1903 Spyker Paris-Madrid Racer

The 1903 Spyker Paris-Madrid racer (from the collection of the author)

Jacobus and Hendrik Spijker gaining notoriety in their home country by building the "Golden Coach" - a gift to Queen Wilhelmina of Amsterdam from the Dutch citizens. The coach is still in use today. Soon after, the brothers decided their future lay in the infant automobile industry.  Starting in 1900, they struggled against more established French and German makes. Jacobus, more interested in the design of the cars, was the engineer and Hendrik looked after the books. 

Wanting desperately to join the ranks of the competition in the Paris-Madrid race announced for 1903, they set about designing a race car for the event. Although, their early cars were inventive, no one could have guessed what they would create. The Motor-Car Journal of April 4th, 1903 states "Among the cars entered for the Paris-Madrid race is a "Spyker", which is to be driven by Mr. E. Broadbent, the works manager of the Bradford Motor Company. The vehicle will be fitted with a six-cylinder engine of 54 hp, a novel feature being that the power will be transmitted to all the four road wheels." 

With hope for favorable press, the brothers created a landmark six-cylinder, four wheel drive - four wheel braking automobile. There was only one problem - they missed the race - the car not being ready in time. The Horseless Age of December 2nd, 1903 reports "There is some likelihood that Holland will challenge for the Gordon Bennett race with a Spyker car … The Spyker car, which is intended to represent the Dutch Automobile Club, is of novel design, and has a six-cylinder engine of 60 horse power." However, that too appears to not have happened - no Dutch entry appears in the 1904 or 1905 race.

However, so as to redeem some value from their creation, Spyker shows the car at the Paris salon and the Crystal Palace show in London in 1903. The car is said to have greatly influenced S.F. Edge of Napier, who would introduce a 6-cylinder car soon after. Today the car stands as landmark design, said to be the first 6-cylinder car and first four-wheel drive car ever produced. It resides proudly in the Lauwman Museum in the Hague.

Note: there is some evidence that Lars G. Nilson, later of the Nilson-Miller company of Hoboken, NJ developed a V6 engine used in a truck in 1903. The first four-wheel drive vehicles in American are attributed to the Four Wheel Drive (FWD) company of Wisconsin around 1910.

The Motor-Car Journal, February 27, 1904

Bugatti's Type 37A

Bugatti Type 37A (from the collection of the author)

It's not every day that a vintage Bugatti rolls up to your local car meet. However this past Sunday at the Elm Bank Estate event in Wellesley, MA this very interesting little car appeared. Run by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Elm Bank's 36 aches of gardens serves as a picturesque back drop for a large gathering of cars. Dad was in attendance and reports that over 300 cars were on hand. 

The type 37 was manufactured between 1925 and 1930 - a scaled down version of the type 35 - it was intended for privateers on the day. The type 37A was the fitted with a roots-type supercharger which increased the power of its inline 4 cylinder to roughly 85hp. Utilizing much the same chassis design as the type 35 but lighter, the type 37A had success in it's day against cars of greater size and power. Bugatti is said to have produced 286 of these cars - 76 of which were 37As.

2014 Greenwich Concours - European Cars

The 2014 Greenwich Concours just celebrated it's 19th year this past weekend and Dad was there to survey the event. Although Saturday's field of American cars was not as strong as Sunday filed of European cars, the event was well attend both days. Here's a peak at a some of the fantastic European cars on hand:

How often do you see two of the rare Spanish make, Pegaso at the same event? A lovely 1954 Pegaso Z 102 cabriolet by Saoutchik and a striking 1957 Pegaso Z 103 Berlinetta by Touring.

1954 Pegaso Z 102 (from the author's collection)

1957 Pegaso Z 103 (from the author's collection)

The Pinin Farina designed Cristalia 202 SC (coupe). A much sought-after Alfa Romero GTZ and an unusual Stanguellini - I believe this car is powered by an 1100cc Fiat engine.

Alfa Romeo GTZ (from the author's collection)

Cristalia 202 SC (from the author's collection)

Stanguellini (from the author's collection)

Another rare make, the Minerva, had two representatives. Unfortunately, this Hibbard & Darin bodied towncar would not start upon exit from its trailer.

Hibbard & Darin bodied Minerva (from the author's collection)

Among the many Ferraris were this lovely Ferrai Tour de France and the always popular Ferrari 250 California - this car appeared to be a largely original surviver.

Ferrari 250 California (from the author's collection)

Ferrari 250 Tour de France (from the author's collection)

2014 Greenwich Concours - Edwardian Cars

1913 Pope-Hartford (from the author's collection)

The 2014 Greenwich Concours just celebrated it's 19th year this past weekend and Dad was there to survey the event. Although Saturday's field of American cars was not as strong as Sunday filed of European cars, the event was well attend both days. This event is one of the strongest in the Northeast and always brings out some interesting cars. Here's a peak at a few of the Edwardian cars on hand:

Two great cars out of Dick King's impressive collection - above is the 1913 Pope-Hartford Model 29, 6-cylinder roadster. This cars still wears the restoration performed by Harrah's when it was in his collection. The other car being the 1912 Olds Defender - this car wears a custom body - very interesting car.

1912 Oldsmobile Defender (from the author's collection)

The next car is the pride of the Dragone collection, a 1907 Fiat - one of five cars supplied by the factory for the Targa Florio that same year.

1907 Fiat (from the author's collection)

This last car , I know little about - it appears to be a 1911(?) Franklin of racing variety. If you know more about this car, please leave me a comment.

