Tag Archives: Cars

Rare Mini Variation – Ogle SX1000

After serving as a decorated and honoured Supermarine Seafire pilot in the Second World War David Ogle DSC MBE attended the Central School of Art to study Industrial Design.

On completion of his studies he worked for Murphy Radio and later Bush Radio where he was credited with the design of the TR82 transistor radio.

In 1954 David founded his own industrial design studio which has been credited with the design of all manor of wheeled transport from Chopper Bicycles (1970), through the Reliant Scimitar, to award wining truck cabs for Leyland Road Train vehicles.

In 1959 Ogle design started building the first of three series of glass fibre bodied cars the 1.5 built on a Riley Chassis with a BMC (British Motor Corporation) motor of which eight were built.

In 1962 Ogle launched the SX1000, as seen here at Goodwood, initially a conversion built around a customer supplied Mini and later built around Ogle acquired Mini’s.

It is thought 66 of these vehicles were built with the last one leaving the factory in 1964. The slippery Coupé was capable of 110 mph when fitted with a top of the range Mini Cooper S engine.

After David Ogle died driving an SX1000 on the way to Brands Hatch and car production at Ogle had been wound up the SX1000 body moulds were sold to a boat builder in the Midlands who exhibited his self named Fletcher GT at the Racing Car Show in 1967.

Today with only 26 of the original SX1000’s thought to have survived Nostalgia Cars in Taunton Somerset produce identical replica SX1275 models as kits for Mini enthusiasts.

Thanks for joining me on todays SX1000 edition of ‘Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Hot One’s Even Hotter – 1956 Chevrolet Nomad

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At the travelling 1954 General Motors Motorama motor show, attended by 1.9 million visitors, Chevrolet displayed a Corvette based concept vehicle the Nomad a 2 door estate / station wagon among Head Stylist Harley Earl’s collection of ‘Dream Cars’.

In 1955 Chevrolet launched it’s second generation Bel Air models with the strap line ‘The Hot One’. The Bel Air range included the 2 door Nomad estate / station wagon.

The second generation Bel Air and the Nomad had a three year life cycle, knowing that if the car was to sell well in the second year of production the range had to look new for 1956, even if it was not, GM upgraded the Nomad saving no expenses on styling and tooling the exterior trim, including a fresh front bumper and new full width front grill.

The ’56 Chevrolet’s Bel Air range was marketed with the new strap line ‘The Hot One’s even hotter’.

Power for the Bel Air was provided by either a 4.3 litre / 265 cui or 4.6 litre / 283 cui V8, so far as I can tell this particular Nomad, seen at Shakespeare County Raceway, has a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8.

Chrome trim levels on the humble Nomad were comparable to contemporary high end Cadillacs.

A feature introduced on the ’56 Nomad was the concealment of the filler for the petrol tank by the chrome tail light housing on the drivers side.

With $585 premium over the standard $2025 2-door Bel Air the Nomad was the most expensive vehicle in the Bel Air range.

Production numbers show that Estate Station Wagons were not top of the Bel Air demographics list of priorities in 1956, just 7,886 Nomads were built compared to 103,000 pillarless four door hard tops and 128, 000 base 2 door model Bel Airs.

Thanks for joining me on this Nomad edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Meridian Date – Bristol Concours d’Elegance

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Yesterday I travelled 2 degrees, 35 mins 45.25 seconds East to the Meridian line at Greenwich in London with Florian, my guest from France, to see the Bristol Concour’s d’Elegance, where a fine selection of Bristol Cars and a single Fraser Nash BMW, representing over 60 years of automotive history was accumulating in the grounds of the Old Naval College.

Oldest car at the show was this 1939 Frazer Nash BMW 321, Frazer Nash were in partnership with the Bristol Aircraft Company when the latter diversified into the automotive market after WW2.

Several Bristol 400‘s, the manufacturers first model, were present all in immaculate condition, this 1971cc, 120 cui six cylinder being maintained by Bristol Owners Club (BOC) member Derek Hughes.

Among many Bristol models I saw for the first time was the 402 of which only 23 examples were built, this one belonging to Richard Weale.

I know the father of one GALPOT regular used to race an Arnolt Bristol so it was a particular thrill to see and above all hear this car being started up by Kenneth Andrén who brought his car over from Sweden.

There were several Bristol 406’s, which featured roof mounted indicator lights, present this one belonging to Edward Anderson.

Chrysler supplied the motor’s for all Bristol models starting with the 407 in 1961, this is the 6277 cc / 383 cui big block Chysler B series V8 fitted to the 411 Series 2 belonging to Jamie Davenport.

In 1976 the 603 model was introduced a car that owed no heritage at all to the Bristol 407 that had been continually upgraded from 1961 and formed the basis of a succession of new models. This is the cockpit of the 603E belonging to Fergus Taylor-Gregg.

Newest of the Bristol’s present was the 2009 Blenhiem Series 4 of Richard Levine.

91 year old Bristol Works Director, until the factory closed earlier this year, the sprightly Syd Lovesy was amongst those who handed out the prizes at the end of the day. Syd is seen here with Richard Vaughan and the unique 1963 Bristol Viotti 407 styling exercise that once belonged to comic actor Peter Sellers.

Concours d’Elegance award winning cars included the 400 of Ashley James, the 403 of John Manley, the 405 of Cyril Milward, the 411 Series 2 of Jamie Davenport, a 412, the Arnolt of Kenneth Andrén, and the last one I can positively identify in the line the Fraser Nash BMW 321.

Car of the day for me was definitely the Arnolt, hats off to Kenneth bring this car over from Sweden, thanks to everyone at the Bristol Owners Club who made this a day for Florian and I to remember.

Thanks for joining me on this Meridian edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow to see how the Aluminium Buick 215 V8 came to impact the British motor industry. Don’t forget to come back nowhttps://www.psychoontyres.co.uk/powered-under-licence-rover-p5b-3-5-litre-coupe/ !

An Education – Bristol 405 Saloon

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Back in February I looked at the Bristol 405 Drophead, fit for for a Sheikh, today I am looking at the 4 door saloon, seen here at the recent Silverstone Classic, built on the same chassis design.

When launched at the Paris Motor Show in October 1954 the 405 experienced overheating problems while running in heavy Parisian traffic, this turned out to be due to a faulty batch of cylinder heads rather than the fog light blocking the radiator.

Once the overheating problem had been sorted customers were full of enthusiasm for this versatile model which was lighter than the preceding 2 door 403.

Larger doors and windows, than those seen on previous Bristol models, were accommodated by dropping the hitherto successful Superleggera body construction in favour of body work built around a wooden frame.

Unlike the 405 Drophead chassis which were sent initially to Abbots and later Tickfords for their bodywork to be built, the 405 Saloon had bodywork built in the Bristol works factory.

Gary Barker told the Adelaide Advertiser in 1956 “The Bristol 405 is a car in the very best tradition of high British performance.”

A maroon 405 Saloon was the star of the 2009 coming of age film ‘An Education‘.

My thanks to Christopher Balfour who’s book Bristol Cars A Very British Story supplied many of the background details for this blog.

Tomorrow I hope to be attending the Bristol Owners Club Concours d’Elegance a free event held at the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich – The Painted Hall.

It is sad to have to report that Chris Lawrence, one of the men behind the Morgan Triumph SLR cars that featured on a GALPOT blog two weeks ago, passed away on August 13th. Along with the SLR Chris was responsible for the Mini based Deep Sanderson and much more recently the Morgan Aero 8 amongst many other vehicle developments. I hope you will join me in sending condolences to Chris’s friends and family.

Thanks for joining me on this British Performance edition of ‘Getting a lil psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a large sports car from a revived brand that now hails from Chippenham, Wiltshire. Don’t forget to come back now !

Mission Accomplished – Bristol Cars Ltd

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Bristol 411

On Saturday I was very pleased to receive an e-mail from Geoff Hawkins, Chairman of the Bristol Owners Club, informing members that the future of Bristol Cars Limited which was in administration has been secured by Kamkorp Autokraft which also owns Frazer Nash Research Ltd.

Italdesign Frazer Nash Namir (Photo Italdesign)

It should be noted that Frazer Nash Research which made the 2009 prototype Italdesign Frazer Nash Namir is

Frazer Nash Colemore

not directly related to the company that made pre WW2 Frazer Nash chain drive vehicles,

Frazer Nash BMW

Frazer Nash BMW’s and

Left F Thwaits Fraser Nash 100/163 (Picture Ed Arnaudin)

post WW2 Frazer Nash Bristols from 1927 to 1957.

That company, AFN Ltd, was sold by Archie Frazer Nash to the Adlington brothers when it ran into financial difficulties.

Under the Adlington’s stewardship in 1946 AFN were briefly partners with Bristol Aeroplane Company in Bristol Cars, however BAC bought Adlington out of Bristol Cars when it became clear the two companies had differing visions of the future.

After AFN Ltd ceased manufacturing in 1957 it became a successful Porsche dealer which along with the Frazer Nash trademark was sold in turn to Porsche.

