Spot on barret!
Quote :
"This sleek sports racer emerged from the workshop of Carrozzeria Lazzarino sometime in 1952. Bautista Lazzarino, its proprietor, was an Italian immigrant who moved to Argentina with his family in 1927. Born in 1908 in the Piedmont region's Castelnuovo Calcea, Bautista ('Tino' to his family) was educated in Turin before the Lazzarinos moved to South America. After arriving in Buenos Aires, the teenaged Bautista, his father Juan and younger brother Miguel opened an auto mechanics workshop at 1020-24 San Blas in La Paternal. Juan Lazzarino had been a coachbuilder in his native Italy, and his talent for designing and fashioning custom bodies was passed down to his son. Carrocería Lazzarino became prominent after one of Bautista's creations came into the national spotlight; he rebodied a Packard belonging to Mrs. Maria Delia Harilaoz de Olmos, which was used to transport Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) during the 1934 Eucharistic Congress. This exposure brought fame to Carrocería Lazzarino, and he started working for prominent Argentine clients who encouraged his creativity. Bautista maintained a body shop in Buenos Aires through the 1940s, also advertising "Carrocerías Metalicas de Lujo para Automóviles," or luxury metal bodywork. "Lazzarino was then making aerodynamic front ends for racing cars," "Many of the cars used in the week-long cross-country races were Ford and Chevrolet coupes from the late 1930s up to around 1946. They lowered them and put on special hoods and fenders to transform them into out-and-out race cars.... Lazzarino was well-known for his bodywork. This Lazzarino was so original...the seats, the gauges, the steering wheel. It was clearly made by a Maestro. The car was completely drilled out for racing, even the backing plates on the drum brakes. All the paneling inside was riveted sheet aluminum, and the pedals were just beautiful, handmade aluminum that was drilled and welded to the linkage. It has an FIA [Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile] license with it, which would make it eligible for the Mille Miglia and other great world races. The 1st owner that Lazzarino 004's construction was commissioned by the then-Chairman of Ford Argentina. It used a custom tubular steel chassis, and was powered by an Argentinian Ford flathead V-8 engine. The car had been raced through the 1950s, competing in events like the Gran Jornada Automovilistica 'Presidente Peron,' or the President Peron Auto Race Day in August 1954, which was sponsored by the Argentine Association of Race Car Drivers and supervised by the Argentina Automobile Sports Commission."
