Monthly Archives: July 2012

Last Known Survivor – MG 18/80 Six deluxe Saloon MkII

Classic & Sports Car Action Day – Castle Combe

On Saturday David Roots kindly invited me to join him and the Bath & West Car Club for the Classic and Sports Car Action Day at Castle Combe.

Among the cars on display was this Triumph GT6 MkII which reminded me that GT6 enthusiast Hazen Wardle is soon to release the third of his Reche Plimpton, The Triumph Detective stories.

With out a doubt car of the show for me was this third Generation 1969 Buick Skylark, with the post modern descending curved chrome that harks back to an all together different age of motoring before the use of unitary bodies became commonplace.

The 1972 Honda Z600, from the Honda S800 Sports Car Club, preparing to take part in the on track parade above predated the Honda Civic range and is powered by 36 hp 598cc / 36.4 cui two cylinder single overhead cam motor that could be taken up to 9,000 revolutions per minute and was recorded as capable of using less than 130 mpg (imperial) at a steady 30 mph.

The Lotus Seven Club were in attendance in large numbers, above two Lotus Seven S2’s one of which was the feature on my regular Lotus blog on Saturday.

Despite his far better judgement David kindly took me round Castle Combe on the parade laps, here we are passing through the Bobbies Chicane.

Coming all the way from Wales in the Club Lotus (South Wales) area was this 2000 Lotus Esprit Sport 350, the final iteration of the Esprit line of which just 50 were manufactured.

Four years after acquiring Lotus, GM handed Lotus the task of upgrading the mundane Vauxhall Carlton, The 177 mph Lotus, Type 104, Carlton was the result, capable of reaching 60 mph in just 5.2 seconds with the aid of twin turbochargers, Corvette Z1 gearbox and Holden rear limited slip differential. This was a Q car of the first order, very popular with both police forces and security services when helicopters and light planes were in short supply. All Lotus Carlton’s and Lotus Omega’s, for the European Market, were painted a shade of green so dark it looks black in all but the strongest sunlight.

We don’t see too many Romanian built Dacia’s in the UK and when we do they are usually on Romanian plates so it was a surprise to see this Dacia Duster on French diplomatic plates. The Dacia Duster is based on a Nissan platform and running gear with 2 and 4 wheel options available, they are priced to compete with second hand cars. Expect to see a Dacia powered by an 850 hp Nissan GTR motor on Pikes Peak in the not too distant future.

Looks like someone borrowed a 1996 Volvo 850 while Dad was still asleep last Saturday morning.

There used to be an advertisement on British TV that advised us to go to work on an egg, this Cadbury’s cream egg was built on a 1995 Bedford Rascal Microvan.

Marcos which used to be based in Bradford upon Avon in Wiltshire used to be one of several local car manufacturers during the 1960’s and 1970’s prior to moving to Kenilworth in 1981, following insolvency in 1972. So it was no surprise to see a strong showing from the Marcos Owners Club.

The 1972 Beetle Cabriolet and 1964 VW Type 2 show that my own ’99 Golf Mk IV still has an achievable if long way to go before becoming a classic !

Thanks for joining me on this “Classic & Sports Car Action Day” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

43rd Wedding Anniversary – Dana Point Concours d’Elegance

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Such is the inclement weather here at GALPOT Towers that when my landlady asked for a theme for her 50th Birthday Party I had no hesitation when I suggested having a Diving Suit Party, dry wit after all is an Englishman’s stock in trade, so it’s always a pleasure to receive photo’s from Geoffrey Horton’s adventures in the sunny world of the California Concours d’Elegance scene.

Above is Dana Point where Geoffrey and his wife Gayle spent the weekend celebrating their 43rd Anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

During their stay they entered their Jaguar XK140 FHC SE in the Concours d’Elegance in which this 8 litre / 488 cui 1924 Bentley Hawkeye Special was also taking part.

Among the Mercedes Benz vehicles entered was this 25 hp rear engined 1935 130 H Cabrio,

and class winning 1937 540K W24 Roadster with up to 180 supercharged hp capable of reaching 110 mph.

Marginally more modest from 1937 was this 320 Cabriolet B W124 similar to the four door type used as German military staff cars in films including The Great Escape, The Longest Day, The Train and Schindler’s List.

