The Amazing Adventures of Jean-Pierre Wimille: The Spy Who Won Le Mans

"Jonee" (Jonee) 06/19/2015 at 12:20 • Filed to: Jean-Pierre Wimille, Bugatti, LeMans, WWII

53

98

With LeMans just passed, I figured it was a good time to share the story of two-time winner Jean-Pierre Wimille, an all around badass dude from an era of macho badassery.

The quintessential Jean-Pierre Wimille race was probably the Grand Prix of Rosario in 1948. Rosario in those days was a sleepy, but sprawling Argentinian city, and Wimille, along with a few other European drivers, were wintering in South America enjoying the weather and warmimg up for the next European season. Starting alongside Wimille were 6 other Europeans, and 5 locals. One of these was the legendary Oscar Galvez who would go on to dominate racing in South America for the next two decades, but never get the chance to race in Europe. Galvez led the first 15 laps around picturesque Independence Park that day, holding off the great Frenchman until the differential in his Alfa exploded, donating first place to Jean-Pierre. Shortly after, another local was hot on Wimille’s tail. This guy Jean-Pierre had noticed in qualifying. He was really good, but a little too aggressive and he reminded Wimille of himself before the war. Both men were driving nearly identical Simca-Gordini T-15’s, but Jean-Pierre knew something the local fellow didn’t, and, to the shock and delight of his rival, waved the Argentine by.

Wimille was born in Paris in 1908. His father Auguste was one of the first French automotive journalists, covering motorsports as well as aviation for the Petit Parisien newspaper. Despite, or maybe because of, growing up around larger than life racing car drivers, Jean-Pierre was aloof and reserved as a young man. He loved cars, but dreamt of traveling the world, so he joined the Merchant Navy at 18 hoping to sail the seven seas. He ended up in the middle of the desert. France was aiding Spain fight Berber tribesmen in Morocco in what was known as the Rif War and Wimille was appointed to be a staff driver as fighting drew to a close in 1926. He never saw action, or a ship, and spent 14 months, “driving flat out while I raced the powerful cars of the Sultan’s fleet on the desert tracks.” Sounds pretty awesome and it stirred something in Wimille. He came back from North Africa with a burning desire to drive fast. The year he returned to France, a former World War I fighter pilot named Robert Benoist was tearing up the Grand Prix circuit winning every race he entered in a Délage.

All of France idolized Benoist and Jean-Pierre decided he was going to be just like him. And he didn’t waste any time messing around. He bought a Bugatti Type 37A and entered the 1930 French Grand Prix, pretty much the biggest race of the year. The car’s supercharger gave out on the second lap, but people took note of the determined 21 year-old. In 1931, for his second race, he entered the Monte Carlo Rally despite having no endurance race experience. He convinced a buddy of his named Marcel to be his co-driver and scraped enough money together to buy an old Lorraine Dietrich. The two of them trained extensively, driving all over France. At that time, the Monte Carlo Rally had a rather odd format in which groups of drivers would start in one of 6 cities and “rally” to Monte Carlo. How they’d all converge at similar times is beyond me, but in ’31 Wimille and Marcel were leading coming into the home stretch. The finish line was on the beach and for some reason the last half mile or so became an obstacle course in the sand. This wasn’t something Jean-Pierre, his friend, or the Lorraine Dietrich were prepared for. At the last possible moment, Donald Healey (of Healey fame) passed the two fuming French guys in an Invicta with a bent frame to steal the race. As pissed off as Jean-Pierre was, his second place earned him legitimacy after his father promoted the result in the newspaper. He soon had a sponsor and found himself behind the wheel of a Bugatti Type 51 which he had moderate success in until he destroyed it. He quickly got a reputation for being fast, but erratic. He’s always described as a laid-back fellow with a quiet demeanor, but on a race course, he was terribly impatient to the annoyance of his fellow drivers who found him dangerous. They were proven right the following year. After his first win in a hillclimb, and then victories at Nancy and Oran, Algeria, Wimille got Podium Fever and became downright reckless. He was now driving an Alfa and was in a series of spectacular crashes, culminating in a terrifying roll while leading the last lap of the French Grand Prix at Comminges. This put him in the hospital and finally got him to tone it down. Incidentally, that race featured another famous crash when Rene Dreyfus lost control of his Bugatti while he was leading a few laps earlier. Apparently, the car skidded wildly on a suddenly wet road and started barreling off course and straight towards a pack of spectators. It miraculously veered into a tree at the last second preventing a disaster that could have rivaled Le Mans 1955. Dreyfus was thrown from the car and back onto the tarmac where he was fine presumably protected by the gigantic brass balls men grew in those days.

Anyway, a newly mature Wimille soon earned a contract to drive for Bugatti where he got to join his idol, Robert Benoist. The rest of the 30’s vacillated between triumph and frustration for the two Frenchmen. German cars from Mercedes and Auto-Union had begun to dominate the circuit, but French and, more often, Italian cars would break through now and again.

