Monthly Archives: October 2010

Take a bow Dave Randall – Ginetta G4

A couple of months ago I was visiting my folks up near London, went for a walk and and stumbled into this wonderful 1966 Ginetta G4 belonging to Dave Randall.

He told me his car is fitted with a Ford 1500 cc 91 cui engine and that he races it in the HSCC Historic Road Sports Series. It turns out the next day Dave went to Mallory and scored a perfect Q1, F1, C1 and fastest lap !

Not bad racing against more powerful Morgan’s and Triumphs.

Research has revealed that Dave won the 2010 HSCC Historic Road Sports Series Championship with one round to go. Congratulations Dave !

Wishing everyone a sunny day, don’t forget to come back now !

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Perfect car for a wedding #2 Humber Super Snipe MK IV

This is a magnificent Humber Super Snipe MK IV from my collection of Wedding vehicles.

Powered by a 113 hp 4138cc / 252 cui overhead valve straight 6 this vehicle is capable of 91 mph with an average fuel consuption of a wallet burning 15.5 miles per (imperial) gallon.

Production of 17,993 examples of this model commenced in 1952 and ceased in 1958. The car is by UK standards an enormous measuring 197″ by 71″.

Wishing all the best to every one getting married today, don’t forget to come back now !

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Everything stops for the – Bentley T

Today I am looking at this Bentley T twin to the most successfull Rolls Royce in history the Silver Shadow.

The only discernible difference between the Shadow and the T was the grill which was, simpler to manufacturer, lighter, smoother and largely responsible for the Bentley at £ 5375 being £50 cheaper than the Shadow when introduced in 1965.

The T was the first Bentley to feature a monocoque construction. The car was ‘adequately’ powered by a 6230 cc / 380 cui Rolls Royce V8, power output was never mentioned in connection with Rolls or Bentley at this time, presumably because ‘adequate’ in connection with a vehicle weighing 2 tons avoided any embarrassing direct power to weight ratio comparisons.

Where the T really scored over the Shadow other than marginally more discrete badging was exclusivity, between 1965 and 1977 16,717 Series 1 Shadows were built against just 1,703 Series 1 T’s

Thanks for joining me, don’t forget to come back now !

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Race Winning Myth – Triumph GT6

Race Winning Myth – Triumph GT6

A couple of months ago I got up horrendously early to go filming with the only namesake I know, Opposite his house was this MK3 Triumph GT6.

The GT6 was originally concieved by Giovani Michelotti and Triumph in 1963 as a Coupe version of the 4 cylinder Triumph Spitfire and was to be known as the Spitfire GT4. Unfortunately while the styling won plenty of kudos the Spitfires 1147 cc / 70 cui engine struggled to cope with the extra body weight.

However the boffins in the Triumph racing department saw the advantage of using the sleek GT4 body for it’s upcoming 1965 Le Mans programme and made fibre glass copies of the fast back and grafted them on to the tuned racers they were building, thus the racers did not incur the same weight penalty as the one off GT4 built by Michelotti. The Spitfires of Jean – Jaques Thuner / Simo Lampinen and Claude Dubois / Jean-Francois Plot came in 13th and 14th winning their class against several Alpines non of which were classified as finishers.

Triumph decided to capitalise on the racing success by developing the GT6 fitted with the 6 cylinder 1998cc 121.9 cui engine from the Vitesse model. The handling of the Mark I GT6 launched in 1966 was so bad, it understeered/pushed terribly compared to the Spitfire because of the extra weight of the 6 cylinder engine, that huge improvements to the rear suspension were introduced for the 1968 MK2.

The MK3 GT6 introduced in 1970 features a completely different body to the earlier versions broadly in line with upgraded of the Spitfire MKIV. The GT6 MK3 comfortably out performed it closest competitor the MGB 0-60 mph by nearly 3 seconds and top speed by 12mph yet the MGB outsold the GT6 despite the marketing myth that the GT6 was developed from the “race wining Le Mans Spitfires”, when as we have seen the GT was a separate programme that predated the racing programme.

History class over, wishing you all a fine day, don’t forget to come back now.

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Best laid plans in PR – Bond Equipe 4S

Continuing the theme of rare Triumph based cars started yesterday, today we are looking at this 1965 Triumph Herald based Bond Equipe GT 4 S.

The Equipe GT 4S was built on a Triumph Herald chassis and was powered by a 63 hp 1147 cc / 69.9 cui 4 cylinder used in the Triumph Herald and Spitfire.

The opening boot was only introduced to the Equipe range with the GT 4s in 1964 ! 1934 examples of this 4S were built from 1964 – 1967. The Equipe in various guises was built from 1963 to 1970, when Bond was taken over by Reliant and the factory in Preston was closed.

A little footnote on the Bond Equipe 4S, Bond supplied several of these vehicles to the press for the official opening of a new stretch of the M6 Motorway on 23rd January 1965, big news in those days with thronging crowds as can be seen in this picture. The publicity coup however fell flat when Winston Churchill died the next day.

Hope you enjoyed todays show, don’t forget to come back now !

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Killed by British Leyland – Italia 2000 GT

The Italia 2000 GT was an attempt by Commendator Salvador Ruffino to fuse the proven ‘reliability’ of British engineering and the the artistry of Italian coach builders.

The Italia 2000 GT was built around knock down Triumph TR3A kits, featuring a 100 hp 1991cc 121 cui 4 cylinder engine, that has similarities to the engine Standard supplied to Ferguson for use in tractors in 1945.

The TR3 from which all the mechanical components are supplied was one of the earliest production vehicles to feature Disc brakes behind the Crosley Hotshot and Citroen DS.

As this, non original (?), plate show’s only 349 Italia 2000’s were built, the original agreement was for Carrozzeria Vignale to build 1500 of these sports cars however when British Leyland bought Triumph in 1960 the management decided to stop supplying the knock down kits and opted to build the TR4 instead.

The design of the Italia was by Giovanni Michelotti who designed the Triumph TR4 that superseded the Italia.

The production of the Italia 2000 GT in Turin ran from 1959 to 1962.

Thanks for popping by, don’t forget to come back now ! 🙂

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Killer Bull – Lamborghini Islero

The Lamborghini Islero was a 2 + 2 built from 1968 to 1969, with just 225 examples built.

Powered by a 325 hp 3929 cc / 239.7 CUI 60 degree V12 capable of taking the Islero from 0-60mph in 6.4 seconds and on to a top speed of 154 mph.

Named after a Muira Bull that killed Manuel Rodriguez ‘Manilete’ on August 28, 1947. The design was by Carrozzeria Marazzi.

Ferruccio & Edmondo Lamborghini used such vehicles as there ‘daily drivers’. Any one who has seen ‘The Man Who Haunted Himself’ may have noticed Roger Moore driving one.

Hope you enjoyed today’s post and will join me again tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

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