Tag Archives: Tickford

Glass Side Windows – Healey Tickford

In 1950 Donald Healey and Samuel Elliot fell out over their Healey Elliot 2 door saloon car which resulted in Donald turning to Tickford to build further 2 door bodies.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Tickford was founded as a builder of horse drawn coaches in the 1820’s by Joseph Salmons on Tickford Street, Newport Pagnell and diversified into building coachwork for cars in the late 1890’s.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The design for the 5 seat 2 door bodywork for the Healey Tickford is credited to Winston Chater, it was heavier than the Elliot body in part due to the replacement of the perspex window’s of the earlier model with glass items, and the introduction of a proper boot / trunk.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Healey Tickfords were built on three different versions of the Healey Chassis starting with the C Type in 1950, the BT Type in 1951 and the last on the F Type chassis in 1954.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The introduction of the BT chassis saw the additional triangular vents either side of the main radiator intake.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The Healey Tickford built from 1950 to 1954 would prove to be the most popular of the Riley powered Healey’s with 222 examples built.

Healey Tickford, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Today’s featured Healey Tickford, seen during last weeks VSCC Spring Start meeting at Silverstone, was built on a BT chassis in 1952 and first registered in the UK on October 15th the same year.

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

9 Mins Of Fame – EMKA C84/1

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Trained accountant Steve O’Rourke and EMKA productions became the management team for Pink Floyd post Syd Barrat and both Steve and drummer Nick Mason shared an interest in racing cars.

EMKA C84/1, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

Steve’s international racing career got of the ground with a Ferrari 512BB which he entered and drove from 1979 to 1980 scoring a best 7th place finish in the 1980 Silverstone 6 hours with Chris Craft and Vic Norman.

EMKA C84/1, Rudolf Ernst, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

In 1981 Steve had Michael Cane Racing convert Niki Lauda’s 1979 Project Four Motorsports BMW M1 Procar to a more liberal Group 5 spec and raced that for two season’s scoring a best 2nd place in the 1981 Silverstone 6 Hours whith Derek Bell and David Hobbs sharing the cockpit, Nick Mason also co drove Steve’s BMW M1 on it’s two outings in 1982.

EMKA C84/1, Rudolf Ernst, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

For 1983 Steve made the bold decision to follow in the footsteps of Robin Hamilton and Nimrod to build his own Aston Martin powered Le Mans challenger the EMKA C83/1.

EMKA C84/1, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

Len Bailey who was based at Gomm Metal Developments in Woking did the design work, Gomm did the metal work, the fibre glass body was constructed by Protoco, Aston Martin Tickford supplied 5,340 cc / 325.8 cui V8 engine and the whole car was prepared for competition by Micheal Cane Racing.

EMKA C84/1, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

On it’s debut at Silverstone the C83/1 was driven by Tiff Needell, Jeff Allam and Steve, they qualified 17th but retired on the last lap due to a failed wheel bearing. Nick Faure replaced Jeff at Le Mans for the 24 hour race where the car qualified 25th and finished 17th despite spending 2 hours in the pits with a suspension problem.

EMKA C84/1, Rudolf Ernst, Silverstone Classic Test Day,

Due to uncertainty over the 1984 fuel regulations the C83/1 did not race again until 1985, by which time the ground effect venturi had been replaced with a flat floor, the rear suspension had been revised and the car had been renumbered as C84/1.

EMKA C84/1, Tiff Needell, Mark Galvin, Steve O'Rourke, Brands Hatch, 1000 kms

At Silverstone the C84/1 driven by Steve, Tiff and Bob Evans was nearly four seconds a lap in qualifying than two years earlier and qualified 15th for the six hour race but it retired again this time due to an engine issue.

Nick Faure again drove the car at Le Mans in 1985, in place of Bob, and the trio were now nine seconds a lap faster in qualifying and started from 13th on the grid. By employing an out of sequence fuel strategy Tiff Needell was able to lead the 24 Hour classic for 9 mins during the opening hours before finishing a respectable 11th.

C84/1 appeared at Spa where James Weaver took over the guest seat from Nick Faure and at Brands Hatch, as seen in the last photo where Mark Galvin took over from James. The car qualified 17th and 10th respectively, retiring from both races fuel pressure and drive belt issues respectively.