In ’37, co-driving the absolutely awesome Bugatti Type 57G “Tank,” Jean-Pierre and his mentor Benoist won Le Mans in record-setting time. Benoist soon retired from racing to manage the Bugatti showroom in Paris, but Wimille would do it again in ’39 with another familiar name, Pierre Veyron. But, other than the French Grand Prix in 1936, wins in the big GP races eluded him. Shortly after he and Veyron’s Le Mans victory, Pierre Bugatti died, and then WWII started and no one’s life would ever be the same.

Wimille, who was also an accomplished pilot, natch, immediately joined the Armée de l’Air , but French capitulation meant he never got off the ground. For a guy like Wimille, this was incredibly frustrating. He distracted himself by marrying a famous champion skier named Christiane “Cric” de la Fressange. That Dos Equis guy has nothing on these people. He also began sketching a car of his own design that was rear-engined with all independent suspension and three across seating with the driver centrally located, half a century before McLaren. This had to be done in secret, of course, because Nazis. Poor Jean-Pierre wasn’t even allowed to drive a car. But, Team Bugatti wouldn’t be down for long. In 1942, another former Bugatti driver, the Englishman William Grover-Williams, parachuted into France as a member of the Special Operations Executive, basically the WWII British Secret Service. He had been recruited for his fluency in French and his mission was to form his own spy network branch of the French Resistance. One of the first people he contacted was Robert Benoist. They recruited a motley band of former Bugatti workers and began making small sabotage raids. They would also collect RAF arms drops that were then stored on Benoist family estates as preparation for D-Day, delivering what was to be emergency back-up weaponry in Bugatti factory trucks. Unfortunately, due to the RAF basically forgetting to send a radio operator, the group, code-named Chestnut, unwittingly used a double agent to make communiqués. This resulted in pretty much everyone everyone getting caught by the Gestapo. First was Benoist’s own brother, Maurice who, at gunpoint, took the Nazis to his chateau where his wife, father, the servants, and, unexpectedly, Grover-Williams were all taken into custody. Robert Benoist happened to be visiting a mistress, but was arrested three days later on the streets of Paris when he tried to make a phone call to find out what happened to his brother and father. He was accosted and forced into the backseat of a car by a pair of SS bastards. Incredibly, Benoist managed to escape by hurling himself at one of them on a sharp turn after noticing one of the doors wasn’t closed properly. Both men tumbled to the pavement and Benoist took off, at times running across rooftops until he got to a hiding place. He managed to contact the British and was spirited away to London.

3 months later Benoist was back in Paris recruiting his own espionage cell. One of the first people he contacted was Jean-Pierre Wimille who was itching to do something for his country. They rounded up the still at-large members of the old Chestnut gang and, along with Mme “Cric” Wimille, began to carry on the group’s former mission. Wimille would drive trucks moving guns and ammunition from hiding place to hiding place one step ahead of the Gestapo. They would also sabotage Nazi arms depots and try and disrupt German operations in the lead up to the Allied invasion. One of their big objectives was to take out a series of power lines that ran between the Pyrenees and Brittany, but were never successful because guys apparently kept getting arrested. Wimille and Benoist managed to avoid capture until D-Day. After Normandy, the Nazis clamped down on all opposition activity, torturing former and suspected current Resistance members for information. One of these was William Grover-Williams who was in a concentration camp where he was eventually executed in 1945. Another was Robert Benoist’s other brother, Marcel, who, it’s suspected, gave Robert and possibly Jean-Pierre up. Robert was caught a few days after D-Day while traveling to Paris to visit his ailing mother. He was tortured at Gestapo headquarters and then sent to Büchenwald where he was executed by hanging in 1944. Most of the rest of the former Chestnut group was at a farmhouse rendezvous point where they were ambushed by Germans. At the first sign of trouble, Jean-Pierre grabbed his wife and made for a ground-floor window. But, frozen with fear, Cric’s feet stayed rooted to the floor as Wimille flung himself through the glass. He dodged bullets by diving between parked cars and eventually into a stream where he watched his wife and three other female members of their cell get taken away to an unsure fate. A despondent Jean-Pierre eventually met up with a column of Americans making their way to Paris. By remarkable coincidence, Cric found herself in Paris a few weeks later where she was with a group of deportees headed to Germany and, most likely, a death camp. While in a food line, she spotted her cousin who was in the Red Cross and handing out aid to the prisoners. Cric managed to sneak over to her where she was handed a white coat and began feeding POW’s herself. When the Red Cross workers were sent away, Mme Wimille went with them and was soon reunited with a relieved Jean-Pierre. Her three fellow captors were not so lucky and were all among the approximately 75,000 French Resistance fighters who died in Nazi camps.

