Shopping the 1968 Cobra Parts Catalog
Who needs racing cams? I got performance heads here! Get your close ratio gearboxes!
Browse the complete catalog and daydream at Mustang Tek.
Archive for the ‘Classic Sportscar’ Category
Reader Project: 1949 Motto 1100 Sport
After seeing our post on the Fiat-Gilco 1100, Peter Zobian wrote in to share his journey to save this beautiful 1949 Motto 1100 Sport. The lovely little barchetta is built around a Fiat 1100 with Cisitalia performance mods on a Gilco frame with this shapely aluminum coachwork by Carrozzeria Rocca Motto of Turin. Peter says that Rocco Motto crafted a number of barchettas with this configuration, but this is the only example with this particular styling. The car was discovered by Chrysler engineer Paul Farago and designer Virgil Exner when they were in Italy working on the Chrysler-Ghia show cars. Naturally, they brought it back to Detroit. Wouldn’t you?
Peter found the car in 1973 after several years of modifications. In the time since, he has somehow tracked down the original engine (with the desirable Cisitalia head) and gearbox, and most of the original parts.
After 38 years, it’s easy to imagine this beautiful machine becoming just another basket case, but Peter has gathered enough parts that he’s ready to restore and save this little marvel from the barn. Hopefully this post will serve to keep Peter motivated—not that he needs my help with that, he’s doing that just fine on his own. More importantly though, Peter’s project keep the rest of us hopeful that just because a car has been neglected in the past and hidden away, that doesn’t mean it’s fate is rust and scrap.
Thanks, Peter, for sharing this wonderful project (and keep us posted as she comes together!). Do you have a project that you’d like to share? Let me know.
The Dream to Get #3 Back Home
The trailer for The Quest sure makes the film look worth a watch. I wasn’t familiar with the story of the 1960 LeMans class-winning Briggs Cunningham Corvette and it’s fall into obscurity. But this film’s look at Chip Miller’s discovery, restoration and his dream of returning her to La Sarthe for the 50th anniversary of the John Fitch/Bob Grossman victory is heartbreaking and inspiring. Take a peek.
More at QuestDocumentary.com
We Can Build Them. We Have the Technology.
Whenever I find myself wandering open-jawed through the marvelous build threads over at the H.A.M.B. I wonder to myself what might happen if some of these incredibly talented fabricators drew more inspiration from the sports car. This is particularly true when I see something like flthd31′s remarkable thread about his scratch-built ’32 Ford frame rails from plate steel or WelderSeries’s photo essay on building a Model A frame from steel tubing.
Of course, here in the States it’s still possible to find 1930′s Ford bodies at swap meets or a particularly lucky trip to the right sorts of junk yards. But I see technical drawings of Ferrari or Maserati or Fiat racing car frames from the 1940′s and 1950′s and think to myself, “those dudes that make ’32 Ford Frames could just as easily be building this.”
The only thing I can imagine is that the lack of availability of Maserati A6GCS Monofaro bodywork just stops people from making “tributes” or “replicas” or “re-creations” or whatever the nomme d’jour is for these things. Otherwise, I have to think we could have a similar homebuilder community of vintage racing cars as we have for hot-rodders. I’m sure many sporting car purists out there will disagree and think my plea for inaccurate re-creations is tantamount to sacrilege, but I just want to see more of these cars out there, and Siata sure isn’t making more of them. For me, it’s as simple as that.
Just look at these frame diagrams. This doesn’t look any harder (to this admittedly naive novice) than knocking together a frame for a street rod, and yet we almost never see a home-built barchetta. Occasionally we do see exceptionally accurate shop-build re-creations, but it’s specifically the garage builder I think of. Hell, the Maserati brothers were little more than garage builders themselves when they built these things in the first place.
Street rod masters, I humbly suggest considering that your next project be inspired by the Mille Miglia and not the Salt Flats. There are a whole lot of ’32 Fords out there and not so many Gilco-Fiats or Stanguellini Barchetta 1100s.
