Wayne Carini's The Chase V1 I2

WAYNE CARINI’S

The Chase CLASSICS VOLUME 1

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| MOTORSPORTS | AUTOMOBILIA

ISSUE 2

EARLY SUMMER 2021

THE PORSCHE 917 IN AMERICA Five decades ago, America was home to many of the 917’s greatest successes. Now the cars live on and attract new fans thanks to US restorers, vintage racers, collectors, and museums.

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from the publisher

THE FINEST MODELS IN THE WORLD The Porsche 917 has always been one of my favorite racecars through all its iterations. This was a purpose-built car derived directly from the Porsche 908 with only one directive—to win an overall victory at Le Mans in 1970.

Designed and built in less than a year to meet certain opportunities, this was a successful effort for chief engineer Hans Mezger under the leadership of Ferdinand Piëch and Helmuth Bott. The 1970 Le Mans race also became the backdrop for Steve McQueen’s 1971 movie named Le Mans. Fifty years later, McQueen’s movie remains a cult classic. In 1971, those in the United States who were not well aware of what a sheer brute of a competitor the 917s were quickly made aware. On the track, the onslaught of the Porsche 917 was on, particularly here in the States.

I am very excited to have Jay Gillotti on board for this issue with our cover story, The Porsche 917 in America (p. 80). Jay has literally written the book on Porsche’s 917, titled Gulf 917 and he shares with us a little history lesson. If you happen to be attending the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this year, you will be amongst the few who will witness a gathering of 917s gracing the green. Sure to be a sight to behold.

Executive Editor John Nikas catches up with Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance’s Chairman Sandra Button for the Interview. Contributor and photographer extraordinaire Sean Smith visits with Hodinkee.com’s Ben Clymer to discuss his passion for both time pieces and aluminum-bodied Zagato machines. Sean and Ben have a little fun with Clymer’s Alfa-Romeo SZ. Check it out on p. 60.

In the mid-1950s, Kaiser Aluminum hired some of Detroit’s top automotive design talent to sketch visions of an aluminized automotive future, and after languishing for years, the Kaiser Waimea-inspired Futura has been restored and was displayed at this year’s Amelia Island Concours. Editor-in-Chief Lowell Paddock tells us the story of this unique oddity of an automobile, one that is now available for all to enjoy at Nashville’s Lane Motor Museum. See p. 74.

I hope you enjoy this issue as much as we did putting it together for you.

ON THE COVER: Porsche 917 Chassis 016 at Rennsport Reunion VI, Laguna Seca, 2018.

Photo by Kurt Oblinger

Executive Publisher Wayne Carini Publisher Russ Rocknak Editor-in-Chief Lowell Paddock Executive Editor John Nikas Copy Editor Randi Swartz Content Director Matthew Strauss Creative Editor Jodi Ellis Contributing Writers Marshall Buck, Jay Gillotti, Andy Reid, Sean Smith, Judy Stropus, Bill Warner, Ed Welburn, Linda Zukauskas Contributing Photographers Karl Noakes, Kurt Oblinger, Josh Sweeney, Sean Smith, Leonard Turner Social Media/Web Navadise Media Advertising Inquiries Cindy Meitle CAR PR USA LLC 480.277.1864 cindy@carprusa.com Subscription and Editorial Inquiries Russ Rocknak 603.759.4676 rsr@meshnewengland.com thechasemagazine.com

ONE-OFFS - BESPOKE - LIMITED EDITIONS AT LARGE SCALES 1:18 1:8 1:5 1:4

Speed Safely,

CLASSIC HISTORIC MODERN Russ Rocknak publisher, The Chase

Wayne Carini’s The Chase is published six times a year by 2021 RSR Media Group, LLC., P.O. Box 786, Bath, ME 04530 © All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher.

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Often hailed as the most beautiful production road car of all time, the sublime Jaguar E-type Series 1 stirred passions in automotive aficionados the world over when launched at the Geneva Salon in 1961. These fine 1:8 and 1:18 scale models of the Jaguar E-type Roadster have been handcrafted and finished in the Amalgam workshops with the full cooperation and assistance of Jaguar regarding original finishes, materials, archive imagery and drawings.

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For the Love of Your Automobile.

WAYNE CARINI’S

The Chase p.46

CLASSICS VOLUME 1

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| MOTORSPORTS | AUTOMOBILIA

ISSUE 2

p.80

EARLY SUMMER 2021

10 From the Publisher Welcome from Russ Rocknak.

16 On the Chase The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the world. However, we learned to do things in new ways, such as holding meetings on Zoom and judging concours online. As life returns to “normal,” it is likely to be a new and different normal.

20 The Ambassador Naming a new car is becoming increasingly difficult.

There is always the risk of misinterpretation and unintended consequences.

24 Inside Lines The Chase is honored to add Ed Welburn, former head of GM Design, as a columnist. Ed’s design legacy is complemented by a passion for all things automotive,and a love for fashion and film.

p.60

28 What’s In Your Garage? Readers from around the globe share their favorite cars with special meaning to them.

32 Every Car Has a Story No matter how humble, ostentatious, slow, or fast, every car can tell a story about how it was made, why it was bought, and what makes it memorable.

34 Rear-View Mirror Buz and Brad McCall’s Round 3 Racing provides support and encouragement for women and girls in motorsports.

38 The Collector Marshall Buck, our master modeler extraordinaire interviews Mario Tagliavini, the artist from Argentina who is producing superb automotive art.

44 Auction Ready For each issue of The Chase, we will highlight vehicles of note or interest in upcoming auctions.

48 Event Highlights A celebration of highlights from the latest auto shows, rallies, and races that take place around the globe.

p.38

60 A Perfect Timepiece When a young gentleman owns three coachbuilt Zagato

PHOTO BY JOSH SWEENEY/SFD

automobiles, it has to make you wonder: How did this all begin?

The answer? Herbie the Love Bug.

68 The Conversation Sandra Button is one of the most admired and influential figures in the collector car hobby.

74 Mr. Larson Builds His Dream Car The Kaiser Waimea-inspired Futura has been restored and is now available for all to enjoy at Nashville’s Lane Motor Museum.

80 The Porsche 917 In America Five decades ago, America was home to many

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of the 917’s greatest successes.

88 Across The Pond Mike Brewer brings some good news from the United Kingdom.

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Photo Contest

THE RULES You must be a subscriber to Wayne Carini’s The Chase in order to enter this contest. Subscribe today at thechasemagazine.com

WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING submissions from subscribers through November 19, 2021, for our inaugural photo contest. This year’s theme is “Chasing a Dream.” The winning photos will be announced on our website on December 17, 2021, and featured in Wayne Carini’s The Chase Yearbook 2022 issue.

It doesn’t matter if you are a professional or an amateur, shoot with a Nikon or an iPhone, a Hasselblad or a Brownie; we would like to see your collector-car-themed images.

Submissions are welcome from subscribers anywhere.

Images must have been taken within the last five years to be eligible to win (2016). Photographs will be judged based on creativity, composition, and the ability to capture a strong sense of place.

Previously published photographs are not eligible for this contest.

—now accepting submissions—

Chasing Submit a Dream your images at garage@waynecarini.tv.

1st Place

Skip Barber Racing School 3-Day driving experience skipbarber.com

2nd Place

1:18 scale Amalgam Collection Car Model Choose from their 1:18 scale collection amalgam.com

3rd Place

Harvey Traveler Collection Tote Bag Your choice, leather or canvas harveytraveler.com

1. HOW TO ENTER: Please submit your photograph(s)—maximum submission is five photographs—that best embodies our theme: “Chasing a Dream.” Think of static, motion, and environmental automotive photographic opportunities. Photographs will be judged on creativity, composition and ability to capture a strong sense of place. Previously published or awarded photographs are not eligible for this contest. Send entries to garage@waynecarini.tv. Remember to complete an entry form for each submission. Photos submitted without a completed entry form and/or required information will be disqualified. The contest begins April 2, 2021, at 10 a.m. US Eastern Time and ends November 19, 2021, at 4 p.m. US Eastern Time. Entries: As many as five entries are permitted per subscriber throughout the contest time frame, but please do not enter the same photo more than once. In the event of a dispute over ownership of an online photo, entry will be deemed submitted by the holder of the email account. All photos submitted to The Chase magazine’s “Chasing a Dream” photo contest will be used only in conjunction with the contest—in print, digital formats, or in promotional materials.

Any photograph submitted will include a photographer credit in print and as feasible on thechasemagazine.com. In submitting this photo, you agree that its content does not infringe on copyrights or other property rights of any party. If a person is recognizable in the photograph, you will need to provide a signed model release. You also WWW.THECHASEMAGAZINE.COM

agree that the photo you are submitting is your own. You retain rights to your own photos to reproduce, distribute, display, etc. It is your sole responsibility to notify The Chase in writing if you change your e-mail address.

Only photographs submitted via garage@ waynecarini.tv. will be considered for the contest. Finalists must be able to provide The Chase with a print-quality hi-res file of their photograph (at least a 300 dpi @ 8 x 11 inches jpg).

2. ELIGIBILITY: The contest is open to The Chase Subscribers 21 years of age or older as of April 2, 2021. Employees of The Chase magazine, its respective affiliates, subsidiaries, dealers or retailers, advertising, production and promotion agencies, the independent judges, and the immediate families and members of the same household of each are not eligible. Contest is void wherever prohibited by law. All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. By participating in this Contest, each entrant accepts the conditions stated in these Official Rules, agrees to be bound by the decisions of the judges, and warrants that she/he is eligible to participate in this Contest. By accepting a prize, the winner agrees to release The Chase, its directors, employees, officers, and agents, including without limitation, its advertising and promotion agencies from any and all liability, loss or damages arising from or in connection with the awarding, receipt, and/or use or misuse of prize or participation in any prize-related activities.

3. PRIZES: Winners will be awarded prizes as outlined below, and winning images will also appear in print in the 2022 Yearbook issue of Wayne Carini’s The Chase magazine.

Winning entries—including runners-up—will also be included in an extended online gallery. Photographs recognized as runners-up may also appear in the print edition.

1st Place* Skip Barber Racing School 3-Day driving experience skipbarber.com

2nd Place 1:18 scale Amalgam Collection Car Model Choose from their 1:18 scale collection amalgam.com

3rd Place Harvey Traveler Collection Tote Bag Your choice, leather or canvas harveytraveler.com Acceptance of a prize constitutes permission (except where prohibited) to use winner’s photograph, name, hometown, and likeness for purposes of advertising, promotion, and publicity without additional compensation.

4. WINNER SELECTIONS: Winning photographs will be selected from all eligible photographs by the photo editors of Wayne Carini’s The Chase magazine, whose decisions are final and binding on all matters relating to this contest. Prizes are guaranteed to be awarded assuming sufficient number of entries. Winners will be notified by email at the email address with which they entered the Contest, and will be required to acknowledge email notification by The Chase or its designated agent within 14 days of date of email notification, or an alternate winner will be selected. If any prize notification letter, email notification or any prize is returned as undeliverable, and there is ample time to select and clear an alternate winner, the prize will be awarded to an alternate winner.

5. WINNERS LIST: The winning photos will be announced on our website on December 17, 2021, and featured in our Yearbook 2022 issue. Good Luck! *Winner of the 1st Place prize is responsible for their own travel expenses.

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ON THE CHASE Wayne Carini

Always a Car Guy The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the world. However, we learned to do things in new ways, such as holding meetings on Zoom and judging concours online. As life returns to “normal,” it is likely to be a new and different normal.

I

t has been a particularly beautiful spring in Connecticut, one made even nicer now that the pandemic seems to be finally ebbing and we can start getting back to something approaching a normal life. Think back to what it was like in March last year, just after Amelia was over, when we all had to retreat inside, unable to travel, unable to visit friends, and unable to gather at the usual car events that we all enjoy. Probably almost all of us know someone who was affected during this difficult period, some very severely. Our hobby lost many fans, experts, and friends; losses that can never be replaced.

But there were some bright spots, too. Once we realized that COVID-19 wasn’t going to disappear in a few weeks, we found ourselves with extra time to spend on projects that somehow always fell to the bottom of our lists. One of mine was working on Dave Garroway’s SS100, which has needed a lot of care and attention since I bought it a few years ago.

When you own a shop like mine, you spend all your time fixing other people’s cars and your own always get pushed to the back of the garage. But I finally got going on bringing this most interesting Jaguar back to life and I look forward to showing it at the upcoming Concours d’Elegance of America in Michigan.

One of the projects I’m looking forward to finishing is the restoration of Today Show host Dave Garroway’s SS100. After trying to supercharge its straight six, Garroway persuaded Jaguar to send him the first independently sold XK120 engine.

Not satisfied with just more power, he also upholstered the seats and dash with alligator hides.

Just because we couldn’t see people didn’t mean we couldn’t have fun with cars. My daughter Kimberley and I would often take a tour around the back roads of Connecticut, with no maps and no destination, which is something I rarely get to do. It was a great chance to spend time with her doing what we both love best: driving great cars.

Stolen moment.

Borrowed car.

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Browse. Choose. Cruise. | DriveShare.com 16

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DriveShare is currently not available for vehicles registered in the state of NY. Renters must meet minimum requirements. For FAQ, user policies, and terms and conditions, visit DriveShare.com. Hagerty and DriveShare by Hagerty are registered or common law trademarks of The Hagerty Group, LLC. © 2020 The Hagerty Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

FROM BILL WARNER Founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance

The Other Side of the Fence, Six Decades of Motorsport Photography Over a six-decade career, Bill Warner’s motorsports photography has appeared in such well-known magazines as Road & Track, Sports Car Graphic, Panorama, Autoweek and a host of international publications. He has documented nearly every form of motorsport, including IMSA, NASCAR, Indy Car, Formula 1, Can-Am, Trans-Am, F5000, and the World Championship of Makes. Bill’s new book, The Other Side of Fence, brings together hundreds of those images for the first time, along with the compelling memories that go with them.

On the personal front, I started taking long drives around the state with my daughter Kimberley.

We had no maps, no GPS, just curiosity—and the knowledge that we could never get that hopelessly lost. But we saw parts of the state we had never seen before; places that we were always too busy to visit.

I also got to spend more time with friends far and wide through Zoom, time that would normally have been isolated to a brief conversation on the sidelines of a concours or a car show. Mary Wennerstrom had the same idea and started a weekly Zoom meeting with good friends like Bill Warner and Ken Gross. At first, we were just talking to each other, but then we started mixing it up with games on identifying cars or picking our favorite vehicles from certain decades. We all got a chance to know each other better—as well as make fun of some of our very peculiar tastes in cars (I was hurt that none of my colleagues appreciated the unique beauty of my 1950 Spohn).

