari also makes the most advanced unsupercharged sports car in the world today.
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.
It’s a shame that the original patron and pilot who owned these armbands aren’t identified. Whoever they were, I’m a little surprised that the driver’s identification is in better shape than the sponsor’s. I would imagine that 1,910 miles of Mexican road dust would shred that piece of fabric during the race, but here it is looking damned good 60 years later. (The auction lists it as a “sponsor” armband, but I’ve also seen “patrocinador” used to mean “team owner”.)
Buy it now at $1,995. Sounds expensive to me too, but when are you going to see another one of these—let alone two of them?
Sure, Tag Heuer still markets their watches—particularly the Carrera and Monaco—with racing imagery, but they’re far more likely to do so with famous faces than by evoking the spirit of motor racing. With these older catalogs I can project myself into the race car. Today’s marketing angle seems to be, “Be like Leonardo DiCaprio, buy a Tag-Heuer”.
I was traveling to Washington DC and was invited to meet up with family for dinner at Clyde’s in Chevy Chase, MD. As I approached the door I spotted a Bugatti 52 in the window acting as a simple table decoration, which is impressive enough on it’s own, and turned to my wife with a quick, “If that’s real they spent quite a bit on the interior of this place.” That wasn’t half of it. I walked in the front door to be immediately greeted with a 2-story mural of a 1920’s era road race with a battling Bentley and Bugatti leading the way. Peering down the spiral stairway revealed a Jaguar XKSS on display. Again, I said, “now if THAT is real, they spent QUITE a bit on the interior of this place”.
Midget racer at Clyde’s of Chevy Chase
The entire lower floor of the place is bedecked with vintage posters from both international grand prix and local dirt track races. In addition to the XKSS, there’s a Morgan 3-wheeler and a midget racer perched above the bar. Wrapping around the entire lower floor bar is an enormous second mural featuring pre-war racers and various sportscar marques. Upstairs sharing space with the Bugatti 52 are more period kiddie carts: an MG and a Rolls. Amazing.
In short, it’s the Mid-Atlantic’s answer to the Siebken’s bar. It’s always depressing to find a great new hangout only to realize that you live hundreds of miles away from it.
My web searches since I’ve returned home seem to indicate that the Jaguar is indeed authentic. Can anyone confirm?
