Tag Archives: T3

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In 1932 John Newton Cooper probably became the luckiest 9 year old in Surbiton when his Dad, Cooper Garage proprietor Charles Cooper, built him a car with a motor cycle engine and gearbox in the front and a chain drive to the rear axle.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Peter Harvey, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

By the time John turned 14 in 1936 his dad had built him another car using Austin Seven components which many years later would be retrospectively given the name T1.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Peter Harvey, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

At the same time as Charles was building cars for his son an informal group of motoring enthusiasts known as CAPA were formulating idea’s for an affordable motor sport category and Dick Caesar, the C in CAPA is credited with the idea of using 500 cc motorcycle engines to power specials that could be devised for the category.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Peter Harvey, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

A second group of enthusiasts competing at Shelsley Walsh were also turning to using motor cycle engines for their specials which included David Fry who built a vehicle known as the Freikaiserwagen.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

During the ’39 – ’45 war some members of CAPA and others found themselves working at the Bristol Aircraft Company where they formed a motor sports club to further think through their ideas, in 1946 this club was wound up in favour of a non works ‘500 Club’ aimed at organising events for their “500 Formula” which eventually became an internationally recognised category known as Formula 3.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

When 23 year old John Cooper and his friend Eric Brandon were looking for a way into motor sport they decided that the new 500 Formula was the way to go and turned to John’s Dad Charles for help.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

Charles helped John and Eric build two Cooper 500’s which featured FIAT Topolino 500 suspension front and rear connected by a simple frame and a JAP motor, prepared for speedway competition, behind the driver with a gearbox and chain drive to the rear wheels.

These two cars became the first two of an eventual 320 Formula 500 vehicles Cooper Cars are thought to have built between 1946 and 1959, by which time Jack Brabham was on his way to the first of two consecutive world championships driving Coopers latest mid engined Formula One cars.

Peter Harvey is seen at last years Cholmondeley Pageant of Power driving the second Cooper 500 Prototype built for Eric Brandon which was retrospectively given the T3 tag.

Thanks for joining me on this “Can You Help Us Dad ?” edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I be starting a short series of blogs on concept cars. Don’t forget to come back now !

Last Rear Engined Dubs – Volkswagen Type 2 (T3)

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The Type 2 (T3) was the last all new rear engined design from Volkswagen who’s reputation had been founded on the rear engined Beetle stretching back to 1945. By 1979 the water cooled Golf was already rewritting Volkswagen history when the Type 2 (T3) with it’s distinctive squared features appeared on the market.

The Scooby Doo Mystery Machine above belongs to RRElite Ltd and has been kitted out with customised ‘Scooby Doo’ seats for six passengers, flat panel TV screens for the DVD player, state of the art sound system and LED ambient lighting. Of course ‘Scooby Snacks’ can be ordered when hiring this vehicle.

German production of the Type 2 (T3) came to a halt in 1992, above is #2494 of the Last Limited Edition of which 2500 were produced in Hannover. This vehicle now boasts a handy 230 hp Subaru flat six motor coupled to a Porsche gearbox and fitted with Porsche brakes to keep it under control.

Variations of the Type 2 (T3) include one fitted with a Porsche Carrera motor to support the Porsche 959 Paris Dakar entry, and a water cooled fuel injected alloy six cylinder version which started as a Volkswagen Project but was completed by the German Tuning Firm Oettinger known as the WBX6.

In 1990 production of Type 2 (T3)’s started in South Africa, these were powered by the famous Volkswagen Audi Group fuel injected 5 cylinder Audi motors. The last South African Type 2 (T3) rolled off the assembley line in 2002.

Back in 1992 my then girlfriend and I acquired a 1983 vintage Type 2 (T3) that had served as a builders van and had been fully insulated and paneled inside. We bought it for £950 with one years MOT and tax drove it over 12,000 miles in a year and had so much fun with it we never had time to take a photo and sold it one year later for £1200 with no MOT or Tax and an exhaust that needed repair !

Thanks for joining me on this “Last Rear Engined Dub” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when the blog will be going purple for Americana Thursday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Born In A Barn – Volvo 760 Turbo Intercooler

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While I was a Salesman and later Quality Controller at a Volvo dealership in South London, I took these photographs of a fully loaded top of the range 1987 760 Turbo Intercooler, complete with colour coded body upgrades, parked on Downnton Avenue in Streatham which served as the dealership car park for the myriad of vehicles we were not able to keep on site for want of space.

I was fascinated to learn that thanks to a bad case of lumbago Product Manager Hans Gustavsson arranged for the barn at his summer cottage to be converted to the 760 projects operational head quarters where Jans Wilsgaard drew many of the lines for the emergent new car while Hans directed the planning of the product from his stretcher.

Development of the 760 started in 1975 when thanks to the oil crises demands on what the new car should look like were changing almost daily.

Unlike the wind cheating designs of it’s many competitors including Rover 3500, Jans Wilsgaards design took it’s queues from various customer surgeries in the new cars intended market the USA. If the original 240 was brick like in it’s styling the 760’s styling is more like that of a breeze block rather like some of it’s contemporary down sized offerings from Cadillac and Chevrolet with a distinctive almost vertical rear window. The design caused outrage in some European automotive design circles because it flew in the face of received European wisdom of what designers were trying to achieve.

When the car was launched three engine’s were available 182 hp turbocharged 4 cylinder as seen here, 170 hp PRV (Peugeot, Renault, Volvo) V6 or 115 hp turbo straight 6 cylinder diesel. The 182hp version seen here was capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in under 8 seconds, not something that I experienced often driving around in London traffic where the average speed is 8 mph, but when ever I had the opportunity on the motorway I used to delight in the kick as the hefty Garret T3 turbocharger boosted performance under full throttle.

The range topping 760 models were in production at plants located in Kalmar Sweden, Halifax Canada and Ghent Belgium from 1982 to 1990 during which time 221,309 examples were built.

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

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: T3

34mm Turbo Restrictor – Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype

T4 Turbine – Rover T4

13 mpg – Rover T3 Coupé

Can You Help Us Dad ? – Cooper 500 Prototype

Last Rear Engined Dubs – Volkswagen Type 2 (T3)

Born In A Barn – Volvo 760 Turbo Intercooler