Since the model’s introduction, Porsche 356s of all types (77,895 cars built) recorded victories throughout the world. While an SL Gmund Coupe scored the earliest, important 356 victory (class win at Le Mans in 1951), it was the Speedster (4,144 cars built) that made the 356 a world-class racer.

This month’s Hidden Treasure is not a Speedster and it never turned a lap at Le Mans. Nevertheless, despite these “deficiencies”, it may just be the most successful racing 356 of all time. The car is a1959 Porsche 356A Convertible D, one of just 1,330 examples of the model. Chassis #86638 was originally constructed as a production car with no special build features for competition. However, from its early years and continuing for decades it was utilized as a club racer with great success.

Convertible D #86638 was originally purchased from a Porsche Dealer in South Florida and driven on the streets by its first owner. In 1962, this D was acquired by Dr. David Helmick of Florida.  Helmick raced the car in the region, before being drafted and shipped off to France…along with his Convertible D.  According to the current owner, Myron Vernis of Akron, Ohio, “Helmick raced the car at Montlhéry and the Nürburgring and at some point had the car updated with disc brakes, perhaps at the Porsche factory.” After returning to the U.S., Helmick resumed racing his 356 before selling it in 1965 to the Zitza family, also of Florida.  As an aside, it’s worth noting that Helmick ultimately developed into a world-class endurance racer sharing a 1973 Sebring 12-Hour first overall finish with Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood (in a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR) and a 1977 Daytona 24-Hour first overall finish with Haywood and John Graves (in a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR).

To the best knowledge available, Zitzas raced the car at Florida SCCA events for a few years before passing it to Joe Cogbill of Georgia, in 1973. From there Cogbill campaigned #86638 for nearly two decades amassing an impressive record, including three SCCA E-Production National Championships (1982, 1983, and 1989).  Cogbill was also awarded the prestigious American Porsche Cup Trophy in 1989. In addition, Porsche thought so highly of car and driver that the Convertible D was featured in a national advertising campaign.

In 1998, Cogbill sold the Convertible D to his friend and business associate Charles Coker of Hartsville, South Carolina. Vernis said, “In the late ’90s the Porsche 356 was effectively legislated out of being competitive in SCCA club racing. It was reclassified to F-Production and saddled with a significant weight penalty. Coker already had a 356 Speedster that he was campaigning in SCCA so Cogbill’s car just sat. Then, in 2000, Coker offered #86638 for sale on eBay but it failed to find a new owner. I contacted him later and was able to put a deal together to purchase the car.”

“The following year Coker qualified his Speedster in an astonishing fifth position at the 2001 SCCA Runoffs at Mid-Ohio. Two days before the championship race he heavily crashed his car in practice. Fortunately, he was not injured. Knowing that I’d recently purchased his Convertible D, which was located in Akron just 90 minutes from Mid-Ohio, Coker telephoned and asked if he could ‘borrow’ some parts from my car. Not knowing the extent of damage to his car, I told him it would be no problem. We both agreed that it would be easier for him to send his trailer to pick up my car rather than for me to try to cherry pick the components he needed. Hours later they loaded my car into his trailer in the dark on Thursday night.”

Vernis continued, “Prior commitments prevented me from going to the championship race on Saturday but a friend was instructed to call me with updates. My friend called about two hours before the race to ensure I wasn’t headed to the track.  When I questioned him on this he said he didn’t want me to be surprised when I saw ‘what was left of my car’. It turned out that much of #86638 had been used to resurrect Coker’s damaged racecar. Whatever the case, Coker’s rebuild worked as he finished fourth, shocking everyone. I remember the Speed Channelreporters spent more time interviewing Coker than the top three finishers. I also remember Coker acknowledging me and my car on the air. The next day I received a call from Coker thanking me for the use of my Convertible D. He asked if it would be okay if he sent it to an expert in St. Louis to totally refurbish my car’s engine and suspension at his expense. I accepted his very kind offer but there was an interesting twist to all of this. The person responsible for putting #86638 back right again was Kurt Zitza, the son of the third owner.”

Convertible D #86638 raced for decades, continually being modified to meet contemporary production car racing specifications. Vernis has left the car in “as-last-raced” condition and early on in his ownership took the car to two Porsche Rennsport Reunions with Cogbill driving. For the past several years, the car has been cared for by Vernis and his team, quietly out of public sight.

How good was Porsche’s 356 and more specifically Convertible D #86638? To understand the enormity of the car’s accomplishments one has to appreciate that this air-cooled Porsche was 23, 24, and 30-years old when it captured the fiercely contested E-Production National Championship.

Stated another way, Vernis has owned more than 100 Porsche 356s over the years. This is one of his all-time favorites.

The post 1959 Porsche 356A Convertible D appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

It was not my intention for this story to be all about motorhomes. Alas, I may have failed you in this regard. However, please stay alert as I have not let you down completely; for there is a lesson contained within; an important one for the automotive hunter in each of us.

Geoff Hacker of Tampa, Florida is known for many things. He has a PhD in Psychology, is a prolific online college professor, is a world expert in mid-century modern microphones, and has been studying and writing about fiberglass sports cars for much of his adult life. In 2006, for reasons he can’t fully explain, Hacker became fascinated with the Ultravan. What’s an Ultravan, you ask? It’s a truly unique all-American motorhome of the Woodstock era. Designed and constructed as a true monococque without a conventional chassis, the aerodynamic structure came to life courtesy of aircraft designer David Petersen. The flat body panels were of sheet aluminum riveted to supporting aluminum ribs and the curved body components were from fiberglass. To the best knowledge available, 376 Corvair-powered Ultravans were built by Ultra Inc. of Hutchinson, Kansas, between 1966 and 1970. Hacker liberated his first Ultravan, in 2006, dragging it from a swamp near Sebring, Florida, where it had been abandoned some 18 years prior. Classic & Sports Carfound Hacker’s automotive rescue so intriguing that they chronicled it in the June 2007 issue. Like everything else in his life, Hacker became consumed and fell into Ultravan-mania. This included the rescue of two additional examples (one being the last Ultavan built which Hacker dragged from a junkyard in Alabama) and the creation of an Ultravan song (music following the theme to Spiderman). Of course none of this has anything to do with this month’s hidden racecar but we are inching (yes, only inches) closer.

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In almost all parts of the world street racing is illegal. It’s unsanctioned, unregulated, and often extremely dangerous for participants and bystanders. Although street racing in the United States may have been most widespread in the early post-war period, the activity dates back to the dawn of the automobile and continues in popularity. Today, despite heroic efforts by law enforcement and racing bodies such as the NHRA, this unlawful pastime persists not only in the U.S. but in many other parts of the world. And the reason can be summed up in one word…adrenaline.

Street racing can take on many forms with varying numbers of challengers racing at the same time. A race can be a short drag-style sprint or a marathon coast-to-coast competition, such as the Cannonball Run.  An impromptu race begins when two or more individuals find themselves astride at a traffic light or stop sign; a quick locking of eyes with a nod and the cars are off.  A more organized form of street racing occurs when public roads are illegally blocked off, typically in a remote location. Tōgeracing, also known as drifting, is a form of street racing along mountainous roads.

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The car collector world is full of automotive puzzles and owners and pundits with “theories”. Some theories arise out of ignorance. Others are motivated by potential financial gain. And some are simply the result of unadulterated hubris.

This month’s Hidden Treasure is a mystery car whose identity remains uncertain at this time. The chassis to this car is owned by Pasadena-based Erich Schultz, and yes, he has a theory. However, after personally knowing the man for more than a decade, I can promise you this…when Schultz has a theory, it is motivated by keen observation and research coupled with total integrity; note to the car hobby, you best pay attention.

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The world is full of confusing racecar stories. This is one of them.

I read with great interest, Jonathan Stein’s recent article in Vintage Roadcar, “Going Supersonic” (December 2017) about the winding history of the 1949 Fageol Supersonic and how shortly following its world debut at the Indy 500 it was dismantled; body going in one direction, chassis and running gear going in another, producing two cars from one.

The post 1949 Edwards R-26 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

1953 Leson Simca Special

Progress is not always a good thing. In the early 1950s, if you wanted to go racing in America you could build yourself a car or have one professionally constructed to your exact specifications. Sure, that meant some homebuilt, crude and dangerous machines were flying around racing circuits, but it also meant that some one-of-a-kind “American Special” masterpieces were born.

