GALPOT Weekly #14/13

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #14/13 a review of the seven blogs posted at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" from April 1st to April 7th. . Monday's post featured this Chevrolet AK Pickup, sans the anti rattle tailgate fastening that was mentioned in the Sales literature. 2013 marks the centenary of Morris car production so on Tuesdays this month I'll be celebrating with a look at some Morris Models which began with this 1925 Morris Oxford. On Easter Monday I visited the Thruxton Circuit for the first time in way too many years for their Easter Revival Meeting, Bristol Veterinarian Nelson Rowe, seen above driving the #87 1971 Crosslé 20F in second place was a two time winner on the day winning the Formula Ford 1600 and Formula Ford 2000 events. If your a fan of silky smooth engines you'll probably want to be driving a V12, the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr V12 featured on Thursday has some interesting options. Two wins were recorded by the Ferrari 750 Monza chassis #0504, featured on Ferrari Friday, the first was by Mike Sparken on on the cars debut in the gadir Grand Prix for sport cars and the second was in the hands of Marsten Gregory who won a race at the Portuguese track Monsanto in 1955. There were five Lotus Esprit X180R's built between 1990 and 1991 the one featured on Saturday is fitted with 1991 bodywork of the type that Doc Bundy used to win the IMSA Bridgestone Super Car Championship in 1992. This month's Sunday posts will feature four McLaren's, the manufacturer is celebrating it's fiftieth anniversary this year and is now the second oldest, behind Ferrari on the Formula One grid. The first car McLaren built was an upgrade on Roger Penske's Zerex Special sports car featuring a new chassis that was last seen in Venezuela. Bruce followed that up with another sports car the McLaren M1A which was produced in limited numbers by Trojan's subsidiary Elva who built the chassis I looked at on Sunday. Thanks for joining me on this "GALPOT Weekly #14/13" edition of "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" and thanks to all those who have spread the word by sharing by blogs on fb, Ryan ;-), and pressed the "Like" button when the blogs have appeared on the "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" facebook page. I hope you have enjoyed catching up using the links and that you will join me daily during the week ahead, don't forget to come back now !

Luton's Finest - Vauxhall HP Firenza 9F37REX111999

Like the recently featured South African Chevrolet Firenza Can Am the High Performance (HP) Firenza was a top of the range Viva HC Coupé model but built for the UK market and though intended to be produced in far larger numbers, 30,000 projected units, only 204 HP Firenza's were built along with a further 197 estate / station wagon variants.



The distinctive 'Droopsnoot' grp nose was restyled styled by Wayne Cherry and based on the nose of a well known Dealer Team Vauxhall Firenza raced by Gerry Marshall called 'Old Nail' that will it's self be the subject of a future GALPOT blog. The twined headlights are interchangeable with the Renault Alpine A310.

Under the unusual for the period aerodynamic nose was a 131 HP 2297 cc / 140 cui slanted 4 cylinder engine enough to power the HP Firenza with a drag co efficient of cd 0.4 from rest to 60 mph in 8 secs and to a top speed of 120 mph.



Though the paint work of this particular car built in 1975 is not the original 'Starlight Silver' this car carries similar decals to those carried by a small series of vehicles for a one off publicity race organised at Thruxton to launch the model, a race won by Barry 'Whizzo' Williams.

The HP Firenza was undoubtedly a styling triumph for Vauxhall yet the car was also an unmitigated marketing disaster thanks to the after effects of the '70's fuel crisis, though design elements of the nose did find their way into future Vauxhall products notably the Chevette and Cavalier which were in essence badge engineered Opel models.

Thanks for joining me on today's Droopsnoot edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at another performance saloon carrying a blue oval badge. Don't forget to come back now !