Double Cream - Bowden Super Two

Staying in the theme of forgotten marques the subject of today's blog is Bowden, the brainchild of one of the UK's largest retailers of Specials vehicles Les Montgomery of Super Accessories in Bromley, Kent.



Les brought together the Bowden Chassis manufactured in Ottery St Mary, Devon designed to take a 4 cylinder Ford 1172 cc / 71 cui side valve motor then an engine of choice amongst specials builders also used by the likes of Lotus enthusiasts, and fit it with an enlarged Hamblin Cadet body which up to that time had been manufactured by Syd Hamblin of Sherbourne, Dorset to fit to Austin Seven chassis.



The Bowden Super Two kit is alleged to have been sold less power train at £99 / $ 250.



The F and CA letters suggest this vehicle might have a race history in the Sports Car Club of America Class F, if anybody recognises this vehicle please chime in below.



Less than 200 Bowden Super Two's are thought to have been built in the same time frame, 1960 - 1962, as the subject of yesterdays blog the Warwick.

Of all the vehicles I saw at Race Retro at the weekend I found this one particularly appealing having not heard of the manufacturer before, having a patina that if I had the resources I'd do my best to preserve while getting the car back into tip top shape and for being a relatively rare original.

Thanking my acquaintances at The Nostalgia Forum for their assistance with today's blog.

Hope you have enjoyed today's double cream edition of 'Getting a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me to again tomorrow on Ferrari Friday for the second and final episode of the Millionaire Mystery. Don't forget to come back now !

Double Bubble - FIAT 750 GT Zagato Coupé

Continuing the series of posts relating to Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20th July 1958 captured on camera by Ed Arnaudin, today we are looking at the fascinating FIAT Abarth 750 Zagato driven by Paul Sagan to 6th place overall the only class H finisher.



After the 22 hp FIAT 600 was launched in 1955 Carlo Abarth set about maximising the potential of tuning the engine by increasing the size from 633 / 38.6 cui to 747 / 45.6 cui fitting a Nardi inlet manifold and increasing the compression ratio to produce 47 hp.

Meanwhile while Zagato set about building a Coupé based on the same car the 30 hp 600 TS, when Abarth saw the coupe he suggested to Zagato they work together to produce a vehicle for racing in the popular 750 cc 45.6 cui sports car class prevalent in national and international racing at the time.




Over 600 of these successful racing vehicles which won the SCCA class H in '59 '60 and '61, are thought to have been built between 1956 and 1960 when the maximum permitted engine sizes for the various national racing classes were changed. The 'double bubble' name which is derived from the two humps in the roof stuck in America where a chewing gum brand bearing the same name was popular.

Paul Sagan is known to have been successful driving Porsche 550's in 1956 and 1957 before he moved over to running the #27 FIAT Abarth 750 during and after which his record is sketchy though he seems to have returned to racing Porsches by 1961.

My thanks to Terry O'Neil for the race results and Steve Arnaudin for his Dad Ed's pictures, wishing Ed all the best on his return home from hospital.

Hope you have enjoyed today's double bubble edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres and that you'll join me again tomorrow for a look at the cool 2nd place Lotus IX of Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20 July 1958. Don't forget to come back know !

Black Jack & Le Car - Renault 5

The Renault 5 was a versatile super mini launched in 1972, in Europe many countries ran a one make virtually stock Renault 5 Championship which brought many drivers their first taste of semi professional competition including Austrian Formula One driver Gerhard Berger.

In the States this vehicle known as Le Car dominated the 1977 SCCA Showroom Stock class C division and gained added notoriety when La Conner Washington police department traded in one of its full size cruisers for three Le Cars.



In 1980 three time world champion Sir Jack Brabham was persuaded to come out retirement for the first time in 10 years to take part in a British Saloon Car Championship race at Brands Hatch which took place on the same day as the British Grand Prix.

Though the car was giving away 200 cc 12 cui to the class leading Toyotas VWs and Audi 80's prepared by GTi Engineering, one of which was driven by the equally recently out of retirement Stirling Moss, it must be assumed that Black Jack was game for a laugh with his old sparing partner from the late 50's early 60's.

The Renault was woefully uncompetitive having neither the power or the handling to keep up with the class leading Audis but come race day Sir Jack Brabham had an ace up his sleeve, falling further and further behind the pack on the long Brands Grand Prix Circuit much to the amusement and in full view of 80,000 spectators Jack decided to take a 1 mile short cut by using the club circuit link road and so finished ahead of Stirling Moss on the road even though he was of course obviously disqualified.

Hope you have enjoyed today's Black Jack edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres and that you will join me tomorrow for a 6 cylinder edition tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !