16 Blocks of Classics ! - Carmel by the sea Concours d'Elegnce 2011

Here in the UK the Autumn is already closing in with days of rain. To cheer myself up with a hint of California sunshine I thought to share with you these fabulous photo's from last month's Carmel by the sea Concours d'Elegance kindly sent to me by Geoffrey Horton.



I understand for the day of the event sixteen blocks in central Carmel are closed down and given over to that part of the motoring fraternity that is fanatical about presenting their cars built between 1945 and 1989 in better than new condition. First up a Cadillac powered 1955 Allard J2R.



When I first started reading 'Motor Sport' in 1973 the car to have in touring car racing was the 3.0 litre / 183 cui BMW CSL which in full works Group 2 specification with 'batmobile' rear wing fairly wiped the hitherto dominant Ford Capri off the top place on the winners rostrum of the European Touring Car Championship. A #55 Jaegermeister sponsored 3.0 CSL looking very much like the car in Geoffrey's photo, but without the 1974 IMSA GTO spec vented flared wheel arches, driven by Derek Bell and Harald Ertl, won the RAC Tourist Trophy on the 23rd Sept 1973.



I have already posted a blog about the unique 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible, that was declared the winner of this years Carmel Concours, so with best wishes for the Birthday boy most of you know from his posts on this blog as Jr Cracker here is a Ferrari 250 GT Boano chassis 0553 GT which has gone through several colour changes and engine changes but after a twenty plus year gap now has it's original motor safely re-installed. Last sold in January 2008 for US$ 975.000.



The 1957 Indy 500 was won by Sam Hanks in the Epperly Belond Exhaust Special, Jack Turner driving the #19 Bardahl Special a Kurtis 500G started 19th and came in 11th last man to complete the full 200 laps.



I believe this wonderful Lola T70 Mk 2 is the only car to have ever to have won a Can Am race powered by a Ford V8, a 302 cui motor fitted with Westlake heads, which Dan Gurney used to take honours in the second ever Can Am race at Bridgehampton in 1966. John Surtees won the 1966 Can Am series in a similar, but Chevrolet powered, Lola T70 Mk 2.



The vintage and history of this Morgan 4-4 is still a mystery to me but nice to see someone flying the motherlands flag in a swinging sixties style.

My thanks to Geoffrey for his wonderful photos, I hope you will join me in wishing the man behind GALPOT's Ferrari Friday's, Jr Cracker, a very Happy Birthday !

Thanks for joining me on this Jr Cracker birthday edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I'll be taking a close look at a rare Aston Martin by Touring. Don't forget to come back now !

When is a redhead not a redhead ? Ferrari 500 TRC #0690 MD TR

The other day Rowdizen jr Cracker asked if I had ever seen a Ferrari Testa Rossa driving around town the answer to which is no, but a couple of months ago I did see this Ferrari 500 TRC chassis number #0690 MD TR which came from the second batch of Ferrari vehicles with the Testa Rossa name.



Having noticed that the Alta engines of the HWM Formula 2 team had noticeably superior fuel efficiency compared to his own Colombo designed V12's which dominated the Formula 2 class Enzo instructed Aurelio Lamperdi to design a 4 cylinder 2 litre / 121 cui engine.

The Lamperdi alloy four pot featured double over head cams acting on 2 valves per cylinder. Installed in a Formula Two car this engine powered Alberto Ascari two world championshops in 1953 and 54. This 4 cylinder engine was also used in the successful 500 Mondial Sports Cars of 1954 - 56 which scored numerous class wins.



Towards the end of 1956 Vittorio Jano completed work on his update of the 500 Mondial which featured red cam covers on its Lamperdi 2 litre 4 cylinder engine and so the Testa Rossa legend was born, the TR scored a maiden win at Monza in the hands of Brits Collins and Hawthorn.

The first batch of 500 TR's were rendered almost instantly obsolete by new sports car regulations, written and introduced after the disaster at Le Mans in 1955, known as Appendix C which required sports cars to race with full width screens, a passenger door, and fuel tanks mounted outside of the cockpit. The second batch of Testa Rossa's became known as the 500 TRC of which #0690 MD TR is one of less than 20 examples.



This particular car has an unfortunate history, it was entered in the 1958 Cuban GP, an event during which pole sitter Juan Manuel Fangio was kidnapped by Castros forces and he ended up watching the race on television. Armando Garcia Cifuentes was at the wheel of #0690 when he lost control on a patch of oil, hit a curb and promptly ploughed into a spectator area. Seven spectators were killed in the accident over 40 were injured, miraculously Armando survived after being taken to hospital on the bonnet of a competitors TR.

It is not clear what happened to #0690 after that crash but the Indiana Jones of finding forgotten cars Colin Crabbe located it and it has now been restored with a non standard 12 cylinder engine allegedly sourced from a 250 GT Lusso, one of the more expensive 250 GT variants ! It is not known what happened to the original 4 cylinder Testa Rossa engine.

Note uniquely for a 500 TRC #0690 now has a large central perspex bonnet scoop for the V12 carburettors.



In order to not disappoint jr Cracker entirely here is a photo by Ed Arnaudin of a 500 TRC compete with a 4 cylinder red cam cover engine and without the large central bonnet scoop. The vehicle in this photo taken at Lime Rock possibly 24th April 1959 appears to be chassis number #0706 MD TR entered by the MJ Garber team and driven by Swiss driver Gaston Andrey.

Thanks once again to Steve Arnaudin for letting me share one of his father Ed's photos. Hope you enjoyed todays edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' hope you'll join me again tomorrow, don't forget to come back now !

What's a missing 1/4 light between friends ? - 1957 Ferrari 250 GT Ellena

It's a great honour to share another couple of Steve Anaudins Dads photo's to day this time from Lime Rock in 1959.



During the mid to late 50's Ferrari like Maserati realised that a business model focused on the production of low volume racing cars was not sustainable and so both began producing larger volume road cars, we saw the Maserati 3500 GT yesterday, Ferrari's transition was a little more chaotic with the introduction of 250 GT which was introduced in 1954 and in at least 12 different body variations.

The car was built around the staggering 280 hp 2,953cc / 180 cui Colombo Tipo 125 V12, which weighed nearly half the weight of the contemporary Jaguar XK 6 engine with a similar power output.



Amazingly the clue to the identity of this 250 GT is in the absence of the 1/4 light window in the door ! In 1956 Pinin Farina designed a prototype coupe which he did not have the capacity to build so responsibility for production was handed over to an ex Farina and Ghia coachworks employee Mario Felice Boano who produced 64 coupes all with a lower roof line than original prototype.

Not long into production Boano was employed by FIAT and so he handed production responsibilities over to his son in law Ezio Ellena who produced a couple of cars identical to the low roof line Boano, before raising the roof line and doing away with the quarter light to tidy up an already exceptionally clean and smooth design. It is thought that Ellena produced around 50 250 GT's before production of the next 250 GT upgrade was taken in house by Ferrari in 1958.

Hope you have enjoyed popping by today, thanks again to Steve Arnaudin for sharing his Dad's photographs with us and thanks to Steve's Dad for taking them in the first place.

Looking forward to trawling through my archives for tomorrow's edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres !' hope you'll join me, don't forget to come back now !