There’s a precious shortage of Bandini videos online, particularly those shot in period. Thankfully the Bandini family are releasing some of the archives onto YouTube. This video shows a 1959 Bandini 750 “Saponetta” Sport tested at Modena and a Formula Junior on an airport straight in 1960.
Bellissimo!
As always, Etceterini’s Bandini page is the ultimate online resource.
Answer: The guy who still has it today.
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.
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.
I can think of worse ways to spend the next few minutes than riding shotgun with Walter Röhrl in the Porsche Museum’s 6-cylinder 904 GTS. Love the heel-toe cam!
via Top Gear
“So much of this racetrack in some way resembles Monaco” says Jackie Stewart in his narration of the pace lap in this broadcast of the 1982 Detroit Grand Prix. I can’t think of much higher praise for a racing course.
This wasn’t just the first Formula 1 race on the city streets of Detroit. It wasn’t just the first F1 race in America’s Mid-West. It was my first Formula 1 race. I’ve written before about the impact the Detroit Grand Prix had on me as a young boy, but finding the entirety of the race on YouTube was an opportunity I couldn’t overlook.
I’m eager to see the return of the USGP, and the Austin facility looks like it will be a good one, but after seeing this video, I can’t help but wish it was being run down Austin’s famous 6th Street than in a purpose-built facility.
The 12 Hours of Sebring is just 2 weeks away. While the running LeMans style start we see here in the 1965 race is sadly a thing of the past, I feel obliged to take notice of it each year on the racing calendar. The Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix of Endurance has always been America’s greatest toehold into international sportscar racing and—despite the changes that continue to plague contemporary motorsport—will always have a place in my heart each year alongside Monaco and LeMans.
This video, like our last look at Sebring, comes courtesy of Nigel Smuckatelli’s Flickr stream. Regarding the tremendous start Delmo Johnson’s Corvette had, Nigel says, “According to my research Delmo Johnson had the car in gear so when he hit the starter he took off. Also he didn’t bother buckling his seat belt or close his door. Not sure if you could tell but when he pulled out of his space and made a right to go down the track the door flew open. For more than a full lap he had to hold tightly onto the steering wheel because, on that rough track, he almost got thrown out of his seat. By the second lap he had managed to get buckled in.” Yipe! Nigel wrote an article about the ’65 race for Sports Car Digest last year. Check it out.
I forgot how much I like the old-style Goodyear Blimp.
Update: Much more footage from the ’65 12 Hours of Endurance here.
Quite the prize for the slot car championships of 1964. A new Ford Mustang and a $2000 scholarship is enough to make anyone’s slot controller trigger finger itchy.
There seems to be very little information out there about the Baby-Vanderbilt; presumably a support race for the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup; held that year in San Francisco as part of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Unlike the Vanderbilt, which ran as a longer road race throughout the area, the Baby-Vanderbilt seems to have been run entirely within the grandstand area as a sort of miniature circle-track race. This image is from a stereoscope of the start of the race, and provides a rare opportunity to see an early 3D(ish) image of a cyclecar race. I’ve animated it here to approximate the 3D view the stereoscope provides.
In my searches for more information, I came across a marvelous post at The Garage Blog telling the story of motorcyclist Bob Mibach pausing to dig through the chicken coop at a farm with a “motorcycles for sale” sign. In a moment of barn-find perfection, he came upon one of the Baby Vanderbilt racers: an Indian twin powered and very restorable little pile of smiles. Could it have been the Indian-powered machine that propelled Harry Hartz to victory in 1915?
There seems to be precious little information out there on the Baby-Vanderbilt. Here’s a thread on the Nostalgia Forum, that mentions film of the event that doesn’t seem to be online any longer. Please pass along any more info if you come across it.
They may be faster. They may be more comfortable. They may be more practical. But modern sportscars—even modern supercars—absolutely get their asses handed to them when it comes to engine sound. Case in point, the 1967 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale.
The 8C Competizione, as remarkable as it is, never stood a chance.
From Nigel Smuckatelli’s tremendous Flickr stream comes this alarming bit of late-50’s sportscar madness.
The 1959 Sebring 12 Hours practice sessions bedeviled the teams with frequent hard downpours. Despite being able to prepare for rain during the main event, it looks from this footage that the sliced tires that passed for rain-tech in the day weren’t quite up to snuff. The first half of the race started normally enough; with Ferraris and Lister-Jaguars battling it out for the top spots. At half distance though, the sky opened up and that’s when this footage kicks in.
Here you’ll see Ricardo Rodriguez’s OSCA hydroplane and spin. He brought the car home in 47th, which looks from the results to be the second to lowest finishing car—although given the low displacement, it was within 90 seconds of the Index of Performance winning Laureau/Armagnac D.B. Panhard. Later Bob Holbert’s Porsche RSK performs a similar dance move, but he fared better in the race overall with a class win (fourth overall). Robert Roloson’s Stanguellini though, ups the ante with the terrifying crash at the close of the video; Hitting a pole hard and flying up in the air like your little brother’s Hot Wheels. Despite the car being destroyed by the hard crash, Robert can be seen jogging out of harm’s way in the aftermath, after the Stanguellini is lifted up off of him by a group of 6 or 8 people(!). Terrifying!
Nigel says that the car’s owner, Sandy MacArthur, sold the wreck for $100 and the drivetrain and rear axle found its way into a Crosley Special.
We last looked at the 1959 Sebring 12 Hours in August of 2009.
Making of the Shell/Ferrari ad “Circuit”:
The ad in question: