Best of France and Italy 2004

By Kurt Triffet

Rain was forecast for Sunday, November 7th at Woodley Park, in Van Nuys, but that didn’t dampen the turnout (much) for the largest meet of French and Italian cars in Southern California.

I now live an hour away from the meet, and the thought of driving my ‘67 Caravelle to and from in the rain with the wiper motor out made me not bring it this year. I was regretful once I saw the turnout and how light the rain turned out to be - likewise for a couple other club members.

Our So Cal contingency met before the show at Jerry’s Deli in Encino. Jacques Lynn and his friend Sharon drove up from the San Diego area, staying overnight with Dene and Pat Barrett in Frazier Park before all four driving down the next morning. Other club members at our club breakfast gathering were Joe Hernandez, Chris Davidson, Jim Miller (with friend, Guy) and a couple others. When we arrived at the show shortly around 9, it was well underway, with some pretty fabulous cars.

Renault cars in attendance were Jim Miller’s very nice ’68 R10, Keith Gruchala and his ’66 Caravelle (fitted with an 810 motor), Gail Blamires and her green ’66 R10, Milt Simon and his 64 Dauphine, Bob Hayes and his ’61 4CV (with R10 motor) and a large showing of R5. We also ran into Allan Meyer (also affiliated with the Citroen Club - who showed in full-force)) and Tate Casey and his wife, who brought a Ferrari to show.

	Besides the wonderful vintage Fiats and Alfas, newer Ferrari, cars such as a Simca Plein Ciel, three Facels and some classic Lancias (including a stunning 1927) were quite fun to see. Tonight Show host and car enthusiast Jay Leno (who shows here every year) came in a 1915 Hispano Suiza. Light rain hit the show about 10AM, and aside from the parts swap meet end of the show running for cover (soggy shop manuals don’t sell well), most all endured the rain until the skies broke about 11:30. This was a great show and you can bet that next year, my wipers will be working!

Lane Museum

By Marvin McFalls

After my January 2003 visit to what would become the Lane Motor Museum, I knew this would be a terrific location for future meets. Jeff Lane even brought up the idea of having the club down for a meet. So after many scheduling snafus we finally found a weekend when everyone could attend. It turned out to be a very special day at the Museum, as Sam Posey from the Outdoor Life Network had come to the museum to see the Caldwell D7 Can Am car he had raced back in the 1960s. Also in attendance were the designer and chief mechanic, so it was a reunion of sorts to celebrate the museum’s restoration of a wonderful piece of racing history.

On Friday evening my friend Marty, Sam and I loaded up our wares and headed out driving three Renaults: my GTA Convertible, Sam’s 4-door Alliance, and a new vehicle that I recently purchased loaded up in a enclosed trailer. On Saturday morning we awoke and went out for a nice breakfast followed by a trip to the car wash. We needed to get our cars cleaned up before heading to the museum. We made it to the museum shortly after noon where I quick saw Brent and Pamela Bartley waiting for us next to Greg Laws GTA racer.
After getting reacquainted, we decided to go see how the event was progressing. On our way into the museum, I ran into Greg Laws and his brother-in-law Jason Reyes. Once inside I saw the museum was very busy with most of the guests standing in line for autographs and asking questions of the team. The Lane museum isn’t your average museum full of static pieces, as they were allowing guests to slide behind the wheel of the Caldwell D7.

As we began to check out some of the other cars on display I noticed a man wearing a Renault racing shirt, I went over and introduced myself. It was Peter Fox. Peter is one of our new members and he had flown in all the way from New York to attend the event. With Peter, Greg, and myself all wearing Renault F1 shirts I figured this was a photo opportunity not to be passed up.

As we continued to flow around all the wonderful cars, Jonathan Burnette soon joined us. Jonathan had drive nearly 900 miles from Texas in his 1965 Matra dJet. This was a real treat for Jeff Lane. Jeff owns three dJets. He said this was the first time he had ever seen one on the road. One of the cars was proudly displayed in the museum, and later in the after Jeff would take us down into the bowels of museum to see the other two. One car was just starting to be taken apart, and the other was nearly completely restored, wit a fresh coat of French Racing Blue paint.

