Month: November 2010

Categories
Ferrari For Sale

Available in the UK: Fiat 682 Ferrari Factory Transporter

I bet you thought your toter-home tow rig was as good as it could get. You’ve got the tools, the clean floor, a lcd tv and comfortable bed. Compared to this open-air spartan antique, it’s a palace. Just look at this thing. No covered protection of your racing car. No kitchenette. No queen-sized bed. No Playstation. None of it.

But it’s not even worth comparing which is cooler. Not only is this transporter a living piece of history. It’ll attract more attention than 90% of the Ferraris that will park next to you at the next race weekend. Now that is saying something for a repurposed delivery truck.

Of course, when Carrozzeria Bartoletti rebodied the Fiat sometime between 1957 and 1959, it’s status as an auto racing icon and object of desire saved it from the fate of the other Fiat trucks on the line that day. This transporter hauled a whole lot of Ferrari racing machines during it’s tenure as both Ferrari Factory transporter from 1959 to 1965, and later for the SEFAC Ferrari team from 1965 to 1970. 11 years of Ferrari’s gliding gingerly up and down those ramps. 11 years of schoolboys and their fathers pressing their noses against their car windows as they passed it on the highway; a GTO or Sharknose perched precariously on her roof. 11 years of dreams. 11 years of amazing.
More info—including complete ownership history from new—on Talacrest Ltd.’s Lot Detail Page.

Categories
Classic Sportscar

Peter Egan’s Journey from LA to Elkhart in an Eleven

When I posted the Lotus XI sales brochure last week, a commenter reminded me about Peter Egan’s Road & Track article about building a Westfield kit of a Lotus XI and embarking (the next morning!) on a cross country trip to Road America. Reminiscent of the types of stunts that Top Gear would later build an empire on, the article is equal parts dry journal and audacious journey. Thankfully, there’s almost none of the rubes-in-the-country-respond-to-a-racecar-with-dumfounded-confusion, and much more enthusiasm and joy from everyone Peter and his wife encounter.

The article is available online in its entirety at this link. I dare you to get to the end and not want to ring up Westfield to secure one of the (last?) Eleven kits for yourself.

Categories
Classic Cycle

Alfredo Panella, Champion

Southsiders MC has published a wonderful collection of photos of 5-times Italian Motorcycle Champion (250cc/175cc) and 1928 European Champion (175cc), Alfredo Panella. The photos were scanned from a reader’s grandfather’s collection. My quick search for Alfredo turns up little information—surprising for a rider of his profile with a long career: 1924-1939. It makes me wonder what other racing drivers have slipped through the cracks of history. It’s an amazing pity to consider the number of drivers and motorcyclists that were once well-known heroes and are largely forgotten only a few decades later. This is just one of the reasons why I believe so passionately in the idea of getting films and photos out of the shoeboxes in grandpa’s closet and onto the web.
Head on over to Southsiders for the complete gallery.

Categories
Video

GT Racer Has Reached its Funding Goal

It wasn’t looking good for the first few weeks of fundraising, but the production team behind GT Racer has achieved its $6,000 goal to complete post-production on the footage they’ve filmed of last month’s Algarve Historics in Portimão, Portugal. Congratulations to the team! While the funding goal is complete, for the next 3 days you can still contribute $15 towards the project on kickstarter.com and receive a DVD of the completed film. That’s 25% off retail.

There was some discussion in our last post about GT Racer about the apparent irony of donating money to continue production of a show about millionaires and their very expensive toys, and while the point is well made, I for one am very pleased that the auto racing community has decided that GT Racer is worthwhile.