In 1929 after Archie Frazer Nash had divested himself of his interests in AFN Ltd and motor vehicle manufacturing he set up Nash & Thompson which specialised in manufacturing hydraulic gun turrets for aircraft, this led to the development of a variety of 2 and 4 gun turrets used on WW2 Beaufort, Blenheim, Halifax, Lancaster, Manchester, Sterling, Sunderland and Wellington bombers.

Nash & Thompson which in 1996 was acquired by ML Aviation and later defence contractor Cobham spun off Frazer Nash Research Ltd which specialises in Electric and and Hybrid Power Trains, automotive multiplexing, advanced composites and mass transit systems.

It is this engineering branch of Archie Fraser Nash’s post vehicle manufacturing business that is now connected for the first time with Bristol Cars Ltd.

Kamkorp Autokraft a private limited company with offices registered in Mytchet, Surrey, is majority owned by chairman Mr Kamal Siddiqi, who like Archie Frazer Nash appears to have been born in India, and who has / had interests in Cicco Holding AG, Lithium Technology Corp, Electrosource Inc and Think Nordic, prior to acquiring Frazer Nash Research and Bristol Cars Ltd.

Spokesman for the Kamkorp Autokraft group and Director of Operations at Frazer Nash Research Mr ‘William’ Tet Hin Chia issued the following prepared statement :-

“Bristol Cars is a British institution and an important part of our national motoring heritage. Over the next few months we will start to reveal the details of our plans to combine Bristol Cars’ tradition and iconic marque with Frazer-Nash’s pioneering technology to showcase our cutting-edge electric and range-extended powertrains.

British engineers are globally recognised for their inventions and the quality of their innovation – and these attributes are inherent in all our systems and products. Mindful of Bristol Cars’ rich heritage and our responsibility as custodians of the brand, we are certain that our technology will blend seamlessly and successfully with the Bristol Cars tradition of engineering integrity.

Owners and enthusiasts of the cars should be assured that, even though these are early days in our tenure of the brand, we are committed to providing them and their cars with the highest levels of quality, technology and service”.

Geoff Hawkins e-mail suggests that Samuelson Wylie Associates, who represented TVR from 1993 to 2003, will be handling the PR and Marketing of Bristol Cars Ltd.

It will be fascinating to see what the future has in store for my local automotive manufacturer, with the prospect of all fossil fuelled vehicles being phased out of Europe by 2050, Bristol Cars may be well placed to become a leading edge manufacturer in the decades to come.

I hope you will all join me in wishing Bristol Cars every success.

My thanks to Geoff Hawkins of the Bristol Owners Club, James Trigwell a trustee of the Frazer Nash Archives, and bristol 7527 also known as Claude for the detailed information in this blog.

I hope you have enjoyed this edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

DIY with a Fiesta – Quantum 2 + 2

Mission Possible – Bristol Cars Ltd

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Last Monday 27 employees of Bristol Cars Ltd passed through these gates on their way to work.

This morning only 5 employees will return through these gates as the manufacturing arm of Bristol Cars Ltd has been placed into administration with RSM Tenon.

Tom Maclennan of RSM Tenon is quoted as saying ” There have been a number of immediate redundancies due to the financial position of the company, (but) we are maintaining the sales and service operations so customers will continue to be supported.”

Though not without some criticism over the way the company has been run in the past, there has been a significant amount of support for Bristol Cars Ltd on the internet, in the light of this unfortunate development, from owners and non owners alike as evidenced by threads on pistonheads.com, The Nostalgia Forum and particularly on the Bristol Owners Club forum where members recall many of the Bristol Cars Ltd team with fondness having known them for many years.

One member of the Bristol Owners Club, Teb Marius from the Netherlands with professional experience in handling these types of financial situations is calling for professional assistance from members and non members in the UK to investigate the possibility putting together a Bristol Owners Club led Consortium to negotiate a viable future for Bristol Cars Ltd with the administrators. Send Teb an e-mail if you can offer any such professional assistance.

Alternatively for anyone with the financial muscle who wants make a bid for the manufacturing division of Bristol Cars Ltd, Tom MacLennan and Trevor Binyon at RSM Tenon have been appointed joint administrators of the business and would be interested to hear from you.

In anticipation of good news about the future of Bristol Cars Ltd I hope you’ll join me again at “Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres”. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Cars

Rare Mini Variation – Ogle SX1000

The Hot One’s Even Hotter – 1956 Chevrolet Nomad

Meridian Date – Bristol Concours d’Elegance

An Education – Bristol 405 Saloon

Mission Accomplished – Bristol Cars Ltd

DIY with a Fiesta – Quantum 2 + 2

Mission Possible – Bristol Cars Ltd