My dear cousin Sérgio never misses a classic car gathering, and he often sends me pictures he takes there.
City of Lapa, Paraná.
This time, the meeting took place in a picturesque little town called Lapa, located 70 kilometers southwest of Curitiba, my hometown in Brazil.
Lapa is one of the oldest cities in Brazil; in the downtown area, you can find several perfectly preserved houses built in the XVIII and XIX centuries.
The city holds an emotional connection for us because my wife, Estela, attended a Catholic boarding school there when she was a kid.
The Meeting
A beautiful 1980s Ford Bronco is on its way to the meeting.
Not yet a classic, but the new Suzuki looks good.
A 1969 German-built VW Transporter.
A 1990s Lada Laika. A symbol of the Perestroika, when Russia was more interested in selling cars than invading sovereign countries.
The white VW Beetle is a 1966 model, the same year as my first car, which was a dark blue Beetle.
Lapa’s Off-Road Club is very active.
The meeting was also an opportunity to advertise new cars.
1974 Chevrolet Opala
A well-preserved, unrestored 1960s Willys pick-up.
The air-cooled gang.
This is a ratty 1946 International KB1 Metro van. I have a soft spot for vans; I wish Sérgio had taken more pictures of this car.
Two distinct GM products: the iconic 1959 Cadillac (tastefully lowered) and a 1980s Brazilian Chevy Opala.
A pair of Brazilian-built Puma. You can read more about this car here
The VW Brasília was a huge success in the 1970s and 1980s. It was developed and produced in Brazil from 1973 until 1982. The car was exported to the Philippines, countries in South America, and Africa.
It was also produced in Mexico from 1974 and 1981.
1951 Chevy sedan 4 doors.
The license plate gives it away. It is a 1972 Chevy Camaro.
A 1972 Brazilian-built VW TL (touring luxury).
The Model Ts rolled in with undeniable charm. Always the crowd’s favorite.
Once again, I thank my dear cousin Sérgio for graciously sending his pictures.
That was a fantastic event, and I wish I could have been there with my wife, not only to see the cars but also to reminisce about the time she spent in that city.
Recently, I shared my intention to write a series of articles about the machines that fought under the Canadian flag against fascism. In this second installment, I will focus on a museum located in Brandon, Manitoba: the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum.
This museum was born with a noble mission to preserve the memory of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) and honour the airmen, airwomen, and personnel of all the Commonwealth Air Forces for their bravery and commitment during the dark years of WWII.
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
Since WWI, the United Kingdom has sought volunteers from all over the empire to fill the positions of pilots and ground crew members for the Royal Air Force. In a clever arrangement, these personnel should receive training in their home country, far away from the battlefields of Europe.
Air cadets checking a map in front of a Bristol Bolingbroke. This is a staged photo designed to lure youngsters to join the Royal Canadian Air Force.
On December 17, 1939, the RAF announced the creation of the British Commonwealth Air Training Program in Brandon, Manitoba. The facility was very successful during its existence; the Canadian Prairies offered wide open, flat fields, a perfect combination for training new pilots.
Between 1939 and 1945, the program recruited thousands of conscripts and volunteers from across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth countries. A total of 50,000 pilots and 80,000 crew members and ground staff graduated, making it one of Canada’s most significant contributions to the war effort.
After the war ended, the program was shut down, and the installations were decommissioned. Gradually, the airplanes and equipment that had once served as training tools were either sold or scrapped.
In the early 1980s, a dedicated group of individuals in Brandon, Manitoba, recognized that there was still time to save most of the program’s material and organize it in a museum preserving the memory of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and honoring the men and women who generously contributed to the World War II effort.
The Museum officially opened on July 3, 1982, in Hangar No. 1 at the Brandon Airport, located one mile (1.6 km) north of the city. The airfield was the site of No. 12 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) operated by the BCATP during World War II.
The museum has an impressive collection of aircraft (some of them airworthy), motor transport vehicles, artifacts, and archival items.
Restoration
The Bristol Bolingbroke, ready for its trip back to the base.
The museum performs all the restoration projects in the facility with the invaluable help of volunteers. Down below are a couple of examples of airplanes that were restored at the museum:
The Faithful Annie
When the Avro Anson Mk IV came to the BCATP museum, it was literally in pieces.
And here, the plane after the restoration. During the war, the Avro Anson was effectively called “Faithful Annie” by the airmen who flew it.
The Cornell
The picture above shows the Fairchild Cornell PT-26 arriving at the museum.
Here, an enthusiastic bunch of volunteers are dropping the Ranger 6-cylinder engine into Cornell’s airframe.
After a thorough restoration, the airplane became one of the airworthy machines in the museum’s collection. The Cornell PT-26 was a key aircraft in the Canadian training fleet. It was the first plane that WWII pilots flew before progressing to more advanced trainers or single-seat fighters and bombers. Primarily constructed from wood, veneer, and fabric, the PT-26 was mainly used by Canadian forces for training in colder climates. Pilots appreciated having the option of an enclosed cockpit while being able to slide it back for an open-air experience.
The Visit
We visited the museum in May 2019. From Winnipeg to Brandon, it is an easy 214 km trip.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by a Canadair CT-133 Silver Star, the museum’s gate guardian. This airplane is the Canadian license-built version of the Lockheed T-33 jet trainer/fighter. The CT-133 was so common in the RCAF that I believe there must be at least one on display in every Canadian city.
On that day, the museum was a bit dark inside, and the sun shone through the windows, making it challenging to get good shots. Most of the pictures you see here are not mine.
Motor transport
That is me admiring a perfectly restored staff car that served at the base during the war. I didn’t make any notes, and I don’t remember the car’s brand, but it looks like a 1940 Dodge sedan. If you know it, please help me out with the information.
Photo credit: Victor Chávez, Google Images.
A 1940s-era Willys Jeep
1942 International Harvester K8 Fire truck
Above, a 1941 Ford fuel tender truck.
Marmon-Herrington supplied axles and transfer cases to the American auto industry.
For the war effort, the company teamed up with Ford to build military trucks with some serious off-road capabilities, like this 1942 Crash Tender 6×6 Ford truck.
1942 Ford Truck
Airplanes
The museum’s airplane collection is divided into static displays and airworthy machines.
Bristol/Fairchild Bolingbroke
Another take of the Bolingbroke.
A nice shot of the museum. Photo credit: Miles Sun
Above, a beautiful shot of the Stinson 105 Voyager.
Between July and September 1940, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) acquired 26 Voyagers for approximately $10,000 each in American dollars. At that time, American neutrality laws prevented U.S. manufacturers from selling to countries involved in the war, so the Voyagers were purchased as commercial aircraft. Each plane was assigned a Canadian civilian registration number and flown to Canada. Once they arrived on Canadian soil, the aircraft were transferred to the RCAF and given military serial numbers.
Note of the Editor: – Our reader James H. Gray made an important correction about this airplane: “The 75 hp Stinson 105 produced in 1939 and the 80 hp Model 10 (an updated 105) released in 1940 were not called “Voyagers”. That is a common misconception. Only the Franklin-powered 90 hp Model 10A introduced in 1941and some of the postwar 108 series airplanes were designated Voyager by Stinson. In vintage photos of these planes bearing factory livery, the 10A Voyager can be easily differentiated by its 2-tone paint and distinctive circular badge on the cowling. The plane pictured is clearly a 105.
The museum has two Tiger Moths in its collection. One is a Canadian version (pictured above), and the other is a UK version. Both are airworthy. The difference between them is that the Canadian one is equipped with a canopy covering the cockpit; yes, it gets cold in Canada. The Tiger Moth was one of the most popular trainers in WWII. The Canadian version was built by de Havilland Canada, in Downsview, Ontario. An estimate of 7,800 units were built around the world.
Another notable piece of WWII aviation history is a 1940 North American Aviation Harvard Mark II. The Harvard is the “British” version of the T6 Texan, purposely built for the Commonwealth air forces. For the cadets, this plane was the last step on the ladder towards becoming a combat fighter pilot.
The Texan/Harvard was extensively used by many air forces around the world as a combat and gunnery/bombing trainer from the 1940s until the 1970s. Thanks for its impressive maneuverability. The plane is a favorite among acrobatic groups, and therefore, it is a common sight at any air show.
The airworthy machines of the BCATP Museum have an active life. Visitors can purchase 20-minute flights on most airplanes. They are also frequently seen at major air shows throughout the country.
The Memorial Wall
This museum is not just a collection of vintage machines but a place to reflect on and honor the ultimate sacrifice made by thousands of young men and women who fought against tyranny.
On September 10, 2014, the 75th anniversary of Canada’s entry into WWII, a memorial wall was unveiled to the public. The wall holds the names of 18,039 airmen and airwomen from all over the Commonwealth countries who died in the Second World War.
This 300-foot airfoil-shaped granite wall is watched over by a bronze airman. The names and ages of these young men and women have been etched on this wall as a permanent tribute to the ultimate sacrifice they made for our freedom.
As an enthusiast of old war machinery, my visit to the CATP Museum was a blast, but walking by the Memorial Wall made me think that we usually take our freedom for granted. Most of my generation (and the generations that followed) don’t know how painful it is to fight against fascism.
As I write these lines, all I can think is the world is going through a dark path. We might have to fight against tyranny once again, and this fight might come sooner than we think.
The title of this post might be misleading. After all, the VW Beetle has reached the status of a classic, collectible car in Brazil, and therefore, it rarely ends up in a junkyard nowadays.
The story of this car started when my Dad received as a gift, the race Beetle that belonged to his brother, (you can check this story clicking here).
Since the #12 was a race car, my uncle never paid much attention to its documents, and after sitting in storage for nearly 30 years, whatever left of its docs were lost. Dad’s idea was to restore the #12 and make it street legal once again. The easiest way was to find a “donor” car with a clean and documented chassis, then just swap the bodies.
Even if dad wasn’t actually defrauding anybody, it might be considered a shady operation, but he decided to go ahead anyway.
It didn’t take long to find a perfect candidate for a donor car. Dad found a 1968 Beetle with good documents and in a decent driving conditions. The car was altered to look like a modern Beetle, which was a fairly common practice during the 1980s. To be fair, this played a part in deciding to buy this car, after all it would be heartbreaking to dismantle an all original Beetle.
But it turns out that the #12 body, which is a 1972 year model, wont fit the 1968 chassis. This came as a surprise since the Brazilian Beetle received minimal modifications during its time in production.
The wheelbase and suspension width are the same, but the bolts attaching the body to the chassis do not align.
Unable to continue with his original plan, Dad took the obvious path: restore the 68 Beetle. He dismantled the whole car, fixing the body, patching rust spots, and painting it in its original color.
He also refurbished the 1300cc engine, transmission, suspension, and brakes.
This was the ideal time to restore the Beetle to its original condition, but doing so would require purchasing all four fenders, the hood, the engine compartment lid, headlights, taillights, and rims. This would involve a significant expense, and since Dad was working on a very tight budget, the best option was to leave the car as it was.
After several months of hard work, the restoration was completed in 2020. The car was not in “showroom condition” because it has experienced its fair share of use and wear. Dad mentioned that the Beetle was likely involved in an accident, and the body wasn’t completely straight. He did his best to fix it, but working at home made the process challenging.
The yellow Beetle became a nice and reliable car, Dad even used it as his daily driver for a while.
But he lives in a beach city in South Brazil, and the salty Atlantic air can be quite unfriendly to older cars. Five years after the restoration, a few little rust dots started to pop up.
A couple months ago, Dad decided to repaint the whole car. The pictures you see here are the result of the second paint job.
This video shows the Beetle in the final stage of the painting
Since the car is now finished, he has decided to sell it. Dad owns four vintage Beetles and is struggling to find enough space to store them all, so selling this one seems like a good idea.
He is asking for R$15,000.00 (US$ 2,600.00), which is pretty reasonable. He will use the money to restore the fourth Beetle in his collection.
All I can say is that I am very happy that Dad is having fun with his hobby. He is doing what he loves, and he might even be making a few bucks out of it.
In 1966, the most popular rock and roll band in history, The Beatles, chose to step away from the pressures of live concerts to focus on creating music and recording albums. At that time, music artists could afford this luxury and still make tons of money by doing so.
Back then, we had the delightful experience of visiting a record store to buy our music. Browsing through the records, selecting the right one, opening the package at home, and placing it on the turntable was almost a mystical experience.
Led Zeppelin in concert – 1975.
Although records were not cheap. The final price should reflect many details, such as the cost of the production, advertising, distribution, and, of course, a significant share of the pie, enough to make your favorite rock band filthy rich.
Thankfully, there was a more affordable option for the less fortunate music lovers of the 1970s and 1980s: the cassette tape.
In the early 1980s, Dad bought a “3 in 1” CCE (turntable, cassette recorder/player, and AM/FM radio), just like this one. I have probably recorded dozens of tapes using that equipment.
Recording cassette tapes at home was cheaper than buying LPs, but it could also be laborious. First, you need to find someone who owns the LP you are looking for and then convince the person to lend you his precious possession. Good luck with that.
My very first record: The Autobiography of Supertramp. I got it as a birthday gift from my lovely high school sweetheart (today, she is my wife).
The other option was to form a cooperative of friends with similar musical tastes and then buy the record, which would be shared by the members to record their tapes.
No matter what the situation was, cassette tapes were as much a part of our lives back in those days as LPs. Making a tape with your personal selection of songs was as enjoyable as listening to the songs.
Obviously, we all had our favorite tape brands. In Brazil, the most popular was the German BASF, but we loved the Japanese stuff as well, like TDK, Sony, and Maxell.
The blown-away guy
To win customers’ hearts and minds, cassette brands spend a lot of money on visually appealing TV commercials. Although most of the ads were cool, one easily tops them all: the “Maxell blow-away guy.”
The ad campaign, which was run worldwide, instantly made Maxell synonymous with high quality and made the brand look cool to customers.
Maxell, short for “Maximum Capacity Dry Cell,” was founded in Japan in 1960 as a Nitto Electric Industrial Co., Ltd division. The company initially focused on manufacturing dry-cell batteries, which is reflected in its brand name. Maxell gained a reputation in this area but became globally recognized after introducing its first magnetic audio tape, designed for high-fidelity playback, in 1962.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,”
In the history of advertisements, there are a few campaigns that actually achieved the intent of this statement. Certainly, the Maxell’ “Blownaway guy” is one of them.
The advertisement debuted in 1979, and remains one of the most memorable symbols of the cassette era. It’s hard to imagine anyone reading this who isn’t familiar with the poster, and most self-respecting music enthusiasts from that time likely had it hanging in their music rooms. The campaign was initially designed for print but later expanded into television commercials, further increasing its international fame.
The iconic photo was taken by photographer Steve Steigman, who had a background in fine art photography. It’s no surprise that the identity of the “blown away” guy is somewhat controversial; the most accepted theory is that the model used for the campaign was a makeup artist named Jac Colello, who had previously worked for David Bowie.
Peter Murphy is one of my faves from the 1980s underground.
An intriguing version of the story suggests that the man being blown away was Peter Murphy, the former lead singer of the British rock band Bauhaus. However, I doubt this claim is true.
Interestingly, the effect of the man being blown away was created in the print ads without any actual wind. Instead, Steigman and his team strategically arranged the man’s scarf and other props, along with using a generous amount of hair product, to create the illusion that he was being swept away by the sound.