After France’s liberation, Wimille rejoined the Armée de l’Air and flew a few missions before the war’s end. On September 9th, 1945, he was granted a last minute leave so he could participate in the first post-war Grand Prix race in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne. The first race that day was named the Benoist Cup and was won by a Simca driven by Amedée Gordini. Wimille arrived just in time to start at the back of the pack in the main event, the Coupe des Prisonniers . Jean-Pierre drove his 4.7 liter Bugatti, by far the most powerful car in the race, through the field to take the victory, his first of many in the decade after the war, and Bugatti’s last.

Determined to enter and win as many races as he could to make up for lost time, he then joined the Alfa Corse works team becoming the only foreigner among a roster of Italians. His first few races were marred by mechanical failure. In another, he was leading the pack, and his teammates, by literally miles when he was given the order to let another Alfa driver, Achille Varzi, win. Supposedly, Jean-Pierre came to a screeching stop a couple hundred meters from the finish line until, finally, Varzi sped by. He gave a post-race shrug to reporters then won 5 of his next 6 races for Alfa. He only drove Alfas in international events. For French races he contracted with Gordini and won pretty much every contest in which his engine didn’t blow up. Alfa Romeo built the fastest car in the war-torn world at that time and it’s probably because of this that Wimille is not better remembered because he dominated the sport of racing between 1946 and ’48 winning 8 European Grand Prix races and pretty much sweeping the Formula Libre circuit. If they had awarded a championship back then, Wimille would have won multiples. But, he wasn’t content to just drive.

Also in those first few years after the war, Wimille managed to get several prototypes built based on those car designs he had worked on before he joined the Resistance. They were amazing futuristic, streamlined things with rear engines and, yes, three abreast seating with the driver in the middle. They had independent suspension, semi-automatic transmissions, and panoramic windshields among other forward-thinking ideas. In 1948 he signed a contract with Ford France for a possible production run. The car was redesigned slightly by industrial designer Philippe Charbonneaux and fitted with a V8 Ford Vedette engine. It was presented at the Paris Auto Salon and was the center of attention both because of its visionary looks and the name “Wimille.”

Back in Rosario, Wimille snuck in behind the local Argentinian guy, an upstart named Juan Manuel Fangio, and waited. The savvy Frenchman would push Fangio, riding his tail and even taking over the lead and then relinquishing again. This went on for 20 laps until the inevitable happened. If you remember all those words ago, both Fangio and Wimille were in Gordinis and, earlier that day, ol’ Amedée Gordini had noticed something about Fangio’s car that the Argentinian hadn’t. A poorly repaired crack in the block. The car was a ticking time bomb. Not in a dangerous way, the thing just overheated on the 41st lap and Wimille cruised to victory. Gordini had told Jean-Pierre all about it and the two sneaky French guys decided to make Fangio, who they knew from practice was a hell of a driver, push his car to the limit. Fangio and Wimille ended up striking up a close friendship with Jean-Pierre taking the ambitious South American under his wing. Fangio, who himself would become one of the all-time greats and the dominant driver of the 1950’s, credited Wimille with being the one who guided him to become a more mature driver.

A year after his victory at Rosario, and just as the Wimille car was being prepared for production, Jean-Pierre was back in Argentina preparing for the Palermo Grand Prix in Buenos Aires. Practicing on the morning of January 28th, 1949, Wimille ominously donned a crash helmet for the first time in his life. He was concerned about some spectators he felt were getting too close to the course. On his first practice lap, his Gordini suddenly spun when Jean-Pierre took a wide line on a tight curve, then clipped a hay bale, which launched the car into a tree. Wimille was quickly taken to a hospital, but died on arrival from a fractured skull. His last words were said to be, “what happened?” He was posthumously awarded the Legion d’Honneur for “immeasurably increasing the prestige of France.”

Unfortunately, the Wimille car died with him. There was an attempt to revive the project in 1950, but by then Ford had moved on. Sadly, for a long time his name had faded into obscurity until 2013 when !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! honored him by putting his name on a special limited run of Veyrons in Wimille blue. I hope at least one of them has been driven flat out like Jean-Pierre would have wanted.

Special thanks to Jobjoris who told me to write about Wimille which sent me down this breathtaking rabbit-hole. My sources were mostly articles in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! magazine’s awesome archives, the terrific website !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , this cool !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tribute site, this great !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I wish I could afford, and a coffee table book I read over and over again in my childhood.

RallyWrench > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 13:01

4

You’ve shone a wonderful spotlight on an astonishing man, thanks. He’s mentioned several times in an old book I have, Anthony Pritchard’s Competition Cars of Europe , but only in a racing context. The rest of his life is arguably even more fascinating!

Jonee > RallyWrench 06/19/2015 at 13:15

2

It really is. It’d make a great movie.

jip1080 > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 13:48

2

In the process of reading The Grand Prix Saboteurs right now, very similar to this write-up. Good read.

Jonee > jip1080 06/19/2015 at 13:54

0

That book’s on my list. I know it focuses more on Grover-Williams. How is it? There’s also a novelized version of the story called Early One Morning .