Despite everyone being confined to their homes, the pressure to get together and talk about cars was irrepressible. One of the best examples was Andy Reid’s Isolation Island Concours d‘Elegance, which invited enthusiasts to enter their model cars into fierce virtual competition. You didn’t even have to own a real car to compete. Both the entrants and the judges had a fantastic time.

As car auctions fell off the calendar one after another, it turned out to be a great time to buy and especially sell a car online. By June and July of last year, when it was clear that we were going to be quarantined for a while, a lot of people who had been thinking of buying a classic car decided to take the plunge. Bring a Trailer Auctions became a must-see every day, especially as money was not being spent on other things. Sites like BaT and others exploded during the pandemic, demonstrating 18

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that on-line buying was viable and creating what I expect is going to be a permanent change in how cars are bought and sold.

The pandemic period also gave my team of John Nikas, Matt Strauss, Lowell Paddock and me time to work on Team 464 and all its activities, including this magazine. I appreciate all that Publisher Russ Rocknak has done to work through the transition from Mesh New England to The Chase. We also published a terrific book, Affordable Classic Cars, which is a kind of modern interpretation of Road & Track’s indispensable Used Car Classics. And we established Team 464 as a club to spread the enthusiasm for cars that bring us all together. If you’re reading this, you might be a member, and we all appreciate your support. Look for more news on the club and its activities in the coming weeks.

On the surface, things are returning to normal and many of us will be traveling around the country, returning to the hectic lives we had before the pandemic started. Yet all of us will have been changed somehow during this difficult period. We have learned how to interact in new ways that we never could have imagined.

Once a car guy, always a car guy.

The Isolation Island Concours was one of many clever ways to get enthusiasts together... when they couldn’t get together. While it might not have been the same as sharing time at a beautiful destination like Pebble Beach, we managed to turn challenges into opportunities, and had a lot of fun in the process.

Bill’s career was inspired by his sister Harriett, who told him that a camera was a way to get him “on the other side of the fence.” Starting with the gift of a $46 Yashica D, Bill has spent a career documenting motor racing all over the world. The Other Side of the Fence visually chronicles the compelling images that have won plaudits from the very highest ranks of motorsports, including Sir Stirling Moss, who called him “The Fangio of photography” and Roger Penske, who described Bill’s images as capturing “some of the greatest moments in racing.”

With Forewords by friends Sam Posey and William Jeanes, Bill takes us over the fence and treats us to an insider’s view of what Mario Andretti called “the people, the cars, the delicate moments, the fame, the glory, the disappointment.”

With a bit more time on my hands, I was able to invest in some killer machinery for cleaning up the yard. This high-powered blower can probably send my leaves into the next county. It might not corner very well, but it’s a blast—literally!

Priced at $99.00, The Other Side of the Fence is available at www.ameliaconcours.org and a portion of the proceeds will go to Spina Bifida of Jacksonville CLASSICS

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THE AMBASSADOR Bill Warner

What’s in a Name?

Naming a new car is becoming increasingly difficult. Whether it’s the cross-cultural nuance of language, the whims of senior executives, or the imprecision of market research, there is always the risk of misinterpretation and unintended consequences.

I

f you are like me, you sit in traffic and read the model names of the car in front of you. It could be a Q45, a Telluride, a Fusion, an F150, or maybe an Escalade. Did you ever wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg, the car or the name? Well, in most cases the car comes first and then the marketing department enters the scene and researches names that apply to the car, checking to see that they are not copyrighted or have a rather unsavory translation in another lan-

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guage. Famous case in point: The Chevrolet Nova did not do well in Hispanic markets, perhaps because “Nova” translated into “no go.”

The Continental represents a car that started from a name. Edsel Ford had come back from Paris and asked E.T.” Bob” Gregorie to design him a car with a “continental” look, which became essentially a 1932 Ford with a boat tail and cycle fenders. Although Edsel liked the car, he wanted one that looked racier, which is where the second iteration (the 1934 Ford Model 40 Special Speedster) entered the scene. The final iteration was the 1939 Lincoln Zephyr Continental, which Edsel brought to his Palm Beach home. It was so popular with Edsel’s friends that Ford put it into production and the “Continental” name has been with us ever since. This was a rare example of the name preceding the actual car.

American manufacturers have historically named cars after romantic European places, e.g.: Monte Carlo, Torino, Capri, Biarritz, Riviera, or Calais. Or famous racetracks, such as Le Mans, Monza, Sebring, Daytona, or Talladega. I guess these names added a

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Some car names are purposeful, like “Town & Country,” which conjures up images of urban sophistication and rural relaxation. Indeed, when it was coined in 1941, it was affixed to an urbane but steadfast woodie station wagon, perfect for the weekend getaway.

Alas, 50 years later it graced Chrysler’s upscale minivan and by 2016 was gone altogether.

Below: Edsel Ford’s design inspirations from his European travels gave rise to the enduring “Continental” name.

Chevrolet went back and forth with its marine-inspired Corvette suffix.

The original concept car was “Stingray,” but the 1963 production C3 was labeled “Sting Ray” (itself previewed by another marine-named creature, the “Mako Shark” concept car). It was condensed to “Stingray” in 1969 (after skipping 1968 altogether). “Thunderbird” was another Ford naming coup, especially for the 1955-1957 models.

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Left: A concours the size of Amelia takes an army to make it all happen—and Warner’s number one assistant is his wife Jane. “She’s a very patient lady,” quips Warner, “and I guess she has to be since we’ve been married for 55 years.” Deremer Studios LLC image.

Below: Amelia’s judging team represents the very top personalities in the automotive world. Warner publicly introduces each one at the start of the event without a single note in hand.

certain cachet to what in many cases was a rather mundane form of transportation.

Then there is the letter/number combination, which is popular with German manufacturers: Audi (A4, A6, etc.), BMW (530, 650, etc.), and Mercedes (S550, 500SL, etc.). Both Cadillac and Lincoln followed suit with a letter/number pairing that in some cases didn’t make any sense—what the hell is an MKZ? As for the foreign manufacturers, I don’t reckon we’ll ever see a Porsche Peoria or a Toyota Tuna.

So, how are these names chosen? In most cases, it’s from the marketing department. The Buick Riviera started its life as the LaSalle II and was to be marketed through Cadillac to compete with Ford’s Thunderbird. The white shirts at Cadillac did not want the car, so it was shopped to other divisions, including Oldsmobile and Buick. It was Buick that won the program and the car became the “Riviera.”

In 1955, Robert Young of the Ford Motor Company enlisted the help of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Marianne Moore to create a name for a new line of cars. One of her 43 suggestions was “Utopian Turtle Top.” Ford chose “Edsel” instead. Who knows, maybe Moore’s recommendation might have helped the car.

Animal names have also been popular, with the best being the Ford Mustang, followed by Impala, Bronco, Barracuda, Colt, and others.

Somewhere along the way, strange combinations evolved, such as the Plymouth Satellite Sebring. Was it named after the track, or an object orbiting the earth? Its incongruity is confusing.

Nissan, on the other hand, originally named the Datsun we know as the 240Z, or the Fairlady in its domestic market. Can you imagine some musclebound athlete announcing to his friends that he had just bought a Fairlady? I don’t think so. Probably a good idea that it was renamed for the US market.

Coming down the road next year from Cadillac

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Since 1999

Rarely seen will be the Lyriq and Celestiq, the subtle message being perhaps that these are cars for intelligent customers. I checked with my friend, GM’s Vice President of Global Design Michael Simcoe, about how these modern names are generated given that there are copyrights, double-entendres and previous usages that make selecting a new name a particular challenge. For example, the names Fiesta (Oldsmobile and then Ford) and Suburban (Chevrolet and Plymouth) have been used on several competitive automobiles after their exclusivity lapsed. Most new names are generated after agonizing research and use of algorithms in order to create something new and fresh, but my favorite story is about Shelby’s Mustang GT350.

While sitting through a boring meeting with his staff to come up with a name for their new sports coupe, and after mulling over cubic inch numbers and horsepower, the ever-impatient Shelby asked his staff how far it was from his office to the building across the street. Someone answered they thought about 350 feet to which Shelby said, “That’s it… the Shelby GT350.” So there you go— meeting over. Next subject!

The next time you are in traffic behind an Avalon or a Civic, remind yourself, it could have been something like a Utopian Turtle Top or a Satellite Sebring… or worse. I think I’ll get in my C8 and go home now.

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Mercedes-Benz gets the award for naming consistency, mixing engine displacements with one, two or three-letter suffixes to designate the vehicle classification.

“SL” stands for “SportLight” or “Super-Light” (regardless of how light, or not, the cars so named really were).

Never forgotten

Below: Porsche has been similarly consistent on its 911, though the “Carrera” suffix flows in and out. Shelby apparently named the GT350 when told how far it was from his office to a building across the street. Until recently, “Impala” was an enduring touchstone for Chevrolet, especially in films like American Graffiti.

It wasn’t limited to the US—so popular was the Impala in classic Bollywood films that any large car, regardless of brand, was referred to as an “Impala.”

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INSIDE LINES Ed Welburn

Keeping the Dreams Alive The Chase is honored to add Ed Welburn, former head of GM Design, as a columnist.

Ed’s design legacy is complemented by a passion for all things automotive,and a love for fashion and film. Here, he shares his efforts to preserve GM’s legendary concept cars.

W

hen I was a kid, I was crazy about cars, but I knew nothing about the great Harley Earl or Bill Mitchell.

My heroes had names like Stingray, Mako Shark, Astro, or Riviera. At age eight, when I first saw the Cadillac Cyclone at the Philadelphia Auto Show, I was hooked on becoming a designer at General Motors. In 1972, when I was hired at GM Design, my hero cars were now all around me. Yes, Bill Mitchell was in charge and brought an incredible amount of energy and inspiration to Design, but those historic concept cars spawned strong emotions within me and the entire design community, just as they did with the public. They still do today.

At the time, all of GM’s historic concept cars, as well as all of Mr. Mitchell’s “special” cars were maintained in an off-limits department in the Design building inside the Warren Technical Center

grounds, the door to which bore the following sign: “MECHANICAL ASSEMBLY, Enter Only with The Authorization of Mr. Mitchell.” Entering this very special area was like walking into a bar and finding Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Sam Cooke inviting you for a drink. They were alive! In Mechanical Assembly stood such legendary concept cars as the Mako Shark, the Manta Ray, the Cadillac Cyclone, and even the Firebird III. Fast forward 30 years. These concepts had traveled many miles, been displayed around the world, and even appeared in several movies. When I was named vice president of General Motors Design in 2003, my very first command was to send the silver 1959 Stingray Racer to our Design shops

Above: Harley Earl at the wheel of the 1938 Buick Y-Job, which is regarded as the automotive industry’s first concept car. It premiered such details as hidden headlights, a gunsight hood ornament, electric windows, and flush door handles. Some of its elements could be seen on Buick production models as late as the 1950s.

Above: Cadillac’s 1959 Cyclone was influenced by expanding aerospace industry.

Twin nosecones hid a radar-operated collision avoidance system. Left: Two generations of Mako Sharks were used to introduce the 1963 and 1968 Corvettes in advance of their production counterparts.

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for a major restoration. The years had not been kind to this very special car and far too many people had driven it—its fiberglass rear body panels were as soft and pliable as a Ritz-Carlton bath towel. Given its signal importance in the history of the Corvette, I wanted its exterior restored, but I left the patina of the weathered silver leather seats.

The Stingray was followed by the 1951 Le Sabre, perhaps GM’s most influential concept car. Under close examination we could see that the paint had worn so thin that it no longer existed in some areas.

This restoration was followed by the Riviera Silver Arrow, Astro l, ll, and lll, and the titanium-skinned Firebird ll, which presented its own unique challenges.

The Firebird had languished in a storage warehouse for decades and was much the worse for wear. Little did we know how difficult it was to work with this very strong, yet brittle material—I now know why there were very few, if any, other titanium cars built!

Sadly, we were not able to save every concept that GM created. Busy managers likely viewed these cars as relics of the past that needed to be shoved aside to make room for newer priorities.

My most disappointing loss is the 1954 Cadillac El Camino show car, which, like many other Motorama cars, previewed many styling features that would later appear on Cadillac production cars.

Other losses include several concepts shown at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, such as the Super Nova and the Firebird IV. Even during my tenure, it was a constant challenge to prevent history from being hauled away. Upon entering the Tech Center grounds one day, I spied the Oldsmobile Antares (which preceded the Intrigue) and Tube Car (the predecessor of the Aurora) concepts sitting on flat26

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beds with “scrap” written on their sides. Needless to say, they didn’t get scrapped.

Those of us who worked in the Design building were fortunate to see these cars every day, either on display or being repaired in the shops alongside new ones being created. While many of GM’s most important concepts are displayed at the GM Heritage Center, other “interesting” cars are hidden away in warehouses in the Warren, MI area. Among the many concepts and prototypes is a silver Porsche 959 with a Pasha interior. I’m fortunate to have driven it.

There’s also a 1979 Caprice Sedan powered by a BMW V12. What were they thinking in those days? Or what executive was dissatisfied with the output of a 305 cubic-inch Chevy V8? A personal favorite is the spare engine for one of Bill Mitchell’s pet projects, the Pontiac Pegasus, a Firebird-based concept endowed with a Ferrari V12. Enzo sent him a second motor, which powers the car today. The first engine is still in a crate at Design, marked “From Enzo Ferrari to Bill Mitchell.”

My job leading GM’s design efforts was focused on future General Motors cars and trucks, but these historic concepts are the “crown jewels” of the company and I am glad that they continue to be cherished. I’d hate to see them broken up or given away, as happened, for example, to many of Bertone’s concept cars. I credit Mike Erdodi, Mark Leavy, and the incredibly talented UAW men and women of the GM Design shops with saving these great cars so that we can today appreciate them as major milestones in automotive evolution.

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Above: Like most GM concepts, The 1951 LeSabre was fully roadworthy and featured aluminum bodywork, a supercharged V8, and a rain sensor to automatically activate the convertible top. Earl often commuted to work in the Y-Job and the Le Sabre. After decades of use and wear, the Le Sabre has since been restored to its original condition.

Below: The 1954 Cadillac El Camino influenced the 1957-1958 Eldorado Brougham, essentially a concept car. It had a stainless-steel roof and quad headlights, then illegal in many states.