My family was a huge fan of the TKR cassette player.
This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end
(The End- Song by The Doors – 1967)
The cassette dominated the market from the 1970s until the 1990s as the most popular form of musical media. It was portable and durable, able to withstand the punishment of being carelessly stored in backpacks and glove compartments. The cassette also helped create a whole universe of electronic equipment.
The advent of digital formats, led by the CD, drove the music industry to gradually phase out the use of cassettes and our beloved vinyl. CDs offered superior sound quality and durability. The rise of MP3 players, downloading/ripping, and streaming services in the early 2000s—even in lieu of their inferior sound quality—further sealed the fate of the cassette’s status as a mainstream format.
It was only when movies and TV shows of the 2010s/2020s embraced the 1980s as the coolest era in recent history that the cassette saw a tiny resurgence.
A good example is “Stranger Things,” a highly popular Netflix series that follows a group of teenagers battling supernatural monsters in the 1980s. In its fourth season, the iconic Sony Walkman, the ultimate portable cassette player,alongwith Kate Bush’s song “Running Up That Hill,” plays a crucial role in their fight.
My old T-shirt. The old-timers will understand.
The cassette is still alive and kicking (the 1980s references are endless), thanks to dedicated groups of collectors, DJs, and underground music scenes that continue to use them. And also thanks to old timers that insist on being connected to the stuff of their youth.
And yes, you still can buy a brand new Maxell tape and a Sony Walkman.
If you have been following the news lately, you know that Canada is facing an unprecedented threat against its own existence. The country that once was our strongest ally is swiftly becoming the aggressor.
In this new scenario, Canadian patriotism is on the rise. I plan to embrace this trend by publishing a few articles about the machinery that contributed to building Canada’s reputation as a strong and free country—a beacon of democracy and tolerance in the world, always ready to stand against fascism. In this first article, I will tell the story of the most heroic ship in the records of the Canadian Navy, the HMCS Haida
A Monument Ship
Photo credit – The Bay Observer. – 2024
One thing that excited me when we moved from Manitoba to Ontario in 2019 was the abundance of military museums throughout the province. The first place I chose to visit isn’t a museum in the traditional sense; it’s a monument dedicated to the Tribal-class destroyer HMCS Haida, located in Hamilton, ON.
In the course of two wars, Haida destroyed more enemy equipment than any other Canadian vessel, earning it the nickname “The fightingest ship in the Royal Canadian Navy.”
Our Fighting Lady
-“Come, cheer up, my lads, ’tis to glory we steer, To add something more to this wonderful year, To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves, For who are so free as the sons of the waves?“-
The first verse of “Heart of Oak”, the official march of the Royal Navy, and adopted by the navies of the Commonwealth.
By the mid-1930s, it was clear that another war against Germany was looming on the horizon. In response, the British began preparations by developing the Tribal class, also known as the Afridi class. This class of destroyers was designed in 1938 to provide modern weaponry for the Commonwealth Navies in anticipation of the impending fight against German U-boats.
The Tribals evolved into fast, powerful destroyers that emphasized guns over torpedoes in response to new designs by Japan, Italy, and Germany. They were well admired by their crews and the public while in service, known for their strength, and often regarded as symbols of prestige.
Photo credit Alex Parmar – Google Photos.
HMCS (Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship) Haida was built by Vikers-Armstrong Shipyard, in Newcastle – England, on September 29, 1941. The ship was commissioned on August 30, 1943. She was named to honor the seafaring Haida Nation, the Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America.
Haida began its service during World War II, escorting supply convoys to Murmansk, Russia. These convoys traveled throughout the winter, always above the Arctic Circle, taking advantage of the constant darkness. This made it more difficult for the Luftwaffe to spot them and direct submarine wolf packs to attack.
One can only imagine the hardships of the crew during those exhausting escorting missions. The unbearable frigid temperatures, the terror of the constant darkness, and always on the lookout for enemy submarines.
The sinking of Scharnhorst. Paint by C.E. Turner. Royal Museum Greenwich.
On Christmas Day, 1943, a German task force of a few destroyers and the Battle cruiser Scharnhorst was sent to intercept the convoy RA55A, which left the Kola inlet in northern Russia for Britain. The heavy weather made it impossible for the German destroyers to keep up with the pace of the battle cruiser, and at 9:21 a.m., Boxing Day, the Scharnhorst was spotted by the Brits. The German captain knew his ship was heavily outnumbered, but instead of retreating, he attacked the convoy at full speed.
Haida’s main forward guns. And my lovely wife, Estela.
The British cruisers ‘Sheffield‘, ‘Belfast‘ and ‘Norfolk‘ immediately engaged the single German ship. Shortly after, the battleship ‘Duke of York’ and the cruiser ‘Jamaica‘ joined the battle. After 3 hours of exchange fire, the Scharnhorst was sent to the bottom of the ocean. While the HMCS Haida didn’t participate directly in this battle, the ship helped to shepherd the convoy, keeping it safe and in formation.
HMCS Haida and the ship’s men earned their first battle honor, an honorary distinction recognizing active participation in the battle for this Arctic service, during which the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst was sunk.
Anti-aircraft gun. Photo by The Classic Machines.
Operations along the French coast
On 10 January 1944, she was reassigned to the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at Plymouth and took part in Operation Tunnel and Operation Hostile, patrolling the Bay of Biscay and along the French coast of the English Channel.
Photo taken on 22 May, 1944 – England. Courtesy Naval Museum of Halifax.
The first victory
HMCS Haida, escorting a convoy, 1943
“ There are no roses on a sailor’s grave,
No lilies on an oceanwave,
The only tribute is the seagulls’ sweeps
And the tears hissweetheartweeps “
An old German Navy song.
During the night of 25 April 1944, Haida, with Black Prince and the destroyers Ashanti, Athabaskan, and Huron engaged the German 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla comprising the ships T29, T24, and T27.
Haida‘s crew skillfully sank the T29 and heavily damaged the T24. The limping German boat managed to scape ro St. Malo, in the company of T27.
Communication room.
On the night of 28 April, T24 and T27 attempted to move from St. Malo to Brest. They encountered the destroyers Athabaskan and Haida off St. Brieux, which were performing a covering sweep as part of Operation Hostile. The Athabaskan was torpedoed and sunk in the engagement, and T24 is credited with sinking it.
Haida ran T27 aground and set the vessel on fire with shelling. Of the Athabaskan’s crew, 128 were lost, 44 survivors were recovered by the Haida, and 83 survivors became prisoners of war of the Germans in France.
Operation Overlord
HMCS Haida. Painting, by W. Bewick.
During the weeks leading up the invasion of Normandy, Haida and its sister ship Huron continued to operate as part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, patrolling the western entrance of the English Channel.
Perhaps the ship’s most important mission was to be part of the attacking force of the Operation Overlord. On 8–9 June, Haida was part of Task Force 26, which engaged the German 8th Destroyer Flotilla, comprising Z32, Z24, ZH1, and T24 northwest of the Île de Bas.
Haida and Huron, once again working as a deadly team, sunk the Z32 in the Battle of Ushant. Following the fall of Cherbourg to the Allies, the German E-boats were transferred to Le Havre, freeing up the 10th Flotilla (The “E” in “E-boat” is derived from the German word “Eilboot,” which translates to “fast boat” or “speedboat.”). The flotilla was then given the dual role of covering Allied motor torpedo boat flotillas and search and sink missions against German shipping along the French coast.
The captain quarter. Photo credit Alex Gerashchenko. Google Photos.
On 24 June, while on patrol in the English Channel off Land’s End, Haida and the Britsh destroyer Eskimo were called to engage in a U-boat hunt, started by a squadron of B-24 Liberators. After the American bombers dropped their depth charges on the target, the two ships began their onslaught. After several attacks, the submarine surfaced and attempted to run. Haida and Eskimo fired all their guns, and in a matter of minutes, the U-971 started to sink. Not a lot of German sailors had the chance to escape. Haida rescued only six survivors.
The never-ending fight.
Torpedo tubes. Photo by The Classic Machines.
On July 14, 1944, Haida and the Polish ship ORP Błyskawica intercepted a group of German ships in the Île de Groix area near Lorient. The battle saw two submarine chasers, UJ 1420 and UJ 1421 destroyed, one German merchant ship sunk, and two others set afire.
Besides the fancy name of “submarine chaser,” the UJ 1420 and UJ 1421 were basically captured French trawlers, converted by the German Navy as submarine chasers. They were equipped with sonars, microphones, depth charges, and some light armaments
In November 2002, Pierre-Adrien Fourny from Boulogne-France brought to light some interesting details about the ship that became the UJ 420, the Eylau.
“My grandfather, Eugène Fourny, managed the family fishing company owning the trawler Eylau, which was taken by the Germans and converted to a warship. It was sunk by Haida and other destroyer near Groix Island in South Britanny. I will always be very proud of the Eylau; the little French trawler needed two Allied destroyers to be sunk. I am also very happy because, after the war, the French government gave a new motor trawler to my grandfather. “
Based on its size, this must be the officer’s kitchen. Photo credit- Jordon Slaght. Google Photos
On August 5–6, Haida participated in Operation Kinetic, a mission focused on patrolling waters near the French coast. The force attacked a German convoy north of Île de Yeu, resulting in the sinking of the minesweepers M 263 and M 486, the patrol boat V 414, and the coastal launch Otto. During the battle, a shell exploded in one of Haida’s turrets, causing a fire that killed two crew members and injured eight others, ultimately rendering the turret inoperable. The Allies then attempted to engage a second convoy; however, they were repelled by shore batteries and had to withdraw without inflicting significant damage on the German merchant vessels.
The last missions of the war.
Canadian Navy personnel, taking possession of a German U-boat under the watchful eyes of a PBY Catalina.
Thanks to its versatility, destroyers could be employed in various missions. The HMCS Haida and its crew were kept pretty busy during the last Allied push against nazi Germany. In September 1944, the ship sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for well-deserved repairs and a new radar. The ship was sent back into action in Scapa Flow in January 1945.
Haida’s crew saw their fair share of combat during those last months of war, either escorting convoys or hunting U-boats.
The ship participated in one of the last Royal Canadian Navy engagements of the Second World War when she escorted convoy RA66 from Vaenga from 29 April to 2 May.
Officers mess room. Picture by The Classic Machines.
Long gone were the days when the U-boats were the predators. At this point of the war, they were more likely to be the prey, but even though a “wolf pack” led by an experienced captain could still inflict some damage. The convoy RA66 was attacked in transit, and Haida and Huron were targeted by torpedoes fired by U-boats, which narrowly missed. In the skirmish, two German U-boats and the British frigate Goodall were sunk. The convoy safely escaped in a snowstorm.
On May 07, 1945, Germany surrendered, ending the conflict in Europe. Haida was then assigned to relief operations at Trondheimsfjord, Norway. From 29 to 31 May, Haida and Huron, as part of the 5th Escort Group, were sent to Trondheim to take over custody of surrendered U-boats.
The war in Europe had ended, but American forces were still engaged in combat against Japan in the Pacific. The destroyers Haida, Huron, and Iroquois arrived in Halifax on June 10, 1945, to receive the necessary tropicalization refit to prepare them for deployment to the Pacific. However, the Japanese Empire surrendered later that summer before the refit was completed.
Captain, my Captain.
Commander H.G. DeWolf, on the bridge of HMCS HAIDA, England, 18 September 1943. (photo by Lt Herbert J. Nott, Canada. Dept. of National Defense, courtesy Library and Archives Canada / PA-141695)
Commander Henry G. DeWolf was the captain of HMCS Haida between 1943 and 1944, during the thick of the war. He became one of Canada’s most decorated naval heroes. DeWolf served more than 40 years in the Royal Canadian Navy and was eventually promoted to vice-admiral.
Ironically, DeWolf suffered from seasickness throughout his naval career and said he could only sleep while sitting up.
The Cold War
HMCS Haida, being refueled during her first Korean War tour.
The cannons of World War II had barely cooled when, on March 5, 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton, USA, Winston Churchill warned the world about the next threat to democracy:
-“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” – His speech officially marks the beginning of the Cold War.
Haida was in inactive reserve for approximately one year but in 1947 the ship underwent a refit for updated armament and sensors.
The ship received modern radars, sonars, and a state-of-the-art electronic gun-fire control unit.
She returned to the fleet, still carrying the pennant number G63, in May 1947.
Officers mess room. Photo by The Classic Machines.
When the Korean War started on 25 June 1950, Haida was once again activated for war duty. The ship received another refit in July 1950, with various new armaments, sensors, and communications systems. She was recommissioned on 15 March 1952 and carried the pennant DDE 215. She departed from Halifax on 27 September for Sasebo, Japan, arriving there on 6 November after passing through the Panama Canal.
USS BUCK transferring four-inch ammunition to HMCS HAIDA during her patrol off the east coast of Korea, 9 June 1953. (photo by Allan F. Jones, Canada. Dept. of National Defence, courtesy Library and Archives Canada / PA-138197)
Haida relieved Nootka on November 18, 1952, off the west coast of Korea. Her first mission was to perform aircraft carrier screening and coastal patrol missions. The real combat started on 4 December 1952 when the ship took part with the destroyer escort USS Moore in shelling of a railway yard in Songjin, a coastal battery, and North Korean troops.
Targeting trains and rail yards would become a thing for the Allied war ships in Korea. On 18–19 December, Haida failed to join the exclusive “Trainbusters Club” when an enemy train she attacked managed to hide in a nearby tunnel. Haida returned to patrol on 3 January 1953, escorting aircraft carriers and bombarding the coast. On 29 January, Haida finally made in the “Trainbusters Club”, destroying a train north of Riwon. The ship eliminated a second train on 26 May, and detonated a drifting anti-ship mine on her return to Paengyang-do. At this point, the Korean war was heading to an agreement between the parts involved, and with the de escalation of the combat, Haida was sent home on June 12, 1953.
USS Boxer (CV-21) with two F4U-5N Corsair fighters of squadron VC-3 fly past the carrier during combat operations in Korea. To operate safely in combat, carriers required extra protection provided by Allied destroyers. The photo is dated 4 September 1951.
On July 27, 1953, an armistice was signed, ending organized combat operations and leaving the Korean Peninsula divided much as it had been since the end of World War II at the 38th parallel.
Unfortunately, China and North Korea did not respect the ceasefire, leading to Haida’s second tour in Korea on December 14, 1953. An Allied naval presence was reestablished around South Korea, making this tour relatively easy. Haida returned home to Halifax on November 1, 1954.
Following its operations in Korea, Haida took on Cold War anti-submarine warfare duties alongside other NATO units in the North Atlantic and the West Indies. Back in Canada, in May 1956, Haida, accompanied by Iroquois and Huron, made port visits to various cities and towns along the St. Lawrence River.
The end of her career
Signalman Andy Barber stands at the signal station aboard HMCS Haida during its Pacific deployment following the armistice in the Korean conflict. He was 20 year old. (Photo Andy Barber collection)
It was during one of her deployments in the Pacific that Haida faced her last battle; not against enemy guns but against the power of nature. In an interview given to CBC in 2023, Andy Barber, a Haida’s veteran, tells the story of how the ship survived the fight against a powerful typhoon.
