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Private Notes
What sounds like a fighter jet and is faster than a Ferrari? Ladies and gentlemen, meet the incredible Howmet TX, an experimental race car that is the only turbine-powered car to actually win a race. Built by a talented team of engineers in 1968 using little time and just $10,000, the first Howmet was very much a moon shot.
In the fourth generation of a family of coachbuilders, Rosita grew up surrounded in every way by cars, from the Ferraris her mechanic father picked her up from school in, to the toy cars he brought home for his children. Thing is, even though the family worked on primarily Italian cars, her father's true love was with Porsche.
"This car reflects me, my personality, being unconventional,” says Matt De Mangos. “I mean, seriously, who imports one of these, and who spends eight years fixing one of these up? It’s not an exotic, there’s no cult following…"
From Mitsubishi’s golden era, De Mangos says that nobody expected the company to show up with the car at the 1970 Tokyo Motor Show. Not originally designed for the U.S., this right hand drive Japanese coupé is a performance car unlike any other.
Sold under the brand “Colt”, the GTO GSR, or Gran Turismo Omologato Grand Sport Racer is essentially a down-sized version of sports cars from that era, and in De Mangos’ opinion, often better than the original. In this case, a blast to drive.
With a restoration spanning eight years, De Mangos says it involved a lot of personal growth, for unexpected reasons.
“I had to learn Japanese, I had to make friends with people all around the world, I had to make things that weren’t available…” De Mangos says. “There was no catalogue, there was no forum telling me how to do something or making any suggestions.”
The car is often taken out for a run, so if you see a beautiful, small coupé carving corners, you may have just stumbled upon De Mangos’ unique Mitsubishi.
“Son, once you get those training wheels off,” Mark said, “I’ll buy you your first motorcycle.”
A day later, Haven could ride his first bicycle without training wheels. Soon, he was on a motorcycle…at three years old. “I just thought it was so cool that I could go so fast, and everything was a blur, and I got to do it "
"If I was to pick between painting and drawing," says, Radu Muntean, "I'd have a hard time picking. It's like, 'Which kid do you like the best, your oldest or youngest?' I love them both."
A car designer by trade, Muntean's tastefully modified 1971 BMW 2002 is the mechanical expression of his passion for cars. Knowing early on that he wanted to be a car designer, the 2002 is an "uncommon" look that forced Muntean to spend some more time with the Bavarian coupé in order to truly fall in love with it. "It's not a super fast car," he says, "but it's a loud, fun, super quick car."
"One of my favorite things about this vehicle is the total pure utility of it," says Josh Commons, "…the only creature comforts—apart from a heater—is that the seats are padded."
Built to be rugged, long-lasting, dependable, and easy-to-repair, the Toyota FJ40 has earned a reputation for being one of the world's best vehicles for going off-road, anywhere, any time. Family owned since 1992, Commons had it for 10 years before selling it to his sister, who sold it to their parents. After a time, it was passed back to Josh and hasn't left his possession since.
"I've owned it long enough to go full cycle to where the brakes and the wheel cylinders wore out and needed to be rebuilt," Commons says. "You're turning the same screw you turned 20 years ago…it's kind of special."
8,000 feet up, Commons takes us to the beautiful mining ghost town, Boulder City. Not many vehicles—let alone off-roaders—can survive the journey, but the FJ40 almost makes it look like a piece of cake.
"I don't see these as disposable, I see them as infinitely rebuildable," he says. "It's definitely an heirloom now."
“This is where it all started, this is where the roots are,” says Glenn Chiou. “It has that ‘Z’ because of this car.”
With a 1972 Datsun 240Z-L in his care, Chiou is already the owner of an exceedingly rare car in the U.S. He then used his knowledge of history and Nissan’s past to source unobtanium-grade parts from the period Datsun competition catalogue, which tastefully brings this car up a notch in performance but retains a completely authentic look.
“When you’re out there in something like this, people just stop and…it might not even look like a car at first…it might look like a small spaceship floating around out there,” says Matt Hummel, adding, “this is my favorite car to get lost in”.
A mis-spelled Craigslist ad led Hummel to this barn find-condition Porsche 356 that had been sitting since the ’70s, and is now used lovingly—with refurbished mechanicals—as his dirt road and desert driving machine. And to the people who see him and his car out in the middle of nowhere, he has an answer: “This is a real Porsche…and it’s out here,” he says.
Years of hunting around the world for Volkswagen parts led Hummel to Porsche parts and cars, and he has amassed a large number of hard-to-find parts and a small collection of vehicles. Now, he only looks for old cars with their true character and patina still attached to them. The monetary value of the vehicle doesn’t matter to Hummel, his joy comes from simply getting out and enjoying his travels far off the beaten path.
“You don’t have to feel inferior because you don’t have shiny paint,” he says. “Just get it running. Drive it now.”
“I made my mind up when I was a kid, that I have to work with cars, nothing else…I can’t do anything else.”
This is Alexander Brevik, and the Mercury Cyclone is his car for driving. It may sound funny to say it’s his car for driving, but Brevik isn’t your typical enthusiast: most of his other cars, are project cars. Yes, project cars, and for very good reason: “I really like fixing the cars more than driving,” he says.
“The one good thing about the Cyclone is when I get bored of working on my cars, I can always drive that, because that’s in good shape,” says Brevik. “I don’t have to work on it.”
“I know it’ll take me from A to B, and wherever I want to go.” So if you see a Cyclone in Norway, don’t forget to wave—chances are Brevik is behind the wheel, maybe even running an errand to finish one of his project cars.
“It will break down some days. I don’t want to worry about that,” says Manuel Campa.
You’re looking at a 1953 Volkswagen Beetle, a mass-produced marvel that is now quite the rare car, and it’s used by Campa as a daily driver. “I want to pick up my wife with it, I want to drive in the weekends with it, and have fun and enjoy. It’s a car to have fun with,” he says.
"It might be silly for some people," says Campa, “but it’s a dream come true for me and I’m super happy with the car.”
A dream come true? Campa is a painter by trade, who honors classic cars, motorcycles, and bicycles on canvas. “For me, my passions are my cars, my toys, my brushes, my canvas, my studio,” he says, “and that’s where I spend most of my days.”
“The thing that not many people see is that you have to work very hard in your studio to make this happen…your painting is going to hang in someone’s house,” Campa says. After a long, difficult process, he says of his creations: “Finally, sometimes it’s worth having your signature.”
“This car garners attention from everyone,” says Grant Karnes, “and I think it kind of draws everybody in to what Porsche is.”
Owned by a family friend who later sold it to his father, Karnes had known about and lusted after this particular car for years. A Porsche 911 Turbo, otherwise called the “930”, is a car worth lusting after. For a time, it was one of the fastest production cars in the world, and in stock form is still a strong performer. That said, Karnes did see a problem once he got a hold of his dream car.
“It probably hadn’t been driven enough,” he said. “You know, a 930 begs to be driven.”
Driving it in stock form for a while, Karnes eventually decided to lightly, gently modify the car. “Headers, exhaust, wastegate…” and the list goes on. Why?
“I really had two objectives in the project,” Karnes says, “One was to really preserve the originality of the car and its ability to be returned to stock, and the second was that I really wanted to unleash the potential and see what the 930 was.”
For Karnes, the 930 is a car that fits his personal philosophy perfectly. The car isn’t just an iconic shape or startling performance, it’s about how Porsche managed to harmoniously bring those elements together.
“Most folks think of Ferraris as 8- or 12- cylinder cars. A 4-cylinder Ferrari is kinda strange to most people. They also don’t realize that the first two Formula 1 World Championships were won with 4-cylinder cars,” says Rear Admiral Robert A. Phillips, USN (Ret.). “There are so few of them…there are three left with the right motors…”
Bought after its racing career had drawn to a close, Admiral Robert Phillips bought the unwanted 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series II by Scaglietti in 1960 for the princely sum of $2,225, or as he puts it, “two-and-a-half MGAs”.