The Mercedes Benz 230S W153 above was developed for taking part in trials and rallies, hence the unusual bumpers which feature front and rear designed for co drivers to stand on should a redistribution of weight be required to aid traction or steering. Only 52 of these cars were ever built.

Leaping into the post ’39-’45 War era I believe this 1953 Kurtis 500M has appeared in a previous GALPOT post, I find it’s chunky styling even more appealing from the rear.

Like wise an Arnolt Bristol has appeared on these pages before, the green example above is from the final 1959 year of production which totaled just 200.

Only three Chevrolet Corvette Italia’s were built in 1959 with coachwork by Scaglietti in Italy. The idea for the car was born out an expensive to replace Ferrari crankshaft required by Gary Laughlin who turned to Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby to help in realise an exotic hand built car with affordable and reliable mechanical components. The example, above, owned by the Peterson Automotive Museum is the only one of the three built with a manual transmission.

Not for the first time this 1934 Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, from the Mullin Automotive Museum, won the best in show award, it won at Pebble Beach last year too ! Among it’s novel features are a radial engine as used more commonly in aircraft, and a pneumatically operated retractable roof.

Finally I hope you will join me in congratulating Geoffrey and Gayle not only on their 43rd wedding anniversary but also on winning their class at the Dana Point Concours d’Elegance with the faithful Jaguar XK140 FHC SE that has been a part of their lives for 26 years.

My thanks to Geoffrey for his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “43rd Wedding Anniversary” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

I Am Not A Number – Lotus Super Seven 1500 Cosworth #SB1688

Three Continent Veteran – Ferrari Dino 166/246 #0004

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Last week I looked at a FIAT Dino Spider that was part of a programme to homologate (legitimise) Ferrari’s V6 Dino engine, which had impressed many when fitted to the 166 P sportscar in 1965, for the second tier European Formula 2 Championship which mandated 1.6 litre / 97.6 cui motors with a maximum of 6 cylinders based on production blocks of which at least 5000 examples had been cast.

Today’s featured car is the second of seven Ferrari Dino 166’s, that were built to compete in the European Formula 2 Championships from 1967 to 1969. It was first raced in 1967 by Chris Amon at the Hockenheimring in a Formula 2 race in which it did not finish. #0004 was then used by Chris in the Tasman series run in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania where engines of up to 2.5 litres / 152 cui were mandated.

(Chris Amon, Ferrari 166/246 #0004, Longford, Tasmania, March 4th, 1968, Copyright Rod Mackenzie 1968)

Ferrari sent two motors ‘down under’ one a 2.4 litre / 146 cui V6 with three valves per cylinder and the second with 4 valves per cylinder. Amon won the first two races of the 1968 Tasman series in New Zealand and scored two further second place and two 4th place finishes to be in with a mathematical shot at the championship going into the final round but Jim Clark was not to be denied and Amon finished second to the Scotsman in the final championship standings. Chris is seen in Rod Mackenzie’s photo above driving to a 7th place finish in the last race of the season at Longford, Tasmania. Without doubt this photo represents the furthest point south in a photograph ever published on ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’.

Back in Europe #0004 was returned to Formula 2 specification with a longer wheel base and an upgraded 225 hp 1.6 litre / 97.6 cui motor with four valves per cylinder in place of the original F2 spec 3 valves per cylinder. On October 13th 1968 Ernesto “Tino” Brambilla scored a memorable victory, from an 8th place start, at the Hockenheimring by putting all four wheels on the grass as he overtook his team mate Derek Bell and Henri Pescarolo driving a Matra on the last lap. Brambilla’s greatest moment was also Ferrari’s first Formula 2 victory since Wolfgang “Taffy” von Trips class win in the 1960 Italian Grand Prix.

Brambilla then drove chassis #0004 to two further consecutive victories at Vallelaguna in Italy and Buenos Aires, Argentina where the #0004 was being used in the South American Temporada F2 series. Andrea de Adimich driving another Dino 166 took three victories in the remaining ’68 Temporada Series races to win the Championship while Tino recorded three DNF’s (Did Not Finish). Tino drove the car four more times in Europe in 1969 recording a best 4th place at Jarama in Spain.

