FREEWHEELING 3-WHEELERS
WITH THE obvious exceptions of H.F.S Morgan’s trikes and the Messerschmitt KR200 Kabinenroller, many 3-wheel cars have been promoted by whackadoodles, not to say outright con artists. I offer two … Continue reading
POLITICS AND MOTORSPORTS
VLADIMIR PUTIN has been courting Bernie Ecclestone. The reason: The Russian president hopes to “encourage” the boss of Formula 1 to bring a Grand Prix to Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, next year. … Continue reading
AMÉDÉE GORDINI
THEY CALLED him le Sorcier—the Wizard—because Amédée Gordini performed sorcery in engine tuning. He worked magic as well in contesting Grands Prix and endurance racing in the 1950s against the … Continue reading
CARS OF THE SCHLUMPFS
COLLECTIONS OF cars often have interesting stories, but there’s no more intriguing one than the tale of the Schlumpf Collection. Originating as an obsession of brothers Fritz and Hans Schlumpf, … Continue reading
CLESSIE CUMMINS—A CLASSY GUY
THE SAME guy who invented the heavy-duty truckers’ Jake Brake toured Europe at the wheel of an Indy race car. He was also briefly credited with—incorrectly, I hasten to add—fueling … Continue reading
LES AUTOS VOISIN
IT WAS 14 years after founding Avions Voisin in 1905 that the highly talented—and even more highly eccentric—Gabriel Voisin turned from aeroplanes (www.wp.me/p2ETap-B3) to automobiles. And what automobiles! Gabriel Voisin’s cars … Continue reading
TAZIO NUVOLARI
NO LESS an authority than Dr. Ferdinand Porsche called Tazio Nuvolari the “greatest driver of the past, the present, and the future.” The diminutive Italian from Mantua—known as Il Mantovano … Continue reading
ENTHUSIAST CAR FLICKS
OSCAR NOMINATIONS have been announced for 2013, so here’s our own look at movies celebrating enthusiast cars, sports cars, auto racing and related passions. This list is in no sense … Continue reading
LE BUGATTI ENGLOUTI
WITH HOMAGE to Claude Debussy’s La Cathédrale Engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral), I offer the story of Le Bugatti Englouti—a tale at least part of which happens to be true. The … Continue reading
GOODING AUCTION
THERE ARE 156 cars coming up at the Gooding & Company auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, January 18 and 19, 2013. For full details of the auction, see http://www.goodingco.com. More than … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 