1911(?) Franklin (from the author's collection)

1953 Lancia D23 race car

1953 Lancia D23 race car at the Louwman Museum (from the collection of the author)

In 1937 Gianni Lancia assumed control of their namesake company after his father, Vincenzo, died. Gianni wanted to go racing and after the war, he did just that with the B20 GT Aurelia.  Success soon followed and lead to the evolution of the D20 Coupe (supercharged). The D20 won the Targa Florio, but struggled at Le Mans. The supercharger was dropped and capacity was increased to 3 liters. Additionally, Pinin Farina was called in to create a striking open top body and the D23 was born.  The car seen here is the only authentic surviving D23. Now housed at the Louwman Museum, this car has quite a racing history. 

This car debuted at the 1953 Monza Grand Prix, where driven by Felice Bonetto, it finished 2nd wearing the #4. The car then DNF’d at Nurburgring before being shipped to Mexico for the 1953 La Carrera Panamericana. Lancia entered 5 cars: three new D24s and two D23. This car was driven by Giovanni Bracco and went out after loosing a wheel. Lancia finished 1-2-3 with Fangio in first place, but the victory was spoiled by Felice Bonetto death in one of the D24s.  

Gianni Lancia was forced to give up leadership of Lanica after nearly bankrupting the company due the cost of his racing program - he and his mother would sell their shares in the company in 1955. Giovanni Bracco hung up his racing helmet in 1956. As for this car, it survived it's racing days largely intact and now represents a unique piece of Lancia motor racing history. 

The Lancia D23 of Bracco at the 1953 La Carrera Panamericana (photo credit: superdiscochino.tumblr.com)

1956 Maserati A6G Zagato Berlinetta

1956 Maserati A6G Zagato (from the collection of the author)

I saw this car recently at a local event and had to get a picture. The Maserati brothers sold their namesake business to the Orsi family in 1937. As part of the deal the brothers would stay on for the next 10 years leading the engineering efforts. In 1947, when their contract was up, the remaining three brothers left to concentrate on racing and founded OSCA. The Maserati company, on the other hand, realized the need to sell cars and introduced the A6 at the Geneva Motor Show the same year. They would update the car (enlarging the engine to 2 liters) in 1951, and in 1954, would put the finishing touches on this platform - the A6G featured a re-engineered twin-cam engine with triple carbs developing 165 hp. The other important change was Maserati's move away from the earlier Pinin Farina bodies to Zagato (and Frua). 

Ugo Zagato established his open coach building shop in Turin in 1919. After WWII, the company was rebuilt (the factory had been bombed), and with the help of his son Ello, they would make a name for themselves boding the Cristalia. Some say, and I might have to agree, that Zagoto's finest work of the period was boding the Maserati A6G. The proportions on this lightweight aluminum body (with Perspex windows) are magnificent. 

Over a two year period, Zagato would body 17 A6G Berlinettas (and a couple spiders). These cars are similar but each was bespoke and have slight differences. The car shown here is one of the last 5 (with the dual hood scopes, spaced apart): chassis' 2148, 2160, 2179, 2186 and 2189 (actually chassis 2118 re-stamped by the factory after an accident). These are true GT cars and the sound they make is fantastic.

Sunbeam's run at the 1915 Indy 500

1914 Sunbeam racer at the 1915 Indy 500 (photo credit: LT)

As expressed in the companion post about the 1913 Sunbeam that ran at Indy, this fascinating image found it's way to me recently within the same group of photos. This car is an example of the cars developed by Coatalen, Sunbeam's chief engineer, for the 1914 Tourist Trophy race. Based on the design of the 1913 Peugeot GP cars (famed Swiss designer, Henry, had developed a landmark car - lighter with more horsepower per liter than previously seen), the Sunbeam team, lead by Kenelem Lee Guinness who won, dominated the race. Interestingly, Guinness' car is said to have been painted Purple - the color designated for the British entries in the 1914 TT.

After the team's success at the TT, the Sunbeam team decided to enter at least two cars in the 1915 International race in Indianapolis (The Indy 500). One of America's true international races at the time, the 500 attracted the best European teams and drivers including Peugeot (the 1913 winner), Delage (the 1914 winner), and Mercedes (the 1915 winner). Interestingly, the Peugeot that won in 1913 was an older and heavier 6-cylinder car. However, the new Henry designed 4-cylinder car left such an impression that all future winners at Indy for the next decade (including the Duesenberg and Miller cars) were influenced by it.  

1915 was the first year that cars started based on qualifying order and Sunbeam planned to have the well-regarded Dario Resta, and the factory driver Jean Chassagne, behind the wheel of its entries. However, it appears that Resta was enticed to drive a Peugeot and Chassagne was not able to make the trip. It was for this reason that the Italian Jean Porporato drove in place of Resta. British amateur Noel van Raalte "purchased" the drive for the second mount. As noted in the companion post, two additional Sunbeams (1913 spec cars) were also entered by the Fortuna Racing Team out of NY. Those cars were piloted by Harry Grant and Carl Limberg. 

Jean Porporato qualified in 6th position, but Barney Oldfield had to qualify the second car (14th position) - withdrawing so Noel van Raalte could resume the seat for the race. Porporato (driving the #6 car) would go out on lap 164 with a piston issue and Noel van Raalte (driving the #7 car) would actually finish 10th.

The picture above appears to show the #6 car in front of the garages at Indy with Porporato at the wheel (possibly Chassagne - the two look similar). 

Jean Porporato in the #6 Sunbeam in 1915 at Indy (photo credit: Ivan Wheaton)

UPDATE:
Blog reader Ariejan Bos as identified the drive in the top photo as Jean Porporato - thanks, Ariejan.