Barber may not have served during wartime but he was on the Haida’s bridge when it was almost lost to Typhoon Grace, off Japan in 1954.
He remembers the 2,500-tonne destroyer being tossed around on the ocean like a toy, and recalls the superhuman efforts of his shipmates to keep her afloat.
– “We were running into these waves that were, like, 60 feet high, crashing over the top of the ship,” – At one point, the Haida was caught in a confluence of waves, swamping the bow while the stern with its spinning propellers was raised out of the water.
– “We all went flying to one side and that whole ship just about somersaulted,” Barber said. “It was only through the grace of God … that it straightened out.” –
Andy Barber poses for a picture at the Halton Naval Veterans Association in Burlington, Ont. on November 6, 2020. (Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press)
After 15 years of many battles and missions, Haida‘s aging hull and infrastructure were becoming problematic. She went through a refit in January 1958 for hull repairs, to protect her electronic equipment. She was brought to the docks again in 1959 for further refits. Haida set sail for the West Indies in January 1960; however, equipment malfunctions, including a failure of her steering gear on April 3, forced her to return to Halifax. A hull survey in May discovered extensive corrosion and cracking, prompting her to go into drydock for the rest of the year. In June and July 1961, she underwent additional repairs after more cracking was found during operations in heavy seas that March. More cracks were detected in March 1962, resulting in another refit that lasted through February 1963.
Shooting practice at the deck of Haida, Pacific 1954. Photo Andy Barber collection.
Haida resembled an old warrior with too many wounds who could no longer fulfill her duties. The time for her retirement has come.
Saving a hero.
HMCS HAIDA (DDE215) makes her way towards Lock 4 on the Welland Canal during her farewell Great Lakes tour in 1963. Photo credit: laststandonzombieisland.com
In 1963, prior to being paid off, HMCS Haida sailed on a farewell tour of the Great Lakes. This inspired a group of businessmen to form Haida Inc. The purpose of this enterprise was to acquire the ship, save it from the scrap yard, and preserve her as a memorial to the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy.
Haida was open to the public for many years at Ontario Place in Toronto (picture above). She was acquired by the Province of Ontario in 1970.
In 1990, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated HMCS Haida as a National Historic Site.
The responsibility for maintaining the ship was transferred to Parks Canada in 2003. Extensive repairs to the hull were completed (picture above), and she arrived at its new home at Pier 9 in Hamilton Harbor on August 30, 2003, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of its commission.
HMCS Haida is the last survivor of the twenty-seven Tribal Class destroyers built for the WWII. Thirteen of which were lost during the conflict. The ship is one of only three remaining of the over four hundred Canadian warships from the Second World War, a time when Canada’s navy was the third largest in the world!
This monument serves as more than just a tribute to the sailors who courageously served in the Royal Canadian Navy during both peace and wartime. It represents a time when nations united to combat tyranny—a time when soldiers, sailors, and airmen from various countries regarded each other as brothers and sisters, standing together in the fight for freedom. Governments may come and go, but these memories shall never fade away.
This is a story that most of the gearheads know by heart. Back in the 1960s, FOMOCO hired Carrol Shelby, and together, they developed the GT40, the car that dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans for 4 years in a roll.
A few other iconic sports cars were born from this partnership, like the GT350, the Shelby Daytona, and, of course, the Shelby Cobra. However, Shelby’s life after he left Ford was anything but boring.
Shelby retired from auto racing in 1970 and ended his association with Ford in 1973. His retirement was very exciting but far away from the auto industry.
From exploring the African continent (picture above) to organizing chili cooking contests, he tried a bit of everything.
In 1972, Shelby even launched his Original Texas Brand Chili Mix.
But a passionate gearhead like him wouldn’t stay away from the business for much longer. When Chrysler invited him to coordinate a high-performance program in 1981, he immediately accepted.
The Chrysler years
Lee Iacocca (left) and Carrol Shelby.
The guy who invited Shelby to work for Chrysler was Lee Iacocca, the father of the Ford Mustang and the CEO, who worked closely with Shelby during the glory days of the Ford GT40 dominance.
The 1980s was a very different era. The world, particularly the USA, was still grappling with the aftermath of two oil crises—one in 1973 and another in 1979. As a result, the traditional American recipe for large sedans powered by big V8 engines was no longer appealing to customers.
The American automakers initially struggled to provide fuel-efficient cars. It was a time of four-cylinder Mustangs, poorly built Vegas, odd Gremlins, and fire-prone Pintos. In this dire scenario, Chrysler was, among the big three, the closest to bankruptcy.
Lee Iacocca was the first non-family member to become president of Ford Motor Company, but his impressive career ended unexpectedly in 1978 when he was fired by Henry Ford II. This dismissal was often attributed to a clash of egos and personalities.
Shortly after, he quickly transitioned to become the chairman of Chrysler. He was widely credited with saving the company from bankruptcy by successfully persuading Congress in 1980 to approve federal loan guarantees of up to $1.5 billion, which was paid in full before the deadline.
Iacocca and his most successful creation, the Minivan.
Iacocca initiated a significant transformation at Chrysler, improving the company’s efficiency and introducing several new products that became huge commercial success. One of the most iconic vehicles from his era is the Chrysler/Dodge minivan, which set a trend that continued until the recent popularity of SUVs.
But before being a talented sales guy, Iacocca was a car guy, and he didn’t want Chrysler to become an automaker known only by minivans and boring economy cars. With the company out of the woods, he could afford the luxury of bringing back some of the old MOPAR glory as a performance brand.
In 1982, Carrol Shelby joined the MOPAR family with the daunting mission of re-establishing Dodge as the performance division of Chrysler Corporation, with whatever cars were available. But he would be working in a different scenario: no more screaming V8s and extravagant budgets to build race cars like he had when working for Ford in the 1960s.
The Charger is back.
Dodge had already started the job when the company brought back the iconic Charger nameplate as a spiced-up version of the Omni in the Summer of 1981 as a 1982 model.
The car was equipped with the biggest displacement engine in the Omni line-up, a 2.2 liter, 4-cylinder, producing a meager 94 HP. No, I will not compare it to the power output of a real Charger. I will resist the temptation.
The new Charger followed the FWD K-Car platform, which could be ordered with an automatic transmission or a 5-speed manual. It was only offered in the Coupe version, with cool graphics matching bright color options.
Shelby’s first assignment was to spice up the Charger a bit, bringing it to the VW Sirocco/Golf GTI field. In the newly created Chrysler Shelby California Development Center in Santa Fe Springs, California, the team bumped compression of the rather conservative single overhead cam and 8 valves engine to 9.6:1, added a slightly hotter camshaft, opened up the exhaust for better breathing, and retarded cam timing by four degrees to aid top-end performance. Power jumped to 107 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque, and with the aid of a close-ratio five-speed transmission, the Dodge Shelby Charger could run from 0-60 MPH (96.4 Km/h) in 9.0 seconds and a top speed of 117 MPH (188 Km/h). The quarter-mile went by in 16.8 seconds at 82 MPH (132 Km/h).
Since power (power?) is nothing without control, the car received a quick-ratio (14:1) power steering system, 50-series Goodyear Eagle GT radials on lightweight aluminum wheels, vented front disc brakes and larger diameter rear drum brakes. New stiffer struts/shocks and shorter springs were adopted, lowering the car suspension and eliminating much of the body roll of the regular Charger.
Closing the package, the Dodge Shelby Charger wore a bad ass body kit, and it came painted in exclusive shades of blue, red, and silver.
The Shelby Charger hit the showrooms in mid-1983, and Dodge sold 8,251 units in its first year. Not bad for a car with a high sticker price ($8,567 for the Shelby versus $6,513 for the base Charger).
Shelby insisted that his Charger should only come with a 5-speed manual transmission, but Dodge believed this choice was limiting sales. The following year, buyers were given the option of a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission. However, only 1,955 buyers chose this option, compared to 5,597 who opted for the 5-speed manual. This clearly demonstrated that the car had stabilish itself in a niche among true auto enthusiasts. As a result, the automatic transmission option was dropped after the 1984 model year.
Goes Like Hell.
The Shelby program wasn’t limited to the Charger; he also spiced up the Dodge Omni, which was (with the Plymouth Horizon) the MOPAR answer to the increasing demand for gas-sipping cars in the USA.
Released for the American market in 1978, the Omni/Horizon was a pioneer in many ways. It was the first (and only) world car designed by Chrysler and was the first front-wheel drive, transverse engine platform produced in the USA. The Omni project was born as a collaborative development between Chrysler Europe (Simca and Rootes), Volkswagen, and American Chrysler.
Shelby wanted to transform the little Omni into a pocket rocket. He gave the car the same improvements found in the Shelby Charger, including its 110 HP 2.2 L “high-output” engine, stiffer suspension, larger brakes, wider tires, and alloy wheels.
This little monster hit the streets in 1984, and it was an instant success among the gearheads. It was slightly faster than the Charger and had a European design that caught the Golf GTI owners off guard. The Shelby Omni was supposed to be christened Coyote, but Shelby decided the name should be Omni GLH – standing for Goes Like Hell.
The turbo era.
If there is one thing that car nuts will always remember from the 1980s, it is the beginning of the turbo era. Turbos were everywhere, from the Formula One and Group B rally machines to fire-spitting small sports cars on the streets.
The Shelby team decided to squeeze a few more ponies from the good old 2.2 liter engine with the addition of Chrysler/Bosch multi-point fuel injection and a Garrett AiResearch T3 turbocharger, pushing a maximum of 8 PSI of boost.
The hood bulge was an essential modification to accommodate the turbo setup.
Power jumped to 146 horsepower and 168 pound-feet of torque, which lowered the car’s 0-60 MPH (95.5 Km/h) time to 7.8 seconds while raising the top speed to 124 MPH. (202 Km/h). Externally, the changes were marked by a “power bulge” in the hood, necessary to provide clearance for the turbocharger. At the same time, another new livery, Black with silver striping, was added to the lineup.
Once again, the Shelby Omni received the same 2.2 Turbo engine, becoming a serious contender in the hot-hatch segment.
A successful partnership
1986 Dodge Shelby Daytona.
The Shelby/Dodge program proved to be a very successful enterprise. It was extended to a couple of other Dodge models like the Daytona and Shadow.
Despite achieving decent sales numbers, Dodge announced that the Shelby Omni and Shelby Charger would be discontinued in 1987. Although it was somewhat expected, Shelby felt disappointed as he was quite proud of the performance advancements he had made, particularly with the Omni GLH.
More power, please.
But when a door closes, a window opens; Shelby cut a deal with Chrysler to buy 500 Omni GLH, with the idea of improving the car’s performance even further. He brought the cars to Shelby Automobile Co. in Whittier, California, where the team installed a newly developed ECU and intake manifold, an air-to-air intercooler, and increased the boost from 7.6 to 12 PSI courtesy of a Garrett AiResearch T03 turbocharger. The power output jumped to 180 HP.
The power, which doesn’t seem much nowadays, was very respectful back then, especially for a car with a low curb weight of 2,200 lbs (~1,000 kgs). Keep in mind that this is 110 horses more than the original 1.7 liter Omni released in 1978. Shelby called this car Omni GLHS – Goes Like Hell and S‘ more.
Dealing with turbo engines can be quite addictive. It’s almost like magic: the more pressure you force into the engine, the more power you obtain, as long the engine can hold its bolts together. Fortunately, the Chrysler 2.2-liter engine has proven to handle the pressure exceptionally well. While there isn’t much information about its internal components, I suspect that the pistons and connecting rods were replaced with forged versions to enhance their durability.
The GLHS caused a commotion among the gearheads. It was the living proof that with some expertise, an econobox can be transformed into a sports car.
The iconic Hot Rod magazine published in the April 1986 edition, a track test comparing the modern Omni GLHS with the Shelby legend, the GT350. The cover gives away the results of the test, the little Dodge beat the “hell” out of the V8-powered beast in every situation imaginable.
The GLHS was an absolute pocket rocket; the car was so good that Shelby kept one for himself as his daily driver.
In 1987, Shelby unveiled the Charger GLHS, with similar modifications.
Rent-a-Rocket
In 1966, Hertz Rental Car and Shelby teamed up to create the “Rent-a- Racer” program, making it possible for the average customers to rent a Shelby GT350 (picture above).
In 1988, Thrifty Car Rental attempted to recreate the legend by ordering a few hundred Shelby Shadow CSX-T models, with the “T” representing Thrifty. These cars had the same 146 HP, 2.2 Turbo engine found in other Shelby/Dodge cars.
Like the original 1966 program, the Thrifty Shadow had its own paint livery, in this case, white and blue. The program was called “Rent-a-Rocket.”
A program in expansion.
Many Dodge cars of the 1980s shared similar platforms, making it easier to transform them into “Shelby version”. The Dodge Shelby Lancer (pictured above) is another example. The car was modified at the Shelby facility in 1987 and carried on by Dodge for the 1988 and 1989 production years, but with fewer performance parts.
In 1989, Shelby had the opportunity to revive his old “modus operandi” which was shoving a V8 engine in pretty much anything that crossed his path.
The Shelby Dakota, in its one year only production (1989), started with a short-wheelbase, short-bed, standard-cab, Sport package pickup. The original 125 HP – 3.9 L V6 was replaced by the EFI 318 cid small block V8, able to produce 175 HP and 270 ft-lbf of torque. The only transmission option was a 4-speed automatic, and the truck featured a 3.90:1 limited slip differential.
Motor Trend tested the Shelby Dakota when the truck was released, and the they clocked a 0-60 mph (97 km/h) time of 8.5 seconds and a quarter mile time of 15.6 seconds.
Total production was 1,500; 860 in red and 540 in white.
The end of the partnership
1991 was the year that Shelby and Dodge decided to part ways, ending an exciting partnership.
In the same year, Dodge assumed the sponsorship of the famous IROC (International Race Of Champions), and the company made available the Shelby Daytona for the participants. In its final run (1990/1991), the Shelby Daytona offered 2 new engine options, the 2.5 Chrysler turbo 4 and the Mitsubishi 3.0 liter naturally aspirated V6. The only difference for the IROC version was the decals.
For many of us, the 1980s was a decade of unremarkable cars. All the econoboxes produced during those years were a product of necessity, not passion. What Shelby created with Dodge might look silly compared to what he created in the 1960s, but then again, the 1980s was a rough time, and the automakers tried to give what their customers needed, not what they wanted.
All Shelby-Dodge creations effectively provided customers with more personalized economy cars, focusing not only on appearance but primarily on performance.
Note of Editor – Dodge Viper
It was during the “Shelby years” that the Chrysler President, Bob Lutz, came up with the idea of a “true” Dodge sports car, something like a modern Shelby Cobra. Encouraged by the success of the Dodge/Shelby cars, the development of the Viper began in 1987.
Carroll Shelby had limited involvement in the Viper program, mostly promoting and marketing the car. Although many view it as his final contribution to Dodge.
In the early 1930s, Rolex opened the doors of motorsports, paving the way for other Swiss watchmakers to form partnerships with drivers and racing teams.
Jo Siffert, surrounded by young fans. The Swiss driver was an enthusiastic Heuer ambassador in the 1960s and 70s.
During the 1960s and 1970s, which is often considered the golden age of auto racing, no watch brand was more prominent on racetracks around the globe than Heuer.
The romantic era of stopwatches.
Jack Heuer was a passionate motorsports enthusiast who was the company chairman during those years. Driven by his desire to see his watches thriving in this arena, Heuer began his journey by producing dashboard timers and stopwatches, such as the Master Time and Monte Carlo.
Navigators and pit crews appreciate their reliability, compactness, precision, and readability.
Heuer dominance in timekeeping systems in most sports events (not only auto/bike racing) was cemented with the release of the stopwatch chronograph series Autavia (AUTos + AVIAation) in the mid-1950s.
The romantic era of chronographs
The immense popularity of the Autavia stopwatches encouraged Heuer to release the Autavia wristwatch chronograph in 1962. It became one of the brand’s most popular race-inspired watches.
The partnership between Jack Heuer and the Swiss Formula 1 driver Jo Siffert (pictured above) was very productive. Siffer was a dedicated Heuer ambassador, and he personally convinced many of his fellow drivers to acquire the Heuer flagship chronograph, the Autavia ref 1163. During those years, 9 out of 10 F-One drivers wore an Autavia, and the company’s shield was already adorning a few Formula One cars and racing suits.
In 1969, Heuer developed Caliber 11, believed to be the first automatic chronograph mechanism in the world. The movement powered iconic Heuer racing watches, like the Carrera and Monaco.
Steven McQueen also helped to solidify Heuer’s presence in the minds of the race fans when he wore a Heuer Monaco chronograph in the legendary movie Le Mans. (Picture above)
Determining the first watch company to introduce the automatic chronograph mechanism can be challenging. Brands like Seiko, Breitling, Rolex, and Longines released their own movements around the same time. It is believed that Heuer’s popularity on the race track helped to assume the company was the first, but it is not certain.
The birth of modern timekeeping.
1971 Italian Grand Prix – Monza
At this point, Jackie Stewart is the leading driver in the championship, driving the Tyrrell Ford 003, but the fast-paced Monza circuit is the perfect environment for the V-12 cars to stretch their muscles.
Jacky Ickx at the wheel of his V-12-powered Ferrari 312B2.
At the end of the qualifying day, the Italian officials quickly appointed the Ferrari driver, Jacky Ickx, as the fastest and the pole position for the next day’s race. The fans that packed the stands went wild when the results were announced.
However, a French lady was ready to rain on the Tifosi’s parade. Michele Dubosc, the official timekeeper for the Matra racing team, questioned the figures provided by the Italians.
Michele Dubosc, the Queen of Time, in action. This picture was taken when she worked for the Ligier-Gitanes Team circa 1980s.
Dubosc is recognized as the first professional timekeeper in Formula One, and she earned the nickname “The Queen of Time” for her determination and precision. She was also an amateur race driver and rally navigator.
Chris Amon
Using Dubosc’s records of the qualifying day, the Matra team protested the suspicious Italian numbers. Her notoriety for accuracy was such that the event organizers had to yield, and Matra’s Chris Amon (driving another V-12 car) rightfully took his place at the front of the grid.
This is arguably the most famous account in Formula One, where race officials were caught cheating with timing, but definitely, it was neither the first nor last time it happened. Motorsports needed an automated timekeeping system, a machine that could operate independently without much interference from human beings.
The Centigraph
In 1971, Jack Heuer signed a deal with Enzo Ferrari, becoming one of the main sponsors of the Scuderia. This deal would drive the Swiss watchmaker far beyond just supplying watches for the drivers and stickers for the cars. Heuer was assigned to develop a timekeeping system for the brand’s famous Fiorano test track. Additionally, the brand developed the Le Mans Centigraph. This revolutionary quartz-controlled timing instrument could record times up to 1/10, 1/100, and 1/1000 of a second. That was the beginning of the modern racing telemetry.
Jack Heuer and Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari’s decision to provide the Scuderia with its own timing equipment was inspired not by Formula 1 but by the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Il Commendatore had reservations about the reliability of the French timekeepers. Jack Heuer was willing to assist but asked for exposure on Ferrari’s Formula 1 cars in return, as the notoriously frugal Mr. Ferrari indicated that he could not afford to pay cash for the timing equipment.
However, the romantic image of a crew member with a mechanical stopwatch in one hand and a lap chart in the other was very much alive until the 1980s. Still, Heuer had driven the motorsports universe into the digital era.
Jack Heuer with the Ferrari drivers Niki Lauda and Clay Ragazzoni, 1974.
The partnership between Heuer and Ferrari lasted until 1979. During this time, the Swiss brand became synonymous with motorsports.
Heuer became the official timekeeper for Formula 1 in 1974 when it introduced the Automatic Car Identification Timing System (ACIT). The principles of this system are still in use today: each car is equipped with a tiny transponder that sends a signal to a receiver at the finish line, enabling each car to be identified and timed to 1/100th of a second.
Ironically, the same digital revolution that modernized timekeeping in motorsport also brought the traditional watch industry to the brink of extinction. Companies like Casio flooded the market with dirt-cheap digital/quartz watches, taking a massive chunk of the business away from the Swiss watchmakers. Heuer’s time system was utilized throughout the 1970s. Unfortunately, financial difficulties forced the company to sell it to Longines, which, along with Olivetti, served as the official timer for most of the 1980s.
The TAG Heuer.
In 1985, Heuer was acquired by TAG – Techniques d’Avant Garde – a Luxembourg-based holding company with interests in technology, aviation, and finance. The new owner had some ambitious plans for the troubled Swiss brand. They wanted to expand the company’s product line and also increase its technological reach.
TAG also signed a very successful deal with the McLaren F1 team. From this partnership was born the McLaren MP4/2 TAG Porsche, the car that dominated the 1984 F One season, winning 12 out of 16 races and giving Nicky Lauda his third world title.
TAG Heuer was a strong presence during those magical years of Senna/McLaren dominance, making this partnership as iconic as the former one with Ferrari.
In 1999, TAG Group sold its watch division to the luxury goods giant LVMH for approximately £452 million. The foundation laid by Heuer in motorsports is so significant that the company has embraced it as the primary inspiration for its products. In the 1990s, TAG Heuer began reissuing some of its most iconic racing watches, including Carrera, Monaco, Autavia, Monza, and Silverstone.
In 2015, the company released a special edition of the Carrera, celebrating McLaren’s 50th anniversary with the Calibre 1887 movement (picture above). In the same year, the partnership between the two companies came to an end.
In 2016, TAG Heuer signed a deal to become a Red Bull sponsor. During the time the two brands have been working together, Max Verstappen won 4 world titles.
The “official” timekeepers.
The consistent rotation of watch companies as the official Formula One timekeeper seems to be a “gentleman agreement” among them.
Longines was deeply involved in F-One during the 1980s and also had notable connections with Ferrari. The image above features Canadian legend Gilles Villeneuve around 1980.
In more recent years, Longines held the responsibility from 1982 to 1991. TAG Heuer resumed operations from 1992 until 2003.
Much less glamorous electronic companies like Siemens and LG assumed the duties from 2004 to 2012. After that, Rolex took over from 2013 until 2024.
LVMH, the company that owns TAG Heuer, paid $150 million to once again make the Swiss watchmaker the official timekeeper for Formula One. It seems to be a reasonable price to pay now that the sport is becoming increasingly popular among fans worldwide. It is a step that will reinforce the company’s position as the most traditional watchmaker in motorsport history.
Note of the editor:
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the (TAG) Heuer Carrera, the company invited its actual ambassador, the Canadian-born actor Ryan Gosling, to star in the short film The Chase for Carrera. The production also features Vanessa Bayer and David Leitch. If you like Gosling, comedy, and Porsche, you should definitely watch it.
It is an understatement to say that the worlds of motorsports and timekeeping are intrinsically connected; after all, drivers must first beat the clock before facing each other on the race track.
Since the dawn of the sport, watchmakers have established partnerships with teams and organizers, supplying watches and chronographs in exchange for publicity.
Sir Malcolm Campbell
The Swiss Rolex was the first watchmaker involved in motorsport as early as the 1930s. The company recognized a valuable opportunity to associate its brand with adventurous drivers, such as Sir Malcolm Campbell.
It was an opportunity that basically knocked on Rolex’s doors. After setting numerous speed records at Daytona Beach during the 1930s, Campbell wrote a letter to Rolex, expressing his admiration for the watch’s performance.
Campbell praised the Rolex Oyster for its accuracy and durability, particularly under the challenging conditions of his record-breaking runs.
Sir Malcolm and his 1931 Napier Blue Bird.
Sir Malcolm Campbell was a British aristocrat committed to stabilish the United Kingdom as the leading country in the land speed record world challenge, even if most of his achievements were accomplished in the USA. On September 4, 1935, while driving his Bluebird, Campbell set a new land-speed record of 301.337 miles per hour (484.955 km/h) at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
The Bluebird was a series of specially designed vehicles powered by aeronautical engines. The last model, the 1935 Campbell-Railton Blue Bird (shown above), is equipped with a 37.6-liter, supercharged V12 Rolls-Royce aero engine, capable of producing 2,300 horsepower.
The 2021 Rolex Daytona Meteorite. The dial is made of a slice of iron meteorite… How cool is that?
Sir Malcolm Campbell became a global celebrity and a dedicated ambassador for Rolex. This partnership significantly boosted the popularity of the Swiss watchmaker. One of the most lasting outcomes of this collaboration is the iconic Rolex Daytona chronograph series, which was created as a tribute to Daytona Beach, the sacred grounds of speed where Sir Malcolm set most of his records.
Formula One
In 2013, Rolex became the official timepiece and Global Partner of Formula 1. Since then, the Swiss brand has supported the sport by contributing to its technological development, honoring its history, and celebrating its drivers. This long-standing partnership has made Rolex synonymous with Formula One, providing the company with exceptional visibility among fans worldwide.
In a surprising turn of events, Rolex ended its partnership with the F-One circus in 2024. Initially, the company paid $10 million annually, a figure that escalated to an astonishing $50 million per Formula 1 season. This is a significant amount of money, even for the world’s most prestigious luxury watch brand.
TAG Heuer won the bid against its long-time rival, Rolex. The conglomerate LVMH, which owns Heuer, paid the impressive sum of $150 million to reintroduce TAG Heuer to the Formula One arena.
Sports Prototype
The most prestigious race in the IMSA calendar is the Rolex Daytona 24.
Rolex is out of Formula One, but the brand still has deep roots in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA.
Since 1992, Rolex has been the title sponsor of IMSA, but it has announced it will expand its partnership in 2025 as its official timepiece. The news came shortly after Rolex decided to exit Formula 1.
Since 2001, Rolex has been the official timekeeper of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Every year since, the race winners receive a specially engraved Rolex Daytona as a gift. (pictured above)
In 2023, motorsport fans from all over the world celebrated the Centennial edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Rolex is one of the few brands that rarely releases limited or commemorative edition watches. However, the company made an exception to honor this historical event by releasing a special edition of the Daytona “Le Mans” Chronograph, the 126529LN.
The watch (pictured above) became highly sought after by collectors, easily reaching prices of around US$350,000 at auctions.
It might sound contradictory to name a watch after two different racing venues. Still, it is a matter of tradition and celebration of the alliance between the two most celebrated long-duration races worldwide.
The “Le Mans Chicane”.
The connections between these two iconic racing events go far beyond this special edition Rolex. In 2022, the governing bodies of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona announced a joint renaming of two key chicanes. The bus stop chicane on the backstretch of Daytona was renamed the Le Mans chicane, while the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight at Circuit de la Sarthe is now called the Daytona chicane. This permanent renaming of significant corners at important racetracks formally acknowledges the importance of the upcoming alliance between these two prestigious races.
Conclusion
For almost a century, Rolex watches have been the choice of many legendary race drivers, starting with the fearless Sir Malcolm Campbell.
A.J. Foyt.
Paul Newman.
And Lewis Hamilton, to name a few.
Rolex will not sponsor Formula One for at least the next 10 years. However, this change is not significant. The brand was the pioneering watchmaker in motorsports, and even after all these years, it continues to maintain a strong presence at racetracks around the world.
Louis Armand de Lom d’Arce, French aristocrat, writer, and explorer who served in the French military in Canada, once said: “To survive the Canadian winter, one needs a body of brass, eyes of glass, and blood of brandy.“
Well, Monsieur Louis Armand was absolutely right: winter in Canada is brutal, but when my wife and I moved here from Brazil in 2015, what scared me the most was not the prospect of dying of hypothermia; it was how we would manage driving a car in such cold environment. How does a vehicle start at -25 Celsius? Or how can we drive on icy roads?
Operating a car in the Canadian winter isn’t as difficult as it might seem. A block heater (or oil pan heater) and a reliable battery are usually sufficient to start the car on a cold morning. Additionally, modern vehicles are equipped with advanced electronics that play a key role in ensuring the engine operates smoothly in cold weather.
As for driving the car, if it is equipped with a good set of winter tires, it will be mostly OK.
In 2015, we decided to come to Winnipeg, a lovely little town in the Prairies, the so-called “The Winter Capital of Canada.” It is also known as “Windypeg” or “Winterpeg. ” Well, you got the idea; it is darn cold over there.
The winter of 2017 was particularly harsh. One December morning, which I believe was during the coldest week of that winter, I approached my trusty 2003 Nissan Altima to unplug the block heater. That’s when I noticed the right front tire was low—not flat, just low. At first, I panicked; I didn’t want to change the tire in -28°C (-18.4 F) weather.
However, I realized ( or hoped for) that it could have enough air to drive to the nearest gas station. My plan was to fill it up there and then head to work. If I was lucky enough to make it, I could then bring the car into the shop where I work and deal with the problem in a much more manageable temperature.
Before reaching the gas station, I realized it couldn’t go any further without damaging the tire. I left Portage Ave, which is pretty busy, and I pulled over at a parking lot in the back of a commercial building.
The parking lot was nearly empty, so I had a peaceful spot to do the job. By the time I was lifting the car, a lady came to me walking from the building:
Lady: “Hello, you got a flat tire. Are you going to call someone to change it for you?”
Me: “No, I think I can manage it all right.
Lady: “OK, then. But if you feel unwell, you can come inside; we have hot coffee and tea. You can come and warm yourself up if you wish.”
I found it very nice and considerate.
ME: “Thank you so much.“
Lady: “Because you know…” (laughing nervously) “We don’t want you to die here.”
Then she pointed to a sign above the entrance door: Canadian Red Cross.
1111 Portage Ave. Winnipeg. That was the address of the Canadian Red Cross, where I parked my car (in the back of the building). The site is now vacant.
Me: “Oh, I see.” “That would be ironic.“
Lady: “No, no… That would be embarrassing.”
She rushed back into the building when she realized I was committed to changing the dam tire. I finished the job as quickly as possible, and surprisingly, it went smoothly. I thought of accepting a cup of coffee, but I was running so late for work that I decided not to.
On my way to work, I could not stop laughing, thinking about the newspaper headlines that, thank God, didn’t happen.
“Man Dies of Hypothermia on the Canadian Red Cross Parking Lot.“
The 2024 Formula One season has concluded, and I would like to share a few brief thoughts on it. First, I want to clarify that I am not delving into deep analysis, as I follow the sport more superficially. Additionally, I will be writing from the perspective of a South American fan.
