Monthly Archives: October 2013

Last month Geoffrey Horton took his immaculate Jaguar XK 140 to Morgan Hill in California for The 2013 British Fall Classic and kindly shared today’s featured photographs.

The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Above Geoffrey’s Jaguar is seen on the Monterey Road in the middle of Morgan Hill.

Alvis TA 21, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

If it’s big, but slightly smaller than a Rolls or a Bentley with a red triangle on the radiator grill it’s usually an Alvis as is the case with this TA 21 one of 302 dropheads built between 1950 and 1953 powered by a 3 litre / 183 cui straight 6.

Austin Healey 100, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Austin Healey’s were obviously just made for California sunshine the drop screen and two tone paint job point to this being a BN2 built between 1955 and 1956.

Byers MG, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Jim Byers of California designed the CR90 body to fit on cars with a 90 inch wheel base, the unused body of the car seen here was found by special restorer Jim Collins at a flee market at Lime Rock in the late 1980’s and it has since been fitted to an MG A chassis to make a most attractive 122 mph vehicle.

Ginetta G4, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

This Ginetta left the UK in 1995/6 I believe it is a Ginetta G4 fitted with a 2 litre / 122 cui motor.

Jaguar XJS, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Looking at this Jaguar XJS it dawned on me that the 1980’s will be remembered for giving us colour coded bumpers. A couple of weeks ago a well known restorer of Lotus Elan’s reckoned that the XJS seats although heavy, thanks to 3 electric motors are amongst the most comfortable eve made.

Lotus Esprit, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

The failure of the Lotus Type 82 Esprit Turbo to get a decent foothold in the US market during the early 1980’s meant that it was not until 1996 that a V8 Esprit would first see the light of day in public despite the V8 having been developed alongside the 4 cylinder turbo Type 82 model.

MG A, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Above one of the 31,501 78 hp, 96 mph MG A’s built between 1959 and 1960.

Morgan, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Appropriately Morgan was represented at Morgan Hill, this appears to be a 1968 model the wire wheels suggest is probably not be a plus Eight but if you know for sure please chime in below.

Rolls Royce Corniche, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

The Rolls Royce Corniche was introduced in 1971, the colour coded bumpers and spoiler tell us that this car is a Corniche II of which 1,234 examples were built from 1986 until 1989.

Triumph Stag, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Finally a 3 litre / 183 cui V8 powered Triumph Stag, a model that started life after Giovanni Michelotti shaped a prototype from a 1963 Triumph 2000 saloon.

My thanks to Geoffrey for sharing the California sunshine and his photographs.

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

Those Who Love Speed – GALPOT Automobilia

Nathan D. Muir – Porsche 912

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From the outset an entry level Porsche based on the 911 model was planed to be fitted with a four cylinder motor to replace the Porsche 356 when production of the older model ceased in April 1965.

Porsche 912, Bristol

The new model was originally known internally as the 902 but after problems with the 901 model designation with Peugeot the new model was always publicly known as the 912, not to be confused with the Porsche project number 912 which referred to the flat 12 racing motors used to power the Porsche 917 racing cars.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Initial ideas for the 4 cylinder motor to be used in the 912 model included building a four cylinder version of the 6 cylinder 911 motor and an enlarged version of the 4 cylinder motor used in the Porsche 356 but eventually it was decided to lower the compression ratio of the original Porsche 356 motor and fit Solex carburettors of the 1582cc / 96.5 cui motor to produce 90hp.

Porsche 912, Bristol

To keep the costs down some of the standard features of the 911 were deleted from the 912, which outsold the 911 until the 912s production facilities were turned over to the Porsche VW 914-6 for the 1970 model year.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Although not as potent as it’s bigger 130 hp sibling the 912s lighter motor meant the smaller engine car had slightly improved handling which proved useful to Polish Porsche privateer Sobiesław Zasada who won the 1967 European Rally championship in his Porsche 912 which included an outright win in the 1967 Polish Rally.

Porsche 912, Bristol

A Porsche 912 was also entered in the 1967 Spa 24 hours for Hans Finke and Jean Sage, it qualified 33rd but failed to finish after an issue with the oil radiator. In 1968 Swiss duo James Bernard Fortmann and Urs-Peter Dietrich could not get with in 10 seconds of the qualifying time set by Finke and Sage at Spa the previous year but still started the ’68 edition of the Spa 24 hours in 51st and managed to bring their 912 home in 25th place.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Fans of Robert Redford may remember him staring in the 2001 thriller Spy Game, in the film Redford’s character Nathan D. Muir drives a Porsche 912, though it appears to be dubbed with a 911 engine sound except in the alternate ending version on DVD. More on how the 912 came to be chosen for filming on this link.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Regular readers may remember that a couple of years ago I featured a Porsche 912 in need of some TLC, I caught up with the car seen above again at the end of last year.

Porsche 912, Bristol

The transformation from junk yard dog to a 912 Carrera looks cool, officially the car is still listed as having it’s original size 1582cc / 96.5 cui motor.

Thanks for joining me on this Nathan D. Muir edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be featuring a couple of 1966 French Porsche advertisements. Don’t forget to come back now !

500lb Competition Diet – Porsche 911 R Replica

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In 1967 Porsche put it’s 911 model on a competition diet to bring the weight down by 230 kgs / 500 lbs to 810 kgs / 1786 lbs to produce a new model the 911 R.

Porsche 911 R, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

A limited run of 4 factory cars and 19 customer 911 Rs were built by Baur at their body shop in Stuttgart with fibreglass paneled doors, bonnet / hood and boot / trunk lid. Additional weight saving was achieved by using plastic door hinges and bumpers.

Porsche 911 R, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

The standard interior was completely deleted in favour of the bare essentials needed for racing or rallying competition, the lightweight side windows were louvred at the rear.

Porsche 911 R, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Power from the flat six motor was raised from the original type 901 130hp to 210 hp using the type 901/22 motor from the 906 Carrera or 230 hp from the four cam type 901/21 motor.

Porsche 911 R, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Homologation for the GT class required a minimum of 500 identical vehicles to be built, so with only 24 cars completed the 911 R was forced to run in the prototype class against the likes of mighty Ford Mark IV’s and Ferrari P4s which both had motors more than double the size of the 911 R’s 2 litre / 122 cui flat 6.

As a consequence notable results were hard to come by although the 911 R did score two outright wins the first in the 1967 when Hans Hermann, Jochen Neerspach and Vic Elford shared chassis #3, fitted with a 4 cam motor and Sportmatic transmission, to win the 84 hour Marathon de la Route at the Nurburgring.

Tour de France, Dunlop SP Sport, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

The second significant 911 R victory came in 1969 when Gérard Larrousse & Maurice Gélin won the 1969 Tour de France beating the Chevrolet Corvette driven by Henri Greder and André Vigneron as seen in the black and white photo seen above in a 1970 advertisement for Dunlop tyres.

Today’s featured car seen at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed is a replica 911 R that started life as a far more humble 1967 4 cylinder Porsche 912, according to the blurb in the windscreen this car took over 1200 hours to complete.

Thanks for joining me on this “500lb Competition Diet” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a couple of Porsche 912s.

It’s Not A Peugeot – Porsche 901

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From Saturdays to Mondays this month I’ll be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Porsche 911, a model which was originally called the 901.

In 1959 a prototype 4 seat two door Porsche, sketched out by Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, was built known variously as the 695, T7 and 754, the front and extreme rear of which bears a resemblance to today’s featured Porsche 901 and later Porsche 911, but it had a more upright rear window than the coupé 2+2 of the later models.

Porsche 901, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The first public appearance of the Porsche 901 with a mock up 128hp, 2 litre, flat 6 motor was at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show. When the 901 was presented at the 1964 Paris Auto Salon Peugeot took exception to the 901 moniker as they were globally known for their model names featuring three digits with a ‘0’ in the middle. Porsche, after a legal dispute which Peugeot won, changed the name of their new model to 911, however not before 82 901’s had been completed as prototypes and show cars.

Porsche 901, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Of the 82 901 models built a few made it into private hands, one of which today’s featured car #27 is said to have been sold off the 1964 Earls Court Motor Show stand to an aeronautical engineer called Mr Sorjo Ranta. Mr Ranta kept the car until selling it to Ruf family, known for their Porsche tuning and restyling business.

Note some open sources say the RUF owned 901 is #37, if you happen to definitively know which number is correct please chime in below with references if possible, the #27 was quoted from the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours d”Elegance information board at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Thanks for joining me on this “It’s not a Peugeot” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me for a look at a 1967 Porsche 911R Replica. Don’t forget to come back now !

8 Inches Shorter – Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB #2891 GT

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Sharing the same chassis as the Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB, the short wheel base (SWB) Ferrari 250 California Spyder was a fraction under 8 inches shorter than the original Long Wheel Base Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder of which 49 examples had been built 1957 and 1960.

Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Of the 55 SWB California Spyder bodies designed by Pininfarina and built by Scaglietti 37 had faired in headlights.

Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

First seen at Geneva Motor Show in 1960 the California Spyder was powered by a 276hp version of the 3 litre / 183 cui V12 motor designed by Gioacchino Colombo.

Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Along with the additional power the SWB California was fitted with hydraulic disc brakes in place of the drum brakes of originally fitted to the older long wheel base model.

Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

At the time of writing it is not known who first purchased chassis #2891 in 1961, but it’s three known subsequent owners all lived in Europe, so this car appears to have never seen the California sunshine for which it was built.

Thanks for joining me on this “8 Inches Shorter” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll for the start of GALPOT’S 50th Anniversary of the Porsche 911 celebration. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Monthly Archives: October 2013

$600,000 Concept Candy – Ford Thunderbird Italien DRF76806

Brits Take Morgan Hill – The 2013 British Fall Classic

Those Who Love Speed – GALPOT Automobilia

Nathan D. Muir – Porsche 912

500lb Competition Diet – Porsche 911 R Replica

It’s Not A Peugeot – Porsche 901

8 Inches Shorter – Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB #2891 GT