VILLA D’ESTE AS SEEN BY C&SC

THE BRITISH CLASSIC & SPORTS CAR is my preferred auto magazine. And one of its subscriber spiffs is a regular online presence.

Indeed, recently C&SC visited one of my favorite places in the world, Lake Como, for the 2024 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. The magazine’s online presentation of photos by Nathan Chadwick brought back scads of memories, from several of which are gleaned the following tidbits.

1956 Maserati A6G/54 by Zagato. C&SC writes, “In 2024 it is Maserati’s 110th birthday, and the organisers attracted a diverse array of exciting, scintillatingly rare gems from the Modenese marque. This particular example is one of 60 overall chassis built and one of 20 bodied by Milanese carrozzeria Zagato.”

Maserati A6G/54 Zagato. 

I had the rare pleasure of accompanying Arizona Copperstate pal Bruce Male in his A6G Zagato on the 1995 Tour de France Auto. We had a ball, even after an errant rock on the second morning took out the car’s windshield and left us full-face-helmeted for the rest of the event. See Tour de France Auto for our Equipe Banana adventure.

Bruce’s A6G Zagato at the finishing city of Biarritz. Image by the author.

Our Equipe Banana Maserati even made French national TV.

1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300. “We’ve all heard about long-time classic car owners,” C&SC says, “but how does 77 years sound?”

Alfa Romeo 8C 2300. 

C&SC recounts, “The car is believed to have competed in two Paris-Nice rallies, 1933 and 1934, and run the Grossglockner hillclimb. It was later sold to the father of Henri d’Autichamp. He then gifted the Alfa to his son, a Naval graduate, who kept the car hidden away in a barn while he served in Asia during the Second World War.”

“It was used regularly after the war until 1977,” C&SC continues, “and when Henri d’Autichamp was 98 in 2014, the car was returned to public view. This year, it won Best of Show at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.”

1957 Ferrari 355 S. “This 335 S,” C&SC observes, “has lived a storied life on track and on screen, wearing several chassis numbers and bearing different engines. It has been campaigned on the Mille Miglia, 12 Hours of Sebring and at Le Mans, with the likes of Mike Hawthorn, Maurice Trintignant, Peter Collins, Juan Manuel Fangio and more. It also won the Cuba Grand Prix in 1958, with Stirling Moss behind the wheel. More recently, it was analysed to build replicas for Michael Mann’s Ferrari film, released in 2023.”

Ferrari 335 S. 

The comment about different numbers reminds me of my adventure in a similar car: riding with Innes Ireland in his Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Recreation. Will Broadhead offers details of the car, Innes, and his daughter Christianne in Petrolicious.com.

Innes Ireland’s 250 Testa Rossa Recreation. This and the following image from Petrolicious. 

It was not long after Innes had taken delivery of his rebodied project which had begun as a Ferrari 330GT. He took me for a spirited ride from Wickham Heath to one of his locals. And I mean spirited: Especially coming back I was particularly impressed by the country lanes’ narrowness at that speed. 

Christianne Ireland in her father’s Ferrari, 2018.

By the way, Broadhead talks with Christianne. I haven’t seen her since she rode around Silverstone in the Morgan 4-seater that Wife Dottie and I borrowed for the Innes Ireland Memorial Rally in 1994, a year after Innes’s death.

Wife Dottie, Christianne, and pal at Silverstone, 1994. 

Thanks to Will Broadhead, Petrolicious, and to Classic & Sports Car for rekindling these memories. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024