Monthly Archives: August 2012

Drogo Nose Needs Fuel – Ferrari 250 LM #6217.

Completed on January 14th 1965 today’s featured Ferrari 250 LM #6217 was delivered to Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi, a well known racer and hillclimb competitor, in time to take part in the 1965 season.

Unlike chassis #5843 which I looked at a few weeks ago that has an extensive racing history, Edoardo appears to have used the car for primarily for hillclimbing a use to which it was eminently suited as evidenced by at least 8 overall wins he recorded in 1965 and at least a further four recorded in 1966 before Edoardo returned the car to the Ferrari factory.

This particular 250 LM carries a distinctive ‘Drogo’ long nose that replaced the standard Scaglietti item at the end of 1965.

Towards the end of 1966 #6217 was shipped to North America and ended up being converted for street use in New York of the same year.

In 1969 this Ferrari was traded for a Lamborghini Muira which with the benefit of 50 years of hind sight may not have been the smartest of financial moves.

Since then #6217 has resided in Gstaad Switzerland, Bologna Italy, Nelson New Zealand and Düsseldorf Germany before it was acquired by it’s present owner in the USA.

Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi appears to have started racing by 1950 when he shared the #024 FIAT 500 with a driver named Ranzini with whom he came home 160th in the 1950 Mille Miglia completing the 1000 miles 20 hours, 10 mins and 51.8 seconds some 6 hours behind the winning #724 Ferrari 195 S driven by Giannino Marzotto and Marco Crosara.

Edoardo progressed through a variety of cars including a Dragada, Lancia, OSCA and numerous Ferrari’s to become a regular winner on the European Hillclimb Circuit.

He stopped competing somewhere around 1971 when he was the owner of the one off 2 litre / 122 cui flat twelve Ferrari 212E sportscar, though he is also recorded as having destroyed an Osella on a hillclimb in 1972.

When Ferrari 250 LM’s were first built in 1963 they came with a 3 litre / 183 cui V12 motor fitted.

Later examples like the one featured today were fitted with 3286cc / 200.5 cui motors good for 320 hp. The later cars with the bigger motors should have been renamed 275 LM’s according to Ferrari nomenclature in use at the time, but they were not.

As a result of the complete lack of factory support for it’s GT teams in 1965, stemming from the FIA governing bodies refusal to recognise the 250 LM as a GT car Shelby Cobra succeeded in winning the 1965 World Sports Car Championship, run for GT cars.

Just 32 250 LM’s, of the 100 required to be recognised as a GT car, were built between 1963 and 1965.

My thanks to John Aibel who kindly sent me the photo’s of today’s featured car.

Thanks for joining me on the “Drogo Nose Needs Fuel” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Shopping Around #1 – Cadillac Series 62 4 Window Hard Top Sedan

1 Reply

Shopping Around for ideas to mark the 35th Anniversary of Elvis Presley’s passing I thought it would be interesting to look at one of the few Cadillac models that evaded the King on his notorious Cadillac buying sprees.

Bill Mitchel was responsible for the design of the 1959 13 model Cadillac range, 11 of which shared the same chassis with a 130″ wheelbase, the Fleetwood 75 Limousine and Sedan shared a chassis with a 149.5″ wheelbase.

A 6.4 liter / 390 cui V8 was used to power all of the ’59 Cadillacs, which weighed between 4690 and 5570 lbs, all tuned to produce 325 hp with the exception of the Eldorado which had 345 hp.

Differentiating the ’59 models from the exterior can be quite easy, if all of the exterior trim is attached.

We can tell this is a base 6239 model by the small badge below the arrow behind the front wheel on the front wing / fender.

Popular options for the ’59 Cadillacs included radio with rear speaker for $165, or radio with rear speaker AND remote control $247, a six way power seat came in at $89.

The 4 window sedans with their distinctive wrap around rear screens are also known as ‘flat tops’.

It may seem strange that Elvis, a well documented Cadillac enthusiast, never bought or owned a ’59 model, which is so clearly identified with the rock’n’roll era. Until one realises that he was doing his duty for his country at the time, serving with the 3rd Armoured Division in Friedburg Germany where he enjoyed the delights of his VW Beetle and BMW 507 convertible while keeping a lowish, by his standards, profile.

Thanks for joining me on this “Shopping Around #1” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Put The Family On The Road – Trojan 200

4 Replies

Trojan was founded by Leslie Hayward Hounsfield who in 1913 built a prototype vehicle with a 2 stroke 4 cylinder motor. Production never got under way due to the commencement of hostilities in the 1914 – 1918 war.

After World War 1 Trojan reached an agreement with Leyland Motors to produce cars and vans at a surplus facility where Leyland had been contracted to maintain military vehicles. With over 17,OOO private and commercial vehicles built this agreement came to and end in 1928.

Car production declined at Trojans own factory despite the introduction of new models but sales of vans continued until the 1950’s. Peter Agg acquired Trojan in 1959 and amongst the changes he initiated was the production of the Heinkel Kabine under license which commenced in 1960.

The Heinkel Kabine was designed by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke and built by them from 1956 to 1958 when they licensed Dundalk Engineering Company in Ireland to manufacture the car. Quality issues saw the license quickly withdrawn and transferred to Trojan who sold the vehicles with the strap line “Put The Family On The Road”.

Today’s featured car was built in 1963 entry is effected through a front hinged door, similar to the Italian designed Isetta, but with out the benefit of the steering being attached to the door.

The car is powered by an air cooled single cylinder 4 stroke motor attached to a four speed gearbox which, unusually for a bubble car, included a reverse gear.

Around 6000 Trojan 200’s were built by Trojan up until 1965. Trojan diversified into building Elva sports cars from 1962 until 1965 before building 200 McLaren racing cars until the early 1970’s. The company went on to build it’s own Formula 5000 cars and a one off Grand Prix car, the Trojan 103 in 1974.

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

Cream Crackers – MG PA

4 Replies

Today’s fetured MG PA was bought in 1934 by J Maurice Toulmin a well known competitor in an earlier MG J2 model.

Six weeks after purchasing the car he won a gold medal in the Lands End Trial, further awards included a class win at Craigantlet Hill Climb and a race win at Brooklands. TJ 5000 was then returned to the MG factory to be striped of “unnecessary” items in preparation for the Exeter Trial where Toulmin again won a gold award for completing the course.

Toulmin returned the car to MG for further modifications for a second time and persuaded MG to lend his car and two others some support for the 1935 season. The cars were painted in the MG works cream and brown colours, for the team was known as Cream Crackers. With a supercharger fitted Cream Crackers I seen here won it’s class again at the Craigantlet Hill Climb and the team finished second in the 1935 Trials Championship. Toulmin sold the car after winning his class again at Craigantlet.

Bob Williams is credited with saving the car from abandonment in Wales and after restoring it competed in sprints and hillclimbs during the 1980’s up until his death in the early 1990’s. Toulmin’s younger son Jonathon, who had by now also shared driving the car at Craigantlet in 1984 for it’s 50th anniversary run, bought the car from Bob Williams widow on the 60th anniversary of it’s purchase from the factory.

Jonathon entered the car for the 60th Anniversary of its first appearance in the Lands End Trail with five other former Cream Crackers Team cars also taking part making two teams of three. All six cars finished the 400 mile Lands End Trial, winning awards, with this car driven by Jonathon winning another gold for a penalty free result.

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

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This #3 – The Connew Story

6 Replies

Two years ago Barry Boor kindly granted me permission to start working on a no budget film about the Connew Grand Prix car which was designed by his cousin Peter Connew and ran 40 years ago today in the Austrian Grand Prix with Francois Migault at the wheel.

With many thanks to everyone who has participated in the making of the film I’m pleased to announce that you can now find out how the Connew, designed in a bedroom, built with beer money and run on a wad of French Francs fared on this link.

I hope you will join me in congratulating everyone who was involved in the Connew Team on their most unlikely achievement and wishing Peter well on his mission to rebuild the car. I am sure this will not be my last blog on this triumph of Peters maxim “there is nothing that cannot be done without common sense, application and half an ounce of common sense”.

Thanks for joining me on this “Sweet dreams are made of this #3” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

This Is Not A Volkswagen – Quantum Coupé

Flower Power – Lotus 51A

1 Reply

Conceived by Geoff Clarke, manager of the racing school at brands Hatch, Formula Ford was introduced in 1967 for novice drivers as a means of getting a start in racing at an affordable cost.

The original Formula Ford cars were based on those used at the racing school but fitted with a stock 1500cc / 91.5 cui pre crossflow Ford Cortina GT motor in place of the much more expensive to maintain Formula 3 race tuned motors.

Brands Hatch played host to the very first Formula Ford race on July 12th, 1967. The race was one by Ray Allen driving a Lotus 51 similar to the one featured in todays blog.

The first batch of Lotus 51 frames, including Ray Allen’s car, were actually welded up as Lotus 31‘s for use in Formula 3 but were retrospectively given the Lotus 51 tag when built to Formula Ford spec.

Differences between the Lotus 51 and later 51A, seen here at Prescott, were minimal. For example brackets for an oil reservoir were not required on many 51A’s, if they ran with wet sump motor’s.

Of the estimated 251 Lotus 51’s built, one, known as the 51R and unofficially as the Flower Power Lotus, was built as a road legal car complete with lights and mud guards.

Today’s featured Lotus 51A is driven by hill climber Briony Serrell.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Flower Power’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” 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