GALPOT Weekly #12

Gettin' the enthusiasm cranked up has been a little difficult this week after taking the week of excess off and then going straight into an upbeat training program thanks to my friends dog 'Z' who requires three hours of vigorous exercise a day or he will tear my friends house apart while they are on holiday in the warm climbs of India.



Anyway enough moaning it's been another fun week compiling GALPOT in between physical exertions, Monday saw the last questions, on the works of Paul Chenard for the Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz posted. If you have not given it a shot you have until midnight GMT tonight to post me your answers. From what I have seen so far no one has attempted to answer all the questions yet so why not give it a shot ? Here is a link to the first days questions :-)



For Tuesday I finally dusted of the cobwebs and posted my first 'proper' blog of the year all about a limited edition Opel Manta known as the i200 of which only 25 Right Hand Drive versions were built for the UK.



Wednesdys blog gave an overview of the Ford Cortina MK2 a car that knocked British Leyland from the top of the sales charts and saw Ford emerge as the dominant manufacturer in the UK through the 1970's and 1980's.



On Americana Thursday I looked at the humungus 'large and in charge' Duesenberg J Derham Tourster billed as the largest, fastest and most expensive vehicle of the depression era.



Lucien Bianchi won the 1962 Angola GP in this Ferrari 250 GTO #3527 that I looked at on Ferrari Friday. The recently repainted Russo Kev coloured car seen here on last years Tour Britannia now belongs to Baron Laidlow.




Lotus was the subject of yesterdays blog as has been the case on Saturdays for some weeks and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, the last Lotus Grand Prix car designed with customers in mind was the 1962 Lotus 24 #947 such as the one seen at Goodwood above.



Today marks another GALPOT first in so much as I am reviewing two books by Hazen Wardle who has been restoring this Triumph GT6 since 1997.

Tomorrow sees GALPOT return to the occasional series of Monday pick ups with a souped up El Camino.

Tuesday sees the first of a series of Tuesday MG blogs. I hope you will join me for all this and more in the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Don't forget ... CLOSING DATE MIDNIGHT GMT TODAY !

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.

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 !

Direct Injection Of Kudos - Mercedes Benz 300 SL

In 1952 the underpowered 115 hp carburettor 3 litre / 183cui Sport Leicht Mercedes Benz W194 demonstrated remarkable versatility by winning the Le Mans 24 hours, the Eifelrennen sports car race at the Nurburgring and the Carrera Panamerica in Mexico racing against more powerful opposition from Ferrari and Jaguar.



These successes lay in the lightweight tubular steel chassis and a low drag body which was facilitated by canting the straight six cylinder motor at a 50 degree angle.



New York Mercedes distributor Max Hoffman suggested a road going version of the W194 would make a viable commercial impact in the United States and so the 300 SL was launched in 1954 with a the worlds first mechanical direct injection petrol engine which produced 175 hp.



In order to accommodate the high sided tubular steel chassis, designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut, distinctive aluminium gull wings were used in conjunction with a tilt away steering column to facilitate access.



The spare tyre fills the boot / trunk space entirely meaning one had to travel light in the 300SL as demonstrated by the suitcase on the parcel shelf.



The 300SL was not without problems derived from it's racing heritage the large volume oil system rarely got up to proper operating temperature on shorter journeys and in turn the oil would get diluted by the mechanical fuel injection by unburned petrol that remained in the cylinders when the engine was switched off. This meant that the 300 SL needed an oil change every 1000 miles.



But for all of it's problems the aerodynamic shape of the 300 SL meant that with a 160 mph capability it was easily the fastest road car of it's day when it was launched. 80% of the nearly 1400 units built went to the USA changing the image of Mercedes Benz from staid to sporty overnight forever.

For a look at a contemporary interpretation of the 300 SL checkout Dave Wolin's wild Chevrolet powered 300 SL I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.

If your interested in the pre war silver arrows racing vehicles I strongly recommend a visit to Paul Chenard's Automobiliart website and check out his 'Silver Clouds' illustrated book of the 1934 Grand Prix season.

Thanks for joining me on this Direct Injection edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you'll join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Maserati 250 F

I apologise to all my Rowdy friends who will have seen this car before on rowdy.com but I have expanded on that original post in this blog in honour of Canadian artist Paul Chenard who very kindly helped me out with another project I am working on. If you like drawings and paintings of old racing cars you'll love his gallery linked here.

The 250 F was first raced in 1954 by 1951 world drivers champion Juan Manuel Fangio who took a maiden outing win in Argentina and then won again, having missed the 1954 Indy 500, at the following race in Belgium.

Juan then went on to become Champion in 1954 driving for Mercedes Benz for the rest of the season. With Mercedes at the height of their power in 1955, Maserati were locked out of the top spot in Formula One but in 1956 the 250 F was again driven to two victories by Fangio's former Mercedes team mate Stirling Moss.

Having been crowned world champion from 1955 - 56 the now four time world champion Fangio returned to Maserati for 1957 and promptly won four of the eight championship races to set a four peat world championship record that stood until 2003.

In that 1957 season Fangio drove one of the races of all time during the German GP, having failed to out fox the Ferrari team after a disastrous pit stop, Juan Manuel set 7 consecutive lap records on the 14 mile Nurburgring Nordschleife making up over 48 seconds before taking the lead from the Mike Hawthorn's Ferrari with a lap to spare and record the 250 F's 8th and final Formula One Championship victory.

Fittingly JMF drove his last ever race in a 250F at the 1958 French GP coming 4th, winner Mike Hawthorn sportingly refraining from lapping him on the final lap.

The 250 F continued to appear ever more uncompetitively until 1960.



This 1957 250F is the last of the 26 built. Complete with a six cylinder 240 hp engine.
This car is differentiated from most by a short wheelbase Piccolo chassis.
The 250 F is recorded as being the most forgiving of the 2.5 litre (152.5 CUI) F1 cars by Willy Green who has driven every type of 2.5 litre F1 car competitively in historic races.

Hope you enjoyed today's post and will join me again tomorrow.