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1907 RENAULT RACER: 1 OF 5 LEFT IN THE WORLD

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The 300 SL gullwing redefined the sports car

POWER TO THE PORSCHE: A 914 GETS A 911 ENGINE TRANSPLANT

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TRIUMPH RESTORATION: A TR6 BUILT TO BE DRIVEN

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Contents November 2016

Volume 12, Issue 3

Classic Life

Workshop

6 News & Views Hilton Head beckons; Hershey serves up Italian

68 Restoration Profile A TR6 gets spared from a parts-car fate

8 Lost & Found A trove of glossy 8 x 10s from vintage Watkins Glen

74 Fix It Again, Tony What to do when a shovel falls on your Ferrari

10 The Goods Gulf colors for your closet; lost road courses book

76 Supply Side Getting a bead on Englebert 78 Garage Gear Align your own wheels, and cool your exhaust

12 International News Updates on great events from around the globe

Marketplace

14 My Car & Me A 1968 Datsun Sunny was worth its $80 price

80 Buyer’s Guide Experience the delights of the Lancia Aurelia GT

16 In Our Garage Nancy’s Volvo hits a snag; Dan’s MGB moves on

86 Auction Profile A strong New England debut for Barrett-Jackson

18 In Your Garage A rare DKW cabrio, and a BMW buy rating

90 Auction News Notable sales near and far

20 Visionaries Frank Nichols, creator of the Elva sports racer

92 Classic Ads When competition improves the bottom line

22 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL The gullwing was a legend from the start

Columns

30 1953 Alpine Sports This sleek two-seater is a study in sophistication

65 Bob Austin Bonding over breakdowns

4 David LaChance Goodbye to our MGB

67 Richard Lentinello Consider a project car

34 1907 Renault 35/45 Inspired by the winner of the world’s first grand prix

96 Satch Carlson A sea-to-shining-sea dash

42 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix A record turnout, on the track and the show field

48 Driveable Dream This 1967 Volvo 122S is a tough and endearing Swede

52 Modified 914 Replicating the desirable, 911-powered 914/6

58 Historic Racing Sebring 1971: Last hurrah for the big prototypes

62 Readers’ Replies

2 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

ON THe COVeR

After waiting for the rain to pass through, West Coast Associate Editor Jeff Koch captured the beauty of this 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL in Scottsdale, Arizona.

• November 2016

PUBLISHER Jim Menneto, President EDITORIAL Terry McGean, Editor-in-Chief Richard Lentinello, Executive Editor David LaChance, Editor Nancy Bianco, Managing Editor J. Daniel Beaudry, Managing Editor Thomas A. DeMauro, Senior Editor Jim Donnelly, Senior Editor Matthew Litwin, Senior Editor Mark J. McCourt, Senior Editor Kurt Ernst, Editor, Hemmings Daily Mike McNessor, Editor, Hemmings Motor News Daniel Strohl, Web Editor David Conwill, Associate Editor Jeff Koch, West Coast Associate Editor Terry Shea, Associate Editor Tom Comerro, Editorial Assistant Jim O’Clair, Columnist/Parts Locator Edward Heys, Design Editor Jill Burks, Graphic Designer Judi Dell’Anno, Graphic Designer Zach Higgins, Graphic Designer CONTRIBUTORS: Bob Austin, Satch Carlson, Louis Galanos Tony Pearson, John Schieffelin, Russell von Sauers ADVERTISING Jeff Yager, Director of Advertising Tim Redden, Internet Sales Manager Ken DeVries, Senior Account Executive Randy Zussman, Senior Account Executive Account Executives: James Hurley, Tim McCart, Lesley McFadden, Heather Naslund, Mark Nesbit, David Nutter, Collins Sennett, Bonnie Stratton, Stephanie Sigot, Advertising Coordinator MARKETING Dan Stoner, Marketing Director CIRCULATION Scott Smith, Circulation Director Kathy Ryder, Circulation Manager Sandy Beddie, Bev Breese, Peg Brownell, Peter Church, Dorothy Coolidge, Donna Goodhue, Eleanor Gould, Amy Hansen, Maureen Johnson, Sunny Litwin, Merri Mattison, Alaina Seddon, Amy Surdam CLASSIFIED SALES/GRAPHIC SERVICES Jennifer Sandquist, Director Jeanne Bourn, Classified Manager Carol Wigger, Graphic Services Manager Mary Pat Glover, Graphic Services Coordinator Jennifer Bono, Allen Boulet, Tammy Bredbenner, Mary Brott, Raina Burgess, Samantha Corey, Nicole Deuel, Christopher Drayton, Karen Gaboury, Carrie Houlihan, Adelaide Jaquith, Harlan Kip, Linda Knapp, Paige Kwasniak, Peg Mulligan, Rob Randall, Abby Shapiro, Joshua Skibbee, Missy Telford INFORMATION SERVICES Gregory Hunter, IS Director Robin Burdge, Jeremy Meerwarth HEMMINGS DIGITAL Steve Berry, General Manager May King, Web Developer Kendall Carey ADMINISTRATION Mari Parizo, Business Manager Jessica Campbell, Freda Waterman FACILITIES Rick Morse, Supervisor Steve Adams, Brad Babson, Paul Bissonette, Joe Masia CAR SHOW REPRESENTATIVES Trisha Grande, Car Show/Event Manager Carson Cameron, Rob Ware

Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car is published monthly by Hemmings Motor News ISSN# 1555-6867 www.hemmings.com 222 Main St., Bennington, Vermont 05201

• To Subscribe: Call: 800-227-4373 ext. 79550, or 802-442-3101 ext. 79550 Fax: 802-447-9631 Mail: 222 Main St., Bennington, Vermont 05201 Mail: P.O. Box 196, Bennington, Vermont 05201 E-mail: hmnsubs@hemmings.com; Online: www.hemmings.com Subscription rates in U.S. and Possessions 12 issues for $18.95, Canada $30.95 (price includes surface mail and GST tax). All other countries $32.95 in U.S. funds. • To Advertise: Call: 800-227-4373 ext. 79630 or 802-442-3101 ext. 79630 E-mail: adsales@hemmings.com Online: www.hemmings.com Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 76, Bennington, VT 05201, or call 800-227-4373. Periodicals postage paid at Bennington, Vermont, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, P.O. Box 196, Bennington, Vermont 05201 Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car is a publication of American City Business Journals, Inc. 120 West Morehead St., Charlotte, NC 28202 Ray Shaw, Chairman (1989-2009) Whitney Shaw, CEO

David LaChance The Good News Garage had decided to sell the car at no reserve, so it was assured of going home with its ﬁrst private owner in nearly a decade.

4 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

dlachance@hemmings.com

Farewell, lot 83, and good luck It’s been nearly two years since I’ve had the keys to our project 1979 MGB in my pocket, but the passage of time has done nothing to lessen my fondness for that car. The fact that my name has never been on the title hasn’t kept me from developing protective feelings toward it, and so when it was scheduled to cross the block at the New England Auto Auction of the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine, I knew where I had to be. For the benefit of newcomers to the magazine who might not have caught any one of our 50-something installments about the restoration of that car, I should explain that the MGB came to us from the Good News Garage, a New England-based charity that provides cars to needy families. The MGB was a scruffy runner when it was donated to them, and our job was to restore it to excellent mechanical and physical condition, and give it back to them to sell to raise money for their programs. It took us seven years, but we kept our end of the bargain. And we were only able to do so with the help of unbelievably generous specialists and amateur mechanics, and the donation of thousands of dollars’ worth of parts by dozens of suppliers. Over Columbus Day weekend 2014, senior editor Mark J. McCourt and I delivered the car from Hemmings to GNG headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, by the scenic route, putting 600 trouble-free shakedown miles on the roadster while visiting all six New England states. That was the last time I drove it. But when I reencountered it at Owls Head, on display at the Friday auction preview, it looked as crisp and fresh as it had the day we finished it. Better, maybe, thanks to the detailing done by the museum’s volunteers. The Good News Garage had decided to sell the car at no reserve, so it was assured of going home with its first private owner in nearly a decade. If you’ve ever sold a car through an auction—I hadn’t, and still haven’t, because this wasn’t my car, technically speaking—you’ll appreciate the mix of hope and dread and worry I was feeling as potential bidders circled the MG. Could they sense the care that had gone into its restoration? I answered questions from some interested folks, and crossed my fingers. The auction began on Saturday morning at 9:30 sharp. The MGB had been assigned lot number 83 out of 214, so I expected it would cross the block before lunch. It was in a string of foreign cars that also included a Datsun 2000 roadster with blacked-out trim, a pair of really clean VW Beetles and a nicely restored TVR 280i. There were three other MGBs in the auction,

• November 2016

and you can be sure I had scoped out the competition. Two were also rubber-bumper cars, but the third was a chrome-bumper roadster that had been restored to a high standard. That car was two lots after our car. Would that affect the outcome? One of the MGBs, a white roadster that had undergone a complete restoration, was just the fourth vehicle to cross the block. It was offered with no reserve, and my heart was in my throat as I watched auctioneer John Bottero work hard to get a high bid of $3,300 from the crowd. Let’s just say it wasn’t reassuring—the GNG’s car carried an estimate of $10,000 to $14,000. Soon enough, lot 83’s turn neared. The Datsun sold for $7,000, which I considered a fair price; a 1967 Beetle brought a respectable $8,250, while the 1979 Beetle convertible that came next failed to meet reserve at $7,000. The TVR, too, was a no-sale, at a high bid of $8,500. Then it was our car’s turn. I stood and turned to watch the sizable crowd as the car was driven onto the block. Ethan Yankura, the museum’s curator and education director, was providing the bidders with descriptions of the lots before the bidding began, and he detailed the story of the MG’s restoration, and of what its sale would mean to the families who depend on the Good News Garage. Auctioneer Kaja Veilleux, who had relieved Bottero, then got the bidding started. If the opening bid of $5,000 helped to settle my butterflies, the pace of the bidding made me hopeful. A counter of $5,500 quickly went to $6,000, with a jump to $7,000. I couldn’t make out the bidders in the crowd from my vantage point, but the price continued its climb: $7,500, $8,000, $8,500, $9,000, $9,500, $10,000. We had achieved respectability, at the low end of the museum’s estimate, but the bidders weren’t done yet. “Ten-five!” Veilleux called out. “Eleven! Elevenfive! Twelve! Twelve-five! Thirteen!” At the last moment, in jumped a new bidder, with an offer of $13,500. What had I been worried about? Going once, going twice, and our MG had a new owner. I didn’t catch sight of the buyer, though I passed word through the auction staff that I’d love to hear from them. Our MG was dubbed the “Project Car with a Heart” by my predecessor, Craig Fitzgerald, in reference to the charity that would benefit. And there’s an awful lot of heart that’s gone into that car, too. Our volunteer workers, including many of my colleagues, and I put long hours into making that MG the very best we could. I hope everyone involved finds this ending as rewarding as I do. And I hope the new owner drives the wheels off it. That would be the perfect epilogue.

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1966 Jaguar E-Type Roadster

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Classic Life NEWS & VIEWS

BY MARK J. McCOURT

• MMCCOURT@HEMMINGS.COM

Events Calendar NOVEMBER

5 Hagerty Show & Shine at Circuit of The Americas Sportscar Vintage Racing Association; Austin, Texas; 863-698-8620; www.svra.com

6 Best of France and Italy Van Nuys, California; 626-797-4221; www.franceanditaly.com

10-13 Daytona Historics Historic Sportscar Racing; Daytona Beach, Florida; 727-573-1340; hsrrace.com

18-27 Los Angeles Auto Show Los Angeles, California; 310-444-1850; laautoshow.com

Amore della Strada As this issue is being put together in early August, our friends at the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, are putting the ﬁnal touches on their exciting new winter exhibit, titled Amore della Strada, or Love of the Road. This will be a display of Italian cars and motorcycles, with a bent for the exotic and obscure. Open from November 19, 2016, through April 22, 2017, this display will include stylish microcars like an Autobianchi Bianchina 140B and Vespa 400, two-seat sports cars like a 1952 Siata 300 BC Sports Spider, 1978 Ferrari 308 GTB and 1995 Ferrari 512M, as well as luxury GTs like a 1973 Alfa Romeo Montreal and 1974 De Tomaso Longchamps. Fans of two-wheel transport will enjoy a Maserati bicycle, Isomoto 125 GTD and a Ducati Paso 906, and their Piaggio Ape delivery van adds a wheel to bring the total to three. Museum hours and directions are available online at www.aacamuseum.org, or by calling 717-566-7100.

20 Volkswagen Border Jam Oil Drippers VW Car Club; Laredo, Texas; 956-319-7433; www.smore.com/ 9txbf-6th-annual-vw-border-jam

RICHARD LENTINELLO

25 Day After Thanksgiving Fun Lane Motor Museum; Nashville, Tennessee; 615-742-7445; www.lanemotormuseum.org

25-27 Turkey Bowl XX Vintage Racer Group; Summit Point, West Virginia; 305-420-4929; vrgonline.org Visit the Hemmings Car Clubs pages at www.hemmings.com for news and information on over 1,400 car clubs!

Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car would like to hear about activities or national meetings for clubs focused on imported cars. Send details of upcoming events at least three months in advance, or photographs and a few paragraphs about recent events, to: Mark J. McCourt; Club News c/o Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car; P.O. Box 904; Bennington, Vermont 05201. Email: mmccourt@hemmings.com.

6 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival A major highlight of the autumnal automotive calendar is the Hilton Head Motoring Festival and Concours d’Elegance, which attracts some incredible machinery and thousands of appreciative spectators to the balmy South Carolina coast. The festival kicks off in nearby Savannah, Georgia, with the Savannah Speed Classic road races (October 28-30), then picks up the following Friday with the new Flights & Fancy Aeroport Gala— cocktail attire required! Saturday offers

the choice of the Car Club Showcase, Aero Expo, and the Hilton Head Island Auction hosted by Auctions America. On Sunday, at the Port Royal Golf Club, the Concours d’Elegance will take place. As in previous years, a portion of the festival proceeds will beneﬁt Driving Young America, a charitable fund that encourages automotive education for young people. Event ticket pricing and pre-purchase tickets are available through the website, www.hhiconcours.com.

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Classic Life

LOST & FOUND

BY DAVID LaCHANCE

• DLACHANCE@HEMMINGS.COM

Name that race The six photos seen here were sent in to us by subscriber Bill McCoskey, who acquired them recently at a local auction. Bill believes that the 8 x 10 prints may be from the very ﬁrst Watkins Glen race in 1948, and so do we. “The race was full of incredible prewar European cars,” he says. Can anyone identify the cars and drivers pictured, and let us know if any of those cars are in existence today? “Of special interest to me is the Alfa [car #35], as I think it may have been the one that burned in a barn ﬁre in 1973, where I stored my cars while I was in the Army.”

Recently discovered an unusual or noteworthy car? Share it with our readers. Photographs, commentary, questions and answers can be submitted to Lost & Found, c/o Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, P.O. Box 904, Bennington, Vermont 05201, or emailed to dlachance@hemmings.com.

8 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

Now Inviting Consignments Official Auction House of

Sold $160,000 Sold $79,200 Sold $265,000

Sold $407,000

2016 U.S. Vintage National Championship | 9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd, Austin, TX Tel: +1.512.813.0636 | info@motostalgia.com | www.motostalgia.com

Inviting Consignments

Classic Life

THE GOODS

BY MARK J. McCOURT, JIM DONNELLY AND DAVID LaCHANCE

KIDNEY CLIPS

The famous twin-kidney grille of the Bavarian Motor Works has been a marque trademark since the 1930s, and those kidneys have evolved notably through the decades. BMW is celebrating that evolution with this Paper Clips Set (item #80282411122), which is both stylish and functional, and perfect for the aﬁcionado’s ofﬁce or home. The round aluminum and zinc box is embossed with the BMW wordmark and kidney grille design, and it houses a supply of quality 0.1-mm steel wire paper clips that cleverly echo those varying grille shapes. Cost: $12.50. Contact: BMW USA; 800-831-1117; www.shopbmwusa.com

THE BLUE AND ORANGE

Few team liveries have more recognition among automotive enthusiasts than Gulf’s blue and orange colors from the 1960s, which were prominently featured on the Ford GT, Porsche 917 and other period race cars. This T-shirt (item #MP2013W2) celebrates the Mirage M.10003 Ford that won the 1967 Spa 1,000-kilometer race, driven by Jacky Ickx and Dick Thompson. It’s made of 100-percent ring-spun, pre-shrunk cotton, comes in sizes Medium-XXL, and features a small Gulf logo on the left front chest, with larger Gulf Endurance Racing graphics on the back. This shirt shows you don’t have to spend a lot to look cool. Cost: $26.99. Contact: California Car Cover Co.; 800-423-5525; www.calcarcover.com

LOST ROAD COURSES It’s true in general that for all the exposure racing gets on TV nowadays, the events are contested at fewer and fewer venues. With land prices strong and promotion being a risky proposition, too many competition venues have been sucked into the great, insatiable maw of redevelopment. This is a follow-on volume to two very well-received books CarTech has done on departed drag-racing strips. Now, historian Martin Rudow has gotten the call to produce a similar book on bygone road courses across the United States and Canada. Seventeen chapters in this 176-page softbound volume each deal with circuits that aren’t there anymore, ranging from A (Augusta, Georgia) to W (Westwood, British Columbia). The book is authoritative and richly illustrated. Cost: $29.95. Contact: CarTech, 800-551-4754, www.cartechbooks.com

10 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

30:30 JAY KOKA STUDIO

It takes guts, talent and vision to leave a well-paying steady job and strike out on one’s own into the uncertain world of ﬁne art— especially when there’s a growing family to support—but those qualities are what automotive ﬁne artist Jay Koka (www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2006/04/JayKoka/1281861.html) possesses in spades. Jay has commemorated three decades of his Jay Koka Studio with the autobiographical book, 30:30, representing 30 years and 30 of his most important paintings. This Automotive Fine Arts Society member has collected some incredible pieces, including background information on each one and, where available, comments from the collectors who now own them, and his own biography is fascinating. The 98-page hardcover itself is a work of art, and a great overview of the creative evolution of one of the automotive world’s most respected artists. Cost: $65 (including shipping to the U.S. and Canada). Contact: Jay Koka Studio; 519-650-3908; www.jaykokastudio.com

2011 NOBLE M600

A product of Britain’s Noble Automotive, the M600 has the right stuff to hang in there with the likes of the Bugatti Veyron, the Ferrari F430, the Koenigsegg CCX and the Lamborghini Aventador. It’s powered by a twin-turbo, 4.4-liter V-8 that makes 650 horsepower, cloaked in a carbon-fiber bodyshell. Top speed? An estimated 225 MPH. Noble famously turns its back on electronic driver assistance systems, making even ABS optional. For one of the world’s most exclusive cars, there’s now an exclusive producer of scale replicas: Automodello. Since its founding back in 2010, low-volume, high-performance British sports cars have been a particular specialty of the company. Automodello is producing three versions of the M600 in 1/43 scale: one in Baby Blue with a blue and black interior, one in CarbonSport Black with a red and black interior, and, not shown here, one in Midas Orange. These are beautifully detailed models, from their projector headlamps to their four separate taillamps. A replica of the V-8 is on display under the rear glass, as on the real car, and convincing gauges and controls can be glimpsed through the open driver’s window. The paint was flawless on our examples, and the very fine metalflake of the CarbonSport Black was particularly nice. Product codes: AM43-NOB-M60-BB (Baby Blue), AM43NOB-M60-CS (CarbonSport Black) and AM43-NOB-M60-DO (Midas Orange). Cost: $119 each. Contact: Diecasm, www.diecasm.com, 877-343-2276

Hemmings.com

• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

Classic Life

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

BY MARK J. McCOURT

• MMCCOURT@HEMMINGS.COM

UNITED KINGDOM

Back—with a Bullet London-based Bristol Cars, one of the most charismatic and quirky British automakers of the postwar era, has returned to relevance in a big way with the recent announcement of its new production model, a two-seat sports car called Bullet. Conceived to honor the 70th anniversary of Bristol Cars, to be celebrated in 2017, this is the ﬁrst new Bristol in a decade. Its in-house styling is heritage-inspired, referencing both the classic 405 coupe, and aircraft powered by Bristol engines. Rather than aluminum, this car’s chassis and bodywork are rendered in lightweight carbon composites, and this construction, combined with a luxurious interior, results in a

reasonable 2,425-pound curb weight. The “Hercules” 4.8-liter V-8 is BMW-sourced, this unit making 370 hp and 370-lb.ft. of torque and rekindling an association that dates back to the early, BMW-based Bristol cars. Both six-speed manual and automatic gearboxes will be available, and the company suggests a 0-62 MPH time of 3.8 seconds and a 155 MPH top speed. Bristol promises series production of the Bullet will begin in the first quarter of 2017, with 70 examples built at a price expected to be in the neighborhood of £250,000 (roughly $330,000). A plug-in hybrid GT flagship is rumored to follow. Visit www.bristolcars.co.uk for more images and details.

AUSTRALIA

Southern Cross, solid gold The ﬁrst Southern Cross Rally ran from Sydney to Melbourne and back, in 1966. This cloverleaf-style rally, with four competitive sections, included competitors like Paddy Hopkirk and Timo Mäkinen, and was won by “Flying Finn” Rauno Aaltonen in a Mini Cooper S. Fifty years later, the Southern Cross Gold Anniversary Rally will celebrate this internationally famous legacy with a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport-sanctioned event, organized by Victoria’s Historic Rally Association (www.hra.org.au). Just 70 entries will be allowed, with preference going to people and cars that competed in any of the original Southern Cross rallies held from 1966 through 1980. This special event is a touring road rally that covers roughly 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) over 11 days, covering much 12 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

of the original 1966 course, after starting in Albury. It ends in Coffs Harbour, where participants will join world rally championship cars competing in the 2016 World Rally Championship, Rally Australia. There are no fewer than 40 timed

competitive sections, and classic cars will be allowed to participate without major modifications. A fascinating history can be viewed at the event’s website, where regulations are available for download: southerncrossanniversaryrally.com.au.

