Automobilia

Sept/Oct 2018 edition
Issue #1 AutoMobilia Resource Magazine
Peter Bourassa

According to the dictionary,  “AutoMobilia” is not actually a word. It is an amalgam of the  words “automobile” and “memorabilia “ and the latter also is a euphonious contraction of the words “memory” and the Latin for “stuff”.

Though the word “memory” is not a part of the title of this new publication, “memories” justifies its existence. Our goal here is to periodically present a selection of stories, images and products to kindle old memories and remind us all that we are neither unique nor are we alone. If our lives are truly a journey, memorabilia are certainly its sign posts.

As I look about me, I see two large framed posters by Nicolas Watts, one of Moss driving the #722 Mercedes in the ‘55 Mille Miglia. Arguably the greatest “drive” in history. The other is of the Phil Hill-Mike Spence Chaparral winning at Brands Hatch in ‘67. Brutally beautiful car! I also see a smaller black and white image sitting on an easel. My friend Michael Keyser sent it to me.

​In 1972, at the USGP in Watkins Glen, he took a picture through the window of the room where the drivers meeting was being held. It’s a wonderful picture of my heroes of the day slouching on couches, sitting on tables and leaning against walls. I was there that weekend. Out of the corner of my eye I also see a 1/18 model of a Porsche 904 which another friend gave me. I love that car.

A poster the Guggenheim created for the “Art of the Motorcycle“ exhibit in NYC in 1998 is by the door. Nice poster. Somewhere on the way to the kitchen is a small picture of me leaning my long gone Ducati 851 into a tight turn at NHIS. I keep it in sight because it reminds me of the bike and the day and how good I looked on that bike. But mostly I treasure it because it also shows me looking good and at the same time missing the apex by fifteen feet. It’s really humbling, and I need humbling from time to time. 

1972 USGP driver’s meeting photo next to bookshelf in Peter’s office.

But the dominant feature of the room, and my life, is a huge bookcase and its contents. It houses a sound system and my beloved books. Motorsports is excitement and drama. We enthusiasts have been blessed since its beginning with passionate and talented writers and photographers who have chronicled it for us to enjoy.

The essence of what draws us to motorsports makes the talent and courage of the larger than life personalities who have inhabited it live forever.    
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The Rockefeller Family Foundation recently sold a Picasso and several other important pieces of art for countless millions. Even free, I would have no room for them. What surrounds me is far more precious. Everything around the rooms I inhabit brings back a memory. Most are very good. Some are not. Each piece is precious because it comes with a meaningful memory. I suppose these artifacts are what AutoMobilia Resource is about. I hope so.

I further suppose that makes me an “Incidental Collector”. And while I am uncomfortable with titles of any sort, since I have visited many of your homes and garages, I am comfortable considering you fellow “Incidental Collectors”.  Welcome aboard.      

Peter’s Garage.

There must be a reason we surround ourselves with memory triggers. It is possible, that remembering what these pieces represent, how, where, and with whom they were acquired also gives us a feeling of peace and well being? Pardon my smile, fellow collector.

Peter Bourassa

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