MOTORCLASSICA
CELEBRATES ASTONS, LAMBORGHINIS, ‘VETTES AND MORE…
The 4th running of Motorclassica was held in Melbourne’s superb Royal Exhibition Building over our Labour Weekend. Any report on Motorclassica needs to start with a tribute to the location, which is a large, light-filled space that sets off the cars & bikes superbly.
What’s On?
Aston Martin’s centenary was marked, along with the Corvette’s 60th birthday and Lamborghini’s half century. The Theodore Bruce auction was slow to fire but produced a couple of top results. Club displays, specialist sessions on restoration and trade stands kept the punters occupied when they weren’t drooling at the 100+ concours entries, plus the bikes.
The organisers pride themselves on not duplicating cars from year to year. This is the third visit I’ve made and all the cars on display were ‘new’: incredible!
About half the cars took part in the Tour Classica on Thursday morning, which involved a fairly short drive from the banks of the river up through the city to the venue, no doubt confusing the tram drivers as Miuras, DB5s and a De Soto Airflow wafted past them!
Once inside the building, where to start… Bertone-bodied cars formed a group of their own, including an elegant Alfa Romeo trio. A dozen or so Aston Martins (including a ’62 Rapide and one of the later and very angular models) vied for honours that went to Mark Newman’s DB5.
The Corvettes included a very impressive Callaway twin turbo aero coupe but it reminded me how great the early generation cars look, like Tanya Cassidy’s 1954 C1. I’d never seen one of the ‘baby Ferrari’ ASA 1000 coupes before, nor a Hartnett Pacific tourer – a real pioneer Australian-made car.
Very early cars were there, from a 1906 Black Motor Buggy to the classwinning 1913 Vulcan Tourer of Robert Stowasser that had been a past Pebble Beach contestant.
Boat tail roadsters were a bit of a theme, with wonderful examples from Hudson (1916), Rolls-Royce 20 (1926) and Buick (1928).
Two Bugatti tourers were sideby-side including a Type 30 with Profilee coachwork that had been bought new by Australian dentist Harry Jenkins and came 4th in the 1929 AGP. There were also a duo of Vauxhall 30/98s and a nice pair of Bristols too (sorry!). Rolls-Royce was well-represented, including Car of the Show in the form of Frank Kuulkers’ 1921 Silver Ghost tourer which had featured in The Great Gatsby.
Watching the team of 40+ judges at work was fun (well, probably not for the owners!) as they poked around with torches in every nook & cranny looking for the slightest imperfection or leak, or deviation from original spec. Their chosen finalists were as varied as a 1961 E-type coupe, a ’31 MG F-type tourer, and an immaculate 1947 Ford Tudor. A Dino 246GT was named People’s Choice.
A New Zealand connection
A large and impressive 1926 Sunbeam 35hp turned out to be one of the few entrants with a New Zealand linkage. Used by Lord Galway from 1935-41 when he was Governor-General, the car was later converted into a tourer by Roy Cowan and apparently was later raced (known as The Grader) until 1953. Its salvation came in the form of Wallace McNair who has built a superb fiacre-style coupe body on a frame of Beech and Kauri, with a stunning interior of Belgian tapestry!
A Le Mans winner
Ex-F1 racer and Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan was a double entrant, with his Aston DB2 and a black 1963 Falcon Sprint which was a finalist in the Preservation Class. Apparently he also owns an MGA Twin-cam among other delights. I asked if he’d be interested in a visit to the Hampton Downs Motor Racing Festival: worth a try, organisers?
Incidentally, ‘preservation’ was a big thing at the show: there’s even a new magazine Survivor Car Australia. I bought a copy of the launch issue and it looks interesting. The ‘ultimate’ preserved car on show was the rather skeletal remains of a totally original 1923 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 that had recently been found in a shed on the outskirts of Melbourne, having lain dormant for 50 years. It came to light when the owner’s wife told a local radio commentator about it. The car has been bought by local restoration specialist Glenn Olsen who will display it each year at Motorclassica until it’s finished!
Auction time!
The auction entry had some treats: I think the American La France tourer drew the most attention, with its 14.5 litre motor, but it was passed in at $A64,000. After 100 or so memorabilia lots ($A700 for a 250GT California brochure!), the cars were hard to get up to reserve. Despite a number of No Sales (Tatraplan, Allard L-type, Aston Martin Virage, etc), things came to life in the end with a lovely 1913 Hispano-Suiza Alfonso XIII fetching $A235,000, the first Miura in Australia going for $A680,000 and – to the loudest applause of the evening – an elderly gent paid $A600,000 for the very first Holden saloon to be built in Australia, in 1947 (after the three prototypes were produced in the USA). And you can add about 11% buyer’s premium to those figures...
Lamborghini’s big birthday
But Lamborghini was the main feature of the weekend for most punters. An amazing range of classic Lambos had been assembled for the marque’s 50th birthday: stunning examples of 400GT, Miura, Countach, Silhouette, Jalpa, Jarama, an Islero with the same owner for the last 40 years, and Diablo. Probably the one with the best story was Richard Taylor’s 1978 Urraco P300 which had been offered as a first prize in a luxury raffle but the winner took cash instead! Melbourne dealer Lorbeck must do pretty good trade by the look of their line-up which included a matt black Aventador.
Testing, testing
The Show’s Guest of Honour was former Chief Test Driver Valentino Balboni who delighted the crowds with tales of how he got the enviable job and his experiences. The question most asked seemed to be ‘How many times have you crashed?’ And the answer was – I’ve only totalled one car – a Countach!
But there’s a lot more to his life than that. He used to walk past the new factory each day and began helping to push Miura bodies around the site when he was 15. He was an apprentice mechanic within a week. Four years later, Valentino started as a tester, under the guidance of the late Bob Wallace who he clearly regarded as a hero and mentor although Sr B said he was a ‘very particular character’. Depending on Bob’s mood, a whole day might go by side by side in cars, without a word being spoken.
In his 45 year career, it’s said that Valentino tested about 80% of the entire output of Lambos. His favourite remains the Miura, because that’s the first car he ever test-drove. Other ‘gems’ included the fact that the early Countach was hard to drive because of the rear weight distribution and high-profile tyres, the importance of keeping scissor doors as a part of the marque’s image, and the benefits that have come from Audi’s ownership because they didn’t interfere with Lamborghini’s DNA. Valentino was careful in answering a question about police interest in the test drivers: “Life is easier in our region …”
Valentino said he had been offered the chance to join a race team. He thought a lot about racing but decided against it, and never regretted that decision.
At the end of a long, busy weekend, he presented the various concours prizes and kept on signing autographs for lots of people (I am the proud owner of a signed copy of CD51!).
Next year’s themes will include a celebration of Maserati. Motorclassica is an event you should seriously consider putting in your diary!