Shelby Daytona Coupe: Then and Now

The Shelby Daytona Coupe, penned by Pete Brock, has to be one of the most elegantly proportioned yet brutal GT racing cars America has ever produced.  Below are two films with excellent period footage of the cars when they raced! Note: The opening music and voiceover are the same, but these are two different movies.

This next movie has Dr. Fred Simeone eloquently recounting the history of the coupe on one of his demonstration days at the Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia.  His particular coupe (one of 6 made) has a very interesting history. Wish I could have been there! It's a long story but worth the listen if you are a history buff. I found it most interesting to learn that while this car was built in the States, the other 5 bodies were made in Italy in order to save time --the Italians being much more adept at turning out handmade aluminium bodies in a timely fashion.

Click the pic below to see my gallery of Dr. Simeone's car. It's got wonderful patina and amazing presence in its unrestored original state. Kudos to him for not turning it into just another glossy Pebble beach trailer queen.

East Village Carrera

I was shambling out from the Ukranian restaurant on 2nd Ave, belly full of pierogis, and there it was...

Lancia Fulvia HF Barchetta - Topless Heaven

I recently acquired a book about the Targa Florio, and discovered an unusual vehicle I hadnt really seen before. The Lancia Fulvia HF Barchetta is essentially a Fulvia HF with the top sawn off. Given the tall, spindly nature of the standard Fulvia's greenhouse, this probably didnt affect chassis stiffness much, and probably improved aerodynamics vastly. Supposedly 3 of these cars were made by the factory and 2 were made by privateer tuners, and were campaigned around Italy, most notably at the Targa Florio.  I am not sure if the dark red one at the bottom is a "real" one or not, but it is pretty darn sexy. Below is a descriptive exceprt from a 2008 Coys auction of one of these cars:

Perhaps the most highly developed Fulvias were developed for Lancia by Cesare Fiorio and Claudio Maglioli whose trio of F&M Specials were produced to race in the Sport category. Up until that point, the Sport class was the platform for Zagato-bodied Fulvias, but whilst these had proven fast, they were also fragile and unbearably hot with little in the way of cockpit ventilation. Thanks to the funds provided by Lancia, Fiorio and Maglioli developed three cut down Fulvia F&M Barchetta's that were bristling with advanced features. Each F&M Barchetta was very different and most notably, these hot rod prototypes took class victories at the Targa Florio and Nurburgring 1000km. No doubt inspired by the level of performance this trio of Lancia prototypes had displayed, two Sicilian Lancia tuners also manufactured their own Fulvia Barchetta's for competition use.

The Ultimate Lancisti Garage

While doing research on the Lancia Fulvia Barchetta (more to come on that topic, folks!), I came across these photos on a Belgian classic car forum. I translated the page and learned that apparently these Lancias belong to a man in Southern France who clearly has awesome taste. He pretty much has my dream Lancia collection all under one roof! Stratos? Check. Fulvia HF? Check. Fulvia HF Barchetta (one of 4 made)? Check. Fulvia Zagato? Check.  I would count myself tickled to own just one of these wonderful cars in my lifetime.  Also, in today's era of nouveau riche eat-off-the-floor garage-mahals, I love the unpretentiousness of this dream garage, complete with le bebe foot. See the whole gallery HERE!

via autoforum.be

Elf Scan 7: Jackie Stewart

One of the all-time greats, and one of my all-time heroes.  Here he is as defending world champion in 1970, in a March Tyrell sponsored by Elf.