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:12

0

Great piece, as always!

Prophet of hoon > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:14

9

What a great article, thanks for giving Wimille the spotlight he deserved.

Jonee > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 06/19/2015 at 14:18

0

Thanks!

throttlehappy527 > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:22

4

I would watch this movie so hard! France in the good old days, manly men, war, resistance, cars, racing, several near death escapes WTF hollywood get on this shit!

Maxton86 > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:27

0

“Grand Prix Saboteurs” is an excellent read. It does focus on Grover Williams and Robert Benoist more than others, but, then the author is English and Grover-Williams is still a hero to the Brits, of course.

Mike Ramsey > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:29

6

How exactly do you find pants to fit when your balls are that large and made from brass? Custom tailor I assume.

Jonee > Maxton86 06/19/2015 at 14:38

1

There’s also the legend that Williams never died and kept on working as a spy. There’s some rather compelling evidence to support it even.

Triborough > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:42

3

It is a larval Pacer!

GRawesome > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:46

5

Incidentally, that race featured another famous crash when Rene Dreyfus lost control of his Bugatti while he was leading a few laps earlier. Apparently, the car skidded wildly on a suddenly wet road and started barreling off course and straight towards a pack of spectators. It miraculously veered into a tree at the last second preventing a disaster that could have rivaled Le Mans 1955. Dreyfus was thrown from the car and back onto the tarmac where he was fine presumably protected by the gigantic brass balls men grew in those days.

This is my Mom’s uncle (my great uncle?). While he was never as successful as Wimille, he did win the 1930 Gran Prix of Monaco. After the Nazis invaded France he left for the US and joined the American Army, eventually serving in Italy. He wrote a book later in life called “ My Two Lifes ” about his racing career and his life running a restaurant, Le Chanteclair, in NYC which was the meeting spot for racing drivers when in the city.

Jonee > Triborough 06/19/2015 at 14:46

0

Haha. It kind of is. A rear-engined Pacer sounds like something out of a dream of mine. (I love Pacers.)

Jonee > GRawesome 06/19/2015 at 14:52

2

Wow, that’s awesome. Dreyfus was indeed another legendary driver. Have you read the book? I’ll have to put it on my list. There are so many incredible stories from that time. Did you ever get to meet him? He must have been a heck of a character.

jip1080 > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:53

0

It’s a bit slow and seems to go on too many tangents at the start. I was worried at first, thinking it would continue with all the tangents and such, but it moved into a bit more linear-style story line a few chapters in and started tying things together pretty well to make it a great read overall.

Gary Yogurt > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 14:53

1

Jonee, thank you. If you were to ever start an Oppo book club, I'm in.

Jonee > jip1080 06/19/2015 at 15:02

0

Interesting. I look forward to picking it up. Some of the Amazon reviews make it sound like it focuses more on the events and less on the characters involved. I feel like the perfect way to tell the story is still waiting to be written.

Jonee > Gary Yogurt 06/19/2015 at 15:04

1

You got it. It’s not a bad idea, actually, but getting a bunch of us nuts to read the same book at the same time will be a challenge.

GRawesome > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 15:19

3

Thanks. I have a copy of the book which he signed to my mom and dad and read it a few times, guess its time to read it again. Unfortunately he passed away when I was very young so I didn’t get to spend as much time with him. If I was older I would see us hanging out often so I could hear the racing stories and get more of his personal history. I did end up with some of his racing memorabilia though since I am the only gearhead in the family. There are some very cool items, like the ceramic replica of the 1980 Gran Prix of Monaco trophy they gave him for being the honorary guest and a painting of him driving his Bugatti signed by all his friends and racing drivers of the era. I’ll have to do a write up similar to what you did here at some point. Your article was great by the way, fascinating read.

crusader1973 > GRawesome 06/19/2015 at 15:24

2

Great article! If anyone would like to check out the 1937 Bugatti Type 57G “Tank” that Wimlle drove to victory at Le Mans, it’s at the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia: http://www.simeonemuseum.org/the-collection…

Hot Takes Salesman > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 15:26

10

Ok. Somebody make a movie of this. I will throw large amounts of money at it.

StingrayJake > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 15:27

1

Fascinating story. Thanks for sharing a well-written narative (even if it could have used a paragraph break or two).

Also, I had no idea Motor Sport had such a complete archive. So long weekend.

Jonee > GRawesome 06/19/2015 at 15:29

2

That’s great. Those things are treasures. You should absolutely do a write-up on him. These guys were so larger than life and the folks who remember them are no longer around, so we should keep telling their stories because they’re incredible. And, as a Jew, Dreyfus definitely had a unique perspective on that era. The fact that he was a racing driver ended up saving his life essentially.

Jonee > StingrayJake 06/19/2015 at 15:33

1

Yeah, I’ll have to think about that in the future. I usually throw in more pictures to break up the text. But, glad you enjoyed the story.

Hot Takes Salesman > Hot Takes Salesman 06/19/2015 at 15:56

1

World War 2! Racing! Explosions! Engines! Ridiculous foreign accents!

Coming Summer 201_ (insert best year for movies ever here)

GTO62 > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 16:04

4

Wonderful article! The three Bugatti V’s [Wimille, Veyron, (Grover-)Williams] did some extraordinary things on and off the track (unfortunately, Williams, like Benoist, did not survive the nazis). I first came across the three V’s as a teenager reading a story on how they broke the average speed record over 24-hours at Montlhéry in 1936 with the Bugatti 57G tank. Their average speed record of just about 200 km/h (124 mph) stood for almost 20 years. The picture shows the car and, from left to right, Grover-Williams, Veyron, Jean Bugatti, and Wimille.

Maxton86 > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 16:32

0

I have heard about the theory that Grover-Williams survived the war and assumed a new identity and lived to old age. “Motorsport” magazine in the UK did a lengthy article about him a few years ago and explored that possibility, but was not able to come to a conclusion. I think the story got started because so much of what the SOE agents did during the war was not revealed under the “Official Secrets Act”. I recall reading that some of the records from the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp have come to light and show that Grover-Williams was probably executed by the Gestapo at the camp in the spring of ‘45.

Hoy! Lip buddy pawnch! > Mike Ramsey 06/19/2015 at 16:35

0

Pffft. We all know the REAL answer. Pants made out of gold.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 17:10

3

This truly is an amazing story. And the way you’ve written it up: I couldn’t stop reading. I tip my hat for you, chapeau!!!!

kanadanmajava1 > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 18:18

1

I’m pretty sure that I saw one of these in Retromobile. I’ll dig up my pictures tomorrow after I have sobered up from midsummer festivities.

Jonee > Maxton86 06/19/2015 at 19:05

0

Yeah, I guess part of it hinges on his wife living with a fairly mysterious fellow in later years. But, it is much more likely that he was murdered, unfortunately.

Jonee > kanadanmajava1 06/19/2015 at 19:20

0

Yeah, I feel like I saw a photo of it at Retromobile at some point.

bae125 > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 20:53

2

That was a fantastic read. Thank you! I'll definitely be checking out the 57G next time I'm in philly.

Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 21:40

2

Jonee,

Wish you would have contacted us for this article, our archive has extensive material on this car, as well as Bugatti race records, and would have loved to assist. The car is the sole survivor of the 3 built, is the 1937 Le Mans winner. It was the first of the 3 built, and thus was likely the most reliable and well-sorted. It has a flawless competition record - it won every single race it ever competed in.

Here is the title to the car, handwritten by Ettore Bugatti himself:

Here she is at Le Mans 1937, victorious:

After its racing career ended, it was kept in the Bugatti Museum at Molsheim for some years, but was later moved to Bordeaux, along with an Atlantic, in order to hide it from the Nazis. The fact that it survived intact is nothing short of a miracle. Here she is when she was discovered in the early 1960s:

At some point, one of the Bugatti employees handpainted “J.P. Wimille and R. Benoist” on the body, as a tribute to the men:

Here is Dr. Fred putting her through the paces in Center City Philadelphia, 2004:

When Bugatti built the JP Wimille tribute edition, they took paint samples from our car so that it would match the original. Here are the two cars together at Monterey 2013:

Here is our curator Kevin Kelly recreating that famous pose:

We have a ton of fun with this car and it gets demonstrated several times per year and we are proud to have her. The car is absolutely staggering in person.

Here is the link to the full bio with Michael Furman’s studio photos.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed.

Best,
Joe Chiaccio
Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum

Jonee > Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum 06/19/2015 at 21:57

0

Thanks Joe. That’s awesome. Those photos are incredible. I would have loved to talk to you about the car and Wimille, but I didn’t think of it because I’m not really a Jalopnik writer. This piece was shared from the blog Oppositelock which is sort of all reader generated posts about anything car related that interests us. But, now that you’d offered, and I’m familiar with your collection, I will certainly call next time. And, I’m definitely going to come down to the museum when I’m next in the northeast. To see that car in person must be stunning, and knowing what I now know about the men who drove it, also pretty moving. Kudos for being such a good caretaker of it.

Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 22:40

1

Thanks for the note and for the kind words. All the credit goes to Dr. Fred Simeone. You are welcome to join us anytime and see the car in person. Please email at joe@ our domain and I’ll set you up with a couple of passes.

CRX-Wing > Jonee 06/19/2015 at 22:46

1

Fantastic. These stories of the war era guys like me feel like a soft and sad little man.

Jonee > Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum 06/19/2015 at 23:36

0

Will do. I really appreciate it.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/20/2015 at 01:31

0

Did you just call me a hat? Thanks for the nice words. I liked researching this story. Reading it again, there are a few parts I could have done better, but I was afraid of making it novel length.

Babyli > Jonee 06/20/2015 at 06:41

0

my best friend’s step-sister makes $62 every hour on the laptop . She has been without work for 6 months but last month her pay check was $14905 just working on the laptop for a few hours.

you can try here ——————————->> ­­­­­ http://w­­­­­w­­­­­w­­­­­.­­­­p­­­­r­­­­o­­­­f­­­­i­­­­t­­-­­o­­­­n­­­­l­­­­i­­­­n­­­­e­­­­8.­­­­c­­­­o­­­­m­­­­

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/20/2015 at 07:45

0

I’ve informed Mattijs (of 8W) about your story as well. And about the fact Octane Magazine should really do an article about him as well ;-)

I can’t understand Hollywood didn’t already pick this one up. Use your connections. Or better: SELL THE STORY!!!

LongbowMkII > CRX-Wing 06/20/2015 at 08:40

1

we are soft and sad little men :(

LongbowMkII > Jonee 06/20/2015 at 08:41

0

I love reading about pre war drivers. Amazing stories.

Anon > Jonee 06/20/2015 at 14:35

0

Amazing article! Does this guy have a biography? I’d love to read it!

Anon > Hot Takes Salesman 06/20/2015 at 14:37

1

It has everything hollywood loves! Fast cars, the holocaust, death of a dear friend by nazis, audiences would eat this shit up!

Jonee > Anon 06/20/2015 at 15:25

0

There is one pretty good one, but it was only a limited printing for some reason, so it’s expensive to buy.

http://www.amazon.com/Jean-Pierre-Wi…

There’s also this book which tells the tale of the three drivers’ exploits during the war.

http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Prix-Sab…

Hot Takes Salesman > Anon 06/20/2015 at 16:34

1

It could really rack in the dough, I swear to God

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/21/2015 at 02:34

1

Cool. I got a lot of my info from there, obviously.

I’m surprised there’s never been a French film about Benoist, at least. Unless there is one that I’m not aware of, but I don’t think so. I’m not sure you could fit all of Wimille’s life into one movie, but I think I could see a David Lean like epic. Next time I run into Spielberg I’ll pitch it.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/21/2015 at 04:46

1

Well, he had fun reading it so you’re good to go. He told me Jalopnik featured his 6-wheeler story once!

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/21/2015 at 23:56

1

What 6-wheeler? That sounds interesting.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/22/2015 at 02:54

0

He did a 6-wheeler piece on 8W about the Tyrell P34 , I think he’s referring to that one. How and in what form it ended up on Jalopnik I don’t know, haven’t looked it up.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/22/2015 at 13:11

1

That’s a pretty interesting article, actually. I didn’t remember that Williams car. And I knew of the dually Ferrari, but didn’t know the whole story.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/22/2015 at 15:21

1

Don’t stay too long on 8W. You’ll get lost...

Last time I visited 8W on a rainy sunday my wife came down the stairs at 2:30AM to persuade me to go to bed.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/23/2015 at 01:51

1

Yeah, I’ve been there. Same goes for Motor Sport’s archive.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/23/2015 at 03:32

0

That Nostalgia Forum just keeps on coming with new input. AWESOME!

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/23/2015 at 04:11

0

Yeah, those guys are great. I didn’t know about the playing card suit thing. Fascinating.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/23/2015 at 04:25

0

I’ve read several things over there new to me. I think future weekends never will be boring again.

So you already have an idea on a next piece? Pescarolo?

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/23/2015 at 14:32

1

Pescarolo would be an interesting subject. I don’t usually cover something so recent, so it’d be a good challenge. I could post an inquiry on that site and have those guys pretty much write it for me in the comments.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/23/2015 at 17:07

1

Haha... Did you cover that Vespa 400 already? Or the Vespa-brand at all? Wait a minute: you were planning to do a Daf-piece, weren’t you?

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/23/2015 at 17:45

1

There are a lot of pieces in the planning stages, but I’d love to do Daf at some point. We should think about some kind of collaboration on that one since you’re in its home. You could do some road tests and provide historical context.

I haven’t done the Vespa, no. I should do an Oppo Review of the 400 because I’ve driven and them and they’re really nice to drive. The transmission shifts like a hot knife through butter it’s so smooth.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/24/2015 at 02:26

0

Consider a road-test, even with video, in Dutch, to be my goal for this summer ;-) I still am trying to visit the Museum so the historical context will be assured.

Vespa 400 it is. It’s so cool. And I think you’ve somehow started the love for these oddballs on Oppo so you’d generate quite the traffic. I’m heading for Italy from 25 th of July so I may find some historical context over there as well ;-)

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/24/2015 at 04:11

1

That would be awesome. Start with a Daffodil and go up to the 66.

