As a VRJ reader, the chances are pretty good that the car you see here has some seminal significance, especially if you were born somewhere between the late 1930s and 1950, or have a long-time interest in proper road racing…or both.
I was 14 when Kirk Douglas and Bella Darvi starred in the 1955 production of “The Racers,” which opened my eyes to “real road racing”, though much of what appeared on the screen was anything but real. The driving stars…Kirk Douglas, Gilbert Roland and Caesar Romero…did little of their own driving. Baron de Graffenried was Douglas’ double for most scenes and, in fact, if you look closely at some of the races portrayed, you can see that it is, in fact, de Graffenried driving! The Grand Prix close-ups had the cars mounted on a swivel with the scenery projected behind them. On top of this, the plot was pretty dire, but nevertheless it was the first time many people saw European road races in color, especially the Mille Miglia. Coverage of real races was interspersed with the special scenes, and some of it was exciting. For this 14-year-old, who was first taken in by tales of Fangio’s stirring drive in the 1953 Mille Miglia in an Alfa with steering on only one front wheel, “The Racers” was all that was needed to ensure a lifetime addiction to both the sport and seeing every film ever made about racing.
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