Monthly Archives: September 2012

Coffee, Croissant & Cars #4 – Avenue Drivers Club

Last Sundays Avenue Drivers Club meeting filled Queen Square with another staggering selection of motor vehicles.

This 1968 Vauxhall Viva SL 90 has some go faster stripes, but not just any go faster stripes, these are replica’s of those that were originally supplied as part of the over the counter Brabham tuning kits that were available from 1968 to 1971 when the HB Viva was in production.

Like so many popular cars you do not notice them until they are almost all gone. This 1983 Lada is one of a fast disappearing breed, first time I have seen one slammed, modified with extreme lowered suspension.

This is certainly the first Toyota GT 86 I have ever seen on the road, it comes with rear wheel drive and even more unusually a 4 cylinder boxer engine !

Continuing the sports theme was this 2007 Caterham 7 with a 50th Anniversary Paint option.

Among the vintage vehicles present this 1931 Alvis Silver Eagle sold with the strap line “The Freedom of the air comes to the road with the Silver Eagle”

Staying with an ornithological theme further round the block I found this 1936 Riley Nine Falcon Special.

Only 25 Crossley 2 Litre Sports Saloons were built this one, chassis and engine #16/103 was the third built in 1934, and is thought to be the only one that is still road worthy.

Cadillacs are rarities in Britain what ever the age this is a Pininfarina designed 1988 Allanté Roadster, the only option available for it when new was a ‘cellular phone’.

Harking back to the zenith of the Muscle Car Era was this 1968 Dodge Charger, about the only option missing was Miss Daisey Duke !

A little humour from the owner of this Harley Davidson Road King.

A couple of months ago I met Rich and Matt and related their tale of an adventure going to fetch a left hand drive Volvo 121 from Sweden, this is one of Matt’s cars a tidy 1971 MGB GT.

Finally as it was time to head home this 1977, Chrysler powered, Bristol 412 came purring past.

Thanks for joining me on this “Coffee, Croissant & Cars #4” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow with the first of my Goodwood Revival 2012 posts. Don’t forget to come back now !

Loud Engine Test Bed – Lotus 62

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Today’s post comes courtesy of Jon Bawden and his Dad RJ Bawden who took this photograph of the Lotus 62 at the Bank Holiday Monday Guards International run at Brands Hatch in September 1969 when Jon was only 3 !

For 1969 Lotus produced two prototype racing cars, designed by Martin Waide, that were to replace the Lotus 47 and act as test beds for the 4 cylinder Vauxhall LV220 motors Lotus would develop into the Type 904 motors that would be used in the Lotus Elite, Eclat and Esprit road cars that Lotus introduced between 1974 and 1976.

While the outside shape of the 62 bears a passing resemblance to the Lotus 47 racing cars underneath the fiber glass body a space frame chassis replaced the back bone chassis of the Type 47.

The 220 hp 1992 cc / 121.5 cui Vauxhall LV 220 based motor was modified by Lotus and featured an alloy cylinder block and cylinder head, twin overhead camshafts and Tecalemit – Jackson fuel injection. By all accounts the Lotus 62 was amongst the noisiest motors in prototype racing despite it’s modest size.

John Miles and Brian Muir were the drivers of the car at the BOAC 500, during practice the handling problems became apparent but the car qualified 16th and came in 13th overall, 1st in class. The car was run with a an additional aerodynamic aid above the nose as a temporary remedy to the handling issues as can be seen in this linked photograph.

During the remainder of the season John Miles managed another class win with a fourth place finish in the Trophy of the Dunes held at Zandvoort in The Netherlands and an overall win in the Guards International for cars up to 2 litres / 122 cui.

American Roy Pyke deputising for an other wise indisposed Brian Muir drove the #105, as seen above, to third place behind his team mate in the Guards Trophy. Peter Darley at The Nostalgia Forum has identified those standing behind the Lotus 62 as, left to right, Nigel Bennett (Firestone), Gordon Huckle (Lotus), Mike Brett (Firestone), Bruce Hare (Firestone).

Roy deputising for John Miles won a minor Motoring News GT Championship race at Thruxton in October 1969.

The second of the Lotus 62’s ended up in Portugal where Enesto Neves drove it to at least three victories between 1971 and 1973, while the first one ended up with jazz trombonist Chris Barber’s team who had David Brodie drive it.

