Tag Archives: Ekland

Coquettish Tease – Maserati Mistral Spyder

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Despite using many different motor configurations by 1963 when today’s featured Maserati Mistral model was launched it was the six cylinder sports and racing cars for which the marque had best become known.

Maserati Mistral Spyder, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Mistral was designed in Coupé form by Pietro Frua with additional input on the spyder from Giovanni Michelotti as a replacement for the 3500GT which had been in production since 1957.

Maserati Mistral Spyder, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Bodies for both the 828 Coupés and 125 Spyders that would be built were supplied by Maggiora of Turin up until 1970 when the last straight six DOHC Maserati was phased out.

Maserati Mistral Spyder, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Mistrals were built with three engine sizes 3.5, 3.7 and 4.0 litres / 244 cui all of which were fitted with Lucas fuel injection.

Maserati Mistral Spyder, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Today’s featured 1964 vehicle is fitted with the smaller 3.5 litre / 212 cui motor which produced 235 hp which was transmitted to the rear wheels by a 5 speed ZF manual gearbox.

Maserati Mistral Spyder, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Coquettish tease Olimpia Segura, played by Brit Ekland, manages to secure a Maserati Mistral Spyder from a would be suitor in the 1967 film The Bobo set in Barcelona and staring Peter Sellers.

Thanks for joining me on this “Coquettish Tease” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1963 NASCAR race car. Don’t forget to come back now !

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‘It should be a convertible !’ – Bristol 407 Viotti Convertible

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Among the many tales in Bristol Cars folklore several are connected with the actor Peter Sellers who one day after filming at Shepperton Studio’s approached Tony Crook, Bristol Cars sole retailer, with a Buick asking if some improvements could be made to the handling, when Tony replied that he couldn’t do much with the Buick Peter said ‘Well I’m going to leave it here.’

Bristol 407 Viotti, Greenwhich

Eventually Peter Sellers bought a Bristol 407 coupé but he soon returned to Tony with it saying ‘It should be a convertible !’. Tony went to some lengths to explain that Bristol Cars did not make any convertibles, though in fact he was preparing one with coach work by Viotti for his daughter Carol.

Bristol 407 Viotti, Greenwich

Legend has it that Carol Crook was part of the London ‘in’ crowd and counted among her friends Britt Ekland, who posed with the Viotti 407 at Earls Court. Peter some how found out about this car and persuaded Tony to let him become the Viotti 407’s first owner.

Tony Crook says that Peter, notorious for regularly acquiring new cars and leaving them with Tony who had two mechanics and a service bay dedicated to maintaining Sellers cars, ‘drove it a bit – not an awful lot – and then we sold him other cars and we took the Viotti back’. All of this appears to have occurred before Peter Sellers had met the model who posed with the Viotti 407 at Earls Court his future wife Britt Ekland.

Bristol 407 Viotti, Greenwich

The unique Viotti 407 was very much a prototype, the suspension had not been modified to cope with the extra weight of the all steel body, the 88 other 407’s had lighter aluminium bodies, when Peter Sellers had the car, however when Tony Crook got it back the suspension and brakes were upgraded to later Bristol 410 specification, and his daughter Carol owned it for many years when it was seen with the registration number ‘AC 1’.

Bristol 407 Viotti, Greenwich

From what I can work out Tony Vaughan, seen in the Viotti 407 here at last weeks Bristol Owners Club Concours held at Greenwich, is the fourth owner of this car.

The one off styling exercise Viotti 407 appears to have strongly influenced future Bristol designs from the 408, 409, 410 and the early series 411.

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

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