The Rosner Files

Jon takes us to Laguna Seca for a Lotus 23 perspective on the, ahem... Reunion....
Alfa 6C 2500 Italian tour
VGM
VELOCITY GROUP MAGAZINE
Return to Home Page
contact@velocity
Want to discuss something further? We welcome the conversation of our readers!
Alfa 6C2500 Tour of Germany
Le 6C 2500 Tra Regio
SAAR / Mosel


Oliver and Lucie Collins take us along on the annual 6C tour in Europe.
This year its Germany in September.
Once again Lucie provides the great lens work.
The weather couldn't have been better.

Pininfarina Museum
A Trip to Turin

We take a tour of the Pininfarina Museum, circa 1992, courtesy of Lorenza Pininfarina.
ItalDesign Nazca and Scighera in the hills around Monterey
Driving Through Another Dimension

Another Monterey week story.
A fast run to and from Laguna Seca
in a couple Giugiaro prototypes.

As the Century was about to turn.
Simplex 1911 50HP Holbrook Toy Tonneau
The Simplex

Long before Colin Chapman said, "Simplfy, then add lightness" was the Simplex.

Taking a look at American performance in its formative stage.
In Their Own Words

Some of the best records of the Turin design community were produced by the Carrozzeria themselves. These were reflected in the fine quality publications each firm produced. In them you had the firm principles discussing what was accomplished and how. Being design firms, the art direction was great, as were the illustrations and photography. Here we choose three of the many sent for you to enjoy reading about the great Carrozzeria, in their own words.
Lancia Zagato Hyena
Lancia Hyena

It is the story of a time and a company in transition, from which one of the era's most collectable cars was created.
Citroen 2CV on a Turin side street
Photo: Miles Callan Turin side street 2013
The Rosner Files Lotus at Monterey
250 TR 0718 on the street
On a Union Salary
Bill Chizar's tale of 0718

In every modern Ferrari provenance there is the story of the guy who bought an old derelict racer in the 1970s and fixed it up on a working man's salary.
This is one such story told to me in Bill's own words.

Here we present it as part of the new Excerpt Series.
Pulled straight from the pre-press galley of
Metal Memory: the mystery of 0719.

Note: Turn the pages by tapping the upper left and right of the pages.
F1 transforms Long Beach

Both Raymond Chandler and Ross McDonald's detectives spoke about Long Beach as a corrupt, decaying gray anomaly on the sunny Southern California coast. When Grand Prix arrived in the late Seventies, Ocean avenue was cluttered with pawn shops serving the fast cash hard luck stories, and shuttered shops serving no one. Mike Supancich takes us for a look back on the color of speed that changed all that. 
June in Italy

Long time Alfa collector and 6C 2500 owner Oliver Collins and talented photographer Lucie Collins take us to a special Alfa event at the Ville D'Este. And yes, they shipped their 6C 2500 there and back to attend.
...And on down to Brescia

Oliver and Lucie head down to Brescia for the Mille.
Once again Lucie provides the excellent lens work.
Gurney Eagle GP
WeatherTech® International Challenge with Brian Redman
The Eagles have landed.


Like good wine, there are vintage years at historic racing events. One such year was when Dan Gurney's Eagles were brought out for the Redman at Road America.
Bugatti EB 110 Campogalliano 1991
Through the Looking Glass

I recently came upon a cumulative history of Bugatti. It went from Ettore's superb originals, right to Cosworth's, I mean VW's, current offerings. It was interesting to note that this Molsheim to Molsheim Atelier history said nothing about Artioli's Campogalliano operation. Interesting in the fact that there would be no Bugatti today without Artioli's superb and effective resurrection of the Marque. 

We were the first TV crew to visit Bugatti in Campogalliano in 1991.
Come along and take a step back in time.
Fully restored and reedited. 43 minutes in length.
The-Design-Cast-Ltd Alfa 8C
The Design Cast Ltd.

There is a statement attributed to Mies van der Rohe which we will paraphrase here, “It’s all in the details.”

Recently I became aware of Colin Howard’s manufacturing operation in New Zealand. Let’s take a trip down under and visit this truly amazing automotive operation.
Laguna Seca 1960
Before the Historics

As most every automotive publication devotes editorial space to the most recent vintage racing event, which all seemed to have become canapé and Champaign flute private invitationals, we thought we'd step back and present a photo essay of what gave those cars the provenance driving their, ahem, values. Join us for a look at a pivotal event as the new Mid-Century decade began.
This is also vintage in the fact that it was shot with the then very new high speed Ektachrome film.

Jaguar XK140
Brits by the Bay

Darrel Burnett and his crew at The Automobile Gallery do it again. This new All English Marque day came off like the proverbial clockwork.

The field was strong and the weather great late summer. If only the local football team hadn't foreshortened it by an early exhibition game, everyone would have stayed until it was time for those G&Ts, but it did make for some amusing departure photographs.
Alfa Romero SZ
Vintage Videos


While in development with Time Warner for a multi-episode TV broadcast on Alfa Romeo, my buddy at the AR ad firm there on via Kennedy in Arese thought I might like to have these very period videos for the Velocity Group archives.
Media Credentials Pebble Baech Concorso Italiano
Walking the greens at Pebble 

With over 27 years online we have a hell of an archive to draw from. Here we step back to 2012 to have a look at the cars at Pebble through the lens of Pat Stack.
We've also art directed this a little differently.The nav-programming is merely tap photo to go to the next page.
Have
a walk about.
Scarab Palm Springs races
Vertical Ascent

As part of our Car Culture TV development cycle, was produced this pilot.
Feeling it was time, I got Warren Olson and Bruce Kessler on tape for some of our Car Guy Conversations about how the Lance Reventlow Automobiles story came about and unfolded. And damn glad I did!
The images woven into this tale are from the Archives of Warren and Bruce.
As they say on the old Johnny Carson show clips; More to Come
Hall Scott four and Duesy eight
The Redman Classic at Road America

The featured Marque this year was an era.
The Ragtime Racers represented this earliest era of competition, with some of the greatest racers of the period.
We then roamed off into the tarped garages of some of the more intriguing representatives of every era, right through to current prototypes.
The Brian Redman 2026 Stormy weather
Road America
The Brian Redman 2026

Weather is not ususally a factor at this mid-summer event.
From smoke haze thick as fog, to a tropical downpour, this year's Redman started off as a most unusual get together.
From the 588 photos taken in some of the strangest lighting conditions imaginable, comes this 99 page feature article.
​Below the two lead recent event feature articles, The Brian Redman of three weeks ago, and the Brits by the Bay exhibition at The Automobile Gallery on the first of August, we have brought together a special Monterey Week edition.
Here we look back through the lens of Pat Stack at Pebble of 2012 & 2013.
Pat had one of the old 1950s ranch houses in DeMonte (Pebble), and every year,​ from the late 1990s, we camped out for the week. Attending Steve Earl's Historics, Concorso and Pebble.
Following Pat's frames we present a couple of Jon​ Rosner articles on Concorso and the Historics, oh I mean Reunion.
Eugene O'Gorman, renowned Maserati collector, takes us from his house in Idaho to Monterey week in his Ghibli.
A bit of English on a summer afternoon
Brits by the Bay

The annual celebration at The Automobile Gallery on the first of August brings together the English Car Club of the Upper Midwest.
On the green at Pebble with Pat Stack
Pebble 2013

Pat Stack gets us up early to watch the arrives, and stays long to let the sun come on the field. or green on Monterey Bay in this case.
On the green at Pebble with Pat Stack
Pebble 2012

Here the art director and the photgrapher, Pat Stack, conspire to tell a close in design story of the 2012 Pebble.

The page turn prgramming on the next two features is quite simple: the photos are live links to the next page.
Maserati Moments, hours, days at Monterey
Road Trip
Maserati collector and our good friend Gene, drives his Ghibli 2000 miles round for Monterey week; attending Motolux at the Jet Center, walks the pebble exhibitors' parking after the Tour, is part of the Maserati take over of Laguna Seca on Friday and relaxes at Concorso.
Rosner at the Reunion
A retiun to Concorso
The Rosner Files
Jon Rosner makes his return to VGM with a fine visit to the 2023 Concorso Italiano.