Seymour “Chick” Leson was a serious sports car guy. In the 1950s, he raced an OSCA MT4, a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, a Porsche 550, an AC, some Alfas, and even a Maserati 150S. And he was apparently very good. In April of ’54, he drove an OSCA MT4 1350 to victory at Pebble Beach, beating John von Neumann’s Porsche 550, Cy Yedor’s MG TC Special, Ken Miles’ R-1, and Pete Lovely’s Volkswagen-Porsche. But before all that, he raced a very special American Special, which was conjured up based on what Leson believed a racing machine should be.

The post 1953 Leson Simca Special appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

One of the most intriguing post-war American automotive tales has largely been forgotten. It was a car story that began in 1957 and involved publishing royalty, a design genius and grass-roots guys with imagination, ambition, and skill. But where are the cars that they built?

John Bond was the publisher of Road & Track magazine when he initiated a series of articles, in 1957, about a hypothetical American car that could be built to race at Le Mans. In this series of articles (November 1957, January 1958, February 1958, and April 1958), Bond provided a comprehensive study of the proposed car’s structure including aerodynamic and performance statistics. A parallel box-section tube frame chassis with a wheelbase of 88-inches was detailed and donor parts were outlined, including a powerful Corvette V8 engine and 4-speed manual gearbox. The proposed breathtaking shape for the body was penned and submitted by industrial design legend Strother MacMinn of Los Angeles’ Art Center School. The car was to be stunning.

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Recently the collector car world has shifted. Although interest remains for established sectors, a new generation of enthusiasts has arrived with a passion for more modern machinery. This shift is now impacting the vintage racing scene where the definition of “vintage racecar” will continue to evolve.

One sector involved in the momentum toward modern that’s captured my interest is rally cars. Seeking world domination, several manufacturers developed vehicles to compete in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Because the rules often necessitated homologation, enough cars had to be built to demonstrate they were a production automobile, even if they were in fact an all-out racing tool. Over the past five years I’ve been studying rally cars with the goal of adding one to my collection.

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I want to be Rich Plavetich.

Is he cool? Check. Does he have a wonderful and beautiful wife who also loves cars? Check. How about a fabulous career? Check (General Manager, Nissan Design America). But does he have a car collection? Check, and it’s awesome! (see Hidden Treasures, December, 2016). Okay, he must live in a miserable place, right? Nope. Laguna Beach, California. See what I mean?

The post 1959 Deutsch-Bonnet HBR-5 (Chassis #1028) appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

What is this thing they call Contessa?

The term Contessa originates from the Italian language and translates as “countess.” In the automotive world, when one mentions “Contessa,” depending on who is present, confusion may ensue.

The post 1996 Passion Motors Contessa Track Car appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

If you don’t know the Furlows of Dallas, Texas, you’ve definitely been hanging with the wrong vintage racing crowd. Father John (age 79) and son John Jr. (age 58) have been racing sports cars since 1959 and 1977, respectively, and although Sr. gave up racing a couple of years back, Jr. is still competing with as much enthusiasm as ever. This month’s “Hidden Treasure” has in no way been hidden as the Furlows have been racing it for all to behold and enjoy. What has been hidden is the car’s early racing history and this knowledge gap has been eating away at father and son since they first brought the car home nearly two decades ago.

John Jr. is an Institutional Investment Professional specializing in the management of endowments and trusts, and his interest in automobiles goes back as far as he can recall. He said, “The car hobby choice was hardly mine…my father has been a car nut my whole life. I started attending races with my dad as a baby.  He would pull up with me in the passenger seat, hand me to long-time SCCA matriarch Joyce McKinstry, and he would go race. When dad returned, Joyce put me back in the passenger seat and this sequence was repeated for years until I was old enough to get around the pit safely on my own. I attended my first autocross school before I was legal to drive on the street.  In 1977, I attended my first SCCA driver’s school in a DSR at the Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, in Oklahoma.  I remember it well. The track was brand-new, and we had to remove a bucket full of loose asphalt gravel from under my car after the race. In 1985, my father and I began running vintage races together. That began a string of 30 years of vintage racing with dad.”

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Is there no end to the list of racecar manufacturers of the 20th century? Let’s have a show of hands. How many know anything about German builder SWM? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

SWM was formed by brothers Stefan and Wenzel Mannl (SWM) of Munich, Germany, in the early 1960s. Starting from a gas/service station in their home town, the brothers were ultimately driven to manufacture their own competition cars.

