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Monterey ALFAs

Rolex Monterey Motorsposts Reunion

GALPOT Weekly #32

Welcome to the review of blogs at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres", known as GALPOT Weekly #32.




This week started of at the at the Simply Italian parade at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. Where GALPOT regular David Root's ALFA Romeo 4C Special, above, won second place in an audience vote for best car present. You can see some of the competition David's Special was up against on this link.



Almost unbelievably the MG 14/40 MK IV sports, which won the Bristol Classic Car show Best Vintage Car Award winner, spent an unknown number of years disassembled and care fully stored under the concrete base of a shed until it was found in 1999.



The first ever DAF passenger car, seen above at last years Goodwood Festival of Speed, was only the second ever production vehicle to be offered with a variomatic gear box, more about the DAF 33 Luxe can be on this link.



For Americana Thursday we traveled back 50 years for the first of two visits to the 1962 Indianapolis 500. Honorary Pace car for the month of May was the recently launched Studebaker Avanti about which you can read more on this link.



The kink in the top rail of the door of the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta was the give away clue as to the identity of the car in the photo above. Strangely this is the only photo I took of a Ferrari on track between 1983 and 2011.

For all it's beauty no sooner had the works Cosworth DFX engine been installed in the back of the Lotus 96 Indy Challenger than the money ran out and the project was halted. Find out more about the still born Lotus 96 on this link.



Pole position for the 1962 Indy 500 went to Parnelli Jones who was given one hundred and fifty silver dollars by a rival owner being the first person to average 150 mph on all four of his qualifying laps, at the time a world record. Parnelli can be seen starting the race from the inside of the front row while the race winner Roger Ward starts right next to him. Find out what happened on the Roger's way to victory lane on this link.

I hope you have enjoyed catching up with last weeks events on "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" and I hope you will join me again next week when I'll start by looking at some of the exhibits on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #4

Gosh how time flies when your having fun, it's been another busy week on GALPOT not least because it would appear that spammers have found the site. I seem have found away to stay on top of the situation for now I hope it stays that way.



Of the cars I looked at this week started with the tiny Reliant Fox Pick Up which started life as a concept designed in Greece, type approved in the UK, built in Greece and then finally had it's life extended with a production run in the UK !



On Tuesday I had a look at the highest interpretation of the 1950's US Dream Car concept built in Britain namely the Vauxhall Cresta PA a big for the UK 6 seater that would look quite comfortable if a little small barreling along US highways at 89 mph.



Maurice ‘Maus’ Gatsonides and Peter Worledge drove the Ford Zephyr 6, the subject of Wednesdays blog to victory on the Monte Carlo Rally in 1953, such was his search for perfection in his driving technique that he delivered the GATSO camera to the world.



Staying on the 50's theme on Thursday I looked at a '54 Chevrolet Bel Air used as a support vehicle by the GAS Racing drag team at Shakespeare County Raceway.



On Friday I had a dig at a television presenter who not only once destroyed a Routemaster Bus but also described the Ferrari 400i as 'Awful in every way !'. I spent the whole day yesterday writing "If I can't say anything good, I will not say it at all" as penance.



It was a great pleasure to retell how British Treasure Sir Stirling Moss won the Monte Carlo GP not once but twice in Rob Walkers privately entered Lotus 18 yesterday.



I have rounded out the week with a second helping of Italian eye candy the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, billed as the most expensive car in the world when it was launched on the market in 1968.

Thanks for joining me on this weeks GALPOT round up if you have not already had a look at the full blogs summarized here I hope you'll find to click on he links down lighted in grey.

Coming up next week I'll be starting with an Italian pickup truck, looking at a British interpretation of the 1960 Lincoln Continental, and looking at UK and US interpretations of the Estate / Station Wagon concepts.

All this and more to come in the week ahead at GALPOT, I look forward to you joining me daily. Don't forget to come back now !

Ce n'est pas une ALFA Romeo - Jankowits #RO559

I have been following the car featured in today's blog for nearly a year and was pleasantly surprised to finally catch up with it at Goodwood Festival of Speed last week.



(Thought to be dated 1934 Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

Somewhere around 1934 two brothers Gina and Oscar Jankowits, with a background in architecture, from Flume on the Adriatic Coast then in Italy now in Croatia, set out to build an unusual car,



(Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

the two main distinguishing features of which were the mid engine rear wheel drive layout and a bench seat for three with the driver sitting in the middle.



