Vintage racers to high tech cars

Air Date: February 18, 2014

Guests: Fred Simeone, Doug Newcomb

There were a lot of new shiny cars on display at the Philadelphia Auto Show – and there’s the 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, the first car to receive U.S. Historical Registration. This vintage beauty belongs to FRED SIMEONE whose collection of 65 sports cars is housed in the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum that he founded in Philadelphia. This hour, Marty talks with Simeone about his car collection and the appeal of his vintage racers. Then, the Department of Transportation recently announced that it will soon require cars to use vehicle-to-vehicle technology to talk to each other in order to reduce car accidents. We’ll talk to automotive technology journalist DOUG NEWCOMB about “v-2-v” technology and other accident avoidance systems.

Slideshow below: Photos by Michael Furman

1938 Alfa Romeo 2900B MM — In the 1930s, Alfa Romeo made the most successful racing sports cars in the world – Enzo Ferrari was the racing team manager. Of all the Alfas made, the 8C (8 cylinder) 2900 is considered the most desirable and the 2900B MM is the best of them all. This car won the 1938 Mille Miglia, the 1000-mile race through Italy and is one of two left in existence out of the four that were built.

1958 Aston-Martin DBR1 — Aston Martin won the World Manufacturer’s Championship with a team of these cars in 1959, culminating with a win at Le Mans with Carroll Shelby (later to built the Cobra) co-driving. Our car won the 1958 Nurburgring 1000 driven by Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham (now both “Sir” to you and me). Later this car was driven by Jim Clark at Le Mans, the driver many feel was the greatest that ever lived. Very few old racing cars have this provenance of great drivers.

1937 Bugatti 57G “Tank” — This is the sole remaining Tank out of three that were built. this car won every race it ever entered, including the 1937 Le Mans 24-hour. It was hidden from the Germans during the war (we recently discovered the marks in the magnesium body where chains that were wrapped around the car cut into the metal.)

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WHYY's Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane is an engaging and timely call-in program that tackles wide-ranging issues of concern to listeners in the Delaware Valley.