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“And Now for Something Completely Different.” This mantra aptly characterized the boldness of Monty Python when it first aired in 1969. Fresh and fantastic; different in the best way possible. In my view, the same can be said of the racing machines and pilots of Great Britain. A bit more on that later.

This month’s Hidden Treasure is British, considered fantastic by some, and absolutely different. It was never a racecar but that’s beside the point, as you will soon learn.

The post 1991 JZR appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Richard Bosley of Metor, Ohio, was a sports car aficionado with a passion for automotive design. Although he had no formal automotive training (he was a horticulturist by profession), Bosley believed he could create a sports car that would surpass anything available on the market. In 1953, he built his first prototype, known as the Bosley Mark I. While the chassis and drivetrain were somewhat conventional, the fiberglass coupe body that Bosley penned and hand-laid was a total stunner. The international press instantly took notice and the Mark I was the subject of numerous articles in the United States and abroad.

To the best knowledge available, Bosley drove his Chrysler Hemi-powered Mark I over 100,000 miles before ultimately trading it for a Corvette in 1957. The chassis from this Corvette served as the platform upon which Bosley built his next automotive creation, the Interstate Mark II. According to Bosley Products company documents, the Bosley Mark II Interstate was designed and built as a grand touring automobile over the course of nine years. Quoting from company documents, “As the name Interstate indicates, it is designed for today’s new Interstate highways, having for this purpose excellent mid-range acceleration, extra gasoline capacity (35 gallons) and greater passenger comfort in seating and ventilation.” The documents further describe that Bosley handcrafted thousands of special parts in his workshop and had several parts built in Europe. As examples, Reuter of Germany fabricated the front bumper and seats and Sibona-Bisano of Italy produced the side glass and vent glass mechanism. And, of course, there was another astonishing fiberglass coupe body—sharing nothing with the Mark I other than flair and inspiration—the Mark II was pure elegance.

The Corvette that Bosley received in trade for the Mark I was far from ordinary. According to Jon Dega, who has exhaustively researched the history of the Bosley Interstate, the trade was made with Chicago Chevrolet dealer Dick Doane. In exchange for the Mark I, Doane gave Bosley one of the three “Raceway Enterprises” team Corvettes that had competed at the Sebring 12 Hours in 1956. Dega’s research suggests that the Interstate was built upon the chassis from the #6 Corvette that had finished 15th overall at Sebring in ’56.

The Mark II was completed in 1966 following an estimated 5,500 man-hours of labor. Finished in candy apple red the car was totally dazzling. It was also quite potent. Born from a chassis with international racing heritage and motivated by a 345 horsepower Pontiac V8 tri-power mill, the Mark II Interstate could leave tire tracks in any gear. It was predictable that the Interstate received favorable period press and was highly regarded throughout the industry. And then it dropped out of sight.

At the present time, the precise chain of ownership of the Bosley Interstate remains obscure. What is known is that the car, minus chassis and engine, was found in an abandoned warehouse in the 1990s by a classic car broker. The car remained in the private collection of this broker until 2014, at which time it was purchased by Stephen Bruno of South Florida.

Bruno said, “When we acquired this car my wife and I were very excited. We knew we had purchased an amazing part of automotive history. Bosley’s engineering and design approach was comprehensive—building scale models and testing various mechanical and design configurations to achieve his goals. The list of safety devices he incorporated into the Interstate is impressive; this man was way ahead of his time. Innovations included seat belts, head rests, reclining seats, tempered side windows, a smoke-colored rear window, air horns, superior visibility front and rear, special interior lighting, driving lights, anti-lift windshield wipers and a built-in roll bar. Items like these were rarely available on mid-1960s automobiles.”

Bruno continued, “Being the custodian of the Interstate gives us great joy but we know this also comes with great responsibility. The Mark I and II were the defining achievements of Richard Bosley’s life; both cars are actually pictured on his gravestone. We therefore knew from the start that we had to restore the Interstate with great love and care. After much contemplation, we shipped the car to a shop that had restored several unique cars for us over the prior seven years. Our goal has always been to reintroduce the Interstate to the automotive world at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. In a stroke of good luck, we learned in August of 2016 that a special class entitled ‘American Dream Cars of the 1960s’ was planned for Pebble Beach 2017 and we quickly applied. It seemed that all the stars were beginning to align for us.”

The restoration commenced on the car and Bruno and team began researching the car’s history. Bruno said, “The Bosley family has contributed greatly to the restoration by providing incredible photographs and video of Richard building the Interstate. They’ve also shared valuable insight into the evolution of the build. The Bosley family has characterized the Interstate as Richard’s ‘tour de force’—the car he was most passionate about and proud of. It also seems Bosley felt this car was the one he could manufacture and sell to the public.”

In March of 2017, Bruno received his acceptance letter for Pebble Beach 2017. Overjoyed, he shared the news with family, friends, and the Bosley family who made plans to be on the Pebble Beach lawn with the car and the Brunos.

Then things suddenly went south.

Bruno continued, “The shop we hired has worked on a number of my cars over the years and had done three prior total restorations. The quality of their work has always been excellent, but I have had several budget overrun situations with them in the past. So for the Interstate restoration the shop owner and I entered into a Restoration Services Agreement with a total restoration price, which was a relatively large sum of money. Things seemed to be going fine until March of 2017 when I added up the restoration invoices I’d already paid. What I learned was that by March I’d already paid almost the entire budget. Trouble was the car was in need of significantly more work. So I sent the shop manager an email reminding him of our agreement. Several days later I received a terse response from him telling me he needed 50 percent more money than we’d contractually agreed on to finish the car. This was not a good day.”

Bruno said, “I tried to reason with the shop owner by email and during a face-to-face meeting, but it was obvious that he would not even consider a compromise. My feeling was that with my singular goal of Pebble Beach rapidly approaching, the shop owner had me over a barrel. However, having spent fortunes with this shop over the years, having already paid a huge sum of restoration invoices on the Interstate, and feeling thoroughly wronged, I decided I’d had enough. I emailed the shop owner and requested a final invoice so I could pick up my car.”

Bruno says he was beyond shocked to receive an email from the owner indicating he was not going to release the car quickly. Bruno said, “He said because I had four cars in his shop, it would take a large effort and time to get them out of his shop and all four cars had to go at once. Further, he wanted me to sign a release before giving me any of the cars and the date that I could get them was over three weeks out. You can’t imagine how horrible that felt. To have something you are so passionate about held captive against your wishes. I couldn’t sleep. I had trouble focusing on my software business. In a sense, I felt like the long lost Bosley Interstate had gone missing all over again.”

With Pebble Beach rapidly approaching and the Interstate needing significantly more work, Bruno reached out to a law firm for help. A Verified Complaint was filed on behalf of Bruno and on May 4, 2017, Bruno had his proverbial day in court and when the gavel came down, he had an order from the judge for the release of his car. With Writ of Replevin in hand and with the assistance of the local sheriff, Bruno, acting as the Recovery Agent, regained physical possession of the Bosley Interstate Mark II.

While researching this article, I reached out to the owner of the restoration shop and he offered the following, “We take a great deal of pride in our work and care deeply about the projects entrusted to us….especially when a car under our care is to be honored at the most prestigious car show in the world—Pebble Beach. Our efforts are focused on producing results that are as accurate for the historical record as possible, to honor the car and the legacy of the people associated with the car and the beauty of the art form of the automobile. I am deeply saddened that these sentiments and our efforts and our relationship ended in the manner in which it did, yet I continue to be very proud of the work my team puts out and the world class results we achieve for our Clients.”

The countdown to Pebble Beach continues and Bruno plans to finish the restoration with help from local talent. Bruno may not be a horticulturist, but he does have a degree in Automotive Engineering from Western Michigan University. That, combined with a limitless determination to get the car done in time for Pebble Beach, might just carry the day.

The Bosley Interstate is a phenomenal machine. It is stylish, powerful and, in period, was built on the chassis of a Sebring racecar. It was lost, found, held, and recaptured. It is now in the hands of a very passionate, very capable collector. Next stop…Pebble Beach?

Postscript: To see how the Bosley ultimately turned out click here.

Do you know of a Hidden Treasure? If so, send your photos and stories to Mark at mbrinker@sportscardigest.com

The post 1966 Bosley Interstate Mark II appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Hot Rods are more than just auto-mobiles. They define a culture; a way of life. And at their best, they are an art form—muscular and powerful, yet at the same time stylish. Some rods were street cruisers, a way to have fun, grab attention and, of course, girls. Others were racing weapons, and those that have survived for decades serve as a window into the past. Such is the case with the Roth & Ronnow ’27 T-Roadster, a car that flashed across the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1952.

