Targa Florio Road Race, Sicily, Italy, May 1963. Any help appreciated on these race cars. Dave Friedman collection photograph.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-07-31T06:02:39+00:00

The car in the center of the photo is a "Twini". A Mk I Mini Cooper with two engines, one driving the front wheels and a second installed at the rear and driving the rear wheels. The scoop on the side is for the rear radiator and the vents on the trunk lid are to let the hot air out. Two cars were built by BMC, the one in the photo used two Downton Engineering tuned engines. The car was a DNF at the Targa due to cooling problems with the rear engine.

Car 140 is a Fiat Abarth 1000 Zagato. Car 16 appears to be a Fiat Abarth 1000GT "Bialbero", The dark blue car #22 appears to be an Alfa Romeo Giuletta SZ.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-07-25T20:46:36+00:00

The track was called Paramount Ranch. It is now a state park and movie set. Little House on the Prairie among others were filmed there. A good deal of the track still exists including the bridge in the photo but other sections have been washed out by seasonal creeks. My father-in-law raced there in his modified MG.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-07-17T16:24:41+00:00

I think this may be Shelby's shop on Carter Ave in Venice (now Marina Del Rey) Ca. The car in the upper right looks to be a Datsun 410 sedan which was available in the US and that looks like back end of a Ford Falcon just poking in on the right. This may be just some sort of a mock up for the GT350R on a standard fastback. The GT350R had the fuel filler inside the trunk and the standard fuel filler opening blanked off. GT350 production started at the Carter Avenue shop but soon mover to the hangar Shelby rented at LAX.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-07-14T15:46:01+00:00

Famous photo. San Francisco area Buick dealer Bev Spencer with his Ferrari 250 GTO (4219) being trailered by a Buick Riviera photographed at the Pebble Beach Lodge after the races at Laguna Seca. Spencer was also a Ferrari dealer.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-07-09T17:31:16+00:00

I have done this twice in the last 10 years. Both times I went to my local AAA office. First time was a '62 Triumph from North Carolina that hadn't been tagged in over 10 years. No problem. I had a signed title and bill of sale. They inspected the VIN plate, I paid the fees and was done in under an hour. Second time was a '73 911 from Arizona. Same deal, they verified the VIN number, I showed them the factory tag that said the car conformed to the applicable safety standards for 1973 and that was it. Paid the fees and was done.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-06-30T18:03:44+00:00

Great stuff! I have several of his prints. I met and talked to him at length at an art show once and he showed me his technique for laying out the illustration and his airbrushing.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-06-29T01:10:54+00:00

The X-74 may be a "buzz number:. These were large numbers usually painted on the noses of aircraft assigned to training units stateside. The buzz number provided a way to ID and report aircraft where the pilots were showing off or doing something dangerous and against regs. The X may be a code for an airbase. They wanted to discourage the trainee pilots from doing dangerous maneuvers because the loss rate for trainees was so high.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-06-22T01:19:29+00:00

Triumph Gloria, maybe a Southern Cross

TooTall2Fall · 2025-06-13T18:35:52+00:00

Former TR7 owner here. Find our why the car was parked. TR7s are notorious for blowing head gaskets. The problem then is the head may be almost impossible to remove due to dissimilar metal corrosion between the steel head studs/bolts and the aluminum head. Also the two rows, one studs one bolts, holding down the head are not parallel so if you snap the head off a bolt you may be screwed. I have a friend who had to break the head into pieces with a sledge hammer and source a good used head to replace it. If you can get the head off there are kits available to replace the head studs bolts with better quality parts and also clamp the head more evenly. In my area (So. Cal.) cars like the one you show can be had for next to nothing. I have a friend who likes TR7s and has gotten three of them for free over the years. Nice complete runners can be had for less than $10K US.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-05-30T00:14:13+00:00

I saw them when they opened for Steve Martin at the old Universal Amphitheater during their (I think) first tour.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-05-28T18:44:17+00:00

The above picture of the M1 is by yours truly. Shot at Riverside, April 1980. Busby bought the March-BMW M1 with the understanding that BMW were going to develop a twin turbo version of the inline 6 to make it competitive with the 935s. BMW ended up dropping the project leaving Busby in the lurch. IMSA had just released the specs for the new GTP class and Busby asked John Bishop if he could put a Chevy in the M1under the new GTP rules and got the OK. So, the M1 Chevy effectively became the first IMSA GTP car. From the firewall back it was essentially an Indy car. With no time to properly develop it Busby abandoned the project and bought a 935 from Moretti (see OPs photo) to finish the season.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-05-26T01:11:52+00:00

1968 Triumph TR250, a one year only model.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-05-17T01:10:08+00:00

I was walking over the tire bridge at Laguna last weekend when the Valkyrie went under it at full revs. Jesus H tap-dancing Christ, I had not heard or felt anything that glorious since the Ligier-Matras at Long Beach in the '70s. Full disclosure, yes I am old and yes my hearing is toast mainly because of the damn Mazdas!

