GALPOT Weekly #59

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #59 a review of the last seven posts at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres". The week started with a look at a 1989 Volvo 740 GL that has been converted into a pick up with the intention of carrying a Royal Enfield Motor Cycle to show's and rallies. The second of three Hot Rovers in the form of a 139 mph 2001 MG ZS was featured on Tuesday. On Wednesday I looked at the Volkswagen Type 181 utility vehicle curiously marketed in the USA only as "Thing". My irregular Perfect Car For A Wedding feature returned on Thursday with this 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT/8, of the retro muscle cars currently on offer without a doubt my favorite. "No Hay Dos" provided the introduction into the ins and outs of the Mexican language and domestic product market on Friday as I explored the meaning of the unusual strap line painted on this Ferrari 250MM. Yesterdays featured Talbot Sunbeam Lotus shares it's Lotus Type 81 number with the 1980 Team Lotus Formula One car, but it was much more successful winning the 1981 World Rally Manufacturers Championship. Today's featured Rolls Royce Ghost V12 is described in Rolls own words as “more realistic, more measured”. Thanks for joining me on this "GALPOT Weekly #59 edition of "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" I hope you have enjoyed catching up using the links provided and that you will join me daily in the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

GALPOT Weekly 24/11 - 30/11

Another busy week at GALPOT started with a days marshalling at The Regency Landry Pegasus Sprint where John Dando in his Volvo 144 above was among nearly 120 competitors taking part.



On Tuesday GALPOT covered the story behind a vintage Vauxhall 30/98 with a new chassis and a known history of some of it's parts that goes back only to 1949.



GALPOT then looked at a Ford Prefect which appeared to be in roadworthy condition despite the evidence that it had not been taxed since 1979.



'Why Worry' a 40 mph Scammell Highwayman used by John Carter & Sons steam fair was the surreal subject of Thursdays blog that heralded the start of Steve Arnaudin's birthday.



Moving up a few gears for Ferrari Friday GALPOT looked at Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 possibly one of just 54 Right Hand Drive examples built.



One of '6 ot 7' Lotus Mk X's was the subject of yesterdays blog this one Bristol powered is seen in the hands of Nick Adams at the Silverstone Classic back in July.



The GALPOT week finishes today with a look at a Jensen Interceptor seen in some circles as a plagiarised Brasanica Uiraputu.

Thanks for joining me on this weekly summary edition of 'Getting' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will follow some of the links to get the full stories on these vehicles.

Coming up next week we start the week celebrating Racer 187's Birthday no guessing what the make of car will be then. On Tuesday a brief look at a one off Vauxhall 14/40 and Wednesday a look at the two door sibling of the Ford Prefect. All this and more can be found everyday on this link.

I hope you'll join me again, don't forget to come back now !

Worth Getting Up At Dawn For - Volvo 480ES

One day in April 1987 I spent the day at Donington Park where Volvo Concessionaires officially introduced the '87 model range to members of it's dealer network. This was the first opportunity many of us would have to drive the much anticipated Volvo 480ES.



Unlike Volvo's previous coupé the P1800 which was based on an existing Amazon platform, the 480 was a completely fresh front wheel drive design by Robert Koch, John de Vries and interior by Corien Pompe. The 480 platform would then later be used for the 440 hatchback and 460 saloon variants.



The car bristled with idea's new to Volvo including a Porsche tuned transverse 90 hp engine and front wheel drive, engine management by Electronic Control Unit, digital dash instrumentation, and a Lotus tuned suspension that gave the car staggering road holding.



By the time the car was launched the pop up head lights were not strictly necessary as the European Laws that had required them to meet a minimum head light height had been repealed, however this change in the law came so late the design remained unchanged.



During the course of the day I had the opportunity of driving the car around the Donington Park Circuit with a racing instructor at my side and I simply could not drive the car anything like fast enough to explore it's road holding potential, it went every where I wanted it to go safely regardless of the speed I was doing.



Some weeks later I was given the 480 ES, seen here, for a week in exchange for getting up at some improbably early hour to go and drum up some business at New Covent Garden Fruit Vegetable Market in Central London.

