Snapshot, 1964: A rollercoaster season for Ferrari

In the pits at the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Ferrari 275P of Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti prepares to head back out onto the circuit. Shortly after, however, it would retire with terminal oil pump issues. As frustrated as the duo will have been, Ferrari had little reason to complain...

The marque’s cars swept the podium, with its gentleman driver pairing, Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella, claiming the illustrious marque’s eighth victory at La Sarthe after a masterful drive. With wins prior to Le Mans at Sebring and the Nürburgring, Ferrari would have won the 1964 International Prototypes Trophy, too… had it entered the Targa Florio, a mandatory Championship race. It didn’t, and the series victory was gifted to Porsche. Que sera...

Photo: LAT Photographic/Rex Shutterstock

Snapshot, 2015: Forgotten something?

As desirable, special and beautiful as the Carrera 2.7 RS is, you must always consider its rear-weighted balance and high maintenance costs. We hope the model that’s left her handbrake off doesn’t suffer the same afflictions…

Photographer Jose Gallina had the privilege of shooting this beautiful Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS alongside model Shayla Cofini, the full results of which will be revealed on Classic Driver soon. For now, here's a snapshot in which it looks as though Cofini has forgotten something other than her clothes. Long live air cooling...

Photo: Jose Gallina

Snapshot, 1973: Helen Stewart shoots back

During the 1973 Austrian Grand Prix, Helen Stewart shoots back at photographer Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, as her husband Jackie races to a second-place finish, edging one step closer to his third World Championship victory…

Aviators, retro cameras, rose-gold watches and denim shirts – it’s certainly true that fashions go full circle. Helen Stewart would have enjoyed the race, as the Scotsman, who started from seventh on the grid in his Tyrell, drove an impressive race finishing only behind Ronnie Peterson’s Lotus. Just three races later, during practice for the season finale at Watkins Glen, Stewart – and the whole Formula 1 fraternity – would be rocked by the tragic death of his teammate François Cevert. Though he had already decided to retire at the end of the season (and wrapped up the Drivers’ title), Stewart and the Tyrell team pulled out of the race as a mark of respect. As a result, the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers was gifted to Lotus-Ford. 

Photo: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch/Getty

Snapshot, 1961: What do you reckon, Enzo – will we win?

It’s April 1961, and Ferrari’s top brass has turned out at the Aerautodromo di Modena to see Richie Ginther test the exciting new shark-nosed 156 Formula 1 car for the very first time…

The pressure is on for the young American, as Il Commendatore is also present, overseeing proceedings alongside Phil Hill, one of the strong team of factory drivers recruited for 1961. While none of them could have anticipated the immense success the car would go on to achieve in its first season (five wins out of seven is a stunning record), celebrations would be marred by the tragic loss of Wolfgang von Trips and 11 spectators during the season finale at Monza. The preceding, season-long duel between teammates Hill and Von Trips is commonly considered to be one of the most electrifying in Grand Prix history. Following an internal dispute at the end of 1961, which resulted in all senior staff – many of which can be seen in this photo, most notably Technical Director, Carlo Chiti – being dismissed, a paranoid Enzo Ferrari employed Mauro Forghieri to spearhead the Scuderia’s racing efforts. 

Photo: The Klemantaski Collection

Snapshot, 1977: Who’s it going to be, Princess Caroline?

Relaxing in the pit lane during practice for the 1977 Monaco Grand Prix, James Hunt shares a joke with a young Princess Caroline of Monaco, who is sporting a Jackie Stewart T-shirt that we’re sure would have drawn a typically droll comment from the British World Champion…

Sadly for James, that’s where the laughs would end that weekend, as engine failure put an end to his race – one of eight retirements in a season that would prove lacklustre in comparison with his whirlwind (and now legendary) championship victory the previous year. The 1977 season would also prove expensive for Hunt, who received hefty fines for a number of ‘offences’, including assaulting a marshal following an on-track contretemps, walking the track in an ‘unsafe manner’, and simply not bothering to attend the podium ceremony for his comfortable win at the season finale in Japan. Well, he was never one to bow to the establishment, was he? 

Photo: Sipa Press/Rex Shuttershock

Snapshot, 1953: The mad scientist of Goodwood

We’re wondering what magic potion this chap is cooking up, beside the track at Goodwood in 1953…

The potion will give racing drivers a super-power of sorts; in the test tube is high-octane petrol, the hot topic of the Picture Post reporter’s research into new fuels. Following scientific breakthroughs in the 1930s and 1940s, higher octane fuels were introduced to raise the compression rates of aircraft engines, thus improving their performance. Following World War II, such research went into improving the performance of racing cars, instead – today, even super-unleaded fuel for road cars is typically 95 or 98 RON. 

Photo: Ronald Startup/Picture Post/Getty Images

Classic Driver’s extensive coverage of the Goodwood Revival 2015 is kindly supported by our friends at Credit Suisse. You can find an overview of all Revival 2015 articles here.  

Snapshot, 1959: The ‘Green Hell’ of Hawaii

It’s no surprise that Jurassic Park was filmed in Hawaii: when you’re deep in the tropical forests, time seems to stand still. It makes one wonder what the park ranger and family in this 1959 photo have discovered…

At first glance, this photo might appear to show a perfectly normal scene. But just why have this family and the accompanying forestry official pulled over to investigate what lurks in the dense foliage? So primeval is the backdrop, with huge prehistoric ferns reaching over the road, that we imagine the earth beginning to shake, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex pushing its nose out from the undergrowth. Then again, looking at the disinterested poses of the young boys, it’s possible the park ranger has used his experience to sight a rare, short-eared owl…

Photo: Getty Images

Snapshot, 1962: The Kennedys in shades at the America’s Cup

At the 1962 America’s Cup, an Australian yacht, ‘Gretel’, was entered for the first time. Looking on from their own yacht are President Kennedy and his wife – and most notable are the First Lady’s sensational 60s sunglasses…

For an East Coast president from a first-class family such as John F. Kennedy, sailing is de rigueur. So, it’s hardly surprising that the presidential couple are among the spectators at the 1962 America’s Cup, watching the grand regatta with great interest. Earlier that week, John F. had given a legendary speech at a gala dinner, in which he had highlighted the relationship between humans and the ocean, and welcomed the first challenger from the Southern Hemisphere to the race. Today is a more casual affair, however: JFK wears a navy blue sweater with the obligatory American Optical Saratogas, while Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy is dressed entirely in white, from the sandals to the sun protection. Ultimately, Gretel was beaten by Weatherly from the renowned New York Yacht Club.

Photo: Getty Images

You can find numerous classic sailing yachts for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

Snapshot, 1974: Student rags to riches

Students Gary Anusavice and John Gallagher, both 21, had $500 in the bank when they teamed up to offer pre-faded denim jackets and silk-screened T-shirts through adverts in Rolling Stone magazine. Nine months later they had grossed $100,000…

Their mail order business, Head Shed, was run from Anusavice’s home with the help of both his parents – who handled the orders and faded the denim. The boys bought the T-shirts for 90 cents each, silk-screen printed them at home with famous faces, and sold them on for $4.95. A tidy little margin with very few overheads. The photograph was taken in 1974, after they’d made their first $100,000, and it shows how the boys chose to spend some of the profits. An E-type Jaguar is a great choice of car, but we’d question the boys’ taste when it comes to that brash alloy wheel – an inappropriate choice that makes us wince. Then again, take a closer look and you’ll be relieved to see they’ve only been able to afford one wheel, so far. Let’s hope that by the time they made their next $100,000, their taste had improved.

Photo: Paul Slade/Paris Match via Getty Images

Snapshot, 1974: An awkward moment with Enzo...

This picture of Enzo Ferrari was taken in the grounds of his Maranello factory in February 1974 – five years after he sold 50% of his company to Fiat, on the condition that he retain absolute control of Ferrari’s racing activities...

Even standing next to a Fiat, Enzo Ferrari manages to look characteristically haughty. His inscrutably dark sunglasses make it impossible to tell whether he is staring off into the middle distance or straight down his nose at the photographer, but either way his demeanour is far from approachable. Whatever inner resentments Enzo might have been harbouring, however, over his loss of control of the Ferrari road car division, or more likely the Ferrari F1 team’s disastrous performance the previous year, his fortunes were about to change for the better, with the 1974 signing of Niki Lauda.

Photo: Paris Match Archive / Getty Images

You can find hundreds of Ferraris for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

Snapshot, 1965: Brigitte Bardot shoots back

In 1965, Brigitte Bardot starred in the movie ‘Viva Maria’, directed by Louis Malle in Mexico. During a break in the filming, ‘BB’ clearly enjoyed standing – or rather, lying – on the other side of the camera.