This ’27 T was constructed by West-Coasters Glen Roth and Johnny Ronnow, who raced with the Russetta Timing Association. The duo shared a dream of racing at Bonneville and purchased their roadster in 1948. After disassembling the car, the Model T frame was cast aside and a more robust Model A frame was sourced and lengthened 3.5 inches to give a wheelbase of 107 inches. The friends then double Z’ed the frame rails to put their hot rod closer to the salt to reduce drag. Custom fabricated front and center crossmembers were utilized, and the rear crossmember was an original Model A item. A 1939 Ford axle with a transverse leaf spring, split wishbones and ’39 Ford spindles and shocks provided front suspension. A ’39 Ford live axle with a transverse leaf spring and Monroe tube shocks did the work out back. Stopping power came from 1939 Ford hydraulic brakes with 12-inch drums. The steering box and master cylinder were also ’39 Ford items.

The post Roth & Ronnow ’27 T Roadster appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

On July 12, 2009, thousands of onlookers witnessed as a 1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia Roadster was plucked from Lake Maggiore on the border of Italy and Switzerland. The car had been submerged for three-quarters of a century and when it sold at Bonhams’ Retromobile auction in Paris in January of 2010, the collector car world celebrated.

Fast forward to January 29, 2017; on this day collector Alex Vazeos of Athens, Greece, contacted me to discuss his most recent adventure. By any measure Vazeos has an extraordinary collection of small-displacement sports and racing cars. He is passionate about the hobby and is always on the hunt for something old and exciting. It seems that Vazeos now had his own story of “the car in the lake” and “hidden treasure” barely begins to describe his find, a 1950s Convair Mk I.

The post 1950s Convair Mk1 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

If you’re reading this magazine, you’re probably passionate about vintage racecars. You love the sounds they make, the smells that waft from them, the sensation of driving them as close to the limit as your skills will allow. You also love the specific histories associated with each of these machines. Who drove them, when, at what event, and, of course, how did they match up against the competition? These are the details that keep us engaged in the hobby, keep us expanding our knowledge about our sport’s history.

But what about a racing machine with a lost history? One that is obviously genuine (perhaps even important) whose past has been obscured by decades of cobwebs. This month’s Hidden Treasure is just such a beast.

The post 1965 Abarth Simca 2Mila Longnose (Chassis #136-0117) appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Almost Famous is Cameron Crowe’s semi-auto-biographical film about a teenage journalist who lands a writing gig with Rolling Stone magazine and tours with an up-and-coming rock band and their fetching groupies. The boyish Crowe character travels alongside his musical heroes, falls in love with Penny Lane (played by Kate Hudson), but throughout it all, remains very much almost famous.

This month’s Hidden Treasure catalogs the almost famous history of a vehicle that never actually turned a wheel in competition. Our subject automobile did, however, play an important role during a legendary land speed record assault at the Bonneville Salt Flats. In August of 1962, over a 12-hour period, racing superstar Andy Granatelli set 29 American stock car records driving a Studebaker Avanti, powered by an ultra-rare supercharged R-3 engine. The record-breaking speeds included both standing and flying starts and distances ranging from one to 10 miles and kilometers. According to period advertisements by the Studebaker Corporation, the top speed attained during the record-setting runs was 178.5 mph.

The post 1962 Granatelli Studebaker E40 Bonneville Hauler (#E40 4883) appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

How many vintage racing machines can you name that were originally powered by an ear-piercing DKW power plant? Not such an easy question, but I’m able to recall a few.

In the Formula Junior class, there was Erick Sobriery’s 1959 FJ and Lyle Powell’s 1960 FJ, both well-constructed one-offs with hand-formed aluminum bodies. Haverford Sport Motor (HSM) produced at least one and perhaps as many as three DKW-powered FJs, and Zeitler Racing Design built one Zeter Mk. 1 and four Zeter Mk. 2 FJs with DKW engines. In the sports racer realm, Bobsy built an SR1 motivated by a DKW engine, and Zink built two (or three) DKW Petits and at least one DKW-driven Z-4.

