Winner Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 2007

The 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster, commonly known as the Mormon Meteor, is a masterpiece in all respects, from performance to design. It proudly carries the name of Ab Jenkins on its side, right in front of the drivers cockpit. Jenkins drove this Duesenberg Special to a number of land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats proving to all that its supercharged 420 cubic-inch eight-cylinder engine which produced an astonishing 400 horsepower was among the fastest automobiles on the planet. The duo were perfect for each other, Jenkins and the Mormon Meteor, as Jenkins is remembered as a sportsman and a gentleman rather than just a daredevil or thrill seeker. He amassed a legacy known for racing, speed trials, endurance runs, land speed records, and even Mayor of Salt Lake City. 

Two engines had originally been created, and the Duesenberg Special crew took this opportunity to swap engines. Tony Gulotta, an Indy 500 racer, drove the car on its third attempt. The car was driven for 24 hours at a speed of 135.58 miles and covered 3,253 miles. It had captured many new records during this attempt and raised the bar for all other competitors. The 24-Hour record would stand for only a short time, as a car driven by Captain Eyston would increase the record to 140.5 mph in a 24-Hour period.

Encouraged by good results of a record attempt made in the summer of 1933, the Service Course Delahaye (Delahaye competition department) decided to go further. They designed a real record car on a lighter chassis with no front brakes and Rudge centre-nut wheels with special tires that can be easily dismantled. The engine is the 18 CV with power output increased up to 110 bhp. The aerodynamic body is a creation of Figoni & Falaschi in a style similar to that of Hotchkiss and Renault recently seen at Montlhéry to beat records too. The car is able to exceed 190 km/h.

On May 8, 1934 Albert Perrot supported by two other drivers took the wheel and within two days broke three world speed records: 4,000 miles, 5,000 miles and 48 hours achieving more than 176 km/h average. The race continued to beat fourth record: the 10,000 km average of 168,527 km/h.

Bentley Mother Gun: 350 hp from an eight-liter in-line six-cylinder, a maximum torque of 530 Newton meters - key data of an 82-year-old beautiful monster on four wheels. Chassis ST 3001, completed in June 1927, is actually the first 4.5 liter model, and the nickname comes from Bentley-Boy Woolf Barnato, which rhymed with the chassis number: "ST-Three-OO-One - Old Mother Gun! "

A few days after completion, Mother Gun was involved in the infamous White House Corner Crash at Le Mans - while in the lead - in which seven cars crashed into each other. The following year, the car (then still painted dark green) won the 24-hour race under drivers Woolf Barnato and Bernhard Rubin, and in 1929 it came second with Jack Dunfee and Glen Kidston at the wheel on the circuit at the Sarthe. After a few changes of ownership and minor appearances, Mother Gun finally received the 6.5-liter six-cylinder Speed ​​Six in 1934, which in 1930 had clinched Bentley's fifth Le Mans victory. It was then converted into a single-seater for use in Brooklands, and in 1936/1937 its new owner Robert Jackson provided it with the current body made of bare aluminum. In this form, Mother Gun circled the Brooklands Oval in 1937 under Kit Baker-Carr and George Harvey Noble at an average speed of 134.97 mph, i.e. 217 km / h. Mind you: in average!

Auto Union Rekordwagen 1938  Class B Record Attempt 

Fatal Crash: January 28th 1938

Driver Bernd Rosemeyer

Professionally built model from GB 3 kit

Material: Resin

The John Edgar Racing Team was a well-known name and also one of the driving forces on the American race tracks of the 1950s. With sports cars of the brands MG, Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and also some Porsches the team achieved numerous successes with famous drivers like Phil Hill, Caroll Shelby, Pete Lovely or also Joakim Bonnier. The aluminum-colored trailer with its typical GMC tractor will certainly be a welcome addition to any 1/43 scale race transporter collection.

1950 Ferrari 166 MM/212 “Uovo”

1:24

Specially made for Autopioneer: Without starting number

Ferrari 166 MM / 212 “Uovo” - the egg that Enzo Ferrari didn't like

If you wanted to win the Mille Miglia in the early 1950s, you were either extremely talented as a racing driver or you had your pockets full of money. Gianni (Giannino) Marzotto certainly had the means to afford the best racing cars of the time, but he didn't let anything burn when driving. When the Ferrari company cars did not convince him, he had an aerodynamic coupé built without further ado.

An existing Vision

The American Karl Kleemann dedicated himself to the brand of ‘Messerschmitt’. However, he was not inspired by the original design, but rather embodied a “realistic, appropriately forward-looking further development”, according to the motto “… what if!”

How this could look like was demonstrated by his specially designed record car, which he based on the original, but nevertheless was decisively modified. The main reason was the 24-hour record run by the Messerschmitt crew at the Hockenheimring on August 29 in 1955. Karl Kleemann built up a similar speedster, but due to his height he extended the body and a more powerful engine, enlarged to 350cc, also provided more driving enjoyment. 

In order to be able to transport his racer to sporting events, the clever US inventor went in search for a suitable racing transporter. He found what he was looking for in a semitrailer truck, namely the smallest, mass-produced one in the world – the Piaggio Ape Pentaro. While the entire semitrailer from Indian assembly matched the Italian original, Karl Kleemann converted the “truck” to his needs. In plain terms, this meant that he created a race transporter for his Messerschmitt record car. In order to present this to the public, he painted the semitrailer in the company colors and added the corresponding Messerschmitt logos. The (fictitious) lettering ‘Messerschmitt Racing-Team’ was displayed on the tarpaulin. 

Dirty race version: Special Edition for Autopioneer

This is the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo that was driven to a class victory in the 1934 1000 Miglia. The car is a 1933 Alfa Romeo 6C Gran Sport 1500 testa fissa Zagato, a special competition version of one of the most successful forebears of the modern sports car.
This particular 6C Gran Sport 1500 testa fissa (s/n 10811406) was built in 1933. It was the very last original 6C Gran Sport model built, and in addition to its rare engine, it featured one-off competition coachwork by Zagato.

The car was specially constructed for Anna Maria Peduzzi, the 21-year-old daughter of a wealthy family from Como. Known within racing circles as La Marocchina (the Moroccan) due to her dark complexion, she was out to beat men at their own game — and in 1933 Peduzzi became Scuderia Ferrari’s first woman race driver.

Under the Ferrari banner, she finished third in class in the grueling Targa Abruzzo and fourth in class at the Stelvio Hillclimb against her all male competitors. She scored a class victory at the Coppa Principessa di Piemonte, an endurance race in southern Italy. Then, in April 1934, Peduzzi won her class at the 1000 Miglia. She drove with fiancé, Gianfranco Comotti, another member of Scuderia Ferrari, and the couple achieved an impressive 13th-place overall in a rain-soaked race dominated by the more powerful 8C Alfas.