Macchinissima was created by three enthusiasts in LA who wanted a show that properly celebrated their favorite Italian cars while being more relaxed than your typical concours. The result is a show that is reminiscent of Luftgekhult, but with more flair thanks to its Italian style.
I enjoy car shows in many different environments, but the best are in unique locations. This year’s Macchinissima was held at Rolling Greens in downtown LA, and it was an unexpected but great location for a car show. There were two main buildings featuring impressive cars, including a warehouse filled with only red cars. I felt that my favorite red cars were interesting enough to get an article of their own.
While we usually associate red with Ferrari, it was Italy’s national racing color for decades before that. Ferrari took the torch passed to them after Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Fiat ended their racing efforts. So red is an appropriate color for any sporting Italian car, not just a Ferrari.
De Tomaso Vallelunga
This is the De Tomaso Vallelunga, a car I wasn’t aware of until I saw this one. I thought it was an Abarth at first. The Pantera is much more famous, but this little car is De Tomaso’s first road car. The Vallelunga was one of the earliest mid-engined production cars ever built, before the Ferrari 250 LM. It was after the Vallelunga circuit, where De Tomaso tested his racing cars. It was an advanced little car, with a spine-style design chassis similar to the Lotus Elan, and suspension from De Tomaso’s open-wheel racers. It was powered by a Ford inline-four engine tuned by De Tomaso to make 105 horsepower. The result was an exhilarating little car. The body was originally designed by Fissore, but Ghia built the production cars. Only 50 production Vallelungas were built, making them much rarer and more valuable than the Pantera. De Tomaso never built enough to homologate them as a GT car, so they only ever appeared in a few races.
Lancia Stratos HF Stradale
The Lancia Stratos continues to climb higher on my list of favorite cars. In 1970, Bertone created the Stratos Zero concept car without Lancia’s permission, then drove it to the factory to show it to them. Lancia made a deal with Bertone to design a new, purpose-built rally car. It looked wild, especially compared to its competition. But it was more functional than it looked, designed for easy access to the engine and suspension, and it even had room for two helmets in the back. The Stratos was powered by a Ferrari Dino V6. Ferrari took years to approve the use of the engine because they were concerned that the Stratos would compete with the Dino. Ferrari didn’t need to worry—the Stratos was very expensive and impractical. Only 492 Stradale versions were reluctantly built by Lancia, often with questionable build quality. The Stratos is an insane little wedge of a car—it drives as it looks. And that’s what makes it great, aside from all of the rallies and championships that it won. Even the logo is spectacular to look at.
Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ
The Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ is often known as the “baby 250 GTO”. The GTO and TZ were both excellent GT racers that could be driven to the track. TZ stood for Tubolare Zagato (tubolare for the tubular chassis), and it used the Giulia’s mechanicals. Only 112 were built, including 12 upgraded TZ2s. This TZ was owned by Alain de Cadenet, one of the coolest people in the classic car world. Most people knew him as a TV presenter, hosting shows like Victory By Design, or for his attempts at Le Mans, with one of the smallest teams of the era. He was also a collector who loved Alfa Romeos, including the TZ. Alain talked about how he wanted a TZ back in the day in the Alfa Romeo episode of Victory By Design: “When I was a kid starting to race, I wanted one of these cars so badly – I just could not afford it. Instead, I had to buy a crummy old Ferrari GTO, because you got about three Ferrari GTOs for one brand new TZ.” Alain later regretted selling the GTO, but he eventually got a TZ, and he used it for both road driving and racing in California. Alain kept the TZ for the rest of his life, and his son, Aidan, is now the caretaker of this car. It was special to see the photo of Aidan and his father on the dashboard.
Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France
This Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France was one of the most valuable cars at the show. But that hasn’t stopped its owner from driving it, as it finished both the California Mille and Pebble Beach Motoring Classic this year. That’s around 2,500 miles of driving, more than most of these cars drive in a decade nowadays. The 250 TDF was named after the Tour de France Automobile, a 2,000-mile rally across France that included hillclimbs and circuit races at tracks like Le Mans and Rouen. Ferrari 250 GTs won the Tour de France Automobile more than any other car, with six overall wins. Several versions of the TDF were built by Scagletti from 1956 to 1959. This is one of the early “14-lovure” cars, named for the 14 louvers on the sail panel. And it was even driven down the 101 freeway in traffic to get here.
Maserati A6G/54 Zagato Berlinetta
The Maserati A6G was based on the A6GCS racecar. Sixty-one chassis by Maserati and then bodied by several different coachbuilders, including Zagato, Pininfarina, and Touring, among others. This car appears to be a comfortable GT car, but it’s actually a proper racecar underneath. The A6GCS used a 2-liter inline-six that made 150 horsepower. They were excellent dual-purpose cars, just like the Ferrari 250 GT. And that’s one of the reasons these cars are so desirable, as they can be entered in concours, rallies, and historic racing events. The Zagato cars are the lightest and most beautiful versions of the A6G platform. Zagato built 21 A6G Berlinettas and one Spyder, which was owned by Argentine President Juan Peron. The A6G Berlinetta looked almost identical to Zagato’s Fiat 8V. This car is the final Zagato Berlinetta, delivered new to San Francisco. Notably, this A6G Berlinetta doesn’t have the trademark Zagato double-bubble roof. This car was raced in California by its original owners, and it has been well preserved. A Buick V8 was installed in this car in the ’60s, but thankfully, the original engine was reinstalled later. This car won its class and the Most Elegant Sports Car award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours.
So those were a few of my favorite red cars from Macchinissima III. This was an incredible show (eating pizza while listening to Italian disco and staring at spectacular Italian cars was one of my favorite car show experiences ever), and I am very interested to see how the next one will try to top this display. Imagine a room full of Italian concept cars. Just saying…
