Author: LUWerner

Books – So-Cal hot rods

“So-Cal Speed Shop” – Mark Christensen

After World War II, many returning American servicemen turned their eyes onto motorsports. One such person was Alex Xydias, an ex-B-17 airman. Xydias opened his shop in 1946, in Burbank, California, initially selling parts for car owners to boost the performance of their race cars. With these cars achieving good results and breaking a few records mostly on the salt flats, the So-Cal brand became a trusted name among the land speed record community.

Christensen tells the story of how the So-Cal Speed Shop moved on from a small car parts shop to one of the most famous hot-rod brands. The book is a hardcover, and it’s chock-full of high quality photos, though most black & white. Unfortunately out of print, though you can find a used copy on Amazon. An easy and very interesting read, I’m sure it will appeal to the gearhead in general.

Onboard race footage with Fangio

A few years ago, I posted the link to a short video showing footage of Fangio testing a Maserati 250F in 1957 at Modena. The video is really cool, showing El Chueco deftly handling that beautiful car. I’m bringing up this again because yesterday I found out how they made that footage. When I first saw that video I assumed that the camera had been fixed to the rear of the car, and remotely triggered by Fangio himself. However, I was mistaken, and as you can see above, it was not shot using a GoPro either 😂. Well, I therefor conclude that if pilots at that time had balls of steel, cameramen had balls of adamantium. Even though it was Fangio at the wheel, holy cow! 😲😲😲

And now I’m disappointed with Minichamps 😣

Well, being honest, it’s more like I’m mad at them. A couple of weeks ago I discovered that the brand released quite a few new Silberpfeile. Since models of the Silver Arrows are pretty rare, I was really happy. I even posted about them – though, at the time, I wasn’t aware about the Typ A “Langheck” #1 below. However, since then I had the time to look them over in more detail. And after some research, I was pretty upset with what I found.

Typ D Stromlinie #18 – 1935 French Grand Prix (R. Hasse) – #410382018

Above is one of the new models. Auto Union arrived at Reims in 1938 with two new D streamliners and two old Typ C. Unhappily, during practice two cars crashed. For race day the team decided to use the two remaining chassis without the streamliner body. Therefore, the two cars that raced were a mishmash of both Typ D and C with a somewhat open body. Here you can see the starting grid – the three Mercedes W154 in front and the two Auto Unions (#16 and #20) right behind. From the pic you can see that the Auto Unions did NOT have a streamliner body. Besides, Rudolf Hasse piloted car #20, and not #18. And as you see on the model’s plinth, Minichamps also got the year wrong 🙄.

Typ A Langheck #1 – 1934 ADAC Eiffelrennen (H. Stuck) – #410342001

The Typ A #1 above is the other model in the same boat. At the 1934 Eiffel race (June 3rd), all three Typ A were short tails (Kurzheck), and not long tails (Langheck). Not a perfect angle, yet you can see Stuck’s #1 Kurzheck in the Eiffelrennen here. The Typ A Langheck was only used at the AVUS-Rennen on May 27th, and the three cars were numbered #42, #44 and #46. Moreover, all three cars had “closed” front suspension. In summary, Minichamps royally botched the model.

So… Are these models worth having? HELL NO, they’re totally wrong 😤. I can’t believe it toke decades (!) for new Silberpfeile to come up and this is what we get. Yes, they do look very nice in terms of details and craftsmanship, yet they’re still wrong. In essence, “fantasy cars”. Nonetheless, I thought about moding them into something historically accurate. Though the Typ A Langheck is basically useless, maybe you could create a test car of the Typ D. A good and feasible idea, however Minichamps announced that they would release this car in the future (#410382000). Another idea would be to make the Reims practice car (before the crash), yet since there’s no photos of the cars before the race as a reference, that possibility is out.

So, in conclusion, Minichamps made a royal SNAFU. And yes, they really got my panties in a bunch here…

Donohue & Penske Documentary

Written by Brock Yates, I think “Four Hands on The Wheel” came out in 1970. The film is a 47 minutes look into the partnership between Mark Donohue and Roger Penske. Fantastic to see Penske’s blue and yellow Sunoco cars of the late 60s, from Camaros to Lolas. In other words, a must see for gearheads fans of vintage racing.