There are two Marias in the film: Maria number 1 (played by Brigitte Bardot) is the daughter of an Irish anarchist, while Maria number 2 (Jeanne Morreau) works as a singer in a circus. The two Marias team up to work in the circus and – after inventing striptease – their act enjoys huge success, until the two become revolutionaries and face all sort of threats together. No wonder Bardot took things a little quieter between takes. Here she is, relaxing in the sun by the swimming pool in Cuernavaca - and pointing the camera at Paris Match photographer Gerard Gery, who had come to take pictures of the filming. The only pity is that Bardot’s ‘return’ shot didn’t appear in the magazine.

Photo by Gerard Gery/Paris Match via Getty Images

Snapshot, 1968: ‘No room for the dog, Richard?’

Who needs an air-conditioned SUV in the summer months? As French singer Richard Anthony shows, you can chauffeur your loved ones to the beach astride a small Yamaha. It saves walking the dog, too…

We had always admired the French rock-n-roller Richard Anthony for his collection of Ferraris. However, while he was spotted in St. Tropez tinkering with his Ferrari 250 GTE in 1964, four years later he had traded it in for something a little more modest. With his red summer outfit, hair blowing in the wind, he roared around the Côte d’Azur on his little Yamaha, sometimes with wife Michèle and their two children on board. If it weren’t for the fierce heat in the South of France, the dog would probably have enjoyed the chase. 

Photo: Philippe Le Tellier / Getty Images

Snapshot, 1957: Please children, no fighting!

Le Mans, June 1957. Packed like sardines, the works Porsche Spyders shimmer silver in the sun as they wait for the racing to start. But although, at first glance, all seems peaceful, the atmosphere in the pit lane is far from it...

Between the Stuttgart race cars is a scene from a school playground. It seems that the object of general desire is a helmet and, while we're not sure of the identity of the young man on the left, his counterpart in this 'tug of war' appears to be the Belgian journalist and racing driver Paul Frère. The outcome of the duel is, sadly, unknown; but at least on the track Paul Frère was able to score some success: he took his Jaguar D-type to fourth place at the end of 24 hours.

Photo: Klemantaski Collection/Getty Images

Snapshot, 1957: Peter Collins 'in the zone'

What a picture! As navigator to Peter Collins during the 1957 Mille Miglia, photographer Louis Klemantaski had the ideal position from which to capture a whole series of extraordinary snapshots. The duo were denied victory, however…

Klemantaski grew up in Manchuria in the 1930s and, after the Second World War, accompanied the European racing circus as a photographer. In 1957, he was invited by Peter Collins to be his navigator on the Mille Miglia in his Ferrari 335 Sport. And of course, Klemantaski brought his camera. It created unique images that today send a shiver up one’s spine; especially when considering the speed drivers achieved as they threaded their cars through rural Italy.

The photo here shows Collins in the hills outside Rome and gives an idea of what a spectacle the 1000-mile race was, not only for the competitors, but also for the Italian population. The duo actually led the Mille Miglia for a considerable distance, but victory wasn’t to be theirs. Just a few miles from the finish, at Brescia, Klemantaski and Collins retired with a broken differential. Probably little consolation, but on the negatives in Klemantaski's camera was one of the best images ever shot during the ‘Mille’ in May 1957.

Photo by Klemantaski Collection/Getty Images

Snapshot, 1964: For me, it’s raining motocross trophies

In September 1964, Steve McQueen travelled to Erfurt for the Motocross World Championship and to take part in the ‘International Six Days Trial’. But the Hollywood star seems rather unhappy with the damp East German weather. Is the ‘King of Cool’ asking for assistance from above?

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Hollywood icon, one thing you can’t control is the weather. Even a realist like McQueen must look to the heavens for dry weather. We know from first-hand accounts that for the first two days of the Erfurt trial, it rained heavily. Although more used to dry, desert conditions, the rain didn’t seem to affect McQueen’s team of fellow American riders Cliff Coleman, Bud Ekins and brother Dave Ekins too much, for they were leading their class at the end of the second day. Sadly and quite ironically, the team was eliminated on the third day following a spate of crashes and mechanical failures, once the rain had stopped. Coleman and Dave Ekins continued to ride for an individual Gold Medal however, which they both achieved.