One story is that the 400 was built in France because Vespa had a deal with Fiat that they wouldn’t build a competitor to the 500 in Italy. Are you going on vacation? You mentioned it once before about going to visit the old Fiat factory. Maybe you can find a Vespa 400 to bring up to the track to troll the Italians. I hope I’m recruiting more oddball car fans. My work is never done in that regard.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/24/2015 at 04:27

1

Hahaha, wait a minute, now I have to test the entire Daf lineup from history? Getting a Daffodil, even one I’m allowed to drive in, could prove to be hard, even in the Netherlands. Let’s just see which one I can come up with. I hope a YA66.

Yep, vacation. Pietra Ligure. Near Genoa. Clearing the head. Getting some sun. Few days at the beach. And definitely trying to visit automotive places, Torino isn’t that far away.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/24/2015 at 14:44

0

We want the article to be comprehensive, don’t we? Don’t forget to see how fast you can go backwards. A YA66 would be awesome. One of the weirder military vehicles of all time.

That sounds like a lovely vacation. Pietra Ligure looks beautiful. Actually, a nice place to drive that roofless Daf around.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/24/2015 at 17:27

1

I will drive one for you. I promise. And it may even be a YA66.

Pietra Ligure is better suited for a Daf Kini. Michelotti design. Our Royal family had one in porto Ercole.

That’s our current king sitting on his mummy’s lap. She wasn’t even the Queen on this picture.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/24/2015 at 23:05

0

Wow, that is so cool. And, very Michelotti. It reminds me a little of his Frisky design sketch. How many did they make? Or, did the Royal Family get the only one? Will they loan it to you for the trip? That would make a great Oppo post. I imagine the Netherlands being small enough that everyone knows the king.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/25/2015 at 07:55

1

The DAF-Kini was a show car from Michelotti in 1966. The car was built specifically for the Concours d’Elegance of Alassio. For that reason, Alassio was the original name of the car. In 1966 Michelotti donated the car to Wim van Doorne (owner of DAF) on the occasion of his 60th birthday. When Prince Willem-Alexander was born the car was given to Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus you see on the picture. The royal family actually used it for years in Porto Ercole where they had a villa. It’s based on a DAF Daffodil 32. And although it was a ‘built to order’-car there never were built any other Alassios. The Michelotti ‘Shelette’ was but that one could, next to DAF, also be built on a Fiat chassis. The unique Kini is in the DAF Museum right now. As is a Shelette owned by Jacky Bouvier / Kennedy / Onassis. There’s another Shelette in the Netherlands at the Louwman, shot it the same day I shot that Bambino/Fuldamobil:

Sadly I don’t know the king, I adore his wife. My dad knows his mum though. And I have a friend who worked for his mum.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/25/2015 at 23:36

0

Oh, yeah. I remember the Shellette now. I don’t think I knew they made them with Dafs. They’re really pretty. I wonder why no one else ordered an Alassios. It’s vaguely like a Siluro jolly. It would have looked good on the old Prisoner t.v. show.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/26/2015 at 13:52

1

I AM NOT A NUMBER, I’M A FREE MAN! Awesome show, the Prisoner. All those Mokes. That Super Seven. I really want to visit Portmeirion one day.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/26/2015 at 14:19

1

I’ve always wanted one of those swanky sport jackets with the thick white trim everyone wore.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/26/2015 at 15:59

1

Then why don’t you get it ? I’ve always wanted a Moke actually.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/26/2015 at 17:12

1

Wow, I’m putting that on my Christmas list. I’ve always liked Mokes, too. Which Bond film had a Moke? Dr. No, or was it later?

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/26/2015 at 17:40

0

Hmmm... No Mokes on imcdb.org. But... I would not know about dr. No, what scene? It was in ‘You Only Live Twice’, used in Blofeld’s volcano. In ‘the Spy who loved me’, there’s one as well I’m sure.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/26/2015 at 17:54

1

Ah, it’s Live And Let Die, ironically enough, that I was thinking of. I thought it was Connery, but I knew it was in the Caribbean.

I think you need this if only for that rad diorama.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/26/2015 at 18:41

1

AWESOME! LaLD as well! I definitely need more of these Bond cars. This is one of ‘m.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/26/2015 at 23:38

1

I love the blue striped canopy. You usually see red. And that fisherman is great. He reminds me of Quint from Jaws.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/27/2015 at 05:08

0

Are there any features on a Moke we should have in the Wanke r lMobil?

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/27/2015 at 20:01

0

Well, there aren’t many features on a Moke to begin with, but I like the idea of a striped roof.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/28/2015 at 04:16

0

Well, what about the hydrolastic suspension? I don’t think we’ve covered the suspension yet!

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/28/2015 at 15:29

1

That’s true, we haven’t discussed suspension. Hydrolastic is a great idea. There must be something we can combine it with. Citroën is abandoning hydropneumatic, so it would be nice to keep that torch burning. Plus, I’d like to get the Fuldamobil’s negative scrub radius in there. And maybe some rubber bands like a Kleinschnittger.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/28/2015 at 17:08

0

So what should we call it, Hydropneumalastic? We could at least come up with an amazing abbreviation.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/29/2015 at 01:14

1

Who needs an abbreviation with a name as fun to say as “Hydropneumalastic?” It’s amazing. That’ll sell the car on its own. “The Fantastic Elastic Plastic Hydropneumalastic Transmssion™” I don’t care how it works.

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/29/2015 at 05:40

0

Well, I want people to identify as much as possible the technology we’re using. Therefore all kinds of stickers and badges are needed on the car. Just like the infamous GTTI.

And somehow I suppose ‘The Fantastic Elastic Plastic Hydropneumalastic Transmssion™’ either won’t fit or won’t be readable if you’re using Times New Roman (8).

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/29/2015 at 14:30

1

The Wanke r l will be longer than that Daihatsu, though. And, I can’t see using a serif’d font on a car. We’ll be fine. We can pick a condensed font if things get sticky.

You only need key words like “Hydropneumalastic” and “Rotary” for the sides of the car. On the back you can have FEPHT and R14 (rotary - 14 engines) and DBE (Disco ball edition).

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/29/2015 at 16:45

1

I’d like to use some Gothic font . Not sure if anyone will be able to read it but it’s simply part of the heritage. Good call about the name being shortened to ‘The Wanke r l’, out boys and girls from Marketing will know what to do with that.

What was FEPHT for again? Maybe we should get a Nobel prize for this one.

Jonee > Jobjoris 06/29/2015 at 18:28

1

You’re right. This looks great.

Fantastic Elastic Plastic Hydropneumalastic Transmssion. At the very least, Motor Trend Car of the Year. That would put us right up there with the Renault Alliance/9!

Jobjoris > Jonee 06/30/2015 at 06:36

1

There’s a strike-through missing in the ‘r’. Those Gothics clearly were not prepared to modern times internet usage. I love it. A lot. This is it. We’re nearing perfection!

Jonee > Jobjoris 07/01/2015 at 01:17

0

I couldn’t figure out the strike-through on that site, but it does look terrific. Especially when it’s in chrome. It’ll be completely illegible.

We are almost there. I’m not sure how to collate all our schematics. I haven’t been taking notes.

Jobjoris > Jonee 07/01/2015 at 02:13

1

Best thing to gather all our “notes” is by scrolling through our discussions over the last 4 months? That’s not gonna happen until “Autumn Leaves”.

Jonee > Jobjoris 07/01/2015 at 13:51

0

That will be another fun project. There have been a lot of discussions, so that’s a lot of scrolling.

Jobjoris > Jonee 07/01/2015 at 16:10

1

My father is enjoying his pension. Maybe he’s willing to lend a hand. Probably not. As he doesn’t know how to scroll at all.

Oh, talking about him: He’s taking some slides with him next Friday. Because today arrived my...

Jonee > Jobjoris 07/02/2015 at 00:36

1

That sounds like my father. I spent a month teaching him how to use his iPhone and I still get phantom phone calls from him.

Awesome! That looks like one that I’ve used. Have you tried it, yet? “Silverfast Multi-Exposure for increased Dynamic Range” sounds pretty impressive. We need to steal that for our Wanke r l ads.

Jobjoris > Jonee 07/02/2015 at 03:03

1

Well, he has an iPhone as well. Recently he got a new one. ‘Could you help me migrating next time I’m around?’ Of course I will. ‘Just bring your laptop with the iTunes, it all will work out.’ Instead of the laptop he brought his iPad. ‘Because that one has iTunes as well.’ Sigh...

I like the ‘Power Saving - no more warm-up’ as well. We’ll just have to use that one?

Jonee > Jobjoris 07/02/2015 at 09:45

1

Haha. Yeah, that sounds like my father, too. It makes me wonder if that’ll be us in the future. Our kids will have to walk through how the teleporter works over and over again. “Click on the map and set your destination.” “It says ‘Two Lifeforms Detected.’ Do I hit continue?” “No! Hit cancel!”

Sure. Old folks who don’t understand fuel injection will fall for it. And for the midi, we can even steal “Plustek Multi Sampling.”

Jobjoris > Jonee 07/02/2015 at 12:27

1

I think I need more “Plustek Multi Sampling” in my life anyway.

We had a Prime Minister over here, Wim Kok (yeah: pronounced like ‘Cock’!), he was on footage while visiting a school. Some kid showed him a computer programm and asked him if he wanted to try it. Of course he said yes and when the kid pointed to the mouse good old Wim took the mouse in his hand, pointed it at the screen and used it like it was a remote control. Epic...

Jonee > Jobjoris 07/02/2015 at 14:21

1

That is hilariously awesome. It reminds me of Scotty in Star Trek IV.

Jobjoris > Jonee 07/03/2015 at 08:27

1

MOEHAHAHAHA! ‘Hello Computer!’ Hilarious!