Monthly Archives: April 2013

Nice Door Handles – Morris Marina ADO 28

With the merger of Jaguar with British Motor Corporation in 1966 the new merger was renamed British Motor Holdings and after a further merger with Leyland commercial vehicles the corporation became known as British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968. British Leyland as it was known decided that the Austin and Morris brands should be differentiated in the early 1970’s with Austin vehicles being based around the front wheel drive (FWD) concept pioneered by Ales Issignosis with models like the Mini, 1100 and 1800 series vehicles while Morris vehicles would be more traditional with front engines driving rear axles (RWD) as they had on the Morris Minor and Morris Oxford models.

Morris Marina, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

The design of the Marina coded ADO 28 was started by Roy Haynes who’s CV included the design of the popular Mk II Ford Cortina, however a disagreement over a common floor pan to share between models as espoused by Roy led to him quitting and Triumph Designer Harry Webster finishing the job by which time the intended Macpherson strut front suspension had been abandoned in favour of Morris Minor style tortion bars and a new gearbox design was abandoned in favour of an existing item from the Triumph parts bin.

Morris Marina, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

All in all the development costs of the conservative RWD concept Marina ended up exceeding those of the more radical FWD Allegro which was developed to be Austin’s competitor in the small family car market. Production facilities at Cowley had to be upgraded which included some comedy as an overpass was built so that the motors could be sent from a plant on the opposite side of a municipal road to the assembly plant, no sooner had the overpass been completed than the municipality offered to sell the road which British Leyland did not think twice to accept.

Morris Marina, Qwara, Malta

On a positive note the AMC Ambassador inspired vertical hinged door handles were a huge hit with Lotus founder Colin Chapman who specified them for use on the Lotus Elite, Eclat and Esprit models, Marina door handles were also adopted by Scimitar for the GTE shooting break while British Leyland used the same handles on the Triumph TR7/TR8, Austin Allegro and they eventually even found their way, finished in matt black, onto the Land Rover Discovery Series I.

Morris Marina, Cotswolds Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

Marina cars were powered by a variety of motors most common of which for the UK market was a 57 hp 4 cylinder A series which did not do much for performance but kept the handling within safer limits than the heavier more powerful motors which promoted lane changing understeer / push which induced the odd brown trousers moment for some Marina pilots.

Morris Marina, Cotswolds Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

The Marinas seen here are in order top to bottom a ’72 Coupé at the Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet, ’74 Twin Carburettor saloon sedan at the Atwell Wilson Museum, a Maltese 1500 saloon / sedan with after market alloy wheels and waist trim in Qwara, a ’79 Estate and ’72 Coupé both at the Cotswolds Classic Car Club meeting held at Frogsmill, Andoversford and below a saloon / sedan with an unusually straight rear bumper seen at last years Classics at the Castle, Sherborne.

Morris Marina, Classics at the Castle, Sherborne

Although much derided for almost every detail apart from the door handles the undemanding early 70’s British public lapped up Marina’s painted in tepid colours like Russet Brown, Harvest Gold, and Limeflower Green for the car to peak at second in the sales charts behind the Ford Cortina in 1973 and remain in the top 3 or 4 until 1980. Eventually over 897,000 Marina’s were sold in the UK of which 745 are thought to remain on British roads.

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

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3/4 Task Force – Chevrolet Apache 32

Today’s featured pickup is a 1959 Chevrolet Apache 32 Pick up.

Chevrolet Apache 32, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

In most respects the Apache 32 Cab and motor options were similar to the Apache 31 Fleetside I looked at last week.

Chevrolet Apache 32, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

The ’58 and ’59 Apaches all shared twined front head lamps.

Chevrolet Apache 32, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

This particular vehicle is registered with a non standard 3.5 litre 213 cui motor size, given that it is in the UK this may well be one of Britain’s popular all aluminium Rover V8’s that originated from Buick.

Chevrolet Apache 32, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

The big difference between the Apache 31 and 32 is the wheel base 114 inches on the ’31’ and 123 inches on the ’32’ which also had heavier duty axles and springs to allow for a 3/4 ton load in the six and half foot long cargo box.

Chevrolet Apache 32, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

353,509 Apache’s of all sizes were built in 1959 before they were replaced by the C/K series in 1960.

Thanks for joining me on this “3/4 Task Force” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Testing The Beat – McLaren F1 GTR #10R

For several years before his untimely death Bruce McLaren toyed with the idea of building a road car once his racing operations had become firmly established. In 1970 he had a Can Am McLaren M6 fitted with a GT body that both he and Gordon Coppock had worked on to perfect. After Bruces death the directors of McLaren decided to shelve the road car project although to further copies of the M6GT were built by Trojan who were responsible for building McLaren’s customer racing cars.

Twenty years later McLaren designer Gordon Murray convinced Ron Dennis to back his concept for the ultimate road car which Peter Stevens was engaged to complete the exterior styling. The McLaren F1 road car was launched in 1992 and in 1998 it set road car speed records of 231 mph with the rev limiter switched on and 243 with the limiter switched off.

At around the same time as the launch of the F1 a movement for racing GT cars was gathering pace and for the 1995 Season McLaren built 9 F1 GTR variants the first of which #01R, modified road car chassis #019 was loaned to Lanzante Motorsport who entered Yannick Dalmas, Masanori Sekiya and JJ Lehto into the 1995 Le Mans 24 hours under the Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing banner and improbably won as a result of superior reliability over the much faster Courage Porsche C34 prototype driven by “Brilliant” Bob Wolleck, Eric Hélary and Mario Andretti. The race winners covered just 298 laps the last time a Le Mans 24 hours had been won with less than 300 laps completed was 1952 to when Hermann Lang and Fritz Reiss drove their Mercedes Benz 300SL to victory with 277 laps completed.

McLaren F1 GTR, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

For the 1996 season Mclaren built a further batch of nine cars with extended front and rear bodywork which was easier to remove than on the original ’95 F1 GTR, magnesium gearbox housing with stronger internals which resulted in a lighter car. Two of the ’95 Spec F1 GTR’s were similarly upgraded.

Today’s featured vehicle is the first of the ’96 F1 GTR’s chassis #10R which was used as a test development vehicle to replace the Le Mans winning #01R which had immediately been retired from competition for publicity purposes.

David Brabham used the car for a test session at Le Mans in 1996 where he recorded the 20th fastest time, but the car has never been raced.

When pop drummer Nick Mason bought #10R he had McLaren convert the car for road use as were several F1 GTR’s once their competition careers were over.

Mark Hales tested the 600hp BMW V12 powered #10R for Evo magazine and recorded a 0-60mph time of 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 240.1 mph.

In 1997 a further development of the F1 GTR featuring an even longer body, 10 examples of which were built. An over view of the racing results of the F1 GTR from 1995 to 2007 can be seen on this link.

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

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Romano’s Granddaughter – Lotus Elise Series I

In 1993 Lotus was purchased from GM by Romano Artioli chairman of the revived Bugatti manufacturer, and the following year the Type 111 was conceived by Julian Thompson with Richard Rackman and given the Elise name after Romano’s Granddaughter Elisa.

Lotus Elise Series 1, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

The Series 1 Elise was launched in 1996 powered by a mid mounted 4 cylinder Rover K Series motor that produced just 118 hp, however thanks to the fiberglass body and bonded aluminium chassis the Elise only weighed 725 kg / 1,600 lbs so the car could accelerate from rest to 60 mph in just 5.8 seconds with a top speed of 124 mph.

Lotus Elise Series 1, Bristol Pegasus Motor Club, BAWA

Getting in and out of a Lotus Elise are probably the most difficult features of the car, the ergonomics are secondary to track day performance, but apart from that the Elise is said to be great fun to drive and economical to run thanks to the light weight and virtually non existent load capacity beside the passengers.

Lotus Elise Series 1, Bristol

In 1996 Romano had sold Lotus on to current owners Proton in order to fund the losses that had accumulated due to the insolvency of Bugatti.

Thanks to changes in crash sustainability regulations the Series 1 Elise was replaced in 2000 after more than 8600 had been built by the more sustainable and consequently slightly heavier Elise Series 2.

The top and bottom cars featured today are standard ’98 and ’97 1.8i models while the middle one is a later ’99 111S which came with variable valve timing 143 hp and a 130 mph top speed.

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

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Biting The Hand – Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 59/60 #0774

After attracting the attention of US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti in 1957 Dan Gurney found himself at the wheel of a North American Racing Team Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, owned by Chinetti at Le Mans in 1958 and drove the car up to 5th place before handing over to his team mate Bruce Kessler who got caught up in someone elses accident before the car retired. That drive impressed Ferrari sufficiently to earn Dan a drive with the works Ferrari team.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

For their 1959 Le Mans effort Ferrari built today’s featured Ferrari 250 TR chassis #0774 for Gurney to share with Jean Behra the car managed twice as many laps as Dan’s first attempt but still fell way short of a result.

Next time out Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien drove the car at Goodwood in the TT Race where they also failed to score a result both the 1959 Le Mans and Goodwood TT had been won by Aston Martin in what turned out to be a championship winning season for them.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

1960 would see a return of fortune for the Ferrari sports car team and chassis #0744 played an important role winning two championship races first Phil Hill and Cliff Alison won the 1000 kms at Buenos Aires and then Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frére won the Le Mans 24 hours scoring Ferrari’s third win in the Endurance Classic and helping Ferrari to their sixth World Sports Car title.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

Between these successes #0774 was loaned to Chinetti’s NART team for Ritchie Ginther and Chuck Daigh to drive in the Sebring 12 hours but they failed to finish and after Le Mans the car was sold to Eleanor von Neumann who entered it for Phil Hill to drive in the 1960 LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside where he finished 7th overall.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

In 1963 Tom O’Connor bought the car for his Rose Bud racing team which promptly stripped the motor out and fitted it to their Lotus 19 chassis 952 that featured here on GALPOT a couple of years ago.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

Under the ownership of Paul Pappalardo #0774 was reunited with it’s original motor in the 1980’s and the car won two class Concours d’Elegance awards at Palm Beach and Pebble Beach in 1993.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

In a twist of biting the hand that feeds irony Dan Gurney eventually won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967 with co driver AJ Foyt driving for Ferrari’s sworn enemy Ford in a Mk IV.

After 26 years in Paul’s custody ownership of #0774 passed to Hong Kong sourcing and logistics magnate William E ‘Chip’ Connor who kindly took it to the 2012 Gooodwood Revival for the Tribute to Dan Gurney Parade.

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

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One Tough Act To Follow – Lincoln Town Car

The very first Lincoln Town Car was a one off custom 1922 limousine built for Henry Ford, the Town Car name next appeared, following the introduction of GM’s 1956 Cadillac Sedan de Ville (= French for Town Car), on the special 1959 Lincoln Continental (forgotten) Mark IV.

Lincoln Town Car, Classics at the Castle, Sherborne

Subsequently Town Car was used as the name for a variety of interior trim option packages between 1969 and 1980. In 1981 Town Car became a model name used in the first down sized Lincoln on a full size platform.

Lincoln Town Car, Classics at the Castle, Sherborne

Power for the Town Car comes from the ubiquitous 5 litre / 302 cui Ford Windsor V8 which drives the rear wheels with the aid of a 4 speed AOD automatic transmission.

Lincoln Town Car, Classics at the Castle, Sherborne

Tough guy actor Jack Palance was employed in for the 1984 Lincoln Town Car commercial which restated Lincolns commitment to quality and luxury and finished with the strap line “From where I sit that’s one tough act to follow.

Regular readers may remember I featured a Widebody Town Car a couple of years ago in a nice car for a wedding feature, turns out that car started out as a pre 1984 Town Car distinguished by the Town Car logo above the drivers side head lights.

The 1984 Town Car featured to day, sans drivers side head light logo, is seen at last years Classics at the Castle event at Sherborne Castle.

Thanks for joining me on this “One Tough Act To Follow” edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow don’t forget to come back now !

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Petrol In My Blood – Eric Jackson

Petrol In My Blood, Eric Jackson

When I was a kid I was lucky to be taken by my parents on several epic road journeys including Athens to London in an Austin A40 Countryman and Durban to Mufulira, I’ll let you look it up, in a Ford Escort Estate.

These were sedate trips compared to those made by Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers who drove a Ford Cortina GT to set a new record for driving from London to Capetown in 13 days 8 hours and 48 mins, 14 mins faster than the previous record. Jackson and Chambers record stood for 47 years until the record was lowered to 11 days 14 hours and 11 mins in 2010 by Mac & Steve Mackenney with Chris Rawlings driving a Land Rover Discovery

“Petrol In My Blood” by Eric Jackson retells his life story from humble beginnings in Barnsley where he was the son of a traveler to becoming one of the country’s leading Ford dealers.

The gripping story covers many other tales including; racing the RMS Windsor Castle from Cape Town to Southamptonand driving a Ford Consul around the world in 43 days.

Erics adventures in a Ford Zodiac Mk 4 which included a Monte Carlo Rally and a 100 mph average speed record for seven days and nights set at Monza with Ken Chambers, John Beckhart, Michael Bowler and John Maclean all sharing the driving are also included.

In between the records Eric also won the RAC Rally Championship and narrowly missed out on becoming a shipping tycoon. Petrol In My Blood could hardly fail to be an interesting read and a further taster of the books contents can be found on the Damn Long Way website linked here.

The book is self published and available from lulu.com in hardback £27.07 or paper back £12.09 my soft back came through in a couple of days.

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

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