Photo: Francois Gragnon/Paris Match via Getty Images

Snapshot, 1957: Caution, mermaids crossing Daytona Beach

While today’s bikini-bathers on Florida’s most popular stretch of beach fear the sun’s rays most, in the 1950s there was a more immediate risk – being run over by a burbling eight-cylinder…

A hot, early summer's day in 1957. What on earth is going on, on the sands of Daytona Beach? Children play in the surf and young women parade in the latest swimsuits of the season, while in between, men tear up and down with their cars and motorcycles. In a country that today covers its coffee mugs with warnings, it's almost unthinkable that the United States of the 1950s actually happened. The only car-free zone was the living room and at least one or two Daytona Beach mermaids per season were fatally injured – but little, if anything, was done about it. Especially cheeky or lazy bathers parked their car right up near the surf, to avoid getting sandy feet, or they used the vinyl seats of convertibles as beach chairs. Even while taking a short ‘nap’ with one’s latest beach date, the Chevy or Buick was always within reach. Who was it that said, all progress depends on the unreasonable man?

Photo: J. Baylor Roberts/National Geographic/Getty Images

Snapshot, 1968: The Sinatra entourage rolls through Miami Beach

This image, taken in 1968 by celebrity photographer Terry O’Neill, could quite easily be mistaken for photographic confirmation of Frank Sinatra’s much-rumoured Mafia ties, such is the posse’s menacing demeanour while swaggering through Miami Beach…

Last week, we brought you the curious sight of singer, actor (and Mafia associate?) Frank Sinatra sunbathing in a suit while filming 1967 action thriller, Tony Rome. The following year, he was back in Miami to film the sequel, Lady in Cement – and was accompanied by a rather ominous-looking entourage. Flanked by bodyguards, Sinatra is also shadowed by his body double; although he doesn’t pull off the identical suit with quite the same panache as old Frank. That could be down to the protagonist having prior knowledge of the paparazzi-style shot, however, as it was taken by Terry O’Neill – the legendary celebrity photographer to whom Sinatra was introduced by Ava Gardner.

Photo: Terry O'Neill, courtesy of Loughran Gallery

The shot above is part of a group show currently being exhibited at the newly opened Loughran Gallery on Motcomb Street in Belgravia, London. Other selected artists include Damien Hirst, Dave White, Douglas Kirkland, Harland Miller, Jessica Zoob and Nick Jeffrey. Exhibition dates 22 April - 15 May 2015.

Snapshot, 1971: Tippi lives on the wild side of the paw

In a photograph that could only have been taken in 1970s Tinseltown, actress Tippi Hedren offers her pet lion Neil a drink. You’d think that after her starring role in the Hitchcock epic ‘The Birds’, she would have learnt her lesson about unpredictable wildlife...

In the shot above, taken in 1971 for a Life Magazine article, the Hollywood starlet playfully squirts water into the mouth of the majestic beast. Named ‘Neil’, the lion was a permanent resident at the Hedren household – and was a screen-star himself, having portrayed ‘baddie’ lions in the 1960s TV series Daktari. He was soon joined in the house by no fewer than six lion cubs before Hedren realised just how ridiculous the scenario was, and moved the pride to the 80-acre animal reserve on which she resides to this day. Funnily enough, she now strongly opposes the keeping of wild cats as domestic pets – strange what 1970s Hollywood could do to people, eh Tippi?

Photo: Getty / Life Magazine

Snapshot, 1967: You won't get a tan in a suit, Frank!

In this promotional shot from the 1967 neo-noir film ‘Tony Rome’, Jill St John looks a little perplexed as to why her co-star Frank Sinatra is sunbathing in a suit and a fedora…

In the film, Sinatra plays the role of Tony Rome, a private eye who finds himself embroiled in the theft of a precious diamond pin. Miami Beach is ‘his scene’, according to the film – so you too might be wondering why his attire is so inappropriate? Well, Tony lives on a small boat that he moors in Key Biscayne, and uses the beach loungers to catch some shut-eye. And with the likes of Jill St John and Sue Lyons vying for his ‘services’, it’s important that he gets plenty of rest. Best to make sure you’ve kept some energy in reserve, Frank – Raquel Welch is your co-star in the sequel…

Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Snapshot, 1930: The Campbell kids in a record-breaking mood

“Smile for the camera, kids.” World Land Speed Record holder Sir Malcolm Campbell’s children are clearly not amused by having their photograph taken while driving their toy cars…

These two rather unhappy-looking toy car drivers are the children of English racing driver and land-speed record holder Sir Malcolm Campbell. On the left, Jean (1923–2007) is at the controls of a replica of one of her father’s Bluebird land-speed record cars, while Donald (1921–1967), on the right – who went on to become a land- and water-speed record holder himself – commands an electrically powered miniature Bugatti. Hugely extravagant toys for the period, similar examples of these toy cars fetch extremely large sums when sold at auction today. Kids eh, there's no pleasing 'em...

Photo by FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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