If you need me I’ll be ducking under my desk while I’m bombarded with emails calling me an idiot for suggesting people reproduce these things.
Luc Ghys’ Goodwood: Fangio Tribute
Luc Ghys’ photos from events around continental Europe are always magnificent, so you can imagine how pleased I was when an email from him popped up letting me know about his snaps from the Goodwood Revival. I was immediately drawn to this set he shot of Goodwood’s event remembering Fangio. Usually when I think of the Revival I inevitably immediately jump to all the imagery I can find of the legendary TT revival and the high-performance high-beauty high-dollar machines.
This eclectic mix of cars from El Meastro’s past, however, reminded me of something vitally important, and something I so love about the era: Variety. Just look at this mix of machines; and this is by no means a complete collection of Fangio’s racers. There’s everything here: from the Grand Prix cars for which he’s most known, to the Carrera Panamericana and Mille Miglia machines, to smaller voiturette racers. Almost more amazing than Fangio’s five Formula 1 World Championships is that while he was winning them, he was also competing in anything else he could find.
Just look at the buzz that gets generated today when Montoya moved to NASCAR, or Raikkonen hit the rally course (or NASCAR, himself). I applaud these drivers for attempting to take on the variety of racing opportunities available to these top-tier drivers. But that excitement wanes when I consider that this is newsworthy at all. Of course Kimi should want to rally! Of course JPM should want to turn left for two hours! These cravings for new races and racing cars still exist in every driver; it’s just a shame that contemporary racing teams seem to frown on these “unnecessary extra-curriculars”.
Not so in Fangio’s day. Thank you Goodwood for reminding us. Thank you Luc for sending along these images so we could all see.
More of Luc’s Goodwood Fangio Tribute and Revival photos at his (gigantic) gallery of racing photos.
Super Ninety’s Friday at Goodwood
I think Vic has the right idea. Friday is probably the day to visit The Revival, and for the right reason. Yes, it’s less crowded. Yes, it’s probably easier to compose that photo in the paddock without 50 folks gathered around the DB-2. But, more importantly, the feeling of aniticipation hanging in the air must be palpable and thrilling. More Friday shots on Super Ninety.
Great car. Great outfit. Couldn't you find a period appropriate lawn chair?
Toyota’s Sporting Design Genes
Japanese motor companies were often accused in the post-war era of lifting the British design aesthetic and just tweaking the hell out of the engines. For motorcycles it always seemed particularly true. But this 1962 Toyota Publica Sports concept makes me think that the Japanese makers should have been more confident in finding their design voice earlier. Some hints of the 2000GT’s headlamps here 3 years early.
via Influx.
Accessibility
I always assumed that an open-wheeled racer would be leagues easier to maintain than a closed-wheel car. After all, there’s little or no bodywork to deal with: You can more immediately locate and diagnose a problem, you don’t have to spend additional maintenance hours removing body panels, and you don’t have to distort your arms in impossibly ornate ways to reach around things.
It’s all just there.
This 1975 Datsun 280Z currently available on eBay, though, makes me wonder if it’s all just in the setup. This looks just about as accessible as it can be. I don’t know if it conforms to any particular vintage regulations, but this looks almost as easy to work on as a Formula Ford of the same vintage.
Buy it Now at $45K, bidding is open until Sept. 22.
Garage Inspiration
Forget Griot’s. Forget Garage Style Magazine. Forget the Garage-Mahals. If you’re undertaking a renovation of your garage, you can have no better goal than this photo of the Aston Martin works team prepping the 1.5 Liter Ulster for the 1935 LeMans. You can almost smell it.
Via The Old Motor.
Factories at Work: Gullwings on the Line
Great find by Auto Classica of these Mercedes-Benz factory shots. Hard to imagine the 3-Pointed Star facility being this low-tech looking. Great stuff.
