Office art

Cars weren’t the only astonishingly pretty objects made in Italy in 1950s – the country’s motorcycles from that era were some of the most beautiful two-wheeled machines ever built. Take this Giulietta racer, for example, with its dainty frame shrouded by that gorgeous fairing. In fact, it’s so pretty that we’d like to mount it on a plinth in the Classic Driver office.

From one legend to another

Sir Jackie Stewart gifted this fabulous ‘Pepsi-bezel’ Rolex GMT Master to Derek Gardner in 1971, as a token of gratitude for designing his title-winning Tyrell. Gardner – the man who ‘built a World Championship-winning car in his garage’ – enjoyed the watch for over 40 years. Now it’s poised to go under the hammer, along with all its original documentation and period photographs of Gardner and Stewart in which the GMT is clearly visible. Nostalgic much?

Take the plunge?

Ferrari was reluctant to invest too much time and money into a homologated racing version of its then-new 360 Modena, and thus only three were built for the 2000 FIA GT season. This car – chassis #000GTM – was the very first, built by Michelotto and developed by JMB Racing with the factory’s blessing. Its success heralded a new era of sports car racing at Ferrari, which would, in turn, be buoyed by the formidable 430, 458 and 488 GT models. This significant slice of Ferrari history is allegedly on the button and ready to be enjoyed.

Fast family

When we spied this limited edition Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV in the Market, we were instantly reminded of the green and white Alpilatte-liveried touring car version howling around Goodwood during the Members’ Meeting earlier this year. This road-going example is one of just 300 GTV ‘Production’ models, built to celebrate the success of the aforementioned touring car. It’s fabulously retro, with sand-coloured velour upholstery, French-yellow headlights and lots of ‘go-faster’ stripes. It’ll need some TLC, but we don’t think fast family shuttles come much cooler.