Odessa is a beautiful place. It became part of Russia after the two Russo-Turkish Wars of the late 18th Century. It was a warm water port, something Russia needed, and Catherine the Great ordered a new city to be built. Much of its development was overseen by French exiles, who had fled the Revolution in 1789. In 1815 Odessa was declared a free port, in order to boost trade. It quickly became a cosmopolitan and rich city where, according to Alexander Pushkin, the air was “filled with all Europe, French is spoken and there are European papers and magazines to read”. The city had a huge Jewish population, up to 35 percent of the citizens, and this led to troubles from time to time when anti-Semitic Russians attacked and killed Jews.
Joseph Poberejsky was Jewish, born in Odessa in 1885. His family seems to have been wealthy and he was a member of the city’s financial elite. This allowed him to work as an inventor. With the arrival of electricity there were plenty of new ideas to be developed.
The Russian Revolution in 1917 threw the country into chaos and many of Odessa’s rich decided to leave, in fear of the Bolsheviks. Poberejsky was 32 and he headed for Paris, where at least he could speak the language. He settled in the comfortable 16th arrondissement and began using the name Jacques in order to integrate more. He would eventually become a naturalised French citizen. He continued to invent and also acquired the rights to the inventions of others. Automobiles and aviation created new opportunities and he patented flexible hoses which could withstand vibration and a self-sealing fuel tank. There was also a water heater for farms so that animals could get water in freezing conditions. The profits he made by licensing the inventions were invested in real estate and in new ideas. He was keen on cars and bought a Rolls Royce which he had re-bodied in a much sportier fashion by the the Binder carriage-building firm on the Boulevard Haussmann.
Jacques soon moved his growing family into a mansion in exclusive Neuilly sur Seine. But when the war came in 1939 the family, fearing persecution, sailed to America and settled in affluent Westchester County, just outside New York. They returned to Paris after the war ended and Jacques built a new car which he intended to sell. It was a Rolls Royce with his own Carrosserie Poberejsky bodywork. It was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 1949. Rolls Royce threatened legal action…
Jacques died later that year at the age of 64, leaving his fortune to his son Michel, who was then 19. Fascinated by automobiles, the youngster was a regular visitor to Gaston Docime’s Bugatti garage in Neuilly and the garage owner decided to take him under his wing. In 1950 they visited the Lamberjack garage in the rue Bayen, in the 17th arrondissement, and Poberejsky was convinced to buy a unique 1938 Bugatti Atalante 57SC, the only supercharged Atalante produced by the factory, although many other Atalantes had superchargers added by their owners.
He soon began racing the car at Montlhéry, using the pseudonym “Mike Sparken”. He enjoyed racing and soon acquired Aston Martin DB2 and DB3 sports cars, which he re-bodied before moving on to a Ferrari 750 Monza. He won occasional races and was considered a very decent driver. In 1955 “Mike Sparken” shared his Ferrari with Masten Gregory at Le Mans – although the pair suffered an engine failure early on.
Poberejsky was then 25 and keen to try Grand Prix racing and so did a deal with Amedée Gordini to race a factory Gordini in the British Grand Prix at Aintree. He qualified 23rd and drove a solid race to finish seventh, despite a clutch failure. It was a pretty good effort. For whatever reason, however, he then decided to stop racing, although he continued to deal in interesting automobiles for the rest of his days. He was the owner of a number of extraordinary machines, including a second Bugatti Atalante and, most impressively, an Alfa Romeo Alfetta Grand Prix car, which he prised from the factory by offering them the streamlined 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B which had shone at Le Mans in the hands of Clemente Biondetti and Raymond Sommer. Alfa Romeo wanted that car and the Alfetta was in a poor state. It was the only Alfetta to ever get into private hands.
Poberejsky moved from Neuilly to Cap Ferrat on the Cote d’Azur as he grew older. In the end he was diagnosed with cancer. He died in 2012 at the age of 82.