Tag Archives: Horton

Pillarless Vue Panoramic – Delage D8 120 Letourneur & Marchand Aerosport Coupé

By 1937 when today’s Delage D8 120 was built, Louis Delage had sold the controlling interest in his company to his French rival Delahaye who continued to market cars with both brand names.

Delage D8 120 Letourneur & Marchand Aerosport Coupé, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

The 1936 Delage D8 100 and 1937 Delage D8 120 were designed to top the ranges of both brands.

Delage D8 120 Letourneur & Marchand Aerosport Coupé, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

The Delage D8 120 like the D8 100 introduced a year earlier used Delahaye sourced steel ladder chassis frames.

Delage D8 120 Letourneur & Marchand Aerosport Coupé, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

There seems to be a good bit of confusion about the origins of the engine used in the D8 120 with some sources believing it to have origins in a Delahaye truck and by others to have origins in the Delahaye 135MS straight 6, so far as I am aware both of these suggestions are no more than chewing the cud piffle of the highest order.

Delage D8 120 Letourneur & Marchand Aerosport Coupé, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

I believe the D8 120 engine is a 120hp developement of the straight eight Delage first built in 1929 with it’s capacity now stretched to 4,302 cc / 262.5 cu in.

Delage D8 120 Letourneur & Marchand Aerosport Coupé, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

As before the Delahaye take over top of the range Delages were supplied only as rolling chassis onto which the creme de la creme of boutique coach builders were given instructions by customers as to their exact body requirements.

The Aerosport Sport Pillarless Vue Panoramic body on today’s featured car, now owned by the Peterson Museum, is by Letourneur & Marchand a Parisian coach building company founded in Paris on the 1st of April 1905.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs taken at the Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance, Palm Springs a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Pillarless Vue Panoramic” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the 400 cars collected by a man who know’s more about the inside of cars than most and has made a fortune out of writing books about how to take them apart and put them back together again. Don’t forget to come back now !

Centralised Chassis Lubrication – Packard Model 745 Deluxe Eight Club Sedan

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With sales plummeting in the wake of the Wall Street Crash Packard offered three top of the range Seventh Series models in 1930.

Packard Model 745 Deluxe Eight Club Sedan, Blackhawk Museum, Danville, California,

The 733 Standard 8 and 740 Super 8 powered models were built on a 140″ wheelbase chassis, and the long wheel base 745 with Super 8 power on a 145″ wheelbase chassis as seen on today’s featured Deluxe Eight Club Sedan.

Packard Model 745 Deluxe Eight Club Sedan, Blackhawk Museum, Danville, California,

New features on the Seventh Series Models included laminated shatter proof window’s, thermostatic radiator shutters for the 106hp straight eight engine, Bijur centralised chassis lubrication, Watson shock absorbers and hypoid rear axle for a smoother and quieter ride.

Packard Model 745 Deluxe Eight Club Sedan, Blackhawk Museum, Danville, California,

Today’s featured 745 is one of 3007 such models Packard built and has a body by Ray Dietrich who’s Dietrich Inc was founded in 1925, Ray likened himself to automobiles as an architect to a building.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs taken at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California.

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

Sixth Series – Packard 640 Custom Eight Roadster #168397

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In 1924 Packard replaced it’s V12 powered top of the range Twin Six models with more powerful and economical straight eights.

Four years later Packard production peaked at 55,000 units in 1928 and in August of that year the company introduced it’s Sixth Series with either 140 inch wheel base 640 chassis as seen here or 145 inch wheel base 645 chassis.

Packard 640 Custom Eight Roadster, Bonhams, Quail Lodge, California

Power for the sixth series came from a single block straight eight with side valves and a seven bearing crank with a capacity of 384.8 cui / 6.3 litres that produced 106hp at 3,200 rpm.

Today’s featured car is equipped with a three speed manual gearbox, semi eliptic springs and drum brakes for all four wheels.

Packard 640 Custom Eight Roadster, Bonhams, Quail Lodge, California

A contemporary report in The Autocar noted “… the big car has the power for traveling right up to a high speed without fuss, without suggestion that the engine is doing much work, without harshness, yet with plenty still in reserve.”

Known history of this car starts with collector Richard C. Paine, Jr who owned from at least 1990.

Packard 640 Custom Eight Roadster, Bonhams, Quail Lodge, California

Mr Paine left instructions for this car an several others from his collection to be sold upon his passing to secure the future of the Seal Cove Auto Museum near Bar Harbor, Maine.

After being bought by a European Museum in 2008 the car is seen in these photographs by Geoffrey Horton waiting to be put under the Bonhams hammer for a second time at the 2013 Quail Lodge Auction where it sold for $126,500 including buyers premium despite requiring “mechanical re-commissioning”.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

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

Creating Agile Brands – Mercedes Benz W128 220SE

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Unlike last weeks featured 220SE today’s example, seen at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance by Geoffrey Horton, is one of the more numerous LHD examples.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

When new it’s Bosch fuel injected engine would have produced 134hp at 5000rpm, sufficient to give the 220SE a top speed of 100 mph.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

San Franciscan Walter Landor took delivery of this 220SE while in Italy and toured Europe in it commencing July 1960.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Walter Landor born in Germany became the youngest fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts at 23 after completing his studies at Goldsmiths College in London.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

He settled in San Francisco after traveling to the US as part of the design team for the British Pavillion at the New York Worlds Fair.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Walter launched Landor Associates with his wife from his living room table, the company with the strap line “Creating Agile Brands” now has offices in 33 cities around the world.

The current and only second owner of this 220SE Colour Consultant Bob Buckter bought it in 1980 15 years before Walters death, after a “mishap” in 1999 Bob had the car fully restored to it’s current Concours Class winning condition.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

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

Around The World In Five Years – Mercedes Benz W180 220S

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From 1954 to 1959 it’s second generation 220 models known as the 220a and 220S on the W180 chassis all powered by 2.2 litre / 134 cui six cylinder motors upgraded from the first generation W187 to produce 84hp and 99hp respectively.

The more powerful 220S was introduced in March 1956, a twin carb 105hp engine was introduced the following year, with 4 speed column shift and an optional highly expensive to maintain Hydrak clutch which used micro switches to disengage the clutch, other differences included simplified chrome work with a single piece front bumper.

Mercedes Benz W180 220S, The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA

Today’s featured 220S photographed by Geoffrey Horton at the The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA a couple of years ago was built in 1957 and registered in New Zealand on the 8th of November the same year.

Current owners Fred and Elisabeth Smits from the Netherlands now based in Wellington, New Zealand bought the car in 2003 and drove it over 24,000 miles before embarking on a thorough restoration in 2011.

Mercedes Benz W180 220S, The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA

The body off restoration included replacing every bearing, bush and rubber component, rebuilding the engine which included replacing the complete cylinder head and all of it’s ancillaries along with the cam shaft, pistons, crankshaft, oil and water pumps.

The purpose of the restoration was to prepare the car for a 90,000 mile 5 year drive around the world crossing five continents, all except Antarctica.

Mercedes Benz W180 220S, The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA

After much research the Smits chose to tow a light weight Zambezi Cross-Road tent trailer manufactured by Aart Kok of Heemstede, the Netherlands, to make themselves comfortable on route.

The 220S and the trailer were shipped to the USA in 2014 and at the time of writing they should be driving through South America before sailing to Europe having driven a loop around North America in 2015.

Mercedes Benz W180 220S, The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA

The Smits have set up a website about there travels linked here www.classicstrider.com

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Around The World In Five Years” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be looking at a captivating concept car from Renault. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gelände Sportwagen – Mercedes Benz W153 230S

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Alongside Mercedes Benz Land Speed Record, Grand Prix and Sports Car programmes during the 1930’s the company also built a small number of Gelände Sportwagen of three types to compete in Rallies such as the Brandenburg Rally and Deutsche Alpenfahrt for the 1938 and 1939 seasons.