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 !

Dino Remembered - Ferrari 246S

At the end of 1955 Alfredo 'Dino' Ferrari proposed the idea of building a twin over head cam 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui V6 motor for use in second tier open wheel Formula 2 racing to his father Enzo. Soon afterwards 'Dino' was hospitalised with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, while in hospital 'Dino' discussed the technical details of his idea with legendary engineer Vittorio Jano.

Jano translated his disscusions with 'Dino' into what would become the first 'Dino' V6 which was used in Formula 2 races in 1957, by which time 'Dino' had fatally succumbed to his illness.

The motor had the two banks of cylinders unusually inclined at 65 degrees by 1958 a larger version of the 'Dino' V6 had been installed in Ferrari's Grand Prix cars and used by Mike Hawthorn to win the 1958 World Drivers Championship.

A 2 litre / 122 cui version of the 'Dino' engine was installed in a sports car, s/n #0740, for Peter Collins to drive at Goodwood in the 1958 Sussex trophy where he came 2nd. THe sports car was indistinguishable from the older Fantusi bodied 250TR apart from the 3 twin choke carburetors sticking out of the bonnet /hood where the larger engined 250 TR had 6.



Several more variations of the Dino V6 were built and raced including single over head cam versions with 60 degree inclinations between the cylinders. #0784 seen here in the hands of Bobby Verdon Roe at the Silverstone Classic was the last of the 246S models to be built in 1959.

#0784 was fitted with a twin cam V6 and uniquely with Formula One derived independent rear suspension. On it's debut Phil Hill and Graf Berghe 'Taffy' von Trips drove this chassis into second place in the 1960 Targa Florio. This would remain the cars best result despite the best efforts Richie Ginther, Ludovico Scarfiotti, Ed Hugus, Alan, Cornell jr, Ricardo & Pedro Rodriguez, and Bob Grossman.

In 1962 the car was fitted with the high tail body seen on the car today. Among it's many owners since the 1960's was Nick Mason's friend and Pink Floyd Manager Steve O'Rourke who was briefly the custodian of #0784 in 1997. More recently in 2009 Bobby Verdon Rowe and Nick Leventis took this 246S to victory lane in a one hour race at the Goodwood revival in 2009.

Thanks for joining me on the Dino V6 edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

What goes around - Ferrari 250 MM Vignale #0260MM

The Ferrari 250 MM was launched with a tube frame chassis carrying a 237 hp V12 with a Barchetta body by Carrozzeria Vignale in 1953 weighing just 850 kgs / 1874 lbs.



http://www.psychoontyres.co.uk/im-in-the-wrong-business-ferrari-860-monza-0604m/ pictured here by Geoffrey Horton at Danville Concours d'Elegance in 2007 was supplied with this vehicle by US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti and drove this Vignale 250MM to victories at Pebble Beach and Santa Barbara in 1953 and scored a class victory at Stead AFB Reno, Nevada the same year.

There after the car was retired from racing and resurfaced on the Concours circuit, at Pebble Beach in 1983. Phil appears to have driven the car competitively for the last time at the Monterey Historic races in 1984.

For the 2007 Danville Concours d'Elegance, an annual event which raises money for the Parkinson's Institute and Clinical Center, Sunnyvale, California, Phil's former employers Road & Track created the Phil Hill Trophy for the winner of the Concours event.

Phil, who suffered from and died as a result of complications from Parkinson's disease, may have been understandably a little biased when he selected the Vignale 250MM car he had once owned and raced to victory to be the inaugural winner of the trophy named after him.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who kindly sent me this image.

Thanks for stopping by today's Phil Hill Trophy edition on 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now!

Black Cat - Jaguar XK120 #670138

I'd like to thank Geoffrey Horton for sending me these photographs of Phil Hill's Jaguar XK120 at the 2007 Danville Concours de Elegance.



This chassis #670138 is known to have been raced by Phil, who was guest of honour at Danville in 2007, in at least 3 races in 1950 in which he scored two second place finishes and a win in the 100 Mile race at Pebble Beach in November 1950.



Last week it came to light that I had overlooked something in my original blog on the XK120, namely that while the standard XK 120 took it's name from it's 120 mph capability, it has transpired that Norman Dewis was bolted into an XK120 with a streamlined roof and recorded a production car record speed of 172.412 mph on the 21st October 1953 driving along a stretch of Belgian Motorway known as the Jabbeke Straight, between Bruges and Ostend.

My thanks to Terry, Tim, Allan, and Tony at The Nostalgia Forum for the additional details and thanks again to Geoffrey for today's marvellous photographs.

Hope you have enjoyed today's Black Cat edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow, Ferrari Friday, for a look at my favourite road going V8 Ferrari. Don't forget to come back now !

I'm in the wrong business - Ferrari 860 Monza #0604M

There are photographs and then there are some photographs one could write a book about, today's photograph by Carlyle Blackwell of then future world champion Phil "I'm in the wrong business" Hill driving a Ferrari 860 Monza to 2nd place overall and first in class at Pebble Beach on the 22nd of April 1956 is without question one of the latter. I'll do my best to summarise the story here.



Photo Carlyle Blackwell, Publised Courtesy Blackwell Archive, for sales enquiry's please e-mail infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk and your contact details will be forwarded to the Blackwell Archive.

The Ferrari 860 Monza is perhaps the ultimate expression of mid 1950's sports cars before the regulations governing such vehicles changed in the aftermath of the tragedy at Le Mans in 1955. Mercedes and Jaguar had withdrawn their factory supported entries from the World Championship Sports Car races entirely, though Jaguar supported successful private entries of Ecurie Ecosse at Le Mans in 1956 and 1957.

Ferrari were the only serious contenders left for the World Sports Car Championship in 1956 and the 860 was fully poised to sweep the board with a 280 hp 3432 cc / 209 cui Lamperdi straight 4 engine.

With the withdrawal of the Mercedes team from all forms of racing no less a free agent than reigning 3 time world champion Juan " El Maestro " Fangio became the 'must have' free agent of the 1956 season if not all time and Enzo recruited him to replace Ascari who had recently died in an accident.

Ferrari did not take the 860's to Buenos Aries for the first round of the Championship which let Maserati off the hook. For the Sebring 12 Hours chassis #0604 M pictured here was prepared for Fangio and the suave up and coming man Euginio Castellotti and duly took a comfortable 2 lap victory ahead of a sister 860 Monza.

Just one month later the Sebring winning car had changed ownership and now belonged to John von Neuman, himself a competent driver who would take #0604 to victory lane at Santa Maria later in 1956, and entered his new possession for freshly signed works Ferrari driver Phil Hill at Pebble Beach, where we can see him driving to a class victory behind Carol Shelby in an older modified Ferrari 750 Monza.

This turned out to be the last event run at the Pebble Beach venue, Ernie Macafee's fatal accident during the race was enough to persuade organisers to seek a safer facility which led to the opening of the Laguna Seca track in 1957.

Chassis #0604 M continued to be raced until 1962 with future works Ferrari driver Richie Ginther being one of many to drive her and Lew Florence being the last to take her to Victory Lane at Shelton in 1959.

Since then #0604 M has become a sought after collectors item with former head of the Renault F1 team Jean Sage counting among it's owners. In 2006 the vehicle was offered for sale at $3.5 million., it is said to currently reside in Italy.

Ferrari won The World Sports Car Championship in 1956 despite a second defeat at the Nurburgring by Maserati.

For those new to the history of motor racing here is a brief introduction to a hugely popular driver. Phil (no relation to the British two time champion Graham) Hill was born in Miami FL and raised in Santa Barbra, California, dropped out of college to pick up a wrench to work on racing drivers cars before becoming a driver himself.

Phil won his first race a 3 lap even at Carrell Speedway driving an MG TC in July 1949. In 1958 he drove a Maserati 250 F in his first Grand Prix and in the same year sharing a Ferrari with Olivier Gendebien won the Le Mans 24 Hours a feat he repeated with Olivier and Ferrari in 1961 and 1962.

In 1960 Phil won the Italian GP driving a Ferrari becoming the first American to win a Grand Prix in nearly 40 years and the following year he won two Grand Prix on his way to becoming the first US World Grand Prix Drivers Champion. Unfortunately a dispute between Ferrari and Grand Prix racing's governing bodies meant Phil never got to properly celebrate on home turf in fact arguably Phil never got to compete in all the Grand Prix races in a single season.

In 1967 Phil retired after driving a Chaparral to victory in the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch. He continued working in TV for Road & Track and his own vehicle restoration business Hill & Vaughan until he retired in 1995.

Phil aged 81 succumbed to complications from Parkinsons disease in 2008. He is quoted as saying of his presence on the motor racing circuit, "I'm in the wrong business. I don't want to beat anybody, I don't want to be the big hero. I'm a peace-loving man, basically".