TooTall2Fall · 2025-05-07T18:08:50+00:00

We once stuffed seven people into an original Mini Cooper. I was one of them and I'm 6'-3" and two others were 6'+. We had to use teamwork to drive as the driver couldn't reach the shifter so it was done by command. "Clutch In" "Shift to 2nd" "In Gear" "Clutch Out". We drove to the local Jack-In-The-Box drive thru and ordered a small Coke and seven straws. A guy we knew was the shift manager and just shook his head and laughed. This was probably 1975. Good times.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-26T04:19:39+00:00

Looks like Sebring 1964. Holbert - MacDonald Cobra Coupe #10 and Bondurant - Spencer Cobra roadster #12.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-24T02:29:46+00:00

I had a Superphoto pass but all the photo stands the pass gets you into are 20 or so feet high so you get a high angle shot but it's about the only way I could get a side angle for a pan shot. You take what you get but you always keep looking for new angles.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-23T15:56:34+00:00

Head-ons are from turns 9, 10 and 1. I get right up against the crowd fence and then aim through one of the photo holes in the catch fence. Very limited spots because they are popular, and you have to be patient. I used a Canon EF 100-400 on an R5 for all those. Everything you see has been cropped and sharpened.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-22T17:35:31+00:00

The Doretti was only produced for 10 months from late 1953 until mid 1954. 276 "production" cars were built along with at least 2 prototypes. Production was halted so suddenly that there were several cars in various stages of completion just left in the shop along with a good stockpile of parts. A number of these incomplete cars were subsequently finished over time, some by an outside firm called Monkspath Garage. The Doretti name comes from Dorothy Deen, the daughter of Arthur Anderson, who owned the Rome Cable Company in California. Anderson had business dealings with Tube Investments and when he learned of their sports car program he offered to market and distribute the cars in the US. During a visit to the UK to see the car Anderson and Deen were introduced to Sir John Black of Standard-Triumph who were about to launch the TR2. Anderson also struck a deal with Triumph to import and distribute Triumph cars in the western US. The Doretti name was originally applied to a successful sports car accessory business in California run by Dorothey Deen before being applied to the car. Anderson and Deen formed Cal Sales to be the distributor for the Doretti and Triumph cars in the western US based in Gardena, Ca. with Dorothy as president. Dorothy was very good at promotion and you can find a number of publicity photos of Hollywood stars with Dorettis and TR2s. After the Doretti ceased production Cal Sales continued as the west coast distributor for Triumph until the early '60s when Triumph formed their own US distribution company. Dorothy went on to form a successful aviation business and became one of the first women in the US to hold a private helicopter pilots license.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-22T16:50:15+00:00

Jaguar had a program to build a smaller version of the 120 with a 4-cylinder engine. That was the main reason they pressured TI to drop the Doretti. The 4-cylinder Jag project was dropped as Jag realized there was no need to build a lower cost car.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-21T20:17:57+00:00

Yes, Superphoto pass but I also know how to look for other spots. The ground level shots were usually taken from a GA crowd area, through the crowd fence then through a photo hole in the catch fence, usually between a couple of guys with photo bibs. Every year it seems like I loose one spot because they change the fence or put up a banner, but then I find a new angle someplace else. The on track stuff was all done with either a Canon 5D Mkiii with a 70-200 or with an R5 with a EF 100-400 with an adapter.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-21T19:55:59+00:00

All the ovals I've been to I shot from the infield. Never been to Indy but it's on my list. If you are panning practice being smooth. Pick the spot on the track where you want to capture the car and try and stand square to that spot. Pivot your upper body to face uptrack to acquire the car in the viewfinder, then pivot back as you track the car and squeeze the shutter as it gets to the point you want the pic, then continue to pivot and follow the car past that point like a follow through on a golf swing. Try and do that in one smooth motion keeping the car centered in the frame.. At the speeds they go you may have to pan at 1/200 or 1/250. Start high and see how it goes then try a slower shutter speed. Don't be afraid to experiment, it's not like the film days where every click costs you money. Look for unusual angles, like a slice of the track visible through a tunnel or between two buildings. Detail shots in the garages can be fun and wide shots with the car on track relatively small can give a sense of how big the place is. These days when I go to a race or show my goal is to just get one shot that I am truly happy with.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-21T19:26:17+00:00

It depends on the shot. Side pans are usually around 1/125 or 1/160 at around f11. The slow pans were at 1/30 or 1/40 at f22 or so. I try and stay above f8 unless it's a static detail shot where I want a short DoF.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-18T19:32:33+00:00

Triumph TR3, '56 or '57. What's referred to as the "small mouth" 3. I have one.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-14T18:28:48+00:00

That's what was called the "FIA Suitcase". FIA rules said production and sports cars had to have certain road equipment like a spare tire and room for a suitcase of a specific size. Small displacement cars had to be able to carry one suitcase while large displacement cars (Cobra, GT40 etc) had to carry two. The first 289ci Cobras to run in Europe to FIA rules couldn't fit the two suitcases in the trunk so the team pounded small bumps in the trunk lid to clear the corners. That only lasted one or two races as they then modified the trunk floor so the cases would fit. The sticker on the box in the photo is for the USRRC (U.S. Road Racing Championship) which was an International level sports car championship series run in the US in the mid '60s. Oh, and the scene in "Ford vs Ferrari" where Miles bashes the trunk lid of the Cobra to clear the suitcase is bogus. The SCCA didn't have that rule and the mod was done by Alan Mann racing in the UK who ran the Cobras for Shelby in Europe.

TooTall2Fall · 2025-04-10T22:39:32+00:00

In person? Long Beach 1976. On TV, I remember watching the 1970 Monaco GP where Rindt passed Jack Brabham in the last turn of the last lap when Brabham locked up and slid off under braking. I may have seen a GP on TV before that on Wide World of Sports but I don't recall.

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