GALPOT Weekly #15

Despite partying all night I am pleased to bring this weeks GALPOT Weekly back on to the Sunday schedule.



The GALPOT week started of with the top of the range Hemi powered Dodge RAM 1500 Larimie, that turned not to be an import from somewhere west of Cheyenne Wyoming.



The Tuesday MG series of blogs featured a well storied supercharged MG K3 that is a mixture of chassis and bodywork that can trace it's history back to two entries that came in first and second in class at the conclusion of the 1933 Mille Miglia.




The winner of the Ultra Marathon of all Rally events, the 1970 World Cup Rally was the subject of Wednesdays blog, the bombproof Ford Escort 1850 GT registered FEV 1 is possibly amongst the most loved and treasured of all Fords.



The vintage Hudson Super Six that featured in Thursdays blog appears to be a replica of the 1917 built Indy cars that took part in the 1919 Indy 500.



Ferrari Friday featured a period photo of a Jacky Ickx dominating the 1972 British Grand Prix in his Ferrari 312 B2 #005, Jacky was forced to retire while leading but one the subsequent German Grand Prix in the same car from team mate Clay Regazzoni driving chassis #007 which I featured last week.



Yesterday I looked at the Lotus 27 Formula Junior car that initially followed Colin Chapman's adage of "adding lightness" a step too far meaning the monocoque was a little too weak, until this was rectified Peter Arundell was having a lot of trouble defending his British Formula Junior title in 1963.



Today's GALPOT blog features an Alpine Renault A110 1600 S that was shipped all the way to Réunion a small island in the Indian Ocean where it dominated the mid 1970's Rally scene.

Tomorrow I'll be starting the week with a look at a multiple 'Burn Out' championship winning Ford P100 pick up, while another MG will be featured on Tuesday and on Wednesday the versatility of a special Ford Escort Mexico will be examined.

If you have missed any of this weeks GALPOT blogs you can catch up with the full blogs linked by the high lighted text above.

Thanks for joining me on GALPOT Weekly #15, I hope you will join me at 'Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres' again in the week to come. Don't forget to come back now !

STOP PRESS Tomorrow's blog will tell the tale of the start of my 2012 competition season, not the 'Burn Out' Champion as mentioned above which will be held over to Monday 13th Feb.

GALPOT Weekly #6

A week of comic discovery has passed here at GALPOT.



Starting with the Monster Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD LT who's purpose seems to be to carry a giant ghetto blaster and a couple of tins of cafeinated beverages.



On Tuesday GALPOT got serious about speed with the Pro ET Race Ventora, Britains equivalent of a 1970's Chevy Impala built for drag racing.



The 'Three Graces' were the subject of Wednesday's edition of GALPOT including the delightful Abbot bodied Farnham camping combination.



GALPOT turned comic on Thursday with the discovery that this 1935 Hudson Suburban Sedan once belonged to the managing editor of DC Thompson in Dundee responsible for the Beano and The Dandy publications that had touched the lives of many youngsters in post war Britain.



For Ferrari Friday GALPOT looked at a 1990 Mondial t the last incarnation of the V8 2+2.



Yesterday there was an element of Irish comedy as GALPOT discovered the reason behind the curiously high mounted mirrors on his recently acquired Formula Junior Lotus 20.



Today GALPOT goes French Revolutionary with a look at a 1966 Matra Bonnet Djet VS, which I was surprised to discover lays claim to being the worlds first mid rear engine production sports car in the world.

My sincerest thanks as always to everyone who has made the first two months of GALPOT's new home such a tremendous success. Looking at the sitemeter stats after two months on line on the new wordpress home it looks like GALPOT will receive it's 10,000th hit in the next day or so.

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.

There are some exciting developments planned for the week ahead at GALPOT which will start with a look at the recent Phil Hill Tribute night held at the Peterson Museum. Tuesday GALPOT will be looking at one of three Vauxhall XVR concept cars built in the middle of the swinging sixties, and on Wednesday a British built Ford that could be said to be related to the Edsel. GALPOT has an important announcement to make on Thursday in preparation for the festive season of goodwill.

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 !