Happiest on-track, these were Ferrari’s early series of privateer cars. It was sent originally to Venezuela, then to the U.S. where it was competitive on its debut at Sebring. By 1959, it had been relocated to a Rambler Dealership, with a seized differential! As it happens, the decision to wipe some dust off of the valve covers would change his life forever.
“Ah, Ferrari—I’ve got to save it!” and with that, Admiral Robert Phillips had spent 2/3 of his salary on a broken Ferrari racing car. And then proceeded to fix it himself, and race, with the car accompanying the Navy family on its many moves over the years. Now, he’s a world-renown expert on the 500/750 Mondial models, after years of research and collecting factory Assembly Data Sheets.
“A lot of people can say they bought their dream car,” says Carter Kelly Kramer. “Not a lot of people can say they built it.”
Kramer’s 1976 BMW 2002 is an example of how persistence can pay off. He bought the car at 16, from Ebay, with a tiny budget—and the car was far worse than described. Worse, he soon hooned off the road and punched it through a fence.
The repairs took a long time, as Kramer was determined to do it himself. “I had a pair of garden shears, I had a hack saw, I had a crowbar, and a sledgehammer…” he says.
“I slowly learned by taking the car apart how the car goes together,” Kramer says. “Don’t worry, I got this,” after his mom began to question why the 2002 was, again, in pieces.
Over time, it was decided to get rid of the project before college—after the car had inspired his successful entrance essay. Inevitably, Kramer suffered from seller’s remorse and eventually got the car back: “It was like a dog that ran away,” he says.
“I realized I took [a] nightmare and turned it into a dream…it’s taught me about cars, and driving, and fixing things. You can’t put a price tag on that.”
“I pack it up and drive to the track on the highway with modern cars around me, which is a little scary sometimes,” Bradley Price says, “but I love the feeling of freedom that it gives me when you get to the track, you just unpack the car and you’re ready to go!”
Bradley’s casual approach racing may at first seem alien, if you’re only used to watching Formula 1 or Nascar. But when you’ve got a 1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Veloce with tasteful period modifications, the Vintage Sports Car Club of America is the perfect series to race in—and this track, Lime Rock Park, is one of the best.
“Lime Rock came about in the time period when this car was new, in fact, the first-ever race held with sports cars at Lime Rock in 1957 was actually won by a Giulietta Spider,” Bradley says. “In many events, we don’t even have timing. You just grid up wherever you want to be, find a friend you’re evenly matched with, and just have a fun afternoon of racing together.”
Lacking a long straight and favoring drivers who are able to maintain momentum through corners, Lime Rock’s layout is a perfect venue for agile and nimble vintage racers to hang with high-horsepower machines.
To date, one of our most highly-regarded films has been “The Ferrari 250 GTO Speaks for Itself”, focused around Derek Hill and—without a doubt—a V12-powered legend. It wasn’t the whole story, however.
See, we capture a lot of footage, and there’s been a clip we’ve wanted to air separately since the moment it was committed to memory: an in-car video of Hill driving the 250 GTO, minus sound, narration, or anything else that would get in the way.
That clip is below. It may only be 7 minutes, but we have a feeling you’ll watch it more than once. Turn it up…
“The production line was really weird back then, I mean, they had wine for lunch… Hopefully you got a car that was built with everybody, before lunch, you know?” quips Jack Riddell, owner of this 1967 Lamborghini 400 GT.
Thing is, Jack’s car may have been built on a day when the all the stars in the universe aligned to produce the best-built 400 GT: his car has nearly 300,000 miles on the clock, easily one of the world’s highest totals for a Lamborghini.
He bought the car in 1972, after simultaneously saving up and talking its owner down to $6,250. It’s been a rewarding experience ever since.
The car’s rarity at less than 250 made and Jack’s technical skills allowed him to maintain and improve the car through the years, and he’s become a trusted resource among fellow Lamborghini aficionados.