The El Camino was likely crushed before it could be saved.

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What’s in Your Garage?

Do you have an interesting car or truck in your garage?

Send us five or six high resolution photographs along with about 100 words that explain why you love it, why you bought it, and what you’ve done to it. You might just wind up in the next issue of The Chase. You can reach us at garage@waynecarini.tv.

Steve Contarino Garage Mahal New Hampshire Team 464 member Steve Contarino of Seabrook, New Hampshire, describes himself as “car crazy,” and the image below certainly proves that. Let’s start with his 1949 Dodge, which actually rides atop a 1999 Freightliner tractor. First up on the trailer is a 1970 Jensen-Healey that Steve says he “hopefully is going to put on a Prius chassis.” Given his success at mating a Dodge and a Freightliner, that seems far from an impossible task. Another example of Steve’s restlessness with the status quo of cars is his highly functional “Checkermino,” derived from a 1972 Checker sedan. So far, the factory-built, eight-door Checker “Aerobus” at the end of the trailer seems likely to stay intact, but who knows? It will soon join his 1980 Checker sedan in what Steve describes as his “garage mahal.”

Matt Strauss 1969 Mercedes-Benz 600 SWB Vermont Matt Strauss, our multi-talented Vermont-based tech guru, spent much of his youth sketching Rolls-Royces and eventually managed to make his childhood dream a reality, having owned at least 10 of them. Ask Matt what inspired his love of classic cars and he quickly points to his 1958 Cadillac Series 62 hardtop. “I’ve always admired the bombastic optimism and baroque styling of the 1950s, all the chrome and crazy details.” Matt later found himself drawn to Mercedes, starting with the robust W116 450 SE and then on to the 600 limousine with its legendary 6.3-liter M100 motor. Unintimidated by its handbuilt complexity, Matt loves that the 600 belongs to a small club of elite, bespoke automobiles.

“Part of me feels like I’m not supposed to have one of these,” he says. “I’m not a king or someone who commands an air force,” as owners of 600s often did. “I’m just the guy who managed to sneak a peek into that exclusive world.”

Across the country, collector car mechanics are retiring without trained young people ready to take their places. When they retire, their skills retire with them. With your help, we can change that.

SHOW US WHAT’S IN YOUR GARAGE: Contact us at garage@waynecarini.tv.

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The Piston Foundation is creating scholarship and apprenticeship programs to teach the next generation of auto restoration mechanics and specialists—the ones you’ll need to care for your baby.

The future of collector car restoration needs your help. Donate today at pistonfoundation.org.

What’s in Your Garage?

Jodi Ellis 2008 Porsche Carrera Cabriolet Washington Seattle-based Jodi Ellis was the art director for Wayne’s recent book on affordable classics and it is clear that her love of automobiles has inspired her to produce some of the best-designed automotive books out there. Her passion started in high school, when she was hanging out with the “car guys” and their Mustangs and Camaros. A best friend’s mom also had a bright yellow 1968 Corvette convertible, which she and her friend were often allowed to drive. Later, after her mother, a nurse, passed away, Jodi found a note telling her mom that one day she was going to have a Porsche. That dream became a reality in 2015, when she purchased this 2008 Carrera cabriolet. “I love the feel of it when you take off really fast,” says Jodi.“The sound of the engine and being able to shift as speed increases. I love driving with the top down, no matter how cold it is – I just crank up the heat.”

Judy Stropus 1952 Lancia Ardea Connecticut Inside the garage of our columnist Judy Stropus is this beautiful 1952 Lancia Ardea. An uncommon sight in the US, the Ardea was derived from the larger Aprilia, but offered many innovations, including pillarless unit construction, a narrow-angle, aluminum-head V4, and the first production fivespeed transmission. Judy purchased the car in Palm Springs in 2012 and entered it in the following year’s California Mille rally. Driving the 29-horsepower Ardea from San Francisco to Monterey with co-driver Chuck Schoendorf, Judy recalls the excitement of drafting a few semis to keep up with traffic. “We finished!” declares Judy, steadfastly defending the hardy Ardea. “There were modern Lamborghinis and Ferraris being taken away on flatbeds.” Today, the Ardea leads a bit quieter life, with Judy putting just enough gas in it to take it up and down the driveway a few times, waiting for its next opportunity to show that big cars can come in small packages.

SHOW US WHAT’S IN YOUR GARAGE: Contact us at garage@waynecarini.tv.

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With their simple technology, early electric cars were true horseless carriages. The Waverly and its competitors were more like small living rooms on wheels, offering comfortable and flexible seating and excellent visibility that was often advertised directly to women. Thanks to their modest speeds, steering was by tiller, not steering wheel. Without a radiator or traditional gearbox, mechanical componentry was kept to a minimum.

EVERY CAR HAS A STORY

by Wayne Carini

1910 Waverly No matter how humble, ostentatious, slow, or fast, every car can tell a story about how it was made, why it was bought, and what makes it memorable.

In this story, I reveal why an electric car will always be part of my collection.

I

recently had a chance to test drive the new Ford Mustang Mach-E. I found it to be a fantastic car, and one that demonstrates why there could be a bright future for electric cars, once we figure out how we’re going to charge all of them. Some of my friends seem to be anxious that EVs are going to take over the world and eventually banish internal combustion engines to 32

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dusty museums. I’m not sure that’s going to happen anytime soon, but I’d ask anyone who hasn’t driven a modern electric car to try one. While there may be no substitute for cubic inches, there’s also no substitute for instant torque!

When we had the Mach-E at the shop, we took turns doing drag races with two of my electric cars that are over a century older than the Mustang: a Waverly

and a Baker, both built in 1910. The Mustang handily won, of course, but it was still fun tearing around in these silent and spritely little cars. I’ve always been fascinated by alternative ways of powering automobiles and have owned both electric and steam cars. If you’re really interested in how personal transportation evolved over time, you should get to know these very different paths to propulsion. The steamers are interesting period curiosities (and often quite fun to drive), but they take a lot of work to get underway. An electric car however, once charged up, is ready to go immediately.

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What makes electric cars particularly interesting to me is that they thrived in a relatively narrow period in the early days of the automobile, a period that ended pretty quickly when Henry Ford put an electric starter on the Model T circa 1919. Believe it or not, at the turn of the century, electric cars outsold all other propulsion methods. A 1907 catalog of all electric cars on the market shows literally dozens of models, most of which were modeled on enclosed carriages. Just like today, some manufacturers were touting long ranges, up to 100 miles in some cases, which WWW.THECHASEMAGAZINE.COM

seems amazing for the state of the art over a century ago vs. today. But that wasn’t really the core market for electric vehicles—they were really designed for cities like New York or Chicago, where drivers didn’t need high speeds or long ranges, but wanted something better than a horse with which to get around. These vehicles were also very popular in summer vacation destinations like Newport, Rhode Island, as long as the roads were smooth and not too steep. The fact that they dispensed with all the challenges of early car ownership, like cranks to get them started and balky gearshifts to change speeds, made them especially popular with women drivers.

In their heyday, electric cars had a lot of advantages over their somewhat greasy competitors: no vibration, no smell, and no noise. And that was perhaps their best selling points. Colonel Albert Pope, one of Connecticut’s car manufacturers, famously said, “You can’t get people to sit over an explosion.” Because they were designed primarily for urban use at relatively slow speeds, they often had interesting little details not found on other cars, such as a tiller for steering or swiveling seats to permit passengers to converse while

underway because it was quiet enough to do so. Some models actually were designed for all-season use, with an enclosed upper structure that could be lifted off and replaced by a folding soft top for warmer weather. My Waverly is like a little living room on wheels, with brocade fabric on the interior and a cutglass vase for flowers.

While I don’t have a detailed history for my Waverly, it apparently spent some time on Long Island before winding up in a barn in upstate New York.

The ceiling on that barn was too low for the very tall Waverly, so the owner had to cut out parts of the beams to make it fit. One of the great things about it is that it needs very little maintenance – I just charge it up and it’s ready to go.

I think in the next couple of years we are going to see all sorts of variations on electric cars, with some of them focused on the fun that instant, silent acceleration can provide. I can only imagine what it would be like to drive an electric Morgan 3 Wheeler, and I’m sure that whatever Chevrolet does to electrify the Corvette will make it only that much more fun to drive. I’m not ready to give up my Shelby GT350 for a Mach-E just yet, but I’ll always have some type of electric car in my barn.

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REAR-VIEW MIRROR Judy Stropus

Sharing the Laurels Buz and Brad McCall’s Round 3 Racing provides support and encouragement for women and girls in motorsports, successfully proving the idea that both men and women can race as a team while consistently being on the podium.

I

am not a fan of all-female racing teams or series; never have been. The closest I ever came was with the Kelly American Challenge Series back in the ‘70s, which rewarded the highest-placing women in the coed racing series. Even though I objected to the concept, I didn’t mind collecting the prize money for the team owners who let me race their cars in that series. So, call me a hypocrite or a fraud— I accept that.

At least I can take some credit in helping foil a plan to make the Kelly Series an all-female affair initially. I remember getting a call from Vince Piggins of Chevrolet asking my opinion about Kelly and his idea for a series for women only. I offered my opinion that it didn’t seem necessary, as women have always been allowed to race in sports-car competition against men. He said he also had asked Janet Guthrie the same question. “What was her response?” I queried. “She laughed,” he said. Janet was of the same mindset. Instead, it was decided that female drivers would be awarded prize money for doing well. A somewhat reasonable compromise, I guess.

Fast forward to 2021. I was thrilled to see that Team Penske chose to support Simona de Silvestro at the Indy 500 in a team led by Beth Paretta.

Then the bubble burst when it was announced that the crew would be all female. Eventually, it was presented as a “female-forward crew.” Much improved, I thought. I’m delighted that Simona qualified for the race, and the crew did appear to be highly prepared and efficient during the pit 34

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stops. Kudos to them all.

Yes, the W Series is doing well overseas. That’s great. But, right here on American soil, we have female drivers competing successfully in nearly every series against men, except the high-profile ones, such as NASCAR and the full-time IndyCar Series, at least for the moment. But women have raced in those series in the past, and I expect to see them return.

My longtime friend Buz McCall (yes, only one “z”), who was a driver himself and owned race teams that competed in SCCA Trans-Am in the ‘80s and ‘90s and in NASCAR Busch Grand National and Winston Cup series in the mid-90s, is doing it right, in my opinion. After winning four consecutive Trans-Am Series championships with drivers Scott Sharp, Jack Baldwin, and Scott Pruett from

Sarah Montgomery adds the finishing detail to her No. 702 Team Hagerty Porsche Cayman by adding sponsor decals. Montgomery races in the fastest class (GTO) and has set the fastest lap of the production car entries multiple times this season.

Team Round 3 Racing is owned by father-son team of Buz and Brad McCall. Below, Buz McCall does an interview before suiting up to start the 14-hour race at Daytona International Speedway.

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Round 3 Racing (R3R) is an endurance racing team built around family and years of experience in all levels of motorsports. The team that makes up R3R come from all different backgrounds but all share the same common goal of having fun while always striving to achieve victory.

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1991-1994, then moving on to NASCAR’s Busch and Cup Series with such drivers as Ward Burton and David Green, Buz took some time off to regroup in 1998. Some 15 years later, I recruited Buz, his former driver and friend Jack Baldwin, and Buz’s son Brad to compete with me in a six-hour go kart race for charity in Jacksonville. We had such a blast that Buz’s love for the sport was rekindled, and he soon started up a new team with Baldwin; first, it was in the Pirelli World Challenge, and today it’s in the World Racing League Endurance Series in Porsche Caymans and Boxsters.

Buz named the team Round 3 Racing. He soon formed an alliance with the Shift Up Now program started by Lynn Schultz Kehoe and Karen Salvaggio to provide support and encouragement for women and girls in motorsports. Competing in races of up to 14 hours in length, Buz always had the idea that men and women should race as a team, saying, “Men and women work together; they should be able to race together.”

He called it a “team-building effort of men and women as one.”

His four team cars now include one in each WRL class: GTO (drivers Brad McCall, Sarah Montgomery, and Buz; GP1 (Mo Dadkhah, Mike Gilbert, and Loni Unser; GP2 (Christian Maloof, (Ms.) Shea Holbrook, and Hannah Grisham); and GP3 (Cole Loftsgard, Jim Ptak, Dennis Neel, and Carter Pease).

In the two years competing in WRL, cars with female drivers on the Round 3 Racing team have scored six wins so far, with Holbrook leading the way with most wins (three), Unser (Johnny’s daughter) taking two wins, and Grisham and Montgomery each with one.

As I said, this is how it’s done. Share the talent.

Buz agrees. “I can tell you that this team and series is the most fun I have ever had in my racing career.

It reminds me of IMSA in the early days with good cars and drivers and a lot of fun times,” he says.

Currently, the team leads in GP3 National Championship points and is second in GP2.

No major fanfare, no media attention singling out the female drivers. Just race-car drivers doing their thing, doing it well, and sharing the laurels.

As it should be.

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413.531.3991 Left: In the two years competing in WRL, cars with female drivers on the Round 3 Racing team have scored six wins so far. Hannah Grisham takes the podium at Road America in May. Below: Loni Unser and Mo Dadkhah hug in celebration after securing their first win of the season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the GP2 class.

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Wayne Carini’s Guide to

AFFORDABLE CLASSICS VOLUME ONE Whether you’re a first-time novice or a seasoned pro, finding the right classic car to own and enjoy starts with getting the right information. And there’s no one better equipped to provide you an insider’s perspective than Wayne Carini, host of the internationally acclaimed TV program, Chasing Classic Cars. Borrowing on his decades of experience in buying and selling cars, Wayne’s Guide to Affordable Classics places you in the driver’s seat when it comes to making an informed decision.

In this first volume of a series, Wayne and his friends have selected 25 different collectible classics from around the world, each with a detailed and illustrated profile that includes the history of each model, what it’s like to drive, and what to know if you’re in the market. With full-color images, hot tips from experts and detailed specification tables, Affordable Classics guarantees to keep the chase alive between episodes of Chasing Classic Cars.