Follow That 'Burb ! - Independence Day Touring Assembly

Yesterday evening Martin and Nick of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club were responsible for organising an Independence Day Touring Assembly, in aid of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and it was a good excuse to take some foreign guests staying with us out for an evening ride.



We assembled at The Parkway in Stoke Gifford where an eclectic collection of vehicles had gathered including



a 1935 Hudson Suburban Sedan,



and 1950 Ford V8 Pilot,



Ken kindly let our guests, Pablo from Barcelona seen here, jump into his Marlin 5exi.



Soon it was time to go to The Griffin in nearby Warmley to pick up some members of Bristol Hotrods who joined us on our cruise. Not knowing exactly where I was going I took the advice to 'follow that 'burb' referring to a large gold Rover V8 powered 1964 GMC Suburban belonging to Chris, who some of you may remember got me interested in drag racing not so long ago.



After a 20 min drive round what counts as Bristol's ring road



we arrived in the car park of The Griffin where I was surprised to find chain drive fan Duncan waiting for us in another of his amazing Edwardian vehicles a Monarch GP powered by an 8.4 litre / 512 cui Curtiss V8 aircraft engine.



No sooner had I taken a snap and we were on our way to our final destination in a convoy vaguely reminiscent of the Whacky Races, behind me here are a Parsons trials car, Duncan in his Monarch, what appears to be a genuine C type Jaguar and a Ford Hotrod.



Our final destination was the Book Barn in Hallatrow about 20 miles south of Bristol where coffee and a fine selection of used books was to be found including a Spanish English Dictionary for Pablo.



Outside I took the opportunity to get a closer look at some of the hotrods that had joined us from The Griffin, including this exquisitely painted Ford which was built from a kit,



this chopped Coupe which apparently started life as a humble 1949 Ford Anglia and is now fitted with a Supercharged Rover V8



and The Alchemist based on a 1933 Ford Coupe with tasty patina powered if I heard correctly by a 5300cc / 323 cui 'Hemi' V8.



Paulo from Milan took a real shine to the C - Type,



but after a 20 mile ride with Ken he was left most impressed by the Marlin 5exi.



My thanks to Martin and Nick who organised a splendid Assembly to everyone who came along and particularly to Ken and Rob, seen above in his TVR Griffin 500, for giving Paulo and Pablo rides in vehicles neither will forget in a hurry.

Hope you have enjoyed todays Independence Day Assembly edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a replica concept car. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Please spare a thought for Nick's wife Cherry who had the misfortune to get clobbered by a 4ft iron bar in a freak accident while at Goodwood on Friday. Best wishes for a speedy recovery Cherry.

Holy Terraplanes ! - Triumph Dolomite 14/65

After Donald Healey was invalided out of the Royal Flying Corps at 18 he took a correspondence course in automobile engineering and then opened a garage in his home town Perranporth, Cornwall, upon the cessation of hostilities at the end of WW1.



In the early thirties his reputation as a consultant engineer and designer led to an appointment at the Triumph Motor Company where he was responsible for Triumphs new vehicles including the Dolomite launched in 1936.



The design of the radiator grill of the Dolomite 14/65 appears to have been influenced by the contemporary US gangsters automobile of choice the Hudson Terraplane, as was, to a lesser extent, the grill on Healey's post WW2 Healey Elliot and to a lesser extent still the grills on early four cylinder Austin Healey 100's.



It is believed that 33 Dolomite 14/65 roadsters with a twin carburettor 13 hp 4 cylinder motor were built and this 1938 example driven by Derry Aust is one of 13 known to have survived.

Hope you have enjoyed today's waterfall grill edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres', and I hope that you'll join me tomorrow on a tropical island paradise in the Pacific to see what happens when the brakes fail on an 1850 hp jet powered vehicle weighing 250,000 lbs (two hundred and fifty thousand pounds). Don't forget to come back now !

PS I'd like to thank Tim Fulcher who got back to me about the identity of the driver of last weeks Jaguar XK 140 in Northern Rhodesia, turns out the name of the gentleman driving the car is Ken Livingstone. Thanks again Tim :-)