Racecar Dream Deferred by His Rip Van Plymouth

AS a teenager, Alex Atallah, a 23-year-old analyst for an investment bank, favored the television series “Victory by Design”

In each episode, Alain de Cadenet, the British sports car racer, piloted a handful of vintage racecars on winding roads as he described the thrill of the drive.

“I used to watch it every morning,” Mr. Atallah said recently from behind the wheel of his 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe Club Coupe. “And I would get so pumped up that I would get into my car and pretend I was hosting that show — slamming the shifter into third.”