1949 Gordini 23S

Anyone who has ever listened to Peter Ustinov’s fabulous motor racing spoof of the 1950s, “The Grand Prix of Gibraltar” already is familiar with Amédée Gordini. Ustinov’s parody of the Franco-Italian, Monsieur Orgini, and “eez funny leetle blue Orgini cars” was not only hysterical but drew strongly on Ustinov’s knowledge of the then GP scene. The Orgini team was penniless, inclined to give up in existential despair and sit around smoking Gauloise, even while fueling the cars. Because they had no money for oil, they used a gift of sponsor’s cognac in the car instead! They couldn’t compete with the Teutonic efficiency of Herr Altbauer’s Schnorcedes team, or the drivers like Girling Foss and Bill Dill in the American Wildfowl.

While Ustinov’s portrayal of the French racing car constructor captured the frenetic way the team operated with very limited funding, it perhaps left a generation thinking that the real Gordini was not a serious player in the motor racing world, and that would be entirely wrong. Not only was Gordini building and racing sports cars, but he was involved in voiturettes, F2, and even F1.