Showing posts with label A. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A. Show all posts
Sunday, 6 December 2015
Monday, 30 November 2015
Friday, 14 August 2015
Sunday, 16 October 2011
A Clockwork Orange - Adams Probe 16 AB/4
For anyone, like me, who was a kid during the fierce competition to conquer space through the 1960's part of the vision for the future included mandatory white jump suits, jet packs and incredibly cool cars like the Adams Probe 16 seen here at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year.
This design came about as a result of an investigation into the extremes of styling by Dennis and Peter Adams who are credited as having introducing a number of modifications to the Marcos GT which became the Marcos Fastback GT.
With a roof line at just 34" above the ground, that is a full 6" shorter than the Le Mans winning Ford GT 40 which took it's name from it's 40" height, access to the Probe 16 is effected through a slide back glass roof panel.
It would appear that the three Probe 16's were manufactured at the the old Marcos factory at Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, power came from a mid mounted 4 cylinder motor sourced from, an at the time very common, front wheel drive Austin 1800.
Winning the award for the best British Styling Exercise at the London Motor Show in 1969 did not raise the public profile of this vehicle enough for it to go into volume production. Though four similar Probe 2001's were manufactured by the Probe Motor Company and WT Nugent Engineering between 1970 and 1972. Up to 48 further vehicles which used some of the Probe 16 body moulds are thought to have been built under the Centaur brand.
Of the three original Probe 16's one went to Wichita Lineman singer song writer Jim Webb, by way of complete contrast another Probe 16 went to Sunshine Of Your Love singer song writer Jack Bruce. Jack passed his Probe 16 on to Mountain drummer on the Nantucket Sleigh Ride Cody Laing.
However AB/4 seen here is arguably the most famous of the trio of Probe 16's having played the role of Durango 95 in the Stanley Kubric ultra violence shock flic A Clockwork Orange. After its flirtation with the silver screen AB/4 spent many years in the Pollock Auto Showcase.
AB/4 still painted it's original yellow, was repatriated in 1987 and featured in the pseudo comedy television series Top Gear at the beginning of the century.
More detailed information about all of the Probe 16 related cars can be found on the probe2001.com website, on the linked page some photos of AB/4 can be seen of the car being driven around Brands Hatch. Thanks to The Nostalgia Forum reader MCS the driver of the car at Brands Hatch has been identified as most likely being Ray Allen who immortalised his place in the annals of motor racing history for winning the worlds very first Formula Ford race.
My thanks to MCS abd everyone else who contributed to the Adams Probe 16 thread at The Nostalgia Forum.
Thanks for joining me on this A Clockwork Orange edition of 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
POST SCRIPT, this will be my last daily post from this site all future daily posts will be made from a new dedicated site, linked here, with the hope that it will be much easier to leave comments than is presently possible with this particular web page.
I really can't thank everyone who has contributed to the success of this particular page enough, however I hope moving on to the new GALPOT site serves as a small token of my appreciation for now. Please do not forget to come back here now !
This design came about as a result of an investigation into the extremes of styling by Dennis and Peter Adams who are credited as having introducing a number of modifications to the Marcos GT which became the Marcos Fastback GT.
With a roof line at just 34" above the ground, that is a full 6" shorter than the Le Mans winning Ford GT 40 which took it's name from it's 40" height, access to the Probe 16 is effected through a slide back glass roof panel.
It would appear that the three Probe 16's were manufactured at the the old Marcos factory at Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, power came from a mid mounted 4 cylinder motor sourced from, an at the time very common, front wheel drive Austin 1800.
Winning the award for the best British Styling Exercise at the London Motor Show in 1969 did not raise the public profile of this vehicle enough for it to go into volume production. Though four similar Probe 2001's were manufactured by the Probe Motor Company and WT Nugent Engineering between 1970 and 1972. Up to 48 further vehicles which used some of the Probe 16 body moulds are thought to have been built under the Centaur brand.
Of the three original Probe 16's one went to Wichita Lineman singer song writer Jim Webb, by way of complete contrast another Probe 16 went to Sunshine Of Your Love singer song writer Jack Bruce. Jack passed his Probe 16 on to Mountain drummer on the Nantucket Sleigh Ride Cody Laing.
However AB/4 seen here is arguably the most famous of the trio of Probe 16's having played the role of Durango 95 in the Stanley Kubric ultra violence shock flic A Clockwork Orange. After its flirtation with the silver screen AB/4 spent many years in the Pollock Auto Showcase.
AB/4 still painted it's original yellow, was repatriated in 1987 and featured in the pseudo comedy television series Top Gear at the beginning of the century.
More detailed information about all of the Probe 16 related cars can be found on the probe2001.com website, on the linked page some photos of AB/4 can be seen of the car being driven around Brands Hatch. Thanks to The Nostalgia Forum reader MCS the driver of the car at Brands Hatch has been identified as most likely being Ray Allen who immortalised his place in the annals of motor racing history for winning the worlds very first Formula Ford race.
My thanks to MCS abd everyone else who contributed to the Adams Probe 16 thread at The Nostalgia Forum.
Thanks for joining me on this A Clockwork Orange edition of 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
POST SCRIPT, this will be my last daily post from this site all future daily posts will be made from a new dedicated site, linked here, with the hope that it will be much easier to leave comments than is presently possible with this particular web page.
I really can't thank everyone who has contributed to the success of this particular page enough, however I hope moving on to the new GALPOT site serves as a small token of my appreciation for now. Please do not forget to come back here now !
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
A little bit of this and a little bit of that - Vauxhall A/D Type 1914/1918
The Vauxhall A type was one of the preeminent 3 litre / 183 cui cars of its day competing for a share of a limited market for prestige vehicles alongside Bentley, Rolls Royce, Daimler for favour amongst European nobility.
The A-Type was the first production car designed by Laurence Pomeroy, it evolved through 4 distinct stages between 1908 and 1914 along the way amongst its notable achievements were many wins in a variety of events from trials and reliability events in the hands of customers while the factory built a single seat streamlined version that became the first 20 hp car timed at over 100 mph over a flying half mile at Brooklands.
Of the 940 total production less than two dozen are thought to have survived many of them are in the Antipodes where these rugged vehicles were extremely popular.
In 1912 Pomeroy introduced a new 4 cylinder engine design featuring a chain drive for the cam and magneto. The new engine was built in 3 litre / 183 cui and 4 litre / 244 cui sizes with the smaller engine being fitted to A types and the larger engine to the larger D-Type chassis, remember body work was usually supplied separately to customers bespoke requirements by independent coach builders. The D-Type won a contract from the Ministry of Defence for Staff Cars during the Great War 1914 - 1918.
This particular car owned by Dr. A. N. Lockhart and driven by James Gunn seen here at Prescott last year, comprises a 1914 A-Type chassis one of just four thought to be in the UK, with the larger 4 litre / 244 cui 1918 D-type motor.
My thanks to Dr A.N. Lockhart who's web page on the Vauxhall Type A and D's proved indispensable.
Thanks for joining me on this 244 cui edition of 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
The A-Type was the first production car designed by Laurence Pomeroy, it evolved through 4 distinct stages between 1908 and 1914 along the way amongst its notable achievements were many wins in a variety of events from trials and reliability events in the hands of customers while the factory built a single seat streamlined version that became the first 20 hp car timed at over 100 mph over a flying half mile at Brooklands.
Of the 940 total production less than two dozen are thought to have survived many of them are in the Antipodes where these rugged vehicles were extremely popular.
In 1912 Pomeroy introduced a new 4 cylinder engine design featuring a chain drive for the cam and magneto. The new engine was built in 3 litre / 183 cui and 4 litre / 244 cui sizes with the smaller engine being fitted to A types and the larger engine to the larger D-Type chassis, remember body work was usually supplied separately to customers bespoke requirements by independent coach builders. The D-Type won a contract from the Ministry of Defence for Staff Cars during the Great War 1914 - 1918.
This particular car owned by Dr. A. N. Lockhart and driven by James Gunn seen here at Prescott last year, comprises a 1914 A-Type chassis one of just four thought to be in the UK, with the larger 4 litre / 244 cui 1918 D-type motor.
My thanks to Dr A.N. Lockhart who's web page on the Vauxhall Type A and D's proved indispensable.
Thanks for joining me on this 244 cui edition of 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Schoolboy Legend - Triumph Dolomite Sprint
June 1975 was examination month for what we in England used to call ' O Levels' a wretched set of national examinations for 16 year olds to see if they were clever enough to progress on to studying for 'A levels' another wretched set of national examinations used to determine if one clever enough to progress to University education.
One of my 'O Levels' was in the subject of geography, being ridiculously well travelled it was a subject I found relatively easy. On the morning of my geography examination all those sitting the examination were sat in a large mock Tudor examination hall that also doubled as the chapel and library from time to time if I remember correctly.
At 8:55 am the examination invigilator dressed in the customary university gown over an ill fitting jacket and chalk stained trousers proceeded to read through the list of candidates but there was a problem, Student A first on the list was not present.
As soon as it transpired that Student A had not been seen at morning prayers our geography teacher was summoned and the rest of the attendance register proceeded with out incident. Our geography teacher Mr B was informed of the situation and it became apparent that Student A was still at home some miles away.
At 9 am the Geography examination proceeded as planned and some 15 mins later Student A sheepishly put in an appearance having been collected in Mr B's cream, might have been white, Triumph Dolomite Sprint and driven poste haste along the country lanes of Surrey into school. The ride into school in Mr B's Dolomite Sprint was later described by Student A as 'expletive fast'.
The Triumph Dolomite Sprint; powered by a 127 hp 1998cc /122 cui four cylinder iron block motor with an alloy head that featured 16 valves run off a single overhead cam, possibly the worlds first mass production 16 valve cylinder head, was a direct challenger to the BMW 2002 Tii on performance but at 2/3rds the price.
Performance figures included 0 - 60 mph in 8.4 seconds with a top speed of 119 mph faster than the fuel injected 2002 in acceleration to 60 mph by over 1 second, with a marginally faster top speed.
Of the 22,941 Dolomite Sprints made between 1973 and 1980 this 1979/1980 model is thought to be one of just 1,300 road worthy examples left.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr B for teaching me some valuable lessons about writing which I try and apply to this blog every day.
Hope you have enjoyed today's 16 valve edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
One of my 'O Levels' was in the subject of geography, being ridiculously well travelled it was a subject I found relatively easy. On the morning of my geography examination all those sitting the examination were sat in a large mock Tudor examination hall that also doubled as the chapel and library from time to time if I remember correctly.
At 8:55 am the examination invigilator dressed in the customary university gown over an ill fitting jacket and chalk stained trousers proceeded to read through the list of candidates but there was a problem, Student A first on the list was not present.
As soon as it transpired that Student A had not been seen at morning prayers our geography teacher was summoned and the rest of the attendance register proceeded with out incident. Our geography teacher Mr B was informed of the situation and it became apparent that Student A was still at home some miles away.
At 9 am the Geography examination proceeded as planned and some 15 mins later Student A sheepishly put in an appearance having been collected in Mr B's cream, might have been white, Triumph Dolomite Sprint and driven poste haste along the country lanes of Surrey into school. The ride into school in Mr B's Dolomite Sprint was later described by Student A as 'expletive fast'.
The Triumph Dolomite Sprint; powered by a 127 hp 1998cc /122 cui four cylinder iron block motor with an alloy head that featured 16 valves run off a single overhead cam, possibly the worlds first mass production 16 valve cylinder head, was a direct challenger to the BMW 2002 Tii on performance but at 2/3rds the price.
Performance figures included 0 - 60 mph in 8.4 seconds with a top speed of 119 mph faster than the fuel injected 2002 in acceleration to 60 mph by over 1 second, with a marginally faster top speed.
Of the 22,941 Dolomite Sprints made between 1973 and 1980 this 1979/1980 model is thought to be one of just 1,300 road worthy examples left.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr B for teaching me some valuable lessons about writing which I try and apply to this blog every day.
Hope you have enjoyed today's 16 valve edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
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