The post 1965 DKW Special appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

There is a warehouse in Houston, Texas, that is the automotive equivalent of Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. There are no rivers of the liquid-brown confection and you won’t find even a single Everlasting-Gobstopper. There are sales people and mechanics and detailers, but sadly not-a-one Oompa Loompa. By comparison the place is actually quite boring…unless you fancy those silly Italian racecars bearing Enzo’s name.

The warehouse I’m speaking of is actually an outbuilding of Ferrari of Houston, one of our nation’s foremost F-car dealerships. From the General Manager, Tony Nevotti, to longtime owner Giuseppe Risi, I can tell you with first-hand knowledge, the place is top-shelf in every regard.

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Would you consider equipping your sports car with an aftermarket supercharger then drive it across country from New York to race at Sebring? That’s precisely what John Bentley and Paul O’Shea did with Bentley’s 1950 Simca 8 Sport Cabriolet (#888673).

The year was 1950 and the first-ever race at Sebring was planned for the last day of that year. Bentley was a highly respected automotive journalist and O’Shea was an extremely talented driver who later scored three consecutive SCCA National Championships for Mercedes-Benz (1955 and 1956 D Production; 1957 D Modified). En route to Sebring the supercharger unexpectedly gave out near Daytona and the duo hurriedly reconfigured the Simca into a naturally aspirated racer. They arrived at Sebring just in time to compete in the 6-hour Sam C. Collier Memorial Grand Prix of Endurance on December 31, 1950.

The post 1950 Simca 8 Sport Cabriolet (Chassis #888673) appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Imagine buying an exotic 1950s Italian sports car only to learn upon delivery that it isn’t the car you paid for.

Thus begins the saga of the Rocco Motto-bodied Nardi that my dear friend Mr. Vino thought he’d purchased in 2001. For those unfamiliar, Vino is a connoisseur of fine wine, one woman (his lovely wife), and European sports cars with racing history. No one in the car hobby is immune to the catastrophic disappointment associated with a deal gone bad, so it’s easy to understand Mr. Vino’s confusion when the car rolled off the trailer and he got an unexpected shock.

The post 1949 Avalle ALF (#114349) appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

(Chassis #Z1058301)

Vintage Racecar’s Siamese Twin, Vintage Roadcar, features a monthly column, “By Design,” inked by automotive and industrial designer Raffi Minasian. Minasian inherited his obsession from his father and by early childhood was thoroughly consumed by all objects with engines and wheels. The duo owned a long string of important collector cars, but Raffi’s favorite was the bold one-off 1953 Pegaso Thrill. Minasian said, “Here was a car that had everything; grace, beauty, style, and a thumping eight-cylinder engine. The engineering and body design combined beautifully.” The Pegaso Thrill not only captured a Best in Class at Pebble Beach for the Minasians, it also catapulted young Raffi into one of the most amazing adventures of his early life.

Minasian said, “In 1978 we bought the Pegaso Thrill at auction and soon after I met the man who sold it, Bill Miller. Miller was much older but we were bound by the same passion for automotive objects of beauty and power. We became friends and together began speculating on what type of car Pegaso of Spain might have built had it stayed in business during the early supercar wars of the late ’60s and early ’70s. The speculation morphed into serious discussions and later into a plan, as we decided (starting in 1979) to design and build a car we called the Pegaso American.”

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1970 Phil Henny IMSA GT Chevrolet Camaro (Chassis#124870L515127)

Phil Henny is one of those guys you’ve probably never heard of. That’s too bad, because in the second half of the 1960s he was at the center of it all.

Born in Switzerland, Henny worked as a mechanic for Shelby American on the 1967 team that brought the Dan Gurney/ A.J. Foyt Ford GT40 MK IV to the winner’s circle at Le Mans. Is there any more “center of it all” than that? In more recent times Henny has authored a number of wonderful books about the racing legends he worked alongside. His written works benefit from insights harvested from first-hand observations of the racing scene he was immersed in, and his books are definitely worth owning.

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Oscar Wilde wrote, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” This sounds a lot like the car hobby to me.

In April, I received a series of emails from Jeffrey Turner of Melbourne, Australia, regarding a racecar he acquired in 2005. Turner wrote, “Having read many ‘Hidden Treasures’ columns over the years, I felt compelled to put pen to paper. I believe like many other car owners in the same position as myself that I have found a hidden treasure. I have the car, some details, lots of information and documents—some right, some wrong. I am hoping that this article may jog a few memories or may even uncover some other facts.”

