Oct
23
This 1960 Lancia Appia GTE Series 3 Zagato Coupe is a rare bird. It is powered by a narrow-angle V-4 engine capable of producing 60 horsepower. There is a four-speed manual transmission and four-wheel drum brakes. The Zagato bodied cars were lightweight coupe GTs and proved to be very capable machines in competition, including the Mille Miglia. Read More
Oct
22
We have to say this looks to be one of the prettiest early Guillietta Spiders we’ve seen. We don’t know for sure, but hopefully it is an original color combination for this car. It has one originality strike against it because it has a 2000cc Weber carb engine upgrade. So maybe who cares what the color is, the originality damage is done. Read More
Oct
21
We’ve featured a few 308 GT/4 before and each does a pretty fast job of finding a new home. We’ll repeat what we have written before about these neat beginner Ferraris. There is a special place in the hearts of enthusiasts for Ferraris built while Enzo was still in charge. – They didn’t call him il Commendatore for nothing. He died in 1988 so there are many Ferraris that fall under this Enzo-era category. Enzo was a mercurial person. He once declared that only V-12 Ferraris can wear the Cavallino Rampante – Prancing Horse badge. So early V-6 and V-8 powered cars were referred to as Dinos. But sometime around 1976, Ferrari had no cars suitable for the US market except the Dino. He was forced into allowing it to be properly badged Ferrari. Read More
Oct
18
One of our frequent contributors, Mark S., brought something to our attention. His “nose for unscrupulous behaviour” smelled a potential rat. Not saying he is correct yet, just be wary. We sent an email to the seller for more information. The seller lists 2 different serial numbers in the listing. One is correct for the car according to the Islero Registry. The registry says as of 2013, the Islero #6198 resides in Florida and not Astoria, New York. Sounds like it may have been sold recently to a Florida resident and the eBayer snagged the photos (in the high desert somewhere). My apologies to the seller if we are wrong but our duty to our readers trumps all.
Ferruccio Lamborghini built tractors before he built GT cars. As the story goes, Ferruccio was unhappy with the quality of his latest Ferrari and had words with Enzo. Enzo kind of blew him off and that you don’t do to a Lamborghini. He said he would show Ferrari how to build a proper GT car. It took him a few tries but he got it right. The Islero, like all Lamborghinis, is named after a bull – Islero killed a superstar matador. He was a Miura bull and now we know where that car’s name came from.
The Islero succeeds the 400GT built by Carrozzeria Touring. With Touring in bankruptcy, the Islero project went to Carrozzeria Marazzi. The design is an improvement over the predecessor but it lacks some of the boldness of other Lamborginis of the period like the Espada.
Oct
15
The Vignale Gamine is a small, Fiat powered car produced by Carozzeria Vignale from 1967 to 1971. Specifically, the Gamine was based on the Fiat Nuova 500. Unlike the 500, however, the Gamine was a 2-seater roadster. Styling was by Alfredo Vignale although many people thought the Gamine is related in design to the Fiat 508 Balila. It was powered by a 2-cylinder, air-cooled engine of 500 cc producing 21.2 hp with a top speed of 60 mph. The Gamine was Alfredo Vignale’s baby project, but while the design was fairly cute, the performance was lackluster. The high price plus mediocre handling meant that the Gamine never sold very well. In fact, the slow sales drove Carrozzeria Vignale out of business, forcing Alfredo Vignale to sell his production line to De Tomaso. Read More
Oct
12
We know there aren’t any ’75 GTV 2000s but according to Alfa Romeo Storica, this one was built in June 1975 for the USA Market. We know it doesn’t make sense. Alfa Romeo made ’75 GTV 2000s for the European market sporting Dellorto carbs instead of the SPICA system. So we thought this might be a Euro car imported. But you can’t argue with Marco Fazio at Alfa telling us it is a USA market car. The seller says it is in concours condition although further down in the listing he states the paint isn’t. But who cares. This is a great driving car and concours is not really a dynamic activity anyway. You want to drive this one in events or just out for a fun ride. The color combination is a pleasant relief from the more common red or silver. Read More
Oct
9