(Thought to be dated 1937/8 Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

The chassis was built using C section lengths of steel, uses modified 1933 Buick brakes and modified 1935 Ford suspension, when it was completed the chassis was rigged up with rudimentary road going equipment and registered in Flume with the number 2757 - FM around 1938.



(Thought to be dated 1939/40 Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

The steel bodywork was then constructed,



(Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

and is thought to have been completed before the commencement of World War 2 hostilities in Italy.



(Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

For the duration of the hostilities the Jankowits was hidden away.



(Travel Permit Issued 24th December 1946)

After World War 2 Flume found itself in communist Yugoslavia and like many residents of the former Italian territory the Jankowits brothers obtained a permit, #2720, to visit Italy, on which a chassis number RO559 is hinted at, along with the ALFA Romeo engine number 700316, and did so never to return.



(Date unknown, Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

The brothers sold their car to a US Serviceman in Trieste who shipped it home. In 1967 Colin Crabbe the 'Indiana Jones' of finding long lost motor vehicles found the Jankowits in New York.



(Date unknown, Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

Not knowing what the vehicle was, but recognising the 6C ALFA Romeo motor, he contacted Luigi Fusi of the ALFA Romeo museum, who was familiar with all pre WW2 ALFA Romeo projects along with the people who worked on them



(Date unknown, Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

and was told that the Jankowits car was 'nothing more than a special'. Eventually the car was sold to Malcolm Templeton in Nothern Ireland. Collector Neil Crabb no relation to Colin, then purchased the Jankowits and sold it to Phil Bennett in Leeds and during his ownership the car was shown at Beaulieu National motor Museum.



The Jankowits was restored in 2004 near Modena and entered into an auction in Paris (Lot 52) , however the known history, in particular the claims that it was an ALFA Romeo with a racing history were so shaky that it was withdrawn from the sale.



More recently the Jankowits has turned up at a number of events remade into a pseudo racer with ALFA Romeo badges replacing the previous crests of the Swiss 'Graber' coach builder.



The new owner is completely convinced this car was designed and built as an ALFA Romeo racing car despite the fact there is not a single shred of verifiable evidence that the car is either an ALFA Romeo or took part in any competition.



While the chassis was fitted with wire wheels when it was first registered all the photo's of the car after it was fitted with it's steel bodywork up until 2004 show the vehicle was fitted with hub caps, for more leisurely road use, as do what appears to be the original drawings of the car.



Much has been made of the central driver position and bench seat for three, this turns out to be a completely impractical solution as the steering is very heavy and passengers are forever getting poked by the drivers elbow's while these idea's predated vehicles like the McLaren F1 it should be noted that Gordon Murray had the forethought to move the passenger seats back relative to the drivers seat in his design.

It has been suggested that the absence of a speedometer hints that the vehicle was intended for racing however I suspect that if the car was registered for the road back in 1938 without one, it is possible that a speedometer was not a legal requirement for vehicles in Italy at the time.



That the Jankowits brothers should choose to use a 6C 2300 ALFA Romeo motor for thei
r vehicle is not in the least surprising apparently their father ran ALFA Romeo dealership.



As has been noted by several observers the rear transmission axle with the differential ahead of the gearbox suggested in the drawings was not realised in the car we see today with the gearbox being placed ahead of a Lancia differential. This compromise might account for an erroneous belief that the engine bay looks too large for the engine and suggests the wheel base on the car we see today is longer than originally intended.



Make no mistake this is a beguiling beautiful vehicle that hides many secrets but,



there is absolutely no evidence that this vehicle was ever part of the ALFA Romeo design program, to suggest so does a huge disservice to the Jankowits brothers who should be given all the credit for this futuristic if ultimately somewhat impractical design.

My thanks to the many contributors of the relevant threads at the Alfa bb, TNF, and alfisti.hr forums for providing the bulk of the information on today's story and related photographs.

Hope you have enjoyed this Croatian edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don't forget to come back now !