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Much like the animal it was named for, the precise origin of the Unicorn H-Modified sports racer remains a mystery. Legend has it that the car was built in or around San Francisco in 1952 by a police officer. However, years and years of research by subsequent owners have failed to uncover the builder’s identity or absolutely confirm his profession. As the tale is told, the constructor sold or traded the car shortly after finishing it. Some have speculated that a wicked girlfriend cast an evil spell causing him to turn against the four-wheeled creature. Others have said that the beast vanished in the middle of the night. What seems certain is that no one knows for sure.

The Unicorn was built on a mild steel, round-tube chassis as an all-out 750-cc racing weapon. The car rode on 1937 Simca-Fiat components with Topolino drum brakes front and back. Power came from a Crosley four-cylinder with speed equipment from specialist Nick Brajevich. The engine breathed through twin Tillotson carburetors on a “Braje” intake manifold. The side cover and oil pan were also from Brajevich’s shop. The four-speed gearbox was from a Fiat Topolino. The body was a tidy package of all aluminum construction with clam-shell fenders up front. The original paint scheme was blue with a white stripe, although this color pattern was reversed at some later point in the Unicorn’s long life.

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Just how far will a fanatical collector go to capture the racecar of his obsessions? Would he carry a satchel stuffed with large sums of cash to meet a stranger in a dubious location? Or would he crawl across a filthy garage floor bare-chested over broken glass to get to the treasure? How about this one…would he or she follow all local customs and protocols to get to a car buried deep in the thatch of a nudist colony? Stay tuned as we bare all.

The fanatical collector of this month’s installment of “Hidden Treasures” is Washington-based Hot Rod devotee Pat Swanson. As you may recall from the March 2015 issue of VR, Swanson is cuckoo for Inline 12-Port speed equipment. So when he spotted an advertisement in The 12-Port News (the bimonthly publication of Inliners International) in mid-2014 he nearly jumped out of his shorts…which was certainly foreshadowing of things to come.

The post 1937 “De-Win” Chevy Coupe appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

What was Jud Phillips thinking? This has been the question that’s tormented Bill Fester for nearly a decade.

Fester, from Houston, Texas, is not your ordinary car collector. Although he and his wife are very much city dwellers, their domicile is not only home to a wonderful collection of four-, three-, and two-wheeled vehicles, but also to two-legged creatures in the form of Rhode Island Red Hens. Fester is Kevin Bacon-like in that he not only knows every car collector in our town, but seemingly knows everyone in our town (of Houston; our nation’s fourth most populous city). Fester is the best kind of car collector; kind, gentle, warm, enthusiastic, honest and always willing to help.

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We all love to be gob-smacked. It’s part of what keeps the hobby fresh and exciting. You know what I’m talking about. We covet those “Holy s@#&, what is that thing?” moments of blissful discovery. These are the flashes of brilliance that nurture us as we move through life and the collector car experience.

Such a moment happened to me some 20 years ago. I was in Southern California visiting an important collection of sports and racing cars and came upon an unfamiliar yet beautiful shape. The car was an ASA 1000GT Coupé and, all at once, I was mesmerized. I had a vague familiarity with the marque, but had never seen an example in the metal until that instant. The collection was packed with much more expensive cars, far more celebrated names, and automobiles with vastly greater power and speed, but there was something intoxicating about the ASA 1000GT Coupé; throughout the afternoon this one car kept pulling me back for look after look.

The post 1964 ASA 1000GT Coupé (Chassis #0998) appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

There is no hidden racecar in this story, but there are four treasures, one mechanical and three human. I love this one.

The mechanical treasure of this month’s installment is the 1953 Siata 208S (#BS520). Painted in a lovely shade of white, BS520 was the E-Production Class Winner at the First Annual Hawaiian International Sports Car Week on April 20, 1957. At the time, the car was owned by the recently formed Motor Imports of Honolulu, and the driving duties had been turned over to a young but talented West Coast SCCA racer. Sometime after the race, Calvin Ching arrived at Motor Imports and asked to speak with the winning driver. The two went for a test drive and Ching was understandably awestruck by the 208S.

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