Featured in Volume One:

$39.95 Available Now 36

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• Alfa Romeo Spider • Aston Martin DB7 • Audi Coupe and Quattro • Austin-Healey 100-Six & 3000 • BMW 1600/2002 and Z3 • Chevrolet 3rd Gen Camaro and Corvette C4 • Datsun 240/260/280Z/280ZX

• Ferrari 348/F355/360/F430 • Fiat 124 Sport Spider • Ford Mustang (Fox Body) • Honda S2000 • International Scout • Mazda RX-7 • Mercedes-Benz 230/250/280 SL

• MG MGA/MGB/MGC • Nissan 300ZX • Pontiac Fiero • Porsche 944 • Toyota Supra • Triumph TR6 • Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! WWW.WAYNECARINI.TV

Presented By

THE COLLECTOR Marshall Buck

Mario Tagliavini You can call these wonderful works, models, or sculptures (mod-ulptures?) but one thing is certain. The works of Mario Tagliavini are superb automotive art.

H

e is a car lover from youth and is passionate about classic cars and motorcycles. His full-time profession is a tool maker, draftsman, and expert welder. On the personal side, he is an antique collector, with a penchant for toy cars and tools.

Born in 1966, raised, and working in his home country of Argentina, he creates immense pieces of automotive art that are perhaps more model than sculpture, and ‘models’ are how he describes his creations. Take a quick or long look at any of these; they are all instantly recognizable. You know the vehicle he has created. That in itself is a real accomplishment, and the words impressive, amaz-

ing, and spectacular do not seem to be enough.

Being in the field of automotive collectibles for over 40 years, I have found that all of the truly great automotive artists (sculptors, model makers, painters, and photographers) have a passion for automobiles from deep inside, which always has its beginnings rooted in childhood. Mario illustrates this point. He says he has “been a car lover from a very young age. As a child I liked to represent the cars that I saw at my Dad’s house, who was a mechanic. I grew up among cars and spare parts.” His passion for cars really kicked in at age seven. “I’d come home from school and make them [models] with the materials I had, icing pa-

Mario in his workshop with some of his amazing, and large, models-sculptures. Front center is his one-off 1:4 scale Chevrolet El Camino, weighing in at a hernia-inducing 165 pounds.

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A Spectacular Maserati 3500 GT in front with Jaguar E-Type in background. Mario says the E-Type caused him a little more stress to make since his client had the real car, and this piece was slated to be displayed with the 1:1 car.

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per, cardboard, glue. Therefore, my school supplies did not last long in my hands.” At around age 10 or 11, in 1976-1977, Juan María Traverso’s Ford Falcon racecar was on display at the local Ford dealership where his father worked. Mario said, “seeing that car drove me crazy.” (Juan María Traverso is an accomplished Argentinian racing driver, now retired).

Mario first learned how to weld in high school and was later trained in technical school in the Argentine Air Force where he also learned the use of other tools and making precision drawings. After graduating, he worked in the tool and die industry in a technical office as a draftsman, turning some designs into real parts. All this inadvertently helped him to create the models he makes today.

He says, “When I first learned to weld, it was a kind of an explosion in my head. I realized I had no limits, since that way I could incorporate many elements of things that I had very handy.” Learning to weld became an open door to create and invent. He began to work with scrap parts, screws, nuts and bolts, gears, bearings, and remains of metal objects from car repairs.

Often, artists like Mario do not envision turning any part of their personal passion or hobby into a formal professional endeavor. For many years most pieces were created for himself and some friends.

He dedicated himself to making various objects in iron, such as airplanes, plants, a series of farm tractors that he imagined as wild animals that needed to be tamed, and vehicles.

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Exhibiting was something that had never occurred to him. It all started when his wife encouraged him to exhibit; his first step was signing up for sculptor Carlos Regazzoni’s workshop in Retiro, Argentina “to live the art experience more closely.”

He began to show his works at the Atelier de Regazzoni, where collaborative shows were held.

Then it was on to exhibiting small works in art galleries. One day, a gallery rejected a piece for exceeding the maximum dimensions they allowed to exhibit. That experience was frustrating, but it ultimately helped him take a new direction, leaving art galleries behind and getting immersed in the world of automotive art in 2016, which was when he started exhibiting and selling his work at various automotive events in Argentina.

Today, Mario is busy making his ‘models’ for automobile enthusiasts eager to own one or more of his works of art. So you want one too? Well, you can commission a piece, but you’ll have to get in line since he has orders/work scheduled until mid 2023, and unless he goes full time, the line might be even longer by the time you read this!

The pieces you see here are made primarily of iron, which he is most comfortable working with, although some ‘models’ also have details in bronze and stainless steel. Mario says, “Now that I am taking a TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding course, I bought a welding machine, and I want to make some complete models in stainless steel and others in aluminum.” Some of his works incorporate CLASSICS

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Top: Photos show early stages of his process and making of a Porsche 930 Turbo.

After drawings are made, the wire frame is next, then small parts are individually selected and added one at a time. Right: Finally, the completed and polished Porsche body, yet to have details of lights, windows, and wheels added.

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non-metal components: tires, windows, lights, and interiors.

Mario told me, “It is an evolution in my work.”

Models without these items were, in his opinion, not complete. Regarding windows and lights, he said, “The shape of the silhouette was lost, and I was not satisfied. It was something I added. Generally, my clients allow me to have freedom in what I do. I try to add new things to each new job. Some models returned to the workshop to “upgrade” with details they did not have. I use 2mm acrylic, formed with heat, and the plastic does not always behave as I want!”

Part two of the evolution: interiors and tires. Mario says, “My first models had basic interiors. They were not extremely elaborate, but they maintained the design and the main characteristics of the real car.

In the future I am going to dabble in the use of plastic fabrics to resemble real upholstery a little more.

We’ll see what comes out.” As for the tires, he says, “They are made of plastic, but for the Mercedes I am making now, I am going to have rubber pressed and they will be made of that from now on.”

Until recently all his models have been one-offs.

Even when reproducing another of the same car as he will be doing with creating another Porsche 930 Turbo, it will be quite different from the first. Ma-

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rio said, “My models are very difficult to reproduce in series; they are unique, welded piece by piece, and it is impossible to exactly duplicate any.” He continued, “I have in mind I was seeing something else, not in this technique. I want to make limited editions of cars, recreating old metal toys...that is my idea.”

The process starts with basic research and time spent with the car he is modeling. He said, “Generally I go to see the real car, to study the shapes and some characteristic details of each vehicle, which in photos are not appreciated. Then I spend hours on the Internet looking for information, photos, and everything that can help me recreate it. In many cases I get plans that help me.” After enough research is done it is onto the first physical 3D step, making the outline of the body. He says the most difficult part is “the beginning, from nothing to start giving volume to a wire mesh, based on photos, drawings and what you may have on hand. Transforming a 2D image [drawing] into a body with volume is the most complicated process. This first step is fundamental and the most difficult,” he adds.

“I shape a wire structure, as is done with a real body, but in scale, analyzing the shapes and seeing the parts (screws, nuts, gears, bearings) to use

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Passion. Obsession. Addiction. Love.

Whatever you call it,Addiction. we insure it.

Passion. Obsession.

Love.

Whatever you call it, we insure it.

Passion. Obsession. Addiction. Love. for each shape. I complete the main spaces, welding large pieces to delineate a general format that gives me the idea of volume. And then I fill in spaces to form the surface.”

I asked Mario what he is currently working on.

He replied, “I am working on a 1970 Mercedes Benz 280 SE Coupe. I have to make a 1952 Lincoln built

by Valley Custom, a 1961 Ferrari 250 SWB, a 2021 Royal Enfield 350 CC motorcycle, a Porsche 930 Turbo [his second one of those], a Porsche 911 Targa, and a Mercedes Benz 300 SL; all in approximate 1:5 to 1:6 scales.”

I then asked him approximately how many parts he uses, how many hours does each model take, how much do they weigh, and what are the prices?

Mario humored me and replied; “Really when I start, I think about the number of elements. Then I forget and lose count! But I counted the parts that make up the Alfa Romeo 159; about 600 parts from various sources. It also depends on the type of scrap I get, because there are times I get many small pieces, so it is difficult to have an idea.” As for the number of hours he said “I work three to four hours a day and on weekends...I try not to have it be an eternal project. I don’t really know how long a model takes, but it must not exceed four months, from start to delivery.” So we can figure anywhere from 250 to 500 hours per model.

With their large size comes the potential for getting a hernia. “In the scales I am using now, 1:6 and 1:7, they weigh around 30/35 Kg (66 to 77 pounds) and then there are models like the Chevrolet El 42

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Camino in 1:4 scale which weigh almost 75 Kg (165 pounds).”

How much does one of these metallic wonders cost? Mario tells me that a model like the Maserati 3500 GT has a value of $5,800 US, and the Porsche 930 Turbo $5,300 US. “They may differ due to some specific characteristic, such as moldings, bumpers, or very laborious applications, but the work is basically the same,” he says.

Parting words from Mario, “I hope that when you see my work, you can enjoy it as much as I did when I was creating it. In one way or another, if someone is reading this, it is because surely a passion unites us. Sending a big hug from Argentina to all those who are passionate about automobiles!”

www.haydenwood.com info@haydenwood.com 508.229.8700

Mario’s completed and delivered Porsche 930 Turbo. So, is it a model or a sculpture? I say both, but better yet…

It is a Tagliavini.

Whatever you call it, we insure it.

HWI-HOFOA.indd 1

2/28/20 11:12 AM

MORE THAN DECOR Automotive fine art in

www.haydenwood.com your choice of exterior/ info@haydenwood.com interior colors including a 508.229.8700 selection of accessories

to further personalize your print. Over 150 makes/ models to choose from.

Available as:

HWI-HOFOA.indd 1

Mario Tagliavini may be contacted through his new website: mariotagliavini.com e-mail: matriceriafalcon@hotmail.com Instagram: Tagliavinimario Facebook: Mario Tagliavini CLASSICS

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Open or limited

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Brushed aluminum prints (ready to hang)

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sportscarart.com

2/28/20 11:12

edition fine art pigment prints— matted, matted and framed, or loose

Large-scale, dyesublimated displays in backlit and unlit versions

AUCTION READY

On the Block

Even though the pandemic has temporarily, we hope, changed the nature of traditional auctions, cars are still being bought and sold.

For each issue of The Chase, we will highlight vehicles of note or interest in upcoming auctions.

Mecum Monterey 8/12-8/14, Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa Monterey, California Estimated 600 Lots www.mecum.com

words by Andy Reid

Of the 600 or so cars available at the Mecum Monterey sale, the standout must be the stunning 1936 Delahaye 135 Competition Court Teardrop Coupe. With coachwork from Figoni et Falaschi, it is one of an estimated 30 Competition Court chassis built and is one of only six styled by Figoni, of which only three such examples are known to survive. This car, Chassis #47242, was fitted from the factory with many special competition components including a 4-speed manual transmission, outside-mounted rear springs, lowered engine mounts, an oil cooler mounted below the radiator, and a dual filler racing-style fuel tank. It was delivered new to the Delahaye factory for use as a demonstrator. It received a Class Award at the 2001 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance as well as Best of Show at the 2003 Concours d’Elegance of Texas, and it was featured in the Art and the Automobile Exhibit at the 2015 Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.

The other standout car thus far at Mecum Monterey is the 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C Long Nose. This specific car is stated to have 21,000 miles new, and it is a matching numbers example with largely original paint and a completely original Nero leather interior.

Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction 8/13, Quail Lodge & Golf Club Carmel, California www.bonhams.com Bonhams returns to the Quail Lodge resort bringing a number of impressive collector cars, featuring everything from European full classics, rare coach-built Ferraris, and storied racing cars.

The big standout for this year’s event is the 1974 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12. This stunning car has only had a single owner since it was built and has the added pedigree of being raced in period by Bell and Pescarolo with the car achieving wins at Spa, Zeltweg, and Watkins Glen. The car includes an extensive documentation and spare parts package, making it the perfect weapons-grade historic racing machine.

It doesn’t stop there though, as other impressive lots include a 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider America that is one of only 181 factory LHD examples produced, and a California car from new with complete documentation. If you are looking for a rare Italian car from Maranello, then the 1952 Ferrari 212 Europa Cabriolet might just fit the bill perfectly. This 212 was Ferrari’s display car for the 1952 Geneva and Turin Auto Shows and is a Cavallino Platinum Award and Restoration Cup Winner.

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On the Block

On the Block

Gooding & Company Pebble Beach

RM Sotheby’s Auburn Fall

8/13-8/14, Pebble Beach Equestrian Center Pebble Beach, California www.goodingco.com

9/2-9/5, The Auburn Auction Park Auburn, Indiana www. rmsothebys.com

Gooding & Company has released its first cars for the week. They consist of a group of Italian cars that span the years from 1949 to 1968 and each represents their eras perfectly. The overall star of the sale is the completely original 1956 Maserati A6G/54 Coupe by Frua. This spectacular car is one of four examples built by Carrozzeria Frua, making it one of the most exclusive coach built Maseratis of the 1950s. I have seen this remarkable survivor car in person, and it is the very essence of a time capsule. It debuted on the Maserati stand at the 1956 Paris Motor Show. In 1959 it was bought by Roger Baillon and in 2015 was discovered again in unrestored condition. The most recent owner has driven the car on the California Mille, showed at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, Hampton Court, and won in Preservation class at Pebble Beach.

Also just announced by Gooding is the 1995 McLaren F1 presented in a one-ofone paint color of Creighton Brown and under 400 kilometers from new. This spectacular car includes all its important accessories including all books, Facom tool chest, titanium tool kit, fitted luggage, TAG Heuer watch, and Driving Ambition book.

The Auburn Fall auction is one of the larger auctions of the year for RM Sotheby’s and features hundreds of cars, parts, and automobilia on offer. While the majority of offerings are focused on American automobiles, there are also some European cars that sneak in as well. This year several large collections have been consigned, including the Glen Hague collection, which encompasses water skis, tools, signs, bicycles, scooters, cars, parts, and motorcycles. Notable amongst the car offerings is a 1934 Lincoln Model KB Seven-Passenger Limousine. At 145 inches, the KB featured the longest wheelbase available from Lincoln at the time and could comfortably seat seven passengers. Powered by Lincoln’s 414-cubic-inch V12, the KB was built to compete with the best in American automobiles of the mid-1930s.

The entire Hague collection is offered without reserve and offers Ford fans everything from Model As to the retro-modern Thunderbirds of the early 2000s. With so many Ford cars, parts, and automobiles on offer, this might be a great place to find a bargain if you’re a blue oval fan.