FRANCE

In a case that may have ramiﬁcations across Europe and perhaps the world, French historic vehicle enthusiasts have convinced the authorities in Paris to provide an exemption to the city’s pending old-car ban for certain historic vehicles. That ban, announced last year but ﬁnalized in May, went into effect July 1, and restricts all pre-1997 vehicles from the streets of Paris between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Intended to combat the rising air pollution levels in the city, the ban will become stricter over time, by 2020 barring all vehicles built before 2011. Or, almost all. As the Fédération Française des Véhicules d’Epoque, the French arm of FIVA, announced on its website, members of the FFVE earlier this month reached an agreement with city officials to exempt historic vehicles from the ban. Under the terms of the agreement, any vehicle 30 years old or older wearing a Carte Grise de Collection registration sticker—as opposed to a Carte Grise Normale registration sticker — will be allowed in the city at all times. Vehicles wearing a Carte Grise Normale registration will continue to be banned, as will those less than 30 years old (a category known in Europe as “youngtimers”), though the FFVE has scheduled further meetings with Paris officials to address possible exemptions for youngtimers. Read the full story at HMN.com/Parisexempt. – By Daniel Strohl

ITALY

ARGENTINA

CHILE

MAURICIO LIMA

No ban for some Parisian classics

PERU

Rally of the Incas

The original Fiat 124 Spider, tuned by Abarth, had a notable competition history from the late 1960s that culminated in its participation in the 1976 Rallye Monte-Carlo. And Fiat has wasted no time in giving its new, Mazda MX-5-based 124 Spider the Abarth Rally treatment. This car, developed by the Abarth Racing team, is designed to compete in this year’s FIA R-GT class. It’s powered by a direct-injected, turbocharged 1.8-liter DOHC four making 300 hp at 6,500 RPM, a healthy increase from the standard production 1.4-liter engine’s 170 hp rating, and shifted through a six-speed sequential gearbox allied with a mechanical locking differential. This killer-looking rear-drive roadster features a roll cage under a fixed carbon-fiber hardtop, and sports a lower center of gravity and slightly rear-biased weight distribution for traction. Special front and rear suspension subframes are optimized for competition stresses, and hydraulic four-way shocks can be tuned for road surfaces. Each Abarth 124 Rally will be built to suit; learn more at racing.abarth.com/en_WW or by writing to 124rally@abarth.com.

ERA/GERARD BROWN

124 Spider rallies on

Pure driving adventure is its game, and Rally of the Incas is the name of the epic 27-day rally and tour of the western coast of South America. Hosted by the U.K.-based Endurance Rally Association, this event will take place between Sunday, November 13, and Friday, December 9. It travels through ancient Incan territories, beginning in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before following the Atlantic coast, heading past Chile’s Lake District into the high Andes mountains, through the barren Atacama Desert, and taking in Cusco, Lake Titicaca and Machu Picchu, and ending in Lima, Peru. This event is open to 40 cars of two categories: “Vintageant” pre-1941, and “Classic” production models built before 1975. Those participating vehicles will drive on asphalt, gravel and tarmac, as well as numerous South American racing circuits. The ERA promises to help ship cars to and from South America, for a stress-free, immersive experience. Thrill to the daily itinerary and see the list of registered vehicles at www.endurorally.com/pages/ rally-of-the-incas.

Hemmings.com

• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

Classic Life

MY CAR & ME

1968 Datsun 1000 Deluxe Jeremy Stiles Sea View, Prince Edward Island, Canada

n 1978, I was 17 years old and looking for my first car; and, with very little money in the bank, my options were limited. When I saw the Datsun 1000 Deluxe advertised for sale with a price tag of $100, I jumped on it. My father went with me as we drove across the city to check on the car. It was a dull two-door sedan that was as plain Jane as you could possibly get. During the course of the negotiation, the vehicle’s starter failed, and we had to push-start it in order to take it for a test drive. My father assured me that this was not a problem, and that he would be able to repair or replace the starter once we had the car home. I saw an opportunity to save a few dollars, and offered the seller the princely sum of $80 cash. Once we had the vehicle home, my dad was true to his word and repaired the starter. Having grown up near Coventry in England during the war, he had acquired a keen interest in cars. When he arrived in the Canadian Prairies in the late 1950s, he took up rally racing, and it wasn’t long before this led him to racing Datsuns: 510s, 610s and, by this time, a 240Z. When I purchased the 1000 Deluxe, our double garage was crammed full of spare parts and bits and pieces of various Datsuns. In the late 1970s, muscle cars were king among my friends in Calgary — Camaros, Challengers, Chargers, Malibus, GTOs, etc. I took a lot of ribbing showing up in my 10-year-old Datsun with a one-liter engine that produced 68 hp at 6,000 RPM! I remember one of my friends laughing out loud when he first saw it and then commenting on the “Deluxe” nameplate. “If this is the Deluxe model, what is the base model like?” The car did come with a radio, which I quickly augmented by installing a Craig Powerplay Cassette Deck with a built-in equalizer matched up to a pair of Philips speakers mounted in wooden cabinets and set in the back window. The stereo cost more than the car! Once the stereo was installed, it was time to take a road trip. Heading west, I went over the Rocky Mountains, which really put the car to the test. I spent two weeks traveling around the Kootenays and the southern Okanagan in 14 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

“

• November 2016

Though it wasn’t as ﬂashy as my friends’ cars, nor as powerful, the freedom and enjoyment that my little Sunny provided to me back then was limitless.

British Columbia, and the car performed flawlessly, with one noted exception. On the way back to Calgary, as I was negotiating the switchbacks of Highway 3 through Crowsnest Pass, the car was going very slow and had no power to accelerate. I stopped the car and proceeded to see if I could determine what, if anything, was wrong. I removed one spark plug lead at a time to verify that each of the four cylinders was indeed firing. My friend and I concluded that the car was working properly, and that it was just struggling with the weight and the climb. Once we reached the top of the pass and began our descent, the rest of the journey was completed without any further concerns. Though it wasn’t as flashy as my friends’ cars, nor as powerful, the freedom and enjoyment that my little Sunny provided me back then was limitless. With my

”

father’s help, tools and the gift of another 1000 Deluxe as a parts car, I was able to learn how to make simple repairs and keep the car on the road for the next couple of years.

WIN A CAP! Tell us about your adventures with cars, and if your story is chosen for publication, we’ll send you an official Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car baseball cap. Submit 500-600 words and one or two good-quality digital images (300 dpi or greater, please) to dlachance@ hemmings.com; you can also put the story and photos into an envelope and mail them to My Car & Me, Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, P.O. Box 904, Bennington, Vermont 05201. Thanks!

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Classic Life

IN OUR GARAGE

VOLVO

NANCY BIANCO, MANAGING EDITOR 1967 122S STATION WAGON

1967 Volvo back among the living. As soon as I tried to put it into fourth, I realized that something was very wrong. I couldn’t even get it into fourth gear at all without a loud grinding noise. The only way it would go into fourth was if I was going about 20 miles an hour, and even then, it popped out immediately. I had to drive all the way to work and home in third, a 10-mile round trip! This was not a very pleasant experience. So now, I guess I’m in the market for a used or rebuilt transmission. What else can go wrong? Stay tuned.

J. DANIEL BEAUDRY, MANAGING EDITOR 1971 MGB

16 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

Hemmings as informed as possible, and for a tune-up. Before I had even finished gathering the manuals, folder of records and any original parts that were to go along with the car, Hemmings friend Kurt Steele, president of the Boston Area MG club, had gotten wind of my intention. He told me that new club member Tom Leeds wanted to get back into MGs, and Julie sounded perfect for him. I sent a record of the work my dad and I had done, a few recent pictures and a list of areas of concern; I wanted Tom to know exactly what he was considering buying. Kurt and Tom came out and spent about two hours with the Dan, left, poses for one last photo beside car and me, and we agreed upon a price Julie, with new owner Tom Leeds. and filled out the paperwork that began the process of transferring ownership. I am glad that the process went so isn’t enough space in my garage. It also happened that, given my long daily com- quickly and smoothly and that Julie is mute, I had come to drive Julie less and going to a good new owner, and while less. Every time I’d walk past her, I’d have I believe Tom — who is enthusiastic and material feelings of guilt that she wasn’t kind — is just that fellow, I can’t help thinking of all the good memories in that out having fun. So, I took Julie in for a mechanical car and feeling a twinge of regret. Tom: inspection in order to make her listing in Take good care of her, okay? KURT STEELE

s I wrote in the September 2013 issue of HS&EC, my 1971 MGB I christened “Julie” was my first enthusiast car. I remember driving the roadster home from where I bought it in the Adirondacks in New York during the summer of 2010. Diving from the mountain heights — the coolness of the evergreen forest and the rush of wind on my face — was exhilarating. It was my first taste of open motoring, and I was addicted. The plan then was that my dad, a disabled veteran, and I would work on it together in what we anticipated would be the last car project he would be physically able to undertake (thankfully it was not). We completed it by the spring, and I’d been enjoying it ever since. And yet this past weekend I took a deposit to sell Julie. Why does a car guy ever let go of a car, especially one with such personal history? In my case, I had purchased a 2014 Mustang GT and then a mess of parts that would become a 1931 Ford Model A-based speedster, and there just

ROB RANDALL

rying to get my Volvo back on the road this summer has proved to be a lot more challenging than I’d imagined. Maybe it wasn’t such a bright idea for a person of my limited mechanical ability to try to resurrect a car that had been casually parked in a garage for 25 years. A few weeks ago, I had a new exhaust system installed by my trusted mechanic, Dan Mazzola. I was pretty excited when Danny called to tell me the car was ready. We filled the tank with some ethanol-free high-octane gas and took it home. Dan said I should just drive it for a while and see how things went. He mentioned that the gearshift lever was popping out of fourth gear, which I didn’t think too much about, since it had been doing that when I was driving it regularly. My first attempt to drive it to work was a failure. I got as far as Powers Market in North Bennington, where I turned off the car and went in to buy my coffee. When I came out, the car would not start. After several attempts, I gave up and walked home. I came back at lunchtime with Dave LaChance, who had kindly offered to take a look at it. The Volvo started right up. Dave checked out a few things under the hood and advised me to try starting it next time without using the manual choke. I let him take it for a drive, and he also mentioned that it wouldn’t stay in fourth gear. The next day, I was finally ready to take this car to work. It started up easily (without the manual choke). I left it running while I went in to get my coffee, and then I was on my way (or so I thought).

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Classic Life

IN YOUR GARAGE

BY DAVID LaCHANCE

• DLACHANCE@HEMMINGS.COM

Two-stroke delight What’s pictured here is a 1956 DKW twoseat cabriolet, and its owner, subscriber Tim Buttles of Ogdensburg, Wisconsin, believes it may well be the only example of its kind in the United States. “This one is a coachbuilt car, by whom I don’t know,” Tim says. “I did ﬁnd out that they made 40 of them in 1956, in addition to many more two- and fourdoor sedans and wagons. This one had been stored in a corn shed since 1961, and then moved in later years to Iola, Wisconsin. This is the original paint and interior.” The car is powered by a 900-cc, three-

cylinder two-stroke that makes 34 horsepower, and features rack-andpinion steering and a column-shifted four-speed gearbox. The odometer shows just 42,000 miles.

“I wanted to buy this car for 35 years,” Tim says. “When the owner died, his wife was nice enough to sell it to me.” If there’s another cabriolet in the U.S., Tim would love to hear about it.

BMW appreciation Charter subscriber Kent Martin has some advice for you savvy readers: Buy yourself a BMW Z4 Coupe like his, while you still can. “This is a very elusive, almost never seen model,” he says. “I am not going to mention current prices that these go for right now, because they are so rare that you seldom ﬁnd one for sale. But when you do, they are very reasonably priced for a car of their class, and speed category.” It took Kent 2½ years to locate his 2008 example in the colors he wanted. Kent believes the Z4 Coupe will quadruple in price within a few years. “I base my prediction on my having been a sports car enthusiast and strict observer since 1949, when I saw the ﬁrst XK120 Jaguars. I am now 83, and have predicted a lot of cars that I knew were going to become collector’s items, and they did!”

18 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

Want to see your car on this page? Email one or two good, clear digital photos and one or two paragraphs about your car to dlachance@hemmings.com, or tuck the story and photos in an envelope and mail them to Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, P.O. Box 904, Bennington, Vermont 05201. Thanks!

Classic Life

VISIONARIES

Frank G. Nichols The fabled “father” who created Elva

BY JIM DONNELLY IMAGE COURTESY ELVA

grow his business by expanding the sale of Elvas in North America, especially after the new Elva Courier road car, built using MGA running gear, appeared in 1958. In terms of sheer volume, Elva was eventually surpassed by the likes of Lotus and Cooper, but things looked rosy until the North American importer was jailed for fraud. Nichols’s little company was wiped out. The Courier project was taken over by Trojan, but Nichols continued with his race cars, enjoying particular success with the Porsche-powered Elva Mk VI, the first outside constructor to be provided with factory engines and transaxles by Stuttgart. Similarly, Nichols is credited with being the first to introduce BMW to racing as a provider of engines to small-bore formula and sports cars. One of those cars, the Elva-BMW Mk VII, became the basis for the roadgoing Elva 160 GT car, which was pleasing to the eye, but a business disappointment, as only three were ever produced, one with a Rover V-8 engine. Elva stopped production in 1968. Nichols merely shifted gears and left motorsports behind, choosing instead to take up a new career of deep-sea fishing. He was a frequent attendee at Elva reunions on both sides of the Atlantic until he died in 1997 following a protracted illness.

DAVID TRAVER ADOLPHUS

e’ve admittedly all had the dream at some juncture or another. A gnawing desire to design and build your own car, especially a racing car, with very few restrictions standing in the way. It didn’t quite work out that way for Frank G. Nichols, but he was so respected by those who worked under him and knew what he did that he acquired the simple nickname of “Father.” Nichols was,

indeed, a father. He sired the Elva, a simple but very significant British sports car that’s raced competitively to this very day. Nichols’s story begins when he left home at age 14 and joined the British effort against the Axis during World War II. In peacetime, he started his own garage and began selling used cars at Bexhillon-Sea in the county of East Sussex. He became interested in the wild world of postwar British motorsport and began racing on his own, first in an early Lotus VI and then in a contraption built nearby by Mike Chapman called the C.S.M., a light cycle-fender special. It impressed Nichols enough that he decided to build his own racing car. That was the Elva Mk 1—Elva, a takeoff on the French elle va (she goes)— and it appeared in 1955. The first Elva gathered enough attention for its tubular space frame that Colin Chapman, much better known for such practices at Lotus, threatened to sue. That pushed aside, the Elva garnered a measure of success in British club racing, and about two dozen copies were made. Since they were designed by purpose to be forgiving race cars, they found special popularity in the United States, where no lesser talents than the likes of Mark Donohue cut their competitive teeth in lightweight Elvas. Nichols saw a way to

20 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

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Legend Mercedes-Benz’s 300 SL coupe, the ﬁrst successful purpose-built racer tamed for street use, expanded the deﬁnition of a sports car in all directions simultaneously WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF KOCH

22 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

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DAIMLER AG

The original race-winning W194 300 SL racer; this example won the 1952 La Carrera Panamericana (note metal bars on the windscreen). Uhlenhaut was assigned to develop it, more or less from scratch. But the company played a long game, aiming to re-enter Formula One in 1954. As a stopgap, Mercedes aimed for the sports-car circuit instead, and built a car around a modified version of the triple-Solex-fed version of the imposing new “Adenauer” 300 S luxury sedan’s slightly undersquare SOHC 2,996-cc inline-six. An aluminum head with larger valves helped bump output from 150 hp to 175 horsepower—substantial power for a three-liter six in the early ’50s, but not groundbreaking. So Uhlenhaut, with construction engineer Joseph Müller, started with a chassis that would be strong enough to accommodate the big six, but light enough to work in a race car; the engine was mounted behind the front axle line to improve chassis balance, making it a front-mid-engined car. Recirculating-ball steering and four-wheel-independent suspension (wishbones in front, swing arms jointed at the differential in back) were attached. Lacking trailing arms to place it, the rear suspension is located only by the coil springs and a trio of rubber mounts; the differential was triangulated in the chassis. These technical enhancements allowed relative comfort at a higher level of performance, though the coil-sprung rear-swing-axle arrangement could make for tricky handling on rough pavement.

DAIMLER AG

lenty of cars are representative of the time they were conceived and built; fewer can truly be considered ahead of their time. Fewer still manage to entirely redefine their genre. Mercedes’ 300 SL was one of them. Consider the average sports car of the mid-1950s: compact, frail, open, sparsely appointed, small-engined and low-powered but light enough to make up for it, unhappy at around-town speeds, and built with a certain dual-purpose nature—a minimalist street car that could also be enjoyed on track. Then consider the 300 SL: fairly compact though far larger than many other sports cars of the era, robustly assembled, a closed coupe filled with luxury trimmings, with a large luxury-car-sourced six-cylinder engine and a near 3,500-pound curb weight. It could tackle the low revs of the grocery run and an autobahn blast with good manners across the board. Instead of a street car that could be enjoyed on track, this was a full-blown championship-winning open-road race machine that had been tamed, if only slightly, for road use. There was nothing minimalist about it. The 300 SL was the fastest (if perhaps not the quickest) production car on Earth when it was produced. It expanded the possibilities of what a sports car could be, in virtually every direction. Prewar, of course, Mercedes’ performance image was plenty strong. The Mercedes W25 Grand Prix racer was roundly spanked by Auto Union in 1936, the year Rudolf Uhlenhaut took over Mercedes’ racing department. A driver and engineer who never raced competitively, yet could quickly diagnose a car’s weak areas, Uhlenhaut developed the supercharged W125 that so dominated the 1937 season. When rules changes demanded a new car for 1938, limiting supercharged cars to three liters of engine displacement, Uhlenhaut’s crew developed the W154 and once again proceeded to dominate, winning three of the four European races. (The 1939 season never quite got off the ground.) Postwar, Uhlenhaut was in charge of engineering Mercedes’ passenger cars. Daimler-Benz was quick to produce cars again; they were building brand-new prewar-engineered 170 sedans as early as 1946. By 1951, a dozen years since the MercedesBenz name was synonymous with high-performance, the company’s board unanimously gave the go-ahead to build a race car.

Multi-tube space frame offers high torsional rigidity, and no room for conventionally opening doors. 24 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

A compression bump, to 8.55:1, and ﬁrst-time-ever Bosch mechanical fuel injection make the production 300 SL more powerful than the racer.

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The welded tube-frame chassis weighed just 154 pounds for a car measuring 166 inches long, yet was uncompromisingly rigid. On the downside, it also offered no room for doors; cutting conventional swing-open doors into the frame would compromise torsional strength. The elegant solution: roof-hinged doors that swung up rather than out, leaving the high sills that would accommodate the stiff frame. The “gullwing” name came organically. The tight cockpit and the unusual door arrangement meant that even traditionally petite racing drivers had issues sliding behind the wheel, so it was hinged to accommodate. Those doors were only part of a remarkable styling envelope. Karl Wilfert’s lines were sleek, with much attention paid to aerodynamics. The engine was tilted at a 45-degree angle to allow a lower hoodline. Pontoon fenders, already disappearing in new postwar designs, were completely gone, and headlights were fully integrated into the front fenders. The tail was smoothly tapered. The skin itself was aluminum, which helped give it the name 300 SL: 300 for the three-liter engine; S for Sports, and L for Leicht, or Light (i.e., not heavy) — the racer weighed less than a ton. Its internal code: W194. The 300 SL broke cover during winter testing; Auto Motor und Sport magazine reported testing at Hockenheim with 118-MPH lap speeds. Its first race was the 1952 Mille Miglia, where SLs placed second and fourth in their first outing, followed by sweep26 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

ing the podium of the Grand Prix of Berne. At Le Mans, a pair of 300 SLs finished 1-2 overall… and then drove back to the factory. The Eifelrennen sports car race at the Nürburgring also saw an SL on top. A victory in the grueling Carrera Panamericana (despite a vulture crashing through the windshield, knocking co-driver Hans Klenk out cold) also saw the then-innovative use of pace notes, a technique still used in modern rallying. In the space of a year, Mercedes launched a car, won just about everything it had entered, and walked away. With resources now geared toward the 1954 Formula One season, the W194 had served its purpose. Hadn’t it? Max Hoffman had other ideas. Hoffman, the New York-based European-car importer, had an admirable track record: An early VW importer, he also introduced BMW and Alfa Romeo to the States, in the years before the factories set up their own shops here. He had a hand in inspiring two-seat sportsters from the Porsche Speedster to the BMW 507. Hoffman saw the SL’s on-track success, and believed that there could be a market for a production version of the W194 in America. Mercedes, skeptical, didn’t start developing the 300 SL road car until Hoffman put his own money down for a nice round thousand of them. So motivated, factory engineers worked quickly: At the 1954 New York Auto Show, held mid-March, the production 300 SL (code W198) debuted—the first Mercedes-Benz production car to debut outside of Europe.

Stock interior is leatherette with tartan cloth seating areas, although leather was optional. Steering wheel folds down for simpler entry/exit. Gauges indicate a European-delivery car, making this one of the few not originally delivered through Max Hoffman’s place in New York. Fitted luggage was a necessity rather than a cute period option. You need to be both compact and lithe in order to even climb into a 300 SL. The W198’s basics—the engine architecture with aluminum cylinder head, four-wheel independent suspension, massive ventilated drum brakes—were largely carried over from the W194 racer. So were the tubular space frame (the only cage that could hope to keep this animal together), the whopping 130-liter (34.3-gallon) fuel tank and the sump that held more than two and a half gallons of motor oil. Most of these features were unusual enough in their day. But Mercedes continued to defy expectations: Instead of offering a dumbed-down racer for the street, the engine was upgraded beyond the W194 racer’s wildest dreams, ditching carburetors for a Bosch mechanical fuel injection system—the first ever used in a production automobile. The injectors were mounted where a standard 300 sedan’s spark plugs would be located. The spark plugs moved to the side of the aluminum cylinder head. With a compression boost to 8.55:1 and a 6,600 RPM redline, the engine was rated at 215 horsepower, or well over the onehorsepower-per-cube mark. The basic shape remained, although details were tweaked. The grille grew larger, and held a three-pointed star inside—a touch that still distinguishes SLs today. The gullwing doors cut deeper into the body to allow easier entry and exit, and were supported by now-common, then-innovative hydraulic struts. The side windows could not be rolled down, so vent windows and ventilation holes in the roof encouraged the flow of air. (Air conditioning, then just

WHAT MAKES A SUPERCAR?

hat makes a supercar? Ask 10 people and you’ll get 11 different answers. It’s more than money, and it’s more than performance. A quick checklist, not necessarily listed in order of priority, would probably look something like this:

9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

High performance/performance focus, perhaps above all else Rarity and/or exclusivity, without being a one-off or custom Uncompromising Cutting-edge technology Expensive High style Bespoke—it doesn’t share engineering with another platform Top of the marque’s food chain Something that transcends its era even while it’s in production

Mercedes’ 300 SL gullwing ticks all of those boxes. Does that make it the world’s ﬁrst supercar? You decide.

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1956 MERCEDES-BENZ 300 SL Engine Displacement Bore x stroke Compression ratio Horsepower @ RPM Torque @ RPM Main bearings Fuel system Electrical system Exhaust system Gearbox Differential Steering Brakes

Chassis & body Suspension

Wheels Tires

SOHC inline-six, iron block and aluminum head 2,996 cc (182.8-cu.in.) 85 x 88 mm 8.55:1 215 @ 5,800 202-lb.ft. @ 4,600 Seven Mechanical direct fuel injection, Bosch injection pump 12-volt Single Four-speed manual, all synchromesh Hypoid bevel type; 3:64:1 ratio Recirculating ball, hydraulically damped Four-wheel drum, power assist, hydraulic activation Front: 10.24 inches x 3.54 inches Rear: 10.24 inches x 3.54 inches Two-door coupe with front-engine and rear-wheel drive Front: Independent; coil springs, unequallength wishbones, hydraulic shocks Rear: Independent; coil springs, swing axles, hydraulic shocks Stamped steel Front/Rear: 15 x 6 inches Dunlop or Continental Front/Rear: 6.50 x 15 inches

WEIGHTS & MEASURES Wheelbase Overall length Overall width Overall height Front track Rear track Shipping weight Curb weight

94.5 inches 178 inches 70.5 inches 51.2 inches 54.5 inches 56.5 inches 2,890 pounds 3,428 pounds

CALCULATED DATA Hp per liter Weight per bhp Weight per c.i.d.

71.76 15.94 pounds 18.84 pounds

PERFORMANCE* 0-60 MPH 7.7 seconds ¼ mile ET 15.9 seconds Top speed 139.5 MPH * Source: Sports Cars Illustrated, April 1956, with 3.64 gears

PRICE Base price (new) $7,295 Market value (today) Low: $785,000 Average: $1.015 million High: $1.635 million

Visit the Hemmings Car Clubs pages at www.hemmings.com for news and information on over 1,400 car clubs!

28 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

becoming popular in high-end cars in America, was never offered.) The wheel openings grew “eyebrows,” meant to smooth airflow over the sides of the car. Engine-cooling vents appeared behind the front wheels, to help extract hot, thin air from the engine compartment. A splash of chrome trim—bumpers, window trim, badging, a rocker strip—was added. For durability, the production SL’s body was made of steel, rather than the W194 racer’s aluminum— although the doors, hood, and trunk lid all remained aluminum. (A few all-aluminum 300 SLs were built later in the production run.) There were some issues—on paper, perhaps. Shipping weight approached 3,000 pounds; the Leicht portion of the 300 SL name was already off-message. Today, a VW Golf GTI weighs that much, but in the roof-optional, side-curtain-clad ’50s, 1,400 kg seemed a little porky for something calling itself a sports car. And it wasn’t cheap: $11,000 initially, although once production was rolling the base price settled down to a more reasonable $7,000. (A ’57 Lincoln Premiere convertible cost about 25 percent less.) American-spec models came standard with sealed-beam headlamps, 6.50 x 15 bias-ply Dunlop tires, English-measure gauges including a 160 MPH speedo, a can of factory lacquer paint for touch-ups, and more. But you got what you paid for: 0-60 times in the 7.5-second range, 16-second quarter-mile times, top speeds up to 160 MPH if you chose the correct axle ratio, and the knowledge that your production car had more power under the hood than the racebred beast that inspired it. It was, claimed the factory, “the fastest German production sports car,” which was quite a boast for a group that shied away from ad-like hyperbole. Road & Track was a little more effusive: Their production-spec SL accelerated to 60 in 7.4 seconds and was “far beyond our wildest expectations. In fact, we can state unequivocally that, in our opinion, the 300 SL coupe is the ultimate in an all-round sportscar. It combines more desirable features in one streamlined package than we ever imagined or hoped would be possible. Performance? It accelerates from a dead start to 100 MPH in just over 17 seconds. Dual purpose? A production model 300 SL can make a very acceptable showing in any type of sports-car competition. Yet the car is extremely tractable and easy to drive in traffic. Comfort? The fully enclosed 300 SL is the most comfortable (and safe) highspeed ‘cross-country’ car built today.” Griff Borgeson, in Sports Car Illustrated, gushes similarly. “This is the finest production sports car in the world,” he wrote. “On all critical counts, it scores…. Sports cars as a rule offer little in the way of comforts and nice refinements…. But the 300 SL achieves the all-weather comfort and the rich finish of fine luxury cars without ‘engineering compromise’— that rarely-challenged excuse for typical sports car asceticism.” And yet, the W198 was cut down in the prime of its life— Mercedes quit producing the gullwing 300 SL after just 1,400 were built. More than three-quarters of them were sold in the States. Sales hadn’t dried up, but the company was hearing from potential customers: The sills were too high to get into the car easily, the interior was tight, there was little room for luggage, and the interior heated up quickly with little option to cool things down. Mercedes listened, and built a roadster, also called 300 SL, that addressed all of these issues. Soft-top production started in the summer of ’57, for the 1958 model year, but with a starting price that topped $10,000, the roadster found just 1,858 buyers through the end of its life in 1963. More were built, but the roadster stayed in production longer, meaning that, arguably, the coupe was more successful in its short life than the roadster was in its longer one. Grant Beck purchased the European-spec 300 SL (note the kilometer speedo in the pictures) shown on these pages in 1990, from Michigander Bernie Liberman. Starting in 1992, it underwent a complete restoration by Byron Grenfell, with Dave Ritter tending to the driveline in 1994. The fresh single-stage BASF Glassodur paint

Roof vents let cabin air ﬂow through, in theory; the small trunk was a compelling reason to buy the optional ﬁtted luggage. and new tan leather interior may suggest a different, more Italian marque, but in truth there is no mistaking a 300 SL for anything else on the road or on the show field. Once completed, this example won or placed at a number of regional concours d’elegance, including firsts at the 2003 National Gullwing Convention and at the 1997 Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance, and second at the 2000 Santa Barbara Concours. Grant, along with wife, Judy, and their car collection, moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2008. Soon after their arrival, Robert Webster of RW Fabrications refurbished it once again. It has since gone on to place second at the inaugural Arizona Concours d’Elegance. Sadly, Grant died prior to the preparation of this story, though the car remains in the family today.

If ever a car deserved the hyperbole thrown at it, it’s the W198 SL. It’s difficult to overstate the degree to which it helped shape the modern sports car—not to mention the overhaul it provided for Mercedes’ own staid image. You could easily make the case that the W198 was the most important Mercedes-Benz ever built; overnight, the stolid luxury-car maker transcended its old image and became the builder of what was then the world’s fastest, most technologically advanced sports car. It remains, for many, the original and defining supercar of its generation. The 300 SL was simply one of the most awe-inspiring automobiles of its era, a classic in its own time, and one whose reputation has not diminished over the decades.

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Inspired Driver Named for the company’s success in the famous rally, the Sunbeam Alpine Sports continues to attract fans more than 60 years later

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• November 2016

BY TERRY SHEA PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW LITWIN

y becoming the first British automaker to win an international grand prix along with becoming the first to exceed 200 MPH, the Sunbeam Motor Car Company built quite the reputation during the first few decades of the 20th century before the Great Depression did it in. Those competition bona fides, unfortunately, did not possess enough appeal to keep the company afloat. The Rootes Group acquired the assets of Sunbeam and the related Talbot in 1935. Postwar, Sunbeam-Talbot models, most notably the 90 saloon, became competitive on long-distance rallies, including enjoying great results on the Alpine and Monte Carlo rallies. Inspired by this success, the company introduced a new model, dropping the second half of the marque’s hyphenated name: the Sunbeam Alpine Sports. A two-seat roadster with more than a dash of style, the 1953 Alpine Sports had its roots (no pun intended) in a chassis that dated back from before the war, though it had the benefit of a number of improvements. With a long, straight hood fronted by a tall, almost upright grille, a low, sloping deck and front fenders somewhat proud of the rest of the body, the 90 offered a mix of prewar and postwar design languages, the latter from the hands of the Raymond Loewy studio, which had a contract with Rootes at the time. Though the original 90 had very much incorporated the prewar chassis in 1948, Sunbeam effected various improvements to it in a few short years, most notably in the form of the front suspension, which was upgraded from a solid axle with leaf springs to independent control arms with coil springs. Diagonal cross-bracing on the frame dramatically improved chassis strength as well. When the Alpine was introduced, based on this updated 90 Mark IIA, the engineers further upgraded the suspension by specifying stiffer springs and shocks along with a thicker anti-roll bar. Sunbeam completed the conversion of the 90 saloon to sports car via the roadster styling. The Alpine’s clean lines included a lack of exterior door handles Hemmings.com

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1953 SUNBEAM ALPINE SPORTS Engine OHV inline-four, cast-iron block and head Displacement 2,267 cc (138.3cu.in.) Bore x stroke 81 mm x 110 mm (3.2 inches x 4.3 inches) Horsepower 80 @ 4,200 RPM Torque 120-lb.ft. @ 1,800 RPM Compression ratio 7.42:1 Induction Stromberg one-barrel carburetor Gearbox Four-speed manual 0 to 60 MPH 18.9 seconds Top speed 95 MPH Overall length 168.5 inches Overall width 62.5 inches Overall height 56 inches Wheelbase 97.5 inches Curb weight 2,938 pounds

The Sunbeam Alpine interior (here shown with modiﬁcations such as a Lecarra wheel and lightly customized upholstery) featured somewhat luxurious appointments, despite the lack of roll-up windows; the engine also powered the Sunbeam-Talbot 90 saloon. and the absence of roll-up windows, with only drop-in side curtains for any sort of weather protection. Despite that strippeddown roadster vibe, the car had a rather sleek look with its lowered top fully stored behind the seats and under the rear bodywork. (The company also offered a larger, proper convertible in the form of a drophead coupe, complete with a back seat, door handles and roll-up windows.) Under the louvered hood sat a 2,667-cc, overhead-valve inline-four engine which produced 80 horsepower at the crank. Though this powerplant did not make the middleweight, 2,900-pound car an immensely quick machine off the line; long-distance rally success is more governed on durability and reliability, which the Alpine possessed in spades. Curiously, the same engine with twin carburetors and slightly higher compression in the 90 32 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

made a bit less horsepower than the singleStromberg-carb equipped Alpine version. Sunbeam found additional rallying success from 1953 to 1955, but the Alpine sold in rather limited quantities, certainly compared to other British sports cars of the time, with about 3,000 being sold and the U.S. representing the largest market. In addition to advertising the Alpine’s sporting achievements, Sunbeam also pitched the car for its “supreme comfort,” and the owner of our featured car, Sarasota, Florida’s, Barry Alexander, agrees. “It’s just so comfortable to drive,” says Barry. “It’s comfortable to sit in. It’s comfortable to get in. It’s comfortable to drive. It drives like a real car. It’s just really comfortable.” And Barry is no stranger to British cars, having owned or still owning everything from a 1932 MG to an AustinHealey to a Jaguar E-type he bought new

(and still has) to a very modern Jaguar F-Type. He even boasts, “My wife, Judy, drives it all of the time. She really, really likes it.” And that’s an endorsement any of us would take. “I’d been collecting British cars forever, but I always wanted a Sunbeam,” Barry tells us. “I’d only ever seen one or two; they are rare. I really like the lines on it—it’s just a beautiful car, very unusual. And, it’s just one of those kind of cars that you just have to have.” With that compulsion in mind for an early Alpine (as opposed to the Ford Thunderbird-like “Series” Alpines sold from 1959 through 1968), Barry discovered this example in the pages of Hemmings Motor News about a dozen years ago when a small Texas bank was unloading a repossessed collection. When the banker answered Barry’s call—as in the owner of the bank, it was that small—the money man professed

no knowledge of cars, though he did share that the Alpine, an incomplete project, was rust free. As the banker’s words proved true to the condition of the car, Barry made a deal and then set about putting the sharp Sunbeam back together. The paintwork was done, as was most of the chrome. And the engine, too, benefiting from a rebuild in England, was also pretty much ready to go. However, Barry had some significant issues to work through. The previous owner had modified the car in ways that might perhaps leave fans of original British cars aghast. Dark tinted windows were only a minor sin on a car that had been lowered and set on a much wider stance with modern wheels and a non-Sunbeam rear end that left the track much wider than normal. Perhaps the biggest challenge was curing the ills that came from a custom sound install. “They had a stereo system in it that had holes cut all over the car, which, of course, we had to take out and fill in because I wanted it back as original. He had done a lot of very weird things and never completed anything. The holes were cut in the metal and we had to fill them in. The whole trunk was filled with sound equipment—it was a huge system.” But all was not lost, of course. “They kept the engine original and evidently spent a lot of money having it redone in England.” Barry had to do a bit of work to the engine, but nothing extensive, and the engine has remained reliable since, with only minor

and routine maintenance required. Like the previous owner, Barry decided to give the car his personal stamp. Fortunately, unlike that previous owner, Barry’s personal stamp was just a touch. Though steel wheels were standard issue from Sunbeam, Barry had always liked wire wheels on his British cars. So, he ordered a set from Dayton Wire Wheels. But with the wide rear track, he had a custom set of wheels made for the rear to accommodate the width but still look stock, as the wheels do not protrude from the bodywork. The wheels look clean visually and seem entirely appropriate for the car, its color and the period. He also installed a motorsportsinspired leather strap across the hood, along with a pair of driving lamps, both options that might be found on a rally car. In an effort to improve driveability, he replaced the column-mounted shifter — a standard Sunbeam “feature”—with a proper floor-mounted shifter for the fourspeed, which surely contributes to Barry’s enjoyment of his “comfortable” sports car. Before the change, he says, “shifting was just impossible.” Beyond keeping the car under wraps during the hottest months of Florida’s typically steamy summers, Barry, a “firm believer” in driving his cars, regularly enjoys his Sunbeam Alpine Sports with Judy, the pair taking the car out for no particular reason or to local shows and the like. It’s hard to argue against such incursions when that joy can be found in such a comfortable car.

OWNER’S STORY

he lines are beautiful, I think. It’s got a classic look to it that you’d picture on the old Forties or Fifties cars. It’s just got that classic line to it. I’ll take it out on the street and it’s just unbelievable how many people stop to take a look at this car. But it just has beautiful lines. Sometimes, it’s mistaken for a Jaguar. It drives incredibly well. You don’t drop down into it. You just open the door and kind of slide in like a normal car. It’s easy to steer. It’s got an 80-horsepower engine, so it tools along very nicely at speed. It’s the most comfortable British car I’ve ever had. —Barry Alexander

Echoes of Le Mans The 1907 Renault 35/45 is the only surviving tie to the car that won the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst Grand Prix

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF THE OWLS HEAD TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM

f the inaugural French Grand Prix of 1906 was organized, as skeptics suspected, to showcase the supremacy of the French automobile, then things did not go according to plan. Of the 23 French cars entered in the two-day event over June 26-27, only seven completed the 12 laps of the 64-mile circuit through the farmlands and provincial towns outside Le Mans, the rest eliminated by mechanical failures, accidents and, in one case, an injury suffered by a driver. It was up to a Hungarian, Ferenc Szisz, to reward France’s hopes by finishing first aboard a Renault AK powered by a monstrous, 12,829-cc four-cylinder engine. Szisz completed the 12 laps in a total of 12 hours, 46 minutes and 26 seconds, more than a half-hour ahead of the second-place Fiat. It was a decisive victory over the cream of the world’s automobile producers—Mercedes, Lorraine-Dietrich, Brasier, Hotchkiss, Darracq, Panhard-Levassor, Italia and others—and the favorable publicity translated into a big jump in sales for Renault, from 1,600 cars in 1906 to nearly twice as many a year later. Among those who took note of Renault’s triumph was William Kissam Vanderbilt, Jr. “Willie K.,” as he was known, was one of America’s leading motorsports enthusiasts, and could be considered the father of American racing, having established his Vanderbilt Cup races, the first international contests in the United States, in October 1904. The millionaire sportsman succeeded in persuading Renault to produce a run of smaller, 7,433-cc replicas of the Grand Prix machine, lining up 10 or so of his speed-demon friends as clients. At least, that’s how the most often repeated story goes. There’s more than one theory about how the 1907 Renault 35/45 came to be; it’s among a handful of open questions associated with the car. But one thing is undisputed: With none of the three 13-liter Type AKs that took part in the 1906 race still in existence, these replicas Hemmings.com

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All of the machinery is exposed on this Brass Era runabout. Clockwise from upper left are the drip oiling system for the engine, transmission and differential; the 60-MPH Jones speedometer; the handbrake for the rear wheels and the sequential shift lever; a pair of tufted perches for driver and mechanic; and the manual spark advance, reachable by the driver. are the closest surviving relatives of the world’s first Grand Prix winner. Though they, too, were sometimes raced, these replicas were meant for spirited jaunts on the open road, and never took part in a Vanderbilt Cup. “Even though they were called ‘Vanderbilt racers,’ these cars were not intended to be racers,” says Ethan Yankura, the curator and education director of the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine, the organization that owns the 35/45 on these pages. “They were intended for private enthusiasts of motorsports in the United States.” How many enthusiasts? There’s no definitive answer. The Owls Head car, chassis number 8935, is one of five known to exist today. Renault set aside 16 chassis numbers, but there’s no evidence that all were used. A Renault advertisement in the October 2007 issue of The Motor lists 11 prominent American motoring enthusiasts, Willie K. among them, who had lined up to order the “35-45 H.P. Runabout,” as it was called. But the ad itself prompts another question, this one about the origin of the model. 36 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

“Renault Wins 24-Hour Race,” is the ad’s headline, and the reference is to a September 1907 contest held at the Morris Park horse racing track in New York’s Westchester County, where a 35/45 covered 1,079 miles, 107 miles more than the second-place Lozier. As The New York Times reported, “Interest was naturally centered on the small, snappy Renault runabout, which, taking the lead shortly after 1 o’clock in the morning, not only maintained it at high average speed, but after the ninth hour, at 6 o’clock in the morning, had established a new record for 24-hour contests, a record that was steadily improved throughout the afternoon.” Morris Park “was the Mecca for metropolitan autoists throughout the afternoon and evening,” the Times reported. “Nearly everyone who is at all known in the automobile section of Upper Broadway was there.” The magazine The Motor World described the winning Renault, opening a window onto the way racing was regarded in the Oughts: “Its low muffled exhaust made it seem almost as silent as an electric, compared with the sharp bark of its

competitors, so to the uninitiated it cut a rather poor figure as the winning car in a ‘speed madness’ competition, where, after reading the afternoon papers, one expects to see the wild figure of an insane driver bent over the steering wheel of a roaring, tearing, flaming racing monster careening on two wheels and skidding on the curves to within an inch of the fence.” The question is, which car inspired Vanderbilt’s enthusiasm, the AK that won at Le Mans, or the replica that dominated at Morris Park one year later? Because, if it was the Morris Park car, the timing makes it impossible that it was Vanderbilt who persuaded Renault to produce the car. For another theory about the model’s origin, it’s interesting to note who was one of the co-drivers of the Renault in the Morris Park race: the Paris-born Paul Lacroix, who was at the time general manager of the Renault Frères Selling Branch in New York City. Lacroix also entered a Renault in the 1908 Brighton Beach 24-Hour race, which it won, and in Vanderbilt’s 1908 Long Island Motor Parkway Sweepstakes, a 234-mile stock car race that was essentially a test of the new motorway for the

THE HISTORY OF 8935

t’s not known who was the original owner of the Owls Head Transportation Museum’s car. The museum has been able to trace its story back as far as 1951, when an unnamed “elderly retired general” left it with the now-defunct Long Island Automotive Museum, operated by collector and historian Henry Austin Clark, Jr. “Austie,” as his many friends called him, later reported, “It required an enormous amount of work, but when it was ﬁnished it was a great car to drive. We had lots of fun with it.” Automotive historian and Hemmings Classic Car contributor Walt Gosden recalled that the car had sat idle in a back building at the museum for decades, with a long line of people trying to buy it from Clark. In 1978, the museum owner made a deal with a New Jersey engineer named Ledyard “Ledgy” Pfund: If Pfund would restore the car, Clark would give him a half-interest in it. By the time Pfund showed the car at the 80th anniversary of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race, it had undergone a cosmetic restoration, though it’s not known if it was in running condition at that point. Some time later, the Renault went on display at the Collier Collection of the Revs Institute in Florida. Pfund died in 1991, bequeathing the car to Owls Head, where it’s currently on display as part of the museum’s Faster: The Quest for Speed exhibition.

The beefy crankshaft rests on a workman’s bench. It’s not known if the museum ever got the engine to run.

This photo appears to show the Renault being picked up by the Long Island Automotive Museum’s Ford stake truck in 1951. The name of the car’s previous owner isn’t known.

Could this be the previous owner? Note that the car has canvas mudgards, rather than the steel fenders it sports today.

38 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

Ledyard Pfund poses with the Renault after bringing it home in 1978. Pfund had agreed to restore the car in exchange for halfownership. This photo suggests that the restoration had already begun while the car was at the Long Island Auomotive Museum.

The Renault aboard the museum’s trailer, apparently in as-raced condition. In 1951, the replica was already 44 years old.

Among the equipment that a true race car would have done without are a pair of sidelamps and an ornate brass bulb horn. The hub reads “Renault Freres,” the company Louis Renault and his brothers, Marcel and Fernand, founded in 1899. Vanderbuilt Cup contest to be held two weeks later. There, the replica finished second to an Isotta-Fraschini. Could the 35/45 have been Lacroix’s brainchild, rather than Vanderbilt’s? A company history written by Yves Richard and published by Renault in 1965 refers to the U.S. importer, but leaves the waters muddied. “Renault established itself all over the world and even embarked on the conquest of America,” Richard writes. “The Renault Selling Branch in New York hoped to be able to sell 1,200 to 1,500 chassis in the year 1909 if the quality of the Renault product could be proved beyond all doubt.” The 1908 Motor Parkway victory, he continues, “gave Renault fresh prestige in the United States. The conquest

of America could continue.” What about the brain trust at Billancourt? Renault had made its reputation on the open-road races at the turn of the 20th century, usually with one of the brothers at the wheel. The disastrous Paris-Madrid race of 1903 led to a ban on racing by the Auto Club de France, and a withdrawal from competition by Louis Renault, whose brother Marcel was among the five competitors killed. But the inevitable pressure to compete, fanned by the intense nationalism of the day, pushed Louis to authorize a limited return to racing two years later — leading to Szisz’s victory in the Grand Prix. By 1907, the idea of building a replica “gentleman’s racer” to fire up Renault’s standing in the U.S. might have

been very appealing indeed. Let’s move to firmer ground, and take a closer look at the 35/45, as it was sold in the U.S. Named for its 35 taxable horsepower under the French rating system and 45 brake horsepower, the car is based on the Type AI, the 7,460-cc flagship introduced at the Paris Motor Show in December 1905. In July 1907, the replica was introduced; catalogued as the Type AI Series C, it used the same engine as the AI, mounted in a shortened, 112.5-inchwheelbase chassis. This early 20th century exotic carried a list price of $8,500, or $225,000 in 2016 dollars. The engine features cylinder heads and cylinders cast in pairs, en bloc, mounted to a massive alloy crankcase. It produces

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1907 RENAULT 35/45 Engine L-head inline four-cylinder, monobloc cylinder heads with cylinders cast in pairs, aluminum crankcase Displacement 7,433 cc (453-cu.in.) Bore x stroke 130 mm x 140 mm Horsepower @ RPM 41.8 @ 1,200 Fuel system Renault single-barrel carburetor Transmission Four-speed manual, quadrant shift; shaft drive Suspension Front: Solid axle, semi-elliptic springs; Rear: Live axle, semi-elliptic springs, piston-type shock absorbers Steering Worm-and-sector Brakes Foot pedal: Finned drum with expanding shoes, acting on the driveshaft; Hand lever: Rear drums Wheelbase 112.5 inches Overall length 164 inches Overall width 60 inches Overall height 61 inches Front tread 52 inches Rear tread 48.5 inches Curb weight 2,575 pounds Price (new) $8,500 ($225,000 in 2016 dollars)

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The rear-hinged hood provides wonderful access to the L-head four. With the carburetor mounted on the driver’s (left) side, the air-fuel mixture ﬂowed through pipework to the inlet side of the engine. The Bosch magneto, in lower right photo, is driven off the camshaft. its maximum power at 1,200 RPM, and its maximum torque around 900 RPM. Spark is provided by a Bosch magneto, driven off the camshaft. Lubrication is by the totalloss system, with oil dripping through sightfeeds atop the firewall-mounted reservoir; these deliver lubricant to the engine’s bearings, and to the gearbox and rear axle, too. The flow of oil can be adjusted for slow, medium and fast running. Cooling is by the huge radiator mounted behind the engine, with the coolant circulating by convection. There’s a fan at the center of the 106-pound flywheel, which, on most Renaults, was meant to suck air through the radiator and into the sealed engine compartment, though that’s not possible with the Series C and its

well ventilated hood. (Those big openings aren’t just for showing off the well-dressed engine, apparently, as Szisz’s Type AK had them, too.) The car employs a four-speed gearbox, with a sequential shift, which transfers power to the rear wheels via a driveshaft at a time when most cars still employed chain drive. The clutch is a leatherwrapped aluminum cone, riding in a castiron circle made up of independent segments that are pressed against the clutch as the pedal is released. Typical for the day, there are two braking systems. The foot pedal works on a drum brake mounted on the driveshaft, the intention being to provide even braking to both rear wheels. The hand lever

to the driver’s right works the rear drums. The meaty, five-spoke steering wheel turns the 34-inch wheels through a worm-andsector steering box. There are two more controls to keep the driver’s hands and feet busy: The hand throttle is mounted on the steering column, and an accelerator pedal, needed to summon full power from the engine, is to the right of the brake pedal. At this point, we’d love to be able to tell you what the engine sounds like, and what it’s like to ride in this pre-World War I sports car. Alas, we can’t, because the Renault has not been in running condition for a quarter-century, if not longer. When the Renault arrived at Owls Head in 1994, “the engine was in England,” Ethan says. “It was being worked on. It had been to a couple of different shops, with incomplete results.” Attempts were made to get it running after it was reunited with the car, but these were abandoned when problems were encountered — a leaky radiator and an unreliable ignition system among them. Because the engine requires such specialized expertise, “it was determined that it would be better left

as it was,” he says. That makes its one of the few vehicles at Owls Head—automobiles and aircraft both — that isn’t in operating condition. But there are plans to address that. “A couple of years ago, [executive director] Russ Rocknak wanted to make this one of our focal points, and get the vehicle back into running condition,” Ethan says. It’s already known that the radiator needs work; all of the rest of the mechanical and electrical systems will be assessed, too, to determine what needs to be done. The non-profit museum this fall plans to launch a long-term capital campaign to pay for the work, which is expected to cost somewhere upwards of $100,000. To date, $30,000 has already been pledged. This 109-year-old supercar still has the power to impress, even in its dormant state. The thought of hearing it run once more, and seeing it move under its own power? Pure heaven. To learn more about the capital campaign, please visit www.owlshead.org. Interested parties can contact Executive Director Russ Rocknak at rr@ohtm.org.

THE VANDERBILT RACERS TODAY

n addition to the Owls Head car, four Renault 35/45s are known to exist. One, formerly of the Bill Harrah collection, was auctioned for $1.1 million in 2006. One is on display at the Price Museum of Speed in Utah. Kirk Gibson of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, owns one (above) that his father bought from its second owner in 1928. And “Agatha,” a largely assembled vehicle that’s the most documented of the ﬁve, is in Germany.

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Weekend in the Park

On the ﬁeld and on the track, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix attracts a record turnout WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE

ransformed through the use of 243 tons of concrete Jersey barriers, two miles of snow fence, 1,700 hay bales and about a mile of zip ties, Pittsburgh’s tranquil Schenley Park becomes a 2.33-mile-long course for vintage race cars for one weekend each July. The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix is, in fact, the nation’s only vintage race that’s run entirely on city streets. Its 21 turns and 140-foot elevation change, not to mention its picturesque stone walls, make a course that challenges drivers and entertains spectators. The vintage grand prix would be a big enough draw on its own, but it’s not the only event taking place in Schenley Park. On the golf course, the PVGP’s International Car Show welcomes a huge variety of cars, sorted by nation of origin; there’s German Hill, the Italian Cortile, British Car Day, an Asian display and the American Car Show, each a show-within-the-show. This year, the International Car Show attracted a record 3,200 show cars, 500 more than in 2015. To accommodate American muscle cars and big-bore racers that are too big and too fast for Schenley Park’s narrow lanes and tight turns, organizers in 2004 introduced a second weekend of historic racing at the Pittsburgh Inernational Race Complex in Beaver Falls. This year, the PVGP attracted a record 305 entries, 148 at Schenley Park and 157 at the Historics. The racing and car shows are the main events in what has become a 10-day festival, which launches with a Kick-Off Rallye and continues with a Black Tie & Tailpipes Gala, an invitational car show in the posh Shadyside neighborhood, a car cruise at The Waterfront, the Downtown Parade and Plaza Display, the Countryside Tour and the Forbes Avenue of Speed, a parade of vintage race cars. The weekend of the Schenley Park events was mid-summer hot

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These TR4s and TR4As were just a taste of the many Triumph models on display. British Car Day was sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania Triumph Association for the 30th year. and humid, but not rainy, and attendance was correspondingly high. Since its inception in 1983, the PVGP has raised a total of more than $4.3 million for its charities, the Autism Society of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny Valley School, including a record $400,000 donated in 2015. And that’s with providing free admission to the estimated 250,000 spectators who take part each year. The 2017 race week schedule begins on Friday, July 7, with the Black Tie & Tailpipes Gala, and culminates in the Schenley Park Race Weekend on July 15-16. The featured marque for next year’s show is the Chevrolet Camaro, in honor of its 50th birthday. For more information, and to keep up to date, visit www.pvgp.org.

First place in the Pre-War and Select MG T-Series group went to George Shafer of Somerset, Pennsylvania, with his 1951 MG TD.

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1962 MG MGB MIKE ZAPPA, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Mike (left, seen in the paddock with his son Christopher, center, and good friend and mechanic Jim Boffo), is a 20-plus-year veteran of the Schenley Park circuit, and also races in VRG and SVRA events. “I’ve always owned MGs. My ﬁrst car was a 1969 MG Midget that I put over 200,000 miles on,” he says. “This MGB is a 1962, an early MGB. The car originally raced in SCCA from 1965 to 1995, when I purchased it. Jim changed the radical ﬂared car to what’s now an acceptable vintage race car. With its innumerable tweaks and revisions, I race a highly competitive Group 3 car.” “Racing an MGB is truly fun, fun, fun!” he says. “It’s a car that’s easily recognizable by people of all ages. The MGB brings back many fond memories of my college days, and racing at the PVGP in front of friends and family only continues and enlarges the MGB memories.” By the way, the black-and-gold color scheme is inspired not by the colors of

Pittsburgh’s professional sports teams, but by the John Player Special racing livery. “Although now, it’s a great conversation starter with any local Pittsburgh person!”

This 1971 Jaguar E-type Series 2 was shown by Nancy Podey of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Jaguar was the PVGP’s featured marque of the year.

Joey Bojalad, of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, negotiates Turn 18 with his 1960 Elva Mk VI prototype. He ﬁnished ﬁrst in the Vintage Sport Racer/Formula Junior Historics group.

The Sports Cars Over 2.0 Litres group was won by Robert Mirabile of Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania, in his Lotus 23B. His time of 18:23.741 was a new track record for the group. 44 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

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Showing the evolution of the XK series are Scott Drab’s 1953 XK120, left, and F. Bishop’s 1957 XK140 MC.

Joseph Little, of Fairview, Pennsylvania, showed his 2007 Ferrari F430 Spider, which is powered by a 483-hp, 4.3-liter V-8. The nose, with its twin nostrils, was inspired by the 156 F1 that Phil Hill drove to his F1 World Championship title in 1961.

Which Porsche for you? A huge array was on display, from 356s to late-model examples. Winner of the People’s Choice Best of Show award at the Porsche Club of America gathering was this 1957 Porsche 356 Carrera Speedster, owned by David Stoehr of Washington, Pennsylvania. It’s powered by the legendary four-cam engine.

James Neville’s pristine 1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto is from the second year of production. Its 1,570-cc, all-alloy, DOHC four makes 109 horsepower.

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1961 DAIMLER SP250 GLENN FORD, BRACKENRIDGE, PENNSYLVANIA

As the owner of a 1954 Corvette, Glenn was naturally intersted when his son Adam (shown at right) sent him a link to a video about Jay Leno’s Daimler SP250. “The SP250 was a small ﬁberglass car with a V-8 hemi. Well, if that doesn’t reach out and touch you, try knitting!” he says. Every year at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, father and son would talk with their fellow enthusiasts, looking in vain for a lead. They ﬁnally learned of a red Daimler that hadn’t moved in 30 years, and went to look at it, though its owner wasn’t interested in selling. “It was not a pretty thing by any stretch, but the low lines and hemi V-8 called to us,” he says. “Adam and I were smitten with the car.” In March of this year, Glenn celebrated his 60th birthday. “My wife, who never lies, had me convinced we were going on a trip. With my passport renewed and my bags packed (both long and short pants, because she didn’t want to give anything away), I waited for her at the end of our driveway. A rumble came from up the street, and a green (mostly) familiar shape came around the corner. Two of my children manned the front seats and two Boxer dogs sat proudly in the jump seats, complete with scarves.

“Turns out the whole family was in on it and the car had been purchased six months prior. It was hidden in a neighbor’s garage the whole time,” Glenn says. “I had come perilously close to walking in on it a couple of times. For the next two months, neighbors would ask if I’d received the birthday present yet. Everybody knew about it, except me.” Glenn ticked off the lessons he learned:

“One, I better never go against my wife in our home town. Everyone had her back. Two, my whole family really loves me. Three, it’s just a car. No matter how important any car is to you, it is always just a car. Four, family is a lot more important. And ﬁve, I better start planning now for her 60th birthday. I’ve got a high mountain to climb if I want to approach that mountaintop of a gift!” Hemmings.com

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The Porsche/BMW Challenge Race was won by Perry Genova of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in his 1970 BMW 2002.

Dennis Racine of Grass Valley, California, won the Production Under 1.5 Litres group with his 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S.

The West Penn Miata Club raised its banner over a ﬁeld full of the world’s most popular two-seat sports car.

Rich Flowers of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, showed this 1979 Lotus Esprit S2. It’s a JPS Commemorative Edition car, one of roughly 150 built to celebrate Team Lotus’s winning of the 1978 World Car Constructors championship.

David Adams, of Kittanning, Pennsylvania, displayed his 1963 Lancia Flaminia GTL. The story of David’s 6½-year restoration of the rare, alloy-bodied coupe appeared in the August 2012 issue of HS&EC.

Based on the BMW 323i, the Alpina B6 2.8 is powered by a tuned BMW 528i straight-six that makes 218 horsepower. This 1982 example, one of just 533 built, is owned by Brett Sutton of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania. Todd Wetzel of Wilmington, Delaware, drove his 1957 Turner 950S to victory in the Preservation & Production Under 1 Litre group.

The lone French car on the ﬁeld was this 1970 Citroën DS 21 Pallas, owned by Carl and Camille Erb of Monroeville, Pennsylvania. 46 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

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This 1959 Stanguellini Formula Junior Monoposto is owned by Tim LaGanke of Novelty, Ohio. It’s powered by a modiﬁed Fiat 1,100-cc four with twin-choke Weber carburetors.

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1986 VOLKSWAGEN VANAGON WESTFALIA GARY WIMER, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA We found Gary and his van on the German Hill part of the ﬁeld early on

George Vosburgh’s 1977 Ferrari 308 GTB was treated to a full restoration in 2012, gaining a variety of mechanical upgrades. Eurospec bumpers replaced the U.S. versions.

Sunday morning, before the sun had burned the dew off the grass. “I like to get there early, when I can choose my spot,” he explains. He, his wife, Gretchen, and their son, Max, have racked up 143,000 miles seeing the USA since buying their VW van in 1991. “We bought it to go on our honeymoon, to go cross-country,” Gary says. After their June 1992 wedding, they traveled from their home in Pittsburgh to California, stopping to see such attractions as the Grand Canyon and the Petriﬁed Forest. The Westfalia still has its original 2.1-liter, fuel-injected engine, which had already done 89,000 miles before Gary and Gretchen became the owners. Aside from two or three water pumps and some cylinder head work done shortly after the purchase, it’s needed very little. Gary is justly proud of the van’s original condition. “We like camping when you sleep in the van, but not camping when you sleep on the ground,” he laughs. “I love driving it. You can see everything so much better, because you’re up high, and you have all those windows.” He’s been made generous offers for the van, but says he won’t sell—the memories that the van creates are much more valuable to him.

Honda’s S2000 was well represented, as was S2KI, a group for fans of the car.

The Rolls-Royce Camargue, with coachwork by Pininfarina, was once the world’s most expensive production car. Just 530 were built. This example was shown by Stevan Apter of New Alexandria, Pennsylvania.

Restoration shop Hahn-Vorbach & Associates, of Harmony, Pennsylvania, showed this luscious 1962 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL. Hemmings.com

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Last is Best

After going through 51 other 122’s, its owner deems this 1967 Volvo 122S wagon a keeper BY MARK J. McCOURT PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE

amiliarity, respect and admiration are qualities that are earned with time and exposure. And when you’ve worked with a particular model of automobile for nearly 40 years — a car lauded for its honest and reliable character — it’s only natural to develop a genuine fondness. This 1967 122S station wagon may be the latest in an incredible chain of Volvo “Amazon” ownership, but it quickly proved its worth, and became a beloved member of the family. Geoff Rogers was introduced to Volvo’s 1960s family cars in the late 1970s, when he worked as an imported-car mechanic, fixing British, German, Italian, French, Japanese and, yes, Swedish cars. “I always found the 122S to be an amazingly simple, rugged, and above all, easy-to-fix machine, handsome and unpretentious,” he says. “So I bought my first one in 1979, a 1968 wagon that had lived in Texas for 48 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

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most of its life. ‘Gus’ proved a true friend, providing faithful transportation throughout the Northeast and Midwest, never failing me over 150,000-plus miles. I carried engines in the back, pushed and pulled cars with him, drove through the woods and into places that no ordinary car could ever go. With skinny studded snows on the back, he would climb up our steep driveway in snow and ice while my roommate’s front-wheel-drive tin box sat at the bottom of the hill in shame!” Despite his best attempts, this Massachusetts resident couldn’t stave off Gus’s eventual demise, due to terminal road salt-inflicted rust. The Amazon bug had bitten, though, and Geoff helped put himself through college by buying, repairing and selling Volvo 120 series two- and four-door sedans and station wagons. “I painted, scraped, mended and cursed my way through school with these great old

cars, moving through a time when they were just old cars, to a time of collectibility.” While the PV444 and 544 established Volvo’s early reputation for durability and performance, the mechanically similar 122 gave this Swedish automaker its family-hauling credentials, especially the station wagon variant. The wagon was the final body style to appear, launched in 1962, six years after the debut of the four-door sedan. It shared the P1800sourced, pushrod B18 — fitted with twin SU carburetors for the U.S. market — and conventional solid axle/rear-drive layout. Braking was by drums all around until the arrival of front discs in 1964, and the coil spring suspension combined double front wishbones and an anti-roll bar with rear radius arms and a Panhard rod. The station wagon had slightly different specifications than sedans, using heavy-duty

Despite having traveled nearly 100,000 miles in the last 49 years, “Janet” has never been crashed or required rust repairs, and the factory-applied primer and paint remain (mostly) present. Credit for this wagon’s condition goes to spending decades in dry regions. Hemmings.com

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1967 VOLVO 122S Engine OHV four-cylinder, cast-iron block and head Displacement 1,778 cc Horsepower 100 @ 5,700 RPM Torque 108.5-lb.ft. @ 3,500 RPM Transmission Four-speed manual with overdrive Suspension Front: Control arms, ball joints, coil springs, anti-roll bar; Rear: Live axle with coil springs, torque arms and Panhard rod Steering Cam and roller Brakes Front disc/rear drum Wheelbase 102.5 inches Length 176.5 inches Width 49.5 inches Height 60.25 inches Curb weight 2,640 pounds 0-60 MPH 14.9 seconds Top speed 100 MPH Base price (new) $3,104.95 Market value (today) $12,000

The durable twin SU-carbureted B18 engine has never been apart, and a functioning booster reduces braking effort. Installing the overdrive unit from a 142GL— while retaining the original shifter —has improved fuel economy and lowered RPM at highway speeds. rear springs to better handle the loads that easily fit in the six-foot-long space achieved with rear seats folded, behind the horizontal-split tailgate. Seven years ago, through his buying and selling of 122 cars and parts, Geoff came to meet the person who owned the wagon now on these pages. At that time, Geoff, his wife, Andrea, and nine-yearold daughter, Fiona, motored about in a 1968 122S wagon they called “Gannett.” “She was white with a black interior that had been redone, but wasn’t correct,” he recalls. “She looked great, but under the shiny paint was all manner of horrors: Bondo and pieces of tin riveted in. The car had been rolled and slid sideways. It was probably half an inch narrower than when it left the factory!” His conversation with the then-owner of this white-over-tan 1967 example, located in Maine, had an unexpected outcome. 50 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

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“He called to ask about a driver’s seat for his car, as a dog had chewed it. Because he was thinking of selling the car, he wanted to fix the interior. When he described this car to me, I said, ‘Hold on, I’ll come look at it. Maybe I’ll save you the trouble of buying that seat!’ He sent me pictures, I went up and drove it, and I fell in love with it,” Geoff says with a smile. As he’d learn, our feature Driveable Dream —which Fiona would quickly dub with the similar-sounding name “Janet”— was purchased new at the Sports Car Center of California in Santa Monica, and its only option was a single exterior mirror. The cost in 1967 was $3,104.95, according to the original window sticker—the rough equivalent of $22,408 today. This never-rusted, never crashed wagon ended up spending many years in a barn in Arkansas before it was purchased by the man who sold it to Geoff.

“She really didn’t look all that great, with faded original paint that was missing in places—factory primer showed on the roof and the tops of the front fenders— and that chewed driver’s seat. He’d spent a lot of money on it with an expensive brake job, had the gas tank professionally cleaned out and sealed, and the carbs rebuilt, too. He also replaced hoses and did things that you should do to a car that’s been laid up for a long time.” Geoff continues, “I think he looked at the car and said, ‘It’s a little shabby, what will I do with it?’ He was a real perfectionist, and the 1800ES he also owned was just beautiful. I think he was thinking, ‘To make this car really nice, I need to paint it, but then that messes up the originality. And then I’ve got another car I have to take care of and maintain meticulously.’” This worked in his favor, and the then 87,693mile car quickly found its forever home.

Those miles were nothing for the famously overbuilt B18 engine. Volvo upgraded this 1.8-liter four-cylinder for 1967, its ratings going from 95 hp and 107.1-lb.ft. of torque to 100 hp and 108.5lb.ft., at 5,700 and 3,500 RPM, respectively. The extra power helped the station wagon off the line, as did its 4.56:1 rear axle ratio. That same ratio was used in two- and four-door sedans fitted with their optional overdrive — otherwise, they received a taller 4.10 axle. Adding an overdrive to the standard four-speed was one of the first tasks Geoff undertook after bringing his prize home. “They really scream on the highway, and you really need that overdrive gear,” he explains. “It’s a pretty simple conversion. You use the shorter driveshaft from an automatic car, and hook up a switch in the wiring. Most overdrive gearboxes come out of P1800s or later 140s; I installed one from a 142GL. The only problem with this is that those gearboxes have remote gear shifters, so the shift lever comes out of the transmission tunnel in the wrong place. Some will cut another hole in the tunnel for the shifter, and I’ve done that in the past, but I feel the kosher way to do it is to use the original top cover from the non-overdrive gearbox, which bolts on to the overdrive one — this locates the shifter in the original place,” he continues. “You do have to add the switch that keeps the overdrive from operating in any gear other than fourth. There’s a boss on the nonoverdrive gearbox cover that you can drill

“

She is staying with us, not for sale at any price, and just as she is, factory primer and all. Viva Janet!

”

out to mount that switch — it’s the same as an MGB’s reverse light switch, so it’s easy to find.” In addition to fitting Janet with that RPM-saving overdrive, Geoff has installed polyurethane front bushings, wired up a pair of rare period Lucas FT10 accessory fog lamps, and added a factory tow hitch, which he uses to bring a trailer-load of vintage bicycles to sell at swap meets. “We’ve added 10,000 miles to the car since 2009, but we are still under the magic 100,000 limit of the five-digit odometer. Why did Volvo only put five digits in Amazon odometers? They knew this would be exceeded on virtually all the cars they made, surely?” he laughs. So just how many 122’s have come and gone before this white wagon came to stay? “I think Janet is number 52,” Geoff admits. “Every Amazon I’ve driven has been different from all the others, but the main difference here is that Janet feels really tight. That may be in my mind, but I know she hasn’t been wrecked, rusted or painted. Being an old Volvo, she still rolls around like a pea on a shovel when you turn a corner, and has brakes that will stop the car eventually—the working brake booster helps a lot. “I’ve owned so many of these cars, but this is the one I’ve stuck with—it’s like someone who’s dated a lot of women and then settles down with the right girl,” he says with a wink. “She is staying with us, not for sale at any price, and just as she is, factory primer and all. Viva Janet!”

Mid-Engine Mongrel What it’s like to build your own 911-powered 914 WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICHARD LENTINELLO

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ake no bones about it, Porsche’s 914 is a fantastic little sports car. Its shape and styling are as distinctive as they come, and due to its mid-engine layout, it’s endowed with incredible handling characteristics. Its other positive trait is that it was designed by Porsche’s own German engineers, so its body structure is far stronger than its diminutive form would lead you to believe. It wasn’t a fluke that the 914’s structure was made so sturdy; it was engineered that way. Porsche’s longtime senior engineer Helmuth Bott was appointed development director of the

914 project, and working alongside competition director Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, made sure that this new compact sports car was able to withstand the twisting torque of not only Porsche’s flat-six engine but its very powerful three-liter flat-eight racing engine from the 908. And it did. In fact, the 914’s body structure was designed to handle 300 horsepower, which was tested and proven when Porsche built two 914/8 prototypes. Although the early 914s with the 1.7-liter Volkswagen 411E four-cylinders weren’t powerful enough to truly honor the Porsche badge that was affixed to the front hood, a factory

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hot rod version called the 914/6 was introduced as well, designed for those who craved speed and quick acceleration. With its 911based six-cylinder powertrain, the 914 was transformed into a true high-performance sports car. But of the 118,978 examples produced, only about 3,328 were the 914/6 version. Today, as is the case with early 911s, 914/6s are highly coveted by Porsche enthusiasts and collectors throughout the world. But for the average Joe, that means that the 914/6’s ever-increasing values have already placed them beyond reach. So if you’re passionate about the 914’s lovely shape, but desire the power and performance that only a flat-six can provide, your only choice is to build your own version of a 914/6. And that’s exactly what one truly committed budding mechanical engineer did. The man behind this fantastic 914 is Justin Miglino from Port St. Lucie, Florida. We met Justin this past March at the Wheels Across the Pond show in Jupiter, Florida, where his car’s distinguished, striking green paintwork caught our eye. Seeing how enthusiastic and proud Justin was of the “914/6” that he himself had built made us want to learn more. When we asked Justin why he wanted to put a 911 engine in a 914, his answer was quite simple and to the point: “I dreamed of a lightweight mid-engine Porsche with the right amount of horsepower that would scream around a race track; a four-cylinder just wouldn’t do.” As to the complexity of the project, Justin said, “No body parts had to be modified to the fit the 911 engine. It’s a pretty clean swap.” Although the conversion was pretty straightforward, it still took Justin five full years to complete the project. However, how he bought the 914 was a little, shall we say, unconventional. “I had been going to school part time for approximately eight years, studying mechanical engineering and working full-time supporting my mom. I began to get burned out with school, and felt I

The 914 was purchased for only $2,500 using college scholarship funds; below the non-stock failing red paint was the 914’s factory applied color: Delphi Metallic Green —special order color code L99A. had to make a change,” Justin remembers. “So I quit school and took my $2,500 scholarship money and bought this little cool Porsche. I’ve never quit anything before, and I yearned for a sense of accomplishment, so I poured all my energy into this 914, determined I would finish this goal. Five years later, my dream came true. I proved to myself I was not a quitter, and something beautiful came of out of all those frustrating years.” When Justin first started working on his 914, he was employed at a sign company, so in exchange for “about 10 cases of Coors Light,” the metal fabricators there helped him with the necessary

From the correct finish of the fuel tank and headlamp motors, to the use of all the proper fittings, fasteners and electrical components, everything was restored to the way the 914 first rolled off the assembly line, except for the 300-watt amplifier. 54 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

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1973 PORSCHE 914 Engine 1980 SOHC 911SC ﬂat-six Displacement 2,993 cc (182.6-cu. in.) Horsepower 172 @ 5,500 RPM (stock) Torque 189-lb.ft. @ 4,200 RPM Transmission 901 ﬁve-speed Suspension Front: 911 struts w/Koni inserts; Rear: Stock with Koni shocks/coilovers Steering Rack-and-pinion Brakes Fourwheel discs Wheelbase 96.5 inches Length 159.4 inches Width 65 inches Height 48.4 inches Curb weight 2,100 pounds (approx.) 0-60 MPH N/A Top speed N/A Cost to build $25,000

welding after hours. Aside from the minor metal repairs due to some corrosion, the body is completely original, including all of its outer exterior panels. And when he removed one particular interior panel, he discovered the car’s original color. Known as color code L99A, the Delphi Metallic Green was a special order color, a shade that is rarely seen today. The major welding work that was required centered around a chassis-stiffening kit that was installed to give the body structure added strength. Justin purchased the kit from Pelican Parts for $166, then spent another $130 for a pair of boxed trailing arms. He told us, “The stiffening kit consists of 10 pieces of 16-gauge, odd-shaped steel pieces that weld together like a puzzle under each of the rear fender wells. These pieces keep the body from flexing from the added weight of the six-cylinder engine.” The heart of this sensational-looking 914 is a 1980-spec 3-liter 911SC engine. “I bought the engine from a mechanic out of

Pasadena, California,” Justin tells us. “I saw the engine online and began speaking with the owner. He already had installed the upgraded chain tensioner kit and had documented miles on the engine. It cost me $5,000.” In lieu of the engine’s original fuel-injection system, Justin installed a pair of three-barrel Weber 40IDA3C carburetors, along with a recurved distributor to match the higher volume of fuel that it now inhales. A high-torque starter and a Perma-Cool oil cooler fitted with Aeroquip lines and fittings complete the upgrades. Behind this flat-six beauty sits the 914’s original 901 five-speed transaxle, which has been professionally rebuilt with a taller fifth gear to better accommodate the 3.0-liter powertrain. About its installation, Justin told us, “It wasn’t all that bad. Porsche specialist Richard Johnson created his own weld-in, shelf-style engine mount to fit the 911 engine and provided detailed instructions on how to install it. The shelf is welded into Hemmings.com

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Small-diameter Momo steering wheel helps maintain grip when hitting those redline shifts; VDO tachometer is a 911-spec unit. place, and the engine mounts on top of it; it’s that simple. Pelican Parts sells this mount for $499.” As with all engine conversions, there’s more than just installing the engine itself. The CD ignition from the 911 engine had to be rewired into the 914’s electrical harness, and the original fuel gauge was sent to North Hollywood Speedometer to be turned into a graduated oil pressure and temperature combination gauge. A 911-spec tachometer also had to be added to match the 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine. To ensure that all that extra power from the 911SC engine gets puts to good use, a pair of Koni gas-adjustable struts were installed up front. Koni shocks with a coil-over kit were installed 56 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

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in the rear, but all of the 914’s remaining suspension components are original to the car. About the installation, Justin says, “The front was fitted with a whole 911 strut setup, which bolts right on. The struts had the spindles raised just a bit to give the wheels the correct ride height. The brakes have four-piston Girling calipers up front and stock 914 rear calipers. The 911 strut setup includes the five-lug rotors for the Fuchs rims for the front, and the rear rotors were machine-drilled for the five-lug setup to match.” When the time came to paint his 914, Justin chose to make it appear as stock and as original as possible, so he had the exterior refinished in the original green color. After the body had been metal-finished and coated in epoxy primer, two coats of DuPont

OWNER’S STORY

Mechanical modiﬁcations aside, body and trunk were restored to stock specs; wheels are polished Fuchs with 205/55AR-16 tires. urethane enamel were applied, which was then topped with four layers of clearcoat. Everything was then buffed to a shine that’s superior to when the 914 was first built. About that color, Justin says, “What I like most about the 914 are the beautiful lines that its body has, but on this particular car, I love its outstanding Delphi Metallic Green color, which is a very ’70s shade. It just screams retro cool.” So, just what is it like to drive a 914 that’s powered by a 3.0liter 911SC engine, yet weighs only about 2,100 pounds? As Justin ecstatically relates, “Behind the wheel, it feels as if you’re driving a go-kart on steroids. It’s the lowest car on the road and has amazing cornering abilities. The engine is a beautiful symphony with the six throats singing right behind you, so, of course, no radio is necessary. The torque from the 3-liter six-cylinder will set you back in your seat real quick. And with the roof panel removed and the wind racing by, there’s nothing like it. “This 914 corners like it’s on rails. The firmer Koni gas adjustable shocks give it a race car feel. Wherever you point the car, it will stick to that line every time. The Momo steering wheel is fat and fits well in my hands, which gives me a secure feeling. Through the turns, regardless how fast I’m going, there is never any noticeable body roll or bump steer. The gearbox is a bit finicky and the

’ve always loved European cars. Porsche was always top tier in my view, and this 914 model has an interesting look to it like no other car I’ve ever seen. My main intention with this 914 was to uncover its hidden beauty without destroying the original designers’ intentions with upgrades. I paid $2,500 for the car and over a ﬁve-year span restored it to my liking for around $25,000, which is about the cost of a new Honda Civic these days. —Justin Miglino

shift pattern is a bit sloppy as with most 901 gearboxes. It takes a bit of focus, but with practice, shifting is just straight-up fun. Most importantly, the car stops on a dime. By adding the four-piston calipers and larger diameter rotors, the additional weight from the 911 engine is controlled quite nicely. “It’s fast fun. More importantly, this 914 is an extension of me, and I like that people love it.”

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The Last Hurrah Sebring in 1971: The last stand of the big prototypes BY JIM DONNELLY

• IMAGES INTERPRETED BY LOUIS GALANOS, FROM HIS ARCHIVES

ig-bore international sports-car racing was undergoing some fundamental changes in 1971. The 5.0liter blasters that ravaged Spa and the Mulsanne straight were about to be legislated out of existence in favor of a new 3.0-liter formula that was best exploited by Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and soon, Matra. A leaner, meaner sports prototype was emerging. The world of racing was about to pivot on its axis. Lou Galanos of Gainesville, Florida, was a relatively young shooter when he happened upon the 12 Hours of Sebring of 1971 to witness this clash between the old and the new. It was one of the last stateside gasps for the big prototypes, embodied in

58 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

this race by the awesome Porsche 917K and abetted by Roger Penske’s Ferrari 512M, a serious modified and hot-rodded sports prototype with a heavily massaged engine. It was a flat-out screamer. Abetting them were a trio of Autodelta T33/3 Alfa Romeo prototypes, there to do battle after missing the 24 Hours of Daytona. With a full field of European cars on hand, the war was on. Only Penske’s über-Ferrari wasn’t there at the end. Neither were a bunch of other people. We proudly present these images that Lou shot on that historic day. The world Sports Car Championship was about to become everything you’d always wanted in prototypes… and less.

“NANNI GALLI IN HIS 3.0-LITER FACTORY Alfa Romeo T33/3 led Jo Siffert of Switzerland in his Gulf-Porsche 917K into Turn 12 at Sebring in 1971. Galli and co-driver Rolf Stommelen would finish second overall and first in the P3.0 class. The other team Alfa T33/3, driven by Andrea de Adamich and Henri Pescarolo, would finish third. This 2-3 finish by Alfa, via Autodelta, was their best-ever performance at Sebring in all the years they’d raced there. At one point, Siffert’s Porsche was in the lead, but he ran out of fuel on lap 25, just one lap before he was scheduled to pit. Rather than hoof it back to the pits for a can of gas, Siffert accepted a ride on a motorcycle from one of the course marshals. This was a violation of FIA rules and Siffert was penalized four laps. This, and the time he lost due to running out of gas, resulted in the Siffert/Derek Bell car being placed fifth overall. According to some of the pit marshals I talked to, it was apparent that Bell was not happy with the consequences of Siffert’s actions.”

“THE WINNING MARTINI & ROSSI PORSCHE 917K DRIVEN BY VIC ELFORD AND GÉRARD LARROUSSE ENTERS TURN 10 AT THE beginning of the north-south runway on the old 5.2-mile Sebring circuit. This was a very remote part of the course and corner marshals could get very close to the cars without the folks at race headquarters screaming bloody murder. The sounds of the Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s decelerating for the turn, then accelerating out of it, were thrilling. Those remote areas of the Sebring circuit were almost totally devoid of spectators and photographers. As corner marshals, our passes gave us carte blanche to go to any part of the circuit, and I took full advantage of this to take photos when I was not on marshal duty. In today’s racing world, I would have been thrown out of the track for what I did then.”

“A LEGEND IN ENDURANCE racing, the Englishman John Wyer managed the Gulf Porsche 917 team at Daytona and Sebring in 1970 and 1971. While his team won the Daytona 24 Hours both years, the best his 917s could do at Sebring was fourth in 1970 and fourth and ﬁfth in 1971. Wyer’s team of Porsches arrived at Sebring in 1971 with new engines producing 600 hp. Wyer hoped the extra power would put one of his cars on the pole and ahead of the Penske Ferrari 512M. As some predicted, the 512M captured the pole like it had at Daytona six weeks earlier. Much to the surprise of many, the second position on the grid was captured by the 3.0-liter Ferrari 312PB of Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx, not one of the Gulf 917s. Wyer was no lover of either Daytona or Sebring.”

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“PETER GREGG AND Hurley Haywood drove this Brumos Porsche 914/6 at Sebring in 1971. The tangerine orange painted car would ﬁnish 14th overall. For the 1973 Daytona 24 Hours, Gregg, known to many as ‘Peter Perfect,’ abandoned the traditional tangerine Brumos paint job in favor of the now highly recognizable red, white and blue livery. Gregg adopted the new colors because, in the summer of 1972, he announced that Brumos Racing would become ‘America’s Porsche Racing Team.’ Next to the 914/6 in this photo is the Alfa Romeo T33/3 of Nino Vaccarella and Toine Hezemans. That car failed to ﬁnish due to fuel system problems.”

60 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

“THE LONE FACTORY FERRARI ENTRY AT SEBRING IN 1971 WAS THIS 312PB DRIVEN BY MARIO Andretti and Jacky Ickx. At one point, this car was in the lead by three laps, but on lap 117, the gearbox seized and they had to retire. Taking over the lead then was the Alfa Romeo T33/3 of Galli and Stommelen, but they would eventually be overtaken by the winning Martini 917 of Elford and Larrousse. In a phone interview, Andretti told me that of all the endurance racers he’d driven, he liked the 312PB the best because it was more like a Formula 1 car. He also said that Ickx was his favorite co-driver.”

• November 2016

“THE IMMACULATELY PREPARED FERRARI 512M OF MARK DONOHUE AND DAVID HOBBS IS EXITING SUNSET BEND AND ONTO THE front straight. Despite being ﬁrst on the grid at Daytona six weeks earlier, and ﬁrst on the grid at Sebring, the car failed to win either race, due mostly to bad luck and accidents. During the fourth hour at Sebring, Pedro Rodriguez of Mexico and Donohue were in a close battle for second behind the leading Ferrari 312PB of Andretti and Ickx. On lap 97, both cars were in the area of Turn 9 when contact was made. Later, Donohue indicated he thought that Rodriguez had deliberately hit his car several times as he was about to overtake the Porsche. Both cars had to pit, with the Ferrari receiving the lion’s share of the damage. Penske became livid and started yelling at Donohue, which surprised everyone there. The Ferrari needed almost 15 minutes for repairs.”

“PEDRO RODRIGUEZ AND JO SIFFERT WERE STAPLES OF J.W. AUTOMOTIVE AND ITS TEAM OF PORSCHES. RODRIGUEZ HAD WON TWICE in a Wyer 917 for Gulf at Daytona, with Siffert coming in second in 1970. Bad luck seemed to plague them at Sebring, with Siffert’s car in the lead late in the 1970 race when faulty wheel hubs sidelined the car twice. Sadly, both of these great racing drivers would be killed before the end of 1971. In July, Rodriguez was killed at age 31 at the Nürburgring. Three months later, Siffert died of injuries he sustained at Brands Hatch. He was 35.”

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Classic Life

READERS’ REPLIES

Unbeatable In the September issue on page 59, there is a vintage racing article that pictures a Porsche 906 #1. It goes on to ask about the history of this car. I thought I would respond. I owned the car in 1968 and won the SCCA CenDiv National Championship in it (chassis #122). It set the track record for the Meadowdale (short course) just before the track closed for good in 1968. I bought the car from Jacques Duval, who campaigned it in Canada in 1967. Before that, it belonged to Doug Revson. It won almost every race for me that year, and even beat the Howmet turbine at Mid Ohio. John F. Weinberger Continental AutoSports Hinsdale, Illinois

Slick column, Bob Thanks to Bob Austin for a well-written column on motor oils for classic cars! It was a very rare piece, absent the kinds of errors, myths and misconceptions that are so common in articles about motor oil. Finding the right motor oil is not just a problem for owners of classic cars, but also for owners of high-performance cars from just 10-15 years ago—that’s how quickly API, ILSAC and other standards are changing. Some of my friends who have older turbocharged cars now use motor oils designed for diesel trucks, such as Shell Rotella or Mobil Delvac, both in 15W-50 viscosities. These motor oils have the vital ZDDP additive, and they work well in older, higher-mileage cars. Another friend swears by Liqui-Moly motor oils for his high-mileage Hondas. The point is, owners of these no-longernew cars need to do some research, separate fact from fiction, and then hunt down non-mass-market oils with the appropriate viscosity and additives. They do make a difference. Regards, Neil M. Szigethy CarKnack, LLC

Garage aesthetics Great article [“Workshop improvements,” Richard Lentinello, August 2016]! I couldn’t agree more regarding all your points, especially the dark wall colors. My nine-yearold and I often sit and appreciate the great 62 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

passion of the car hobby. When we’re not able to drive them, we can take some time to sit and enjoy! Joey Ribiero Via email

against an old stove-lid face plate. A few hundred dollars is much more appealing to me than a few thousand to keep up appearances. The 1940 Bantam Hollywood convertible needed a head gasket for its nonoriginal engine, so I cut one out of some NAPA stock when the usual suppliers couldn’t come through. A dozen other unconventional shortcuts and repairs have kept all these babies putting around. To get to any distant points, I have resorted to pre’80s Toyotas, which are also easy to keep running and have the simple plumbing and fewer chips. Al Fry Garden Valley, Idaho

Car evolution resistance

Capital effort

Growing up on a farm, I was exposed to fixing and driving farm equipment very early. Dad had a ’29 Dodge that was converted to a “buck rake” to gather up hay. It ran great up into the ’50s. Its long piston strokes gave it a lot of low RPM power… and every joint had a grease zirk that helped it remain putting along year after year. His model A Fords also held up with a little maintenance until we needed to keep up with traffic. It was probably inevitable then, that I wound up with the unglamorous wheels I later gravitated to. From the early VW bugs, I eventually located a basket case that was supposedly even better on mileage. The 12-horse French 2CV was quickly put together without any manual help and got sucked along roads all over California behind trucks to keep up with traffic. Out in the roadless high desert areas, it would roll over the sand as well as most dune buggies. While I had to acquire the larger step vans and such over the years to help bring in money, it’s the little cars that were always my favorites. They always remained fixable … while my friends with their larger models broke down and fell out of love with theirs. Small cars are not for persons addicted to the fast and frantic lane, however. I eventually had to upgrade to a bigger, 29-horse Citroën to keep up with traffic. With my affection favoring these baby cars, I have acquired a number of lost little yard ornament babies over the years. My little 1930 American Austin sedan looks like a baby Model A Ford. To get it around, I just tucked in a cheap, air-cooled Chinese motor and go-kart clutch. Another similar ’33 got the same motor with a clutch put together from two disc brake pads rubbing

As a boy, I used to delight at the artistry of language employed in some of the American motor magazines of the ’60s; clearly it lives on in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car magazine. The fact that your correspondent Philip Silver Esq. still takes time to write, and both you and your contributor Mr. Satch Carlson devote almost a column of your fine publication to discuss the correct capitalization of a poet’s name reassures me that in these dark days of text-speak and freestyle punctuation, there is still a country that is preserving and cherishing the language we call “English.” With thanks and sincere hopes that your SUs always have vacuum. Truly, Dr. Richard McCann London, England Just received the September 2016 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car. My wife says the only time I return from the mailbox with a smile on my face is when your magazine shows up. Over the years, I’ve subscribed to many different car magazines—everything from Road & Track to Honk—that’s an indicator of my age—but let’s not go there. Your coverage is diverse and, most importantly, excellent. It’s the only car magazine I read from cover to cover, usually the day it comes in the mail. I currently drive a 2002 Mini R50 with 72,000 miles that I purchased new in June 2002, and my wife’s ride is a 2014 C300 Sport, which just recently replaced her much-loved 2000 C280 that rolled just under 140,000 miles. Keep up the great work! Joe Henriques Langhorne, Pennsylvania

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Bob Austin I turned the key. It ﬁred right up… but with the same miss. We both frowned.

r.austinconsulting@gmail.com

Wrenching: The universal language I had one of those moments we all dread this summer. I was driving my 2006 Volvo XC70 wagon in Boston, about 230 miles from home, when my engine suddenly began to miss and my check engine light came on. Clearly, things were not right. It was Saturday afternoon in a city I wasn’t really familiar with, and the only repair shops I knew and trusted were a fourhour drive away. Most dealerships operate their service departments Monday to Friday, and often consider 10-year-old cars simply too old to service. What to do? I figured my best shot was to find someone with a scan tool to plug into my OBD II port and read the codes to see if the problem was terminal or I had some chance of getting home the next day. My wife looked up the nearest Advance Auto Parts store on her iPhone and guided me to their store in Allston on the outskirts of Boston. The Volvo ran pretty well, but was down on power, made no horrible noises, and idled as if its next revolution might be its last. We parked in the store’s lot and went in to see if they could read the codes for us. The first person we asked said absolutely, but he was quickly corrected by his boss, who said the company’s new policy no longer permitted them to do that! My heart skipped a beat… and I didn’t need a scanner to know that. Assuming her best Goldilocks persona, my wife pleaded that we were from New Jersey and we needed our codes read or we would have no safe way to get home! Clearly, that was the right thing to say, because the boss suggested that a local mechanic (who was installing a part on another customer’s car on the lot) might be willing to read the codes for us…. A short dialog between the independent mechanic and the boss resulted in the mechanic jumping into our Volvo, hooking up the scan tool and recognizing that we had a misfire in cylinder number 4. He pointed this out to me on the face of the scan tool, and suggested it might be an ignition coil (as each cylinder has its own), a spark plug, or a fuel injector… because if it was only one cylinder giving us problems, these were the most likely suspects. I realized as I was going in to buy the ignition coil (the most likely to fail) that the mechanic I was working with didn’t really speak English. But, this fact hadn’t hindered our communications in any way! We both understood automobiles and how they operate. While I was purchasing the coil, the mechanic was busy welding on an exhaust hanger bracket that had failed on a pickup truck parked next to my car. Did I mention that it was about 99 degrees out that day? This man was in perpetual motion. When I came out with the coil, he’d already

removed the plastic shield over the plugs and coils. I helped him get the last few screws out because Volvo had routed the air inlet pipe from the turbo directly over the top of the engine, making two of the screws inaccessible without moving the pipe, which meant removing two more screws. Thus, proving the old adage that the people who design cars are not the same people who service them. With speed that would make a pit crew at Le Mans envious, he undid the coil connector and fastening screw, slid in the new one, fastened it down and snapped in the connector. He pointed at me and said, “Fire.” I turned the key. It fired right up… but with the same miss. We both frowned. He gave the universal signal to kill it. Seconds later he had the new coil out and was removing the plug… as it was the second most likely component to fail. Holding it up where we both could see the business end… it looked perfect! Not dirty, not oily, not even wet with fuel, just a textbook light brown. Not even wet with fuel? If the injector had been working, wouldn’t it be wet? Armed with this newest piece of intelligence, we pulled the shield that covered the injectors. A quick tug on each of the electronic connectors to each injector showed that the connector on number 4 had not been pushed in far enough to lock… and in the roughly 300 miles we had driven since our car was last serviced, had vibrated off, causing a misfire in that cylinder. The mechanic smiled and gave me the sign to “fire” again. I did. And the silky smooth purr of the Volvo fivecylinder was cause for both of us to smile and exchange a thumbs up through the glass. He handed me the new coil back in its box and shouted “return.” I did, and the nice folks at the Advance Auto Parts, who by this time were like family to us, refunded our money without question. I asked our very talented mechanic, who, by the time I returned, was working on yet another car, what I owed him. He said, “Whatever is fair.” I think I paid him handsomely, and I have never been so happy to pay for a repair. Not only because he helped me and my wife out of a difficult position, but because he really renewed my faith in mankind. He didn’t have to do anything for us, but he understood we had a real problem and needed his help. While we couldn’t say much to each other because of my limited international language skills, by the time we were done, we were like brothers. We fixed something together. If you ever get to work on a car with a stranger, you will be all the richer for having done so. Perhaps we should conduct International Diplomatic Meetings in a garage environment? It might be a real improvement! Hemmings.com

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Richard Lentinello By acting as your own general contractor, you will be the person responsible for the oversight and management of your car’s restoration.

rlentinello@hemmings.com

The project car alternative It’s no secret that buying an old sports car that has already been restored will be less expensive than having to restore a car yourself. For most enthusiasts, the only problem with that scenario is that they don’t have the financial resources to afford the higher price tag that restored cars obviously demand. So, what to do? There is a way to making your dream of owning that old Alfa Sprint, Jensen-Healey or Sunbeam Alpine come true. It’s called the project car. The potential project car doesn’t need to run, have nice paint or a complete interior; rather, it’s far more important for its steel structure to be solid inside and out and be void of any major frame or body damage. Spending a few extra dollars for a car with less rust will greatly reduce the overall cost of the restoration, because you won’t have to spend thousands of dollars buying replacement body parts and patch panels, nor will you have to pay a hefty labor charge to have those panels installed. If you’ve found the car that you’ve always wanted, for a really cheap price that made it too good to pass up, but it has a fair amount of corrosion and needs lots of body and interior work — none of which you are capable of doing — you can still make restoring this type of car a very real possibility. Here’s how. First, keep in mind that the rarer the car, the more expensive its restoration will be, simply because the parts for it are rarer too, and way more expensive. Replacement fenders for, say, a Citroën DS or a Lancia Fulvia are not as easily found, or as cheap, as fenders for the more popular MGB, TR6, or even a Porsche 914, which are readily available new or used from a variety of sources. Rarity aside, let’s focus now on getting the actual restoration work done. You know those home shows on HGTV that show houses being transformed from rundown shacks into inviting places of beauty? Well, just think of your project car as one of those houses in disrepair. And think of yourself as the general contractor. Instead of hiring one restoration shop to do all the work for you, by acting as your own general contractor, you will be the person responsible for the oversight and management of your car’s restoration. You will then be better able to fine-tailor the work flow of the project to suit your finances, and make the project progress as fast or as slow as you wish. When you first get that project car home, document every square inch of it with lots of photographs, then make a list of all the

parts that are either missing or that need to be restored and replated, or simply replaced. Then outline the work that needs to be done and separate the work list into distinct categories such as metal repair, body and paint, upholstery, engine, transmission, brakes/ suspension, woodworking, rechroming. Now, just like those home shows, you need to act like the contractor in charge and hire the various sub-contractors to do the restoration work that’s needed. If you don’t know which specialists to hire, ask other owners of cars like yours for some recommendations, or join the appropriate car club to discover who those specialists are. Once you’ve found the proper specialists, talk to them about cost projections and the time frame needed for them to do the work. Once you have a good idea from each of the specialists, you can plan ahead and start the rebuilding process. Just keep in mind that while certain jobs are being done, such as the body and paint, at the same time (if money allows), the rebuilding of the engine can be going on so as to avoid any delays later on. And as the contractor in charge, you will be able to hand deliver components such as the transmission and differential to their appropriate specialist and get those components rebuilt and ready to be installed when needed. By acting as your own general contractor, you will be able to save anywhere from 15 to 25 percent off the total cost of the car’s restoration. While this method may still be more expensive than buying a car that’s already been restored, it allows you to proceed at a speed that your finances will dictate, and that you are comfortable with. Although this may sound like a challenge, if you don’t try you’ll never know if you can make that collector-car dream come true or not. After all, if you can’t afford the restored version of the car you want, what other choices do you have? Hemmings.com

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Workshop

HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

â&#x20AC;¢ November 2016

A Body-off for

Driving There was more than ﬁscal sense at play in the restoration of this 1973 Triumph TR6 BY DAVID CONWILL PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE RESTORATION PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF RICK BARNARD

hat does it take to make a body-off restoration worth it? Conventional wisdom would normally reserve such a labor-intensive process for cars of extreme rarity, concours-grade show cars or highly modified performance machines. Restoring a car is almost never a money-making proposition for the owner, but sometimes it’s just got to be done. This Triumph TR6 got the body-off treatment, almost out of necessity. Owner Rick Barnard of Grafton, Massachusetts, has long been a Triumph enthusiast, having owned two TR4s in his college days

Rick started with a solid, rust-free car that was suffering from storage-related ills and the dreaded “previous owner syndrome” in the form of some jury-rigged repairs. Hemmings.com

• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

The Process

2 1

In the second round of restoration, Rick elected to remove and replace or adjust several misaligned replacement panels that had served to keep the car on the road.

Rick’s ﬁrst inkling of big trouble came when viewing the car on level ground: It sat lower on the left, thanks to frozen shocks, a warped left frame rail and a misaligned body.

Because the whole restoration started with an engine-bay detailing job, Rick jokes, “To simplify taking the engine out of the car, ﬁrst take the body off the frame.”

One of Rick’s ﬁrst projects was to restore the warped original dash panel, but he originally left the misaligned ﬂoor pans and original interior in place for simplicity and cost reasons.

The “Murray Brown Memorial Engine Hoist,” fabricated by a family friend, made lifting the body to remove and reinstall the rolling chassis a far easier task.

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With the frame out from under the car and stripped of everything not welded down, Rick sent it to professionals for rust repair, alignment and reinforcement —the result was better than new.

To avoid using the “case of beer, six or eight big guys and some 2 x 8s” method of body removal, Rick would call on a tool fabricated by a friend of his father many years before.

The chassis was reassembled with fresh suspension components, new brake lines, rebuilt brakes and the unrestored engine—which would ﬁnally be rebuilt in 2001.

Rick designed and built a lifting jig to support the body while it was lifted off the frame. Planned out with existing mounts in mind, it required Rick add only six additional holes.

The engine, left alone during the ﬁrst round of restoration, was ﬁnally treated to a rebuild in 2001. A fresh differential and Good Parts axles and hubs complete the powertrain.

Redline tires from Coker, with virtually undetectable blemishes that brought down the price, rounded out the ﬁrst restoration and made for a handsome package.

Rick’s ﬁrst repaint was limited to respraying the engine bay and tail panel in Signal Red to match a previous owner’s repaint. In 2012-’13 he switched to the more sedate Damson.

in the late 1960s and having worked at Alewife Triumph-Volvo in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the time of the TR6’s debut. In the fall of 1996, when Rick first saw this car, painted the same Signal Red as his old TR4 and riding on redline tires, he couldn’t help himself, and soon persuaded all parties that he needed to own what he later came to call “It Should Have Been a Parts Car” in a series of columns he wrote detailing the first part of his restoration in The New England Triumph and The Vintage Triumph. We’re not sure it’s fair to say the TR6 was too far gone for restoration—it certainly was complete and rust-free—but the efforts of previous owners (Rick calls them DFO’s for “Dreaded Former Owners”) lacked a certain finesse in their execution of repair. A sober post-purchase analysis told Rick that the best way to obtain the solid,

correct-appearing driver he sought was to separate body and frame and methodically address the issues in a way that was both efficient and cost effective. To ease into things, Rick elected to deal with the ill-fitting dash panel. That may seem to be a trivial detail on a car with a tweaked and rusted frame, poorly fettled patch panels and a weak brake system, but sometimes one just needs a small project to prime the pump for larger things to come. Replacement TR6 dash panels aren’t exactly impossible to find, but keeping the one that came with the car was important to Rick. “I make an extra effort to restore the original parts,” he says. “These are the parts that make up the history of the car.” The plywood backing of the original panel was warped and dried out from constant sun exposure in the roadster’s cockpit. Rick discovered that he could float the unit in a bathtub of warm water, allowing the

In contrast with the earlier frame-off restoration, the ’12-’13 repaint left the pieces married and made judicious use of masking—in keeping with the commonsense nature of the project. Hemmings.com

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The instrument panel was the ﬁrst restoration task Rick took on, straightening the backing plywood and reﬁnishing the veneer. The black interior, originally repaired with duct tape, has since been completely redone. An overdrive was also added. plywood to soak while leaving the veneer face dry. After soaking the panel for about an hour, he clamped the piece between two pieces of 5/8-inch particle board, screwed it together, and stored the project under his bed for a month. Satisfied with the progress, he repeated the procedure. Once the panel was straightened, Rick had to tackle the tough varnish on the veneer. After several false starts, he discovered that a heat gun was the most effective method. Once stripped, the wood was treated to a hand sanding and two coats of Minwax Walnut stain and satin-finish urethane spray varnish. “Successful problem solving is just one part of the old-car hobby that I find enjoyable,” Rick says, and he applied that kind of common-sense, can-do philosophy to the rest of the project as well, doing nearly everything in his garage and driveway during the spring, summer and fall of 1997, ’98 and ’99. Systems that were in good shape, like the wiring harness, were simply cleaned up and retained. He rigged up a sand-blasting space from an old washingmachine shipping box and bargain-hunted a sandblaster for heavy-duty cleaning jobs. The biggest task Rick tackled himself was refinishing portions of the body. The roadster had left the factory in a shade of yellow called Mimosa, and a subsequent owner had installed black patch panels and refinished the car in Signal Red. Because the color was what originally 72 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

attracted Rick, there was no question of going back to yellow. Before paintwork could commence, Rick elected to remove the frame and set it aside for future repairs. This was accomplished via Rick’s ace in the hole: The Murray Brown Memorial Engine Hoist. The Murray Brown hoist was fabricated by a co-worker of Rick’s father and, as Rick puts it, “looks like a swing set for the Incredible Hulk.” The 10-foot-tall, ultra-stout hoist (along with an owner-built lifting jig) was able to lift the TR6 body off the frame with a minimum of effort. Rick, of course, thoroughly braced the body beforehand to prevent any twisting or creasing. With the body shell in the air, Rick inspected, cleaned and undercoated the usually inaccessible regions, and then installed the unit on a dolly for storage and

ease of movement. Rick’s only previous experience spraying paint involved rattle cans, and he advises anyone in the same position to “get to know the counter man at your local auto paint store.” Rick zealously followed the advice he was given to match the engine bay and the tail, but elected to leave the remaining finish alone. Rick says the result looked good, “but it could have been even better.” Still, given that the intent was to create a driver, it’s hard to fault Rick for tackling his own paint. One area Rick was not willing to tackle, however, was the rusted, damaged and poorly repaired frame. “When restoring a Triumph,” he says, “One has to know the limits of one’s abilities and facilities. I am not a welder, so it was time to consult the experts.” The experts, in this case,

being Auto Rust Technicians in Cranston, Rhode Island, whom he found via an ad in Hemmings Motor News. On the jig at Auto Rust Technicians, Rick’s original frame was straightened, the rusted portions removed and new steel of greater durability was installed. The shop also reinforced weak areas with plate steel to stiffen things up and avoid future issues. The result was strong, Rick says, “but not concours.” Perfect for a driver. With a solid foundation, Rick next turned to the suspension and brakes, rebuilding everything to stock specification, replacing the front rotors and having his rear drums turned. Rick ran his own brake lines, but elected to send the master cylinder and front calipers to Apple Hydraulics in Calverton, New York. The rebuilt system was filled with synthetic brake fluid to avoid potentially marring the finish. He reports that the result was quite satisfactory, with even panic stops being met with straight tracking. The balance of the car was reassembled with cleaned and serviced pieces. Gently used replacements were sourced where necessary. Rick even managed to get another set of redline tires on the car within his budget by purchasing blemished rubber from Coker Tire. The engine was inspected, cleaned, painted and treated to some new external parts—but otherwise left alone. Cooling is handled by a re-cored radiator. The result in 1999 was a good driver that made it to his goal of that year’s Vintage

“

Successful problem solving is just one part of the old-car hobby I ﬁnd enjoyble.

”

Triumph Register meet in Portland, Maine. With its original interior still intact, thanks to the judicious use of black duct tape, many may not have realized the effort Rick put into his car, but undoubtedly the result was better than had he tried to address the roadster’s myriad issues without disassembly. Often such results are mere Band-Aids. Since 1999, the Triumph has gained a rebuilt engine, an overdrive and hardtop; been sold (resulting in a dark period Rick calls “the Triumphless five years”); was bought back and treated to another round of bodywork and paint, this time in a Triumph color called Damson; and was re-reassembled in 2013-’14. All of which goes to show that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right and it’s worth doing again. “Triumphs are basic, well-engineered and easy to work on,” Rick says, “But they weren’t meant to be transportation appliances or museum pieces. They’re sports cars and they were made to be driven. “These old cars are time machines for some of us and there’s nothing wrong with that. Our memories consist of sounds and smells and feelings and sights, and a Triumph provided plenty of these. The experience of blasting down a country road in a TR, the sound of the engine winding up and the feel of hitting the gears just right, that’s bringing back the memories or making new ones. Throw in some Led Zeppelin or British Invasion music and that’s a heck of a fun way to spend a day.”

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• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

BY TONY PEARSON

I have a 1980 Volvo 262C that I love. With all the hot weather recently, I’ve been running the A/C a lot. I’ve noticed that when I’m sitting at a traffic signal, the engine feels like it’s running rough and stutters off and on. I don’t remember it doing this last summer. Do you have any ideas what is happening? Paul Berg Via email

• ASK_TONY@HOTMAIL.COM

A: When A/C compressors are operating, they put enough load on the engine to pull the idle down quite a bit. Modern cars compensate for this by opening an auxiliary air passage to bring the idle back to normal. Your Volvo’s Bosch K jet fuel-injection system uses an air idle control valve to accomplish this task. These valves are susceptible to carbon buildup and can

cause the issues you’re experiencing. Most times, you’ll be able to clean them with a good throttle body cleaner. You’ll need to remove the valve to do this. While you’re at it, clean the throttle body as well. The 262C is one of my favorite Volvos, but at 6-foot-3, I just don’t fit without leaning the seat back to Formula 1 angles.

I own a 1974 Ferrari Dino 248 that I’ve had since the early ’80s. It sits in a rather small two-car garage, where it shares space with my wife’s daily driver and everything else that you normally have in a garage, which brings me to my problem. Last weekend, while doing a little yard work, I went to grab a rake from the wall next to the Ferrari. While taking it down, I bumped a shovel, which fell on the right front fender, leaving a small ding, but no paint damage. A few of my fellow car friends tell me to call a dent removal company, but I’m not sure if this is the way to go or have it repaired by a body shop. Tom Hanshaw Via email A. If it didn’t hurt the paint, then this type of dent is perfect for paintless dent removal. It works best on smooth, shallow dents and if the paint isn’t damaged. If it’s a sharp or wrinkled crease, that’s another story. The biggest obstacle is getting to the back side of the dent. Most are easy to get to by removing a taillight or interior trim panel. If the dent is behind any structural bracing, then you may need to drill a hole in the brace to gain access. In your case, it will be an easy place to access, just pull the front wheel. Depending on how deep the dent is, you may have trouble with the paint cracking when the dent is pushed back out. Modern paints are much more flexible and resilient to dents without cracking. Lacquers and older paint may not survive. Specially designed tools essentially push the dent out from the other direction. Think of these guys as a metal masseuse for your car. Once the repair is done, you’ll never know it was there.

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It was time to change brake shoes on all four drum brakes and flush the DOT-5 brake fluid on our Austin-Healey Sprite. I bought eight shoes from a reputable classic car parts dealer and did the job. After a few miles of driving, the right front brake squeaked very loud when braking. I pulled the drum and rounded (by file) the lining ends on both the shoes. This did not solve the problem, so I checked again and noticed the drum was touching the lining unevenly. I filed those spots with sandpaper to even them out. Again, no success. I continued this procedure several times with no improvement. Now I can do this job blindfolded, but I’d rather drive the car. Haluk (no last name) Via email A: Working on drum brakes is becoming a lost art, since most vehicles today come with discs on all four corners. Brakes squeal for a number of reasons: The pad or shoe has worn to the point

of metal on metal, or something is vibrating at a high frequency when you hit the pedal. I suggest that you pull the drums and shoes and take them to a local auto parts store that will not only turn the drums, but arc the shoes to match. This step matches the brake lining shape to match the brake drum for maximum contact. You may be working with brake drums that have reached their wear limits, in which case they can’t be turned and you’ll have to

I’ve used a number of techniques over the years, and have found a good gasket removal spray and a 3M Roloc bristle disc works best. The spray helps to soften the gasket so it’s easier to remove. The Roloc disc mounts to a hand drill and is very good at removing the gasket without damaging the mating surface. Like sandpaper, these discs come in various grit sizes. I recommend 80 grit, or the yellow one. Take your time and don’t put too A: Removing stubborn or glued-on much pressure on the disc. Now, a gaskets from aluminum can be very huge word of caution: The grit from frustrating and takes a ton of patience. the disc can get into the transmisI am changing the transmission fluid and replacing the filter on my new-to-me 1976 BMW 2002 automatic. Whoever serviced the transmission the last time glued the pan gasket onto the transmission, and I’m having a difficult time scraping it off. I don’t know how to remove it without gouging the mating surface. Do you have any suggestions? Ron Fillmore Via email

replace them. The other thing you want to do is smear a thin layer of grease where the shoe contacts the backing plate, wheel cylinder and adjuster. If you haven’t already replaced all of the springs and hardware, do it. Finally, about the use of DOT 5 brake fluid: If you used DOT 5.1, it is poly glycol-based and mixes with DOT 3 and DOT 4. DOT 5.0 is silicone-based and will cause unspeakable damage if it’s mixed.

sion’s internals, so take great care to block off the opening while you’re doing this. Make sure to flush the area with clean solvent when you’re done. Finally, when you install the pan, do not use silicone adhesives. As you tighten the pan bolts, the silicone is squeezed out the sides, and you don’t want this floating around inside your transmission, ruining all the magic.