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen has secured his well-deserved fourth consecutive championship. There is no doubt that he is the best driver of the pack. If Red Bull can maintain its consistency—not just with the car, but also with the overall performance of the team—he is the favorite to win yet another title next season.
This year’s title fight was very different from Red Bull’s extraordinary dominance in 2023. Having more teams competing for the championship is exactly what fans want to see, as dominance can be quite boring.
Max was unbeatable when driving a fast car, and even when his machine was not performing well, he was still fighting among the top-scoring drivers.
Sergio Pérez
Max’s teammate, the Mexican driver Sergio Pérez, had secured a 2-year extension contract with Red Bull, but unfortunately, the team bosses said a younger talent might replace him.
I first heard of Sergio Pérez when he won Bahrain’s 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. He started in the last position and claimed victory in a chaotic and unpredictable race. This win marked the first victory of his 10-year Formula One career at the time. I have been rooting for the guy since he is one of the few Latino drivers who made it to the top class in motorsport in recent years. However, Pérez has had a disappointing performance this year, and understandably, this is the kind of image that Red Bull wants to distance itself from.
Artistic rendition of the future Cadillac F-One car.
Checo, as he is commonly known, is 34 years old, and at this age, it can be challenging to secure a position with a competitive team. However, there are rumors that he will be joining the Cadillac team in 2026. An experienced and popular Mexican driver on an all-American team could be advantageous.
Lewis Hamilton
A move that has generated considerable attention in recent months is Lewis Hamilton’s transfer to Ferrari. With seven world championships under his belt, he is regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all time. However, some argue that his success in the 2010s was largely due to the advantages of driving an unbeatable car. They suggest that when Mercedes-Benz was no longer able to supply the fastest machine, Hamilton lost his edge.
In 2024, he was outperformed by his teammate George Russell in 19 out of 24 qualifying sessions; the situation was so embarrassing that he said about himself: “I am no longer a fast driver.” The idea here is not to stir up a discussion about how good Sir Lewis Hamilton still is or if Ferrari’s decision to hire him instead of a younger talent was the right move or not; only time will tell.
Hamilton has a special connection with my home country, Brazil. He says that when he was 5 years old, he saw Airton Senna on the TV, which inspired him to become a world champion. In 2022, he became an honorary Brazilian citizen.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Senna’s death, Hamilton drove the 1990 title-winning McLaren MP4/5B around Interlagos before the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix. This emotional tribute brought tears to the eyes of many fans in attendance at the racetrack that day.
Mercedes-Benz hired rookie Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton’s replacement. In a lackluster performance, the 18-year-old Italian driver finished the 2024 Formula Two season in 6th place.
McLaren
I don’t remember the last time we had four teams closely competing for the world title like we did in 2024. More impressive than this was McLaren’s meteoric rise from obscurity to glory in such a short period.
Watching McLaren fall into irrelevance over the past few years has been painful. After all, this is the second most traditional Formula One team, only behind Ferrari. Drivers like Emerson Fittipaldi, Ayrton Senna, James Hunt, Mika Häkkinen, Niki Lauda, and Lewis Hamilton became world champions driving for McLaren (and I may be forgetting a few others).
The turnaround started when Andrea Stela was appointed Team Principal by the end of the 2022 season, and Oscar Piastri replaced Ricciardo. The engineers presented the first competitive McLaren in 2023, the MCL60, celebrating the team’s 60th anniversary. But it was only after a series of improvements on the 2024 car that proved to be effective.
Many advancements, particularly in aerodynamics, are attributed to the new, state-of-the-art McLaren wind tunnel. The team began modernization efforts in 2019, and the facility became fully operational in 2024. For a decade, McLaren rented the Toyota Gazoo wind tunnel, located over 300 kilometers away in Cologne, Germany. In addition to the logistical challenges, the Toyota facility is 25 years old and nearing the end of its useful life. Having an in-house, modern wind tunnel greatly facilitated the work of the technical team in providing aerodynamic improvements for the cars.
The fight for the 2024 Constructor Championship stretched to the season’s last race in Abu Dhabi. Lando Norris led the race from start to finish, securing the title for McLaren, the first one since 1998.
A new hope for the Brazilian fans.
In 2025, fans in South America are once again filled with excitement (and some fans around the world, too); for the first time in 7 years, a Brazilian driver will be competing in Formula One as a full-time driver. Gabriel Bortoleto was hired by Sauber to be the team’s second driver.
Bortoleto arrived at Formula One with an impressive resume; he is the first driver since Oscar Piastri to win both the Formula 3 and Formula 2 Drivers’ titles in consecutive seasons as a rookie. He joins the ranks of notable drivers like Charles Leclerc and George Russell, who have also achieved this remarkable feat.
Felipe Massa, in 2017, his last year as an F-One driver.
The last time we saw a Brazilian driver winning the World Championship was in 1991 when Senna won his third title. After that, Felipe Massa came really close to clinching the title in 2008, but unfortunately, he was the victim of a shady scheme perpetrated by Renault, and he saw his dream going down the drain. This subject deserves a post here at TCM, but not today.
Bortoleto has big shoes to fill, but I hope this pressure won’t impact his performance. We are optimistic that the young Brazilian will have a fantastic 2025 season, which will help secure his place for 2026 when Sauber transitions to the Audi F-One team.
In 2022, Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group, announced they would join F1 as a power unit supplier when new regulations featuring increased electrical power and 100% sustainable fuels are introduced in two years.
The Germans initially planned to partner with Sauber, one of the longest-standing teams in Formula 1, intending to acquire a stake in the Sauber Group. However, they have since decided to proceed with a complete business takeover. As a result, 2025 will likely be the last year the team competes under the Sauber name before becoming the official Audi Formula One team.
After Ayrton Senna passed away in 1994, I lost interest in Formula One. I shifted my focus to drag racing, rally racing, and the World Endurance Championship (WEC). However, my enjoyment of watching the greatest motorsport class is slowly returning. The 2024 season was thrilling, and I hope next year will be even better.
During the time I worked as a parts guy for two different restoration shops in Brazil, I had the opportunity to attend quite a few classic car meetings. Although I have nice memories (and some pictures too) of all of them, there is one I consider special.
It was the last meeting I attended before leaving Brazil for Canada. It took place from November 14 to 16, 2014. It’s hard to believe that ten years have already passed.
The 23rd edition of the “Encontro Sul Brasileiro de Veículos Antigos” took place this year. This traditional event is held annually in various cities within the three southern states of Brazil: Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul.
That year, the meeting happened in my hometown, Curitiba, which made the logistics of bringing the cars way easier.
The organizer chose the city’s race track to host the event. That was a wise choice since it had a massive parking lot and a huge area around the pits.
The boss decided to bring the Crème de la crème of his collection:
(2) 1937 Cord 812 Phaenton Supercharger
1939 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe V12
1937 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe V12
1947 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe Street Rod
1929 Cord L29 Brougham
As we progress through the pictures, I will identify them all.
The work started picking up some of the cars that were in the City’s Automotive Museum.
This is Marques, our official town truck driver, loading up the 37 Zephyr. He is a super nice guy, always ready to go the extra mile.
Here, one of the Cord 812s is ready for the short trip to the meeting.
The operation to deliver the cars to the show started on Thursday. As soon as we arrived, we found this unmolested, unrestored 1956 Hemi-powered Chrysler 300.
I was so enamored with the car that I took too many pictures.
This is one of the top pics of the boss’s collection, a beautifully restored 1939 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe, powered by a V12 Flathead.
The whole Powertech’s team agrees; the 39 Zephyr is one of the highlights of its collection.
The picture above shows it alongside another car we brought, a 1947 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe powered by a 1960s Cadillac V8 engine. I drove the 47 from Powertech headquarters to the show, and I loved it; it drives like a dream. It is a shame I don’t have more pictures of the car.
A gorgeous 1950 Jaguar XK120 Coupe, ready for an upcoming classic car rally.
The car below is a 1967 GT Malzoni, an excellent example of the ingenuity of the early days of the Brazilian auto industry.
It is a small, fiberglass body GT car built on a DKW platform (the company that originated Audi). The car is powered by a 2 stroke, 1-liter, three-cylinder DKW engine.
A stunning 1974 Brazilian-built Ford Maverick GT in Grabber Blue, powered by a 302 small block V8, paired with a 4-speed manual transmission.
A race-ready DKW.A beautiful 1967 first-generation Dodge Charger. DKW Vemag.
This is an ultra-rare VW-powered truck called a Tempo Matador, built-in 1951 by a Hamburg, Germany-based company called Vidal and Sohn. These trucks were produced from 1949 through 1951 and used the 1100cc, 25 HP, air-cooled VW powerplant, and a ZF non-synchro 4-speed transmission. But the placement of the drivetrain is in the front, making it a front wheel drive vehicle. They were built in a truck and a van format, and only about 1300 were produced in total, with roughly less than ten known to exist today… making it a very rare machine. (Source: Old Bug.com)
A spiced-up Mercury Flathead engine powers this 1951 Ford.
A supercharged small block powered Ford Maverick.
The Ford Maverick was manufactured in Brazil from 1973 to 1979. Although it had a short and unsuccessful production run, by the mid-2020s, the car had become highly collectible, with prices soaring. Today, the Maverick receives all the love that it never experienced during its production period. Here you can find more details about the Brazilian Maverick: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/international/cc-global-brazilian-maverick-from-deception-to-passion/
This is a rare sight: a Ford Maverick Station Wagon. This vehicle was produced in limited numbers by a major Ford dealership in São Paulo during the 1970s. The roof and C-pillar were sourced from the Chevy Caravan, which was one of the Maverick’s competitors in Brazil.
Two of the Powertech’s Zephyrs, the 1937 on the left and the 1939 on the right.The Powertech’s Cords at the center stage.
Hot Rods
A classic car show is not complete without hot rods.
This is a very interesting 1929 Ford T-Bucket built and owned by a traditional garage in Curitiba, “NENE Hot Rods” https://www.nenehotrod.com.br/
They wanted to move away from the traditional Chevy small block for their powerplant. Nene himself, the guy in the blue shirt pictured above, selected an early 1950s Mopar flathead inline-six engine fed by a trio of Stromberg carburetors.
The final result is nothing short of stunning.
An Alfa Romeo, a Chevy, and a Ford, representing the early years of the Brazilian truck industry.
That’s me drying the dew off the Zephyr.
As happy as one can be at work.
The box area of the race track was reserved for the vendors.
There, you could find rare parts, memorabilia, clothing, and even an old Indian motorcycle for sale.
And a 1967 convertible Mustang.
But the Jeep was not for sale.
To serve and protect.
Powertech’s chief mechanic was selling this fantastic 1965 Impala SS. If I had the money, I would have taken this baby home.
The Cord 812 Supercharger
That year, our boss was committed to winning the Best Car of the Show trophy and brought his collection’s heavy hitters. The Lincolns are undeniably beautiful, but the show’s stars were the Cords.
The 1937 Cord 812 is a very interesting car. It has some features that put it years ahead of its time.
The Cord Corporation was a holding that owned several transportation-related companies, including Stinson Aircrafts and Lycoming Aeronautical Engines.
The 812 features links to the aircraft industry, including hidden headlights that reflect a strong emphasis on aerodynamic design.
A beautiful shot of the two Cords 812, side by side. The car became a popular choice among Hollywood stars in the 1930s.
The 1937 Cord 812 is the most advanced car produced by the Auburn-Cord Company, but unfortunately, this year also signifies the end of the company’s operations. Like many smaller American car manufacturers, it didn’t survive the challenges posed by the Great Depression that affected the USA and the world in the late 1920s.
The 812 is a front-wheel drive car with an interesting powertrain configuration- transmission, and the front axle sits in front of the engine, which is mounted backward on the chassis.
The car is powered by a 4.7 liter, Lycoming Flathead V8, equipped with a supercharger, and power is rated at 170 HP. To avoid overheating (a common problem among Ford V8 Flatheads), the exhaust manifolds are placed on top of the engine.
The transmission is operated electrically through a system called pre-selection. The driver must first move the shifter to select the desired gear, then press the clutch to engage the system.
The proud Powertech team, representing the company at the meeting. Yours truly on the left and my coworker and good friend Paulo Kuelo.
The Cord L-29
The 812 may be the coolest Cord ever made, but the L-29 is much rarer.
Woodlight headlamps are beautiful and weird at the same time—one more inspiration from the aircraft design.
The car is powered by a Flathead in-line 8 engine.
It is also a front-wheel drive car.
Here we are again, at the end of the event’s second day – Saturday, November 15, 2014.
On Sunday afternoon, we anxiously waited for the judges to announce the event winner; sure enough, it was the 1929 Cord L-29. After that, we began the long process of getting the cars back home.
This is Paulo Kuelo, celebrating another successful event.
Sometimes, I find myself going through (digital) stacks of photographs taken during the most thrilling period of my professional life. As the years go by, I feel a strong urge to write about those experiences before the details get lost in the fog of my memory. If you’ve reached this point, I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey down memory lane.
If you follow this blog, you probably have noticed that I love motorsports. I can spend hours watching all kinds of races on TV, but I am not a big fan of NASCAR. First, I don’t like watching races on oval tracks in general, but what disgusts me the most is how they encourage drivers to play dirty on the track, which inevitably leads to fistfights or any other deplorable behaviour by the drivers.
However, I do admire the cars themselves. The big American cars powered by the old-school pushrod V8 are fantastic. The new generation of machines is even better; the design has moved away from the awkwardness of the big sedans and has become closer to a genuine sports car.
NASCAR is the most popular form of motorsport in the USA. The list of things I despise about it is the very things that make thousands of fans go to the races every weekend. People want to see more than racing; they want to be entertained. From its beginning, deeply rooted in unlawful bootlegging in the 1920s and 1930s, to the unfair driving methods of the modern drivers, the good ol’ boys of NASCAR always provided good and controversial entertainment.
But the colourful behaviour of NASCAR is not limited to what I listed here; there was a time when cheating became rampant, and teams played a game of cat and mouse with race officials.
“YOU DONT RACE CARS; YOU RACE THE RULE BOOK.” – Smokey Yunick.
During the 1960s, NASCAR builders devised clever ways to cheat the rule book; the idea was simple: make the car lighter and faster, even if it meant bending the rules. Everything was considered fair game, as long as you weren’t caught.
Some tricks indeed resemble the kind of stuff that would come out of Wili E. Coyote’s mind. These are some of the wild examples: using lightweight wood to build the roll cage and then painting it to look like steel, helmets and radios made out of solid lead, and casually left them in the car when they went onto the scales, filling the cars’ frame rails with shotgun pellets that could be dumped during the race through a secret hatch, and even frozen springs that would lower the vehicle below the legal height as they warmed up.
The master illusionist
In the eyes of the fans, these “talented” builders were heroes. More than bending the rules to get faster cars, they were using creativity “to fight the establishment,” keeping the outlaw spirit of NASCAR alive.
Among those builders, there is one name that reached the status of legend. One guy whose creativity in creating his own rules made him larger than life; Smokey Yunick.
Henry “Smokey” Yunick was born on May 25, 1923. He was the son of Ukrainian immigrants who owned a farm in Neshaminy Falls, Pennsylvania. At the age of 16, he dropped out of school to run the farm full-time. It was during this period that Yunick demonstrated his mechanical talent by improvising solutions for broken farm equipment and even building a tractor out of a junk pickup truck.