RM Sotheby’s Monterey 8/13-8/14, Monterey Conference Center Monterey, California Number of lots to be determined www. rmsothebys.com

Bonhams Beaulieu Sale 9/4-9/5, Beaulieu National Motor Museum Beaulieu, Hampshire, United Kingdom www. bonhams.com Bonhams is back to Beaulieu with their auction held in conjunction with the Beaulieu Autojumble. Not surprisingly, the cars on offer are primarily British, with a strong focus on prewar and early postwar models. Among the notable entries this year is a 1948 Delahaye Type 135M Three-Position Drophead Coupe, the 135M designation denoting the larger 3.6-liter straight six instead of the standard 3.2-liter 135. The pre-auction estimate for this stunning car is from $350,000-$420,000, with the added benefit of eligibility for concours and touring events. Previous Beaulieu auctions have been known for some tremendous bargains for the savvy bidder. Expect to see cars ranging from as little as $10,000 all the way to north of $500,000, so there is historically something for every budget at this sale. More lots are being added daily and may be found on the Bonhams website.

The RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction is one of the anchor tenants of Monterey Car Week and always features amazing cars that set world-record prices. This year they may well have the car that is likely to be the overall star of the entire Monterey auction week. It is the 1970 Porsche 917K. It is chassis number 026 and was constructed as one of the three 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans race entries for the Gulf Racing team. It is unique as chassis 026 wore a different version of the Gulf livery, with its entire roof sprayed orange down to the beltline instead of just having the orange centerline stripe worn by sister cars. Carrying race no. 22, this 917K was raced at Le Mans by David Hobbs and multiple World Champion motorcycle star, Mike Hailwood. This car has added fame as it was also immortalized on the big screen in the movie Le Mans. Considered by many to be the greatest sports racer of all time, this amazing race car is bound to do quite well on the block. Other standout lots include the 1937 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet and the 1930 Cadillac V16 Convertible Sedan by Murphy.

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EVENT HIGHLIGHTS As we look forward to the rest of the 2021 event schedule, let’s check the rearview mirror for highlights from this season.

Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance 5/20–5/23/2021 Amelia Island, Florida Attending this year’s Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance was a gratifying experience for me. The event served a dual purpose. It brought a semblance of normalcy back to the world-class automotive concours, and it became a reunion of sorts for people who hadn’t seen one another since before COVID-19 devastated the world. So many people told me that their last trip of 2020 was their flight home from last year’s Amelia Island event, and their first flight this year brought them once again to Amelia Island. For many, it was like a homecoming. Originally slated for March, this year’s event was moved to May to better align with the comfort level of travelers. Bill Warner, chairman and founder of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, is a dyed-in-the-wool car guy, racer, writer and photographer extraordinaire. His DNA has been more than influential on this motoring event since its inception. Warner has honored such automotive icons as Dan Gurney, Sir Stirling Moss, Carroll Shelby, Johnny Rutherford, Jochen Mass, John Surtees, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Sr., Sir Derek Bell, Hurley Haywood, and the king of LeMans himself, Jacky Ickx.

Roger Penske garnered the honor in 2020. This year, Warner chose Lyn St. James, a former racecar driver whose seats included those in the IndyCar series, CART, IRL, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the 24 Hours of LeMans. St. James was the first woman to be honored at Warner’s event, and as she flashed her trademark smile when greeting her fans, she was very well

photos by Josh Sweeney/SFD

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Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance continued received by the attendees. This year’s special category classes leaned toward racing, including Shadow Can-Am, Corvette Racing, Porsche 935, and Hispano-Suiza. A 1985 Ford Mustang, brought by 3 Dog Garage from Boyertown, Pennsylvania, took Best in Class Winner for the Cars of Lyn St. James.

The most unique class was called a “special class,” and that went to the aptly named Weird and Wonderful. The group included some truly inspiring oddballs, including Wayne Carini’s 1961 Corvair Futura/Waimea (see p.

74), which took the Amelia award in its class. Best in Class was awarded to Keith and Eileen Carpenter’s 1974 Fascination Two-Door Sedan. This car was brought from Parker, Colorado. Having a personal penchant for the Ferrari 275, I was treated to an absolutely beautiful display of 275s gracing an expansive green of The Ritz-Carlton’s golf course. Best in Class trophy for this category was judged by Ken Gross and his team. The award went to the 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Berlinetta Speciale, which was brought by Swap Shop Racing in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Rounding out the Concours for the two Best in Show awards were automobiles that exemplify speed, grace, and beauty.

Best in Show, Concours de Sport, went to James Bartel from Key West, Florida for his 1974 Shadow DN4. Best in Show, Concours d’Elegance, went to Jill and Charles Mitchell from Stuart, Florida for their 1926 Hispano-Suiza H6B Cabriolet. Both awards were presented by Lyn St. James, Bill Warner, and Greg Cook, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton. Next year’s Concours will return to its original time slot: March 3-6, 2022. I’m already looking forward to the event and connecting with familiar faces once again. –R.R.

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Rare Air

The Saratoga Automobile Museum Summer 2021 Saratoga Automobile Museum Saratoga Springs, New York If you love Porsches, particularly the air-cooled variety—the 356 and 911 models—you’ll want to visit The Saratoga Automobile Museum to view their exhibition, aptly titled Rare Air. The team at Saratoga has put together a selection of 16 cars from the collection of prominent New York architect Steven Harris. Harris was bitten by the Porsche bug when he was just a youngster—both his father and his uncle drove one (a 356 and a 911).

This was a heavy influence on his future passion toward the automobile, with Porsche ending up being the preferential marque. As time has ticked by since he was a child, Harris has put together a cohesive, world-class collection of air-cooled Porsches, and he is now sharing them for all to see and enjoy at The Saratoga Automobile Museum. Displayed alongside the Porsches from Harris’s collection is exclusive photography of the cars by automotive photographer James Lipman, and featured exhibit artist Lyn Hiner, who has a selection of acrylic and silver leaf on canvas paintings called Abstracted Air on display. Rare Air highlights include the famed serial #18 1984 911 SCRS, a one-of-twenty 964 RS N-GT “Macau,” the infamous “Widowmaker” 993 GT2, plus multiple Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance winning 356 Speedsters, Coupes, and Cabriolets. These cars are absolute works of art. You do not have to be an automotive enthusiast to fully appreciate each detail, line, and proportion. One glance at these stunning automobiles can convey the consideration, timeless design aesthetics, creative genius, and effort that created them. It only seems fitting that those aspects seem to parallel those architects would enjoy and employ in their daily lives. You can check out this wonderful exhibit throughout the summer. –R.R.

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Trans Am Series

5/28–5/31/2021 Lime Rock Park Lakeville, Connecticut Despite rain and downright cold temps, fans followed the Trans Am Series back to Lime Rock Park this Memorial Day weekend where Chris Dyson repeated his victory of 2019. He said, “I was grateful to see the fans back on the hill. They are a huge part of what makes Trans Am so special. The fans at Lime Rock are some of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic.”

He continued, “I think it comes down to the fact that this is a generational facility where families attend and form a deep bond with the teams and drivers who compete and excel there over a long time. We’ve been able to develop that great relationship because Lime Rock is conducive to interaction between participants and fans. The layout and open access to the pit and paddock make for a shared experience unique in American racing.” The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli celebrated its 29th visit to the Connecticut track with two feature races. After Dyson’s win on Saturday, Mike Skeen, defending TA2 champion, won his first victory of the season on Monday. The weekend also included a diverse set of run groups in SVRA competition, the SVRA Mazda Miata Heritage Cup, and a onehour enduro testing the talents of Lime Rock Park Drivers Club members.

Dyson described what the track means for him. “Lime Rock Park occu-

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Trans Am Series continued pies a special place, not only in racing and for the Trans Am Series, but for my family. The track has been a significant backdrop for the creation and fulfillment of many dreams in my personal racing career, my father’s career, and the team’s development. To compete there—and do well—is meaningful. Success there is on a different level than most other racing facilities because it’s home.” He added, “James Weaver, who drove for our family for 20 years, called Lime Rock Park the most important race on our national calendar and I think he had it right. Our friends and families support us all year long and for them to witness what we do puts the onus on us to deliver. To do well at that track is a significant way to underline what it is we value and treasure in our sport.” A restructuring of the park’s ownership was announced in April of this year. Skip Barber will remain a significant owner in Lime Rock Group LLC, with the group’s general partners Charles Mallory, Dicky Riege, Bill Rueckert, and private investors. Dyson commented, “This is one of the most iconic tracks and a place to be celebrated. Skip has done magnificent things here for decades and I think the group will build upon a very solid foundation with appropriate respect and reverence for what has come before.” He continued, “Just seeing the joy on people’s faces, being back to enjoy the fellowship of racing, was rejuvenating on a lot of levels. This is a special way to observe what is otherwise a serious holiday, and to do so in a way that celebrates our freedoms and passions together.” —Linda Zukauskas

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A PERFECT TIMEPIECE When a young gentleman owns three coachbuilt Zagato automobiles, it has to make you wonder: How did this all begin?

The answer? Herbie the Love Bug. words and images by Sean Smith

WHEN BEN CLYMER was five years old, he fell in love with a VW; that’s what you do at that age.

He became obsessed with the Beetle, and so great was his love, his mother created a Volkswagen Halloween costume for him when he was six.

But there was a design flaw. She hadn’t taken into consideration that to arrive at the front doors to get the candy, young Ben would have to climb stairs. He couldn’t bend his knees in the costume. So instead, candy was thrown down to the bright yellow VW. The headlight covers were never permanently attached. They were taped on, so why change it? Ben did have a set of covers created by Additive Restoration to save the Zagato stamped ones from danger.

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‘‘

Every day Ben would put on his suit, go to the office, and play around on the Internet. But he was working for a bank, so most websites were blocked. The watch websites, however, were wide open.”

It’s all in the details. The collection of dents, dings, and lost paint all have meaning. They are like tattoos; each one tells a story about the life this SZ has led. They don’t detract from the car, but they let you know the little Alfa has lived an exciting, eventful life.

Then something else captured Ben’s imagination. Watches.

The aesthetics and mechanical aspect of watches enthralled Ben just as the VW did. These were the things Clymer grew up loving.

He went off to university in Syracuse, NY, and studied business and computer science. After graduation Ben worked as a management consultant and found himself at UBS bank. They offered Ben the world: a great salary, big bonuses, an amazing life. This was circa 2008 when the financial crisis hit, and everyone was 62

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circling the drain. The world imploded, and all the bank’s big promises fizzled away and became null and void.

Ben still had a job… but without the extras. He needed the job, however, to do things like pay his rent. His boss told him, “We’re not going to lay you off, but we literally have nothing for you to do.

So come in every day and bide your time; just don’t get in trouble and do whatever you want to do.”

Every day Ben would put on his suit, go to the office, and play around on the Internet. But he was working for a bank, so

most websites were blocked. The watch websites, however, were wide open.

Ben believed three things: he was a good writer, he loved taking pictures, and he loved the Internet. So, he put all three together and started writing about one of his great loves: watches.

He started with a piece on an Omega Speedmaster that his maternal grandfather had given to him when Ben was a young man. He then crafted more stories about Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Boucheron. Ben realized the general public was unaware of the history and uniqueness CLASSICS

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of certain timepieces. He started attending auctions, and then wrote about the the sale of Steve McQueen’s Rolex. Those stories from his little blog called HODINKEE started getting picked up by GQ, Esquire, the New York Times, and CNN. He soon became a phenomenon.

Auction houses merely put out press releases, but Ben was much more dynamic. He would talk about things like how darn cool it would be to own Steve McQueen’s Rolex.

Shortly thereafter, Ben left his position at UBS bank and started doing some WWW.THECHASEMAGAZINE.COM

freelance writing about watches, as well as continuing to maintain his blog. He applied to Journalism school and was accepted. His professors were amazed that he was able to pay his rent with merely the earnings from his blog.

Quickly, his passion became his vocation. In the beginning, Ben had limited means, but he had always wanted to own a classic car. He financed a Smyrna Green 356 Porsche. One major catch: He didn’t know how to drive a manual transmission, except in theory. What did Ben do? He took delivery of the Porsche

in the Short Hills mall in New Jersey and taught himself to drive a stick on the way home. Both Ben and the clutch survived the ordeal.

From there Hodinkee.com grew and large companies wanted to advertise with Clymer’s new business. The company grew to have a website, magazine, podcast, and a YouTube channel, and is currently one of only two authorized watch dealers on the Internet.

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rati, but it was out of his price range. At that point, he came under the tutelage of Santo Spadaro of Dominick European car repair in White Plains, New York.

Ben was told if he liked the Maserati, he might also like the touring-bodied Lancia Flaminia.

This looked like it just might fill the bill, but then Santo took it up a notch. He introduced Ben to Phil Toledano who just happened to be selling a Zagato-bodied Flaminia.

Ben and Phil came to terms and that car changed the trajectory of Clymer’s collecting. He fell in love with aluminum-bodied Zagato machines.

While he was in Basel, Switzerland for work Ben discovered that Zagato was having an exhibition there. A representative from Zagato arrived and gave him a private tour of the show. At that point Ben asked if Zagato would be interested in creating a new body for his 456M Ferrari. He was told Ferraris are very tricky and it would cost over one million euros. But they also knew Ben had a love of Porsches.

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He was invited to place an order for one of nine Zagato-bodied 356s that were being built. He accepted. During the multi-year build process, Ben’s eyes roamed towards Alfas and of course, the SZ. SZ chassis #00043 was completed on September 23, 1960, and liveried in metallic grey over red. On January 7, 1961, it was purchased by Gianni Bulgari, who was an heir to the Bulgari fortune.

The SZ was purchased to replace a Bertone-bodied Giulietta SS that utilized the same chassis but was heavier and bulkier, making it less suited for competition.

The SZ was a simple and easy car to run, which made it a popular choice for racing in the period. There was hardly a race between ‘61 and ‘62 that didn’t feature at least a half dozen SZs which made the 1300 GT class extremely competitive.

In 1963 Bulgari sold #00043 to Gilberto Castagnini of Rome. Castangnini applied a dark red coat of paint over the original grey color and campaigned the car under the banner of Scuderia Settecolli at the 1963 Targa Florio with drivers Mario

Costantini and Corrado Ferlaino.

Immediately after the Targa, Castagnini sold the car to another Italian who makes his home in New York City: Antonio Bonanno, an associate of Luigi Chinetti.

Upon its arrival in the US sporting NART stickers on its flanks, Bonanno sold the Alfa to Lorenzo Garcia of Laurelton, NY. Garcia kept the car as is with taped-on headlight covers, mismatched wheels, and NART sticker on the fender, and uses the SZ as a weekend fun car. He last registered the SZ in March 1969 before leaving the car to sit in a garage until 2013.

