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A PROUD MOMENT IN HISTORY FOR YOUR MARQUE1 HOST

The photo above is from the ancient history department. I didn't know it existed until a friend e-mailed the image to me a few weeks ago. There's no real excuse to reveal it here except this moment in time was an interesting and fun experience that I'd like to share.

The date was early September, 1961. The location was the St. Eugene race track, located in Ontario on the Quebec border, built on the bones of a former WW2 air base. It was a day of sports car racing operated by a Montreal car club. One of the races was for a mix of unmodified sports cars and sedans. This is the front row of that event. You couldn't have asked for a more eclectic group than the three cars sitting on the starting line.

The first turn curved to the right and so pole position had been taken by, of all things, a slant-six Valiant sedan. I knew the driver and suspected he may have made some mods to the suspension but that didn't bother me although the car was fast in a straight line. Next to him, barely visible in red, was a Fiat Abarth coupe, a hot little car that had been picking up trophies all season long. On the outside was yours truly in a Porsche 356B, stock except for a de-cambered rear suspension. That's Maggie, my ex, smiling nearby.

An MGA is peeking its nose into the photo. Behind us was another Porsche 356, a Speedster, and a gaggle of small-class sports cars and sedans. I recall few of the driver's names except for Bill MacDonald in the Abarth and Jim Muzzin in the other Porsche. I should, but don't, remember the name of the Valiant driver as we were both radio announcers, him in Montreal and me in Toronto. What I do recall, though, was his comment to me when he wandered over prior to the start.

"Whatever you do, don't try to pass me on the first turn. This thing takes a lot of road when it drifts through the corners and there won't be room for both of us!"

The car that worried me, however, was the Abarth, more of a real racer than the 356B and with a very talented driver. Sure enough, he took the lead out of turn one. As for the Valiant, well... a race driver's a race driver. I ignored my friend's advice and passed him through the turn, which put me in second place. For three laps Bill MacDonald pulled away but suddenly, on the fast turn one, he drifted too wide, slid into the grass, and rolled over.

I saw this out of the corner of my eye and thought the race might be stopped but Bill had crawled out unhurt and the car was not a danger to the other drivers so we carried on. For the first time in my brief driving career I was running first overall! Racing a very fast VW in modified sedan events the previous year I'd won a class championship but never had the pleasure of being in front of the pack as at least a half-dozen of the competition had driven bigger, faster cars. So to find myself out in front was a welcome novelty.

The Valiant fell back and was passed by Jim Muzzin's Speedster but I kept pulling away and by the end of the 20-lap race was ahead by the length of the start-finish straight. In those years it was normal for the winning car to stop in the pits and pick up a passenger who'd hold the chequered flag out the window for a slow victory lap. That was almost as much a thrill for Maggie as winning was for me. From such little things come precious memories.

RETURN OF THE BMW 2002, GOODBYE DREAM

While working on the Ford account in a New York ad agency in 1968 I did some non-automotive moonlighting for a Philadelphia agency. The money I earned from that gig quickly paid off the bank loan that allowed me to buy a 2002. Of the many cars I've owned and driven it remains one of  my favorites.

Mine was one of the first to be sold in the New York area. Having test driven a BMW 2000 sedan during a previous job as editor of Canada Track & Traffic magazine I knew the 2002 would be a great car. The specifications alone assured me and I wasn't disappointed. It epitomised the phrase "fun to drive" and yet was perfectly suited to its task as a family car.

When the ad agency transferred me to London to become creative director of the Ford of Europe account it moved our worldly goods, including the car. No one thought to ask about the make and so that 2002 became our ride in the UK. Now you might be justified in saying it was like taking coals to Newcastle, considering England was home to many fun-driving automobiles, and that shipping a left-hand-drive car to a right-hand-drive country was pretty dumb, but I never regretted it.

We lived near Kings Road in Chelsea which was, at the time, the trendiest street in all of Britain, the place to check the latest fashions, furnishings, and wine bars. Driving the 2002 along Kings Road, and especially parking it, drew all sorts of admiring glances. Okay, it was only a car but that 2002, a rare sight in the UK then, did much for my ego. And it was a ball to drive on those narrow English roads.

I eventually sold the 2002 to compensate for losses suffered in a foolish attempt at operating a rehearsal hall for popular rock bands. I won't bore you with the details but essentially I was forced to close it by two majority partners who hated rock. So goodbye 2002 to the impossible task of soundproofing an old church hall.

Obviously that was a long time ago. Yet sometime in the 1980s, perhaps besot with nostalgia for happier times, I began regretting the loss of the 2002 and declared that if ever BMW were to build a contemporary version, not deliberately retro but lighter and more affordable than the 3-series it was selling as an entry-level car, I'd be first in line to buy one. It's been a long wait, but the rebirth of the 2002 is here. BMW calls it the "2-Series," an appropriate choice of name which I'm sure was deliberate.

Two variations are available. The hot one is the M235i. The "base" coupe, the one most folks will drive, is the 228i. Like the original 2002 it is powered by a 4-cylinder engine. Like the 2002 tii, the engine is turbocharged. Like the one found in the new 328i sedan, it pumps out 240 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque, more than double that of my 45-year old BMW. Twice as quick, too, for it can go from 0-60 in 5.4 seconds. It comes standard with an eight-speed sport automatic transmission with paddle shifter. The 228i MSRP in the US is $33,025 whereas I paid a little less than $6000 in 1968 dollars.

In spite of today's amazing technology I suspect my 2002 would still be more fun to drive. Why? Because it gave back to the driver what the driver put into it. Sadly my declaration of owning one when BMW resurrected the 2002 will remain no more than a dream. Never one to be careful with his money I'm back to the same financial status as the day I sold the 2002 to a young Portugese diplomat.

I still have the New York license plate.

MATCHING UNRESTORED AND RESTORED 300 SL COUPES COULD MAKE HISTORY

"You say tomato, I say tomahto... you say potato, I say potahto." At least that's the way the song (Let's Call the Whole Thing Off) goes, and it illustrates how differently people see or say things. This applies to collector cars, as well. For example, in the last few years we've seen a trend to classes for survivor cars at major concours d'elegance, including Pebble Beach.

The proponents argue that cars showing their age are more realistic and consequently more interesting than those that have been restored to perfection, often to the point where they look better than the day they rolled out of the factory. Those folks certainly have a point, especially when you consider the vast amounts of money spent on restorations, making the cars absurdly expensive to buy and therefore totally inaccessable to all but the wealthy.

One unfortunate by-product of survivor classes is the rapidly increasing value of such cars, now beginning to approach that of the restored examples. Which makes the upcoming Gooding auction at Scottsdale on January 17-18 especially interesting. Two black-with-red-leather-interior 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL coupes will go on the block, one an unrestored survivor, the other restored to as-new condition. How much will these cars attract and if the survivor wins, will it upset the status quo in classic car values?

The unrestored 300 SL, chassis number 198.040.6500299, seen in the top photo and above, is rich with patina and in need of attention after years of storage. Inside, the red leather interior shows its age, says Gooding, with seats that are both stained and cracked from use and long-term storage. Some will see it as only needing a sympathetic mechanical refurbishing to be perfect while others look on the car as a candidate for body-off restoration.

The restored black-with-red-leather 1956 300 SL, chassis number 198.040.6500214, is a three-owner car in possession of a single Toronto family from 1957-2006. It was treated to a frame-off restoration in 2007 under the care of its second owner, and reportedly no detail was overlooked in the car's refurbishing.

The car made its show debut at the 2012 San Marino Concours d’Elegance in California, where the 300 SL took Best in Class honors. Driven a mere 150 miles by its second owner and a little more than 1,000 miles by its current owner, it has seen only 57,000 total miles since new.

So which 300 SL will attract the bigger bucks? Gooding anticipates a selling price between $1.1 and $1.4 million for the survivor, $1.37 and $1.7 million for the restored example.

I must confess to having my own prejudices in this matter. Concours d-Elegance began as beauty contests for manufacturers and coachmakers and through the decades have remained much the same. Obviously the automobile manufacturers and designers would have wanted their products to be displayed in the best possible way, which means shined, polished, and tuned to perfection. What we now call a "survivor" would have been considered a "used" car and thus have no place on the lawns of concours d'elegance in earlier eras.

As an enthusiast, I take great delight in seeing these rare automobiles in "as new" condition. Faded paint, dirty engine bays, and torn leather have no appeal to me. Let me see the cars as the designer saw them. What's more, I think the idea of giving awards to survivor cars is absurd and makes a mockery of their very existence. By all means invite them to the shows but in a separate category with no awards.

Mind you, my feelings are influenced by a personal reaction to man-made objects in general. As one with fairly strong design instincts I like to see them new or perfectly preserved. One reason, I guess, why I'd much prefer spending time in the Museum of Modern Art than a museum where antiquity is the objective. But hey... that's just me. As I said in the beginning, we're all different and we all have unique tastes. I'll be curious to see the numbers when the hammer falls in Scottsdale.

Update January 21: Well, now we know. The restored Gullwing sold for $1.4 million and the un-restored for $1.9 million! Go figure... 

Photos of the unrestored car by Brian Henniker, courtesy Gooding & Company
Photos of the restored car by Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy Gooding & Company

COLLECTOR'S ALERT: SEVEN GREAT CLASSICS TO WATCH IN 2014

It's that time of year when everyone in the media business makes a list, either celebrating the past or predicting the future. I've not made mine yet (nor have I made any New Year's resolutions) so here's one I'd like to recommend to well-heeled individuals heading for the Arizona auctions. The emminent British car magazine Classic Driver has prepared a list of seven cars to watch in 2014. Wisely, the editors have chosen experts to make the selection. With little comment necessary from me, a guy who'd be at Barrett-Jackson looking for the best car under $15,000, herewith the list.

LAMBORGHINI MIURA
Up top is the Lamborghini Miura, as chosen by Max Girardo, RM's lead auctioneer. He says "I'll take all the Ferraris out of the equation and stick my neck out a little by going for something different. I think the Lamborghini Miura represents great value for money at current prices. It's from that era of cars that everyone understands and loves, it's from a great brand, it's got a 12-cylinder engine, and it looks great... "

ASTON MARTIN DB6
Jonathan Kaiser of Hexagon Classics believes "Aston Martin DB6 prices in 2014 are too inexpensive at the moment. They're selling for around half the price of a DB5, but they're not half the car. We've sold a lot of DB6s during 2013 because people don't want to spend half a million pounds plus on a concours DB5."

FERRARI 512 BB
James Cottingham of Ferrari specialist DK Engineering sees a potential rise in interest in the Berlinetta Boxer Ferraris, in particular the 512 BB. "I think they've been tremendously underrated for a long time, and they're a true classic, produced in the mid-70s and early 80s. They're relatively rare compared with what other manufacturers were producing at the same time, and in the Ferrari world they look like tremendous value for money." (I love this car, having driven a Boxer over some lovely Swiss mountain roads back in '79.)

PORSCHE 911 (996) GT3
Wilfried Hallier, owner of Hallier Classic Cars, sees real potential in the 911 GT3 road/race car, particularly the much-overlooked 996 series. "The 996 GT3 goes back to the original philosophy of Porsche. This civilian racing car allows private owners to test their abilities, and I'd recommend a 996 GT3 or GT3 RS to those with little racing experience."

BUGATTI EB110 SUPER SPORT
Think modern: Dylan Miles of Fiskens will be monitoring the success of the Veyron's predecessor in 2014. "Should any of the 30-or-so EB110 Super Sports come up for sale this year, I can see them doing well. Just think – a quad-turbo, quad-cam V12, 600bhp, four-wheel drive and one of the most illustrious badges in the business, all for one-eighth of the price of a McLaren F1."

LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH
Simon Kidston believes that alongside the Miura, Lamborghini's show-stopping Countach will also enjoy success in 2014. "I would say a Countach is one of the 'cars to watch' in 2014, particularly the early examples. It seems there's a generational change underway, and cars from the 70s, 80s and 90s are beginning to enjoy their period in the limelight."

ASTON MARTIN V8
Karl-Helmut Larkamp of E. Thiesen Berlin singles out the post-DB6 Astons for their potential, in particular the DBS and AM V8. "These high-quality vehicles are completely undervalued and now that DB6s are barely affordable, the later cars look like they might enjoy an enormous increase in demand in the near future."

With thanks to Classic Driver for the article inspiration and the quotes in this authoritative list. Click here to see the complete article. [Photo credits: Tim Scott for RM Auctions, Aston Martin, DK Engineering, Hallier Classic Cars, Kidston SA, Bugatti]

THREE GOOD REASONS TO WATCH TV IN JANUARY

Now that the last F1 race of the season has ended I need something to look forward to during the winter. Okay, I do have a short list of things to watch on television: The Rose Bowl Parade and the Game; The Super Bowl; The Daytona 24 Hours; The launch of 2014's F1 cars; The first reports from F1 testing with the new 1.5 liter turbocharged V-6 engines. But there's a big gap between those events, and for anyone who loves classic automobiles it has to be the Scottsdale auction week in mid-January. This is where the leaders in the auctioneering business attract the most expensive, most beautiful, and occasionally most peculiar cars.

Fortunately the auctions can now be viewed on TV or on our computer screens. I like that. My budget can't afford the two-thousand dollars needed to fly to Scottsdale and bed down in a modest hotel for a week and neither can most enthusiasts who live in the east or northwest. Of course it's more fun to be there, soaking up the excitement and the Arizona sun, but at least we'll get to admire the cars while gasping at the outrageous prices paid by wealthy collectors.

One major auctioneer that will be showing its event on television is Gooding & Company. In the build-up to auction week it is now sending out media releases featuring some of the most significant cars to be sold. On January 17 and 18 the company will feature what it calls "one of the most collectible and superior offerings of post-war Mercedes-Benz to come to auction in recent years."

I've selected three to show you here on Marque1. Up top is a gorgeous 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster, built to European specs with the improved "large" drum brakes. The car was delivered new to the Kingdom of Bahrain in an elegant white over black color scheme and has benefited from a recent restoration by Brian Anderson of Vista, CA.  In 2013, it placed 2nd in the Roadster class at the annual Gullwing Group Convention and won its class at the La Jolla Motorcar Classic.  Comes with factory hardtop, optional Nardi steering wheel, fitted luggage, tools and manuals. (Estimate: $900,000-1,200,000)

As a reminder that all great Mercedes from the post-war years were not 300SL's, here's an example of the firm's luxurious grand touring coupe, the 1956 300 Sc. A unique combination of quality and design it is one of the earliest fuel-injected variants and highly sought after by collectors. Recently restored, the absolutely beautiful 300 Sc is finished in burgundy with a tan leather interior and comes with factory luggage. Much as I admire the 300SL, this is the car I'd bid on from my imaginary fortune. (Estimate: $500,000-700,000)

But then, what would an auction of great Mercedes-Benz cars be without a gullwing? Gooding & Company's auction features more than one, including this 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL. With its technological firsts and iconic doors it is one of the most collectible Mercedes-Benz models in the world. Expertly restored in a stunning black over red color combination, this car is a matching-numbers, low mileage example, owned by a single family for nearly 50 years. In concours condition and ready to show or drive. (Estimate: $1,350,000-1,700,000)

So there you have it, friends, three to dream of, to bid on, to own. Reason enough to highlight my January 2014 TV viewing. (For which I make no apology. In my opinion, television is still the greatest entertainment medium ever invented.)

[Photos: 300 SLRoadster, Brian Henniker.  300 Sc Coupe and 300SL Gullwing, Mathieu Heurtault]

IN THIS PARADE, THE CAR'S A STAR

Lee Hedges, a California friend who is in charge of all things memorable about the VW 1500 and its Karmann Ghia sibling, has just sent me this historic newspaper photo of the sedan and coupe during Toronto's Grey Cup Parade in November, 1962.

While most enthusiasts might regard the VW 1500 as rather bland and uninteresting I loved the car and still do... in part, because I was there when it happened. Though I can't say for sure that I was among the spectators in this photo, I would certainly have been involved behind the scenes for I was, at the time, assistant public relations manager of Volkswagen Canada and had played a part in the launch of the VW 1500 a few months earlier.

As an employee, I'd totally bought in to the Volkswagen technical philosophy of air-cooled rear engine, a fully independent suspension with all its advantages of superior traction and better roadholding (albeit with some entertaining oversteer), and no fears of engine overheating or frozen blocks. I happily overlooked any disadvantages as I lauded the build quality, including a body and platform so tight the car would actually float for up to a half hour. And I would cheerfully boast about an annual model change consisting of gradual improvement rather than wholesale scrapping in favour of an all-new model.

If there was one change I could accept, however, it was a second model line that featured a contemporary body design. The VW 1500 offered exactly that, plus a larger engine with the cooling fan laid flat instead of vertically, thus providing a luggage area in the rear as well as up front. Adding more icing to the cake was its versatility, for the new car arrived as a two-door notchback, a two-door fastback, and a handsome two-door station wagon. Plus, as we learned when the first cars arrived in Canada, a lovely Karmann Ghia coupe and (this really was a surprise) a Ghia convertible.

Sadly the latter never went into production and only a handful of prototypes were built. The good news is that some of those convertibles survived to this day.

The above photo was taken during the annual Grey Cup parade in Toronto. For the benefit of our American viewers I should explain that the Grey Cup is both a trophy and the name of Canada's national football championship: our version of the Super Bowl, except that this year's contest marks its 101st anniversary, making it far, far older than the American championship. It was taken in front of a once-famous upmarket department store named Eatons College Street, located at the corner of Yonge and College streets a few blocks north of the main Eatons store.

I'm happy to report that the building still stands in all its art deco glory though it is no longer an Eatons, no longer a department store. There is good news, however. The original interior housed, on the 8th floor, a small concert hall and a fine restaurant, the Round Room. Both have been renovated and are now listed as a National Historic Site. (The Eatons chain went bankrupt several years ago.)

If you look at the photo you'll notice that the VW 1500 sedan is pulling a float showing off a new Karmann Ghia. Look even closer and you'll see, in the background, a lovely young woman waving at the crowd. She was Miss Grey Cup, an annual affair in which each city in the league provided a contestant. Bowing to the cause of political correctness, there is no longer a Miss Grey Cup.

If the young lady attracted more attention than the new Volkswagens, that's understandable. Nevertheless the cars were impressive, marking a wholesale change in company philosophy and making the 1500s, in my view, more important than many of today's enthusiasts realise. This year's game is just nine days away as I write. The parade is now known as the Safeway Grey Cup Parade. I doubt there'll be a VW 1500 on hand but heck, if a grocery chain can sponsor Canada's national sporting parade, why not?

MOVE OVER, IRV GORDON, YOU HAVE COMPANY

Irv Gordon and his 1966 Volvo P1800 coupe were already the stuff of legend. It goes on: sometime in September he and the Volvo will have driven over-3-million miles. The P1800 coupe is certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-mileage, one-owner, non-commercial vehicle in the world. Wonderful stuff for Volvo and a testament to a guy who likes his car so much he'd drive it 24 hours a day if he could stay awake.

While it's unlikely that Guy Newmark's 1964 Porsche 356C will ever equal Irv Gordon's record, it is approaching one million miles, which will put it in the same "hard to believe but true" class. His car has yet to reach the million mile mark but at last look the odometer had clicked on 982,000. It won't be long now, for Newmark drives his Porsche every day, treating it as "just transportation," yet one in which there's a great deal of pleasure. He finds excuses to drive it for simple errands.

What makes this so remarkable is that the beautiful, dark-blue 356C is a highly desireable (and pricey) collectible, the kind of car that some people keep in museums and others transport to shows in covered trailers. Not a car you'd want to expose to the idiot highway skills of your average North American driver. Newmark, however, reminds us of what meticulous car care can do, and that Porsches from an earlier age were were built to last. And be driven. He's been taking the car to the same mechanic for 40 years, visiting every 3000 miles for an oil change and a checkup.

I'm a little envious of anyone who owns a 356, for I once owned and raced one and loved it. In my personal list of favorite-cars-owned the memory of that silver Porsche sits proudly in first place. (Second is a BMW 2002 and third a tie between a 2nd series 1966 Corvair and a right-hand-drive 1961 Jaguar 3.8.) Fortunately Petrolicious has produced a video to show us what it's like to drive the 982,000-mile Porsche. It's a charming few minutes as Guy Newmark tells us why he loves the car, the minimal repairs he's made, and demonstrates it on the road for the benefit of the video camera.

CURVACEOUS KARMANN GHIA CELEBRATES 60TH ANNIVERSARY

Heinrich Nordhoff was conservative by nature, which probably helped him during the years when, as Volkswagen's managing director, he was responsible for making a success of the Beetle. But he was wise enough to recognise that the company couldn't survive forever on a single model. So in October 1953, when his friend Wilhelm Karmann showed him an attractive prototype of a sports coupe that could be built on the Beetle platform, after a brief hesitation Nordhoff said "yes." Volkswagen is now celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Karmann Ghia.

The genesis of the car came from Wilhelm Karmann, who hired Luigi Segre of Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin to transform his idea into reality in early 1953– at first without even consulting Volkswagen. Initially, a convertible sports car was envisaged but the prototype was actually a coupe. Karmann, it should be pointed out, already had a close relationship with Volkswagen; the company had been making the Beetle Cabriolet since 1949.

Although Ghia built the prototype without asking Nordhoff the Italian design team had such faith in the idea that they brought the prototype from Turin to the Paris Motor Show, tucking it away in a nearby garage until Karmann could see it. The German manufacturer liked the car so much that he immediately showed it to Nordhoff.

Ultimately, Wilhelm Karmann’s dream of a convertible did become reality: at another internal presentation in Wolfsburg, the cabriolet–once again designed by Luigi Segre and his team–made a big impact. Full production of the convertible version began in 1957.

The curvaceous Karmann Ghia, as it came to be known, was one of the prettiest production cars ever made. Not a pure sports car–the running gear was stock Beetle–it nevertheless could be fun to drive. The fully-independent suspension, lower center of gravity, and VW's slick-shifting transmission assured that the Ghia was nimble and responsive. Add an Okrasa engine modification kit, decamber the rear wheels, fit a set of Koni adjustable shocks, and the adjective "sports" would not be a misnomer. I know this from experience, having tested a friend's modified Karmann Ghia in the 1960s.

By the time Karmann Ghia production ended in 1974, 362,601 coupes and 80,881 cabriolets had rolled off the line, good reason to celebrate a 60th anniversary. The one-off prototype is part of the Volkswagen Osnabrück private collection, but can be admired outside of the factory on special occasions such as the 5th Schloss Bensberg Classics (from September 6-8). The Karmann factory is now part of the VW Group as "Volkswagen Osnabrück GmbH" and produces the Golf Cabriolet, the Porsche Boxster and Cayman, and the Volkswagen XL1.

AMID THE PORSCHE 911 CELEBRATIONS, ONE FOR THE 356

This year the 50th anniversary of the Porsche 911 is being celebrated at concours d'elegance and other major events around the world. Unquestionably the iconic sports car deserves much praise for its design, its longevity, and its winning performance. Like everyone else I'm an admirer, yet my favorite Porsche remains the 911's predecessor, the 356.

My reasons are largely emotional, based on personal history. I first became involved with Porsche in 1959 when Dr. Hal Albrecht, sales promotion manager of Volkswagen Canada, loaned me a new 356A hardtop for a few hours. In those years Porsche was still too small to manage operations in this country and so VW had been appointed Canadian distributor.

That brief drive was a revelation but it got me into trouble when I opened the throttle on Toronto's Gardiner Expressway and passed a gentleman in an oversized and overdecorated Detroit sedan at a far greater speed than he thought was safe. He'd made a note of the plate number and somehow traced it back to Volkswagen Canada. Upon returning the car I answered Dr. Albrecht's questions by explaining that (a) I wasn't going as fast as my protaganist had claimed and (b) judging by the manner in which he'd shaken his fist at me the guy was pissed off at being overtaken by a little foreign sports car.

Dr. Hal Albrecht, who'd helped manage the Auto Union factory race team before the war, was one of the good guys. He smiled and told me to forget about the incident, then invited me to produce a short film for Ferry Porsche from shots taken by the family at various European race tracks. Not long after that I was offered, and accepted, a job as VW Canada's (and Porsche's) assistant public relations manager. That would lead to my meeting and socialising with Ferry Porsche, the company's competitions director Huschke von Hanstein, and several famous international race drivers including Olivier Gendebien and Jo Bonnier.

I bought a near-new 356B coupe that had been rolled in a field by its lady driver (unhurt) and written off by the insurance company. Since VW Canada had its own sales and service department, including a body repair shop, it was a relatively simple matter to have the car rebuilt at minimal cost. An experienced and successful race driver in modified sedans during the previous season, I was eager to keep racing; unfortunately I couldn't afford performance upgrades so I spent the 1961 season driving a stock 356B in the modified production class, usually finishing around mid-pack. There were, however, three races for unmodified cars and I managed to finish (in order) third, second, and first overall. I had one other claim to fame during that period, though it has been long forgotten: at Dr. Albrecht's insistence I formed the Porsche Club of Canada and became, by acclamation, its first president.

Eventually I sold the Porsche due to a growing family and the fact that we couldn't afford two cars. The Porsche 356B, believe it or not, had been both family and race car. You could do that in those days.

