Tag Archives: Sunbeam

Coffee, Croissant & Cars #6 – Avenue Drivers Club

One of the simple joys I have discovered this year is the Avenue Drivers Club meetings at Queen Square in Bristol, part of the pleasure of these events is that they are only 5 mins away from where I live and the other is the ever lengthening list of acquaintances I’m making. Yesterday morning I woke up to find my car frozen shut for the first time this year, once I had ‘broken’ in deiced the windows I set off to pick up my friend Tim. On the way back into town we caught up with Rich in his MG BGT as he tried to navigate his way through a couple of diversions.

After parking I Tim met several friends he had not seen in nearly a decade and we met Ted who brought out his trusty yellow 911 GT2. Ted kindly invited me to join him at the NEC for the Classic Car Show next weekend. Among the cars that I have not seen at the Avenue Drivers Club before is this 1953 Bristol 403.

The registration ST 1 was made famous back in the 1960’s by a TV series called The Saint about an international man of mystery played by (Sir) Roger Moore who drove a white Volvo P1800 on Minilite alloy wheels registered “ST 1” in the show, today the registration belongs to a Mercedes A190 Elegance.

Among a handful of Bentleys that put in an appearance yesterday was this smart 2002 Arnage Red Label, romantically named after a 90 degree right hand corner that is one of the two slowest corners on the Le Mans 24 hour circuit.

Proof positive of the Simple Joy nature of second Sunday Avenue Drivers Club meetings can be seen on the faces of the occupants of this 1965 Morris Minor 1000 Tourer.

At the more expensive end of the spectrum was this 2010 Porsche 911 GT3, which for some reason was running on 2003/4 registration plates.

Just as Ted was observing that there were not many motorcycles present this work of customised art turned up, cant imagine what riding it on cobbled streets must be like with what looks like a seriously masochistic saddle.

Again probably not the most of comfortable vehicles to drive across the streets was this 1972 Lotus 7 Series 4 complete with period Cosmic alloy wheels.

David Roots’s Lenham ALFA Romeo was parked up next to this pristine 1959 Lancia Aprilla.

13/11/12 Correction the vehicle above is a Lancia Appia not Aprila as stated above.

Looking photogenic as ever was this Jensen 541 which I showed a detail of in last months Avenue Drivers Club blog.

Harking back to 1948 was this Chevrolet Fleetline with what appears to be a non standard two tone paint job.

Another ’59er was this customised Ford Consul Mk II with fetching period sun visor.

You would not know it looking at it but this 1929 4 1/2 litre Bentley Vanden Plas has survived not one but two fires, the second of which melted the front bulkhead and original radiator core. It has since been restored using photogrpahs of it’s original body over a period of ten years.

John the owner of the 4 1/2 litre Bentley Van Plas was telling me that the owner of this 1965 Sunbeam Tiger used to go to school with the owner of the Bristol 403 at the top of this post and that they met for the first time since yesterday. As I said the Avenue Drivers Club is a great place to meet old friends and make new acquaintances.

Thanks for joining me on this “Coffee, Croissant & Cars #6” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Cum On Feel The Noize – Donington Park Test Day

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When Ted Walker told me about the possibility of a 1939 Mercedes Benz 154 Grand Prix racer appearing for a test day at Donington Park a couple of weeks ago my ears just knew I had to be there to hear it.

At 6 am (ish) I picked up GALPOT contributer Tim and headed up to Donington Park and headed for the Hall & Hall pit where a mouth watering selection of cars was on display including this 1982 Matra V12 powered Ligier JS17 Grand Prix car.

Next to and in front of the JS17 were not one but two 1973 World Sports Car Championship winning Matra 670 C’s powered by similarly awesome sounding V12’s !

As we waited in the pits for the Gentleman from Crosthwaite and Gardiner to prepare the W154 for an engine warm up this Lola T70 Mk 3 Coupe rumbled down pit road to wet our appetites.