During his spare time, he built and raced motorcycles, earning his nickname due to the smoke produced by his bikes.
Yunick’s military service during WWII is a mystery; it is a point where legend and reality collide. According to a New York Times article, Yunick enlisted in the US Air Corps in 1941 and served as a bomber pilot with the 97th Bombardment Group, based at Amendola Airfield, Italy. He flew a B-17 named “Smokey and his Firemen” and survived nothing less than 50 missions over occupied Nazi Europe before being transferred to the Pacific theatre. This outstanding military resume would be enough to elevate the guy as legendary; the only problem is, according to official military records, Yunick was drafted from civilian life as a welder in January 1943, at the age of 19, in Philadelphia at the enlisted rank of Private. He served on active duty from February 1944 to March 1946, when he left the Air Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant.
The Best Dam Garage in Town.
In 1947, Yunick opened a repair shop named Smockey’s BestDamn Garage in Town at 957 N. Beach St, in Daytona Beach, Florida. His reputation as a good mechanic spread quickly around town, and Marshall Teague, a local stock car team owner, invited him to be part of the team.
In 1951, Yunick faced his baptism of fire when he prepared a Hudson Hornet for Herb Thomas (picture above) to compete in the second edition of the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina. Thomas, who is considered to be the first NASCAR superstar, won the race, propelling himself and The Best Damn Garage in Town to popularity.
F-Indy
The Reverse Torque Special
Smokey made NASCAR his home, but his ingenuity also found its way to Formula Indy. In 1959, he created a car with a reversed engine rotation that, theoretically, would improve the weight distribution when turning left on race tracks.
The idea is quite simple: most automotive engines rotate counterclockwise as viewed from the flywheel, and the torque vector points to the right side of the car (if it is a longitudinally mounted engine, of course). If we could make the motor rotate in the opposite direction, the torque would “pull” the car’s weight to the left, improving load distribution for the left-hand only turns of American oval tracks.”
Smokey called his creation The Reverse Torque Special, which was a Kurtis-Kraft 500H powered by an Offenhauser 4-cylinder engine, spinning in the opposite direction.
Veteran Duane Carter had no trouble qualifying the car 12th and finished 7th in the 1959 edition of the Indy 500. Even if the car had a respectable performance during the race, it wasn’t enough to prove that the engine rotation is, in fact, critical to influencing the car’s behavior on race tracks.
The Capsule Indy Car
Smokey’s creative mind never rested. In 1964, he created a genuinely innovative Indy machine, the CapsuleCar. Once again, Yunick was trying to relocate some of the car’s loads (in this case, the driver) to the left.
The team failed to qualify for the 1964 Indy 500, and Yunick abandoned the idea of improving the car. It now resides in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum, where it is often on display.
In the 1950s, Yunick was heavily involved with Hudson, the only American automaker that initially took NASCAR seriously. Due to the rising popularity of stock car racing in the South, by the early 1960s, all the other automakers began to join the trend.
In the 1960s, controversial hot rodders like Smokey Yunick and Carroll Shelby earned the respect of the Big Three automakers—Ford, GM, and Chrysler—through their innovative “shade tree engineering.” The CEOs had to acknowledge that these experts knew how to squeeze power and speed from their vehicles better than anyone else. To succeed in racing, the automakers realized they needed to collaborate with them.
They never said I couldn’t. -Smoke Yunick-
Smokey Yunick with the 1955 NASCAR Cup Oldsmobile Rocket 88 owned by Ernest Woods and driven by Jim Paschal.
There are quite a few stories about Yunick’s cheating techniques. The NASCAR officials used to joke about it, saying that the rule book has a dedication to Smokey on its first page.
Smokey worked for various automakers during his years in NASCAR. He raced Chevrolets in 1955 and 1956, Fords in 1957 and 1958, and Pontiacs from 1959 through 1963.
After leaving Pontiac, Yunick renewed his partnership with Chevrolet. At this point, GM didn’t want to have a works NASCAR team, and The Best Damn Garage in Town became the “unofficially official” Chevy team. Does that sound sketchy? You bet. But those years became, perhaps, the most colorful period in his career. Some of his achievements are memorable, but they gravitate between reality and fantasy.
Smokey’s most famous story happened during the 1968 Daytona 500. He brought his highly modified Chevy Chevelle for the technical inspection, and race officials went over every inch of the car looking for violations. They even took out the fuel tank to inspect it!
Smokey received a list of nine violations that needed to be corrected before the car could be raced. “You’d better make it ten,” Smokey said before jumping into the car and driving off, leaving his fuel tank still lying on the ground!
The trick here is simple: regulations specify a maximum capacity for the fuel tank, but they don’t say anything about the fuel lines. Smokey built an 11-foot (3-meter) coil of 2-inch (5-centimeter) diameter tubing for the fuel line and voilà; he just added about 5 US gallons (18. liters) to the car’s fuel capacity. Years later, Yunick declared that this episode had never happened; it was just a story that became folklore, although some people swear they had seen it happen.
Honey, I shrunk the Chevelle.
One famous episode in Smokey Yunick’s career is steeped in fantasy and can be recounted in various ways, depending on the storyteller. Some claim that Smokey built a scaled-down version of a Chevelle, measuring either 7/8 or 15/16 of the actual car’s size. While race officials noticed something unusual about it, they couldn’t pinpoint the exact issue. The car successfully passed technical inspection and, benefiting from reduced aerodynamic drag, dominated the NASCAR season in 1967. Although this makes for an entertaining story to share with friends at parties, it is simply not true.
But what Yunick did on this particular Chevelle is nothing short of amazing.
This was a 1966 Chevelle (although Smokey called it 1967) that was part of 3 cars developed in partnership with Chevrolet. Yunick improved the aerodynamics with intelligent solutions, like narrowing the bumpers, lowering the roof, raising the floor, repositioning the bumpers close to the fenders, flattening and smoothing the floorpans to act as bellypans, and covering every opening to minimize air drag.
Yunick’s tricks worked wonderfully, and during tests, the #13 Chevelle was way faster than the competition. Even if the car retained the factory’s original dimensions, as the picture above shows, the extensive modifications led to its disqualification.
Trans Am Camaro.
When Chevy released the Camaro in 1967, Yunick was in charge of developing it for the “Pony Car War,” which was fought in the Trans Am class. Not only was the livery of the famous #13 Chevelle adopted, but more importantly, all the aerodynamic enhancements as well. Smokey took the Camaro to the salt flats in Bonneville and broke several class records over there.
Not a cheater, but a developer.
Of course, not everyone saw Smokey as a hero. “Smokey was the worst or best, I’m not sure what you’d call it,” said Ray Fox, who drove stock cars in the 1950s and was later a car owner and a NASCAR official. “He was always trying to get away with something. I think Smokey had the idea [that] if you could have four things wrong and get one through, that was good.
Gradually, NASCAR relaxed its rules, and Yunick’s ideas, especially in the field of aerodynamics, became the norm, helping to make NASCAR what it is today.
Yunick also contributed immensely to the development of high-performance versions of the venerable Chevy small-block V8. All those tricks were extensively used not only by General Motors but also by the high-performance parts industry.
A mechanical genius
Smokey applied his mechanical creativity not just in competition, but also in everyday situations.
He wrote a column, “Say, Smokey,” for Popular Science Magazine in the 1960s and 1970s. In it, he responded to letters from readers regarding mechanical conditions affecting their cars and technical questions about performance. He also wrote for Circle Track magazine.
Smokey held several U.S. patents, including variable ratio power steering, the extended tip spark plug, and reverse flow cooling systems. In 1961, he also developed air jacks for stock cars, but NASCAR wouldn’t allow their use.
The revolutionary Fiero
Smokey spent years developing the “Hot Vapor Engine,” in which the fuel is heated up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius) before entering the engine. Theoretically, the gasoline would reach the combustion chamber completely vaporized, allowing it to fill it up more efficiently.
In 1987, Yunick modified a stock, 4-cylinder Pontiac Fiero, achieving impressive results. The sturdy yet outdated 151-cubic-inch (2.5-liter) Iron Duke 4-cylinder engine now delivers over 50 miles per gallon, produces 250 horsepower, and generates 230 ft-lbs of torque. It runs more smoothly than any 4-cylinder engine you’ve ever experienced and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 6 seconds!
Could this car, presented to the world nearly 40 years ago, be the answer to all our questions? Perhaps, but the auto industry ignored it, and this new technology was forgotten.
At the end.
Yunick left NASCAR in 1970 with a sense of mission accomplished. At the time, he hadn’t realized how much his work would influence the next generation of builders.
Smokey closed the Best Damn Garage in Town in 1987, claiming that there were no more good mechanics.
He could be spotted at the NASCAR pits during the 1990s, even though he was no longer managing any team. During this time, he was battling bone cancer and other illnesses.
In 2000, he told a reporter:
“I was diagnosed with everything but pregnancy. Finally, about a month ago, I took all the medicine and threw it in the trash can. I told the doctor, ‘I’m done with this shit. If I’m going to die, I’m going to die. Don’t even talk to me about it anymore.’ I picked up horsepower, about 70 percent. I feel 100 percent better. I came away from wheelchairs, those things you push, canes. Now I’m walking by myself, all that in 20 days.”
“I just went up and down. I didn’t know what was happening. I was so weak I couldn’t do nothing. I really didn’t want to live because I couldn’t do nothing. I’m starting to get back in the ball game. I may be going to drop dead because I won’t take the medicine, but I ain’t taking no more. If I’m going to die, let’s get it over with. I’m headed for 78 now, and I’ve had enough of everything, with no regrets. I had a good life.”
Smokey lived on his own terms without caring much about rules or authority, and that was how he chose to live during his final days. He died on May 9, 2001, at the age of 77.
He became a member of more than 30 Halls of Fame, including the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, was a two-time NASCAR Mechanic of the Year, and many of his engines, tools, and personal items are on display in museums, including the Smithsonian.
The character Smokey in the third movie of the Pixar franchise Cars, voiced by Chris Cooper, is based on him.
“Smokey was so ingenious. He was definitely the most ingenious mechanical head that we ever had. He was so far beyond. If he’d been working for NASA on the moon program, we’d have been up there in 1950.” — Humpy Wheeler, president of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
I have only scratched the surface of Yunick’s life with what I’ve shared here. To give you an idea, his autobiography, *Best Damn Garage in Town: The World According to Smokey*, was published in July 2001 and is available as a three-volume collection. The audiobook version, titled *Sex, Lies, and SuperSpeedways, Volume 1*, was narrated by his longtime friend, John DeLorean.
In 2014, I decided to quit my job at Powertech, and I went to work for another restoration shop called Phoenix Studio. If it was a wise decision, I still don’t know, but it was a different experience.
A salesperson in a restoration shop must perform various duties; there is no such thing as “this is not my job,” and at Phoenix Studio was no different. One day, I picked up a phone call from a lady looking for a classic car:
Lady: – “Hello, I am looking for a vintage Cadillac, it must be a convertible.”
Me: – “OK, any year model in particular?“
Lady: – “OH, it doesn’t matter, really. The car will be a birthday gift for my husband.“
Was that an odd request? Well, yes and no. Yes, because she didn’t care about the model, as long as it would fit in the budget she gave me, which wasn’t a lot, and no because if she was serious about buying a classic Cadillac, she called the right place.
Phoenix Studio was one of the premier restoration shops in the country. Thanks to the boss’s passion for Cadillac, the place quickly gained a reputation as a one-stop shop for all things related to the brand.
At that moment, there were a couple of Caddys for sale at the shop, but none were convertibles. I told the lady I would talk to my contacts and call her again. I went straight to the boss; after all, he knew every Cadillac for sale in the country. He wrote a phone number on a sticky note and said: “Call this guy; he owns a 1973 Eldorado, and he is trying to sell it. The car is not a Primadonna, but it might be exactly what your customer is looking for.” (Picture above).
I called the owner, and we set the price, including our commission. Then I emailed the customer some pictures and the price asked.
I called her a couple of hours later, and she seemed happy with what she saw in the email. The deal was going in the right direction; the customer was motivated by enthusiasm, and we found a classic car that fit her budget. I told her over the phone:
Me: “When would you like to come and see the car?”
Lady: “I live in São Paulo, I can’t come to Curitiba; you have to bring the car here. I will pay for the expenses.”
OK, now things have got a bit complicated. São Paulo is 400 km from my hometown, Curitiba. Logistics wouldn’t be a problem since Studio Phoenix had a truck to transport the Caddy. Fortunately, our accounting department calculated all the expenses like fuel, truck rental, and payment for the services of the driver and myself for 48 hours. Obviously, the boss charged a little extra, increasing the profits.
The following day, we loaded the truck with the red Cadillac and also a 1972 Buick Riviera that we would leave at a classic car dealer in São Paulo.
The boss was correct. The Eldorado wasn’t actually a prima donna. The paint job was not too bad, but it was far from showroom quality, and brake fluid was leaking from the cylinder and dripping onto the exhaust manifold. The problem was more than the occasional smoke coming from the engine bay, it was a fire hazard.
Mr. Coelho, our driver, is at work. Here, you can see the 72 Buick Riviera.
When we reached the outskirts of São Paulo, it was almost 5 pm because our driver took his time. He didn’t want to drive the big truck through the city during rush hour, which was understandable. So, I called a local truck driver who is well-known in the classic car/hot rod community to help us. Initially, he didn’t want to come because my boss owed him money. After I assured him that I would personally ensure that our accounting department paid him in full, he agreed to go and pick up the Caddy.
One of many tunnels in São Paulo.
It took us 1 hour and a half to cross the city, which wasn’t that bad, considering it was by the end of the afternoon. I just enjoyed the ride since I wasn’t driving. It was an excellent tour through the mighty São Paulo City.
Passing in front of the legendary Pacaembu stadium.
When we got to the place, I could confirm it was a very high-end apartment building. She opened the gate, and I drove the Caddy into the underground parkade, with the top down; after all, this is the right way to present a convertible to a client.
When I stopped the car before her, she couldn’t hide her amazement: -“Wow! This is the kind of car we only see in the movies!”
Yes, with almost 6 meters in length, this Caddy is massive, and the bright red colour with white leather interior makes it an imposing car.
Then she asked me to wait for her mechanic to come and inspect the Caddy. “If he says it is a good car, I will close the deal”.
So far, so good.
Fifteen minutes later, not only did one mechanic show up, but a team of 3 technicians arrived. They approached me, shook my hand, and introduced themselves: “Hi, we work for Batistinha; we are here to inspect the Caddy.”
And I thought to myself: “Now I am screwed. This deal will never happen.”
Let me explain: You will hardly find another place where the egos are more inflated than in the classic car universe, and egos get bruised easily. In this environment, it is easier to make enemies than to make friends. As you probably have figured out by now, Batistinha and my boss, they don’t like each other.
They jumped in the car and went for a test drive. The underground parkade was so big they didn’t need to take the car outside. After the driving, they inspect every inch of the Caddy, and while 2 of them were talking to the customer, the third came came to talk to me:
Tech: “We are sorry, dude. But we told the lady not to buy your car; I hope you understand. “
Me: “Don’t worry, I totally understand. You are just doing your job, as I am doing mine. No hard feelings.”
In the end, we all shook hands, exchanged pleasantries and excuses and we left.