Finally I am reliably informed this photograph made the cover of Road & Track Magazine in September 1956, I have not seen it yet if you have a copy and can scan it please get in touch using the e-mail link on my profile page, I'd love to see it.

My thanks to Ed Arnaudin who purchased this slide, to his son Steve who sent it on, to El Wayne and Miltonian at Ferrari Chat who passed on essential information on the identification of the car, its location, date and details of the publication.

Hope you have enjoyed today's "I'm in the wrong business" edition of Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres" and that you'll join me for a look at the Maserati model the Ferrari had to beat to win the 1956 World Sports Car title. Don't forget to come back now !

28 07 12 PS My thanks to Pamela Blackwell who has kindly retrospectively given me permission to post the photo's her father took.

Sister doing it for her self - OSCA Tipo S-187

Today we return to Lime Rock in 1959 courtesy of Ed Arnaudin for a look at this OSCA Tipo S-187 belonging to Briggs Cunningham.



Officine Specializzate Costruzioni Automobili - Fratelli Maserati SpA was set up by the three racing mad Maserati brothers Ernesto, Ettore and Bindo after their involvement with the company bearing their own name had concluded with it's sale to Adolfo Orsi in 1937 and the expiry of their subsequent 10 year consulting contracts in 1947.

The brothers focused on building extremely successful sports cars primarily with engines of 750 cc / 45 cui to 1500 cc / 91.5 cui. Cunningham's car seen here appears to be one of 17 Tipo S-187's built from 1956 - 1960 with a 70 hp 749 cc / 45 cui twin cam engine with a, for the time, high 9:1 compression ratio.



The real story behind the #23 OSCA on this day in 1959 however is the driver who took the car to victory lane, one D McCluggage from Kansas, who is well known for breaking down discriminating and prejudicial barriers in journalism and at the race track, simply D stands for Denise.

As well as regularly whooping all the boys on the race track she is a seasoned motor sports journalist who was famously sent to Indianapolis by The Herald Tribune only to find she was barred from the press box, pit lane AND garage area, unperturbed she got her story from elsewhere round the track and published anyway.

Phil Hill later described the prevailing attitude at the time "It's a bit embarrassing to me, given today's enlightened attitudes, to admit that in the late 50s I was a bit disturbed by the idea of this woman driver. It wasn't a matter of feeling threatened, but like many men in that period, I had trouble understanding what kind of statement Denise might be making with her driving efforts. The fact is, gender stereotypes aside, she was holding her own on the track."

All Denise wanted to do was win and she did often, after her career as a professional driver was over she became a founding light at AutoWeek where her accomplishments are still scene as an example for others to follow.

Denise recently became the only Journalist to ever be inducted into the Automotive Hall of fame and at over 70 she still writes her 'Drive, She Said' column syndicated in over 90 newspapers across the US and Canada.

Hat's off to Denise gentleman, for waking us up to our equals !

Thanks to Steve and Ed Arnaudin for the photograph, and to Terry O'Neil for the race day information.

Hope you have enjoyed today's prejudice free edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me tomorrow for a look at a splendid vintage Triumph Dolomite. Don't forget to come back now !

Two Cats in Hollywood - D-type XKD 531 & C -type XKC 007

Thanks again go to Steve & Ed Arnaudin for providing today's unusual photograph which Ed purchased somewhere around 1958/59.



Photo by Carlyle Blackwell, Publised Courtesy Blackwell Archive, for sales enquiry's please e-mail infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk and your contact details will be forwarded to the Blackwell Archive.

Extensive research on The Nostalgia Forum has revealed that not only the cars but also the lead driver AND the photograph itself all have stories to tell.

This photograph appears to have been taken in the studio by Carlyle Blackwell around 1956/57, when he was the owner of the red #18 C-Type XKC 007 which he raced between 1955 and 1957. The #54 D-type is thought to be XKD 531 owned and raced by J Douglas.

It should be noted that this blog is a research project in progress and the identification of the chassis numbers is still not definitive. I have tried to reach the copyright holders but so far in vain so it is possible I might have to withdraw this blog at some point.

The D-type Jaguar like the C-Type was a factory built racing car powered by a variation of the same XK engine design as the XK 120, XK 140 and C-type.

Like the late C-Type the D-Type was fitted with efficient disc brakes. It's debut at Le Mans in 1954 was thwarted by sand in the fuel, once it was removed Duncan Hamilton & Tony Rolt took their D-type back up the field to second place 1 lap down on the winning Ferrari of Jóse Frolián González and Maurice 'Racing Is Life' Trintignant.

The following year Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Beub driving a D-Type won a hollow Le Mans Victory after the Mercedes Benz team withdrew following the horrendous crash in which an estimated 83 spectators lost their lives and a further 120 were injured.

D-types entered by the private Ecurie Ecosse team took two further victories in '56 and '57.

The #54 XKD 531, which I believe we are looking at here, is one of 53 customer D-types, this one was raced from 1956 to 1957 by J Douglas and then from 1958 to at least 1959 by Ray Seher.

The red #18 C-type XKC 007 was originally owned by Charles H Hornburg Jnr who had future US World Champion Grand Prix driver Phil Hill drive it to two victories in 1952, Phil said of XKC 007 " It was the first car I ever drove that had a really precise feel about it – it really felt like a racing car.”

Carlyle Blackwell acquired the car in 1955 and raced it through to the end of 1957 before acquiring the D-type XKD 528.



Photo by Carlyle Blackwell, Publised Courtesy Blackwell Archive, for sales enquiry's please e-mail infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk and your contact details will be forwarded to the Blackwell Archive.

The story of this photo does not stop with the cars however, look closely at the driver of the #54 and some of you might recognise the face as none other than that of Emmy winning writer Jack Douglas.

A detail of this photograph appeared on the cover of Sports Car Graphic in March 1963 the masthead reads "If the face on this month's cover looks familiar, it should be. It belongs to Jack Douglas, writer, author of among other things, "My brother was an only child", and sometime race driver. The photo was shot by his friend, Hollywood photographer Carlyle Blackwell."



Photo by Carlyle Blackwell, Publised Courtesy Blackwell Archive, for sales enquiry's please e-mail infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk and your contact details will be forwarded to the Blackwell Archive.

The whole photograph as seen at the top of the blog first appeared on the cover of Sports Car Illustrated in February 1957 with a masthead that reads "Carlyle Blackwell shot this Ektachrome of a pair of competition Jaguars booming through the night."
As can be seen studio lights are used to illuminate both drivers and the front of the #18.

Note how the colour from Ed's purchased slide has darkened around an apparently ivory car, while the colour of the car as it appears on the cover of Sports Car Illustrated appears yellowish, the colour of Jacks car at the time has been described as 'mustard yellow' which only goes to show how unreliable photographs can be when trying to identify vehicles back in the day.

To date this is without doubt one of the most fascinating photographs I have ever come across. My thanks to Steve and particularly Ed Arnaudin who first purchased the photograph. Thanks also to everyone on the Auto Slides by Blackwell thread on The Nostalgia Forum for their invaluable contributions including, RA Historian Tom, Frank Barrett, Jean L, Jerry Entin, Frank Sheffield, Frank Hill, JB Miltonian, and raceanouncer 2003 Vince H.

I hope anyone believing they can improve on the accuracy of my hypothesis about this photo or with contacts leading to the Blackwell estate will chime in below.

Hope you have enjoyed this 'Carceology' edition of "Getting a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow to see a 'mystery' vehicle with a Cat under the hood. Don't forget to come back now !

28 07 12 PS My thanks to Pamela Blackwell who has kindly retrospectively given me permission to post the photo's her father took.

Pamela tells me that her brother is seen at the wheel of the #18 Jaguar C-type in the photograph and that the photo was taken in Carlyle Blackwell's driveway.

Honeymoon Racer - Crosley Hotshot Sport

My heartfelt thanks once again go out to John Aibel for sharing with us some photo's of his 1951 Crosley Hotshot Sport, a vehicle that in 1951 competed in my favourite race the Le Mans 24 hours.



Twelve months after Briggs Cunningham took a shot at top honours at Le Mans with his Cadillac Le Mans special 'Le Monstre' and more conventional 61 Series 'Petit Pataud' two Florida enthusiasts made a low budget attack on the Le Mans 24 hours 'Index of Performance award' which sought to calculate the best performance for vehicles completing the race based on engine size and distance covered with this cute little Crosley Hotshot Sport.

Crosley was an American manufacturer that went against the grain in the US automotive industry by building small and light vehicles from 1939 to 1952. Indiana industrialist Powel Crosley Jr came to prominence manufacturing auto accessories, cheap radio's and other household electrical goods distributed by independent retailers and backed by a then pioneering 'money back guarantee' .



The legend behind the Crosley Le Mans entry is that Phil Stiles and George Schrafft inspired by the success of the stock Hotshot in the Sam Collier Memorial 6 Hours at Sebring in December 1950, were discussing the potential of the Hotshot over the odd libation when they decided to write to the FIA stating they had a Crosley to race in the Le Mans 24 hours, and to Powel Crosley saying they had an entry to Le Mans and were in need of a chassis ! The returning correspondence confirmed both an entry for Le Mans and the supply of a chassis !

The Hotshot / Super Sport VC chassis was prepared for the race by Pappy Dwyers race shop in Indianapolis with a one off aluminium body and sent back to Crosley where a specially developed 726 cc engine was installed.



The cast iron over head cam engine was probably the strongest part of the package having a 5 bearing crank so that it could run all day at full power in order to power military generators which was its original application, as a race engine it was frequently modified Bandini even had a twin over head cam version. The stock engine gave around 26.5 hp the development engine for Le Mans on the #59 seen here around 42hp.

Once ready at the Crosley factory Phil and George went to pick it up from Ohio in George's Aston Martin DB2, they then borrowed Mr Crosley's boat trailer and converted it to take the Le Mans challenger to the docks in New York for eventual shipping. On the way to NY Phil and George took the Crosley off the trailer fitted the trailer plates to the car and then ran the motor in on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

In practice at Le Mans it was discovered the lights were not up to racing at night and more powerful Marchal units were fitted along with a Marchal generator while a new Prestolite generator was ordered from the States.



During the race the car was an immediate success, despite using only top gear so as not to risk damage to the standard non synchromesh Hotshot / Super Sport three speed gearbox, George was able to turn in 73 mph average laps and easily lead his class however 2 hours into the race the roller bearings in the new Marchal generator proved unequal to its task, with Phil at the wheel the unit seized and tore off its mounts, damaging the ignition loom and the water pump mounted on the back of the generator.

After bye passing the water pump and relying on thermosiphon cooling, like an old Model T Ford, the car was prepared to run using only the battery, however once it became dark and the lights were required the battery was inevitably run flat and after 40 gallant laps the devastatingly quick in its class Crosley was out for good.



The next day the team pooled funds to release the Presolite generator from customs in Paris and fitted it to the Crosley so that Phil and his newly wed wife could tour Europe, in Switzerland the local authorities mistook them for and favourably treated them as entrants in the Monte Carlo Rally.

The Crosely was returned to George Schrafft who replaced the standard Hotshot gearbox designed for 26.5 hp motors with a more robust 4 speed FIAT gearbox. This change without any modifications to the rest of the drive train resulted in the rear axle being pushed back one inch, which does not appear to have adversely affected either the performance or reliability of Le Biplane Torpedo as John sometimes refers to his unique Crosley.



The story of how John came to own this splendid Honeymoon Racer is one of 15 years perseverance, in the late 60's John read an article about the car written by Phil Stiles in a 1958 issue of Road & Track. John decided to trace the car with a letter published in R&T and got so many responses he founded the Crosley Auto Club.

Becoming friends with the owner of Le Biplane Torpedo through the club John expressed his interest in purchasing it over many years at the AACA Hershey Annual Fall meeting. He was disappointed one year to find the owner had sold it on to buy a motorhome in the 1970's, in the early 80's Johns brother established the Crosley was for sale after the owner had decided to sell his entire collection of racers.



John reluctantly had the roll bar fitted after surviving a slow roll in another vehicle at Dellow without one, and has raced the Crosley and remembers having many entertaining races with Bob Duell in his Panhard Jr and with two other chaps one in a pre war Morgan and a Renault Special.

He says of his car "On my first track run with it, I was going as fast in the corners as the Lotus 7's. They of course were much faster out of the turns! " Look out for a book to be published on US Le Mans challengers by Tim Considine which will feature this Crosley in the near future.



I'd like to thank John once again for taking the time and trouble to share these photo's of his wonderful Crosley and particularly for taking the time to tell me the romantic story behind it. I have always had a strong conviction that there is something quite noble about taking what is essentially a road vehicle racing it and then returning it to road use, highly impractical in this day and age with all the safety requirements for racing but as Johns "Le Petite Pataud" Replica and Le Biplane Torpedo show once upon a time this was not an unusual practice.

Special thanks to Chief 187 for putting me in touch with John and thanks to everyone for popping by this bumper edition of Getting a lil' psycho on tyres, I hope you'll join me tomorrow for a slightly shorter edition, don't forget to come back now !