Unit Beat Policing Panda

Morris Minor 1000

Goodwood Revival #7 Jaguar Foxbat

In the last of this series of blogs about the Goodwood Revival, today we are looking at a unique Jaguar XK150.



The XK150 was launched in 1957, updating the XK140 with a one piece windscreen, higher wing line over thinner doors and wider bonnet.



The XK150 was powered by the same 3.4 litre double overhead cam iron block straight 6 motor which was available with a standard 180 hp or with an SE spec 210 hp featuring a modified cylinder head.



Initially the XK150 was slower than the XK140 until the introduction of a 250 hp 'S' motor featuring triple carburettors and straight ported cylinder head.



Legend has it that this 1959 car belonged to an industrial chemist in Swindon called Geoffrey Stevens in the mid 1970's. Mr & Mrs Stevens wanted a car that could carry their two Labradors.



Over a period of two years from 1975 to 1977 Mr Stevens set about restoring his rusty XK150 and grafting the back of a Morris Minor Traveller onto the back of his car turning it into a shooting break, with enough space to carry his dogs.



The rear lights come from a Mini Traveller, apparently the badges on the boot were hand cut by my Stevens.



The Foxbat came up for auction at Goodwood with an estimated value of £30,000 - £35,000, surprisingly it did not find a buyer.

Thanks for joining me on this Foxbat edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me tomorrow when I'll be looking at some of the vehicles that took part in last weekends Palos Verdes Concours, if you think you know your motorcars you might be surprised at some of these most of which I had not heard of until Geoffrey Horton sent me his photo's. Don't forget to come back now !

Follow that Eldorado - Shakespeare County Raceway

A couple of months ago, on my way to Race Retro, I spent several hours in the back of mini bus with 'Crazy' Chris Hartnell seen here at the wheel of 'Backdraft' a sling shot dragster, in a very short time his enthusiasm for drag racing infected me and on Sunday I finally got a chance to to go to my very first Drag meet.



The meeting was held at Shakespeare County Raceway, in deepest Warwickshire, so deep I managed to get so completely lost trying to find the venue, no Sat Nav in this weekends borrowed wheels, that the only way I found it was by following a Cadillac Eldorado I fortuitously came across while trying to work out where I was at a T junction in the middle of nowhere that I could not find on my Google Map.



The sound of V8's being tortured for up to 10 secs from the car park was unlike anything I have ever heard before, made 43 cars flying round Talledega at 190 mph sound quite tuneful by comparison.



Bevis the owner of a sumptuous red 450 hp small block road going Chevy Impala, complete with one piece California rear bumper, the subject of a future blog told me that the really big Drag meeting was actually at Santa Pod near Northampton in September, but I was happy enough easing my way into the scene on Sunday.



Against my expectations there were a few UK bodied vehicles including this Morris Minor, a Rover 400 Funny Car, a standard looking TVR Tuscan, a Ford Anglia and a couple of Mark 2 Ford Cortinas, including an Estate / Stationwagon !



I had hoped to get a photo of Crazy Chris popping a wheely, unfortunately I was a bit slow on the camera shutter, still next time I'll know what to expect. If you have never been to a drag meeting I'd certainly recommend a visit, the atmosphere is extremely friendly and relaxed in the paddock and the action is short but intense on the track, I look forward to future blogs on some of the wild rides I saw on Sunday.

Thanks to 'Crazy' Chris Hartnell infecting me with his enthusiasm, I hope you have enjoyed today's Drag edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don't for get to come back now !

Under US Influence - Morris Minor 4 dr

When the Morris Minor was launched in 1948 it featured headlights set either side of the radiator grill, making the car look rather like the scariest Sci Fi creatures known to man the 'Cybermen'.



In 1949 the Minor was introduced into the US market with the headlights set higher in the wings to meet US regulations giving us the Minor look that is familiar across much of the world today. All Morris Minors post 1951 featured the high mounted US spec lights that can be seen on this early Series II model from 1953.



The centre bonnet contours came about as a result of the car being widened by 4 inches between the prototype and production stages in 1948.



This early Series II model is powered by the same 30 hp Austin designed 803 cc / 49 cui motor as the late Series II Tourer featured yesterday. This engine all though a full 115 cc / 7 cui smaller than the original MM Series engine of 1948 - 1952 was 2.5 hp more powerful than its predecessor.



The extra power improved the Minors top speed performance from 58.7 mph to a full 63 mph, it could accelerate for the first time to 60 mph in just 52 seconds. These improved performance figures were traded against a 6 imperial mpg rise in fuel consumption from 42 mpg to 36 mpg.



One of the stranger things I remember as a child and vehicle passenger in the early sixties in Cyprus is wondering why vehicles ahead would often slow down for no apparent reason then veer into the centre of the road, this happened many times and most times just before the vehicle ahead came to a complete stop in the middle of the road a funny orange coloured pointy thing would seemingly randomly suddenly appear somewhere on the right hand side of the vehicle.

This vertical piece of chrome in the B post is the top of one of those pointy things more commonly known as a Trafficator fully developed by Max Ruhl and Ernst Neuman in 1927 with internal illumination and solenoid operation.

Hard to believe indicators as we know them today on the four corners of the car did not become a legal requirement on new vehicles until the mid sixties in some parts of Europe, the Morris Minor made the switch from Trafficators to corner indicators in 1961.



I mentioned yesterday how the Tourer had big rear lights from 1962, here you can just how small these units would have been on the Tourer when it was new.

I hope you have enjoyed todays edition of 'Getting a lil' psycho on tyres, I'd like to wish all of my American readers and particularly all those who have actively contributed so much fun to this blog a Happy Thanksgiving.

Don't for get to come back for a Ferrari Friday now !

One piece at a time - Morris Minor Tourer

Way back in my school days I remember listening to Johnny Cash's tale about taking a piece of Cadillac home from the factory in his lunch box every day and thinking 'if only ...' Looking at this beautiful black nugget of quintessential Englishness I began to wonder if someone had managed to pull off the feat of stealing this car one piece at at time from the Morris Factory at Cowley since the sum of the parts span the entire 3 series of production of the Minor Tourer from 1948 - 1969.



The split screen is from somewhere between '48 and '56
but the grill is post '54.



Not sure what's under the bonnet, at least an eye popping 30 hp 803 cc which comes in at 49cui.



The 'Morris Minor' badge is almost certainly Series II.



And when we look at the back we see those big tail lights match the side lights at the front, definitely post '62.



We know from the 8th series 'VG' licence plate on the boot this car was probably first registered in Norwich and it appears to have been replaced one piece at a time ever since then.

Hope today's edition was a breath of fresh air, thanks for popping by, looking forward to putting tomorrows edition of Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres together, don't forget to came back now !

More bodywork with an ash frame - Morris Minor 1000 Traveller

The Morris Minor was conceived by Sir Alec Issigonis, best known as the father of the revolutionary 'Mini' and entered production in 1948.



There were 3 series of 'Moggie thou' this particular 67/68 model is one of the third series, distiguishable by a single piece windscreen and officially known as Minor 1000.



Powered by a 4 cylinder BMC A series 1098 cc / 67 cui motor the car could achieve 77 mph.



The two door Estate/Stationwagon version was introduced with the second series of the Minor in 1952.



Minor Travellers like the later Mini Traveller featured a varnished ash framework, the same timber as used internally by Morgan.



At the time production of Morris Minors was discontinued each vehicle was estimated to be losing the British Leyland Motor Corporation around £9.



One might be forgiven for thinking the door lock was an afterthought, but I can remember public awareness campaigns on television advising us to lock cars at all times in the late 1960's early 1970's long before the crime of 'joy riding' had been thought of.



I have driven a couple of Minors and they are very easy to handle at a sedate pace, they do not feel anywhere near as solid or purposeful as a VW Beetle, great for tootling around country lanes all day but not so comfortable on an Autobahn as the Beetle was.



Minors have featured on a number TV series the Traveller probably most famously on 'Heartbeat' a series about the Police in Yorkshire set in the 1960's. There is even a Corgi die cast available complete with Sergeant Oscar Blaketon figure.



For the serious Moggie Thou fan there is also a 1:12 scale model available complete with opening doors !

Thanks for popping by today's sedate edition of "Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres", hope you'll join me tomorrow for more, don't forget to come back now !

Please note :- I do not in anyway endorse, or have any commercial interest in the products or distributors highlighted in today's feature, I am merely passing the information on as an enthusiast of all things motoring, I have no experience of handling these products nor have I used these vendors. I recommend anyone interested in these items or distributors do their own thorough investigation into suitability, reliability and particularly prices of both products and vendors before making any purchasing decisions.

A badge engineered van - Austin Minor

In 1968 as British Motor Holdings merged with Leyland Motor Corporation to form British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) the Austin Minor Panel Van & Pick Up was introduced to replace the Austin A35 Panel Van & Pick Up, the design of which dated back to 1956.



Ironically the Austin Minor Panel Van was a badge engineered Morris Minor 1000 apart from the bonnet badge, crinkled 'Austin' grill and 'Ausitn' steering wheel boss the Austin Minor Panel Van is identical in every respect to the Morris Minor a design that originally dates back to 1948 !



This particular vehicle was registered somewhere between 1968 - 1969 and so was one of the early Austin Minors which are also distinguished 'AA' prefix to its chassis number rather than the 'MA' featured on the Morris Minor Van.



Manufacture of the Austin and Morris Minor Vans ceased in 1971 as the whole Morris Minor range was replaced by the exciting modern and thoroughly maligned Morris Marina.

Slightly off topic congratulations to Jimmie 'I don't sign autographs' Johnson on taking his fifth consecutive Sprint Cup title after a fascinating race at Homestead Miami last night.

I imagine I am not alone in wondering why the title was not awarded to either the driver who won the most races Denny Hamlin or the driver who had the seasons, including the Chase, highest average finish (my driver) Kevin Harvick ?

Wishing you all a healthy week, as I look forward to preparing tomorrow's edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres', don't forget to come back now !

Nothing can extinguish the Olympic Flame - Rochdale Olympic Phase I

This comes under the category of cars I had not heard of before I took the picture.



Rochdale Motor Panels and Engineering were beased in Rochdale, Greater Manchester between 1948 and 1973, best known for making fibre glass bodied kit cars .

In 1959 they designed the glass fibre monocoque for the Olympic the only other such monocoque at the time was the Lotus Elite. After a factory fire the car went into production in 1960.

The Olympic was designed by Richard Parker to take a variety of engines including the twin cam 1.5 litre 91.5 cui Riley, Morris Minor, MGA and Ford 109E, unusually for kit cars of the time it featured wind down door windows.

With the Riley engine the car was capable of 0-60 mph in 11.9 secs and could reach 102 mph.

It is estimated that 250 of these vehicles were built of which 100 survive.

Remarkably the Olympic flame is still kept alive by a group of enthusiasts who own the original moulds making it technically possible to build a new Rochdale Olympic.

Hope you enjoyed this Mancunian edition of Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres, don't ferget to come back now !