Monday, June 14, 1999

Concours d'Elegance

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Car buffs converge at show

BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

More than 200 cars were displayed at Concours D'Elegance at Ault Park on Sunday. The event benefited the Arthritis Foundation. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        “What a great little car,” Bill Olberding said Sunday as he stuck a blue ribbon award of distinction on the windshield of a 1949 Fiat 500B Belvedere.

        Canadian Dave Baker glowed with owner's pride and sweat. Cincinnati's 22nd Concours d'Elegance was the first fancy show for his little red wagon.

        Elsewhere in Ault Park, awed spectators looked but didn't touch the spectacular bodywork on a collection of elegant Packards, including the custom 1940 convertible pictured on Concours posters.

        They fantasized as they examined Ferraris, Jaguars, Porsches and even rarer sports cars and studied the machinery of American and imported racing cars.

        Mr. Baker's homely Fiat drew only smiles and caresses.

        Known as “Topolino” — Little Mouse or Mickey Mouse — the Fiat initiated the move of the Italian middle class from two wheels to four in 1936.

        Built for two decades in Torino — with time out for World War II — Topolinos eventually yielded to even more ubiquitous Fiat 500s and 600s.

        Designed for two, the original Topolino often carried whole families.

        Mr. Baker said the Topolino station wagon was made only in 1949. His has the original body panels and wood trim on the sides and rear hatch. The folding canvas sunroof is new.

        Mr. Baker has been hooked on Topolinos since 1953, when he got his license. “My first was a 500C coupe. I've had five and driven four.”

        He paid about $66 for the derelict wagon in 1967, stored it in a cousin's barn until 1996, and turned it and $14,000 over to a restorer.

        It needed and received a new engine, and when he chose upholstery and floor mats, Mr. Baker followed his own tastes, irrespective of how the wagon was equipped by the factory.

        He rejected the original “metallic yuk” paint and ordered the traditional red of Italian racing cars.

        Those choices might have offended purists at the Concours, he said, “but what the hell, it's my car.”

        This is the Topolino he hasn't driven. The replacement engine “started, but it sprayed fuel everywhere.”

        That carburetor is being rebuilt and Mr. Baker plans to drive the Topolino regularly once the fuel system on the 570 cc water-cooled 16¹/₂ horsepower power plant is reassembled.

        Mr. Baker said he towed his car from Markham to Cincinnati because the Concours benefits the Arthritis Foundation.

        “That's something near and dear to my heart,” he said, rubbing his aching knees.

       

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