Formula 1 Before the Beautiful People

Posted on by
Note: Another guest submission by Patrick King. -TK
Now that the Big Three road and street races in this part of Florida are behind us my attention turns to media coverage and in-person access at Formula One events in the current year compared to days past. This weekend, F1 TV Pro will present me with six hours of on-track activity from Italy, plus endless commentary before and after each practice/qualifying/sprint session and the race itself, in stereo though my Klipsch speakers – unbroken by commercials – for a prorated cost of $2.83. To show my appreciation, here’s the official name of the Grand Prix formerly known as Imola:

FORMULA 1 ROLEX GRAN PREMIO DEL MADE IN ITALY E DELL’EMILIA-ROMAGNA 2022

My interest in Formula One has waxed and waned since the early sixties, spiking at milestones like Frankenheimer’s “Grand Prix” and camping at Watkins Glen to watch Jackie Stewart run away from the field in 1970 only to be felled by a broken oil line in his first race with the new Tyrrell 001, allowing an unknown youngster named Emerson Fittipaldi to win his first Grand Prix. Later, the Canadian Grand Prix became my home F1 race, Montreal being less than a five hour drive from Boston.

Continue Reading →

BMWs and More!

Posted on by

Note: Another submission by regular RG reader, Patrick King. -TK

My second car after a ’69 Dodge Dart GTS 340 was a new 1971 BMW 2002 that left the dealership with many hot rod modifications (although the 45 DCOEs didn’t go on until a 3,000 mile break-in period was complete).

My ’71 autocrossing in ’75.

I daily drove, autocrossed and tracked that car for six years until it was pretty much beaten into submission by my driving style and the Boston winters. Continue Reading →

This Week’s Klockau Lust Object: 1976 Mercedes-Benz 280S

Posted on by

I spotted this just this morning over my second cup of coffee, for sale in the greater Grand Rapids metropolitan area.

Some may guess I only like rolling stock with cursive emblems, opera lamps and velour, but I drove Volvos for almost twenty years. Dad had Porsches since before I was born, still has a 356B and a ’67 1800S, and since my parents indulged my love of cars, I had all sorts of Pocket Cars, Matchboxes and Corgi Toys. Continue Reading →

1964 Sunbeam Rapier Series IV: You Saucy Minx!

Posted on by

The Rootes Group was one of the earliest practitioners of badge engineering. Long before the K-Cars, ’82 GM A-body quartet or first generation Neons came into being–going back to the mid-1930s, in fact–Rootes was keeping busy with variations on a theme, a practice that by the 1950s had become a long-established Rootes tradition. Take today’s featured Sixties classic from Blightly: the 1955-67 Sunbeam Rapier. This car, the most sporting of the “Audax” series of cars built by Rootes, shared just about everything (except minor trim and interior fillips and, in some cases, engines) with the bread-and-butter Hillman Minx and medium-priced Singer Gazelle. Continue Reading →