Can Am Slides: Window to the Past

As a child, I used to love looking at my dad's old Kodak slides on the carousel viewer. In a darkened room, something about the hues and shades of the 1960s on Ektachrome film projected on the wall just seems better than real life. On ebay right now, a seller named Motorbookbroker has some absolutely fantastic medium format color transparencies for sale depicting racing in the mid 1960s.  Most are from Can Am and sports car races, and since they are original slides, if you buy them, you buy the rights to them as well. I'd say that's pretty swell.

I have selected my favorite 8 of them in a gallery HERE for your viewing pleasure. I have no affiliation with the seller and I hope he appreciates the free advertising!

Vintage Racing in Central Park? Why not??

With the new USGP F1 race slated to grace to the cliffs of New Jersey in 2013, I couldn't help but revive my fantasy about having a vintage racing festival on this side of the Hudson that would truly be worthy of the title "Grand Prix of New York."  As anyone who has ridden the park's outer drive by bicycle knows, the course would be thrilling, challenging, and has fantastic changes in elevation and camber. The inset below shows the northern end of the park in detail. For those who live elsewhere, note that this is a very hilly section!

"Oh, but the birdwatching blue noses on the Upper East Side will never let that happen!" I hear you cry. Possibly, but consider if you will that among the very wealthy population of the UES, there are a number of classic car owners, and I think if the event were limited to cars from before 1965 (this is an arbitrary number, but generally cars from before this period were lower displacement and had thinner tires), the speeds and the noise levels could be kept low enough to fend off most attacks on the noise and potential danger of racing in the park.  Why should we be denied the pleasures of scenes like this:Image credit: Conceptcarz.comImage credit: Conceptcarz.comThere is a remarkably good precedent for this type of civilized racing in the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, held annually in that city's Schenley Park.  The above pictures were in fact taken at this event, which has been going on for years.  If Pittsburgh can pull off an event of this type safely and successfully for years, why can't New York City? If we can have 35,000 runners take over the entire city for the marathon, and if we can close bridges and tunnels for the 5-borough bike tour, I would say the impact of closing the outer drive of Central Park for one weekend a year seems pretty darn easy for the "City that Never Sleeps!"  The event could be one of prestige and glamour.  Paired with a concours, it could easily find its place among the first rank of automotive events. Sure the logistics would be a challenge, but I don't think it can be any worse than the many disruptive events we already have. Given the high income level of the audience and participants, blue chip sponsorship from financial institutions and luxury goods producers would not be hard to come by. (Any Occupy Wall Street protests will easily be drowned out by the symphony of finely tuned engines.)

I'm obviously not the first to fantasize about this race through the park.  Back in 1965, race promoter Alec Ulmann, of Sebring 12 Hours fame, proposed the very same idea in Automobile Quarterly (Vol. 4, No. 1). He felt that New York should have a Monaco-style Grand Prix right in its heart, and reserved harsh words for the all-powerful Parks Commisioner Robert Moses for scuppering his plans, as well as multiple previous attempts in the 1950's to run exactly such a race.  The map from Ulmann's article is reproduced here for your enjoyment. Click below to enlarge the full circuit map and ask yourself, why couldn't they do this?

The Alfa next door

In today's era of the "Garage Mahal," where over-restored cars sit on spotless marble floors, surrounded by sleek cabinets of gleaming un-used tools, it's refreshing to visit a garage that hearkens back to the day when a car was just a car, and a garage was just an unfinished space to keep it out of the elements and store your lawn chairs. In this humble context, we can appreciate the automobile as machinery for use, not just a status object. There's nothing like standing over the engine of a rare, unmolested Alfa TZ1 with a glass of beer in your hand, and your breath condensing in the crisp, uninsulated air. Magical.

Click photo to enlarge

Arnolt Bristol Moment of Zen

A very pretty car combining Italian styling with British mechanicals, but created under the auspices of an American entrepreneur.

Book Review: Lamborghini Urraco from Veloce Publishing

I really wanted to get this review done for the Holiday Season, but now that it's 2012 and some of you have some Amazon gift certificates from loved ones, this is the book you should spend them on.  I've obtained some really top notch car books this year which will be covered in subsequent reviews, but I have to say that Veloce Publishing's new Lamborgini Urraco book by Arnstein Landsem --himself an Urraco owner--really provides the perfect balance of historical background, comprehensive documentation, copious amounts of photos and smart yet objective editorial observation on the topic. Veloce has gone from strength to strength lately, and at this point I would consider them the foremost publisher of affordable automotive books in the world.  Veloce consistently delivers books that are comprehensive without being pedantic, profusely illustrated, well produced in terms of printing and layout, and accessibly priced.  And the new Urraco book is no exception.

From a purely casual browsing point of view, this book is just crammed with gorgeous shots of the Urraco, combining historic press photos with scans of magazine reviews, and top notch modern photography that looks like it was taken right out of the pages of Octane. There are also plenty of detail shots for the true restoration enthusiast showing how the interior and engine bay should look.  For an underappreciated car like the Urraco, you are unlikely to find more shots of these cars in one place even on the web.  In addition to this wealth of imagery, there is a very thorough telling of the history of the car and of the ups and downs of the Lamborghini company in the tumultuous late 70s. Extensive quotes from famed Lamborghini development driver Valentino Balboni add character and first-person intimacy to the subject matter.  There is a lot of discussion of the car's development from both a technical and stylistic point of view. Another nice feature is that each styling iteration is accompanied by a very nicely done photoshop rendering so you can really follow the changes that occured in the car's gestation.

After the history section, there are also extensive summaries of period road tests and magazine articles. The Silhouette and the Jalpa, which were both cars developed off the Urraco's platform are both well described here as well.  Although Landsem isn't a gifted writer, I think he did a remarkable job of packing a lot of information into a very attractive and digestible package. He also provides the reader with a very honest, sometimes blunt description of the pros and cons of owning and maintaining an Urraco which I found very refreshing and enjoyable to read. There are helpful pointers about what to look for when buying one of these cars, as well as a value guide.  At the very end, there is a very cool chart allowing you to compare the specifications of the various Urraco models to the other cars of the period.

Overall, this is a really solid book that will provide enjoyment on multiple levels, and definitely a commendable effort at telling the story of an under-appreciated classic.

Available at Motorbooks and at Amazon.