Steve retired from competition until 1991 when he returned racing GT’s winning the British GT GT2 and GT1 class drivers championships with co-driver Tim Sugden in 1997 and 1998 respectively, his highest Le Mans finish was 4th also in 1998 when he shared his McLaren with Tim and Bill Auberlen.

A second EMKA was built in 1989 using the discarded ground effect floor from the C83/1 and spare parts from C84/1 including the revised type of suspension, with the original red C83/1 bodywork.

Owner Rudolf Ernst is seen at the wheel of C84/1 in the photo’s above taken at the Silverstone Classic Test Day earlier this year.

Thanks for joining me on this “9 Mins Of Fame” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another Le Mans Challenger from Mercedes Benz. Don’t forget to come back now !

Classics @ Autumn Classic – Castle Combe

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Today’s post looks at some of the non combatants seen at Castle Combe’s Autumn Classic meeting a couple of weeks ago.

Wolseley Hornet, Crayford, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

The story behind the 57 1966 Wolseley Hornet Crayford convertibles has all the makings of a great movie seeing as it involves a global baked bean brand, an exclusive deal with a company operating out of two private garages in London and a nudist colony, the rest of the details will have to wait for a future blog.

FIAT 850 Coupé, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

At my very first race meeting out in Zambia one of the more unlikely competitors drove a FIAT 850 Coupé like the 1969 example above on the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club stand.

Aston Martin DB Mk III FHC, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

The 1959 Aston Martin Fixed Head Coupé with a Tickford notch body is an extremely rare vehicle, only five were ever built.

Daimler Dart SP 250, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

If I had any spare cash I’d be seriously tempted to buy this 1963 Daimler SP250 which has just 38,000 miles on the clock, if you would like to become it’s fifth owner I have the contact details of the vendor.

Humber Sceptre Estate, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Slightly out of period was this 1976 Humber Sceptre based on a design first seen in 1967. The Sceptre Estate first seen in 1974 was one of the earliest UK station wagons to feature a light in the loading area and a rear screen wiper, the Humber name disappeared under Chrysler UK’s post 1976 branding strategy.

Bristol 450, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

One car I have been waiting see first hand for some time is the sole remaining Bristol 450 belonging to Simon Draper, I believe this car finished 7th over all and first in the 2 litre class at the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours. The prize money from the teams success was donated to victims of the 1955 Le Mans disaster after the team withdrew from the sport having scored two consecutive Le Mans class victories.

Triumph Dolomite, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

A nice quiz question what is the connection between all of the vehicles in this photograph ? Answer Donald Healey who was responsible for the Austin Healey’s in the back ground and the Hudson Terraplane inspired 1937 Triumph Dolomite Saloon in the foreground.

Lotus IX, Mike Marsden, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Former Concorde wind tunnel engineer and Historic Lotus Register Lotus Mk IX registrar Mike Marsden is seen above in his 1955 Lotus Mk IX which he has owned since 1967.

Morris Mini Cooper S, Dave Foster, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Dave Foster is seen coming into the pits above in his immaculate 1965 Morris Mini Cooper S which he has driven in competition for the last decade clocking up 10,000 competition miles.

Horstman 4 Seater, Trevor Turpin, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Until the Autumn Classic I’d never heard of a Horstman, it turns out they made nearly 3,000 vehicles just down the road in Bath between 1915 and 1929. These days Horstman, which patented a torsion bar suspension system for tracked military vehicles in 1922, continues to specialise in suspensions for military vehicles. The 1923 Horstman above is believed to have belonged to the companies founder Sidney Horstmann OBE.

FIAT Isotta Fraschini, Mike Vardy, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

In 1905 FIAT drew up plans for a world land speed record car which was to have two in line four cylinder motors producing upto 200 hp. The car never got built but nearly 20 years ago Graham Rankin undertook to build the car anyway. 13 years later he sold the unfinished project complete with a WW1 surplus 250hp Isotta Fraschini 16.5 litre / 1014 cui 6 cylinder aero motor to Mike Vardy who spent another seven years completing the FIAT Isotta Fraschini. Mike appeared to have great fun hanging the tail out on some parts of the circuit during his demonstration.

White Whistling Billy, Robert Dyke, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Finally last year I saw this recreation White Sprint Car at Race Retro, this year I finally got to see Dr Robert R. Dyke driving it at speed, only 60% of the boilers potential pressure was used but it still moved at an impressive speed given that it only has 2 x twelve inch brake drums on the rear axle.