By 2PM everyone was either hungry or ready to check-in to the hotel. So Brent, Pam, Jonathan, and I went back to the hotel and Marty, Sam, Greg and the guys went for some lunch. After getting checked in and cleaned up a bit we grabbed a couple tacos and headed back to the museum. As we arrived Sam Posey was test driving the wind wagon. To say the least this was a very crude vehicle with a Harley V-twin powering an airplane prop. The driver sat low only a few inches off the ground and the motor was mounted about three feet above you head. None the less it was an interesting sight.

By now we were determined to slowly walk through and see all the cars, motorcycles, and military vehicles on exhibit. With more than a hundred vehicles on display this was a very enjoyable afternoon. By about 3:30PM Peter had already left for the day which was too bad because Sam Posey decided to take the Caldwell D7 for a ride, after doing a couple donuts around the parking lot. Now Greg and Jason decided to go to their hotel so we decided to cancel the swapmeet until tomorrow and go back to our hotel for a picnic. But before leaving we had to take one last look before leaving. Somehow we had never gone through the art gallery so we all went through as a group

Marty took the role of chef and I set everything up. The hotel had a nice picnic area out back, which made for a great gathering. After a wonderful meal, thanks for the steak Marty! Jonathan and I decided to take a ride in the convertible. We ended up down town and drove around checking out the nightlife. It was a perfect evening for a ride in a convertible. When we returned everyone was still sitting out at the picnic area, so we picked right back up with the car talk probably boring Pamela to tears. She decided to go back to her room.

After a while we decided to break up the party. Sam and Marty wanted to take the convertible for a ride and run a few errands, while Jonathan, Brent, and I went to the room and sat down to make plans for future events. By 10PM the guys had returned and the car talk continued next thing you know it was about 11:30. I decided that Sam and I had better go to our room or we would probably be up all night.

We had a wonderful time at the Lane Museum. Special thanks to Jimmy Carter for going out of his way to meet our needs, as always Jeff and Susan Lane were gracious hosts. We were disappointed that we weren’t able to go down stairs and see many of the unique cars that weren’t currently being displayed, but that obviously gives us reason for a return trip.

On Sunday morning instead of going back to the museum, we headed out to the racetrack early. I was sorry we missed our friend Denny Pemberton from Oak Ridge who didn’t make it Saturday afternoon. Denny was a Citroen dealer back in the late 60s and 70s and he drove over to the museum on Sunday in his 1937 Traction Avant. That had to be a nice sight when he pulled in the lot. For all of our friends that wanted to attend but couldn’t, never fear we will try to set up another event in the next year or so. The Lane Motor Museum is definitely a pilgrimage for any automobile enthusiast but especially those that have the sickness of loving and owning French cars.

Monterey Historics

By Marvin McFalls

Jonathan and I awoke early Saturday morning and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at our hotel and by 8AM we were on our way Laguna Seca. For anyone who has spent any time in California you know how much the weather can change in 60 miles. When we left our hotel south of San Jose it was warm and sunny, but as we grew nearer to the ocean and our destination it became overcast and windy. By the time we parked our car it became clear that our shorts and t-shirts wouldn’t cut it, so we changed clothes, it was on with the jeans and jackets. It isn’t like it was cold, but 62 degrees with a fifteen-mph wind in the middle of August is a bit unusual.

While the weather wasn’t the greatest, the cars more than made up for it. In attendance were more than 400 historic racers from all over the world. Unlike most vintage or historic events, participation is by invitation only. Of the cars competing one in four was a Ferrari, and there were probably another 100 Ferraris were displayed in the concours area inside the track. Needless to say I believe you would be hard pressed to find more Ferraris in one place even in Italy.

