This gorgeous bright blue 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial is one of very few 4 cylinder Ferrari racing cars ever built. Petrolicious does a magnificent job of featuring the story of this machine and its owner.
We actually had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Admiral Phillips back in 2011 at the Radnor Hunt Concours. He was great, and shared every detail we could imagine with us that day, so it’s awesome seeing him and his 500 Mondial now in a feature film like this.
Enjoy!
-Nick
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I’ve held a fascination with land-speed records for as long as I can remember. When I saw two belly-tank racers sitting on the show field in the Concours of America this summer, I made a beeline for the section and started looking at what was on hand. Back in the early 1930s, salt flat racing in Bonneville became massively popular, having started in 1914–and people are still out there every year attempting to set new records in an ever-evolving form of motorsport. These cars all hail from the prewar era and looked fantastic in period-correct trimmings. From belly-tanker racers to a few old-school hot rods modified for salt, the history was all in plain sight. Enjoy the photos. Continue reading Bonneville Salt Flats Record Cars at the 2015 Concours of America
I was totally blown away by this magnificent 1938 Peugeot Darl/Mat at the Concours of America this year. A two-tone yellow paint scheme is always sure to turn some heads, but combined with such nice lines, it took me a while to pick my jaw up off the grass.
The Peugeot Darl’Mat was a sports and racing car of the era. It even saw a class victory at Le Mans in 1938. Underneath its gorgeous bodywork from Marcel Pourtout, this particular car is a Peugeot 402 Darl’Mat Legere… the lightest model with the biggest engine.
The 402 Darl’Mat was powered by Peugeot’s 2 Liter overhead valve 4 cylinder engine, which was mated to a 4-speed preselector gearbox. This was all cutting edge tech for racing back in the era, with similar designs found in other notable French racers, such as Delahayes.
As with many 1930’s French cars, this Peugoet’s visual beauty drew me in. In addition to its striking color combo, it has some stunning detail work all around.
With just over 100 Peugeot Darl’Mats built, this car is quite a rare sight, especially when you account for the coachwork.
This surely won my own personal Best In Show award at the Concours Of America this year. Enjoy the gallery!
-Nick Walker
Continue reading 1938 Peugeot 402 Darl’Mat Legere Special Sport Roadster at the Concours of America
We attended the 2015 Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance last Sunday, and were stunned by the array of Alfa Romeos and Packards they were featuring this year, among other things. It was a phenomenal show, with awesome cars of all types and tastes present. This is the first highlight gallery, with much more to come.
Enjoy the photos!
-Nick
Continue reading Highlights from the 2015 Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance: Part 1
Until last month, I’d never been to Detroit. Nick kept telling me as we got closer and closer to the Motor City that the cruise-in scene on weekend nights was absolutely my sort of thing, and I was stoked. Of course, Mother Nature had other ideas. After Nick, Shane, and I got drenched in a freak thunderstorm that gave us the best rainbow I’d seen in a decade, I looked around at the cars that did manage to show up–and I wasn’t disappointed. Continue reading Royal Oak Shell Cruise-In, July 25, 2015.
The New Hope Auto Show was great this year, with a wonderful turnout of some magnificent cars. Day 1 focuses on American Cars of all eras, everything from pre-war stunners to the most badass muscle cars.
Enjoy our gallery of highlights from day 1.
The Lancia Stratos was the most epic of rally cars, basically an Italian supercar meant to race on dirt and road. We saw this striking orange Stratos at the Concours of America at St. John’s, and it stole everyone’s attention when it was driving around the show field.
An Italian stallion, to be sure!
