Vintage Rallies, driving old cars�...

[Michael J.]

I recently completed the Texas 1000 road rally. There were about 30 cars that participated, mostly old ones (I drove a new one), and it was interesting to see what all happens to old cars driven over 1000 miles in 4 days over ranch roads (paved), county and state roads in the hill country of Texas, that are full of cattle guards, low water crossings, and other things, like deer. Some pictures of the cars involved here. One '66 L36 Corvette had a knockoff come loose, but the driver stopped it in time before the wheel fell off. We had several, very expensive mid-'60s Ferraris, one hit a whitetail at 65 mph, but threw the deer over the top of the car and escaped heavy damage. A '56 Jag had fuel system issues (fuel pump and Webers), a '67 Jag had the alignment come loose and wore a new tire down to the cord in less than 200 miles. The usual fan belts, water pumps, etc. on some foreign '50s cars, but the pride of the rally, a 1933 Alfa Romeo 1750 Grand Sport, performed flawlessly. A very interesting experience for me and my wife, the first time we have done one of these, now I want to do it with one of my C2s next year.

[Duke W.]

[Leif A.]

I recently completed the Texas 1000 road rally. There were about 30 cars that participated, mostly old ones (I drove a new one), and it was interesting to see what all happens to old cars driven over 1000 miles in 4 days over ranch roads (paved), county and state roads in the hill country of Texas, that are full of cattle guards, low water crossings, and other things, like deer. Some pictures of the cars involved here. One '66 L36 Corvette had a knockoff come loose, but the driver stopped it in time before the wheel fell off. We had several, very expensive mid-'60s Ferraris, one hit a whitetail at 65 mph, but threw the deer over the top of the car and escaped heavy damage. A '56 Jag had fuel system issues (fuel pump and Webers), a '67 Jag had the alignment come loose and wore a new tire down to the cord in less than 200 miles. The usual fan belts, water pumps, etc. on some foreign '50s cars, but the pride of the rally, a 1933 Alfa Romeo 1750 Grand Sport, performed flawlessly. A very interesting experience for me and my wife, the first time we have done one of these, now I want to do it with one of my C2s next year.

Good for you, Michael!! Which one of your cars did you take?

[Scott S.]

[Michael J.]

[Duke W.]

And yes Duke, the Daytona got whacked, and his buddies in the two red 330 GTCs you see on either side of it, were just ahead. I am told those are $1 million cars, and they also escaped and ran well.
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That could be the case for the best examples. The fifties/sixties Columbo SOHC V-12s are going through the roof. It's a fabulous engine design with plenty of factory hot rod parts - GTO cams, six carb manifolds - but even with the standard production cams and three carbs they scream, and like a SB Chevy they are actually fairly simple and very reliable.

That's why they won so many endurance races back in the day.

Duke

[Michael J.]

[Duke W.]

[Michael J.]

[Duke W.]

[Michael J.]