Tag Archives: Sanoma

Belgian Pseudonym City – Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta #1321GT

Welcome back to a short run of Ferrari Friday’s which will be running during the month of June.

Amazingly of the seven Belgian drivers known to have raced today’s featured 1959 Ferrari 250 LWB GT, only one raced the car under his own name.

Chassis #1321GT with a Single Louvre body by Scaglietti was supplied to Garage Francorshamps for “Jean Beurlys” aka Jean Blaton.

Ferrari 250 LWB GT, Sanoma Hisotrics,

“Beurlys” drove the car on five occasions between 1959 and 1960 starting with a 2nd place overall and first in GT Class on the Tour de Cote de La Roche-en-Ardenne on the 12th of April 1959 which was followed two weeks later by the Le Mans Test Weekend in which he recorded 4th fastest time with same car.

Armand Blaton who raced under the pseudonym “Blary” won the Course de Cote de Charleroi, Bomerée hillclimb out right with #1321GT on the 31st May 1959 before the car was taken to the Nurburging where brothers “Beurlys” and “Blary” shared the driving to a 9th place finish overall, first GT Class, in the 1000 kms race.

Before the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hour race the car was taken back to the factory for servicing, repairs and for the original black stripe to be replaced with a yellow stripe.

Ferrari 250 LWB GT, Sanoma Hisotrics,

For the French endurance classic “Beurlys” teamed up with “Eldé” alias Léon Dernier who obviously had a sense of humour when choosing his pseudonym with LD being his initials.

All joking aside the Belgian pair driving the freshly restripped #1321GT finished 3rd and again took class honours after 24 hours of racing.

“Beurlys” was entered by Ecurie Francorchamps to drive #1321GT in the Monza Grand Prix for GT cars but appears for reasons unknown not to have started the race.

Ferrari 250 LWB GT, Sanoma Hisotrics,

Belgian Pierre Noblet became the first driver to compete in #1321GT under his own name when he shared the driving with “Beurlys” and “Eldé” at the 1960 Le Mans Test Weekend where the car was again credited with 4th quickest time overall, first in GT.

In May 1960 German architect Manfred Ramminger bought the car, but is only known to have entered it on one occasion for the 500 kms race at Spa in May 1963 where he is listed as having failed to arrive.

The original engine was reported as damaged and has been replaced twice since 1966, the car made it’s way to the USA in 1968 and has been with it’s present owner Charles T. Wegner since July 2011.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photo’s of #1321GT taken at the Sanoma Historics last year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Belgian Pseudonym City” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a a 1931 Talbot 105 Team Car “G054”

Dentists Body Art – Huispano Suiza K6 Convertible

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Marc Birkigt’s K6 design, which replaced the earlier Ballot/Junior model first saw the light of day in 1934.

Offered to fill the market segment below the exclusive J12 model the K6 featured a new 120 hp straight six motor with overhead pushrod operated valves which followed Rolls Royce practice in the pursuit of silence when in motion.

Depending on the body work which varied in weight and aerodynamic efficiency from one coach builder to the next a K6 could reach a speed over 85 mph.

Following the trend set by the Huispano Suiza H6 the K6 was fitted with four wheel cable operated brakes with servo assistance as licensed to Rolls Royce.

Carrosserie Pourtout is one of a number of coachbuilders who built bodies for clients what ever chassis they bought. The company is probably best known for it’s the revolutionary Eclipse retractable hard top roof and a class winning Le Mans entry, the company ceased operating as a design business in the 1990’s but is still involved in body shop repairs.

It seems most likely that the lines for the coachwork of this 1936 Huispano Suiza K6 Convertible were drawn by former dentist turned designer Georges Paulin who started working for Carrosserie Pourtout in 1933 and remained with the company until he was executed by occupying German forces for his allegiance with the French Resistance and British Intelligence in 1942.

The K6 could be built for owners to drive with a shorter wheel base or for a chauffer to drive with a longer wheel base.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs which were taken earlier this year at the Marin Sanoma Concours d’Elegance meeting.

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

All or Nothing – Hispano-Suiza H6

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Aged just 22 French Captain Georges Guynemer is reported as having downed 53 enemy planes before Hisano Suiza powered Spad XIII disappeared on the 11th of September 1917 for the final time somewhere north east of Ypres. The captain, who’s best known maxim was “Until one has given all, one has given nothing”, had already survived being shot down seven times, well before parachutes had become either reliable of issued to pilots. After the Great War of 1914/18 Hispano Suiza adopted the stork symbol of Alsace which Guynemer had painted on the side of his Spad as their radiator mascot.

In 1919 Hispano Suiza designer Marc Birkigt brought his Type 41 to fruition which became known as the H6. Having been amongst the pioneers to develop shaft driven overhead cam shafts and amongst the innovators of joined up motor and gearbox housings with earlier models the H6 featured a 135 hp light alloy mono block six cylinder overhead cam motor that, although noisier than the competition in the form of the Rolls Royce 40/50 with it’s push rod operated side valve cast iron twin block straight 6 cylinder motor, produced a full 50 hp more than it’s contemporary from Derby England.

The H6 was not only more powerful than it’s contemporaries but it the first to adopt power assisted four wheel brakes as standard, leaving Rolls Royce, Lanchester and Napier with their unassisted two wheel brakes well behind when in the safety stakes. Indeed Rolls Royce were quick to acquire a license to replicate Birkigt’s power assisted four wheel braking system on their own models. Rolls Royce would continue to use the Hispano Suiza braking system until the introduction of disc brakes on it’s Silver Shadow model in 1965.

Hispano Suiza counted not only Royalty, including the King of Spain, and the nouveaux riche of Hollywood amongst it’s H6 clientele but also French alcohol heir, Spad XIII flying ace, athlete, inventor and race car driver André Dubonnet who entered his H6 in the 1921 Coupé Boillot sports car race run in Boulogne which he promptly won.

The 6,597cc / 403cui H6 like this 1925 example, which resided in the UK until 2000, gained a larger 8 litre / 488 cui H6B sibling in 1922 with the H6C series in 1924 using only the larger motor. In all 2,350 H6s of all types, including a unique 6 wheel H6 built for feature length film pioneer and director D.W.Griffith, are thought to have been built between 1919 and 1933.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs taken at this years Marin Sanoma Concours d’Elegance.

Thanks for joining me on this “All or Nothing” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Formula One Wheels – Shadow Mk II

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A couple of weeks ago I was delighted to receive today’s featured photo’s from Geoffrey Horton of a Shadow Mk II , a vehicle that had been built for Jackie Oliver to drive in the 1971 Can Am Series.

The story of the Shadow racing team begins with an orphan Don Nichols who as a child was influenced by The Shadow radio series, after service in the ’39 – ’45 war and a career in military intelligence Don appears to have gravitated to the world of motor racing supplying American tyres to the Japanese racing fraternity during the 1960’s.

In 1970 Don founded Advanced Vehicle Systems which built a red vehicle notorious for it’s tiny size and wheels designed by Trevor Harris called the Shadow Mk I. The car qualified well with first George Folmer and then Vic Elford at the wheel, but was hampered with a 100% unreliability record not finishing any races.

in 1969 Peter Bryant had designed and entered his titanium chassised Ti 22 Can Am car which Jackie Oliver had been qualifying even better, than the Shadow, ever since it was first seen and managed two 2nd place finishes in 1970.

Bryant ran out of funds for the Ti 22 and both he and Jackie Oliver joined Don Nichols for the 1971 season. Don was keen that Peter keep the frontal area of the Shadow Mark II to a minimum and so the Mk II was designed around Formula One size wheels and tyres which were smaller than those ordinarily found in Can Am.

Powered by a 8.1 litre / 494 cui Chaparral prepared Chevrolet V8 Jackie scored a best third place finish at Edmonton when the car appeared painted white with black lettering on all the upward facing surfaces except the rear wing. Jackie used chassis Mk II #1 through out the 1971 season.

As we shall see next week Peter Bryant was responsible for designing the 1972 Shadow MK III and Jackie for driving it. What I did not know until recently was that Advanced Vehicle Systems built three Mk II monocoque tubs and that all three were used to build the Shadow Mk III which ran on full size Can Am tyres.

In 2009 Don Nichols sold off the chassis, seen here at Marin Sanoma Concours d’Elegance where it won it’s class, which is actually the third chassis that was only ever raced in Mk III specification. Mr Losher the owner decided, that as the first two chassis are still in 1972 Mk III spec, he would build his up to the older 1971 Mk II Formula One wheel spec.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sending me these photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Formula One Wheels” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho” on tyres”, next week I’ll be looking at the Shadow Mk III on Americana Thursday, meantime I hope you will join me for another edition of Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

But Is It A Real Car ? – Ferrari 330 GT #7123

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I never had children but I imagine anyone who does who also has a leaning towards the rational must have a few heart strings pulled when their dearly beloved little might is struck with doubt and asks “Is Father Christmas real ?”

Last year I went to a friends daughters wedding, the only wedding present she asked for from her family was a pair of shoes, I’ll be honest the price of them nearly brought tears to my eyes. When I was talking to my friends daughter afterwards she candidly let slip that she would have been perfectly happy if they had been fakes because they were so uncomfortable she could only imagine wearing them the once.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu and I was looking at what was labelled as a Shelby Cobra thinking there is something about those funky stripes that is not quite right even if the license plate is correct for the period, turns out the car really was a Shelby Cobra with a small amount of history, but it’s owner had chosen to deviate from the common Cobra straight pair of stripes. I felt a little silly having my suspicions raised by those non standard stripes.

