GALPOT Weekly #10

Welcome to the tenth edition of GALPOT Weekly, last week was spent reviewing what I can only describe as an unexpectedly interesting year.



On Monday I started with a review of some of the Museums I have visited this year, amongst many vehicles I have seen in the flesh for the first time was this 1976 Hill GH2 at the Donington Park Museum.



Throughout the year Geoffry Horton has kindly sent me photo's from the Concours d'Elegance events some of which I reviewed on Tuesday. Among the many completely unknown vehicle manufacturers to me until Geoffrey sent me photographs was this 1952 Maverick Sportster seen above at Palos Verdes Concours d'Elegance in September.



Of the events I reviewed on Wednesday my first visit to Brooklands and seeing some of the cars of the Brooklands era noodling around what remains of the banking was amongst the most memorable.



On Thursday I reviewed some of the motor sporting highlights of my year which included winning a trophy for driving up a muddy hill and seeing the Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458 being shared by Phil Dryburgh and John Gaw take an overall win at Castle Combe.



Friday I cast an all too brief swift glance over some of the Ferrari's that I have seen and featured this year including the 312 B3 Chassis #010 the very first Ferrari I ever saw taking part in a race.



For Christmas Eve yesterday I retold the amazing story of Mr Leonard Williams '32 Highboy Ford Boeing Roadster the first privately owned gas turbine powered car, which today resides with the Le May Museum.



For Christmas Day I have been looking at the Allard J2 on Lake Orion which belonged to Del Lee and today belongs to GALPOT Birthday Boy John Aibel.

The next 8 days will be taken up with the Automobiliart/GALPOT Seasonal Quiz details of which can be found below.

I hope you will join me daily for the Automobiliart/GALPOT Seasonal Quiz in the week ahead at GALPOT. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Don't forget ...

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz



December 26th - January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards



Set 1 Sports & GT Cars



Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition



Set 3 1934 Season



Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950's

or



Set 5 Mike Hawthorn's Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th - January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea's? Visit Automobiliart Now !

GALPOT Weekly #9

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #9, most weeks I manage to have my posts prepared a week in advance so this week I have been preparing the Automobiliart / GALPOT seasonal quiz, the experience has proved to be a strange mixture of sadism and masochism on the one hand the more difficult the questions the more fun the quiz on the other hand the more difficult the questions the more difficult it has been to establish the facts that constitute the answers. I hope I have struck a balance that ensures that everyone who reads the blog gets some pleasure from answering the questions.



On to the last weeks blogs, I started the week with my very first mini road test, the model under scrutiny was the frugal Honda CR-Z a hybrid small on the outside comfortably spacious on the inside and on the evidence of the short test it should be a hit for commuters.



It's hard not to like the type of car you first had the opportunity to drive at 100 mph, legally. Such is the case with the shapely Opel Manta S which I looked at on Tuesday, not exactly a muscle car but for us young Europeans wanting to be cool definitely an affordable fastback to aspire to.



On Wednesday I looked at possibly one of the last vehicles designed in the opulent style of the optimistic '50's Project Sunbird which became the Ford Consul Capri was a pretty cool looking car for the 1950's but it's poor sales figures perhaps reflect the fact that it was not available to the public until 1961 by which time a less gregarious more functional style was beginning to take hold of the automotive markets imagination.




I returned to look at a traditional muscle car on Americana Thursday a 1970 Pontiac Le Mans Sport not quite as cool as the Pontiac GTO of the period but most eyes in Europe would probably not be able to tell the difference, I, a Two Lane Black Top fan, certainly struggled to identify it correctly.



On Friday courtesy of Geoffrey Horton I was able to take a look at story of the Ferrari 375MM Viganle chassis #0286AM that Phil Hill drove with Ritchie Ginther on the 1954 Carrera Panamericana recording an average speed of 137 mph over the 572 miles of the last days stage of the event on which they recovered a second place finish after running out of fuel the previous day.



The cute little Lotus Climax 21 Formula Junior car was the subject of yesterday's blog, the British Racing Green and yellow paintwork of which certainly resonates with some readers.



Today's GALPOT blog is all about the road going version of Fords Le Mans sportscar racing programme the rare Ford GT40 Mk 3 of which only seven were built despite the success of the racing siblings of which 100 were produced.

Coming up next week I'll be reviewing the GALPOT year starting with a review of Museums visited tomorrow a review of Concours d'Elegance vehicles on Tuesday and moving on to motoring and sporting events towards the end of the week.

I hope you will join me daily for all this and more to come in the week ahead at GALPOT. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Don't forget ...

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz



December 26th - January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards



Set 1 Sports & GT Cars



Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition



Set 3 1934 Season



Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950's

or



Set 5 Mike Hawthorn's Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th - January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea's? Visit Automobiliart Now !

GALPOT Weekly #8

Seems like only yesterday I started the first GALPOT weekly and suddenly I am on week 8, how time flies when your having fun.



This week started with a look at the Piagio Ape Cross Country, a youth orientated pick up based on a ubiquitous vehicle which not only keeps a large part of the Italian economy on wheels but also keeps a large number of passengers on the move on the Indian sub continent.



Getting Smart on Tuesday I looked at the Opel GT a mini European Corvette which featured on the intro to the 1969/70 to the a well known secret agent TV series.



On Wednesday I looked at a unique camper based on the Ford Zodiac Mk 4 featuring a camper addition built by the founders of the Ginetta sports car manufacturer.



Thursdays blog featuring the Martini Corvette used in endurance racing by the John H Daniel team was dedicated to my friend and Corvette fan Sebastian who got married yesterday.



For Ferrari Friday I looked at the latest in stylish shooting brakes the 208 mph all wheel drive Ferrari FF.



Yesterday it was a return to a little light carceaology with a look at a Lotus 23 with some hill climbing history in Austria.



Rounding out the week today I am looking at the bespoke Aston Martin Virage that was designed to use parts from Audi, Volkswagen, General Motor's, Chrysler and Ford prior to the latter taking over the marque in in 1988.

Coming up next week I'll be looking at the future of motoring with first ever GALPOT road test tomorrow, on Tuesday I'll be featuring a model of the type in which I first legally clocked 100 mph, and on Wednesday I'll be keeping warm looking at Project Sunbird.

I hope you will join me daily for all this and more to come in the week ahead at GALPOT. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Don't forget ...

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz



December 26th - January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards



Set 1 Sports & GT Cars



Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition



Set 3 1934 Season



Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950's

or



Set 5 Mike Hawthorn's Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th - January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea's? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Galpot Weekly #7

Another riveting week at GALPOT started with a visit courtesy of Geoffrey Horton to the Peterson Museum.



Amongst the many photo's Geoffrey kindly sent me from the Phil Hill Tribute Night was this one of the Pierce Arrow in which Phil Hill learned to drive.



On Tuesday it back to the swinging sixties at Goodwood Festival of Speed for a look at the Vauxhall XVR this manufacturers first ever concept vehicle designed by Wayne Cherry and David Jones.



On Wednesday one of GALPOT's regular readers and staunchest supporters was thrilled to learn that his wife's favorite actress, Dame Judi Dench, starred in an episode of Z - Cars (pronounced Zed) a kitchen sink police drama that featured Mk 3 Ford Zephyrs like the one above as patrol cars.



The evocative artwork of Paul Chenard, like the drawing of the Maserati 250 F motor above was featured on Thursdays GALPOT. Paul's work can be acquired direct from his Automobiliart.com site. Paul has kindly agreed to sponsor the Automobiliart Season Quiz which will start on December 26th, see details at the conclusion of this post, the winner will be invited to choose his prize from one of five sets of greetings cards.



Ferrari Friday featured the 456M the last Ferrari model built with pop up head lights.



Yesterday GALPOT retold the remarkable story of the Lotus 22 and scandalous accusations in a German Magazine that lead to a £1000 pound bet between Lotus founder Colin Chapman and German journalist Richard von Frankenberg.



Galpot rounds out the week with a look at one of just 20 Maserati A6G/54 GT Zagato Coupé's.

Thanks for joining me on this weeks GALPOT round up if you have not already had a look at the full blogs summarized here I hope you'll find time to click on the links down lighted in grey.

I'll be starting the week ahead with a look at an Italian pick up with an unusual name tomorrow, Tuesday I'll be getting smart and looking at a TV star, and Wednesday I'll be looking at a camper combination that has a Ginetta connection.

I hope you will join me daily for all this and more to come in the week ahead at GALPOT. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Don't forget ...

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz



December 26th - January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards



Set 1 Sports & GT Cars



Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition



Set 3 1934 Season



Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950's

or



Set 5 Mike Hawthorn's Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th - January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea's? Visit Automobiliart Now !