Thanks for joining me on this “Classics @ Autumn Classic” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a limited edition Hemi Challenger. Don’t forget to come back now !

High Class Motor Business – Aston Martin DB2

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David Brown Engineering Limited was founded in 1860 to manufacture gears and gearboxes in Huddersfield, by 1898 the company was specialising in machine cut gears. Percy and Frank Brown took over the business when their father died in 1903 and expanded production to include bearings, and worm gears. During the 1914-’18 war they also built propulsion units for warships.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

In 1931 (later Sir) David Brown became managing director after his father died and in 1936 the company entered into a partnership with Harry Ferguson to build agricultural tractors. By the end of the thirties Brown and Ferguson parted ways and Brown launched a new tractor design in 1939 of which over 7,000 would be built.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

In 1947 after seeing an advertisement in The Times offering a “High Class Motor Business” David Brown bought Aston Martin, then Lagonda the following year and the Tickford coachbuilder, in to whose premises Aston Martin production would be moved, in 1955.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

David Browns ownership of Aston Martin led to the DB prefix for models, a 2 litre sports car manufactured from 1948 to 1950 was retrospectively known as the DB1. The Aston Martin DB2 replaced the 2 litre using a upgraded DB 1 chassis to take a 2.6 litre / 158 cui development of the twin overhead cam straight six engine which W O Bentley and William (Willie) Watson had originally designed for Lagonda.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

Three Aston Martin DB2’s were sent to Le Mans in 1950, George Abecassis and Lance Macklin finished fifth overall ahead of Charles Brackenbury and Reg Parnell to score a one – two class victory.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

A car tested with the Frank Feeley designed coupé body was tested in 1950 and shown to be capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in 11.2 seconds with a top speed of 116 mph. In all 411 DB2’s were built between 1950 and 1953.

Today’s featured 1952 DB2 is seen at an Avenue Drivers Club meeting earlier this year.

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

Wall Of Noise – Aston Martin AMR 1 #01 & #03

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In 1989 Group C sports car racing reached new heights popularity among manufacturers when Aston Martin joined in the fun as a manufacturer. Aston Martin Tickford had supplied motors for the Nimrod Group C cars that were run from 1982 until 1984. They also supplied the even less successful EMKA Productions and Cheetah teams which ran sporadically from 1983 to 1985.

Aston Martin AMR1, Le Mans

The seeds of the 1989 program were laid after an agreement between Aston’s owners Victor Gauntlet and Peter Livanos that Aston Martin should go the whole hog and manufacture a Le Mans challenger wholly in house. A month after they announced their plans Ford took a controlling interest in Aston Martin and to the surprise of Gauntlet and Livanous agreed the racing program should continue on condition that it did not interfere with Aston’s production vehicles and that it would require no finance from Ford recommending a separate company should be set up to run the racing operation.

Aston Martin AMR1, Le Mans

Aston Martin and Ray Mallock, using the Ecurie Eccose name with whom he had won the junior Group C2 championship in 1986 created a new company called Proteus Technology Ltd known as Protech. Protech was to be funded for six years to the tune of £26 million by the Livanos family. Callaway Engineering was engaged to develop the 5.3 litre Aston Martin Virage V8 motor into first a 600 hp 6 litre / 366 cui motor and later a 700 hp 6.3 litre unit.

Aston Martin AMR1, Le Mans

The team hoped to have the first cars, designed by Max Bostrom, racing towards the end of 1988 and when the deadline passed they prepared themselves for a start at the first Group C race of 1989. An accident during testing meant the team were without a car to take to the first race of 1989 and so attracted a US$ 250,000 fine for missing the race.

Aston Martin AMR1, Le Mans

The AMR1’s first appearance was at Dijon where AMR1/01 driven by David Leslie and Brian Redman finished a distant 17th. At Le Mans which was a non championship event two cars were entered the #18 AMR1/01 for Redman, Micheal Roe and Costas Los while the #19 AMR/03 was driven by Leslie, Ray Mallock and David Sears.

Aston Martin (Callaway) RDP87, Le Mans

Despite circulating in a wall of noise equal to anything heard in the NASCAR Sprint Cup the AMR1’s were short on horsepower and overweight the #18 qualified 32nd while the #19 could only qualify 40th. The #19, seen at Arnage below, eventually retired with electrical issues early on the Sunday morning of the race while the #18 soldiered round to an 11th place finish.

Aston Martin AMR1, Le Mans

In the next race, at Brands Hatch, Redman and Leslie scored the teams best result a 4th place finish. Aston Martin finished the season 6th behind Mercedes-Benz, two private Porsche teams, Jaguar and Nissan but ahead of the factory Toyota team.

During the course of 1989 Bernie Ecclestone convinced the FIA that the future of Sports Car racing lay with 3.5 litre engine rules as required in Formula One from 1991. Aston Martin had no choice but to withdraw at the end of 1989 as they had no suitable engine and Ford had given the nod to Jaguar to use it’s own Ford Cosowrth HB V8 Formula One engine, and running the unfinished Aston Martin AMR2 for a year made no sense.

My thanks to fausto at The Nostalgia Forum for finding the link to the AMR2 wind tunnel models.

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

Satoru’s Fastest Lap – Lotus Judd 101

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1989 saw the phenomenally expensive 1200 – 1500 hp 1.5 litres / 91.5 cui turbo charged engines that had first been seen in Formula One racing in 1977 and that had come to dominate the sport by 1983 finally outlawed in 1989. New regulations mandating 3.5 litre / 213 cui motors were introduced for the 1989 season but Honda who had come to dominate the last years of the turbo era were about to dominate the opening years of the new normally aspirated era with a V10 motor that was simply more reliable and more powerful than the opposition.

Lotus Judd 101, Classics at the Castle, Sherborne

Team Lotus were on the upper slopes of steep decline in 1989 neither Nelson Piquet or Satoru Nakajima had offered the dominant McLaren’s with whom they shared an engine supplier in 1988 much by way of competition, and Lotus finished a poor 4th behind Ferrari and Benetton when their motors should have been good enough to finish second behind McLaren.

Lotus Judd 101, Race Retro, Stonleigh

For 1989 Lotus lost their Honda deal and ended up with Judd V8 CV spec motors while Judd’s preferred customer March was on EV spec motors.

Lotus Judd 101, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

The 1989 Lotus 101 cars were designed by Frank Dernie a former Williams aerodynamicist Frank Dernie whom Nelson Piquet had persuaded to defect, though by the time Frank arrived much of the design had been completed by future short lived MWR, Micheal Waltrip Racing, design consultant Mike Coughlan.

Lotus Judd 101, Classics at the Castle, Sherborne

In order to save weight and seek aerodynamic advantage on their competitors the Lotus 101 cockpit was so narrow that Momo were commissioned to build ultra narrow steering wheels so that Nelson and Satoru did not scrape their knuckles on the cockpit sides.

Lotus Judd 101, Race Retro, Stonleigh

Lotus entered an agreement with Tickford to develop 5 valve per cylinder heads for their 2nd string Judd V8’s to make up some of the 125 hp the CV motors had on the most powerful Honda V10’s but the idea was eventually scrapped mid season.

Lotus Judd 101, Classics at the Castle, Sherborne

Team Lotus scored four seasons high 4th places 3 for Nelson and one for Satoru enough with two more points finishes for Nelson to secure 6th place for Team Lotus in the 1989 Championship.

Lotus Judd 101, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Possibly the most remarkable result for the team came at the season ends Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide where the race was run in monsoon conditions, only 8 of the 26 qualifiers were running at the races end and of them Satoru Nakajima came through from 23rd of the grid to finish 4th and final runner on the lead lap. In the process Satoru recorded the races fastest lap a feat he would never repeat.

Lotus Judd 101, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Although Lotus were running second string Judd CV engines they finished ahead, in championship points, of the other Judd users Brabham; March, and Euro Brun the latter who like Yamaha powered Zakspeed failed to even pre qualify for a single on of the seasons 16 races.

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

5th Rare Breeds Show – Haynes International Motor Museum

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Last Sunday I managed to pop out for a couple of hours to catch the 5th Rare Breeds Show at the Haynes International Motor Museum.

Back in 1928 $2,450 could get you this Studebaker President 8 Limousine powered by a 100 hp 5121 cc / 313 cui straight 8 motor. This car which competed on price with Chrysler and Buick but in interior finish with Packard and Duesenburg, was built in Walkerville Canada and is believed to be the only one of 2450 built still on the road. It is operated as a wedding car by vintage-wheels.co.uk.

Rolls Royce New Phantoms, built from 1925 to 1929 replaced the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost series, with a new overhead valve six cylinder motor replacing the side valve motors of the earlier models. These cars were built in Derby England and Springfield Massachusetts. This 1929 model would be one of the last New Phantoms built, they were replaced in 1929 by the Phantom II at which point New Phantoms became retrospectively known as Phantom I’s. I hope you are paying attention in the back there, this car was one of several at the rare breeds show operated by rrelite.co.uk.

Weighing a ton but armed with a 87 hp motor a Lea Francis 14(taxable)hp Sports could reach 87 mph with steering and, rod operated, brakes to match. Unfortunately it’s price meant just 111 of these car were built between 1947 and 1949. This 1948 example is one of over 40 known survivor’s.

With a name that translates from German to Russian into Sputnik the East German Trabant P50 was launched in 1958 with two cylinder 18 hp 500 cc / 30.5 cui aircooled two stroke motor derived from a pre war DKW. The body made extensive use of Duroplast made from recycled cotton waste from the Soviet Union and local phenol resigns from the dye industry. This 1962 P60 is fitted with the more power powerful 23 hp 600cc / 36.6 cui motor that would remain in production, from 1964 in the ‘updated’ 601 series bodies, until the collapse of the Berlin wall 1989.

Despite having only 27,000 miles on the clock this 1966 Volkswagen Type 2 has many stories to tell, it started out like as a fire truck at Zurich Airport, it has rare for the period sliding doors on both sides to facilitate access to the fire pump that used to be inside. It then served as a fire truck in a Swiss Village, with 15,000 miles on the clock it came to the UK in 2003 and was bought and returned to it’s original factory supplied colours by Ross Gammie who discovered that it’s 53 hp was not really enough to pull his Porsche 908 race car. Since it’s redesignation as a race support vehicle the van with it’s period correct Porsche 356 wheels has since changed hands again.

Amazingly the FT Bonito Special above also started life as a Volkswagen, a 1967 Beetle, before a conversion was started in 1986 to turn the bug into an FT Bonito, a kit car from a company called Fibrefab. The current owner found it unfinished in a garden in 1999 and has since brought it too life with a VW Golf motor. This is thought to be the only competition version of an FT Bonito ever to have been built.

David Roots Lenham ALFA Romeo special was looking resplendent, even on a dull day, as usual.

The New York ‘cab’ above is a 1978 Checker Marathon with a 160 hp 5735 cc / 350 cui V8 motor. The car is also operated for weddings and filming by rrelite.co.uk . Among it’s credits is an appearance in the 2008 Boyzone number Love You Anyway.

I looked in detail at a Chevrolet Corvette C3 some weeks ago the 1978 model seen here has the $399 B2Z 25th Anniversary option two tone paintwork along with the 25th Anniversary mandatory $380 option aluminium wheels and sport door mirrors.

The Tickford Capri is a Ford sanctioned hand built Ford Capri with a 205 hp turbocharged motor that cost double the price of a standard 170 hp Ford Capri 2.8i. This 1984 example #002 was the first type approved version, ordered by someone desperately keen to have one built as close to the prototype show car before Tickfords had even moved into the planned production facility for the series.

The 1984 Pontiac Trans Am based Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T) was developed for the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG) by Wilton Knight and was essentially an artificially intelligent electronic computer module installed in an advanced, mobile, robotic automobile.

The original 1982 K.I.T.T was a hard top, but no doubt in danger of getting a hot head due to his crime fighting success, it was deemed that Micheal Knight be given a Targa Top for the 1985 crime wave. This particular K.I.T.T thought to be one of thirty built is operated by rrelite.co.uk.

This 1991 Midas Cortez is the spiritual ancestor of the Mini Marcos with Rover Metro running gear.

Thanks for joining me on this “5th Rare Breeds Show” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l 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: Tickford

Glass Side Windows – Healey Tickford

9 Mins Of Fame – EMKA C84/1

Classics @ Autumn Classic – Castle Combe

High Class Motor Business – Aston Martin DB2

Wall Of Noise – Aston Martin AMR 1 #01 & #03

Satoru’s Fastest Lap – Lotus Judd 101

5th Rare Breeds Show – Haynes International Motor Museum