Vicenza, 16 – 17April 2011
Autojumbles in Italy always provide an interesting aside during
any car enthusiasts visits to Italy, as they offer a wide variety of
items not normally found on home territory. The bonus being, that
if you are seeking Italian car or motorcycle parts or accessories,
they are usually much more reasonably priced and can normally
be bartered to an even more acceptable level. Vicenza’s mostra
scambio at the Fiera exhibition halls is not the largest in Italy, but
it does provide a broad spectrum of predominantly Italian based
car and motorcycle parts, both new and used.
Another feature of the Italian mostra scambio, is that there is
nearly always a car and/or motorcycle display of some sort held
in conjunction, and this was no exception, with a nice exhibition
of classic cars from the Bonfanti Museum and a classic car sales
area in a separate hall. The Bonfanti display included a trio of
beautiful pre-war Alfa Romeos, together with some pristine British
sports cars, including an AC Ace and a Jaguar XK120 Coupé.
Amongst the cars in the vendor area was an imposing Maserati
Quattroporte, an Indy America, a couple of Biturbo Spiders, and a
Maserati powered Citroen SM produced during the short liaison
between the two companies. There was also a splendid cream
1936 Chevrolet Roadster, a number of Fiat variants, numerous
Porsche models including an early 911S, an Autobianchi Spider
and a rare Ford Cortina GT De Tomaso. This model was produced
in small numbers when De Tomaso were using this model’s
engine in their beautiful Vallelunga sports car in the sixties, and
the engine was to the same degree of tune in the saloon
counterpart, which had a claimed top speed of 112mph (180kph).
Keith Bluemel
04/2011
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