Sunday 22 April 2012

GALPOT Weekly #27

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #27, a review of the week at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' which started on Monday with an interview with Special Builder and Restorer Colin Cooper.

MG VA Tourer,

Colin's first project was to restore an Austin 7 with a friend when both were still at school, his affinity with MG's began when his mum bought him an MG VA, seen above, for his 20th birthday. Colin subsequently went on to compete, build and restore a number of interesting vehicles and upon retiring from his professional career started a Frogeye restoration business called Central England Sports Cars.


Kayne Special 1, Loton Park

Colin's first, of three, specials, seen above at it's first meeting in 1973, was based on a MG J2 chassis and powered by an MG PB motor which was eventually supercharged. As you can see in Tuesday's post the Kayne Special is still to be found in competition driven by Mike Painter.

Ford Fiesta XR2, Brands Hatch

Wednesday's Ford blog looked at the first three generations of the Fiesta XR2, Fords entry into the hatchback market, above the 2nd generation #23 of Norman Grimshaw is seen at Brands Hatch.

Buick Roadmaster, Desert Classic, Palm Springs

Chrome was king on US models revived after World War Two, as demonstrated by this 1948 Buick Roadmaster seen by Geoffrey Horton at the Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance earlier this year. Thursdays post revealed that the '48 Roadmaster was the first model to offer a 'Dyna Flow' automatic transmission, developed from a military tank application, with a torque converter.

Ferrari 360 Spider, Haynes IMM

Ferrari Friday looked at Ross Brawn's company 2000 Ferrari 360 Spider, seen above at the Haynes International Motor Museum, Ross was technical was part of a 'Dream Team' at Ferrari they ruled supreme in Grand Prix racing with Micheal Schumacher at the wheel.

Lotus 63, Donington Park Museum

Yesterday's Lotus blog looked at the all wheel drive Lotus 63 Grand Prix Challenger, seen above at Donington Park Museum, which achieved a best 2nd place finish in a non Championship Race at Oulton Park before it was abandoned on both safety and lack of performance grounds.

Maserati Merak SS, Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival

Today's post celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Maserati Merak, seen above at last years Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival. The Merak was born when Citroen owned Maserati and shares a motor derived from the Citroen SM. Note details can be found on today's blog about next weeks Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival where I'll hope to meet a few UK based GALPOT members.

Thanks for joining me on GALPOT Weekly #27, I hope you will enjoy the links and that you will join me again during the week ahead. I'm now off to defend my Cross Trophy Production Car Trial title. Don't forget to come back now !