Juan Manuel Fangio 1940s Gran Premio commemorative bust and desk set, both in cold painted white metal, the small bronze painted bust with helmet and

Juan Manuel Fangio 1940s Gran Premio commemorative bust and desk set, both in cold painted white metal, the small bronze painted bust with helmet and goggles bearing the name FANGIO, set on a marble plinth with a relief medallion of a racing coupé taking the chequered flag within a gold painted gear wheel with rising sun and the legend AUTOMOVIL CLUB ARGENTINO F.I.A.-A.I.T.-F.I.T.A.C. painted blue on white, 14 by 11 by 14cm., 5½ by 4½ by 5½in.; the small decorative painted desk set with two ink pots and a nib holder held within a standing metal box with pen holder, the lid bearing a relief portrait of a racing driver's head, the legend beneath now faded, the underside with a printed colour image of a racing coupé titled ''SU EAMOSO CHEVROLET '39'', the car bearing the number 73, the names Balcarce and Mar del Plata, overall 12 by 9 by 4cm. high, 5 by 3½ by 1½in. high, the outer lid with a large circular dent, its hinge requiring repair (2). The people of Balcarce bought this Chevrolet 6-cylinder coupé for their local racing driver to compete in the long-distance South American Gran Premio road races of the time in the belief that his entry would help put their town on the map. Fangio did not disappoint them and he duly won the Gran Premio Internacional del Norte in 1940, held over public roads from Buenos Aires through Bolivia to La Paz, through the Andes to Lima in Peru, then back again - over 9,500kms in total! This was the first of many such gruelling victories that eventually paved the way for him to progress to racing single-seater Grand Prix cars in Europe from the summer of 1948 onwards. Provenance: San Siro Museum, Milan.