Phil Hill, was he from a wealthy background?

I believe Phil was born in Miami. His family moved to Santa Monica, California, where I think his father was the postmaster. I'd say his background was middle class. I have no idea of the value of an 8C Alfa in the late 40s.....I'd guess it probably was considered just an old pre-war car. Phil has always had great taste in cars. He was able to attract patrons early on in his career, and the west coast was a good place to be noticed at that time.

There are others here who know much more about Phil Hill's career than I...perhaps they'll chime in. I'm just a fan, and have been since about 1958.

Jack

 

Phil is one of the greatest American drivers of all-time, yet is relatively unknown

 

Possibly so within the US but not outside it.
My aussie mum would recognise Phil Hill's name while not having a clue who a Petty was.

 

I believe that Phil Hill started to drive cars for other people, like wealthy owners, very early on, a bit like Shelby did.

I may be wrong, but there was that clause in the USAAC rules in the early 50s, forbidding cars entered in their races to be driven by 'professionals', so only amateurs could get drives, as long as they didn't get paid.

How fooproof was that rule, I don't know, but guys like Hill, Shelby and a few others, never went to Indy, Sprint Cars or Midgets that were for 'professionals'.
The boundary between the 2 disappeared in the late 50s.

Moss' father was a London dentist, himself the son of a wealthy Jewish family.
Alfred Moss, was born Alfred Moses, but altered his name. He himself raced and even entered Indy 500 in the 20s. Moss' mother also came from a well-to-do family, and did rallying when she was young.
Stirling and his sister Pat Moss, were raised riding horses and participating in several sports.
Stirling received his first racing car (Cooper 500) as a present, when his sister received a horse.
Father Alfred Moss bankrolled Stirling 's early motor racing years. Later on, he was a partner in British Racing Partnership that entered F1 in 1961/62.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Hill

 

Wikipedia hardly gives any details about Phil Hill early career when racing Jags and private Ferrari on the West Coast.

 

Phil Hill's first race was in 1947 in an MGTC, which he won. He also won the last race he entered (not counting the vintage stuff), the 1967 BOAC 500 at Brands, in a Chaparral 2F. Because he had a good mechanical awareness of his cars and was winning races, others asked him to drive for them, eventually leading to a factory drive for Ferrari, first in sports cars, then F1.

I think the article the original poster read may have referred to Hill's driving an 8C Alfa in vintage events, not contemporaneously.

Cheers

 

Thank You! What a feast of knowledge FChat is!

Great information that I didn't know about two of my favorite drivers, and greatest drivers of their era. I'm glad they are still with us.

Just a thought...does someone amongst us, know these gentlemen, well enough to do an informal interview? On what? Whatever they wish to say.

Ciao Everybody...Paolo

 

I believe that one of Phil's first race cars was a Jaguar XK120 that he had shipped over on the Queen Mary after purchasing the car in England. From what I heard, his parents died towards the beginning of his race career and Phil used the inheritance money to purchase his first Ferrari, though the model and year escapes me -- 166MM maybe??

 

Phil drove an 1938 Alfa 8c2900B MM in the early 1950s and did well with it. In recent years he has driven a 6c3000CM Alfa "Disco Volante" in vintage events.

 

Phil's family was at least well off. At his house in Santa Monica years ago he showed me a Packard Twin Six (first series, not the '32) limosine that had been his grandmothers. It was in this car that he was taken home from the hospital after being born. At least through some point in the around 2000 he still had the car and it had always been in the family.

Jeff

 

I have in front of me, on "American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s", a picture of Phil Hill driving a pre-war Alfa Romeo 8C2900B (ex Tommy Lee) at Peeble Beach in 1951.
The caption says that the car was too heavy and complicated, and that Hill moved on to a Ferrari.