Thanks a ton for the photos. The bright point of my day. Same for many others, too, I'm sure.
Thanks a ton for the photos. The bright point of my day. Same for many others, too, I'm sure.
'66 912 with a 2.2
'62 Lotus Seven S2
'66 Lotus Elan
'63 Karmann Ghia convertible
'76 Alfa Spider
Moving on to Italian cars, an element without which vintage racing just couldn't exist and flourish..
There may be - in fact there most certainly are - faster, more reliable, more modern and more elegantly designed cars that win and have won many more races than many Italian sports / race cars, but I submit that's not the real raison d'etre behind the global passion for vintage motorsports. The colors, the lines, the ingenuity of Italian engineering solutions, the passion, their insistence and their dogged determination to win, not soulessly, but by triumphing against overwhelming odds and do it all with style and the heart-rending beauty of a Verdi or Donizetti opera - the Italian way - is what it's all about for them. Ferrari, Maserati, Lancia, Eduardo Webber, Scaglietti, Bugatti, Nardi, Pinin Farina, Zagato and countless others all devoted their lives to making cars that have always been far more than mere transportation - first & foremost Italian cars had to be the most beautiful, objects of art, only then could they truly reflect the passion, the methods, character and ultimately the soul of their creators.
Todays Italian cars, such as they are, are uniformly crap, with an occasional spark of brilliance, but in the years between the wars and into the fifties and sixties Italy produced automobiles that had few peers..........on almost all levels.
End of a deeply felt editorial.........Sorry, can't help it.
Last edited by John Z Goriup; 11-06-2016 at 05:00 PM.
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
Continuing with the cars from South of the Alps.
Images #6 through 9 are of the one-off PininFarina styled, Giotto Bizzarini designed '61 250 'Sperimetale', i.e. 'Experimental' prototype for the iconic '62 & '63 250 GTO, with which Enzo won three consecutive GT world championships ( '62 -'64 ).
Photo #10 is not the Sperimetale, rather, it's the 250 GTO from post #1 fending off one of only three 250 Lusso Competizione models ever produced. Please don't interpret my posting this image as a heavy-handed attempt on my part to brag about my new Leica SL 601, but the sensational newly introduced zoom-lens, the 90-280 APO. Asph. Vario-Elmarit which finally arrived only a couple of days before I departed for Carmel is the finest glass I have ever used............quite extraordinary, and I just wanted to share & can't stop myself blathering on about it.
Even though I kept all my manual focus, fixed focal-length M lenses, these two new, dedicated auto-focus, stabilized zoom lenses ( 24-90 and 90-280 ) I use with the SL are all I require to cover the entire range of my motorsports photography. I've never been happier with any camera in the fifty years I have been shooting and using Leica products, and find the image quality this set-up produces the best ( by quite large margin ) I've ever encountered. Combined with Adobe Lightroom pp software with its user-friendly, integrated ability to shoot in RAW format it's everything I could possibly ask for.
Last edited by John Z Goriup; 09-11-2016 at 03:52 AM.
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
Another set, various Ferraris.
Photos # 2, 7, 8 & 0 are of the same 250 SWB Berlinetta Coupe, which has had a set of six of the SEFAC motor's Webers installed.
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
.......and some more Ferraris.
Photos #4, 7. 8. 9 & 10 are Of a rare '54 Ferrai Mondial 2 liter 4-cylinder sports racer, which was originally sold into Sweden and used as a daily driver in the summer and for ice-racing with spiked tires on the many frozen lakes in that part of the world during the long winters.
Last edited by John Z Goriup; 09-07-2016 at 07:50 PM.
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
Finishing the Italian job with 5 images of an equally rare 365 GTB 'Daytona' Comptizione model ( photos #1, 2, 3, 4 & 6 ) of which a total of 15 were built in three series of five each over the span of about three years., with each series carrying that year's latest tricks and developments. My good friend Claude Ballot-Lena drove the most succesful of these, the red, white and blue Number 39 to the most victories of any single Ferrari in the history of the marque for his sponsor C. Pozzi, the Paris-based Ferrari importer into France. One of those cars like the 911 2.7 RS, where significantly more are claimed to be the real thing than were ever produced.
Buyer beware.
The rest are random photos to finish this set.
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
Finally moving on to American cars. The red '63 split-window Corvette in Photos # 2 & 3 is the nicest I've ever laid eyes upon. Gorgeous, superbly maintained and very correct.....a wonderful car with flawless fiberglass.
Photos # 5 through 8 are of Bruce Meyers' latest acquisition, a sensational all-black chopped '32 Ford three-window coupe with 283 cu. in. Chevy power. This car is truly special. Immaculately conceived and executed, Bruce has been after this car for years and years and finally managed to make it his. This one makes it ten Hot-Rods in his collection, one nicer than the other.
Last edited by John Z Goriup; 11-27-2017 at 06:34 PM.
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
Another set of domestic iron, including photos # 2, 3, 4. & 5 of a rather crude device called the 'Wolverine' - please see photo of printed placard .
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
The last of the American cars, including photos #1 through 4 & # 9 of the famous '64 Pontiac Tempest / GTO , the "Grey Ghost" as it was known, which was raced sucesfully in the Trans-Am series in the mid-sixties. One forgets just how incredible and majestic a well-built and speced large-displacement Detroit V-8 can sound with a wild cam and high compression..........spine-tingling. I had a couple of Potiac GTOs during my drag-racing phase and enjoyed the marque thoroughly, including a stripped down 2-door Catalina with a modified 421 cu. in. motor. The Grey Ghost was in the pits for a Borg-Warner transmission rebuild.
Photos #5 through 8 are of a beautifully restored and immaculate 1927 Harry Miller 4-cylinder engined Special - it instantly reminds one of what Froilan Gonzales meant when he famously reminisced about his '51 Ferrari F1 model 375 in which he won the '51 British F 1 Grand Prix ( the first Ferrari Grand Prix victory ) that it hailed from an age "when the drivers were fat, and tires were skinny". Froilan was quite corpulent and barely fit in any of his race cars. The craftsmanship and design of all the Miller cars is always something to behold.
Last edited by John Z Goriup; 09-13-2016 at 04:35 AM.
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
A couple more sets of images about the featured marque at this year's Motorsports Reunion meeting, BMW, being honored at their centennial.
The first image shows the 'big Tent' under construction, always occupied by displays of the featured brand's historic achievements and current production models.........they actually finished the structure and the displays in time just four days later.
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
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