Questions for Tony? Send an email to ask_tony@hotmail.com. Or, if you live in a cave and don’t have access to a computer, write a letter to Ask Tony, c/o Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, P.O. Box 904, Bennington, Vermont 05201.

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Englebert Rubber The Belgian tire maker raced—and won—from the beginning to the end BY TERRY SHEA

hen it comes to thinking of tires and Formula One champions, the name Englebert probably isn’t the first one to pop into most people’s minds. But for a couple of years in the mid-Fifties, the Belgian-made tire was the one to beat, particularly as it was the tire of choice at the time for Ferrari. The Englebert Rubber Company took the name of its founder, ex-Belgian army officer Oscar Englebert, when he started the concern in Liège in 1868. The then 31-year-old Englebert was not ready to become a manufacturer at the start, lacking a factory and a permit, but after nine years of just selling rubber products, the company opened a factory in Liège. It turned out all sorts of rubber goods, including pacifiers, raincoats, mats, gloves and conveyor belts for mines. In the latter half of the 1900s, Belgian industrial activity picked up as the country began fully exploiting the vast natural resources of the Congo Free State. Englebert was poised to be there with its industrial rubber, such as those conveyor belts. One of Oscar’s first employees was his brother Gabriel, an engineer whose technical prowess meshed well with Oscar’s head for business matters. But as Englebert’s business grew, Gabriel passed away, and Oscar Jr., just a student at the time, took over Gabriel’s duties. By 1912, when Oscar died after a long illness, Oscar Jr. had been running the entire business for quite a while. Oscar Jr. appointed his own son, Georges, as plant manager, with his responsibilities increasing over the years. By this time, the company had over 400 workers. World War I saw a stop in production, with soldiers using the large plant as a barracks. Englebert had begun producing tires in 1895, starting with bicycle tires and tubes, and soon following with automobile tires. Englebert got involved in racing in 1899 with the running of the Paris to Amsterdam competition. The durability of the tires impressed the critics, at the very least. And Englebert even landed a contract with Continental to produce 76 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

tires for the German rubber company. With as much as 60 percent of its workforce women, Englebert earned the nickname of the “Liège harem.” Even an American trade journal referred to this ratio when reporting the company’s information in the early part of the 20th century. That magazine also estimated the company’s size at between 2,000 and 3,500 employees in 1922. With a growing market in Germany, along with customs taxes eating into its profits, Englebert opened a factory in Aachen in 1929 to serve the German market during the interwar years. With the outbreak of World War II, the company was forced to supply the Nazi war machine. Once the war was over, it had to rebuild the Aachen plant to get production back up to speed. But it was at one of the greatest racing events in the world in the 1930s that Englebert really put itself on the map. From 1932 to 1934, the 24 Hours of Le Manswinning Alfa Romeo 8C2300’s rode on Englebert tires. One of those wins was said to have come without any tire changes. The company would follow up that success by winning the first postwar Le Mans in 1949, as Enzo Ferrari’s tire choice for the winning 166 MM. That relationship with the Italian sports car maker would continue and strengthen in the Fifties. Both Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956 and Mike Hawthorn in 1958 captured the Formula One driver’s championship in Ferraris shod with Englebert tires. Along with those F1 and Le Mans trophies, Englebert also helped drivers to the top of the rostrum in such events as the 12 Hours of Sebring three times, 1,000-km races at Monza and in Argentina, Sweden and

Venezuela. A pair of Mille Miglia winners made up part of the Englebert winning brigade, as did various long-distance rallies from the 1920s up through the 1950s. At its height, Englebert operated four factories. Employment would top 8,000, and production would be in the neighborhood of 30,000 tires per day. As Englebert faced pressure to grow as a supplier in the late Fifties, it became part of the larger United States Rubber Company (a.k.a. Uniroyal). Uniroyal-Englebert became the European division of Uniroyal in 1958. By 1966, the Englebert part of the name was no more. In 1979, Continental, the massive German auto parts supplier, acquired the Englebert factories and assumed Uniroyal’s entire European tire business. Though some reproduction Englebert tires have been produced over the years, today the name exists on the record books more than anywhere else, a testament to a tire manufacturer that used motor racing almost from the beginning to sell more tires.

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WHEEL ALIGNMENT TOOL Summit Racing’s QuickTrick QuickSlide wheel alignment tool allows you to check caster, camber and toe-in in minutes, with no lift required. The tool is accurate within a tenth of a degree, and will help improve steering effort and handling, as well as extending tire life. You can also use it to adjust alignment settings at the track. The tool comes with three patented QT Lip Pins that ﬁt on the wheel lip, a digital gauge, instructions and carrying case. The plates are just 5/16-inch thick, so you can drive or push the car onto them. The turn plates have a scale that reads from +20 to -20 degrees in one-degree increments. A Teﬂon coating between the plates prevents binding, so turning the wheels for precise alignment is smooth and accurate, no need for pins to reset nor a pointer that can be damaged. Visit Summit’s website for a demonstration and more information. Cost: $555.99. Contact: Summit Racing; 800-230-3030; www.summitracing.com

JAGUAR FUEL TANK Welsh Enterprises

HOSE HERDING We’ve all encountered the nuisance of getting a cord or

offers a high-quality reproduction fuel tank for the Jaguar Mark 2 sedan. The tanks will ﬁt 1959’67 Jaguars and are made from galvanized steel. The tanks offer more reliability and a longer life expectancy than non-galvanized tanks. They are also ethanol approved, and are a long-lasting replacement should you need a new tank. Cost: $525.95. Contact: Welsh Enterprises; 800-875-5247; www.welshent.com

hose stuck under our tires when working on our cars. Whether you are using a water hose, air hose or electrical cords, it can become bothersome removing a jam or kink while working around your car. This new hose slide is a quick and easy placement that works with most tires and will keep your cords from burrowing under your tires. It’s constructed of durable polypropylene plastic, which is resistant to chemicals and UV rays. If you own a detail shop, this is a great item that will save you time and add maneuverability without the hassle of a stuck hose. Cost: $12.99 (two slides). Contact: Hose Slide; 631-940-9707; www.hoseslide.com

THAT’S A WRAP Thermo-Tec offers a new carbon ﬁber exhaust wrap made using pulverized lava rock. Wrapping the exhaust can help create more horsepower by increasing exhaust gas ﬂow (known as scavenging), and reducing underhood temperatures. Able to withstand up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, this wrap will not fade or discolor, and is pliable for an easier installation. Available in 1- and 2-inch widths. Cost: $33 (1-inch); $50 (2-inch). Contact: Thermo-Tec; 800-274-8437; www.thermotec.com

78 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

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Marketplace

HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

â&#x20AC;¢ November 2016

The

Groundshaker Lancia’s Aurelia GT is one of the postwar era’s most inﬂuential automobiles BY JIM DONNELLY

• PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF BONHAMS AUSTRALIA

hen you work in a place such as Hemmings, you get to experience a lot of cars. A lot of them. Some of them are a little obscure, even undeservedly. Honestly, more than a couple of you may have never laid eyes on a Lancia Aurelia GT. And that being the case, you may not be fully aware of its status in the world of postwar European cars or for that matter, cars from anywhere. But don’t be misled. Lancia, which already had a whole passel of innovative cars in its long history, blasted out of the gate following World War II with the Aurelia, which was swiftly acknowledged as one of the most influential cars in the world. It is widely considered to be the first of the postwar generation of modern GT coupes. To wit: Designed under the supervision of Vittorio Jano, the Aurelia boasted the world’s first production V-6 engine, which transmitted its power via a balanced driveshaft to a rear-mounted gearbox. It was among the first cars in the world to offer radial tires (the Michelin X) as standard equipment. The Aurelia had a full-monocoque body structure. Its unique suspension system utilized sliding pillars up front with a de Dion axle and semi-elliptic leaf springs out back. Its Ghia-penned body lines were both roomy and aerodynamic in

the extreme. It was not a car for everybody, and it wasn’t cheap. That explains why only about 620 were built out of a total of some 18,000 Aurelias of all stripes, and why it exists on the periphery of familiarity today. Put plainly, an Aurelia GT is a highly distinctive automobile, and easily one of the most significant to come out of Europe in the immediate postwar years. Comparatively few enthusiasts ever get the chance to examine one of these landmark automobiles up close. So if you want to learn about an Aurelia GT, or actually buy one for your collection, you will be well served to find a guy who actually knows about these cars. One of them is Santo Spadaro, the proprietor of Dominick European Car Repair in White

Plains, New York, a guy who’s thoroughly versed in all rides Italian, but moreover, is enraptured by the glorious brilliance engineered into the Aurelia GT during its relatively short lifespan. As Santo put it, “There are groundbreaking cars, and then there are earth-shattering cars. The Aurelia GT is one of those.” You can go all the way back to when it was new and acquire an understanding of how immediately Lancia’s creation commanded respect. The Autocar pegged it by publishing, “(It) is of wide academic interest, not only to the sporting fraternity but also to all who can appreciate fine machinery and enterprising design, even when it may be priced beyond their grasp.” Santo was more succinct, telling us, “It all depends on the customer. Not every car is for every person. Some people are short-wheelbase Ferrari drivers; some are Triumph Spitfire drivers. Every car requires a certain someone. The question is, are you an esoteric car guy? Because the Aurelia qualifies as an esoteric car. Are you a Fifties car guy? Would you prefer an Alfa, or an MGA, or a car that has maybe a bigger database in terms of knowledge and understanding? Not everybody is cut out to drive an esoteric car, but I like them, whether it’s a Citroën or a Rover, something that has a different engineering

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Timeline 1950 B10 sedan introduced 1951 B20 GT unveiled, displacement increases to 1,991 cc with two singlechoke Webers 1952 B20 S2 gets skewed-valve cylinder heads, sedans stay with “straight” valves 1953 B20 S3 gets 2,451 cc, single twinchoke Weber, larger rear window 1954 B20 S4 upgraded to de Dion rear suspension, left-hand drive ﬁrst offered 1956 B24 convertible introduced, 521 built through 1958

Specifications Engine All-alloy V-6, overhead valves Displacement 2,451 cc Horsepower 118 @ 5,000 RPM Torque 126.5-lb.ft. @ 3,500 RPM Fuel system Single Weber 40DCL 5 carburetor Transmission Four-speed manual transaxle Suspension Front, vertical sliding pillars with coil springs; rear, de Dion axle with Panhard rod, swing axles Steering Worm and sector, unassisted Brakes Hydraulic, four-wheel drums Wheelbase 104 inches Length 172 inches Width 61 inches Height 53.5 inches Curb weight 2,849 pounds 0-60 MPH 14 seconds Top speed 113 MPH

ENGINE

Several upgrades, led by valve and pushrod angles, were employed at various stages of the Aurelia’s lifetime as the displacement of its V-6 powerplant was increased. Sadly, sometimes Lancia engines were reassembled by amateurs using incorrect parts. Beware of any signs of overheating or head gasket leaks, same for indications of excessive oil breathing; all can point to bigger, unseen problems. The Jano-designed transaxle has synchromesh on the top three gears; check for proper functioning. A good, properly built and tuned engine should be impressively responsive, smooth and quiet.

Recent Ads 1955 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT Series IV Powder blue, all numbers matching, South Africa car, fully restored, all interior components correct, full engine rebuild, formidable provenance, comes with numerous spares, $245,000. 1958 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT Series VI Great original car to restore, LHD, silver with tan interior, located in New York City, $125,000.

BODY Like many Italian cars of its era, the Aurelia GT tends to rot from the inside out. A cursory inspection of the car’s exposed surfaces is never enough. Places to check are under the lower front panel and valance, especially around openings; the inner and outer front wheel arches, lower edges of the ﬁrewall, the three-layer doorsills, and the door bottoms. When matched to the Michelin X radials (made now by Coker Tire), the suspension can be an epiphany for new drivers, given the car’s excellent weight distribution. A special bugaboo with Aurelias can make itself known in the form of the two-piece driveshaft. If it’s not precisely balanced, vibrations will emanate throughout the car’s structure.

82 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

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Production B20 GT First Series ........................... 490 Second Series .................................... 731 Third Series ...................................... 720 Fourth Series ................................. 1,000 Fifth Series ....................................... 299 Sixth Series ....................................... 621 Total ...............................................3,861

Price Guide Low ............................................$70,000 Medium ................................... $100,000 High ......................................... $185,000

Parts Prices » Little to speak of here, although the footwells are a frequent target of

INTERIOR

corrosion. Similarly, beware of moisture leaks from cracking windshield or backlight gaskets. Especially in the early Aurelias, lateral support under spirited cornering is next to nonexistent. We know of owners who have taken the step of installing newer Flaminia seats in their Aurelias for a measure of comfort and support. The good thing is that, as an effectively handbuilt car, most interior components can be reproduced by competent restoration shops.

Distributor cap................................ $450 Brake seals ....................................... $45 Brake hoses .............................. $22 each Points ........................................ $60 set Driveshaft flex joints ..................... $100 Pistons................................... $1,200/set Windshield gasket ......................... $200 Floor mats ......................................$600 Rebuilt engine ........................... $18,000

A Pro’s Advice

ALSO CHECK

The front sliding-pillar suspension is reliable and effective so long as its oil reservoir is kept full. Suspension damping can be adjusted from soft to hard by turning nuts at the top of the pillars. The reservoir, which also holds the brake fluid, is mounted to the firewall. Make sure the vendor or mechanic knows how the system operates and how to check that it’s properly filled. You can lift the grille out by unscrewing a wing nut; that allows access to the steering box, which should show only negligible play if nothing is amiss. Aurelia B20s used five different dash arrangements, check that yours is correct to the car.

“I’m not a salesman, and if you’re going out or considering an Aurelia, you should make sure this is what you want. The car definitely represents a road less traveled. If you walk in here saying you want a TR3, I might suggest something a little more sophisticated to you, like this, not that there’s anything wrong with a TR3. The Lancia isn’t exactly an orphan car, it’s just that the name just doesn’t roll off everybody’s tongue like some other cars. It’s a step up from bigger seriesproduction cars. I do end up buying parts out of Europe and England, too; the world is a smaller place today. It’s not like you’re hamstrung buying parts from only one guy. You have the downside of owning a very unique car. You have to suffer for loving your artwork. But it’s a good kind of suffering. When they’re sorted, they’re really fine cars. I drive my B10 sedan to work every day in the summer, it’s that good. That’s my sunny-day commuter.” –Santo Spadaro, proprietor of Dominick European Car Repair, White Plains, New York

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• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

Alternatives

1962-1969 JAGUAR MARK X Price now $30,000-$50,000 Pros Oh so British, lovely interior, classic lines Cons Relatively commonplace, not a true GT

1949-1959 ROVER P4 Price now $6,500-$15,000 Pros Legitimate six-cylinder competitor, nicely sporting Cons Four-door bodywork means it’s not a true GT

Specialists Dominick European Car Repair White Plains, New York 914-949-0103 Restoration and repairs Lancia Spares Wellsville, Pennsylvania 717-292-2962 All pre-Beta Lancia parts, covers all models Tony Nicosia Costa Mesa, California 949-642-1969 Repair and restoration, some parts Will’s Garage Oakdale, Pennsylvania 724-693-9209 Restoration and rebuilding services, parts Visit the Hemmings Car Clubs pages at www.hemmings.com for news and information on over 1,400 car clubs!

84 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

Viewpoint I owned a car very similar to this one when it was one year old, in 1959. I bought it from Dominick’s, whom I’ve known for years. This ﬁrst one, a guy had bought it for his son as a graduation present, but he didn’t like it and decided to sell it. So I bought it through Dominick’s and it was my daily driver for several years. I had 14 of them, biggest private Lancia collection in the U.S. When the 100th anniversary of Lancia came about [in 2006], I learned about this 1958 for sale. It had been owned in Italy by the owner of a very major jeweler in Rome. I’ve taken it back over there and we’ve driven to Rome, Palermo, Sardinia, Turin, Naples. We had a caravan of about 20 to 30 cars. It was quite a memorable trip. The Aurelia ran beautifully, there was no trouble at all. This is an important car in automotive history. With very little care, they run troublefree. I had the only Lancia-powered Formula Junior car in the SCCA, which I raced through 2002, also ran it in vintage races at Monaco and Monza. This Aurelia won best in show at a Ferrari event in Saratoga Springs, believe it or not. Aesthetically, the Aurelia B20 has outstanding lines of the Fifties that are hard to improve upon; they’re beautiful cars. It’s light, has good acceleration, and the steering is very precise. And again, I think it’s amazingly trouble-free to own. –Armand Giglio

or philosophical approach, and a Lancia definitely has that different philosophical and engineering approach.” From a distance of more than 60 years, it’s still difficult to appreciate the wallop that Lancia delivered to the automotive world when the Aurelia first appeared at the Turin motoring show in 1950. The replacement for the Aprilia, the Aurelia boasted a 60-degree OHV V-6 that was positively revolutionary in its packaging and formidable output, which would eventually top 120 hp. Lancia engineer Francesco de Virgilio had the task of filtering out the V-6’s sometimes-nagging vibration issues. The clutch, transmission and differential were in a single transaxle-type unit, designed by Jano, decades before Porsche developed its Weissach axle. Vincenzo Lancia may have been indifferent about auto racing, at least by that point in his life, but the Aurelia GT acquitted itself well in the world of competition, ranging from the Mille Miglia to the Carrera Panamericana. The Aurelia GT makes extensive use of aluminum in its bodywork, especially the hood and doors. The first Aurelia introduced to the public was the B10 Berlina. At that time, its V-6 displaced only 1,574 cc, which led to some gripes about inadequate performance. To remedy that, a 1,991cc version of the V-6 was introduced the following year, the perfect fit for the B20 Aurelia GT that was rolled out at the same time. In 1953, Lancia introduced the B20 coupe, the third in the series of Aurelias. It got a boost in displacement to 2,451 cc. The formerly fully independent rear suspension was inordinately taxed by the

additional engine power, which prompted Lancia to adopt the rear de Dion setup for its additional strength. “When the first B20 came out, it produced maybe 90 hp,” Santo told us. “Vincenzo frowned upon factory race cars because he figured they were a waste of time. So some of the B20s were tuned and were sent to the Mille Miglia. Here you have what’s basically the world’s first GT, a class-defining kind of car, a real comfortable 2+2 touring car, basically a road car, and you race it against things like 4.0-liter Ferraris with probably 300 hp, and it comes in second overall by about 12 or 15 minutes. Then you could go out and tour the countryside of Italy with your family in one of them. There weren’t any cars like it before and there haven’t been any like it since. It’s sort of the progenitor of a modern E30 BMW.” The Aurelia GT was built in six different series before production ceased in 1958. To this day, it’s praised as a segmentbuster, the kind of staggeringly different automobile that both created and defined a new element of the marketplace. Despite its comparative age, it’s a remarkably well-equipped car, with a wood-rimmed alloy steering wheel, windshield washers, French-made Jaeger instrumentation, a multi-purpose control stalk, a push-pull lighting switch, a day-night inside mirror, and dual-tone horns. The ashtrays are selfcleaning, no small accomplishment when the Aurelia GT was new. The front seats, in cloth trimmed with leatherette, have screwadjustable backs, but the knobs can’t be reached while the car is in operation. We should note that the GT was

The Aurelia GT was designed and built speciﬁcally as a long-distance touring coupe for the Continent. Spare intrudes somewhat, but trunk is copious. designed on a shorter wheelbase than the earlier sedans by Felice Mario Boano at Ghia, although Pininfarina was tasked with building the bodywork for the production run of cars. Parts aren’t cheap. Many are sourced through England or Italy via distributors, although reliable parts sellers do exist stateside. The big problem with any Aurelia is finding body parts, which are not reproduced, and NOS pieces can be very expensive when you’re able to locate them. Mike Kristick of Wellsville, Pennsylvania,

operates Lancia Spares and is probably the nation’s single most reliable and bestequipped parts purveyor for these cars, operating out of a garage and three barns. He told us that many of the available spare parts in the United States and Canada are smaller components, and that one of the dearest parts is an NOS distributor cap, which is very hard to source and will easily run an Aurelia owner $400 or more when he or she can find one. You can’t, however, put a price on simple joy, especially when it comes to owning

such a historically significant automobile as this one. If you owned a Lamborghini Miura, you’d be used to shelling out money by the wheelbarrow to keep it tuned and happy. For all its shocking looks, an Aurelia will impress you as a hugely efficient and brilliantly designed example of Italian motoring at its very best. Prices for Aurelia GTs have been on the rise for quite a while now. It was inevitable that the great universe of potential buyers would eventually come to stop ignoring this landmark car and its engineering excellence, especially once they learned all about its impressive record in motorsports, which makes it welcome today in a variety of vintage events. As a driver, the Aurelia GT has few peers, especially among its 1950s contemporaries. The combination of its suspension and monocoque structure gives the car an uncanny personality built on strength, quiet and competent road manners. The engine isn’t wildly powerful by today’s standards, but it’s more than capable of handling modern express traffic; Santo uses a B10 sedan as his fair-weather daily driver in the New York City metro area. Buying and owning an Aurelia GT can immediately turn you into The Man at any import car meet, but be prepared to bite the bullet, one way or the other. Deciding that owning one is a must for you and one of two things are likely to happen: Either you’ll pay through the nose at one of the glamour auctions or else be saddled with a potentially frightful restoration bill. And you know what? If you’re a Lancia guy, an Aurelia guy, you’ll likely just take it in stride. That’s what owning history is all about.

Hemmings.com

• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

Barrett-Jackson Northeast Famed auction house opens new territory with great success WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TERRY SHEA

arrett-Jackson conquered a new territory this past June with its very successful inaugural Northeast Auction, held at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Even before reporting a three-day sale total of over $26 million, Barrett-Jackson reported its first “double sellout” of any auction it has previously held. Double sellout, you ask? That is when all of the consignment slots were filled up in advance of the auction and all of the spectator tickets, too, were gobbled up within hours of the ticket windows opening. As at many Barrett-Jackson auctions, the top 10 was stacked high in American muscle, the top seller a 1969 Corvette L88 that sold for $624,800. But the thirdhighest sale went to a ’67 Ferrari 330 GT at 86 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

$330,000, coincidentally enough. In other news relevant to readers of this magazine, a ’98 Lamborghini Diablo SV raked in $236,500, followed by a 1966 Porsche 911 at $183,700. Along with big crowds (the Mohegan Sun also reported that the Barrett-Jackson auction was their most successful event in 20 years of operations) and big dollars from a 96 percent sell-through rate resulting in 552 vehicles sold, Barrett-Jackson also reported raising $605,000 for charities that support U.S. veterans and their families, youth programs and medical research. There are four years remaining on its contract with the casino, and Barrett-Jackson must be eager to return to Connecticut next year. All sale prices reported include a buyer’s premium of 10 percent.

By the Numbers Date: June 23-25, 2016 Total sales: $26 million Sell-through: 552 of 575 lots, 96% Average sale: $47,100 Top sale: 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88, $624,800 Top imported car sale: 1967 Ferrari 330 GT, $330,000

UPCOMING AUCTIONS October 13-15: Las Vegas, Nevada January 14-22, 2017: Scottsdale, Arizona

FOR MORE INFORMATION www.barrett-jackson.com/ Condition #1=Excellent; #2=Very Good; #3=Average; #4=Poor; #5=Major Project Reserve Minimum price owner will accept Top bid The highest offer made Selling price What the vehicle sold for Avg. selling price Average market value of vehicles in similar condition

DATSUN Year: 1978 Model: 620 Condition: Original/#3+

BMW Reserve: None Selling price: $17,050 Avg. selling price: $2,275

One of a pair of highly original Datsun pickups from the Seventies sold at Mohegan Sun, this one presented much better, but drew essentially the same money. (The other one, a 1971, drew $18,150.) As with the 1971, you can pretty much ignore that book value, which seems to price such a vehicle for its utility as a truck and not as a collector vehicle. As a collector car, these once ubiquitous Japanese trucks have become a rather endangered species. This one showed some wear and tear as could be expected from a 52,000-mile vehicle, but really looked to be in great shape otherwise. We expect to see more results like this one as both trucks and Japanese cars continue to lure collectors.

MG Year: 1952 Model: TD Condition: Restored/#2

Reserve: None Selling price: $18,150 Avg. selling price: $29,400

Restored sometime in the last five years, according to the catalog, this MG appeared to have only suffered some minor wear and tear in the meantime. Other than some waviness to the owner-applied wood veneer on the dash and some minor pitting on the rear wheels, this car looked to have been restored to a rather high level. The paint looked excellent, as did the front wheels and even the engine bay presented quite well. There is very little likelihood that an MG TD will make anyone rich, but since they are fun to drive and seem to never drop in value, no one will lose money on a car that comes with a built-in discount better than one-third off. Very well bought.

Year: 1957 Model: Isetta 300 Condition: Restored/#1

BMW Reserve: None Selling price: $35,750 Avg. selling price: $60,800

Year: 1988 Model: 528e Condition: Original/#3

Reserve: None Selling price: $5,500 Avg. selling price: $5,400

This little BMW looked about as good as any Isetta we’d ever seen. The seller’s description went on and on about the various pieces and components that had been restored or replaced, and we saw no reason to doubt him. There was not a single component or surface that did not look brand-new. We expect to see this level of restoration on a rare big-block muscle car or a Pebble Beach contender. Still, Isettas have long held interest with collectors, and there are enough that they are traded frequently, which means that the value guides have plenty of data points for realistic information. The buyer got a great deal here and would seem poised to proﬁt should he want to.

This highly original BMW comes from the era when the 5 Series, known to BMW fans by its factory model designation of E28, was good for several hundred thousand miles. This particular example, which we believed to be as original as the seller described, showed just 1,000 miles on its million-mile odometer, which had obviously been reset. The leather was protected by “factory” sheepskin seat covers. Sure, there were no rips and tears, but the leather looked as old as the car, with plenty of cracking. The body featured some faded paint and gray rubber bumpers along with some substantially sized dings. For the car’s condition, it sold right on the money.

VOLKSWAGEN

JAGUAR

Year: 1990 Model: Corrado Condition: Original/#2-

Reserve: None Selling price: $10,450 Avg. selling price: $5,000

What’s this? A Corrado at a major vintage car auction? Oh, yeah, right, this thing is 27 model years old now. How time ﬂies … Represented as being owned by “one of the largest private collectors” on the East Coast, this highly original Corrado was the third car across the block. That’s really a hit or miss spot for sellers. You can never know if the buyers are pent up and ready to wave that paddle or if they are waiting for something more special. In this case, that slot meant a new buyer paid double the going rate for a ’90 Corrado. This car did have some wear-and-tear ﬂaws, along with oversized aftermarket wheels, but still looked rather clean.

Year: 1962 Model: E-type OTS Condition: Restored/#2-

Reserve: Undisclosed Top bid: Undisclosed/not sold Avg. selling price: $236,000

Recent years have seen a spike in prices for E-types, but, then again, the E-type has seemingly been a collector car since the last new one was made over 40 years ago. Still, with the jump in the price curve in recent years, the seller of this most desirable of E-types—the early, flat-floor, Series 1 roadsters—must have been looking to ride that curve. The car appeared to have been restored fairly well some years ago, but was showing some signs of age, such as the scratched glass and plenty of other components that filled the notebook with remarks of them simply being “okay,” rather than outstanding. With their beautiful lines and high performance, E-types will always be sought by collectors. Hemmings.com

• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

MERCEDES-BENZ Year: 1958 Model: 190 SL Condition: Restored/#1-

PORSCHE

Reserve: Undisclosed Top bid: Undisclosed/not sold Avg. selling price: $165,700

One of a pair of stunningly restored 190 SL’s that failed to reach reserve, this example featured beautiful paint, expertly ﬁnished chrome and trim that shone like new. Inside was more of the same, newlooking surfaces, materials and components that showed the work of a skilled restorer — or restorers. About the only ﬂaws we saw were some yellowing of the whitewalls and just the tiniest bit of age on the hood badge. Clearly the owner, who purchased the car in 2014 — after prices had already jumped — wanted more out of it. At press time, this same car was on offer with no reserve at Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction, with a presale estimate of $125,000 to $150,000.

VOLVO Year: 1973 Model: 1800 ES Condition: Refurbished/#3+

Reserve: None Selling price: $15,950 Avg. selling price: $13,500

Despite a cracked dash top and some seats that have seen plenty of weathering in their 43 years and 135,000 miles, this little Volvo wagon looked rather sharp. It had excellent paint, generally nice brightwork and wheels that looked rather well done. These cars remain accessible to entry-level collectors, and this one would make a rather nice driver. Though the ﬁnal selling price was reasonably over the going rate, the bid did not seem excessive. Just a couple of months before the Barrett-Jackson event, the car failed to sell on eBay, not meeting reserve with a high bid of $10,200. Well sold.

88 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• November 2016

Year: 1972 Model: 911S Condition: Restored/#2-

FERRARI Reserve: Undisclosed Top bid: $165,000/not sold Avg. selling price: $181,000

Year: 1986 Model: 328 GTS Condition: Original/#2

Reserve: None Selling price: $90,200 Avg. selling price: $91,000

While some air-cooled 911 models continue to see new benchmarks at auction, the insane price jumps appear to be gone from the earlier models. This particular car, in a striking shade known as Viper Green, presented fairly well, but with a few cosmetic flaws and with a finish best described as good, rather than excellent. Even that top bid would have been all of the money in the world for this car in this condition just a couple of years ago. For aficionados who love driving these cars—and they are legion—this might be good news, that the value curve is coming back to Earth. We would have sold at that bid, but we can’t know what the owner has in the car to begin with.

The iconic exotics from the Eighties, the Ferrari 308 and 328 models have very distinctive lines and a glorious bark from their high-revving V-8 engines. This example looked to be extremely well cared for. Despite 30,000 miles on the odometer, the paint remained excellent, with only exceptionally minor chips at the front. The typically fragile front air dam looked as new. The tan interior, for the most part, had weathered the storm well. Sold for the going value, this car was listed for sale at publication, in some ads at $130,000 and in others at $110,000. This model has seen its value triple in just a few years, but is there another $40,000 in it two months later? Caveat emptor.

PORSCHE

LOTUS

Year: 1967 Model: 912 Condition: Restored/#3+

Reserve: None Selling price: $74,800 Avg. selling price: $35,800

Once maligned as underpowered, this well-balanced successor to the 356 has fans among enthusiasts in the know. This particular example featured the desirable five-gauge instrument panel and five-speed transmission. It also sported Weber carbs for boosted performance. Listed on eBay earlier this spring and then reported sold at the Branson auction for $48,000, this car achieved a price more in line with a concourswinning example and not one with a wavy dash top, some pitting on some chrome pieces, some rust inside one of the covered headlamps and some other cosmetic flaws in need of attention. The seller did extremely well here, making a rather tidy profit of better than 50 percent in two months.

Year: 1991 Model: Esprit Turbo SE Condition: Original/#3

Reserve: None Selling price: $33,000 Avg. selling price: $18,700

Always get a close look at a car before it crosses the block if you want to bid on it. Do your research or find an expert if you have to. This Lotus carried a description from the seller of having only 3,660 miles due to having been trailered to events, but the wear and tear on this car told a very different story, or, possibly the between the trailer and the show field miles were rough ones. The wheels and underside of the car were filthy, and the wheels scratched, as well. There were chips in the paint, the seats looked well worn and the carpets faded. The paint, too, told a story of lots of exposure to the elements and road hazards. We’ll only judge the seller here, as we believe he did very well.

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Results from RM Sotheby’s Monaco Someone took it home for a little over $37,000. If one were to cover the aforementioned engine, one could do worse than the handsome 1930 Hispano-Suiza H6B Coupé Limousine with coachwork by Binder that also sold at Monaco, where it found a new home for nearly $121,000 despite an aging restoration. It was truly a remarkable example of a marque closely associated with the Great War and the Roaring Twenties and subsequently severely damaged by the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War. This was only a small sampling of RM Sotheby’s offerings at Monaco. To see further results or to ﬁnd out about future sales, both in the U.S. and abroad, call them at 519352-4575 or navigate to www.rmsothebys.com.

1930 Fiat 525 N Spider

Results from Coys Blenheim Palace

90 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

Firefly was a development of the earlier Speed 20. The Firefly at Blenheim wore Cross and Ellis coachwork and had been restored in the 1990s. The owner of 20 years represented that the car was equally at home on back roads and highways. The Firefly was expected to sell for around $39,000. Better known to American readers is

COYS

Blenheim Palace, near Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England, is famously the birthplace and childhood home of Winston Churchill. It was also the site of British auction house Coys’ most recent sale, which was replete with interesting vehicles. As of this writing, results of the sale, held July 2, were not yet available, but that can’t stop us from appreciating many of the vehicles offered. One of the more fascinating configurations in performance cars is the classic bigengine/light-chassis combination. A prime example of this was on hand at Coys in the form of a 1924 Bentley 3 Litre tourer with the engine upgraded to 4½ Litre specification. The classic Bentley, cloaked in replica Vanden Plas coachwork, looked ready to take on Le Mans. The big green machine was estimated to bring somewhere in the neighborhood of $450,000. Another green tourer with a sporty demeanor was the 1933 Alvis Firefly. The

• November 2016

1924 Bentley 3 Litre tourer

the name Jaguar, which started out as the Swallow Sidecar Company, a maker of motorcycle sidecars before it turned to producing bodies for passenger cars. The SS1 is the prototypical Jaguar, and it was a real treat to find one crossing the block at Blenheim. The 1935 model, also green and also wearing tourer bodywork, was valued at nearly $93,000. To compete with so many homegrown engineering powerhouses, some British automakers looked at U.S. sources for powerplants. Among them were Railton and Jensen. An example of Jensen’s efforts was available at Blenheim, combining handsome dual-cowl bodywork with a Ford flathead V-8 engine. The 1939 Jensen S-Type Tourer was thought to be worth between $92,000 and $105,000. Many other fine British and European cars were offered at Blenheim. To see those lots as well as Coys’ other offerings and check on sale prices, visit www.coys.co.uk.

RM SOTHEBY’S

Could there be any more appropriate or romantic location to purchase a vintage sports or exotic car than Monaco? The names of both the principality and its major city, Monte Carlo, are synonymous with European motor racing going back a century. As such, we looked with interest at the results of RM Sotheby’s Monaco sale, held May 14. Years of compact Fiat models have associated that marque in the American mind with small, inexpensive (if often sporty) models. It’s worth remembering, though, that Fiat once built big, powerful cars as well. The 1930 525 N, with its 68-hp, 3.8-liter ﬂathead six-cylinder was more akin to a Chrysler 70 series than a Topolino. That history, however, made the 525 N worthy of Full Classic status at CCCA events—a merit which may have contributed to the unrestored Spider’s selling price in excess of $80,000. Alongside the Spider sold a twin to its engine and fourspeed gearbox, which brought over $5,000. We don’t know if the buyer of the Spider bought the extra engine, but if not, it will make amazing garage art for some lucky collector. Another spare engine from the same collection as the Fiat and its engine was the vaunted Hispano-Suiza H6B overhead-cam six-cylinder. The Hisso, derived from Great War aircraft engine technology, displaced nearly 6.6 liters and produced 135 horsepower. With “Hispano-Suiza” cast prominently on both sides of the block, the engine itself was worthy of a museum display.

Auction Calendar NOVEMBER

2-5 Mecum Dallas Dallas, Texas; 262-275-5050; www.mecum.com MECUM

1979 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL

4 Bonhams London to Brighton Run Sale London, England; 212-644-9001; www.bonhams.com

5 Auctions America Hilton Head Hilton Head, South Carolina; 877-906-2437; www.auctionsamerica.com

Mecum Dallas Preview We hope to have plenty of results from Monterey next month, but while we wait, it’s worth noting that the auction season is far from over. Mecum Auctions, for one, will return November 2-5 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, to present more opportunities to score the car of your dreams. Lots that caught our eye included a creamy white 1959 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL roadster, complete with factory hardtop. The 190s, long in the shadow of the larger 300 SL, have become strong collectibles and we have no doubt the clean-looking example headed to Dallas will attract appropriately high bids. The 2008 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster slated for sale features a powerto-weight ratio nearly 3.5 times that of the 190 SL, thanks to 617 horsepower on tap. Further, the black machine with scissorhinged doors gives off a far more sinister vibe than its predecessor. Somewhat comparable to the modern

Mercedes is an open-topped British Grand Tourer also to be auctioned off by Mecum, in the form of an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage. The V-12 Vantage, appropriately ﬁnished in a shade akin to British Racing Green with a tan leather interior, boasted 420 horsepower with a top speed north of 150 MPH. The example at Dallas has only 19,900 miles on the clock. For those who fancy a luxurious, openair ride without the power of a modern Grand Tourer or the expense of a 1950s collectible, the appropriate balance may be struck by the lipstick-red 1979 MercedesBenz 450 SL that will be on hand in November. The V-8 powered ragtop features a 4.5L V-8 and appears to be clean and well-maintained, something critical in a Mercedes of this era, which can be pricey to restore without a commensurate increase in value. If you’re looking for something more akin to the SLR but with more historical eye appeal, the 1987 Ferrari Testarossa

5 Motostalgia Austin Grand-Prix Auction Austin, Texas; 512-813-0636; motostalgia.com

11-12 Carlisle Fall Florida AutoFest Auction Lakeland, Florida; 717-960-6400; www.carlisleauctions.com

18-20 Leake Dallas Fall Dallas, Texas; 918-254-7077; www.leakecar.com

25-26 Dan Kruse Classics Houston, Texas; 866-495-8111; www.kruseclassics.com

crossing the block may be just the ticket. Darling of many a teenager’s wall in the Reagan years, the Italian Red Head, ﬁnished in rosso corsa, is a cultural icon. All these beauties will undoubtedly be joined by others between now and November. To keep tabs on the consignments or for other information, call 262275-5050 or visit www.mecum.com.

Since 1948, Watkins Glen has been synonymous with the U.S. sports-car and road-racing scene. What better location, then, to auction off some of the most interesting machines that have been imported to this country to participate in that culture—whether to race or just for style? Motostalgia Auctions d’Elegance had some fascinating machinery lined up for its September 10 Watkins Glen Vintage Grand Prix Auction, held in conjunction with the annual Vintage Grand Prix Race the day before. One of the most striking lots on the docket was a 1952 Cisitalia Custom. The Cisitalia was a boutique sports car handcrafted in Turin, Italy, using Fiat 1100 drivetrains in a tubular space frame cloaked in bodywork courtesy of local coachbuilders like Pininfarina. The handsome Cisitalia 202 coupe is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection and provided the basis for the ﬁberglass Allied Swallow sports-car effort in California. Somewhat less obviously sporty, but with a company heritage appropriate to Watkins Glen, was the 1958 Bentley S1 on offer. Essentially a badge-engineered Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, the Bentley was second only to the Rolls in the expression of sophisticated, European luxury in the 1950s. For an expression of European technical sophistication, it’s hard to beat the products of Porsche. We can’t help but wonder at the history of the 1962 356B that was to cross the block at

1952 Cisitalia Custom

MOTOSTALGIA

Motostalgia at Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen. Its driveable-dream condition may well be an asset to the seller if it can be connected to a racing history. If rear engines are your thing, but you desire something more exclusive than a 356, you may do well to look at the 1963 Simca Abarth. The Franco-Italian hybrids were produced in Turin from a chassis based on the Simca 1000 saloon and with power by Abarth. To ﬁnd out more, call 512-813-0636 or navigate to motostalgia.com. Hemmings.com

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HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • November 2016

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IN THIS ISSUE

HARMONIC BALANCERS

Damper Doctor

Repairs & Restoration Glenn,s MG Repair

ADVERTISERS

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Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

Satch Carlson I saw huge purple tumbleweeds blowing across the road. I took that as a sign that it was time for a break.

96 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

satch@satch.us

Burning down the highway I have just finished crossing America again, driving from Newark to San Diego, and I find myself refreshed. (Also sunburnt to the color of a fire hydrant, but I digress.) I do not keep track of these things, but I think that I somehow find myself making transcontinental runs about once a year or so, and every time, I discover something new. What a magnificent country! Now, I realize that as a true sports-car junkie and roadster boy, I am supposed to eschew the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, keeping to the blue roads and puttering about over hill and dale—well, you don’t really putter over dales, do you?—but I have a confession: I love the Interstate. That’s because I grew up in the days and the region when a trip to San Francisco from Reno was an eight-hour slog if you were lucky; all you have to do in order to love the Interstate is to cast yourself back in time and follow a line of trucks over Donner Summit on Highway 40, and you would kiss the concrete expanse of I-80 that makes this run a three-hour trip if no one’s watching. And while the blue roads are the best way to settle in to the character of a county or even a whole state, they are not exactly conducive to marathon road trips. If you have exactly five days to move a car from New Jersey to SoSo California, then the Interstate is your friend—especially if, like me, you have passed the age of Red Bull driving. Yes, I drove from Memphis to San Diego not too long ago in about 28 hours, but by the time I stopped to catch a nap a few miles shy of Yuma, I was seeing huge purple tumbleweeds blowing across the road; since there was no wind—and no real tumbleweeds, either—I took it as a sign that it was time for a break. This year I had the luxury of overnight stops— and a newly refreshed appreciation for the beauty of America. My route took me through Pennsylvania on I-78 and I-81, and I was pleasantly surprised. The last time I drove through the Quaker State, it looked like the roads had been mined, in either sense of that word, suffering from either high explosives or enthusiastic strip-mining. But now it seems that Pennsylvania has cornered a fair share of highway reconstruction funds, for the roads are mostly smooth and unsullied—but not fast. For some reason, I found myself stuck in a Nixonian time warp, a 55-MPH speed limit giving drivers around me ample time to text their friends or apply makeup, because they certainly didn’t need to pay any attention to their driving chores at such a dawdling pace. Fortunately, I was surrounded by enough

• November 2016

Pennsylvania license plates that I could get a sense of what I call the Secret Speed Limit, the rate at which the locals know they are not likely to be stopped, and soon enough I found myself in Maryland on I-68 West. Maryland—who knew? Where did they get this road?! Newly minted asphalt through the ridge-and-valley region of the Appalachians, it is like an Autobahn through the Black Forest. Of course, with such a magnificent highway, there is always the danger of driving as if it were the Autobahn, but a newly minted 70-MPH speed limit eases the pain. The other pain comes from the sun. I do not know why I, a certified roadsterian, cannot remember to pack sunscreen, or at least a hat. Actually, I did have a hat, I just didn’t know it; I found it later under the passenger seat. And I do have sunscreen, a special goo made for marathon runners that doesn’t run into my eyes like the regular stuff—which is why I usually go without. Nothing is less fun than finding yourself blinded by fiery needles at 80 miles an hour. As usual, after two days of this top-down euphoria, I took the time to search out a tube of aloe-vera lotion, price no object. By that time I had reached Memphis via 64 West through the Daniel Boone National Forest, some of the most beautiful country in the world, and another glorious testimony to America’s road-building prowess; and I knew that my sunburn days were at an end, for this roadster has a hard top, and the top was waiting in Memphis (long story, that, involving another coast-to-coast run, but we’ll save it for another day). The change from an open roadster to a twoseat closed coupe is a dramatic one, involving all sorts of shifts of attitude and application. For one thing, the sense of connection with the countryside, the air, the wind, the aromas of the passing world—all are muted, and the colors of the country are all pastels. Alas, in my two days of top-down driving, I came to the sad conclusion that Americans are no longer in love with their cars. I counted exactly three other top-down drivers: one in a Mazda Miata, one a ’64 Corvette, and one in one of those neo-retro Ford Thunderbird thingies. (Hey, it’s okay, the original T-Bird wasn’t really a sports car, either.) And all across the country I saw perhaps a dozen cars that I would count as sports cars: a few Porsches and Corvettes. Everyone else was driving some kind of appliance. My first reaction was one of despair, for what is life worth if we lose our passion for driving sports cars? But then I had a sudden thought that gave me hope for America: Maybe all the sports cars were on the blue roads!

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