Very special accident photos

Bruno von Rotz
07/31/2019

Unfallbilder von 1955 - James Dean

On September 30, 1955, James Dean collided in his Porsche 550 with Donald Turnupseed, who was driving a 1950 Ford Custom. Dean did not survive the accident, and at the tender age of 24, the career of a talented actor who also showed that he was a good racing driver behind the wheel came to an end. In fact, he was on his way to Salinas that day, where he wanted to race his new Porsche. It is a tragic story.

Unfallbilder von 1955 - James Dean

Now old photographic documents have apparently surfaced that show the scene of the accident in detail. Not only can the two vehicles involved in the accident be seen, but also the junction between Route 466 and Route 41 from above and from the driver's perspective. These photos were used at the time in the court case surrounding the accident, which did not lead to a result. However, the pictures survived at Turnupseed's lawyer's office.

They are now being offered by RRAuction as a set of 30 original photographs (prints)and are expected to find a new owner for over USD 20,000 (estimated value). The auction will take place online.
Bids have been accepted since July 17, 2019 and can be submitted until August 7, 2019.

These photos are certainly historically interesting documents. However, they are unlikely to shed any more light on this tragedy and they are not a pleasure to look at ...

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The PS race

Bruno von Rotz
07/30/2019

Goliath von 1955 in AMS (© AMS)

Horsepower racing was by no means limited to America, as was written 64 years ago in the magazine "Auto Motor und Sport". At that time, attention was drawn to new top performances. Even a Goliath with 25 hp in 1950 was boosted to a whopping 40 hp as the Goliath 900 with fuel injection.

Today, we can only smile at this; Lotus has just announced an electric hyper sports car with a whopping 2000 hp. Back then, the roads were significantly emptier than they are today and the speed regulations were more lax. Nowadays, the majority of journeys have to be made at 30, 50, 80, 100 or 120/130 km/h. In 1955, the Goliath 900 could (almost) maintain these speeds. So why 2000 hp?

It has long been known that driving pleasure is not proportional to performance. But apparently there are also other criteria ...

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When classic car prices are on the slide

Bruno von Rotz
07/29/2019

Lamborghini Islero S 1969 (© Robin Adams - Courtesy RM/Sotheby's 2015)

For some time now, there has been talk of stagnating classic car prices and that the big growth rates for classic cars are over. However, it is rare to have the opportunity to verify this with truly comparable vehicles, because after all, condition, history, color and many other factors make a big difference.

In the case of the 1969 Lamborghini Islero S, to which we have just dedicated a report , however, the market development can be clearly shown, as chassis number 6531 is being offered by the same auction house in 2019 ( again in Monterey) after 2015 ( in Monterey).

The estimate four years ago: USD 350,000 to 450,000
The estimated value today: USD 275,000 to 325,000

Roughly speaking, that's minus 25 percent.

After August 16, 2019, when the auction is over, we will be able to compare the prices achieved, as the Islero S sold for USD 401,500 in 2015, which is pretty much the same as the median estimate.

Lamborghini Islero S 1969 (© RM/Sotheby's 2019)

An exciting story!

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Tires are not the first thing you think of here

Bruno von Rotz
07/28/2019

Amphicar in der Werbung 1970

A magazine ad from 1970, in which an Amphicar glides through the water, proves that advertisers did have a sense of humor in the past.

The Pirelli people wrote:
"There will always be a few people for whom the higher mileage of the new Cinturato is of little use."

In fact, the tires of the Amphicar are unlikely to be worn out in the water, but most of these amphibious vehicles covered significantly more kilometers on the road than in the water.

And whether the humorous advertising had a lasting positive impact on sales of the Pirelli Cinturato, we unfortunately do not know today, almost 50 years later. However, the advertising motif has survived and it should be shown here in its entirety.

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Jimmy Froidevaux has shed his denim jacket (obituary)

Daniel Reinhard
07/27/2019

Froidevaux vor vielen Jahren mit Fotomodell

Somehow the whole week has been jinxed. Nothing is really going according to plan and now the absolute bad news in the middle of the Ennstal-Classic. My long-time friend and valued colleague Jean Pierre Froidevaux, known as Jimmy for short, passed away yesterday (July 26, 2019) at the young age of 75 in his adopted country of Thailand without any warning. He died exactly as he had always wished. Quickly and without complications, without any major ailments and without prolonged suffering. Wonderful for him, but a great and unexpected shock for me and his many, many friends.

Jimmy was a person you simply had to like. I truly believe that he was one of the few people who had no enemies at all and was simply loved by everyone. He was always the same: cheerful, upbeat and in a good mood.

I got to know him at the Swiss Championship races in 1976, after my father had already told me a lot about him: "There's a colleague, always in jeans and a denim jacket with a full beard and long, wild hair, and a red handkerchief around his neck, held together by a matchbox. A funny bird, a real hippie, but he's incredibly likeable and very nice."