If you are at all tuned into the collector car world you have heard the noise about cars selling for Matisse money. Just the other day, someone bought a Ferrari GTO for $52 million. An impressive number for sure. And we hope the number is so insignificant to the buyer that the car remains on the road. We’ve heard that some folks are being a little more careful about cars that suddenly have become a major part of their portfolio. For example, you may have been smart enough to buy a Ferrari 250GT Lusso 25 years ago and kept it. You are not a multi-millionaire but your 5 figure Ferrari investment is now approaching 7 figures. Will you take it on the next New England 1000? Probably not. This dilemma shines spotlight on some 2nd tier cars that might never be worth that kind of money but in no way will they be less fun to own and drive. So we set out to find an example and this is what we came up with. It is one of Enzo’s favorite daily drivers – a 330GT 2+2. Read More
Oct
8
This Maserati Merak will scare most buyers away and perhaps they are smart shoppers. But wouldn’t it be cool if you do a thorough PPI at a reputable shop near the seller and discover the issues are no big deal? For argument’s sake, let us say this car has no needs. The Merak SS is a beautiful car and in a rare color for an Italian exotic. The Merak was originally conceived to be a lower priced alternative to the Bora. It did use many parts from the Bora, however the cost savings came by using parts designed for the Citroen Maserati SM. The compact V6 from the SM is nestled behind the cockpit. The US version has 220hp and catalysts but it is said to still have carbs. All of the SM interior bits were replaced by Bora bits in the US version. There is a little extra room in the interior so Maserati threw in a rear seat but it isn’t fit for human occupancy. Read More
Oct
5
Francesco Stanguellini was the first Fiat dealer in Modena and it is still in business today. Francesco modified and raced various Fiat models, and built race cars around Fiat mechanicals. Stanguellinis experienced success in pre-War Mille Miglias, although the spotlight never shined bright for them. Stanguellinis won the Formula Corse championships in 1956 and 1957, making the accession to the new Formula Junior a natural. The Formula Corse design was revised and rebodied. A Fiat 1100 series (1089 cc) OHV four replaced Stanguellini’s own 750 cc twin cam. Read More
Oct
3
This is a rare opportunity to buy what appears to be a really decent Alfa Romeo sedan. These are amazingly fun to drive and extremely rewarding to drive. This is a car that when you pull it into the garage, you want to back out and drive some more. The “ti” nomenclature referred to a class of Italian sedan car racing known as “Turismo Internazionale”. The 1300ti motor was a 105 series engine, basically that of the sportier GT1300 Junior Coupe with a five-speed gearbox. If you consider this Alfa and have plans to drop a 2000cc engine in it, please look elsewhere. Read More
Oct
2
We’ll be right up front: this really neat Lancia is in Trieste, Italy. That’s in the northwest corner of the country. We suggest you have someone check it out and make sure it is as described, then fly over for a little vacay. Drive west to Milan and then to the lake areas of Como and Garda. After a week or so, head to the nearest port city, drop it off and wait for its arrival at home. Read More
Oct
1
If you are a frequent reader, you might remember that our ’67 Mercedes Benz-230S competed in a Concours event here at our home track, Lime Rock Park. It was during the Historic Festival of Speed on Labor Day. Read More
Sep
28
We ran across this well-kept Sprint on the Alfabb.com. Okay, it is in Sweden but we know lots of folks in Sweden who could put their eyes on it for you. We featured a Daniel Rapley ’55 Sprint project a few weeks ago. This is what that one could look like with a lot of effort! Read More
Sep
20
This is a rare Touring-bodied Alfa that needs a complete restoration. In the end, it will be a really special car. The 1900 was Alfa Romeo’s first all new postwar model and featured a number of innovative features including unit chassis, and dual overhead cam inline-4 with hemispherical combustion chambers and aluminum alloy cylinder head. Read More
Sep
17
To regular folks, the Volvo 1800S will always be known as the car The Saint drove on TV. The Ferrari 308 will always be known as P.I Thomas Magnum’s borrowed ride. That one was Rosso Corsa and it was a GTS and not a Berlinetta like today’s featured car. Will the color, Giallo Fly Yellow, save it from the TV reference? We hope so. Let’s go on record by saying we prefer the GTB to the GTS for 2 reasons – we like the fluid look of the roofline in body color and this particular 308 has Webers and not Fuel Injection. Roar! Read More
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