Beside Ferrari, all the other top racing makes were also in attendance including Porsche, Jaguar, Bugatti, Lotus, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Shelby, Corvette, and countless others. The Pre-war divisions included many French Makes including Talbot, Delahaye, and Bugatti. However one of the most exciting cars at the event was a 1914 Peugeot. The car had originally been built to race at the Indianapolis 500, which it did and had won and even set a track record. Much to my surprise this wasn’t a static museum piece as later that day it was on the track touring the circuit. While there weren’t any Post-war French racers competing we did see several cars with Panhard engines and many other with Renault gearboxes. Needless to say it wasn’t the greatest event for Francophiles, but the overall quality of cars more than made up for lack French models.

Each day there were seven feature races, while Saturday’s races weren’t as memorable, we saw some great racing from early fifties racers including Ferrari, Jaguar, and Alfa Romeo. The highlight of this day wasn’t the D-Type beating the Ferrari, but rather back in seventh place where 75 year old Phil Hill, America’s only F1 World Champion battling in a 1952 Alfa. It is truly amazing the number of racing legends that were in attendance over the weekend. We also saw the most expensive Historic Race ever run. The special race featured Ferrari 250 GT and GTOs. It was said that there were 24 Ferrari GTOs of the only 32 originally built. While I am sure not all these cars were original GTOs with a pricetag of about 5 million dollars each it was estimated the value of the more than forty cars in the race was in the neighborhood of 200 million dollars.

Following the last race of the afternoon, we were off to Monterey Bay. The entire weekend is car related, with the biggest attractions being the Pebble Beach Concours and The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering. However if you are looking for more bang for you buck the annual auto auctions are a nice treat. After a quick trip to the bay it was off to the auction, while we didn’t see anything we wanted to bid on, it is quite exciting just watching, seeing other people spending thousands, even hundreds of thousands gets your blood pumping. As the auctions began to wane we decided to head back to the Hotel and get some rest.

We awoke early Sunday morning but instead of heading to the track we made a side trip to Berkley for Jacques. We picked up some Caravelle parts and then left the Bay Area, there was very little traffic and we made terrific time arrive at Laguna Seca shortly before noon. We enjoyed a nice lunch up on hill in view of the Michelin Bridge. After lunch we move to the backstretch where we were able to see the F2003 GA Ferrari attempt to break the track record. Unfortunately with the grooved tires mandated by the FIA, Last year’s Ferrari was no match for the pace set by Alex Zanardi about five years earlier in a Turbo-charged Champ car. However it was still quite a sight, seeing the Ferrari reach speeds of over 200mph and nearly 19,000 rpms.

The rest of the afternoon featured very exciting racing. The first race featured sportscars from the late 50’s and was dominated by the Corvette. Next came a GT series Shelby/Ferrari battle with Derrick Bell driving a Shelby Daytona against a field full of Ferraris. Following an under 2500cc protoype race, came a 1970s F1 reunion. It was amazing the difference in cars from 1971 to 1979. For the final race of the day we moved to the main grandstand across from the Michelin Bridge where we saw a battle of the monster prototypes. Nearly every car in the race had more than 500 hp except for the Porsche 908. The 908 is the little sister to the famous 917 which won at LeMans numerous times. The 908 was built for shorter races like Sebring and Targa Florio. While it lacked the grunt of its big brother, the car handled incredibly, and in the hands of experienced pilot, Brian Redmond he was able to hold off all challengers including a Lola Prototype with nearly 600 hp.

What a great day of racing! Before leaving and fighting all the traffic we made one last visit to the paddock to see if the vendors had any last minute bargains. Unfortunately bargains were few and far between at this meet, but in spite of the expense we had a wonderful time and look forward to visiting again in a few years. Who knows, maybe one day they will even have French Cars as the featured make. Regardless, if you ever have a chance to attend the Monterey Historics, I highly recommend it, you just won’t see more or better Historic racing anywhere in the U.S.