Springbok Special - ALFA Romeo GTV6 3.0

The ALFA Romeo GTV 2.5 was in production from 1980 to 1987 it featured a a fuel injected 156 hp 2,492 cc / 152 cui V6 motor from the Alfa 6 model, a rear mounted gearbox to optimise weight distribution just like the Porsche 924/944/968 and an attractive Giorgetto Giugiaro body with a bulge in the bonnet / hood to accommodate the V6 engine.



These vehicles won four consecutive European Touring (stock) Car titles, however out in South Africa the touring cars were running to different regulations with a 3.5 litre / 213 cui class cut off as opposed to the 2.5 litre 152 cui class cut off as used in much of the rest of the world.



In order to race competitively against BMW which ran 3.5 litre engines in South African Touring Car Races ALFA Romeo in South Africa approached Autodelta the competition arm of ALFA Romeo who obliged by supplying enough parts developed for a rally programme to build around 220 2934 cc / 179 cui carbureted V6 engines which were assembled and tuned in South Africa.



The outcome was a vehicle that in 1983 beat BMW to win the South African Touring Car Championship and in mid 1984 was declared the fastest South African assembled vehicle with a top speed of 139 mph / 224 kph.



With that ALFA Romeo Montreal inspired NACA duct in the bonnet and deep spoiler this 3 litre GTV6, belonging to Richard an acquaintance from 'The Nostalgia Forum', is quite easy to distinguish from its 2.5 litre brethren.

My thanks to Richard for bringing his pride and joy to the Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival.

Hope you have enjoyed todays Springbok edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

105/115 Series - ALFA Romeo 2000 GTV

The ALFA Romeo 2000 GTV was part of the 105/115 Series Coupés in production from 1963 to 1977, it is thought that 37,459 2000 GTV variations were produced from 1971 to 1976.



The Bertone penned bodywork was built onto to shortened Giulia Berlina floorpan, all 105/115 Series Coupés used four cylinder all alloy twin cam engines, this particular one has the largest 1962 cc / 119 cui motor that came equiped with carburettors and was good for 150 hp.



An undetermined number of 105/115 Series Coupés were assembled near Petoria in South Africa allegedly alongside other knock down kits including Datsun's.

Date for your diaries Saturday April 16th Bristol City Centre will be hosting the Italian Auto Moto Festival, today's photo's as were many others featured here over the last 6 months were taken at this event last year.

E-mail me if your planning to attend it would be great fun to meet up.

Hope you have enjoyed today's all alloy twin cam edition of 'Getting a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

California Dreaming - Ferrari California 2+2 Convertible

A couple of years ago I was at an airport and I noticed in the duty free area there was a Ferrari on a turntable that was a raffle prize.



I'd never seen one like it before turns out that it was a California, at £25 / $40 a pop for a ticket I passed on what may well have been my only opportunity to own a Ferrari without regret.



Allegedly the California was originally conceived as Maserati, however the economics of the project dictated that only a Ferrari badge offered any hope of a financial return on the vehicle.



Researching this blog I was surprised to find the California introduced in 2008, shares it's engine design with both ALFA Romeo and Maserati models.



Over 1,000 hours are said to have been spent in a wind tunnel perfecting the aerodynamics of the California so that it's drag coefficient is 0.32 the lowest ever achieved for any Ferrari.



I have to confess it was not until I had run a registration check on these vehicles that I had any idea of exactly which models they were and indeed they were both the same type, I thought the red one was a 612 Scaglietti !



Allegedly there is room on the back seats for two adults in a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti something at 6' 2" I'd love to put to the test.



Even if I had known it comes with a front mounted 450 hp 4.3 litre 260 cui V8 engine I doubt I would have been tempted to buy a raffle ticket....



because for all the attention to detail ...



beautiful craftsmanship ....



seven speed dual clutch transmission ...



and promise of the joys of open air motoring ...



alone price of the road tax on the Ferrari California is enough to keep me on the road for a whole year in my 20 year old jalopy ... but that does not stop me from dreaming :-)

With thanks to the PistonHeads responsible for bringing these dream machines to the Sunday Service at the BMW Plant in Cowley a couple of weeks ago.

Hope you have enjoyed to days California dreaming edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow for a look at another vehicle bearing the California name. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Should I have failed to quench your thirst for Ferrari's take a look at the new Ferrari FF with Michele Rahal over on The Drive Channel.