One interesting update to Jack’s car is his custom-built ignition system. He modified a Jaguar distributor and added an MSD unit, eliminating the need for constant tune-ups.
“Which is good, because I like to drive it,” he says. “You can cruise at 140 mph all day if you could do it legally, but you can’t, unfortunately…”
“…The color is crazy, like a Beetle or a Bus. It makes people smile. Always.”
Porsche owner Antoine Gaslais and his 1967 912—the four-cylinder 911—are the perfect pairing for a relaxing drive.
Gaslais is a screenprinter by trade, with experience in advertising, illustration, graphic design, and publishing. At this point in his life, he’s able to focus his efforts on his artistic endeavors. A few years ago, he decided to search for his perfect Porsche 912. After nearly five years, Gaslais was finally ready to call a close friend and say…
“Listen man, I did something stupid. I bought a car.”
It didn’t run. But it was numbers-matching, had been well-used, and wore its patina well—the perfect car for an enthusiast on a tight budget who was obsessed with finally getting behind the wheel and motoring, ’60s style. His friend Julien helped get the car running, and on the first big trip it was to take…well, we’ll let Gaslais tell the full story in the film.
Now, he’s enjoying the performance of his brightly-colored Bahama Yellow 912.
“These days, I’ll admit, when I get in the car it no longer feels like a mistake…” he says.
“When it comes to what cars you like, I think that everyone wants the cars they coveted when they were growing up,” says Skip Barber. “The 275 Ferrari, I can still see one in Cambridge, a bright yellow one—with a woman with the best pair of blue jeans and heels getting into the car…[So] I got the car.”
Active in post-Second World War races after earning enough in the Merchant Marine to buy his first race car, Skip Barber quickly made a name for himself as an ace driver, eventually contesting in Formula 1. One of the feats he’s most proud of was beating the legendary Jim Clark in identical cars at the Canadian Mosport track.
“That was a pretty big deal,” Skip says. “People would put me in cars they couldn’t sell; the This is what the world’s most influential driving instructor takes for a cruise
theory would be that I’d do well and people would buy it.”
As his career as a professional racer started winding down, he decided to set a goal for himself: “To do absolutely the best job we could,” he says. Graduates of the Skip Barber Racing School have gone on to win championships around the world, but Barber’s heart and soul have gone into protecting and building the legacy of his home track, Lime Rock Park.
“We’ve tried to preserve the feel of it,” Skip says. “I think when you walk in, it’s the same…I hope.”
And the car Skip will be driving as he pulls through the gates at Lime Rock? His beloved Ferrari 275 GTB, of course.
Petrolicious wishes to thank the team at Lime Rock Park for their help and hospitality in the production of this short film, and for the great archival photos of Skip Barber during his racing days.
“In the summer of 1969, we found ourselves in Detroit. It was an exciting time for my father, of course, but for the whole family,” says Juan Escalante. “A visit to the Detroit Auto Show and seeing the Challenger…he just fell in love.”
You’re looking at a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 426 Hemi 4-speed, one of only 137 equipped with the largest engine and a manual transmission. Chrysler made around 77,000 Challengers, making this easily one of the most rare variants.
“From 1972 to 1996 the car remained in Venezuela,” says Escalante. “Word had preceded the car that a Hemi Challenger was to arrive in Venezuela, and this was among the motorheads and car enthusiasts… The car arrived, and they immediately started referring to the car as ‘El Hemi’.”
With difficulty in finding parts in Venezuela, the car slowly slipped into disrepair after being parked—until Escalante and his brother convinced their father to ship the car to the U.S. to have it restored in 1996. Its completion in 2005 was bittersweet, however: their father passed away before the car was finished.
“We had to gather ourselves and really think about how we were going to use the car, and one of the things that my dad always stressed was that the car [should be] used, that we would enjoy the car…that we would give rides to our kids and their friends and let them experience it,” says Escalante.
“It’s a way of connecting those who have come before us to those who will be coming in the future.”