Froidevaux mit Menzi und Dani Reinhard 1989

We quickly became close friends, traveled a lot together and shared hotel rooms at hundreds of races. Fun was always very important and nothing, absolutely nothing, could put him off his stride. Or could it?
Yes, I remember exactly once that he once used bad language and was completely beside himself. It was at the Belgian GP in Spa, in what was then the bus stop chicane, where he was attacked by a security man with a muzzled Rottweiler in a place where photographers were allowed. A picture taken by a colleague showed Jimmy on the ground with the dog's face maybe 30 centimeters from his face. This act was too much even for Jimmy and he rightly reported the photo of his colleague to the FIA and sued the security man.

With the best will in the world, nothing else could get him off his guard. For example, when we had to stay in a hotel in Montreal for a Grand Prix, where people with explicit sexual motifs were constantly knocking on the door of the room while Jimmy was developing films and then transferring the negatives to Zurich with his picture fax. This hotel was already a substitute solution, as the first hotel had such a large bathroom window that it could not be darkened and was therefore unsuitable for film processing.

Nevertheless, almost all the "hotel guests" in the replacement hotel ended up standing in our room, dressed only in a bath towel, totally fascinated and interested. And Jimmy? Stayed cool and calm.
In Sao Paulo, our rental car mysteriously disappeared from the Hilton hotel parking garage. The vehicle could no longer be found, so we were chauffeured to the racetrack and back every day in the hotel limousine.

He loved life and a glass of wine in the evening, sometimes a few more, accompanied by his beloved cigar.

As a self-taught tiler, he always kept up with the latest technology and bought the latest, albeit sinfully expensive, image fax machines so that he could always deliver the latest information quickly. We spent nights transmitting the pictures together with the squeaky machine via the room telephone, which always had to be manipulated a little. In the end, we could only sleep when the box, the size of a modern printer, squeaked. As soon as peace returned, we woke up and changed the picture so that we could go back to sleep.

His great love was the water and sailing boats. First on Lake Walen, then later on Lake Constance, he enjoyed his free time on the water in his own sailing boat with his friend Ruedi Menzi. With his pension and, by Swiss standards, a meagre AHV, and therefore without much financial support, he left for Thailand around 10 years ago, where he recently built a new house and enjoyed a much too short retirement with his wife and their son.

Froidevaux mit Dani Reinhard

Jimmy, what a damn great time we had together. I miss you and revel in all the memories, like the time we had to ask for directions on the drive from Estoril to Jerez in the middle of nowhere in Portugal and of course without satnav, and the guy completely freaked out because he thought you were Nelson Piquet and really wanted an autograph, which he got.

Jimmy, we will miss you!

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Major classic car fraud uncovered in Aachen

Bruno von Rotz
07/26/2019

Porsche 550 (Symbolbild)

The Aachener Nachrichten, which is published jointly with the Aachener Zeitung in the Aachen media house, reported yesterday on an ongoing investigation into a major case of fraud.

Porsche road and racing cars are said to have been forged on a large scale, rebuilt and created from wrecks. They were fitted with partially falsified or supplemented vehicle documents and sold for large sums in the country and internationally.

"Investigations are being carried out on suspicion of 'gang and commercial fraud'. The group is accused of having joined forces to rebuild scrap-ready vintage and racing cars or to manufacture replicas of such vehicles, to provide them with German registration papers and then to sell them at a profit as allegedly original vehicles," the police and public prosecutor's office stated according to the Aachener Nachrichten.

Last Wednesday, according to the newspaper, 18 homes and companies were searched simultaneously in several locations in Aachen and the surrounding area, as well as in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, as part of a raid. The unconfirmed fraud sum is said to exceed 100 million euros or even be higher, but there are no clear statements about this. The fact that a 48-year-old suspect from Aachen has been arrested and provisionally released from custody on bail in the millions also shows that the sums involved are large.

The counterfeiters are said to have gone about their work meticulously, exploiting gaps in manufacturers' chassis numbers, forging old documents with typewriters from the relevant eras and thus turning "fake" classic cars into "genuine" rarities.

The Bild newspaper also published the name of the main suspect (Uwe N.) and the name of the company in focus (Scuderia M66).

The investigation has apparently been going on for many months and is still ongoing. The public prosecutor does not want to give any information in order not to jeopardize the investigations, according to the newspapers.

Porsche 550A von 1957 (Symbolbild aus dem Archiv)

The whole story doesn't really surprise anyone. When so much money is involved, fraud is bound to happen sooner or later. The cars of the fifties in particular are comparatively easy to reproduce and even between two closely related models there can be a difference in value of millions. This must attract criminal energy.

This will not be the first and not the last case to cause a stir.

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The Alfa Romeo Superflow IV on its way to America 60 years ago

Bruno von Rotz
07/25/2019

Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM Superflow IV im Jahr 1960 (© ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv/Stiftung Luftbild Schweiz / Fotograf: Swissair / LBS_SR07-00004 / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Swissair, which was transporting the concept car from Europe to New York at the time, estimated the value of the Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM Superflow IV at CHF 120,000. A huge sum at the time.

The man at the steering wheel and on the forklift truck must surely have gotten his hands wet when unloading the car. And if they had known that this car would be auctioned off by Gooding & Co in Pebble Beach almost 60 years later for USD 6 to 8 million, they would probably have paid a lot more.

Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM Superflow IV (1953/1960) (© Gooding & Co)

Because it is such an atmospheric photo, for which we would like to thank Swissair and ETH, here is the image in uncropped form:

Copyright information on the black-and-white photo: ETH Library Zurich, Image Archive/Swiss Aerial Photography Foundation / Photographer: Swissair / LBS_SR07-00004 / CC BY-SA 4.0

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The most expensive goddess in the world?

Bruno von Rotz
07/24/2019

Citroën DS19 von 1959 (© Gooding & Co)

On August 16/17, 2019, Gooding & Co will auction a 1959 Citroën DS sedan alongside around a hundred other classic cars in Pebble Beach. It is expected to fetch USD 250,000 to 300,000 (approx. CHF 245,000 to 295,000 or approx. EUR 225 to 270,000).

Citroën DS19 von 1959 (© Gooding & Co)

This is a considerable sum, especially as it is an "ordinary" limousine whose first owner is not even known by name. This is therefore neither one of the sought-after factory convertibles nor a car that was present at the premiere in Paris or had any other glorious role at the launch. Simply a "Berline".

Chassis 55481, however, enjoyed a fairly straightforward ownership history with just three owners, the second of whom owned the car for 42 years, the first for around 11 years.

The last owner had the car completely restored and wanted nothing less than the best DS in existence. He put his trust in the Swiss Vincent Crescia from Neuchâtel. He is regarded as one of the best Citroën restorers and he spared no effort to turn the already good car into an even better one. Several other DS19s were purchased to contribute important parts, such as the orange-colored interior.

The result should convince even the most discerning connoisseurs - after all, the bill of over CHF 300,000 was no mean feat either.

We will find out in mid-August 2019 whether a bidder in Pebble Beach will be willing to go that high.

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What drivers used to know - starting the engine with the crank handle

Bruno von Rotz
07/23/2019

Range Rover Classic 1974 mit Loch

Modern drivers probably don't even notice the strange hole, usually located in the bumper or radiator grille area. And if they saw it, they would just shrug their shoulders.

But anyone who has been driving a car for a little longer will immediately realize what the purpose of this hole is. This is where the crank is inserted, which is connected more or less directly to the crankshaft in order to start the engine, even if there is no longer enough power to operate the starter (or if there is no starter at all).

Anwerfen mit Kurbel - Range Rover Classic

The fact that this hole, including the crank, was still present in a Range Rover from the seventies may be a little surprising, however, as it was a 3.5-liter engine that needed to be started and this would probably not have looked very befitting, dressed in a tuxedo in front of the opera.

The owners of the Citroën 2 CV were probably still seen turning the crank more often in the seventies.

But which was the last car to be delivered new with a hole and crank? We don't know, but perhaps our readers do? Just comment on the last car you saw new with a crank, and maybe together we'll find out!

P.S. Starting an engine with a crank handle was not that easy, and there are always horrifying stories of engines kicking back and breaking bones. However, if done correctly, starting the engine with muscle power could certainly allow you to continue your journey, even if the battery had hardly any juice left ...

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Mercedes-Benz is believed to be best placed to guarantee the long-term survival of young classic cars (Question of the week)

Bruno von Rotz
07/22/2019

Poll 134 - Teileverfügbarkeit und Wartbarkeit junger Klassiker

Anyone buying a youngtimer or even a classic car of the future today naturally wonders whether parts availability and maintainability are guaranteed in the medium and long term.

The individual manufacturers have positioned themselves very differently and they do not all attach the same importance to this issue.

We wanted to find out from our readers which manufacturerthey feel is best placed to ensure maintainability and parts availability in the future. We put 25 manufacturers to the test, and almost 300 Zwischengas readers chose their favorite:

According to the respondents, Mercedes-Benz enjoys by far the most trust, with 39.1 percent of the votes going to the Stuttgart-based manufacturer.

Porsche followed in second place with 26.5 percent of the votes, followed at a considerable distance by BMW (5.4 percent), Volkswagen (4.8 percent) and Jaguar (4.4 percent).

French, Italian and Japanese manufacturers obviously enjoy little confidence when it comes to future support for young classic cars.

As many as 4.8 percent apparently did not find the brand they would trust to provide good parts availability and maintenance support within the 25 brands mentioned.

Here are the answers in full and presented graphically:

Frage der Woche 134 - Antworten

We have already asked the next question of the week . This time we would like to know whether Zwischengas readers are primarily interested in older or younger classics.

And of course you can still read all the previous results of the Questions of the Weekin the corresponding topic channel.

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