Porsche 916 "Brutus". One of ten prototypes meant to be a more sporty 914, this example has a 2.9L RSR flat 6. The roof has been welded, bumpers painted body color, and 914/6 GT fender flares added. This specific car was used by the Piëch family.
The first of Ferdinand Piëch's four wives was named Corina, as well as a daughter born in 1960, Seeing as he was already on to wife #2 by the 1970s, I'm guessing it's for his daughter.
The first of Ferdinand Piëch's four wives was named Corina, as well as a daughter born in 1960, Seeing as he was already on to wife #2 by the 1970s, I'm guessing it's for his daughter.
I was just about to edit my post. I don't know the exact years he was married to Corina, but they had five children together between 1959 and 1969, and he didn't have a child with his second wife until 1974, so it seemed more likely it was his first wife's name rather than his daughter. And now I know that's right.
I always thought the first of the Fairlady line was the SPL212/SPL213 from 1960-1962 of which only 495 were built.
But I just discovered the Datsun Sports S211 from 1959-1960 of which only 20 were built. It used an OHV inline-4 of 988cc making 36hp. The body is made from fiberglass.
The existence of this car stems from a request made by one Claude Storez. He was a French racing driver who first competed in sports cars in the early 1950s driving a Simca 8 Sport, before climbing into a Porsche 356A Carrera Speedster in 1952. With this car he would finish 7th overall at the 1957 edition of the 12 Hours of Reims, as well as finish 6th overall in that year's Tour de France Automobile behind 4 Ferrari 250 GTs and a Mercedes-Benz 300SL (co-driven by Stirling Moss). But whilst Storez liked the car, he felt that it was a bit too heavy and lacking in aerodynamics, so he decided to ship the car to the Milan headquarters of the world famous coach-building company Zagato, to see what they could come up with. What Storez received in the summer of 1958 was a car that, to the unsuspecting eye, was more akin to a 550 RS or 718 RSK in appearance.
The Zagato Speedster would only see competition twice: its first outing came at the 1958 Tour de France Automobile where it didn't see the finish. The second was in February 1959 in the Rallye des Routes du Nord at Reims where, whilst in pursuit of Pierre Noblet's 250 GT Ferrari, Storez lost control and hit a mile marker. He was thrown clear and died soon afterwards of his injuries. Talk at the time was that the night before the race he was worrying about front wheel failure, and had allegedly fitted oversized tyres to alleviate the fears.
The most intriguing aspect of this car's history is that the exact nature of the recovery and subsequent whereabouts of the wreckage are still unknown, with many theorising that the car was ultimately destroyed, or still in hiding somewhere in France. Or indeed somewhere else in the world...
In the build-up to their 100th anniversary, Zagato announced the launch of a new restoration program: Sanction Lost. Of the 440+ designs created by the company since its inception, it acknowledged that most of those would have been lost to time through various means. The idea behind the program was to rebuild these lost designs in very small numbers, using period methods and tooling to retain the authenticity – the 356 Carrera Zagato Speedster would be their 3rd project, limited to just 9 examples. But because the fate of the only example of this car is shrouded in mystery, with no physical reference to work from, one step of the build process had to be contemporary. With blessing from Porsche (who even donated a 356 prototype mule as a base), Zagato worked from archive photos and technical drawings of Storez's car to create data reference points to generate a 3D model, from which they could create a "hammer model" which would then be used to beat the aluminium body panels into the shapes you see below.
Interestingly, during the research stage of the Speedster project, designs for another 356 Zagato special emerged, this time in the form of a coupé. Dated 1959, what was found seemed to point towards an advanced step in the car's production process, but for some undisclosed reason it seemed to go no further.
Not long after completion of the Speedster, it was decided that the 356 Carrera Zagato Coupé would be the 4th Sanction Lost project, again limited to 9 examples.
I knew about the Zagato Speedster but only because of this Matrix 1:43 scale model: https://modelcarsales.eu/6585/mx41607-061/porsche-356-zagato-spider/
I didn't know that the whereabouts of the car are unknown, and I didn't know about the Zagato Sanction Lost program. I think that's a great idea, and a great way for Zagato to generate income and interest without having to rely on commissions from manufacturers.
I knew about the Zagato Speedster but only because of this Matrix 1:43 scale model: https://modelcarsales.eu/6585/mx41607-061/porsche-356-zagato-spider/
I didn't know that the whereabouts of the car are unknown, and I didn't know about the Zagato Sanction Lost program. I think that's a great idea, and a great way for Zagato to generate income and interest without having to rely on commissions from manufacturers.
The existence of this car stems from a request made by one Claude Storez. He was a French racing driver who first competed in sports cars in the early 1950s driving a Simca 8 Sport, before climbing into a Porsche 356A Carrera Speedster in 1952. With this car he would finish 7th overall at the 1957 edition of the 12 Hours of Reims, as well as finish 6th overall in that year's Tour de France Automobile behind 4 Ferrari 250 GTs and a Mercedes-Benz 300SL (co-driven by Stirling Moss). But whilst Storez liked the car, he felt that it was a bit too heavy and lacking in aerodynamics, so he decided to ship the car to the Milan headquarters of the world famous coach-building company Zagato, to see what they could come up with. What Storez received in the summer of 1958 was a car that, to the unsuspecting eye, was more akin to a 550 RS or 718 RSK in appearance.
The Zagato Speedster would only see competition twice: its first outing came at the 1958 Tour de France Automobile where it didn't see the finish. The second was in February 1959 in the Rallye des Routes du Nord at Reims where, whilst in pursuit of Pierre Noblet's 250 GT Ferrari, Storez lost control and hit a mile marker. He was thrown clear and died soon afterwards of his injuries. Talk at the time was that the night before the race he was worrying about front wheel failure, and had allegedly fitted oversized tyres to alleviate the fears.
The most intriguing aspect of this car's history is that the exact nature of the recovery and subsequent whereabouts of the wreckage are still unknown, with many theorising that the car was ultimately destroyed, or still in hiding somewhere in France. Or indeed somewhere else in the world...
In the build-up to their 100th anniversary, Zagato announced the launch of a new restoration program: Sanction Lost. Of the 440+ designs created by the company since its inception, it acknowledged that most of those would have been lost to time through various means. The idea behind the program was to rebuild these lost designs in very small numbers, using period methods and tooling to retain the authenticity – the Porsche 356 Zagato Speedster would be their 3rd project, limited to just 9 examples. But because the fate of the only example of this car is shrouded in mystery, with no physical reference to work from, one step of the build process had to be contemporary. With blessing from Porsche (who even donated a 356 prototype mule as a base), Zagato worked from archive photos and technical drawings of Storez's car to create data reference points to generate a 3D model, from which they could create a "hammer model" which would then be used to beat the aluminium body panels into the shapes you see below.
Interestingly, during the research stage of the Speedster project, designs for another 356 Zagato special emerged, this time in the form of a coupé. Dated 1959, what was found seemed to point towards an advanced step in the car's production process, but for some undisclosed reason it seemed to go no further.
Not long after completion of the Speedster, it was decided that the 356 Carrera Zagato Coupé would be the 4th Sanction Lost project, again limited to 9 examples.
I think that the lens is distorting the propotions a bit and make the roofline more bloated than it is in reality. And it doesn't help that the wheels seem to be made out of cardboard.
Having had the oportunity to see the body I think that these pictures do it more justice :
While there may be some foreshortening in the photography, the greenhouse was intentionally bulbous. It was a style created by Zagato right after the war called the Panoramic Series. Here is the same greenhouse on a 1949 Fiat 750 MM.
Here's another Fiat, this time on a 500 chassis.
And here's a 1949 Maserati A6-1500 with a Zagato Panoramic body.
This is just a small sampling. Each one shows the extreme height and tumblehome of the side windows in all the Zagato Panoramics.
I think that the lens is distorting the propotions a bit and make the roofline more bloated than it is in reality. And it doesn't help that the wheels seem to be made out of cardboard.
I appreciate the thought, I do, but I've formed that position having seen a considerable number of depictions of the car and while being familiar with open bodywork atop the same chassis.
I also don't mean to say its awkwardness is purely a bad thing. It's far from graceful, but it's got character in spades...and that marvelous two-liter V12.
Triumph Stag, Sick Cylinder corrected me on the DYSAGT thread about a Triumph I saw. I thought I saw a spitfire, but it was one of these.
A V8 powered Grand Tourer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Stag
