Innehållsförteckning för Issue 24 från Gentlemen Drive

I have been wanting to write about our beloved Blue Beauty for a long time now. Our untiring Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Pininfarina cabriolet which has given us so many moments of joy behind the wheel. Some cars really do seem to have a soul. We bought Blue Beauty at an auction in Paris in around 2000 or 2001 at the same time we bought a Lancia Flaminia Zagato. We didn’t really know this at the time, but it turned out to be a fantastic buy. The car’s previous owner was a pilot with the French air force and an aerobatic pilot with the Patrouille de France. It seems that he decided to paint the Alfa its current blue colour, similar to the French blue of his plane’s fuselage.…

After a rather slow year for the classic car market, with even some price adjustments on certain cars, what really happened at the Duemila Ruote Auction in Milan? Why the sudden upturn? There are different theories and opinions, but if you look at the situation from different standpoints, I think there are very clear and specific reasons for why sales were so high. 1. A story fit for a film: The main attraction is the bizarre story of the character and how he managed to accumulate such a huge number of cars, motorbikes, and other things. Luigi Compiano, owned an armoured truck company but he started taking money that wasn’t his and engaging in Italian tax fraud to compulsively buy cars here and there. The Italian tax authorities accused him…

Concours of Elegance, Windsor Castle, 02 – 04 September 2016. The fifth running of what has become affectionately known as the “Royal Concours” through the good offices of Her Majesty The Queen, Elisabeth II, permitting Royal residences to be used to stage the event, took place at Windsor Castle between 02 – 04 September. The first one was held at Windsor Castle in 2012, followed by St James’s Palace, Hampton Court Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in subsequent years, making a return to Windsor Castle for the 2016 event, in the year of Her Majesty’s 90th birthday. The concours also has Royal patronage in the form of HRH Prince Michael of Kent, whose love of cars and motor sport is well known. There were a total of 66 vehicles…

Great satisfaction for the sixth edition of Autoclassica Milan, which closes its doors with more than 60 thousand visitors and an increase of 18% compared to the edition of the month of March. The classic and sporting car show was attended by more than two thousand vehicles and prestigious brands, including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep, Lamborghini, Lancia, Land Rover, Maserati, McLaren and Tesla, In an area of about 50 thousand square meters. This year, visitors had one more reason to come to the Fair: the Due Milla Ruote auction, the most prestigious and extensive car auction ever held in Europe, organized by RM Sotheby. 817 lots consisting of cars, motorcycles, boats and vintage motorcycles, in dispute between fans and collectors who came from all over the…

Anyone who is a fan of cars would have spent endless hours as a child playing with toy cars. I would stretch out on the floor and set up my own races, bringing the cars alive by creating their very own soundtrack. When the Paris-Dakar came on the television, I would create my own version of the rally in stages, with cars scattered throughout the house. I often spent more time warning my parents, my brothers, and even the cleaning lady not to touch anything than on the game itself. I took racing very seriously from a young age! My mother, who has always been an extremely creative person, made us a patchwork mat of a city that was four metres long and two metres wide. She used different fabrics…

ome experiences will never be forgotten, especially when you were only 20 years old. Experiences that you can relive thanks to memories and old photographs, and even learn new things from them. This is a selection of some of the photographs that I took during Ferrari’s 50th Anniversary. It was a unique experience that I was able to have thanks to my father’s and uncle’s passion for cars. But also thanks to their kindness, simplicity, and humbleness. The last time I opened the photo album of that adventure, the only thing that came to mind was a huge sense of gratitude. Although many might think otherwise, my family were never millionaires. My father and my uncle managed to make a great living through effort, hard work, and to be honest,…

For the second year in succession the magnificentgrounds of Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, played host to the Salon Prive Concours d’Elegance sponsored by Chubb Insurance. The gathering is actually three events in one, with the Thursday being the main concours day, the Friday feature is Boodles Ladies Day, where elegant frocks and millinery are the focus of attention, with the Saturday featuring the Pirelli Prestige & Performance Competition. In reality it could be said that it is five events in one, as it is preceded by a Tour d’Elegance through the scenic back roads of the beautiful Cotswold countryside, and there is an associate Silverstone auction in the grounds of the palace on the Saturday. The vagaries of the British weather threw a curved ball for the latter day…

1992 Maserati Barchetta (text: Gentlemen Drive photos: Maserati) The Maserati Barchetta was one of the last cars from Alejandro DeTomaso’s Maserati ownership. De Tomaso was an accomplished driver so his idea was to to do a proper racer inspired by iconic models like the 300S or the A6GCS and Maserati best racing tradition. After the Chubasco concept car designed by Marcello Gandini, the Barchetta; somehow, followed some of the design clues but was designed by Synthesis Design, a consultancy set up by Carlo Gaino who is best known for the Barchetta-based De Tomaso Guarà, all-carbon Lancia ECV II rally car concept, and Alfa Romeo 155 GTA. The car was powered by a twin-turbocharged 2.0-litre V6 engine from the Ghibli packing 315 horsepower putting the power-to-weight ratio closer to a current…

Paris is one of my favourite cities. Apart from the great memories and experiences I’ve had there, the French capital is a city with a real presence that is eternally captivating. One of my favourite things to do there is to drive at night, when the lack of traffic lets you rediscover its streets and the car you’re driving. I’m sure many of you will be reminded of the famous short film C’était un rendez-vous directed by Claude Lelouch. In eight minutes, the film shows a high-speed drive of an unseen car through the streets of Paris, all the way to the Sacré Coeur Basilica. It is entirely filmed from a point-of-view shot. They say it was filmed using a Mercedes Benz 450 SEL 6.9, but was dubbed with the…

Mercedes Benz has been able to shake up its image and target a younger audience. This has made them leaders in premium car brand sales. One of their star models and the main focus of this revolution was and still is the CLA. A young sedan, sporty and dynamic, not only appealing for its great design, but also for its balanced behaviour under all types of conditions, and its outstanding performance for a car of its kind. The 220 CDI is not the most powerful nor the most extreme model of its range. Nor is it Mercedes’ most symbolic model. But it is the most balanced model. An unpretentious car that manages to exceed all expectations! Mercedes Benz ha sido capaz de revolucionar su imagen y rejuvenecer su público objetivo.…