After a five minute warm up the plugs on the W154 were changed and one lucky Rob Hall jumped out of his Matra and into the Benz. The car sounded great although it was anything but a smooth test as first a recalcitrant motor had to be cured and then a water leak from the radiator brought and end to proceedings. While it was running cleanly the ear splitting sound of the 476hp 3 litre / 183 cui two stage super charged V12 was music to the ears !

As the test day progressed Tim and I took a wolk around the track which I had not seen, despite several trips to the Donington Museum, since the early 1990’s. Since my last visit the gravel traps have substantially increased in size and safety fences have increased in height. Above Rob Hall charges down the Craner Curves pursued by a Porsche GT3.

One of the many advantages of traveling with Tim is that he has breath taking memory for motor racing details, he has won several prestigious motor racing knowledge awards, during the Test day he pointed out that the arch in the Folly above was part of the pre war Grand Prix circuit through which the likes of the Mercedes Benz W154 along with Alfa Romeo’s, Auto Unions and ERA’s once raced in anger !

The works Gulf Prodrive Aston Martin team had three V8 Vantages present the #97 above, seen exiting Coppice, appeared to be the 2012 Le Mans entry driven by Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner which finished 19th overall and 3rd in class behind to Ferrari 458 Italia’s. The distinctive deep thump of these V8’s made it easy to tell where they were on the track even when they were not in view.

When we got back to the pits we found Terry Durdin’s 1972 Formula Ford Crosslé 25F being prepared for an afternoon’s run.

Another rumbling monster with a Le Mans history was this Sunbeam Tiger Coupé, one of two built by Lister for the Rootes Groups 1964 Le Mans challenge. Keith Ballisat and Claude Dubois qualified 34th for the endurance classic but both cars, powered by Ford 4,2 litre / 260 cui motors failed to finish due to engine failure.

There were two Ferrari’s present a 360 and this F430 driven by Sam Smeeth.

Following in the footsteps of Danica Patrick is the ambitious Laura Tillet who has stepped up to Formula Renault this year. Here her Fortec run Tatuus FR2000 is being prepared for a last minute run before the track closed at 5pm.

We did not time all the cars but thought the 2 litre / 122 cui BMW powered Ralt RT1 Formula 2 car of Philip Harper was amongst the quickest on the track. Ted Walker told us that Philip was running laps in the 1 min 02 second bracket. Tim and I reckoned Philips time would have seen him challenging James Hunt and Mario Andretti for second or third place at the very first meeting held at Donington Park the Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy in 1979. To be fair the 3 litre / 183 cui cars of Hunt and Andretti had a much slower chicane to negotiate than Philip did.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cum On Feel The Noize” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Summer Classics – Easter Compton

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Halfway between Bristol and the former holiday resort Severn Beach lies Washingpool Farm just outside Easter Compton which played host to Summer Classics at the weekend.

By no means the biggest show I have attended this year, what Summer Classics lacked in quantity it more than made up with in quality and good company on Saturday. Above is a 150 hp V8 that took part in a race, possibly the greatest race of all time the nuclear arms race. This 1971 6 x 6 Zil 131 was fitted out as a Zelda R140 mobile radio station designed to be used as a mobile command center. The cabs for the radio operators on the back of the trucks were designed to survive nuclear fall out and thus ensure the possibility of mutual destruction !

The Type 3 Transporter / Multivan above is one of the last 6, 2494 of 2500, Last Limited Edition (LLE) Multivans made in 1992. There was also a Redstar limited edition available to VW employees only and production of the Type 3 continued in Mexico until 2003. This particular LLE Multivan is a particularly quick camper having been fitted with a 230 hp 3.3 liter / 201 cui Subaru flat six motor, Porsche gearbox and brakes and a Scania Shifter.

Saturdays ‘car manufacturer I had never even heard of before’ was Paramount. The 1953 Paramount Sports above featuring an aluminium body on an ash frame is one of only 3 road worthy Paramount vehicles from a total of 80 of all types thought to exist.

After the MG Rover group disappeared in 2005 the MG marque was revived in 2011 with help from many former employees who were re employed at the MG Motor UK Technical Center by new owners of the MG marque SAIC Motor. The MG6 GT above, built from a complete knock down kit supplied by SAIC was assembled at Longbridge, home to the former MG Rover Group. Despite a successful presence in the British Saloon Car Championship production volumes so far are thought to be small probably not yet reaching a thousand.

I have never sat in a Peterbilt before, nor a TV star nor a vehicle that has 1,000,000 miles, I ticked all those boxes on Saturday when I climbed into the cab of Straight 8 a 1993 Peterbilt which was featured in Trick My Truck in January 2007. As can be seen the truck has over 1.2 million miles on the clock !

The Rover 3500S came in two different forms for the UK Market S stood for Synchromesh as used in the four speed manual gearbox while in the US Market all Rover 3500 S models were automatics. Looking at the dash this is clearly a right hand drive vehicle, unfortunately I did not notice if the car was a converted LHD automatic or a UK supplied manual making use of the Rover parts bin with a US spec front number plate mounting, ice warning device seen to the left of the number plate and US spec bonnet with three air intakes. The wipers would suggest this is a UK spec car with some US spec goodies.

Unlike Bristol Cars which refrained from using the names of Bristol Aeroplanes, it’s parent organisation, for it’s vehicles until 1975 Armstrong Siddeley used the names of it’s parent companies WW2 aircraft, including Hurricane and Lancaster upon the the resumption of vehicle manufacture in 1945. The Sphinx mascot is seen above on a 1953 Armstrong Siddeley Whitley which takes it’s name from a twin engined bomber that is named after a suburb of Coventry where Armstrong Siddeley’s were built.

My personal vote for car of the show goes to this 1936 Lincoln Zephyr. This V12 was occupied by a family of four with an outsize classic TV and was making it’s way on a 1600 plus mile holiday journey from Dresden, Germany at an eye watering 21 mpg imperial / 18 mpg US !

Among many storied cars at the Summer Classics Show on Saturday was this Singer Le Mans built in December 1935 it took part in the 1936 Exeter Trials with HD Acres at the wheel as can be seen on this link. By 1939 the Singer had acquired the large centre fog light and was in the hands of RJW Appleton who used it to compete in the Lands End Trial. The present owner spent many years rebuilding the Singer after acquiring a big box of ‘bits’.

The “striped tomato” 1974 Ford Gran Torino seeen above is one of the first six built in 1973, for the ’74 model year. It was picked up by it’s current owner in San Francisco with a straight body and has been slowly restored since with well over £6k in suspension parts alone. By all accounts Paul “Michael” Glaser took an instant disliking to the car with which he will be forever associated as Starsky from the Starsky & Hutch TV series. He thought the car looked like a ridiculous ride for a supposed undercover cop and referred to it as striped tomato both in private and later in scripts for the show.

Fresh paintwork and equally fresh cream leather interior suggest this 1953 Sunbeam Alpine Mk I has been recently restored, love the way the Brooklands Aero screens sets the look of this car apart from it’s 1.582 siblings that were built from 1953 to 1955.

BSA first built the 591cc / 36 cui M21 in 1937, with production lasting until 1963 ! Used by the armed forces and in large numbers with combination sidecars, as seen with the 1951 model above, by the Automobile Association (AA) as roadside assistance units.

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

Coffee, Croissant & Cars – Avenue Drivers Club

William Boddy – Brooklands Tribute

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On Saturday events conspired to allow me to visit for the first time the worlds first purpose built motor sport venue, Brooklands.

Brooklands was built in 1907, it was simultaneously also one of Britains first airfields. Brooklands became a centre of engineering excellence and racing continued their interrupted only by the Great War of 1914 – 1918. By 1939 what would become the all time lap record was set at 143.44 mph by John Cobb. A well known photo of John’s record breaking run show’s his 24 litre / 1461 cui Napier Railton, weighing several tons, flying along with all four wheels off the ground ! Such was the unevenness of the track. After the second world war racing failed to resume as industrial and residential pressures on the previously rural circuit took it’s toll on the circuits fabric.