In 2014 the little Alfa was unearthed and sold at auction by Gooding & Company in 2015 to a gentleman in California. He started with a mechanical refurbishment. When completed, the car was then driven on the Colorado Grand and shown on the lawn at Pebble Beach.

Ben had gotten a taste of Alfa Giuliettas through friends, and he loved how spritely and active they were. He decided to go on the hunt for one. Clymer wanted an original as possible SZ. What he found CLASSICS

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Some might say the SZ has been treated badly. It is not shiny and perfect and doesn’t live in a hermetically sealed box. The Alfa has experienced what it was built for, and its looks are not diminished by time or circumstance; they still shine through. Like an aging Grande Dame with an interesting past, the car still attracts attention.

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SZ chassis #00043 was completed on September 23, 1960, and liveried in metallic grey over red. On January 7, 1961, it was purchased by Gianni Bulgari, who was an heir to the Bulgari fortune.”

Everything about his car says drive me, drive me hard! There are no add-ons, no extras. It is pure, distilled, elemental, visceral driving at its best. You have to commit yourself to drive the Alfa.

It’s loads of fun, but it’s not playtime. You have to be in the moment. It is an experience you will savor.

was a minefield of rebodied cars and ones that had so much damage there was extraordinarily little left that was original.

Zagato found a car for Ben in Italy that was over- restored, and he respectfully declined. The SZ was a race car; he wanted it to feel like a race car and look like a race car, warts and all, and not a trailer queen.

With a feeling that an SZ was not in the cards for him, he picked up the next best thing in Paris: a Sprint Veloce Alleggerita. With the lightweight Alfa safely in his garage, Ben headed out on the Copperstate 1000 in his Zagato Lancia. An66

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gus Dykman from Gooding & Company knew of Clymer’s love of all things Zagato and asked if he would be interested in an unrestored SZ. Ben answered, “Absolutely!”

The car was in the US. Dykman sent some pictures to Ben, who fell in love with the car and needed to own it. A deal was made, and the SZ was his.

The car became Ben’s by a private treaty sale through Gooding & Company.

This SZ is not for everyone. Many see it and wonder about this guy driving around in the funny looking, beat-up

piece of junk. But that is not the way Ben sees it. To him, this is everything a vintage sports car should be, or could be. He bought the Alfa without driving it. When he did get behind the wheel, he found it to be the purest driving experience he had ever had. It is light, responsive, and it’s tuned to race. You must keep the revs up to feed the massive carburetors. It’s an emotional, visceral experience. The sensory overload is extreme. The car is as original as can be and has that robust feeling of never being completely taken apart. Zagato believes that #00043 is the CLASSICS

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most original surviving SZ. Clymer did not know the history of the car when he got it. When he learned of the Gianni Bulgari connection, he felt it was like kismet. To find the previous owner was involved in the very thing that is Ben’s profession and deep passion was a huge plus.

Through his connections with the Bulgari organization, he was able to reach out to Gianni and became acquainted through email. Bulgari could feel Ben’s passion and loved that the car was still very much in its original form. He sent Ben a collection of images and history on his beloved Alfa.

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For Ben, the SZ is like the vintage watches for which he has a deep love.

He considers them mechanical time machines that were created in an era in which he did not live, but they transport him to a time to which he is drawn.

The SZ truly feels like his, because he knows its complete history and is in regular contact with the original owner, who had certain parallels to Ben’s own life.

He loves that not everyone knows what it is, and some marginalize it for its apparent state of decrepitude, but watch the right person’s face when they recognize

what it is! It is a driver’s car; not something you take your girlfriend out to dinner in. It’s a loud and abrasive machine that competed in the Targa Florio, so you take it out and do with it what it did in the past. Drive it with gusto and panache and forget about comfort. It is an experience like few you will ever have.

There are plenty of cars that are more valuable and have bigger histories, but one would be hard pressed to find one with much more character.

For Ben Clymer, this is the perfect timepiece.

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A CONVERSATION WITH

Sandra Button interviewed by John Nikas

One of the most admired and influential figures in the collector car hobby, Sandra Button has helmed the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for more than half of its existence. A true visionary, Sandra oversaw the event’s transformation from a national gathering into the world’s premier automotive celebration, attracting participants from every corner of the globe.

A frequent officiant at numerous domestic and international events, Sandra also lends her support to new generations of automotive enthusiasts her support and participates in numerous driving tours with her husband Martin, most often in something from their own eclectic collection.

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John: When you were growing up in the Pacific Northwest, is it true that you were not really a car person?

Sandra: That’s true. My father worked as an engineer at Boeing. There was some interest in airplanes, but we weren’t at all a car family. Most of our free time was spent fishing, which I enjoyed for a couple of reasons, not the least of which was that we always stopped to get donuts on our way out.

And when you’re a little kid, stuff like that’s really exciting. But mostly I think I was there so that my dad could catch extra fish on my license.

John: In this incredible life with automobiles, what’s the first car you drove?

Sandra: The very first car I had was a ‘65 Mustang, my dad’s car. The seatback was broken, so he wedged a brick behind it to keep it from falling backward. It wasn’t fancy or restored, just an ordinary coupe. But it was baby blue, so that was good.

John: You’ve been around for 35 of the 70 years that Pebble Beach has been around.

Is it hard to look back and reflect on how much time has elapsed?

Sandra: What has hit me recently is that as some of my favorite car people have been turning 90, I realized that most were my age or younger when I met them. So, it puts in perspective for me that when I met these people, they were in their fifties, and suddenly, we’re hitting some big milestone birthdays.

And yet I don’t think of any of those people as being any older.

John: The last 35 years have passed in the blink of an eye. Can you remember your trepidation back in 1986, and what the Concours was like then in terms of scope and scale?

Sandra: Well, it was a little bit smaller— initially we didn’t have access to the 18th fairway. That was a big deal when it happened. I think of everything at Pebble Beach as a gathering for cars and people. Back in the 1980s, I remember CLASSICS

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First Page, Upper Left: Passenger Sandra with her first automotive purchase, a Datsun 2000 roadster. Upper Right: With over 60 years of collective leadership, legends Glenn Mounger (left) and Jules “J.” Heumann flank Sandra. Middle: Sandra and husband Martin on the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Lower Left: The Pebble Beach event attracts participants worldwide. In 2018, the event’s “Cars of the Raj” class included 11 vehicles shipped from India. Lower Right: Sandra addressing attendees at a reception. This page, Above: Since 1986, Sandra Button has been one of the motoring world’s most influential figures, ushering in a new era in collector automobiles appreciation.

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Sandra: Mercedes-Benz hosted a Friday night dinner and Maryalice Ritzmann, who was a fantastic public relations person for them, took me across the room and forced me to get Fangio’s autograph. And to be honest, I really didn’t understand the importance of that moment. Later there was a moment when Stirling and Fangio were riding in the original three-wheel Benz Patentwagen and hit the leading edge of the ramp, causing them to almost tip over. There’s

At the helm of the world’s most prestigious concours, Sandra has rubbed shoulders with countless motoring titans; Sir Stirling Moss holds a special place in her heart.

Lorin (Tryon) and J. (Jules “J.” Heumann) would talk to me about being the “den mother” over all these people who were coming to the Concours and to remember that we were really just hosting a bunch of friends. Of course, it has grown bigger and bigger each year, but I think at the core, it’s still a bunch of pals getting together who are the same crazy car people that I see all over the world.

John: Do you prefer attending driving or concours-style events?

Sandra: What’s fun about the driving events is that there’s a lot more time to visit and enjoy the cars. And even if you’re broken down by the side of the road, it’s memorable because of all the people who stop to help. Maybe it’s the number of days involved since a tour generally takes longer than a show, especially if it’s a hub-and-spoke event, where you go back to the same hotel room every night. Driving tours are really a wonderful chance to meet and talk to the people there with you.

John: Among the various Pebble Beach events, where does the tour rank in your heart?

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see a lot of those cars, and it’s a more relaxed environment than the Concours. And I like to be in that middle group where the cars are passing us by as they’re coming back from Big Sur, and then, when we turn around at Big Sur, we get to see the next group coming. There’s nothing like seeing all those cars moving; they are so much more elegant when in motion. And the start is pretty exciting, too. You get a feeling for which cars are going to be competitors on Sunday. You get a sense of the whole scale of the car, seeing somebody standing next to it or sitting inside it.

John: Early in your career you were lucky to have some really great mentors. How impactful was that?

Sandra: It’s the people that carry everything forward, right? My very first trips to Rétromobile with J. Heumann were long before people could carry archives around on their iPads. To sit with him at different car exhibits, or the Hispano-Suiza club stand, where all the old gents would come over and pull their file folders out and show us pictures of different cars; that was fascinating.

And I used to go to Barrett-Jackson with Lorin and I’d drive him around in a golf

cart. We couldn’t even go 10 feet without meeting somebody he knew. We didn’t get that far or that fast, but it was wonderful to spend time with both of them over the years. I had a lot to learn, but they were pretty patient with me most of the time.

John: You’ve been able to meet wonderful icons of the hobby and spend some serious time with them. Who are some of the memorable personalities you’ve come across in your career?

Sandra: I was really lucky to truly become friends with [Sir] Stirling [Moss] and [Lady] Susie, and stayed at their home many, many times. He was such a character. And we would just do nothing but talk cars and about the people we loved and the events they were involved with. I was single for a while when I first met Stirling and Susie and spent more time with them then. He claimed that if I liked a fellow, my leg would wiggle, so he nicknamed me “Thumper.” When I got together with (my husband) Martin, Susie named him Beastie, so we were always Thumper and Beastie to them.

John: Sir Stirling and Juan Manuel Fangio were there at the first Pebble Beach Concours you presided over. What was that like?

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think his driving style, his ability to really feel the machine, was part of his success.

Phil’s son Derek always called Alma the “Almanator.” I think she was a tough mom at times and Phil was possibly the softer touch than she was. I remember one time we were in Mexico for a wedding, and Phil started to get grumpy.

He could seriously get grumpy if things weren’t moving along fast enough for him. We were waiting for a bus or something and he was starting to lose his

It has grown bigger and bigger each year, but I think at the core, it’s still a bunch of pals getting together who are the same crazy car people that I see all over the world.” a great movie of this where they are leaning over, side by side, and they have to grab each other so they don’t fall out of the vehicle.

John: Did you ever want to pinch yourself when you realized how special some of these people who were around really were?

Sandra: I’ve always thought that great cars are like having a kind of passport that allows you to go behind the scenes and meet great people and go to great places. Cars can get you where you wouldn’t be normally. And when you share the same passion, whatever it happens to be, there’s never a lack of things to talk about, particularly when it comes to cars, great cars, and great car people. I’ve always felt that that was a very special passport.

John: Of all the names associated with Pebble Beach, Phil Hill is among the most iconic. What was it like getting to spend time with Phil and his wife Alma, and really getting to know them?

Sandra: The funny thing about Phil was that he was genuinely kind and gentle. And he had such a love of anything mechanical. He loved music and different musical instruments. He also loved opera.

Phil was a true Renaissance man and I WWW.THECHASEMAGAZINE.COM

cool. Alma went to get him a Coca-Cola and within two minutes he was a different person; it really perked him up. He must have been wired very differently.

John: The fact that Pebble Beach has managed to remain fresh and relevant means that it has evolved. How does that process happen?

Sandra: The Pebble Beach Concours is really an organic event. And if you look through the decades of the cars and special classes, most of those ideas came from car enthusiasts. Like Jim Fasnacht who said, “We’ve got to have Rextons. I’ll put it together, give me a few years.” Individuals like Ken Gross are also constantly gathering fantastic groups of cars. Since the ideas come from enthusiasts, I think that’s reflected on the field. If we have five or six times as many entries for post-war cars, then it’s time to have five or six more classes to honor what the enthusiasts are excited about. And we have that flexibility. I think the show continues to evolve because of the passion of our participants, and because we really do try to actively listen to them.

John: What do you think Pebble Beach will look like 50 years from now?

Sandra: If you look at the work of someone like Gordon Murray, it epitomizes what we should be honoring in the future. That singular vision, where you can see the intensity of the design and the engineering, is so interesting. I think that Pebble Beach will always be a fantastic first-person experience. And if you can get near the great cars and the people who made them happen, having that happen together, well, that’s just the ultimate.

John: One of the hardest parts of your job is balancing the interests of your various stakeholders—and Pebble Beach probably has more than most, with judges, attendees, car owners, sponsors, and the local community. How do you weigh all those competing interests and then determine what you’re going to do?

Sandra: I think the key is remembering that each and every one of those participants is there by choice. I tell my staff all the time that Pebble Beach is a choice, and these people could most likely be anywhere in the world that they want to be. We want to make sure that their choice to be with us is made from joy and happiness, where we create an environment where the cars can just do their magic.

It’s really all about the entrants—you can’t have a car show without cars, and you don’t get the great cars there without the entrants who bring them. People like Ed Gilbertson, Glenn Mounger, J., and Lorin all set the stage to ensure excellence in the judging process. Obviously judging is not always perfect; it’s made up of humans. But the entrants want their cars fairly and correctly judged, and to leave knowing that when they win, that it means something and that it was handled properly. That’s the thing that worries me the most. When someone has their Olympic moment, it might only happen once in their life, and we want to ensure that the judging is the best it can be.

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A history-making reunion occurred in 2011, when Pebble Beach celebrated the 50th anniversary of Ferrari’s GTO featuring more than 20 examples.

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John: I am always curious to know what it’s like the instant you realize that you’ve won at Pebble Beach. You know many of the winners personally – can you ever remain objective when you see them driving up the ramp?

Sandra: Oh, it’s always nice when a friend wins and you know how hard they’ve worked on the car, or a car that’s maybe taken multiple years to come because the restoration had some challenges. It was a great win for Sir Michael and Lady Kadoorie in 2019. I really think he was surprised to win, as he perhaps felt that his relationship with The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering might affect his chances. I think he was genuinely surprised, and of course delighted.

John: Last year would have been the official 70th Pebble Beach Concours, which will now take place this year. It was incredibly courageous to decide to postpone until 2021. How difficult was that decision, and what reasoning went into it? And did you intentionally want to be one of the first to reach it and set the tone for the rest of the hobby?

Sandra: Well, I didn’t really want to do it. Whether I was first or not didn’t figure into the decision. It was like taking away Christmas when you’re Santa Claus; it was awful. And moment by moment, every day I would have a different feeling about the decision. I actually had to talk Pebble Beach into it because they initially felt that we would probably be fine by August. But again, it was all about the entrants because they were starting to put cars on the water and getting ready to come. And I thought, “I can’t allow this to happen because I don’t think we’re going to have this show.” But even after we canceled the next day, there was some COVID-19 news that was sort of promising. And I thought, “Oh, I probably made a big mistake.” So, it was an hour-byhour, day-by-day heartache. And as we know, it was the right decision, but it WWW.THECHASEMAGAZINE.COM

didn’t always feel that way, honestly.

John: I don’t think most people realize how many charities Pebble Beach supports.

How did the cancellation affect them?

Sandra: Well, we were pretty lucky. The judges, entrants, and even some of our media partners helped us with direct donations. And in 2020, even without an event, we were still able to provide $1.2 million to the local charities, and they needed it and still do. There’s just so much need that that COVID-19 has created. And we’re off to a booming start with 2021. Even though a lot of our entrants already gave last year, they’re still being very generous again this year.

John: It’s a little too early because you’ve only been doing this job for 35 years, and you’ve probably got another 35 to go, but what do you think the future is going to hold for you? When will you start to think about succession planning and how to turn this over to somebody else?

Sandra: Planning is definitely on my mind because I don’t want to be the cranky old lady still running the car show, where everyone says, “When’s she going to go? She doesn’t get it anymore.” Plus, there are a lot of young people out there with fresh ideas—even some ideas that maybe I don’t embrace right now. I tease my staff that I’m a 61-year-old dinosaur because some of the things they want to do, with social media or whatever, I’m maybe not as onboard as they’d like.

It’s probably going to take a solid five years of preparation to make sure that the Concours is in the right hands, with someone who’s just as passionate. I always likened myself to a gardener. J. and Lorin, Glenn and Ed, and a lot of people who came before me planted this Concours and got it to grow. And my job is to prune and mow it, and occasionally do some planting and weeding.

John: In that same vein, do you have a plan for the next five years regarding how the Concours evolves? Is there a commit-

ment to involve younger participants, or to change up the mix of what kind of events there are?

Sandra: I think a lot of it has happened organically. We are seeing a new group of younger entrants with a lot of passion for all eras of cars. I’m surprised at how many younger participants are really into the brass era, and not just postwar sports cars or whatever. So, I think it will continue to evolve.

John: It is astounding to think of how deep Pebble’s roots are in the hobby. Does that ever just get to you sometimes?

Sandra: I do have sleepless nights about a lot of things, but years ago, Dr. Fred Simeone asked me a question that gave me a horrible night’s sleep.”

Do you realize with the standards of judging and the types of cars that are selected and winning, that you are impacting the long-term disposition of a lot of these cars?” he asked. “What are you going to do to safely shepherd and steward the hobby for the next hundred years?”

It was a typical Fred question. So, I thought, “What are we doing to make sure that these great things are going to still be enjoyed and treasured in a hundred years?” It was a tough question.

John: Will you always try to preserve that driving component as part of the event? What happens if California decides to ban internal combustion engines from its roads?

Sandra: I have always said that I don’t want our cars to be like one of those Chippendale chairs with the ribbon tied across so you can’t sit on it. These are cars, not furniture, after all. That’s why there are windshield wipers, so that people can get out in the rain and drive them. I hope the driving component always remains a part of how we enjoy these cool things. These are not just historical artifacts but were built for transportation. We should use them that way.

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Mr. Larson Builds His Dream Car words by Lowell Paddock

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images courtesy of Lane Motor Museum

In the mid 1950s, Kaiser Aluminum hired some of Detroit’s top automotive design talent to sketch visions of an aluminized automotive future. None of the concepts they penned were ever built, until one day Henry Larson decided to create one of them... in his garage. After languishing for years, the Kaiser Waimea-inspired Futura has been restored and was displayed at this year’s Amelia Island Concours. It is now available for all to enjoy at Nashville’s Lane Motor Museum.

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THE AUTOMOTIVE MARKET OF the mid 1950s was a dream for American manufacturers – and their suppliers.

Both Ford and Chevy sold 12 million cars each during the decade and total industry sales in 1955 alone surpassed eight million units. This swelling demand was a tide that lifted many ships, not the least of which were steel suppliers, including those that produced alternative metals.

As early as the 1930s, Allegheny Iron & Metal (later Allegheny Ludlum), began

for automotive use was aluminum, especially given its dramatic growth during the Second World War for military applications, when domestic production soared from 164,000 tons per year in 1939 to a peak of 1.25 million in 1944.

Following the war, the great industrialist Henry Kaiser founded Kaiser Aluminum in 1946 by leasing and later purchasing surplus aluminum facilities in Washington State from the government. Though aluminum demand by this time was

Henry Larson’s Futura drew its inspiration from this 1958 sketch by designer Rhys Miller, who joined Frank Hershey at Kaiser a year earlier. Several other concepts were part of the portfolio that Kaiser produced, including the “Pele,” the “Menehune,” and the “Panole.” Some were also turned into scale models for trade shows.

exploring the use of stainless-steel parts for Ford’s Model A and went on to build three stainless-skinned prototypes. Six years later, Allegheny and Ford again collaborated on a run of six stainless-bodied 1936 Ford Deluxe cars. Corrosion resistance was billed as the main benefit, of course: (“Allegheny metal is so immune to corrosion that dairies use it to safeguard your milk”), but there was also the claim that stainless steel was stronger than the mild steel typically used in mass-market autos plus the (supposed) elimination of paint as the stainless finish, said Allegheny, “will never grow dull.”

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down from wartime highs, the increasingly consumer-driven postwar economy, coupled with Kaiser’s intensive R&D efforts, brought opportunities for growth, be it for pots and pans for suburban kitchens or trays for Swanson’s new TV dinners, some 10 million of which were sold in their inaugural year of 1954.

The indefatigable Kaiser had also tried his hand at automobile production with the Kaiser-Frazer, introduced in 1945. Because his car had been introduced when wartime raw materials were restricted due to wartime exigencies, Kaiser briefly contemplated using aluminum in its production, but significantly higher

costs likely nixed that idea. Yet Kaiser remained interested in the use of aluminum in automobile production and in 1954 established an industrial design department in Oakland, California to scheme up new uses for the metal. His first recruit was Frank Hershey, whose illustrious career started with the famed Murphy coachworks in Pasadena and later took him to General Motors, where he was responsible for the famous fins on the 1948 Cadillac. Rumored at one point to be Harley Early’s successor, Hershey left GM for a brief stint at Packard and later moved to Ford, where he headed up the team that designed the landmark 1955 Thunderbird roadster. Losing an internal leadership battle to George Walker, Hershey relocated to Oakland with a remit from Kaiser to find ways to stimulate aluminum demand.

His first recruit was Rhys Miller, whom Hershey had met as a youngster at Murphy. Like Hershey, Miller had job-hopped through many of Detroit’s design departments, with stints at Briggs Manufacturing, GM, and Chrysler, as well as at Lockheed and at his own design consultancy, which wound up as one of the finalists to design Ford’s groundbreaking 1956 Continental Mark II coupe. Though his firm ultimately didn’t win the commission, Miller’s work impressed Hershey, who hired him to work on the 1956-1957 Thunderbird. Miller was then recruited by Chrysler’s design boss Virgil Exner, but soon became disenchanted with the direction of the forthcoming late 1950s Chrysler proposals. “It was an odd period in automobile design,” Miller told interviewer Dave Crippen of the Ford Museum. “I kind of lost interest in automobile design about that time because it was getting so overdone. The designs got to be cartoons. The trend seemed to be as wild as you can be.”

Looking to replant himself, Miller accepted Hershey’s invitation to join the Kaiser team in 1957 and established its automotive and transportation department with a mission to increase AmerCLASSICS

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After restoring five cars, I decided to do something different.

I dug out the old file, retrieved the sketch of the Waimea, and decided to try to build it,” said Henry Larson.

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Waimea’s strcture started with a Corvair Lakewood wagon to enable extreme cab-forward design.

Headlights adapted from 1963 Grand Prix. Rear roofline was based on a Corvair sedan with taillamps borrowed from a 1959 Cadillac. Window pillar details paid homage Rhys Miller’s original design for Kaiser. Glass roof came from a Ford Skyliner and made for a warm cockpit on a sunny day.

ican automakers’ aluminum utilization.

“I worked on making automotive presentations to Detroit, making up designs and brochures and presenting them to different styling departments,” Miller recalled. “Frank and I would go back and make these pitches to Ford and Chrysler, trying to emphasize aluminum—to get more usage of aluminum in cars.”

One of Hershey and Miller’s signal accomplishments from this was a portfolio of automotive concepts that would have looked perfectly at home either in a Jetsons episode or alongside a Palm Springs bungalow designed by Richard Neutra or William Krisel. Perhaps as a reaction to Miller’s disenchantment with late 1950s excess, the cars presented in Kaiser’s portfolio, with names like “Menehune” or “Pele,” presaged the more rectilinear 78

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designs of the 1960s, with one example bearing more than a passing resemblance to Ford’s 1960 Galaxie, though there was still the odd tailfin or aluminum-skinned fender scallop. The most dramatic of the designs developed was the Waimea, a sort of high-waisted minivan with three seat rows. Like the other cars in the portfolio, the Waimea’s scriptwriters supported Hershey and Miller’s detailed renderings with effusive prose highlighting every way that aluminum could be used in its construction “Front-located aluminum engine, tunnel-free aluminum floor, roof and body panels, all aluminum!”

To what degree any of these concepts influenced decision makers in Detroit— either in terms of outright design trends or in the goal of increasing aluminum sales—is difficult to gauge. Kaiser was

not alone in lobbying automakers on aluminum. Olin Mathieson, for example, commissioned Brooks Stevens to design three dramatic vehicles (a sliding roof wagon, a “phaeton sedan,” and a retractable hardtop convertible), all of which were built by German coachbuilder Reutter to promote Olin’s aluminum bona fides. Yet aluminum remained an expensive material and would not be adopted for mainstream automotive body construction for decades.

Kaiser’s proposals may not have made their way to production, but at least one individual was captivated by them: Henry Larson, a retired Honeywell engineer living just outside of St. Paul, MN. “I pulled some of the Kaiser Aluminum ads of cars in the future in the Sixties and threw them in a file,” Larson wrote to CollectCLASSICS

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ible Automobile in response to an article about Rhys Miller’s career. “One of those ads is the Waimea. Five years ago,” Larson continued with some understatement, “after restoring five cars, I decided to do something different. I dug out the old file, retrieved the sketch of the Waimea, and decided to try to build it.”

This was an especially ambitious effort for someone who was basically working out of his garage without any specialized materials or tools. After painstakingly restoring other cars, including a Ford Skyliner and a 1938 Chevrolet Master Deluxe, Larson felt that he had built up enough skill to take on a true clean-sheet effort.

“He just said one day, ‘I’m going to try and build this,’” recalls his son Blake of the Waimea-inspired project. “In that era, there was no computer-aided design, so WWW.THECHASEMAGAZINE.COM

my dad just sat down and tried to think through what parts of what cars would work. It took him about three years, with everything done on his own at home. No lift, just the home garage.”

Larson’s concept began with a Corvair Lakewood station wagon, which allowed him to duplicate the extreme cab-forward proportion of the Kaiser concept by placing the engine at the rear. A Corvair coupe was sacrificed for the front part of the car.

A Ford Skyliner contributed the glass panel over the single front seat, which was itself made from a boat seat so that it could swivel to accommodate the driver. The front headlights were borrowed from a ’63 Grand Prix, taillights were lifted from a 1959 Cadillac, and the instrument cluster came from a 1949 Nash. Perhaps in some deference to Hershey and Miller, Larson

christened his creation “Futura,” the name borrowed from a Ford Falcon variant.

In a short summary of his ambitious effort, Larson described the Futura as his “senile project, or one no one in their right mind would try.” He didn’t drive the car often, recalls Blake. “It was something to show the family. He took it to a couple of car shows, but it was not meant for long trips and had its limitations. There was a small gas tank, dual-bicycle chain steering; it wasn’t really ready for highspeed road use.”

Larson’s deteriorating health in the early 2000s prompted the need for a more permanent home for the Futura and it wound up at a small business near the Twin Cities, where it took pride of place in the lobby. But after that business threatened to close, potentially taking the Waimea with it, Blake Larson bought it back, eventually selling it to Joe Bortz, owner of many rare concept cars. From Bortz it went to Wayne Carini, who wound up restoring it for the “Weird and Wonderful” class at this year’s Amelia Island Concours. In the meantime, the Futura caught the eye of Jeff Lane, whose eponymous museum in Nashville is globally known for its wide selection of strange, odd, and curious cars. “Our collection is unique,” says Lane. “Our tagline is ‘cars you’ve never seen’—and this definitely fits into that category. It’s somewhat the realization of a concept that never got built. It will go great next to our amphibious Corvair, the ‘Corphibian.’”

Lane is unfazed by the Waimea’s homebuilt roots. “It drives fine in my world, which includes cars like the Reliant Regal, which are pretty shaky. Our staff thinks the Futura is cool and interesting—we never knew this existed.”

Lane definitely plans to drive the Futura, perhaps at a future Sports Car Market rally.

“With Corvair mechanicals, it should be pretty reliable. It would be a great car for such an event,” he said.

As a man fortunate enough to build a vision of the future, Hank Larson would likely be very pleased to hear that.

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917

THE PORSCHE 917 IN AMERICA Five decades ago, America was home to many of the 917’s greatest successes. Now the cars live on and attract new fans thanks to US restorers, vintage racers, collectors, and museums. words by Jay Gillotti

UPON THE OCCASION of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance featuring the 917, it seems to be a good time to consider the important role America has played in the history of this iconic Porsche racing car over the past 52 years. The 917 won many important American races and championships in period. After its retirement from frontline racing, Americans were instrumental in collecting, preserving, restoring, and demonstrating the 917s through vintage racing events. This legacy is equally important to the 2021 celebration at Pebble Beach.

On track, the 917 had prodigious speed but was famously unstable until a better compromise between low drag and downforce was achieved. Once

Ex-F1 and Indy car mechanic Neil Brown watches over Chris MacAllister and 917 Chassis 016 at Rennsport Reunion VI, Laguna Seca, 2018. This car won the Six Hour race at Watkins Glen in 1970 driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Kinnunen.

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the aerodynamic problems were resolved, the 917 brought Porsche its first two overall victories at 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 917 contributed most of the points to two World Sportscar Championships, in 1970 and 1971. The turbocharged Can-Am 917s won championships in 1972 and 1973 while in Europe, 917s won six Interserie championships in a row. Although not well known in the United States, the European interserie was similar to the Can-Am. In total, 917s brought Porsche more than 75 race wins in period.

The North American Can-Am Championship played an early role in the

en, race-winning team to represent the factory on track. The race was an overwhelming victory for Porsche as Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Kinnunen (with help from Brian Redman) won by 45 laps. The other Gulf-Porsche 917, with Siffert and Redman driving, finished second after losing over an hour to rebuild the clutch.

At the 12 Hours of Sebring race, the Gulf team had one of their worst outings, in part due to communication difficulties with Porsche in Germany. With repeated pit stops to change suspension components, the surviving GulfPorsche 917 could only finish fourth.

Later in the season, at Watkins Glen, the

‘‘

good friend, Gérard Larrousse, Vic finally notched up a win after nearly two years of trying in the 917. Vic had been plagued with mechanical failures and other bad luck in his 917 races.

Back at Watkins Glen, after Porsche had already clinched their third consecutive World Sportscar championship, the Gulf-Porsche 917s were beset with tire troubles and other mechanical problems. Derek Bell famously had to limp back to the pits with a broken throttle cable during the six-hour race but managed to finish third driving with Richard Attwood. Siffert and Gijs van Lennep finished second, but Alfa

Gerry Sutterfield went on to own five 917s over the years and assisted the Porsche factory with a cosmetic restoration of the ‘Pink Pig’ 917/20 in 1985.”

competition career of the 917. Not long after the first batch of 25 917s were built for homologation, Porsche built two open-cockpit ‘spyder’ 917s. One of these was sent to the United States to compete in the Can-Am. Driven by Jo Siffert with sponsorship from Porsche-Audi, the car became known as the 917 PA. Porsche’s goal was to test the waters in the CanAm, despite the relatively small size of the engine compared to the McLaren and Lola racers with their big-block American V8s. Running with a small team, Siffert raced the car seven times and recorded five top-five finishes.

In January of 1970, a momentous race took place at Daytona. It was the first in Porsche’s collaboration with the John Wyer team (sponsored by the US petroleum giant, Gulf Oil) and also the first for the newly reshaped 917 ‘K’. The new version of the short-tail resolved the evil-handling character of the 917. Outsourcing the official Porsche race entries to John Wyer gave Porsche a prov82

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Gulf team again blitzed the field, finishing first and second in the six-hour race. The endurance-racing 917s were then entered in the Watkins Glen CanAm race the following day and Jo Siffert finished second. As John Wyer said, Jo was “in some danger of winning the race” despite being pushed off the road at one point and having to stop for fuel (the Can-Am regulars carried fuel tanks large enough for the full race distance).

Daytona 1971 was another triumph for Porsche and Wyer’s JW Automotive Engineering. Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver were miles in the lead on Sunday morning when the transmission seized. By rule, the gearbox could not be changed, so the brilliant team of mechanics rebuilt the unit in the pit lane.

The team then stormed back from a three-lap deficit to win the race.

Sebring 1971 was a long-awaited triumph for loyal Porsche man and ardent 917 campaigner, Vic Elford. Driving for the Martini team and paired with his

Romeo won their third race of the season. After the death of Pedro Rodriguez two weeks earlier (driving a Ferrari in an Interserie race), the Gulf team were understandably half-hearted. Still, in six Championship endurance races held in the United States over two years, the 917K accounted for four wins.

The 917 was outlawed for the World Sportscar Championship at the end of 1971, so Porsche turned its attention to the North American market and the unlimited Can-Am Championship. For 1972, Porsche selected Penske Racing to represent the factory and campaign the 917/10. This open-cockpit 917 was Porsche’s first turbocharged car and the first successful attempt at using turbocharging in prototype sports car racing. As with the original 917 in 1969, development of the 917/10 was a challenge. But with help from engineer/ driver Mark Donohue and the Penske team, the car started coming into its own. Donohue was injured in a testing CLASSICS

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Above: JW Automotive/Gulf team rebuilding the gearbox at Daytona, 1971. Photo courtesy of the Porsche Archive. Below right: Gulf-Porsche 917 wins at Daytona in 1970. Photo courtesy of the Porsche Archive. Below left: John Wyer visits with Gerry Sutterfield and 917-016 at Road Atlanta, mid-1980s. Photo courtesy of the Sutterfield Collection. Previous page: Gerry Sutterfield and the “Pink Pig.” Photo by Leonard Turner.

917

Above: Restored 917/30 Chassis 003, horizontal cooling fan perched atop the 5.4-liter, twin turbo engine. Photo by Russ Rocknak. Below: Mark Donohue won the 1973 Can-Am Championship in the Penske-entered Porsche 917/30. Photo courtesy of the Porsche Archive.

crash at Road Atlanta, so George Follmer drove for the majority of the 1972 season. Follmer won five races and never finished outside the top five, winning the championship by a wide margin.

Donohue won a single race and Porsche drivers finished in three of the top four spots for drivers’ championship.

For 1973, Porsche developed the ultimate iteration of the 917, the 917/30, with its 5.4-liter turbo capable of approximately 1,200 horsepower depending on boost level. The season started slowly for Donohue, with the first two 84

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Below: George Follmer substituted for the injured Mark Donohue and won the 1972 Can-Am Championship for Penske in the 917/10. “Let George do it!” became the sponsor’s and fans’ slogan after a difficult fifth-place finish for Follmer at Watkins Glen. Photo courtesy of the Porsche Archive.

races won by Rinzler/RC Cola-entered 917/10s driven by Charlie Kemp and George Follmer. Starting with the third race at Watkins Glen, Donohue put on a crushing display. Mark and Team Penske won the final six races in a row, securing Porsche’s second Can-Am Championship. The top four drivers were all in Porsche 917s with Follmer second, Hurley Haywood third, and Charlie Kemp fourth.

However, the Penske car was not done yet. After fuel economy rules rendered the 917 uncompetitive in Can-Am, the CLASSICS

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917 Above: George Follmer visits with his 1972 Can-Am 917/10, Chassis 003, at Rennsport Reunion VI in 2018. 917s always attract the crowds at events like Porsche’s Rennsport which can draw upwards of 50,000 spectators. Photo by Jay Gillotti.

team prepared the car in August of 1975 for a closed-course speed record attempt at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Although not ideally suited to continuous full throttle running, the team’s 917/30 was driven by Mark Donohue to a record speed of 221.12 mph.

In the early to mid-1970s, Porsche found itself with approximately 20 obsolete 917s in inventory. During this period, the finance department encouraged the racing department to clear this ‘stock’ of old cars. Several were retained for Porsche’s growing museum collection. However, several were also made available for sale in the nascent collector market for post-war racing cars. America became one of the leading destinations for 917s. California Porsche dealer, race entrant, and friend of Ferry Porsche, Vasek Polak not only campaigned 917s in the Can-Am, but he also began collecting them along with a huge store of spare parts.

In Florida, Gerry Sutterfield was a Porsche dealer and car collector who took a special interest in ‘plastic’ (fiberglass-bodied) Porsches. By the mid-1970s, buying and selling these cars became a profitable and interesting side business.

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In 1975, Sutterfield acquired two ex-Gulf 917s from Porsche. He kept Chassis 016 for himself and vintage-raced it numerous times over the next 20 years. He resold Chassis 017 (renumbered 004 in period) and that car was soon acquired

by LA Times Publisher Otis Chandler. Sutterfield went on to own five 917s over the years and assisted the Porsche factory with a cosmetic restoration of the ‘Pink Pig’ 917/20 in 1985.

Ohio Porsche dealer Chuck Stoddard became a major vintage Porsche parts supplier and 917 owner. Stoddard acquired 917 Chassis 018 which had been raced primarily in local events in Spain by the Alex Soler-Roig team. Stoddard vintage-raced his 917 enthusiastically and showed it at events like the Porsche Club of America’s Porsche Parade.

In 1978, former Sutterfield employee Kevin Jeannette started his own business named Gunnar Racing. Kevin’s shop has worked on all types of Porsche racing cars, with a special focus on the 917. Gunnar Racing has restored or worked on more than 10 917s. Jeannette has helped to advance the understanding of chassis history on the 917s as well as created molds that allow for accurate

recreation or repair of bodywork. On the west coast, Bruce Canepa’s design, sales, restoration, and vintage racing business has also developed a specialty in working on the 917s, particularly the Can-Am cars.

Starting with the Double 50 celebration at Watkins Glen in 1998, Brian Redman and Porsche Cars North America PR head, Bob Carlson, developed the Rennsport Reunion concept. The 917s have been prominent at every one of these events. Rennsport III in 2007 saw the largest gathering ever of 917s outside of Porsche’s own factory. Seventeen of the cars appeared at Daytona for that meeting. Rennsport has grown into an event of global significance for Porsche and the Porsche community. The 917s remain among the most popular cars at these celebrations of Porsche’s tremendous motorsport history.

Porsche Motorsports North America, based in Carson, CA, has also contributed to the 917 legacy and has the capability to work with the cars as needed. The North America group was entrusted with an especially important 917 from Porsche’s own museum collection. In 2014 they undertook restoration of 917 Chassis 035 (renumbered 015 in period), affectionately known as ‘The Taxi’. This car won the fastest sports car race ever run at Spa in 1971 and was later used to give VIP rides around Porsche’s Weissach test track.

This year’s Pebble Beach celebration will likely be the most significant gathering of 917s during the 52-year anniversary celebrations for the model. Collectors, restoration shops, and museums continue to preserve and showcase the history of the 917 as ‘spotters’ obsessively track appearances of the cars around the world. This writer’s best estimate is that more than 15 Porsche 917s currently reside in the United States and that represents about one third of the cars that remain. The fascinating story of the 917 in America should continue for many decades to come.

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Above: The 917 brought Porsche its first win at Le Mans in 1970 (Porsche Archive).

Below right: Porsche victory poster for Watkins Glen, 1970 (Porsche Archive). Below, three photos: 917 Chassis 004 renumbered 017, restored in Florida by Gunnar Racing for Canepa Motorsport. Photos by Josh Sweeney/SFD.

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Start your engine.

Fuel your dreams.

ACROSS THE POND Mike Brewer The 1959 MGA, looking resplendent in the summer sun. This car is a real treat and the one I love to drive when the sun pops out, even if it’s only briefly.

Sun’s Out, Top Down With warmer weather and the UK finally climbing out of lockdown, Mike has embarked on a series of new projects, including upgrades to his personal 911 “Outlaw” as well as producing a new season of Wheeler Dealers.

G

reetings from a damp UK, the wettest on record! However, that hasn’t stopped the jingle of the keys and the spraying of the locks as the UK’s garage doors were finally lifted and the gems behind revealed into the liquid sunshine. Yep, motoring season is here, and as the UK officially starts climbing out of lockdown, garagistas have returned to that strange building at the bottom of

A summer of adventure is revving up for the Skip Barber Racing School at legendary Lime Rock Park.

There’s no better time no better track to accelerate your racing dreams. This is our home track. Make it yours.

the garden where we don’t let the kids play.

How nice it is to be out on the roads again. Although damp, it didn’t stop me from taking my ‘82 911 SC Hot Rod to every car meet or coffee shop that would have me. There’s a genuine warmth in the car community that social gatherings, albeit from six feet away, have. Just to see the faces of people as they appreciate each other’s cars and hear those engines burst into life is worth the My 911 SC hot rod is undergoing some plastic surgery at the moment with EB Motorsport, mocking up unique front and rear bumpers. Once I get the Guards Red paint done, it’s on to updating the suspension.

Lime Rock Park is a legendary 1.5 mile road racing track set in the gorgeous Litchfield Hills of Northwestern Connecticut. For over 60 years, this has been the home of spectacular road racing.

Consider this your invitation to become part of this great history by enrolling in the Skip Barber Racing School.

More information and school dates are a click or a phone call away. We’ll see you at Lime Rock!

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Back to work, doing what I do best: filming the new season of Wheeler Dealers and shining a spotlight on the people who help keep our precious cars alive.

umbrella time. How amazing the cars are looking.

During lockdown online retailers for car care products like Meguiar’s reported record sales. Garagistas put in the hours and the elbow grease to get their classics looking sharp. The market is still busy and sale rooms are full. Cars have been completed during lockdown and the investors are noting the world is opening up and filling the auctions. I’ve been busy raising my hand for the odd car that has caught my fancy: a 2002 Ferrari 360 F1 Modena Spider, anyone? Don’t know why but I have a yearning for a post-millennium prancing horse.

Like Wayne, I too have been busy. I’ve been making the new series of Wheeler Dealers: Dream Car. So far it has been fantastic to plant myself back into the UK scene and I’ve bought some real UK classics to get us started in the workshop. A ‘65 Mini 850 Mk1, a TVR Griffith, and a ‘54 Series 1 Land Rover 86-inch. During filming I was invited to the Land Rover Heritage Experience Center in Coventry where they house their classic collection alongside a full production line of Series 1 Landies all being reborn. These cars are taken back to the last washer before being painstakingly put back together as new and then sold with a full Land Rover warranty.

The price? Try starting around $150,000!

Land Rover has also rebuilt Series 1 Jaguar E-Types and Series 1 Range Rover 2 doors (Velar).

You’d have to look up those prices because you won’t believe me, and they sold every one! I passed by the 9 Jaguar XKSS’s last time I was there. They all were sold, and now worth millions. That still doesn’t stop the odd owner popping back for some personal modifications. I saw one having its body 90

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work fettled by men in white gloves and on a floor you could give birth on, which is a far cry from the originals of the 1950s.

Now I’m waiting for the rain gods to move into the rest of Europe and soak them for awhile so I can get some wheel time behind my beloved 1959 MGA, a car I rescued from Huntington Beach, California, sitting in a garage under seven blankets for 20-odd years. I shipped the car back to the motherland and set about a full nut and bolt restoration.

Now it’s looking fantastic and its ready to go, but I have to have patience and wait for that yellow thing in the sky we sometimes see here in the UK. I can feel it though… it’s coming.

Things are looking good and the sooner we can all get out of the COVID-19 past, the better it’s going to be. I still truly believe we classic car enthusiasts will come out of this better than when we went in.

So chin up and let’s get in the garage and get the cars ready for the season ahead.

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This is something that appeals to me; to be able to talk to the vendors and see all their treasures. You’ll never know what you may find.

Cash also does some talking. –R.R.

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