The Niello Concours at Serrano Is Sunday October 2

by Mike -

The Niello Concours at Serrano is scheduled for Sunday October 2. This event will be celebrating the marque of Cord Motor Cars and the 50th anniversary of the E-Type Jaguar.

There also will be a gathering of Iso cars, so I am planning to take both the Iso Grifo and the Bizzarrini.

If you are there stop by and say hello. I spoke to several My Car Quest readers at Concorso Italiano and the Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance in August and loved it.

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Classic Cars At The Millenáris Velodrom in Budapest, Hungary

by Mike -

My Car Quest reader Gábor Vida has sent in some classic car photos from an event where he lives in Hungary. Gábor was the winner of the My Car Quest Best Car Photo Contest recently.

Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France

Gábor writes,

The event was a classic car, motorcycle and bicycle meeting in Budapest, Hungary. The Millenáris Velodrom is an oval track that is more than 100 years old used for bicycle races, near the heart of the city.

Fairthorpe Electron Minor

Austin Healey 3000 MK3

Marcos 1800 GT

All the bikes, bicycles, and the cars not heavier than 1000 kgs  (2200 lbs) used the track for several laps. They were grouped by age, and categories, e.g., motorcycles before WWI, post WWII British roadsters, etc...

Bugatti Type 44

Triumph TR6

It was a very special feeling to hear and smell these old cars, not only to watch them. It was a little, Hungarian Goodwood Revival - the visitors who dressed for the cars had cheeper entry fees.

Jaguar XK140

The green Iso Rivolta arrived late in the afternoon, and it didn't run around, I think it was too late, and the car is too heavy.

Iso Rivolta GT

Here are more photos, from Gábor, vintage bikes, and photos by László Katona.

Gábor Vida is an artist, so you may see some of these photos show up as drawings on his web site.

Hungary looks like a great place for car and motorcycle lovers. And I have never seen a Fairthorpe Electron Minor before, nor have I heard of this car.

Please share your comments with me and other readers.

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Jensen Interceptor - New and Old

by Mike -

"An all-new Jensen Interceptor will be launched next year, after CPP Global Holdings was appointed to engineer, develop and build the new car by the brands’ owners, Healey Sports Cars Switzerland Ltd (HSCS)."

So begins a press release from Jensen Sports Cars.

They do not say what the engine will be but they say the chassis and body will be aluminum. Customer deliveries are planned for 2014 and oh, one more rather odd quote from the press release. "Annual production numbers and pricing are yet to be confirmed, but will be fixed to ensure ultra-exclusivity."

I take this to mean few cars that cost a lot.

The second, most popular and most well known Jensen model to be called the Interceptor was produced from 1966 to 1976 and was styled by Carrozzeria Touring of Italy. This Interceptor used steel for the body instead of aluminum or fiberglass as previous Jensen models.

Initially the 383 cid Chrysler V8 was used and later cars used the 440 cid V8.

The early bodies were made by Vignale in Italy and later body production was moved to Jensen’s in house facilities. The Interceptor was offered in fastback, convertible and a few coupes were made.

Most were made with the Torqueflite automatic transmission but 22 were made with a manual transmission.

There were more than 6,000 Interceptors produced between 1966 and 1976 including a few convertibles, fewer coupes; most were 2+2 models.

They still remain very popular collector cars and are highly sought after.

Let's hope that the new version is as good.

You can read more about Jensen cars in my book, European Style with American Muscle, available on Amazon, Lulu, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble.

Please share your comments with me and other readers.

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Ferrari 275 GTB NART Spider

by Mike -

The Ferrari 275 GTB/4 (4-cam) is one of the best sports cars of all time. So, imagine how much greater it would be if it were also a convertible?

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That is exactly what Luigi Chinetti was thinking when he asked Enzo Ferrari to make a spider version of the 275GTB/4. Chinetti was the first Ferrari dealer in the US, the founder of the North American Race Team (NART) and a great race driver himself.

This request led to ten 275 GTB/4 Spiders being made for NART in 1967 and 1968 by the coach builder Scaglietti. All were sold in the US by Chinetti.

This elegant green 1968 275 GTB/4 shown here is a replica NART Spider made by the same artist who did the work on the original ten when employed by Scaglietti.

It is owned by my friend Phil White, above, and was on display at the Danville Concours d'Elegance recently. I like to see a Ferrari that is not Ferrari red and this green looks great!

Please share your comments with me and other readers.

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