Chris Amon often considered by everybody except himself to be the unluckiest man in Grand Prix racing went back to compete in the Tasman championship with 166/346 chassis #0008 in 1969. Taking five wins from ten races along with four podium finishes Chris sealed the deal with the Dino at the second time of asking. Fellow New Zealander Graeme Lawrence repeated the Tasman Championship winning feat in 1970 using the same #0008 chassis Chris had used the year before.

(Rob Hall, Ferrari 166/246 #0004, Eastern Creek International Raceway November 2010, Copyright Rod Mackenzie 2010)

Everett Anton Singer owned #0004 from the mid 1980’s to the late 1990’s during which time the car won it’s class twice in Concours d’Elegance events at Atlanta (’89) and Watkins Glen (’90). #0004, now owned by Graham Adleman has revisited the Antipodes twice since it’s heyday. With Rob Hall drove #0004 to win the 2008 Tasman Revival meeting at Eastern Creek International Raceway just outside Sydney Australia and just getting pipped by a a 3 litre 183 cui Lotus 49 in 2010 Tasman Revival meeting at the same venue. The Tasman Revival will be taking place again this year further details of the event can be found on this link.

My thanks to Rod Mackenzie for the use of his photographs and to everyone who contributed to the “1968 Ferrari Tipo 166 Dino Formula II” thread at The Nostalgia Forum where more photo’s of #0004 have been posted, particular thanks to Alan Cox for identifying #0004 and ellrosso of the OldRacePhoto.com website which gives viewers a fascinating insight into racing down under over a period spanning several decades.

Thanks for joining me on this “Three Continent Veteran” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Muscovite Service Barge – Moskvitch Scaldia 427

Now It Get’s Confusing – Continental Mark V

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To honour Independnce Day I have brought forward this weeks Americana blog featuring a 1978 Continental Mark V.

The Continental name has served as both a model name and separate brand division of Lincoln and Ford respectively. The first Continental branded car was the Continental Mark II produced from 1955 to 1957.

Note although the 1978 Continental Mark V carries Lincoln Cross emblems there is no other reference to Lincoln on the car and contemporary advertising referred to the car as a Continental Mark V omitting the Lincoln name which was used only in connection with the Versailles model.

Confusingly from 1968 to 1980 the Lincoln Mercury division manufactured both the Lincoln Continental and separate Continental marque Mark III, IV and V models alongside one another.

The Continental Mark V launched in 1977 was 250 lbs lighter than it’s predecessor with a 6.6 litre / 400 cui Cleveland motor as standard. The model seen here is powered by the optional 208 hp 7.5 litre / 460 cui ‘385’ big block motor manufactured in Lima Ohio, said to have recorded the worst ever fuel economy by the Environmental Protection agency, 7 mpg on the highway and 3-4 mpg in the city.

There were five special edition ’78 Continental Mark V’s the Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy, Pucci and Diamond Jubilee editions are all distinguishable by their cast alloy ‘turbine’ wheels and markings in the opera window’s which this model does not have. The Diamond Jubilee edition marked the 75th Anniversary of the Ford Motor Company.

An innovation for the Continental Mark V was the ‘miles to empty’ LED fuel gauge display option which calculated the number of miles to empty based on the fuel level speed and consumption rate.

The upright spare wheel in the tail of the car dates back to the 1939 Lincoln Zephyr V12 Convertible Coupé Edsel Ford has custom built for his vacations in Florida.

Depending on options and limited editions selected the Continental Mark V could cost anywhere between US $11,000 to $23,000. The ’78 Diamond Jubilee Edition was billed as the most expensive standard production American automobile available in the sales literature. For each of the three years of production an average of over 75,000 vehicles was manufactured making the Mark V the best selling cars of the Continental marque.

This particular vehicle was advertised for sale a couple of weeks ago when I took the photo’s at the recent Double Twelve meeting at Brooklands, if you are interested in purchasing it I’ll gladly pass on the telephone number that was on display, all disclaimers apply.

Thanks for joining me on this “Now It Get’s Confusing” edition of “Getting a li’l psycho on tyres” wishing all my readers across the pond a happy Independence Day. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring