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Over a year ago, I was asked by Jeff DeMarey, organizer for the 2016 Classic Car Club of America’s CARavan New England Tour, to be their guest artist for the tour, held through mid-September of this year.
I had met Jeff at a few events in the US and Jeff was aware of my art and had seen me sketching live. Of course, I was hugely honoured to be have been asked so I accepted.
The annual CARavan tour takes place in a different area of North America each year, and for this year, the New England Region was hosting.
We gathered at the stunning Omni Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire, and with a record number of 109 spectacular pre-war and early post-war luxury cars assembled, it looked somewhat like a “Great Gatsby” movie set … very surreal!
The list of makes attending the event was impressive ...
Lincoln, Chrysler, Duesenberg, Buick, Cadillac, Auburn, Pierce-Arrow, Cord, Packard, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, with even a Bugatti and an AC!
I met some really wonderful people from all over North America, and it’s very clear that everyone was enjoying the tour.
Me in a stunning 1937 Cord 812 Beverly “Coffin nose”.
We motored around the region for a few days, and then the tour moved to Maine, where the tour included a visit to the Seal Cove Auto Museum, the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum, and a lovely lunch at the coastal summer residence of Bill Ruger.
I was commissioned to do 5 sketches, but with the cars constantly touring about, I only got a sketch and a half done live on-the-spot, finishing the rest on my return to Halifax.
It was really exciting to be part of such a well-run, world-class event. I look forward to many more like it!
Giving back to your community is not always on our radar.
Life seems to carry us away like a speeding train, and we sometimes find it hard to step off.
On August 20th, the East Coast Exotic Car Show was taking place in support of the Children’s Wish Foundation.
Though I’m doing well in my role as a “starving artist”, I saw it as an opportunity to give back, in that my art could help raise funds for this worthy cause.
My framed art donation – 1964 Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 250LM sketch
On the Friday evening before the event, there was a VIP reception with a live fundraising auction. I donated an original framed artwork, and that netted $750!
The next day during the show, I volunteered to live-sketch 2 of the cars, with the owners commissioning me, and giving the organization a donation of $1000 per sketch.
Photo © Terry Miller 2016
Photo © Susan Kerslake 2016
It all worked very well, with me sketching a lovely yellow Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4 and a striking purple Porsche GT3 RS.
There was an impressive assortment of exotic cars, lots of eye candy for the spectators, including the Porsche 919 Hybrid racer and a BMW M1! Many of cars there were loaned in support of the event by Maritime Provinces car owners!
A lot of people stopped to chat while I sketched away, which made it an even more enjoyable day for me.
It’s very satisfying to know that you can make a difference for children in need and their families.
The Nürburgring 1000 km race (now called the 6 Hours of Nürburgring) started in 1953.
Through the beginning history of the race, Maserati and Aston Martin featured strongly, with a switch to Ferrari in the early 1960’s, then to Porsche in the later part of that decade.
For the 1971 edition, Porsche had an extremely strong presence there, with a least 9 models represented – 917K, 910, 908/03 & /02, 907, 906, 911T & S, 914/6 – a real armada!
https://youtu.be/C-fj-OP_p7c
The only cars providing a real challenge to the Porsches were the Ferrari’s (models 512M & S, 312PB, Dino 246GT) and the Alfa Romeo’s (models T33/3 & /2, GTA).
The S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 312PB of Jacky Ickx/Clay Regazzoni took the pole grid post, followed by the Autodelta S.p.A. Alfa Romeo T33/3 of Rolf Stommelen/Nanni Galli and the International Martini Racing Team Porsche 908/3 of Vic Elford/Gérard Larrousse.
Acrylic on 12”x 10” (30.48cm x 25.4cm) canvas
© Paul Chenard 2015 – Original painting available.
Elford quickly took an early lead and, together with Larrousse, won the race, followed by the 908/3’s of Pedro Rodroguez/Jo Siffert and of Gijs van Lennep/Helmut Marko.
A very Porsche clean sweep … they took 7 of the top 10 places!
This coming weekend, it’s the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Canadian Grand Prix first became a Formula 1 event in 1967 with the race held at Mosport Park near Toronto, Ontario. Through the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s the race was shared between Mosport Park and the Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Québec.
As speeds built up, it was felt the Mosport and Mont-Tremblant were not safe enough, so for 1978, a new Formula 1 track was built in Montréal called Circuit Île Notre-Dame on the island of Notre-Dame.
Pen&ink and markers on 11.5"x 9" watercolour paper
© Paul Chenard 2013
For that inaugural race, Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, along with teammate Carlos Reutermann, were there racing Ferrari T3’s for Scuderia Ferrari.
Cold and wet weather greeted the teams for practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday, and Villeneuve managed to get his car to 3rd place on the starting grid behind Jean-Pierre Jarier (Lotus) and Jody Scheckter (Wolf).
The rain was gone for race day, but it was bitterly cold and cloudy, not ideal racing conditions. Villeneuve stayed with the leaders from the start, and as they dropped out he moved up to take the lead, driving in a smooth and steady way.
He went on to win his first Grand Prix race in front of the home crowd on the new track, a real storybook ending!
After Gilles Villeneuve’s passing in 1982, the track was renamed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in his honour.
The 100th Indianapolis 500 is just around the corner, and it’s making out to be an exciting race.
Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe captured the pole position at 230.760 mph!! It’s doubly amazing because a year ago, Hinchcliffe almost died from the results of an Indy 500 practice crash!
The first running of the Indy 500 was just as exciting.
In 1911, there were 40 cars running the race vs the 33 cars for 2016.
Driver Ray Harroun was running his car, the Marmon Wasp, without a riding mechanic, the only one doing so in the race. To have an idea of what was going on around him, Harroun installed a mirror on the cowl, the first recorded use of a rear-view mirror!
Hand-carved/acrylic painted 22"x 12.5"
© Paul Chenard 2016
Harroun, relieved by driver Cyrus Patschke for 35 laps of the race, lead for 88 laps of the 200-lap race, and won it with an average speed of 74.602 mph.
He retired from racing after the race, and lived to the ripe age of 89 years old, passing away in early 1968.
The lovely Marmon Wasp survives still, residing in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
American
John Shakespeare from Illinois was a curious gentleman who sought the unusual
and the exciting.
Heir to his father’s fishing tackle fortune, John discovered fast cars amongst
his other distractions of skydiving and waterskiing. He also had interests in oil,
real estate and auto dealerships.
He tried his hand at racing Ferraris in the mid-1950s, even racing with Luigi
Chinetti to a 6th place finish of the 1954 Carrera Panamericana in a
Ferrari 375 MM.
By 1963, he had accumulated a large collection of rare cars, with a strong
focus on Bugatti’s.
The Schlumpf brothers in Mulhouse France
heard of his Bugatti’s, and thought they would make excellent additions to the
museum they were creating.
Negotiations began, with lots of back and forth, and by 1964, a deal was struck
where Shakespeare would selling them all his 30 Bugatti’s for the lowly sum,
including shipping, of $85,000 USD, which works out to about $650,000 USD in
today’s money!
John Shakespeare seeing off his 30 Bugatti's
Pen&ink and white markers on blue and brown paper © Paul Chenard 2016
They were all loaded up on railcars, and shipped to France.
Considering that most individual vintage Bugatti’s sell between $350,000 and
$30,000,000 USD today, the Shakespeare Bugatti deal could certainly be
considered the used-car sale of the century!
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