cool cars

A Rare ‘Italian’ Corvette — from Carroll Shelby

A Rare ‘Italian’ Corvette — from Carroll Shelby
This 1959 Scaglietti Corvette, on display at the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival concours, is one of only three in existence. 
Photo by Lans Christensen

The Chevrolet Corvette was the honored marque at this year’s Lime Rock Historic Festival 40 in Lime Rock, Conn., over Labor Day weekend.

As one can imagine, there were Corvettes of every possible age, model and significance — including some very rare prototypes from the General Motors Heritage Collection.

But there’s always one that’s particularly cool — and we were particularly taken by the 1959 Scaglietti Corvette in the photo above, and its interesting history.

As it turns out, legendary designer Carroll Shelby, before his monumental success with the Cobra, thought it would be cool to create an Italian-bodied Corvette.

He sent three chassis to Modena, Italy, to famed coach builder Scaglietti. They were also the coach builders for Enzo Ferrari, who was incensed that they would body an American car — and threatened to remove them as his body builders.

That’s all it took, so those three Scaglietti Corvettes are the only ones in existence.

The owner of this gorgeous one, Abraham Joseph, shared it with car fans during the Historic Festival’s Sunday in the Park concours. Corvette fans were thrilled to discover this very cool bit of automotive history.

Want to know more about Carroll Shelby? Look for Cool Cars in the Sept. 22 Compass Arts and Entertainment.

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Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.

Jeffery Serratt

In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.

Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”

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A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.

Photo by Kristy Barto, owner of The Nutmeg Fudge Company

Thanks to a unique collaboration between The Nutmeg Fudge Company, local artist Gerald Incandela, and Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut a mural — designed and painted entirely by students — now graces the interior of the fudge company.

The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.

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In the company of artists

In the company of artists

Curator Henry Klimowicz, left, with artists Brigitta Varadi and Amy Podmore at The Re Institute

Aida Laleian

For anyone who wants a deeper glimpse into how art comes about, an on-site artist talk is a rich experience worth the trip.On Saturday, June 14, Henry Klimowicz’s cavernous Re Institute — a vast, converted 1960’s barn north of Millerton — hosted Amy Podmore and Brigitta Varadi, who elucidated their process to a small but engaged crowd amid the installation of sculptures and two remarkable videos.

Though they were all there at different times, a common thread among Klimowicz, Podmore and Varadi is their experience of New Hampshire’s famed MacDowell Colony. The silence, the safety of being able to walk in the woods at night, and the camaraderie of other working artists are precious goads to hardworking creativity. For his part, for fifteen years, Klimowicz has promoted community among thousands of participating artists, in the hope that the pairs or groups he shows together will always be linked. “To be an artist,” he stressed, “is to be among other artists.”

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