Another Santa Fe Concorso (http://santafeconcorso.com/about.html/) has come and gone and The Alfatross is still in Four States of Separation. Curses! Foiled again! Our next best shot at a debut will be the Arizona Concours d'Elegance (http://arizonaconcours.com ) in the last week of January, 2016. If The Alfatross is accepted and finished this would be a great place to debut because one of the featured classes is "Coachwork by Zagato", and Andrea Zagato himself will be in attendance as an Honored Guest. The Alfatross will be up against a lot of top-drawer competition for a place on the lawn, so this will be a good test.
I'm not a great believer in numerology or omens, good or bad, but I just noticed that The Alfatross' 60th "birthday" (when the chassis left Alfa for finishing by Zagato) will be November 29th, only 56 days away. Could we be finished by then? Then I noticed that The Alfatross' chassis number, 02016, matches next year's date, 2016, by which time I'm sure it will be finished and making the rounds. Just coincidence, I'm sure, but an interesting one all the same.Support for the goal of finishing this year and debuting next year came today in the form of a call from Tim Marinos at Vintage Autocraft telling me that The Alfatross' body is substantially finished and it's time for a pow-wow at the shop. So I'll fly to Nashville in a few days to check it out. If all is well it could be back in Santa Fe a couple of weeks later.
Santa Fe Concorso
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| A 1957 Porsche 356A Carrera and 1953 Ferrari 250 Mille Miglia Berlinetta parked outside Mary's Bar in the old west town of Cerrillos, NM, during the Saturday Mountain Tour for Entrants. |
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| This 1924 Henderson Excelsior motorcycle once belonged to Steve McQueen. Shown here for the very first time, it won the American Motorcycles class. |
It was the best one yet. Perfect weather the whole week for all the events. Great setting, attendance, participation, and cars--even without The Alfatross! In no particular order here are some of the cars, motorcycles, and bikes that The Alfatross might have been rubbing fenders with (figurative speaking of course!) if it had been finished.
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| Winner of the Race Car class was this 1954 Maserati A6GCS Spider, a veteran of the '54 Mille MIglia. The owners keep it active in all sorts of modern events for historic vehicles. |
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| This 1964 250 LM NART Ferrari won Le Mans outright in 1965 averaging 120.944 mph for 24 hours! It also won Best of Show Sport at the Concorso. |
As a kid in the 1960s I was an avid reader of Road & Track, Car and Driver, and other primarily sports car magazines. I was most enthralled by stories about the great European races and the cars involved. I remember distinctly reading about and seeing photos of the 1964 NART Ferrari 250 LM that won Le Mans outright in 1965, in spite of being the underdog. I thought it was the most beautiful car in the world and I certainly never dreamed that one day I would see it in person, not to mention be crawling underneath to attach a strap so it could be towed to the Best of Show podium (I was a volunteer worker and it ran out of gas!).
There were a lot of Ferraris in the Ferrari Tribute and Ferrari Street Car classes, and there was a reason for that. If you attended the Friday afternoon "Legends of Racing" presentation honoring Luigi Chinetti, or if you have a copy of the Concorso Program (santafeconcorso.com/2015_concorso_program.html), you know that Chineti was the man who brought Ferrari to the US, and in doing so probably saved Enzo's butt.
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| Chris Connor with the "Axehandle CX" Sign up for yours at connorcycles.com. |
This bike's blue ribbon is well-deserved. It was one of the most amazing things I saw at the Concorso. The Bicycle Trophy is awarded to the most distinctive and elegant bicycle that embodies craftsmanship and heritage. Hand-made by Chris Conner, the "Connor Axehandle CX", is basically wood-framed with carbon-fiber and Kevlar reinforcement elements--a perfect blend of aesthetic beauty and technological sophistication.
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| Denise McLuggage with her friend and admirer, Sir Sterling Moss. Richard Owen. |