My thanks again to RJ and Jon Bawden for their kind permission to use their photograph.

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

Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano – Ferrari 166MM #0022M

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A couple of weeks ago I looked at the Ferrari 166MM #0040M, thanks to Geoffrey Horton today’s featured car is the Ferrari 166MM #0022M which was seen at the recent Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance.

Using only the internet as a source the history of this car is a little more difficult to pin down, it is certain that this is the twelfth of the 25 166MMs built with a body by Touring.

One source gives the delivery date as 27th July 1949 to Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano which is thought to have belonged to Giannino Marzotto.

The same source indicates that Giannino won the Coppa Gallenga hillclimb in this car on 16th October 1949. While another source indicates that Franco Cornacchia drove #0022M in at least two events prior to this in August 1949 which included winning a race at Circuito de Senigallia on 21st August 1949.

Both sources agree that the long distance expert and multi time Mille Miglia and Targa Florio winner Clemente Biondetti drove this chassis to a sixth place finish in a sports car race in Monaco on June 1st 1952.

Since 1973 #0022M appears to have had just three owners, all in the United States.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I’ll be visiting the 1969 Bank Holiday Monday Guards International at Brands Hatch. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Worlds Most Advanced Car – Marmon Sixteen

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The transformation of flour mill machinery manufacturers Nordyke and Marmon, est 1851, into the manufacturers of the Worlds most advanced car started with 23 year old University of California at Berkeley graduate Howard Marmon returned to Indianapolis and built his first car, powered by an aircooled V twin featuring a pressurised lubrication system and overhead valves in 1902.

Howard’s second design was powered by an aircooled V4 and a couple of years later Marmon sold it’s first six cars, allegedly mostly to friends. Nine years after designing his first car Howard’s Marmon Wasp won the very first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 with Ray Harroun averaging 75 mph for the 6 hours, 42 minutes it took to complete the distance. The Wasp is said to be the first car ever to feature a rear view mirror.

After full fulfilling a contract to build 5,000 Liberty motors for use in the 1914/18 war Marmon had the financial stability to continue innovating especially with the use of aluminium in automobile manufacture and with motor configurations until in 1927 Marmon began the design of the highly advanced V16.

The 8.1 litre / 491 cui V16 motor is a work of art featuring a ‘Y’ shaped block with a 45 degree V for the two banks of eight cylinders made from a single aluminium casting that includes the crank case. The excellent design of the engine was recognised by the Society of Automotive Engineers who’s annual design award was given to Howard Marmon.

With overhead valves operated by pushrods from a single cam shaft the motor produced 200 hp and weighed much less than the smaller V16 that Cadillac had pushed through to production in less time than Marmon with the help of an ex Marmon employee.

Most of the 390 Marmon Sixteens had bodywork by LeBaron with the design credited officially to Walter Dorwin Teague, Sr though much of the work was done by his son W.D. Teague, Jr an MIT student.

With a superior power to weight ratio, thanks to the extensive use of aluminium, to almost everything else on the road, all Marmon Sixteens were certified has having achieved 100 mph on the fabled Indianapolis Circuit. Unfortunately the The Worlds Most Advanced Car, as the Sixteen was marketed, came at absolutely the worst time when the market for $5,000 automobiles was at an all time low and so Marmon left the car manufacturing business when it went in to receivership in 1933.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for kindly sharing today’s photographs taken at the recent Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Worlds Most Advanced Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”.
I hope you will join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Record In Perpetuity – Napier Railton

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Last week I looked at the Birkin Bentley with which Tim Birkin set the outright Brooklands circuit record from John Cobb driving a V12 Delage at 137.58 mph in 1932.

In order to regain the Brooklands outer circuit record John Cobb commissioned Thomson & Taylor to build a racing car to replace his 1923 Delage. Ried A Railton was given the task of developing what has become known as the Napier Railton around a 24 litre / 14,627 cui 12 cylinder Napier Lion motor that started life as a design for aviation applications in 1917.

The extremely rough nature of the 2.75 mile Brooklands outer circuit meant that no single detail of the new challenger could be anything less than rock solid to withstand the pounding punishment of the concrete track which would regularly pitch cars into the air at speeds in excess of 120 mph.

Weighing in at two tons the Napier Railton had a theoretical top speed of over 160 mph, despite this it was only fitted with 16 inch rear drum brakes to save weight.

Equipped with beam axles, front and rear, the front one was suspended by a pair of semi-elliptic leaf springs and four friction dampers.

Where ever the eye falls on the Napier Railton there is an overwhelming sense of strength, above the front leaf spring, on the right is the beam axle ahead of the steering arm on the left.

During it’s first tests the Dunlop tyres proved wholly inadequate, but this problem was overcome by the time Cobb made his first appearance in the car at Brooklands in 1933.

Despite it’s large capacity the Napier Lion motor with it’s three banks of four cylinders each with twim overhead cam shafts was relatively compact, compared to a similar capacity V12 with two row’s of six cylinders for example.

However in order to keep the machine stable over the bumps at speed the Napier Railton has a 130 inch wheel base with a 60 inch track front and rear.

The mounting points for the twin rear leaf spring sets is alongside the cockpit.

The huge revolution counter did not have to work particularly hard the Napier Lion produced over 500 hp at just 2,200 revolutions per minuet. The gear box had three forward gears and no reverse.

The bare aluminium bodywork is credited as being by Gurney Nutting.

After it’s success on the track pre 1939 and after an appearance in the film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman alongside James Mason and Ava Gardner released in 1951, the rear drum brakes were replaced with these aircraft style disc brakes so that the car could be used to test aircraft braking parachutes by the GQ Parachute Company at Dunsfold Aerodrome in the early 1950’s.

After John Cobb set the outright Brooklands circuit record at 143.44 mph, thanks to the subsequent break up of the circuit a record that will stand in perpetuity, Cobb took the Napier Railton to Bonneville Salt Flats where he set a world 24 hour record at 150.6 mph.

John Cobb and Reid A Railton would work together again on the Railton Special featuring two Napier Lion engines, one driving each axle. The Railton Special became the first car to exceed 350 mph in 1939 and renamed the Railton Mobil Special it became the first car timed over 400 mph in 1947 when Cobb left the Land Speed Record at a two way average of 394.19 mph. Cobb was killed making an attempt on the water speed record in his jet powered boat Crusader in 1953.

In 1997 the Brooklands Museum acquired the car after it had been repatriated from a collection in Leipzig.

When not in view at the Brooklands Museum or on what remains of the Brooklands track the Napier Railton can be seen doing what it does best at events like Wings and Wheels at Dunsfold Aerodrome.

International Favorite – MG Magnette ZB

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There are six MG’s models in three model groups which have had been marketed with Magnette name :- the K and N types built from 1932 to 1936, the Wolseley based ZA and ZB types built from 1953 to 1958 and the BMC Farina bodied Mark III and Mark IV built from 1959 to 1968.

Today’s 1957 Magnette ZB, seen earlier this year at the 33rd Bristol Classic Car Show, is the fourth iteration based on the Wolseley 15/50 built from 1956 to 1958.

The Magnette ZA was launched in 1953 with a cut down body similar to the Wolseley 14/40 launched earlier the same year. The only interchangeable panels between the two models, and those of the later ZB, launched in 1956 and Wolseley 15/50 are the front doors, roof and boot lid.

Gerald Palmer was responsible for the detail differences between the ZA and Wolseley 14/40. The ZA would became the first unitary monocoque constructed MG without a separate chassis.

The ZB, seen here, features a 64 hp motor, up from 60 hp on the ZA, with a bigger carburetor and higher compression ratio than the original British Motor Corporation (BMC) B- Series motor used for the ZA, was capable of 86 mph with a rest to 60 mph time of 18.5 seconds.

With advertising advertising benefits like “Spots-car Performance, Family-car Comfort, Small-car Economy” and a strap line that ran “Style and luxury combined with the nimble roadability that has made the MG and international favorite” the low slung ZB outsold the Wolseley 15/50 BMC stable mate by 3 to 2 with 18,524 being built from 1956 to 1958.

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

5th Rare Breeds Show – Haynes International Motor Museum

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Last Sunday I managed to pop out for a couple of hours to catch the 5th Rare Breeds Show at the Haynes International Motor Museum.

Back in 1928 $2,450 could get you this Studebaker President 8 Limousine powered by a 100 hp 5121 cc / 313 cui straight 8 motor. This car which competed on price with Chrysler and Buick but in interior finish with Packard and Duesenburg, was built in Walkerville Canada and is believed to be the only one of 2450 built still on the road. It is operated as a wedding car by vintage-wheels.co.uk.

Rolls Royce New Phantoms, built from 1925 to 1929 replaced the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost series, with a new overhead valve six cylinder motor replacing the side valve motors of the earlier models. These cars were built in Derby England and Springfield Massachusetts. This 1929 model would be one of the last New Phantoms built, they were replaced in 1929 by the Phantom II at which point New Phantoms became retrospectively known as Phantom I’s. I hope you are paying attention in the back there, this car was one of several at the rare breeds show operated by rrelite.co.uk.

Weighing a ton but armed with a 87 hp motor a Lea Francis 14(taxable)hp Sports could reach 87 mph with steering and, rod operated, brakes to match. Unfortunately it’s price meant just 111 of these car were built between 1947 and 1949. This 1948 example is one of over 40 known survivor’s.

With a name that translates from German to Russian into Sputnik the East German Trabant P50 was launched in 1958 with two cylinder 18 hp 500 cc / 30.5 cui aircooled two stroke motor derived from a pre war DKW. The body made extensive use of Duroplast made from recycled cotton waste from the Soviet Union and local phenol resigns from the dye industry. This 1962 P60 is fitted with the more power powerful 23 hp 600cc / 36.6 cui motor that would remain in production, from 1964 in the ‘updated’ 601 series bodies, until the collapse of the Berlin wall 1989.

Despite having only 27,000 miles on the clock this 1966 Volkswagen Type 2 has many stories to tell, it started out like as a fire truck at Zurich Airport, it has rare for the period sliding doors on both sides to facilitate access to the fire pump that used to be inside. It then served as a fire truck in a Swiss Village, with 15,000 miles on the clock it came to the UK in 2003 and was bought and returned to it’s original factory supplied colours by Ross Gammie who discovered that it’s 53 hp was not really enough to pull his Porsche 908 race car. Since it’s redesignation as a race support vehicle the van with it’s period correct Porsche 356 wheels has since changed hands again.

Amazingly the FT Bonito Special above also started life as a Volkswagen, a 1967 Beetle, before a conversion was started in 1986 to turn the bug into an FT Bonito, a kit car from a company called Fibrefab. The current owner found it unfinished in a garden in 1999 and has since brought it too life with a VW Golf motor. This is thought to be the only competition version of an FT Bonito ever to have been built.

David Roots Lenham ALFA Romeo special was looking resplendent, even on a dull day, as usual.

The New York ‘cab’ above is a 1978 Checker Marathon with a 160 hp 5735 cc / 350 cui V8 motor. The car is also operated for weddings and filming by rrelite.co.uk . Among it’s credits is an appearance in the 2008 Boyzone number Love You Anyway.

I looked in detail at a Chevrolet Corvette C3 some weeks ago the 1978 model seen here has the $399 B2Z 25th Anniversary option two tone paintwork along with the 25th Anniversary mandatory $380 option aluminium wheels and sport door mirrors.

The Tickford Capri is a Ford sanctioned hand built Ford Capri with a 205 hp turbocharged motor that cost double the price of a standard 170 hp Ford Capri 2.8i. This 1984 example #002 was the first type approved version, ordered by someone desperately keen to have one built as close to the prototype show car before Tickfords had even moved into the planned production facility for the series.

The 1984 Pontiac Trans Am based Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T) was developed for the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG) by Wilton Knight and was essentially an artificially intelligent electronic computer module installed in an advanced, mobile, robotic automobile.

The original 1982 K.I.T.T was a hard top, but no doubt in danger of getting a hot head due to his crime fighting success, it was deemed that Micheal Knight be given a Targa Top for the 1985 crime wave. This particular K.I.T.T thought to be one of thirty built is operated by rrelite.co.uk.

This 1991 Midas Cortez is the spiritual ancestor of the Mini Marcos with Rover Metro running gear.

Thanks for joining me on this “5th Rare Breeds Show” 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

Monthly Archives: September 2012

Coffee, Croissant & Cars #4 – Avenue Drivers Club

Loud Engine Test Bed – Lotus 62

Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano – Ferrari 166MM #0022M

The Worlds Most Advanced Car – Marmon Sixteen

Record In Perpetuity – Napier Railton

International Favorite – MG Magnette ZB

5th Rare Breeds Show – Haynes International Motor Museum