So now you know why I have such affection for the 356 and why I was delighted to learn that fellow automobile historian Richard Truesdell, founder and editorial director of Automotive Traveler magazine, had posted a number of colorful photographs taken at the Dana Point Porsche 356 show last Sunday. In fact I was equally pleased to discover that there actually was such a show, for I'd never heard of an exclusive 356 gathering. No doubt there are many in various countries but such news hadn't reached my ears. Hopefully there'll be another one within easier reach of my Vancouver Island home.

One of Richard's images can be seen up top and I've added a few below for your enjoyment. But I heartily recommend that if you admire Porsches, and especially the 356B, follow this link to his site. I guarantee a few moments of sheer pleasure. With a generous helping of nostalgia.

[Photos: Richard Truesdell]

TWO OF A KIND: VW KARMANN GHIA AND RENAULT CARAVELLE

In the late 1950s France and Germany were at war again. Not literally, thank goodness, but in the automobile showrooms of the world where France's Renault Dauphine and Germany's Volkswagen Beetle were battling for the lead in small car sales. Both were rear-engined but the similarity ended there. The Renault had four doors, the Beetle only two. The chassis, suspension systems, and engines were totally different. For example, the Dauphine's engine was an inline water-cooled 845 c.c four, whereas the Beetle's was an 1100 c.c horizontally-opposed air-cooled four.

There was certainly no similarity in styling, the Beetle having been designed in the 1930s whereas the Dauphine was new and modern, described by The Motor as "the prettiest little 4-seater in the world." Theoretically the Renault Dauphine should have outsold its competitor by a wide margin but it didn't happen that way, as the Beetle had gained an international reputation for quality and toughness whereas the Dauphine was more fragile. Nevertheless a total of 2,150,738 Dauphines were made in its production run of 10 years.

The two cars would eventually provide the underpinnings for another pair of competitors where styling prevailed above all. Each would create a sporty coupe and convertible intended to change the corporate image. Though quite unique in appearance they were both curvaceous, sexy, graceful, and free from the exaggerations of contemporary Detroit products.

Volkswagen's Heinz Nordhoff, though continuing to pursue a policy of mechanical refinement rather than annual model changes, commissioned the Italian Ghia styling house to design a coupe of sporting appearance to be built in Germany by Karmann, beginning in 1956. The mechanics were pure Beetle in order to avoid the cost and complication of developing a new car from the road up. Obviously the Karmann-Ghia was no sports car although the lower center of gravity improved handling and the car was fun to drive: I can attest to the latter from personal experience. A convertible version arrived in 1959 and the Karmann-Ghia benefited from all the Beetle updates until it was discontinued in 1974.

None of this went unnoticed by Renault's chairman, Pierre Dreyfus. Envious of the growing success in North America of the Beetle, he was looking for ways that Renault might match Volkswagen's success. Meanwhile North American dealers were calling for the creation of a Dauphine coupe/cabriolet that would improve Renault's image in the critical US market. Dreyfus agreed and thus was born the Caravelle. (In Europe it was known as the Floride.)

A rear-engined design by Pietro Frua at Carrozzeria Ghia, it used the floorpan and engine of the Dauphine sedan and was offered as a 2+2 coupe, a 2+2 cabriolet and as a convertible, the latter being a cabriolet with a removable hardtop. Though the Caravelle wasn't a sports car any more than the Karmann Ghia, it did get performance upgrades, first marketing a version engineered by Amedee Gordini, which produced 40 hp as opposed to the standard model's 35 hp.

In March of 1962 the Caravelle benefited further from the 956 cc 5-bearing engine in the new R8, the Dauphine's successor. It was now enjoying 48 hp and had gained the advantage of disc brakes on all four wheels. In 1964 the engine size was increased to 1108 c.c.'s, giving a top speed of 90 mph and a fuel consumption of 32.2 miles per Imperial gallon (25.1 US). The Caravelle was now outperforming the Karmann Ghia though not in sales. The Ghia produced 445,228 units in its lifetime whereas the Caravelle/Floride totalled 117,113.

What these two cars proved was that the fundamental rules of everlasting beauty, to quote Sergio Pininfarina, can be available to everyone. They were relatively inexpensive automobiles where the feel of sports driving was enough to satisfy the average buyer. That they were beautiful, too, was a bonus.

[Photo Credits: Karmann Ghia, sunsetclassics.com/ Caravelle, zuoda.net]