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Lot #119 - 1913 Nazzaro Tipo 2

  • Auction House:
    Theodore Bruce
  • Sale Name:
    Classic Cars Auction
  • Sale Date:
    26 Oct 2013 ~ 6.30pm
  • Lot #:
    119
  • Lot Description:
    1913 Nazzaro Tipo 2
  • Notes:
    Felice Nazzaro was one of the great motoring aces of the very early part of the 20th Century. He was a very successful driver for FIAT as a contemporary of Vincenzo Lancia. Nazzaro finished second to the Hungarian driver Ferenc Szisz in the first ever Grand Prix held at Le Mans in 1906. In 1907 he won the French GP at Dieppe and also won the German 'Kaiserpreis", and the Targa Florio in Sicily - the three most important races of the time. He was second at the first US GP in Savannah, Georgia in 1908 and set the lap record at the same event in 1910. On the back of his extensive international success Felice Nazzaro set up his own car manufacturing company in Turin in 1912. In 1913 Nazzaro driving one of his own machines won the Targa Florio yet again, winning the 979 km race in under 20 hours at an average speed of around 34 mph. Despite this and his other racing successes the Nazzaro manufacturing venture was short-lived. Felice was soon once again driving for FIAT and incredibly at the age of 42 he won the 1922 French GP. This was the first massed-start GP ever to be held and unfortunately the same race in which his nephew, Biaggio Nazzaro, crashed with fatal consequences. His last podium was at the 1923 Italian GP where he finished second. He died aged 59 in 1940. It is believed that only three Nazzaro cars exist on the road today. One is a touring car in New Zealand pieced together painstakingly from various parts; the second a 20/30HP in the United Kingdom purchased from an Italian collection in 2005 and which is thought originally to be a four seater; the third a 20/30HP in the same family ownership in Western Australia since the mid 1960s. It is the Western Australian vehicle that is offered for sale here. The 1913 Nazzaro Tipo 2 was purchased by its current owner on behalf of his late father, the well known collector Percy Markham. The car had been discovered in a shed in Kilmore, Victoria by Mr R.C.Davis who then restored the vehicle. It is an example of the same 20/30HP car in which Felice Nazzaro won the 1913 Targa Florio. It has a 4,400cc four-cylinder engine with an 8ft 10 1/2in wheelbase. The car featured in the November 1965 Veteran & Vintage magazine and in 1967 it was featured in the Horseless Carriage Gazette after Percy Markham had taken it on that year's Horseless Carriage Club of America tour from Seattle to Vancouver on July 17-20. This automobile, now one hundred years old, is the only vehicle from the highly extensive Percy Markham collection to be still retained by the family. Believed to be an original racing car, it could perhaps even be one of the works team cars from that Targa Florio winning year. It is thought that during the Great War it was converted and utilised, like so many vehicles, as an ambulance and that it was this that it came to Australia. It is known and documented that Keith Gardner bought the car sometime after 1937 from John Greenwood before selling it to Robert Davis who restored it to its present condition in which it exists marvellously today. Having driven this Tipo 2 we can testify to its strong engine performance and well mannered handling characteristics surprising for a car about to embark on its second century of motoring. This is a vehicle of historic importance internationally with excellent provenance.
  • Estimate:
    A$125,000 - 150,000
  • Realised Price:
    *****

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  • Category:
    Automobiles & Accessories

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.



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