-Nick Walker
Sunday was a long day for me, the 1993 Miata, and my sunburned skin. When it’s 90 degrees outside, the first thing into my mind is to run back inside and cower underneath my air conditioner, unless I’m at the beach. There is no air conditioning in the Miata anymore, and at this NASA/MSNE autocross event up at MetLife Stadium (home of the Jets and the Giants, and probably Jimmy Hoffa), it was hot enough to fry eggs on the street and fry my nose and forehead to a nice, golden brown (red). Shane turned up too, in his silver Miata which makes my car look concours-fresh. Continue reading Autocross and a random car show? Sounds like Sunday.
The Porsche 356 is a timeless classic. Small, lithe, and captivating, this was the first of Porsche’s sports cars to hit the market and it lasted until 1965 when it was replaced by the 911. It may have been saddled with a four-cylinder engine derived from Volkswagen, and it may have somewhat resembled a VW Beetle, but it was far from a VW Beetle in any way. The Speedster is the most desirable, and this 1957 was the second to last year of production for the lightweight, dry-weather model so loved by contemporary racers, and today’s collectors. Continue reading Competition-Prepped 1957 Porsche 356A Speedster at the 2015 Greenwich Concours
The Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale is one of the cars I’d seriously consider selling my soul for, but I had never laid eyes on one in the flesh until the New York Auto Show this year. It was a massive surprise for me, as I had not heard it would be present, and I literally flipped a shit when we came across it.
Our friend, Nathan Corry, shot this same Tipo 33 Stradale at Amelia Island this year, and he let us use his photos from the event. I was beyond thrilled to be able to see the car for myself in NY, though, as you might imagine. It is a truly magnificent machine.
Also present was a Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo 8C Monza as well as one of the handful of Alfa TZ2’s built. Along with the 33 Stradale, the Alfa Romeo stand, with just these cars, was probably worth as much, or more, money than all of the rest of the cars at NYIAS combined. Think about that.
Even so, this is the sort of stuff only true car nerds would appreciate, so there were very few people stopping to see these incredible cars. I found it funny because hundreds of people would walk past, and then every so often you’d see someone just loose their mind with excitement over the cars (as I did).
Alfas don’t get much better than these, so enjoy the pics!
Continue reading The Stunning Alfa Romeo Display at NYIAS 2015
The Greenwich Concours was nothing short of epic this year. There were insane cars in attendance of all types, and it was thoroughly entertaining to cover. This year there were a few European exotics mixed in with the American cars on Day 1. I’m not sure why, but it made a nice spectacle.
Of note, Jim Glickenhaus brought out his one of a kind Ferrari 330 P3/4 (above), two Pagani Huayras showed up, and the Packard 8 that won Day 1 was just immaculate.
Enjoy the gallery of Day 1, and be sure to check back for our highlights from Day 2 later on this week!
Continue reading Our Highlights From the 2015 Greenwich Concours Day 1
In another serious gem of a video by Petrolicious, we are taken back to the 1955 Mille Miglia with non other than Sir Stirling Moss himself, who won the race with his Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR #722.
This was really the golden era of racing when everything was still allowed to be excessively dangerous. The Mille Miglia, a one thousand mile race on the public streets of Italy, was probably the most notorious race of the age. Moss finished the race in just 10 hours and 7 minutes setting the all time record for the race, which has never been beaten.
You have to understand the context to appreciate the enormity of his achievement, and to appreciate just how awesome a car the Mercedes 300 SLR is, even by modern standards. Officially, the roads were all closed, but Italy being Italy, that meant absolutely nothing. So it was basically a 1000 mile sanctioned street race, dodging trucks and much slower pedestrian traffic. The speeds were also no joke either, 150-160mph was routinely reached by Moss in his SLR, and he even talks about getting airborne at those speeds. Also keep in mind that this was all back in the mid 1950s with tire and braking technology from the era. Most modern cars, with modern technology, cannot stop or maneuver well at 160mph, but the 300 SLR could do it back then… at least well enough that it is still in one piece.
Enjoy this video. Moss is one of the most legendary drivers of all time, and the 300 SLR is probably the most epic car Mercedes-Benz has ever made.
-Nick
Mind Over Motor 