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 #51

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #51 a review of the last seven blogs that have been published at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres". The week kicked off at the recent Goodwood Revival where I spotted the 1955 Series E Vauxhall Velox Pick Up seen above. Tuesdays post featured this 1938 MG VA some of which were supplied with synchromesh on the top two gears and others with synchromesh on the top three gears of the four speed gearbox. On Continental Curiosity Wednesday I looked at this 1962 Trabant P60 which was rescued from on top of a pile of cars in Gatebeck, Cumbria. Americana Thursdays blog was about Jerry Grant who not only drove this Lola Ford T70 for Dan Gurney's All American Racers team in 1966 but also recorded the first open wheel 200 mph average lap speed at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1972. On Ferrari Friday I looked at, what for my money is, the coolest Ferrari ever built, Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata's Ferrari Breadvan which FIAT's Gianni Agnelli had painted black by his butler because he thought it looked like a hearse ! Yesterday post was about the promising but ultimately ill feted all wheel drive Lotus Ford 64 which would prove to be Colin Chapman's final attempt at building a car for the Indianapolis 500, one which he threatened to personally cut up and bury after failing to negotiate a sale with Andy Granatelli. Today's blog features the Dodge Charger Daytona that Buddy Baker recorded the World First 200 mph race lap with at Talladega in 1970. Thanks for joining me on this "GALPOT Weekly #51" edition of "Gettin a li'l psycho on tyres" I hope you have enjoyed using the links to catch up with the last seven posts and that you will join me daily during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

Satellite of affectionate derision - Trabant 601

Continuing on yesterdays East European theme here are a couple of pics of a Trabant 601 Station wagon. The Trabant name meaning satellite was inspired by the Russian Sputnik space programme.



The 601 was third model to come from VEB Sachsenring in Zwickau East Germany. In from production from 1965 - 1990 it is powered by a 27 hp 600 cc / 36 cui two cylinder, two stroke engine, which was relatively easy to maintain, to get to the underside of the car for instance, two people could easily lay the car on its side !



The Trabant body work is made of Duraplast the first to use recycled material mostly wool and cotton waste from the Soviet Union and phenol resins from the East German dye industry. Early examples had no fuel gauge but used a dipstick to determine the volume of fuel in the tank which sat atop the engine. Since the car had no fuel pump other than gravity to feed the carburettor.

Though seen with affectionate derision these cars are still used as daily drivers and still used in competition, a Trabant was also the star of a film called Go Trabi Go !

Thanks for dropping by, don't forget to come back now !