Enthusiasts gathered on Saturday to pay tribute to William ‘Bill’ Boddy MBE who in a career spanning 81 years served as editor of the publication Motor Sport from 1936 – to 1991. He famously kept the magazine going through out WW2 during his spare time while working for the Ministry of Aircraft Production.

Bill passed away in July and this Saturdays gathering included many of the actual cars, like this 1926 Sunbeam 3 Litre Super Sports, with which Bill had been associated during a career that played a significant part in firing this writers imagination during his miss spent youth. Owner of the Sunbeam Oliver Heal tells me WB was a passenger in this car one cold wet November day while being chaufferred by John Wyer, future team manager at Aston Martin, Ford and of his own Gulf Sponsored JWA teams that successfully ran Ford, Porsche and Mirage chassis in sports car races.

In 1930 Bills first article published in Motor Sport was on the history Brooklands, the above 1907 Berliet V8 seen on The Hill is contemporaneous with the year the track opened 20 years before Bill made his first visit to Brooklands.

One of my favourite irregular features in Motor Sport is Bills ‘Forgotten Makes’ series into which category I would have to include this 1926 Gwynne 8 of which WB, as Bill was known to his readers, owned 3 using one as his transport through out WW2.

The ‘racing dentist’ Tony Brooks is seen above on the left retelling his memories of WB when his career was in the ascendant scoring the first Grand Prix win, since 1923, by an Englishman driving a British built car, the Connaught, at Syracuse in 1955.

While working at the Ministry of Aircraft Production WB met conscientious objector Denis ‘DSJ’ Jenkinson who was building a motorcycle by torch light in a shed during WW2. WB would eventually employ DSJ, who was so obsessed with racing that when he settled down he eschewed both mains electricity and mains water, to become Continental Correspondent at Motor Sport. Among many cars that DSJ enjoyed was the red E-Type Jaguar above in which he drove 110,000 miles between 1965 and 1970 visiting all the top races and the best circuits in Europe during that time.

This 1947 Volkswagen was road tested by WB in 1952, he was so impressed VW’s that he used them for editorial transportation. This particular vehicle is possibly also responsible for coining the ‘Beetle’ name for the model, VW importer and owner of this car John Colborne-Barber founded the VW Owners Club of Great Britain and published a magazine called ‘Beetling’ because contemporaries of his sons at school referred to this very car as a ‘Beetle’.

Finally perhaps the greatest thrill of the WB tribute day was to see a few of the cars, including Cobb’s Napier-Railton, that made history at Brooklands being demonstrated out on part of what the remains of the famous 100 ft wide Brooklands banking. Sure they were only tootling about having fun, but the noise was absolutely unforgettable and sure to have been heard by the spirit of WB where ever it resides. A fitting tribute to the man who was involved in saving much of what remains at Brooklands for us to enjoy well into the future.

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

Classic Expo – Race Retro, Stoneleigh, Coventry 2/2.

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Today I am concluding my overview of the Race Retro exhibition I started yesterday.

One of the things I loved about this exhibition was exhibitors enthusiasm to show visitors

what was under the bonnet of their exhibits.

Several exhibitors displayed their handy work and craftsmanship in the form of finished motors for display.

There was far more to see than my six hour visit would allow, I did not get a chance to look in any detail at the many motor cycles on display.

The event is best described as a mini Goodwood Festival of Speed,

slightly more intimate because of the smaller crowds but still like being a kid in a toy shop.

With thanks to Tim Murray and the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club without home this blog would not have been possible.

Hope you have enjoyed my overview of the Race Retro Exhibition and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for for a look at the first of a couple of vehicle manufacturers I do not recall hearing of before visiting Race Retro. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring