The Gearless Green Car

Austin Mini 9X ADO20

Almost Fully Loaded

Austin Mini Clubman Wood & Pickett Estate

Coleman’s Drive

Austin Seven Chummy

Pape’s Progress

Austin A90

Deserts, Malaria And A Leopard

Austin Twenty

Purple Haze

Brighton Speed Trials

GALPOT Weekly #58

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #58 a review of the last seven posts at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres". This week started at The Classic Motor Show held at Birmingham's National Exhibition Center where over 1500 treasured vehicles were on display, of which this 1977 Austin Allegro HL was amongst my favorites simply because the owner took part in the Rat Rod Rally2Romania with it, an act of supreme bravery in my humble opinion. Tuesday's post was the first of three Tuesday posts featuring Hot Rovers badged as MG's the one above is the Rover 25 based MG ZR 105. On Wednesday I went for a rare test drive in this Volkswagen Sharan and quite enjoyed the experience of driving a modern MPV which despite not coming with shovels and rakes or implements of destruction could easily serve as a command centre from which to run a war. Featured on Americana Thursday was this Chrysler Viper Phase II RT/10 a European spec better known in it's country of origin as a Dodge model. Ferrari Fridays post featured a 1953 Pininfarina bodied Ferrari 250MM which served as Limo for Italian movie stars in 1953 and is thought not to have seen a race track until 1984. Yesterday's post featured the first of two projects given numbered Type 81 namely the Lotus Ford 81 Formula One car built for the 1980 Grand Prix season. Today's post features the unique Huispano Suiza H6C Xenia commissioned in Andre Dubonnet in 1938 and named after his wife. Thanks for joining me on this "GALPOT Weekly #58" edition, I hope you have enjoyed catching up with last weeks blogs using the links provided. Join me daily at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #54

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #54 a review of the last seven posts at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres". The week started with a trip to Malta to look at a Škoda Favorite Pick Up which arrived just in time for new owners Volkswagen to make a series of improvements to a design that was commissioned from Bertone when Škoda was still in the ownership of the Czechoslovakian government. The MG TC Midget, which I looked at on Tuesday, was a huge success, by UK standards, thanks to the large numbers US Army personnel who had been stationed in the UK during the 1939-45 war and been impressed with cute li'l English criters like the pre war MG TA. In 1955 Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson won the Mille Miglia road race run on the streets of Northern Italy averaging an all time record of 97.96 mph for the 992 miles driving the #722 Mercedes 300 SLR. A great reason to make a tribute car, though the choice of a 20 hp Goggomobil TS, which I looked at on Wednesday, seems to be a perverse vehicle with which to start. On Americana Thursday I looked at the forth and final iteration of the Chevrolet Corvette C1 which was marketed with the strap line "Finest, Fiercest Yet" which was backed up by plenty of Race wins on the track in 1962. Ferrari Fridays post featured of one of eleven 1953 Ferrari 375 Americas built. Chassis #0372AL being one of three built by Vignale and the only built with the combination of low bumber and low recessed headlights. Saturdays post was about the Lotus Ford 72E Grand Prix car of a type which Ronnie Peterson drove to seven Grand Prix victories in 1973 and 1974 and which I saw Jackie Ickx drive to a memorable victory in a non championship race at Brands Hatch in 1974. Today's post features a well known sight in Bristol a positively gothic looking Austin Sheerline which was built as a cheep alternative to the contemporary Rolls Royce and Bentley models of the immediate post '39-'45 war years. Thanks for joining me on this "GALPOT Weekly #54" edition of "Gettin a li'l psycho on tyres" I hope you have enjoyed catching up with the last seven posts using the links provided and that you will join me again daily during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #53

Welcome to GALPOT #53 a review of the last seven posts at "Gettin a li'l psycho on tyres". The week started under California Skies thanks to Geoffrey Horton who sent photo's from Niello Concours at Serrano which featured the achievements of Pierce Arrow and Carroll Shelby. However it was this little sports car that proved most difficult to identify, you can find out what it is on this link. MG's TA Midget model built from 1936 to 1939 was the subject of Tuesdays post. 3,000 of these 80 mph Midgets were built with easy to use synchromesh gearboxes and easy to maintain hydraulic brakes. This Trabant Tramp, which I looked at on Wednesday, started life as an all purpose vehicle for civilian use and has been converted into it's military Kübwelwagen equivalent complete with decommissioned AK47 and Russian built field telephone. Thursday's featured car was Chevrolet's second iteration of the C1 Corvette, which was the first American production car to offer over 1hp per cubic inch of swept volume cylinder capacity when fitted with the optional GM Rochester Fuel Injection. Ferrari Friday featured a Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale with what must rank as amongst the coolest bumpers ever devised mounted high on the front wing/fender. This is one of 37 212 Inters with body work by Vignale. Yesterday's featured car was a B Spec Lotus Ford 72, which when upgraded to C Spec helped Jochen Rindt to four Grand Prix wins and the 1970 World Drivers Championship and Lotus to the 1970 World Constructors Championship. Today's post visits last weeks Avenue Drivers Club meeting at Queen Square, Bristol where this 1938 Austin Seven was seen braving the coble stone square. Thanks for joining me on this "GALPOT Weekly #53" edition, I hope you have enjoyed catching up with the last seven posts of "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" using the links and that you will join me daily during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #40

Welcome to Galpot Weekly #40 the compendium of activity on the "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" blog.



The week started with a look at some of the machinery that appeared at the most recent Avenue Drivers Club meeting at Queens Square in Bristol where I spotted this vintage Sunbeam 20/9 pick up. The next Avenue Drivers Club meeting is scheduled for August 12th and it's free.



The world's oldest known MG a 14/28 Super Sports, seen above at the recent Brooklands Double Twelve meeting was the feature of Tuesday's post.



James May and glamor model Madison Welch allegedly took part in a Majorcan Classic Rally with the Citroén Ami 8, seen above at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, which was the feature of Wednesdays blog. For some reason the car became known by fellow competitors as "The Love Boat".



Americana Thursday's featured car the Chevrolet powered Shadow Mk III was another star of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.



The extreme styled Ferrari Enzo designed by Ken Okuyama was the subject of Ferrari Friday's blog.



Saturday's Lotus blog featured the racing version of the Lotus Elan known as the Lotus 47. Seen here is the rechassised car that John Miles and Jackie Oliver drove to a class victory in the 1967 Brands Hatch six hour race.



Today's blog looks at some of the vehicles that took part in last weekends Classics at the Castle event at Sherborne Castle which included this Chevrolet powered Austin Healey 100 BN1.

Thanks for joining me for GALPOT Weekly #40 I hope you have enjoyed catching up with the weeks posts at "Gettin' a li' psycho on tyres" and that you will join me during the week ahead when I'll be featuring the latest from Silverstone Classic in a bumper edition tomorrow an NSU on Continental Curiosity Wednesday, an Italian bodied Corvette on Americana Thursday and a big banger Ferrari on Friday. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly #34

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #34 a review of the weeks blogs at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres'.



Last week started with a look at some of the vehicles that turned up at the 25th Anniversary Party of Middle Barton Garage, which included a magnificent Bentley, the fearsome Tornado FIAT 600D GT Lotus TC that once belonged to David Render.



Diamond Jubilee celebrations were marked on Tuesday with a look at an oddly named Austin A40 Somerset Coupé that is said to have been driven by HRH Queen Elizabeth II while on a trip to Malta in 1952.



Of all the cars I have owned the minimalist cheap and rugged Citroën 2CV's were easily the most fun, the 1954 Citroën 2CV I looked at on Wednesday is considerably more utilitarian than any of those I have owned.



Americana Thursday's featured car was the UK assembled 1938 Ford V8 30 Saloon, seen above, which apart from the Right Hand Drive was identical to the US 1938 Ford de Luxe Sedan.




Ferrari Friday's blog was all about the nature of what is perceived when looking at vehicles like the Ferrari 330 GT above.



Yesterday I looked at this cute little Lotus Mark 6 which was restored over a period of 30 years.



Today's post looks at some of the action and vehicles that were present at the Yanks and Gary's 34th Picnic held at Shakespeare County Raceway a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for joining me for this "GALPOT Weekly #34" I hope you have enjoyed catching up with the blog using the links provided and that you will join me in the week ahead at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" which starts with a Bangers and Smash edition from Aldershot Raceway and ends with a 007 @ Beaulieu edition next Sunday. Don't forget to come back now !

Daily GALPOT Blog Has Moved - Summary

Some months ago I decided that with the amount of time I was spending writing GALPOT blogs I probably was generating enough material to start a stand alone GALPOT website, and with the help of my friend Mike Stuart at disphoria.co.uk I finally got the GALPOT site started last week. So if you have been missing my daily posts and in case your wondering what happened the blog continues on THIS LINK. For the time being I plan to keep this Blogger hosted page active with a weekly summary of what has been going on at the new GALPOT Home Page with links to the full blogs.



I started the week by going back to my own motoring roots with a look at an Austin A40 Countryman of the same type that was our very first family car back in 1964.



Dan Wheldon photograph courtesy Jeff Fuller.

With thanks to Jeff Fuller for his photograph Tuesdays blog was dedicated to the memory of Dan Wheldon.



I'd like to thank Racer 187 for pointing out that I had some link buttons for making comments missing and for testing them once they were up on Wednesdays Ford Model A blog.

To make a comment on the new GALPOT blogs write your comment in the 'Leave a Reply' comment box press 'Post Comment' and on the Word Press sign in page press the 'facebook' button and your comment should get posted without any further ado, so long as you are signed in to facebook.



On Thursday I looked at the Kellison J4 Grand Turismo a kit car recently acquired, sans windscreen wipers, by Lord March.



For Ferrari Friday, a feature that seems to come round every three days but is actually 'only' weekly I looked at one of a mystery batch of 12 Ferrari 196S models allegedly built in Modena by some 'Old Timers' that had worked for the Fantuzzi coach works.



Yesterday I looked at the Lotus 12 designed for the 2nd tier Formula 2 series that after an engine upgrade also became Colin Chapman's first Formula One design.



Today's blog is about a Jaguar that was conceived out of hours in 'The Saturday Club' and eventually made it into production.

The week ahead will start with a visit to The Regency Laundry Pegasus Sprint where I was a marshall last week, continue with a look at a Vintage Vauxhall and a classic Ford.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the GALPOT blog, I hope you will find time to continue to support me on the stand alone GALPOT site.

Don't forget to come back now !

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 !