Highlights from Goodwood - Exclusive Photo Set!

Our intrepid man in the UK, Davide de Giorgi was kind enough to selflessly attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed on our behalf, so that those of us on this side of the pond could enjoy some captivating imagery of the event.  Davide has a huge flickr stream of photos from Goodwood, but we've chosen our 50 favorite photos for our gallery here on Automobiliac.  Click any picture below for the full gallery.  Does anyone out there know the history of this spectacular 250TR hardtop coupe below?  The streamlined roof does not seem like something Enzo would have done, so the question is: "Who did it?" A quick google search did not yield an easy answer.

All photos copyright Davide de Giorgi and used with permission.

Automobiliac at the Deutsche Classic!

Longtime readers know we love our Italian cars over here at Automobiliac, but vintage German machinery can also be ever so cool. There was plenty of it on display at this weekend's Deutsche Classic German car show in Fleetwood, PA.  The weather was fantastic and the drive out from the city was about 2 hours of rolling countryside.  The show was roughly evenly divided between classic BMW, Porsche, Mercedes and VW, with a smattering of Opel GTs and other unique vehicles for good measure.In addition to the beautiful cars on display, there was a small swap meet area with vendors selling all manner of replacement parts for German cars.  My personal highlights of the day were a pristine BMW 3.0 CS (The owner seemed less than interested when I told him his car was my favorite at the show...) and a really cool Porsche RSK.  There was also a gorgeous Mercedes 300SL gullwing in attendance, and Herbie the Love Bug also made an appearance. Click any of the photos to see my entire gallery of the swap meet and car show!

Greenwich Concours 2011 - Big Gallery!

Sunday was the European car day at the Greenwich Concours D'Elegance. As always, it was great to get up close with some fantastic and rare machinery.  This year's event was a little short on real show-stoppers.  For example, there was only 1 Bugatti present, whereas in previous years there have been numerous significant ones like Peter Williamson's T57 Atlantic. I felt that some of the corrals were being filled out by lesser examples of the respective marques.  For example there were 2 XJS examples in the Jaguar area, and no truly rare Jags on display (like C-types or D-types). Overall, the event felt more regional than in previous years, but I still had a good time.  As often is the case at car shows, the parking lot provided many unexpected and exciting car sightings, from a perfectly restored Lancia Fulvia HF to a really great vintage Maserati Quattroporte.  For me, the highlight of the show itself was a fascinating and diminutive Lotus Mark VI with polished aluminum body and snappy red leather interior.  What a cool and historically significant machine! Plenty of pics of it in the gallery. See the full 2-page gallery HERE or click on the photos above!

Heuer Racing Chronographs under the gavel at Bonhams

Today in London, Bonhams will be auctioning off a remarkable array of vintage (Pre-TAG) Heuer watches collected over many years by Arno Haslinger, who literally "wrote the book" when it comes to collecting these fine Swiss timepieces.  Inextricably linked with motor racing, Heuers are, for me, the coolest vintage watches you could wish for.  Enjoy this video of Mr. Haslinger talking about his 4 favorite watches from his extensive collection.

For my money, I'll still take a vintage Monza!

via Hodinkee

"Il Segno Alfa" Exhibition at the Milano Triennale

Every time I go to Milan on business, I always try to get in at least one Alfa Romeo-related activity. This year being the 100^th anniversary of the marque, there is currently a fun exhibition installed at the Milano Triennale called “il Segno Alfa,” or “the Sign of Alfa.”  The exhibit charts the history of the Milanese automaker as both a vessel and reflection of Italian culture in the 20^th century.  Each room of the show has one or two cars from a given era, surrounded by newspaper headlines and artifacts from that time period.

This exhibition is free to the public, and brings together some of the best cars from the Alfa Romeo Museo Storico into the heart of the city where more people can see them and enjoy them.  Automotive highlights from the exhibit are the incomparable 8C 2900B Aerodynamic coupe from Le Mans 1938, an Alfetta 159 GP car, as well as a Giulia Sprint GTA, a Montreal, and even the new 8C Competizione, among others.  There are some truly wonderful original vintage posters on the wall, including an original 1932 Monaco GP Poster by Falcucci – an image so often reproduced that seeing a real one in person produced that almost anti-climactic response you get from the Mona Lisa or any other over-exposed masterpiece.  Each room also had a small selection of design objects from each decade, as well as monitors showing the enormous amount of TV and cinema presence Alfa has had over the years.  It’s a fun exhibit to browse, and will be a lot easier on wives and girlfriends than going to the Alfa Museum (aka the fortress of Alfisti Geekdom).

On the negative side, I found the exhibit overly nostalgic and rather lacking in depth, and I was sort of hoping to find more genuine academic effort in tying the automobile to cultural and industrial developments in Italy in the 20^thCentury, rather than just juxtaposing various objects from the same era together.  To put this in American context, it is as if they put a ‘57 Chevy in a room with Elvis records and pictures of drive-ins, but they failed to really explain what the car meant to people at the time, how it changed their lives, or to go beyond the superficial nostalgia effect.  However, I think this exhibit might have more emotional impact for the intended home-grown Italian audience, as a reminder of what Alfa Romeo has meant to Italy over the years, and maybe as a foreigner I missed out on a little of that.

 As a collection of compelling cars and really cool artifacts, the exhibit is definitely worth seeing if you are in Milan in the next few weeks, especially for those who don’t have the time to go out to the Alfa Museum.  I couldn’t help but think, though, that this exhibit was like walking into a really tastefully done car commercial more than a serious intellectual discourse (befitting an institution like the Milano Triennale) on how the car irrevocably changed the face of Italy just as it did the USA.  But looking at special cars is always a treat, no matter what the context!

FULL GALLERY HERE.

The exhibit runs through October 10, so hurry over!  Admission is FREE.