Somewhere in the late ’80’s early ’90’s a titled gentleman who’s family motto is “A cat stroked is gentle” sold a Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, to the president/director of a well known software company for top dollar, over $500,000. Sometime later a real 250 SWB emerged in France bearing the same chassis number and it became evident upon further inspection that the titled gentleman had in fact sold a replica based on on a 250 GTE and so had another 2 years added to his five year sentence.

I guess the moral of these anecdotes is that it is very easy to be deceived by what we see, deceptions can happen for all sorts of reason’s some good some bad, therefore it is always wise to adhere to the Roman saying ‘Caveat Emptor’. For a car nut like myself it means always keeping an open mind and enjoying the process of finding out the stories behind the paintwork.

The car featured in these fabulous photo’s by Geoffrey Horton taken at the recent Marin Sanoma Concours d’Elegance started life as a Ferrari 330 GT chassis #7123 just like the one John Lennon once owned.

In 1965 chassis #7123 was originally sold to Auto House Becker in Germany painted silver with a black interior.

The next time #7123 surfaced was in 2002 in California. I am not sure when the replica ’59/’60 250 TR body was added but the interior looks well weathered suggesting the owner/s have had a lot of fun with her.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for the photo’s.

Thanks for joining me on this “But Is It A Real Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a Lotus VI. Don’t forget to come back now !

All Adjectives Used To Define Exquisite – Marin Sanoma Concours d’ Elegance

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Among the hand chosen, to require all the “Adjectives Used To Define Exquisite”, participants gathered at Marin Sanoma Concours d’Elegance for the May weekend 18th – 20th was GALPOT’s Geoffrey Horton and his pristine Jaguar XK 140 FHC SE/MC.

So far as I can tell the vehicle above is a Hispano Suiza K6 built somewhere between 1934 and 1937 with bodywork by Pourtout. 204 K6’s were built in France before hostilities in Spain forced the manufacturer to abandon motor vehicle manufacture focus on the production of aircraft engines.

Consecutive three time Le Mans winner, driving Bentleys, Woolf Baranto ordered the Talbot Lago T150C SS with “Goutte d’Eau”, water drop, bodywork by Figoni & Falaschi in 1938. The car belongs to the Mullin Automotive Collection which celebrates the art deco movement at the Mullin Automotive Museum located in Oxnard California.

Judged to require all the adjectives to define exquisite at the 2012 Marin Sanoma Concours d’Elegance was the 1939 Delahaye Type 165 Cabriolet again with bodywork by Figoni et Falaschi and belonging to the Mullin Automotive Museum !

D-Type Jaguar chassis XKC#404 registered OKV 3 was part of a three car works team at Le Mans in 1954 where it retired with gearbox failure, at Rheims Peter Whitehead and Ken Wharton were able to make the car last 12 hours and crossed the line first. The car was acquired by John Love in 1959 and he drove it two victories before Neville Austin bought it drove it to two further victories, giving the car at least four known victories on the African continent.

Geoffrey Horton’s 1955 XK140 can be seen getting thoroughly inspected by the Concours d’Elegance judges above, he was awarded second place in the Imports to over $3,500 1946 through 1962 class.

The Ferrari above started life as a silver Ferrari 330 GT which appears to have been sold new to the German importer Auto Becker Gmbh & Co in 1965. Somewhere between 1965 and 2002 the body was replaced with a TR 59/60 replica as seen here.

The 1966 Porsche 906 above is credit with numerous class wins from 1966 to 1977 in the hands of drivers 1966 E-modified champion Don Wester, Lew Florence from 1967 – 68, Milt Minter and John Morton in 1970/71 and Harald Kirberg from 1971 to 1977 when the car appeared with a different body in the rejuvinated Can Am series.

Looking a tad workman like in the company outlined above was the Shadow Mk II above. A one off built for Jackie Oliver to drive in the 1971 Cam Am series. Powered by a 8.1 litre / 494 cui Chaparral prepared Chevrolet V8 Jackie scored a best third place finish at Edmonton when the car appeared painted white with black lettering on all the upward facing surfaces except the rear wing. This car now belonging to Mr Losher won the Closed Wheel Sports Racing Cars class of the Marin Sanoma Concours d’Elegance.

I hope you will join me in congratulating Geoffrey on his second place class award and thanking him for sharing his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “All Adjectives Used To Define Exquisite” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” and that you will join me again tomorrow when I shall be visiting Middle Barton Garage which is celebrating it’s 25th Anniversary. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Sanoma

Belgian Pseudonym City – Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta #1321GT

Dentists Body Art – Huispano Suiza K6 Convertible

All or Nothing – Hispano-Suiza H6

Formula One Wheels – Shadow Mk II

But Is It A Real Car ? – Ferrari 330 GT #7123

All Adjectives Used To Define Exquisite – Marin Sanoma Concours d’ Elegance