Rétromobile 2004

By Marvin McFalls

While Brent, Jonathan, and I visited many sights on our recent trip to Paris, the main attraction was Retromobile.  As like most of our trip, we were led by our wonderful hosts and guides Jean-Jacques and Claude Campas.  For those who aren’t familiar with Retromobile it is the largest classic car show in France.  More than 100,000 people attend each year and let me tell you we went on what was probably the busy day of the entire event.  The event opens to the public on Friday afternoon, but to cover the entire venue it takes a full day.  So we went on the first Saturday of this year’s show. 

The show began at 10AM, and we were there along with several hundred other anxious car enthusiasts when the doors opened.   This year’s event featured a desert theme, and I must give Citroen their due.  They had numerous military vehicles as well as all the 2cv 4X4 derivatives including the Sahara, Mehari, and even the Visa.  Peugeot also participated in the theme, with a 405 Rally car, as well as Panhard with an earlier model in a similar pose.  In my eye Talbot took the prize by placing a fake rattlesnake on the hood of a dusty car that looked like it was on safari. 

Renault on the other hand didn’t participate in the desert theme.  Their display included the 4cv based Vernet-Pairard Coupe that was featured in a recent issue of the Renault News, as well as a 1932 Reinastella and a 1920s custom coach that had be used by a hotel probably to pick up guest from the train station.  Finally they featured a 24^th century space ship that was originally used in a promotional video from more than a decade ago.  It too had the name Reinastella linking it with the classic version.  While Renault had the largest display area of any manufacturer, their display could have featured more cars, as it was the only place at Retromobile where you could stand without bumping into other spectators.

As we traveled through the various exhibits we found many more Renaults including a beautiful 1500cc R8 Gordini, 1600cc A110, and even a 1902 Renault racer.  However, probably the best collection of cars would have to go to Peugeot.  They had more than a dozen cars lined up featuring almost every model built between the 1930’s and 1960’s.  I believe it was unanimous between the three Americans; the Peugeots with the headlight in the grille are our favorite models.

Also on display were several Bugattis.  Simca also had a nice showing with a 1000 and an Aronde that was recently featured in Gazoline.  As well as Delahaye, Delage, Facel Vega, and even Hispano-Suiza.  To my knowledge nearly every French manufacturer was on display, and a few that we hadn’t heard of. 

Besides all the great French cars, there were many great Italian cars especially from Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari, but Mercedes Benz and BMW were not going to be out done by their rivals from the south.  Even Japan made a bit of a splash as Honda had an excellent display including the CVCC, a beautiful convertible, and the motorcycle that changed the world.  America also made a few ripples; mainly from two Cadillac’s on display.  One was from the early days and it actually featured a one cylinder engine, and the other was possibly the biggest of them all a pre-gas crisis Coupe DeVille Convertible.  Also on display from the USA was a vintage Ford Mustang.

Of course, if more than 300 classic cars didn’t interest you; there were hundreds of vendors selling parts, literature, die-casts, t-shirts, and other memorabilia.  Between the three of us, we must have bought $300-400 in parts, and a couple hundred more in other souvenirs.  I believe Brent nearly bought out one vendor’s die-cast collection of Renaults.  Needless to say I also went on a bit of spree mainly buying books, magazines, brochures, and a few other trinkets.  Even Claude got in the act buying a model of a Dodge Challenger R/T, his favorite American Muscle Car, and Jean-Jacques was tempted to buy an Avantime die cast, but they only had it available in a terrible shade of green.  Besides, I believe he is more interested in buying the full-scale version.

Before we knew it was nearly 7PM and Retromobile was closing.  Probably a good thing as we were getting tired and hungry.  It had been one incredible day.  I believe that I had seen more top-quality, classic French cars in that one day than I had ever seen in my entire life.  If you ever have the chance to travel to Paris I do recommend you go during Retromobile.  Besides being the cheapest time to travel you will be hard pressed to find a better collection of French cars unless you go to Manoir de l’Automobiles in Western France or if you visit the Renault History Department which is now located in Flins.  But we will save those stories for another day. 

updated 11/6/06
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