A Tale of Two Sons

The poet Robert Browning wrote “how sad and bad and mad it was—but then, how it was sweet.” In today’s world, preserving the past for future generations is something that has a real currency, no matter from what walk of life. In our present era of instant access to everything, technologies of yesteryear and brief looks back through those rose-tinted spectacles give a certain nostalgic charm, transporting us back to days when life seemed to be led at a more sedate pace. Not so many years ago, life in the fast lane was associated with high-speed sports such as motor racing, especially the high-octane, adrenalin-fueled world of Formula One. In 1966, the top line formula returned to three-liter power, and Hollywood wanted a slice of it with the production of John Frankenheimer’s film Grand Prix—bringing the everyday life and times of the then-modern F1 drivers, cars and racetracks to a new global audience.

Today, reliving those heady days of the 1960s through to the early part of the new millennium, for the most part, has been left to enthusiastic individuals supported by artisans, garagistes, restoration businesses and the like who keep those Formula One wheels of the past rolling. Today, there is an ever increasing number of wealthy amateur owners and competitors. To own one of these past Grand Prix challengers and compete in races requires a certain inside knowledge and expertise not readily available at establishments used for routine servicing and repair of everyday road cars.