Thankfully, the nasty rivalry between the shops doesn’t affect the lower level employees.
I called the boss, telling him the deal was off. He didn’t seem disappointed: “It is all right, don’t worry, Rubens, I told you, thecar is not a primadonna. Just don’t bring theCaddy back home; leave it at Siciliano. He might have better luck selling it.”
He was talking about João Siciliano, one of the most traditional classic car dealers in the country. João is a nice guy who didn’t mind opening his shop at 9 o’clock for us to leave the Caddy. Before pulling it into the shop, I drove the Caddy around the block, top-down, feeling like a mafia guy. That was the last time I saw the “Primadonna.”
We returned to the location where our truck was parked, loaded the Riviera onto the town truck, and the driver would drop it off at Siciliano’s shop the next day.
I was tired and starving; it had been ten hours since my last meal. Thank God our driver chose an excellent gas station to park at, with a good restaurant and a clean hotel to spend the night. I asked for rice, beans, steak, and fries. Good Lord, that was a meal to remember.
We talked a lot about the 1973 Eldorado, but here are some details that will make you acquainted with the machine.
It is a big car, with almost 6 meters in length and also pretty heavy with 2.3 ton (5092 lbs). It is powered by a massive 8.2 liter V8 (500 CID) that had been choked by the analog anti smog devices to a meager 235 HP.
Interesting fact, the Eldorado is a front wheel drive car, a detail that I didn’t know back then. I guess we never stop learning.
The deal didn’t happen, and I didn’t get my commission, but it was an interesting experience. It became another good story from the time when I was involved with classic cars.
In the world of motorsport, evolution is constant. If you were to compare a Formula One car from the 1970s to a modern one from the 2020s, the differences due to half a century of technological advances are simply astonishing. However, both vehicles still share some core similarities, such as having four open wheels, a mid-ship engine, and the assistance of aerodynamic components.
But the creative minds of engineers and designers never rest, and occasionally, someone tries to break free from the core concept that defines what a race car should be.
If you ask any gearhead: “What is the craziest race car that ever competed in motorsport?” I bet 9 out of 10 answers will be: “The 6-wheeled Tyrrel, from the 1970s.”
In fact, the Tyrrel P-34 was the most popular unorthodox race car that ever hit the race tracks. It competed for only two seasons, 1976 and 1977, but that was enough to make it unforgettable.
It looks like a jet fighter
In a more recent era, another ambitious and innovative race car deserves to be remembered, mainly because it never reached the popularity of the Tyrrell P34: the incredible Panoz/Nissan DeltaWing.
The creator of this project is the British race car designer and engineer Ben Bowlby. He is the leading character of this story, a lateral thinker and the leader of his team. Bowlby based his concept on the idea that a much narrower front facia can immensely improve its aerodynamics and make the car a lot lighter.
The first real opportunity for Bowlby to see his project become a reality came in 2009 when Chip Ganassi saw it as an attractive new car for the F-Indy. At this time, Formula One and WEC were trying new and revolutionary designs for their vehicles, and F-Indy was slowly opening its doors for something similar. To make the project become a reality, a consortium was assembled: Chip Ganassi Racing, Dan Gurney and his All American Racers team, Duncan Dayton of Highcroft Racing, and Panoz, which was the company that actually built the prototype. The car was presented at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, and needless to say, the Delta Wing was a success among the visitors. (Picture above)
According to the initial tests, the Delta Wing proved slightly faster on straight and corner speeds than a 2009 Dallara IndyCar on both ovals and road/street courses with half as much weight, engine power and fuel consumption. The original prototype measured an unusually narrow 2.0 feet (61 cm) front track and a more traditional 1.7 meters (5 ft 7 in) rear track. The downforce comes from air passages on the car’s underbody, eliminating the need for front and rear wings.
Panoz used a chopped Aston-Martin LPM1 chassis to build the car, and it was powered by a 300 hp, four-cylinder, turbocharged Chevy engine assembled by Ray Mallock Engineering.
The Delta Wing was scheduled to debut for the 2012 season, giving the team time for the necessary tests and improvements. Unfortunately, the car proved too radical for F-Indy, and Chip Ganassi decided to use a more conservative project from Dallara.
Next stop: Europe
Bowlby didn’t give up when F-Indy closed its doors on the Delta Wing. Instead, he presented his project to the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Europe and quickly received an invitation to compete in the Garage 56, an experimental class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, for the 2012 edition.
The WEC is a place where automakers pour a considerable amount of money to have a spot on the grid; if Bowlby wants to make a splash, he would need a few heavy-weight partners. The first one to jump into the wagon was Michelin; the French tire company fell in love with the Delta Wing and promised to produce the exclusive tires for the car, according to the specifications from Bowlby and Panoz.
Nissan comes on board
The next step in this endeavour was to find an engine supplier with deep pockets, willing not only to provide the drivetrain but also help in developing the entire car and contribute to the costs of participating in Le Mans.
Rumor has it that Michelin insisted on having a French automaker as a partner, and Renault initially answered the call. The only problem was that they were already deeply involved in F-One, and the company’s CEOs decided to pass the project to their Japanese partner, Nissan.
With little tradition in motorsport and not very keen on revolutionary projects, Nissan reluctantly accepted the challenge. The company provided a 1.6-liter, four-cylinder, turbocharged engine found in the Nismo version of the Nissan Juke, capable of producing 350 hp.
Ben Bowlby and his team are at work at the Nissan facility.
Even if the car was being initially developed in the USA, the North America Nissan was not involved in the project. At the Delta Wing’s first test, at Buttonwillow in the California desert in March of 2012, Nissan of Europe brought a few engines, a couple of drivers, and a handful of engineers. They were so concerned about the Delta Wing crashing on the first turn that they de-badged the engines, put all their employees in plain clothes, taped over logos, and denied all involvement.
At the end of the day, the car performed quite well and Nissan felt confident to apply its logo all over it.
Since the Delta Wing would be competing under the experimental Garage 56 (racing for technological advancement, not for points and glory), there was no minimum weight rule to follow, and the team took full advantage of this. Each 4-inch-wide and 23-inch-tall front wheel and tires can be lifted with a finger, literally. The front brake rotors are the same size as those found on mopeds (keep in mind that most of the breaking goes to the rear axle). The team even gave up on the 6-speed transmission for a 5-speed just because it was lighter.
In full race trim, the car checked at just under 1,100 pounds; by comparison, the weight of the 2011 Le Mans-winning Audi R18 TDi was nearly 2,000 pounds.
Ready for Le Mans
The Delta Wing was received with mixed feelings at the La Sarthe circuit. Some people saw the car as exciting and thought-provoking, but others saw it as a laughable, toy-like car.
Among the naysayers, the biggest puzzle was: “How can those tinny front wheels steer the car at high speed?” But guess what? They can. It is the same principle used in drag racing: those tinny front wheels on a top fuel dragster are functional, and they are enough to keep a 10,000-hp beast on the track. It is physics, baby.
On their side, the team believed that a lighter car, powered by a small displacement engine, would give them the advantage of fewer pit stops during the race.
Nissan hired three excellent drivers but they had little experience on long duration races : Marino Franchitti (Scotland), Michael Krumm (Germany), and Satoshi Motoyama (Japan). The team was afraid that the drivers would not qualify during the night trials but to everyones relief, they did. On the day before the start of the race, Bowlby was optimistic:
– “We might surprise some people. We know the car can be very fast, we know it is very efficient and we know it races extremely well in traffic amongst other cars.“-
Darren Cox, the general manager of Nissan Europe, was also excited:
–“The Delta Wing is the most innovative and ground-breaking motorsport concept of its generation. The team aims to complete the famous endurance race using half the fuel and half the tire material of a conventional LMP race car.”-
Nissan wasn’t shy anymore trying to associate itself with the project. They brought hundreds of “extra” journalists to Le Mans, and immediately the Delta Wing became the star of the show.
For a revolutionary car that was developed in such a short period, the Delta Wing was performing surprisingly well in the race. Even with constant gearbox hiccups, the drivers were clocking solid lap times, just 1 sec below the LMP2 prototypes.
The Delta Wing made past the first 6 hours of the race, and the team was thrilled, but all that happiness wouldn’t last much longer. Nakajima, driving the #7 Toyota LMP1, pushed the Delta Wing off the track while trying to avoid slower traffic ahead, and Satoshi Motoyama crashed the Nissan prototype against the barrier.
According to the rules, a driver can try to make his car mobile again and drive it to the pits, but he must do it on his own. Motoyama attempted to repair the Delta Wing using the tools handed to him through the fence, but after more than 90 minutes, the tenacious Japanese driver gave up in tears.
The team left Le Mans with the bitter taste of defeat in their mouths, but in fact, their performance was superb. The Delta Wing was consistently clocking good lap times, and if the crash hadn’t happened (assuming the car would hold itself together throughout the race), it should have finished among the top LMP2 cars while burning half the fuel. Not too shabby for a project that Bowlby himself qualified as “incomplete.”
The next challenge for the Delta Wing was the 10 hours of Road Atlanta of 2012. The other teams shifted the way they saw the car; from a laughing stock at the beginning of the year, it became an “unfair.” competitor. The team had to follow unique rules, imposed to make the other teams happy.
For instance, the Deltawing had to start from the pit and could not start at the front of the field under full course yellow. Despite the obstacles, the team finished in fifth place overall. Driver Lucas Ordonez lamented that the restrictions and regulations prevented him from fighting for P1.
The shattered dream.
The alliance between Bowlby, Panoz, and Nissan began to crack just when the Delta Wing was at its top.
Bowlby believed that he had accomplished his mission. He demonstrated that his idea worked as he had predicted and hoped that the Delta Wing would motivate other engineers to think creatively. He was now ready for a new challenge.
Don Panoz saw the moment in a totally different way; he was the one who invested heavily to make the Delta Wing a reality, and now he wanted to make some money supplying the car to other teams. Bowlby was the father of the project, but Panoz owned the intellectual property of it. At this point; Don didn’t need Bowlby’s approval to turn the Delta Wing into a commercial success.
Nissan was in an uncomfortable position; they supplied the engine that powered the car at Le Mans and Atlanta (and a lot of stickers, too), but that wasn’t enough to claim any right to the project. Nissan knew that Panoz wanted to cut ties with them, giving their customers the freedom to choose whatever powertrain they wanted. As one could easily predict, this divorce was just about to turn sour.
Nissan managed to hire Bowlby as Director of Motorsport Innovation, and together, they created a closed cockpit version of the Delta Wing, called Nissan ZEOD RC (zero emission on demand – race car), powered by a hybrid powertrain.
The ZEOD had a much better performance and fuel efficiency than the original Delta Wing. Nissan entered the car in the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, and during practice, the car consistently reached 300 km/h plus going down the Mulsanne Straight. During the race, the ZEOD even completed a lap using only electric power.
Unfortunately, the car didn’t live up to expectations; the gearbox failed on lap 5, forcing its retirement.
The ZEOD project seemed promising, and Nissan wanted to expand it to the streets. A couple months after the release of the racing model, the company unveiled a small Delta Wing urban car with similar hybrid technology called Blade Glider.
Don Panoz couldn’t believe that Nissan had spent so much money and effort on a project with a design that belonged to someone else. Just a day after Nissan unveiled the Blade Glider, Panoz filed a lawsuit naming Ben Bowlby, Darren Cox, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Nissan Motorsports International Co. Ltd., Nissan International S.A, and Nissan North America Inc. as defendants.
The court battle dragged on until 2016 when both parties reached an agreement, and that was the end of the Nissan badged Delta Wing.
Final thoughts
2016 was also the last year the DeltaWing hit the race track (picture above). Panoz kept the dream alive for as long as he could, racing the car in the Petit Le Mans North American league and IMSA, but the lack of interest from other teams forced them to abandon the concept.
Don Panoz
Don Panoz was passionate about the Delta Wing, but he had to come to terms with its demise. He invested a considerable amount of money to transform it into a successful race car, but money was never a problem for him. However, the world of motorsport can be quite traditional, and not all unconventional ideas are entirely accepted.
According to some sources, Nissan had the chance to acquire the rights to the Delta Wing from Panoz for $60 million, but instead, they chose to have it for free. The company missed out on the opportunity to have a truly groundbreaking urban car, but it’s unclear whether customers would have embraced it.
Ben Bowlby
After leaving Nissan in 2017, Ben Bowlby returned to the UK and became involved in numerous other racing projects. There are rumors that he can not visit Georgia, USA, the home state of Panoz, due to pending criminal charges.
In the pits, nobody felt sad to see the Delta Wing gone. It always raced under the #0 as an experimental car, and as such, it didn’t have to obey strict rules like the other prototypes. It was unfair to the other teams, even though the Delta Wing never won a race.
Are there any survival cars? You bet. The chassis #003 can be seen hanging on a wall at the Panoz headquarters in Georgia, and a complete car (chassis #001) was up for sale in 2018 for $375,000. (Picture above).
Once again, my dear cousin, Sergio D. Florentino, visited São Bento do Sul in Brazil for the 19th edition of the traditional classic car meeting on July 6 and 7, 2024.
This is our TCM correspondent in Brazil, Sergio D. Florentino.
Sergio sent me hundreds of pictures of the meeting, and I decided to make a video with the best shots.
The majority of the cars there are products of the Brazilian automotive industry from the 1970s to the 1990s. They represent the most affordable segment in this hobby, but the prices are getting higher every day as they are becoming more scarce in the market.
I had a hard time choosing the pictures for the video, and perhaps it might be a bit too long, but I hope you will enjoy it.
Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for the next meeting.
It has been almost ten years since my wife and I moved from Brazil to Canada; time really flies, even when you’re not having fun. Although I am far from the Brazilian classic car scene, my cousin, Sergio Devens Florentino, keeps me updated on every gathering he attends and regularly sends me pictures. After all these years, I have a good collection of images, and it would be a shame to keep them collecting dust on my hard drive; it’s high time to organize and publish them.
Sergio is a passionate car guy who owns a small collection of Brazilian classics. I consider the guy more than a cousin, for me, he is like a brother from a different mother.
This first part is about an event that took place in 2019 in São Bento do Sul, which is located 110 km from our home city, Curitiba.
The parade of classics started even before getting to the meeting. Here are a few hot rods refuelling their thirsty V8s
Vintage military vehicles are a big part of any classic car event in Brazil.
The truck culture in Brazil is strong, and naturally, our passion for vintage trucks is also strong. Here is a beautiful collection of Scania-Vabis L75.
A 1971 VW Variant station wagon. The Brazilian version of the Squareback.The event was a success.
Sergio at work, taking pictures.
The beloved VW Kombi.
1989 VW Gol GTI, the first Brazilian car equipped with electronic fuel injection.
Brazilian Charger R/T, probably a 1975.
1938 Chevy Coupe Hot Rod
Jeep, the war hero.
1986 Chevy Corvette
Vintage radios are so cool.
Indoor meetings are not very popular in Brazil, but this one has become well known.
1959 Chevy Corvette
Mopar, or no car.
1948 Chevy Coupe
The Chevrolet Monza was one of the biggest hits of the Brazilian General Motors. This is a 1989 model.
Vespas.
The last generation of the VW Variant, 1978-1981
First gen Chevrolet Caravan 1975-1979
The most beloved Brazilian classic car – Chevrolet Opala.
A Ford Landau, based on the American Ford Galaxie. This one looks like an early 1980s model.
I hope you enjoyed this first batch of photos and stay tuned because the next one is coming shortly.
This is a well-known story that has been told over and over again among the gearheads around the world. Just like any other story/legend, this one can vary widely depending on who is telling it, but it mostly goes like this:
Ferruccio Lamborghini, the founder of Lamborghini Trattori and notorious bon vivant, was dealing with a very annoying problem with the clutches of his Ferraris. After repeated trips to Maranello to have them replaced, he demanded to see Enzo Ferrari. Some say Ferrari refused to talk to him, but eventually, Lamborghini got to see the Commendatori. He looked Enzo in the eyes and said: “Ferrari, your cars are rubbish!”
The conversation went sour in the most Italian way possible when Enzo replied, “You may be able to drive a tractor, but you will never be able to handle a Ferrari properly.”
“This,” Lamborghini later said, “was the point where I finally decided to make the perfect car.”
To be fair, Ferrari was not the only flawed GT car in the early 1960s; Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Lancia, Maserati, and Jaguar were all complicated cars, to say the least, and Ferrucio had tried them all.
In 1963, Ferruccio founded the Lamborghini Automobili with the daunting mission of building the perfect GT car, which should offer style, performance, comfort, and reliability.
Although the history of Lamborghini is much more complex and interesting, I will focus on one car specifically to show how hard it can be to make a dream leave the drawing board and become a reality.
From left to right: Giotto Bizzarrini, Ferruccio Lamborghini, and Gian Paolo Dallara at Sant’Agata Bolognese in 1963, with a Lamborghini V12 engine prototype.
Ferruccio was a talented mechanic and a visionary entrepreneur. The agricultural business was booming in post-war Italy, and his tractors sold like hotcakes. He was also involved in manufacturing heating and cooling equipment for residential and commercial properties. Financially speaking, Lamborghini was much more comfortable than Ferrari, which enabled him to pull some talented young people from other companies, among them Gian Paolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani, Bob Wallace, and Giotto Bizzarrini.
Lamborghini unveiled its first car, the 350 GTV, at the 1963 Turin Auto Show (pictured above). When the team was assembling the prototype, they discovered that the Bizzarrini-designed V-12 wouldn’t fit under the hood. With no time to redesign the car, the logical solution was to remove the engine for the show, but without its weight, the car’s nose didn’t sit at the right height. The solution was to ballast the engine bay with floor tiles from the factory and keep the hood closed at the show. Lamborghini has preserved a section of the original factory floor from which the tiles were pulled.
Seriously? No one among those talented engineers and designers bothered to check the measurements of the engine and the engine bay while the whole thing was still on the drawing board. This episode shows that Lamborghini’s team was far from a professional level and this kind of jerry-rig solution would become a norm instead of an exception.
After this long but interesting introduction, we can dive into the main subject of this post.
The Lamborghini Miura
Enzo Ferrari wasn’t ashamed to say that the only purpose of producing street cars was to raise money to keep the Ferrari race team competing. Ferrucio’s idea for Lamborghini was different; he had no intentions to get involved in motorsports; he just wanted to build GT cars. Should those cars be fast? Yes, of course, but not extremely fast.
When Bizzarini created the first Lambo V-12, he was not fooling around. After all, he was getting a bonus for every horsepower over what Ferrari’s V12 could produce. The 3.5 liter, quad-camshaft, all-aluminum engine could produce 350 HP @ “mind-blowing” 9,800 rpm. This machine was, in fact, one step above the Ferrari V-12 and could have been a great Formula One engine, but to Ferruccio’s standards, it was too wild for his cars. After many disagreements, Bizzarini left the company and founded his own sports car brand.
What Bizzarini had in mind when he created the V-12 was to bring Lamborghini to the race tracks, and he was not alone in that idea. Ferruccio deserves to be praised for hiring a young team (most of them were in their late 20s) instead of an experienced team, but he was having a hard time curbing their desire to build a purebred race car.
The New Zealander Bob Wallace, at work.
In 1964, Ford was already battling Ferrari in the Sports Prototype arena with the gorgeous GT-40, and the guys at Lamborghini were pumped up to build something similar. In 1965, Dallara, Stanzani, and Wallace began to work on a prototype called P400 (P stands for posteriori, or rear in English and 400 means 4-litre engine) during their spare time, mostly at night. The idea was to produce a street-legal sports car that could perform superbly on the race tracks—a unique car that could change Ferruccio’s mind about creating the Lamborghini race team.
Ferruccio didn’t mind the enthusiasm of his boys and encouraged them to continue their development. However, he didn’t promise to put the car into production; he viewed this new prototype as a good advertising stunt, similar to a concept car.
The first challenge was to fit the massive Lambo engine into such a diminutive car. With 42 inches long, it would be impossible to install the V-12 in the mid-engine position. After some consideration, the team devised an ingenious solution: they rotated the engine 90 degrees and positioned it on top of the transmission, just like the Brits did with the Mini. The casting for this engine/transmission package proved to be highly complex, mainly because the rear differential should also be part of it.
The P400 drive train is a magnificent piece of machinery (photo above); it is 1960s Italian engineering at its best.
In the middle: Carlo Anderloni of Carrozzeria Touring, Milano. Also in picture are Lamborghini engineers Paolo Stanzani (left with light jacket) and Giampaolo Dallara (right, spectacles)
Dallara used his expertise as a former aeronautical engineer to develop a beautiful steel chassis around the drive train.
The team got the rolling chassis done in time for the 1965 Turin Auto Show, and it attracted much more attention than the regular production Lamborghini GT cars displayed there.
The visitors and media were amazed at how the Lamborghini team enveloped the engine and transmission so neatly into the chassis. The transverse, mid-ship position of the drive train was quite unusual at the time, and everybody at the show was thrilled with the idea of such a small and lightweight car powered by an enormous V-12.
By the end of the show, more than ten customers had already made a down payment to secure a new P400, even without knowing what the body would look like.
Ferruccio was in a pickle; the rolling chassis that his boys created during their off-time sold better than all of his beloved GT cars together. The boss congratulated the team and gave them the green light to prepare the assembly line as fast as possible because 10-plus customers were waiting for the P400.
Dressing the beast
Design is one of the most important chapters of a car’s development, but when we are talking about an Italian sports car, then the significance of design becomes paramount.
Ferruccio wanted to hire a design studio with no ties to either Ferrari or Maserati. He invited Giuseppe ‘Nuccio’ Bertone, the boss of Bertone Studio, to examine the rolling chassis. Bertone accepted the challenge to create a stunning body for the car in record time for the 1966 Geneva Auto Show. The chassis was brought to Bertone’s Stile Department, and the task was given to another young talent, the 27-year-old Marcello Gandini, who had recently replaced the famous Giorgetto Giugiaro as the head of the design department.
Gandini and his team worked day and night to fit the bodywork to the innovative platform. Under the guidance of Nuccio Bertone, they successfully completed the project in just two months. It’s truly unique that they went from the first sketches to the running prototype in such a short time! Nuccio Bertone drove the car from Caprie to Geneva the night before the show opened.
The Miura was born
Ferruccio named the car Miura, after a Spanish fighting bull breed, in honor of Lamborghini’s recently created logo.
Gandini had created a masterpiece, one of the most beautiful sports cars in history. The design of the Miura is simple and clean, with a traditional appeal of the 1960s with a long nose and short rear deck.
It is inevitable to compare the Miura with the car that, according to some scholars, serves as inspiration: the Ford GT-40. The GT-40 was created as a purebred competition machine but could have easily become a street-legal sports car.
Both cars have curvaceous, sensual, feminine lines, a trademark of the 1960s, known as the most romantic period in sports car history. The Miura was originally designed as a street car, but the team also wanted to see it on the race tracks.
As was expected, the Miura was the star of the 1966 Geneva Auto Show, and at the end of the event, another 30 customers had made the down payment for the car.
Miura P400 especs.
Engine: Lamborghini V-12, 4 litres, quad-cam, all-aluminum. Rated at 320HP
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Weight: 1,125 kg (2,480 lbs)
Wheelbase: 2,500mm (98 inches)
High: 1,060mm (42 inches) – only 2 inches higher than the GT-40.
With a top speed of 280 km/h and an acceleration of 0 to 100 km/h around 6 seconds, the Lamborghini Miura was the fastest “production” car in the market. For the first time in history, the automotive media used the term supercar to describe the Miura.
A nightmarish sports car.
Everything was happening too fast; the Miura jumped from the drawing board to the production line in less than a year. Ferruccio, hoping to boost Lamborghini’s sales, gladly accepted orders for a car that hadn’t even gone through extensive trials and road tests.
The Miura proved to be a very problematic car, an absolute nightmare for the owners—precisely the opposite of the hassle-free car Ferruccio wanted to build.
Here is a list of the issues:
The chassis created by Dallara was a work of art, but it was not very stiff. The body, made of thin steel sheets (doors and center section) and aluminum (front and rear sections), didn’t provide much support either. The first generation of the Miura was a very flimsy car. Some structural reinforcements were later added, but the problem was never entirely solved.
During the development, the team adapted the same front and rear suspensions used on the front-engine Lamborghini GT cars, and the result was not so good. Muira’s handling is somehow poor when compared with Ferrari and Maserati.
The Miura was fast but dangerous. The design of the front end allows a substantial amount of air to flow underneath the car at high speeds, creating a frightening sensation as though the car is about to take off.
The innovative idea of having the engine and transmission housed in the same case means they also share the same oil. While this design solved the issue of limited space for the drive train, it also gave rise to a new problem: oil starvation. During long turns at high speeds, copious amount of oil would shift to one side, leading to engine seizures.
But the most alarming issue with the Miura was its tendency to catch on fire. The Lamborghini V-12 engine was equipped with four triple-barrel, downdraft Weber carburetors that were dangerously positioned over the spark plugs. If the carburetor floats failed or if there was contamination in the needle and seat, combined with high fuel pressure, it could result in gasoline spilling over the ignition components and causing a fire. Owners and mechanics took measures to prevent their cars from being destroyed, such as using trays at the base of the carburetors and installing fire extinguisher systems. However, despite these precautions, many Miuras were lost due to fires.
Ferruccio and the car he never wanted.
Ferruccio knew all these unsolved problems would soon torment the owners, so he concentrated the sales in Italy, making it easy to bring the cars back to Lamborghini for repairs.
There are stories of Ferrucio taking customers to long lunches and dinners to appease their ire, while their cars were being repaired. At this time, Lamborghini was far from being a well-established car company, with no more than 80 employees on the payroll. They desperately needed the Miura to succeed.
In 1967, Ferruccio reached his limit. Automobili Lamborghini was not heading in the direction he had always wanted, and although the Miura would soon receive the necessary improvements, he was frustrated with all the car’s problems. Instead of shutting down the company, he removed himself from his position and promoted Paolo Stanzani as the head of Lamborghini.
Stanzani accepted the new position but not without some conditions. This is what he demanded:
“You are the boss of the company, I know that. However, you will not come and create dissent, override me in front of people, or put your nose in things. Understand that you can ask me anything but speak only with me.”
P400S
In 1968, with Stanzani as the company’s captain, Lamborghini released the Miura P400S with some very welcomed updates. The chassis received structural reinforcements; front and rear suspensions were revised, and larger tires were adopted, considerably improving the car’s handling.
The interior of the Miura that belonged to Frank Sinatra.
Interior comfort was traditionally neglected in Italian sports cars of the 1960s but the Miura should be different; the P400S was equipped with power windows, and air conditioning systems was optional.
The P400S propelled the “popularity” of the Miura around the world. Frank Sinatra bought one in 1969. Former factory Sales Manager Signore Ubaldo Sgarzi recalls Sinatra’s unannounced visit to the factory, with a specific request for no publicity; Signore Sgarzi gave Sinatra a tour of the Sant ‘Agata works. The car, with chassis #4407, was painted in Arancio Metallico and trimmed with wild boar skin leather and orange shagpile carpeting – orange was Sinatra’s favorite color. The dispatch date is recorded as 12/12/69, Sinatra’s 54th birthday! The car survived these days; after changing owners a few times, the Miura was auctioned in 2003 and now belongs to a collector.
The Jazz legend Miles Davis also owned a Miura, but he crashed the car while driving under the influence of narcotics. Davis supposedly fell asleep at the wheel and totalled his car. He was taken to the hospital with both ankles broken and released the following day. As soon as he recovered from his injuries, he bought another P400S.
P400SV
This 1972 Miura SV was found in Brazil in 2020, but the car was involved in some shady deals back then. This story alone deserves an article here at TCM.
In 1971, Lamborghini unveiled the ultimate version of the Miura, the P400SV.
The most significant changes were related to the drivetrain. The gearbox now had its lubrication system separate from the engine, which prevented annoying engine seizures. The company claimed that improvements on carbs and camshafts increased power output to 385 HP. However, Bob Wallace, the New Zealander responsible for overseeing engine production, later said that these “improvements” never happened. The Miura’s V-12 always produced between 320 and 330 HP throughout its eight years of production.
The SV has wider rear fenders to accommodate the new 9-inch rear wheels. The car came equipped with Pirelli Cinturato 215/70 R15 front and 255/60 R15 rear tires.
One of the distinctive features of the Miura is the famous “eyelashes” around the headlights, which were removed on the SV model, making it easier to differentiate the car.
1973 was the last year of production of the Miura. Its gorgeous body style had no place in the 1970s, a decade that became known for its weird, angular design concepts.
Just like any other Italian exotic super-car of that time, the Miura was produced in very limited numbers:
Miura P400 – 1966 to 1967 – 474 units Miura S – 1968 to 1970 – 140 units Miura SV – 1971 to 1973 – 150 units
Bob Wallace just couldn’t help himself and eventually built a single racing prototype based on the P400SV called “Jota.” The car was sold to a private racer in April 1971. The new owner crashed it on the yet-unopened ring road around the city of Brescia, and… you guessed it, the Jota burned to the ground. There are a couple of recreations of the car around the world, like the one pictured above.
Life after the Miura
Controversial, groundbreaking, problematic, and legendary, the Miura was the car that Ferruccio never wanted to build. Still, at the same time, the car made Lamborghini what it is today. Without it, the company wouldn’t be more than a footnote in automotive history.
The partnership between Stanzani and Bertone continued, and together, they created a worthy successor for the Miura, the Countach. (Not my cup of tea, though).
Lamborghini was never profitable at that time. The company went through various owners – questionable deals with Ferruccio’s personal friends, shady foreign business people, a handful of bankruptcies, and even the Italian government. In 1987, Chrysler bought the company and kept it alive for many years.
It was under Chrysler’s ownership that Lamborghini ventured into Formula One, the company supplied engines (V-12, of course) for Larrousse (1989–1990, 1992–1993), Lotus (1990), Ligier (1991), Minardi (1992). Lamborghini even had its own official team in 1991, although under a different name, Modena.
Automobili Lamborghini was acquired by Volkswagen in 1998 and became its third luxury brand alongside Bentley and Bugatti. The Germans, as expected, put some order in the house, and Lamborghini finally became profitable and successful.
In 2024, Lamborghini introduced the SC63 Hybrid (shown above) in the Hypercar class, the highest category in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car will compete against formidable opponents, including their longtime rival, Ferrari.
The Classic Machines 