From 1986 to 1995 80,463 Volvo 480 ES, Turbo and 2 litre / 122 cui variants were manufactured at the former DAF works at Born in the Netherlands.

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

Goodwood Revival #3 - Volvo P1800S

The Volvo P1800 designed by Pelle Peterson, is celebrating it's 50th Anniversary along with the E-Type Jaguar this year, surprisingly in the UK the Volvo was the more expensive of the two models.



Like the E-Type the P1800 was launched at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, with a 4 cylinder 115hp B18 motor this 1967 model is capable of 109 mph.



The producers of the thriller TV series The Saint initially approached Jaguar to see if they would supply a couple of, the much in demand, E-Types for the show, after they were turned down they asked Volvo for a couple of P1800's who obliged by supplying two British bodied, built by Jensen, P1800's for the first series and a Swedish built P1800S for a later series.



The actor Roger Moore star of The Saint, which immortalised the P1800, liked the P1800 so much he bought one.



In the late 80's I came very close to taking on a P1800S as an investment, a second look at the car in daylight revealed I'd need to double my investment just to stay ahead of the rust, the following year the economy tanked. Wonderful cars full of character that the P1800's are, I'm glad I played it safe on that particular occasion.

Thanks for joining me on this Simon Templar edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you join me again for some Goodwood Americana tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Born In A Barn - Volvo 760 Turbo Intercooler

While I was a Salesman and later Quality Controller at a Volvo dealership in South London, I took these photographs of a fully loaded top of the range 1987 760 Turbo Intercooler, complete with colour coded body upgrades, parked on Downnton Avenue in Streatham which served as the dealership car park for the myriad of vehicles we were not able to keep on site for want of space.



I was fascinated to learn that thanks to a bad case of lumbago Product Manager Hans Gustavsson arranged for the barn at his summer cottage to be converted to the 760 projects operational head quarters where Jans Wilsgaard drew many of the lines for the emergent new car while Hans directed the planning of the product from his stretcher.



Development of the 760 started in 1975 when thanks to the oil crises demands on what the new car should look like were changing almost daily.



Unlike the wind cheating designs of it's many competitors including Rover 3500, Jans Wilsgaards design took it's queues from various customer surgeries in the new cars intended market the USA. If the original 240 was brick like in it's styling the 760's styling is more like that of a breeze block rather like some of it's contemporary down sized offerings from Cadillac and Chevrolet with a distinctive almost vertical rear window. The design caused outrage in some European automotive design circles because it flew in the face of received European wisdom of what designers were trying to achieve.



When the car was launched three engine's were available 182 hp turbocharged 4 cylinder as seen here, 170 hp PRV (Peugeot, Renault, Volvo) V6 or 115 hp turbo straight 6 cylinder diesel. The 182hp version seen here was capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in under 8 seconds, not something that I experienced often driving around in London traffic where the average speed is 8 mph, but when ever I had the opportunity on the motorway I used to delight in the kick as the hefty Garret T3 turbocharger boosted performance under full throttle.



The range topping 760 models were in production at plants located in Kalmar Sweden, Halifax Belgium and Ghent Belgium from 1982 to 1990 during which time 221,309 examples were built.

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

Tax Break Special - Volvo 940 SE Turbo Estate

The Volvo 940 Turbo SE Estate / Station Wagon was introduced in May 1991 and in the UK was aimed solidly at the company car market with a 2 litre / 122 cui turbocharged 4 cylinder engine that qualified for a lower rate of taxation than the 2.3 litre 900 series variants.



The SE was also loaded with goodies like colour coded mirrors, a more comprehensive set of front lights and a smaller black grill.



The B200ET and later B200FT engines which produced 150 hp were gems because they were fitted with a small diameter Garret T4 turbocharger which all but eliminated the throttle lag which was a common feature of the earlier turbocharged B230 motors that had been fitted with hefty Garret T3 units.



From the A pillar back the 940 Estate / Station Wagon is indistinguishable from it's predecessor the counterpart 740 apart from the more judicious use of black trim in place of earlier chrome items.

While not as rugged as the 200 series Volvo's, as this example shows, these vehicles are just as capable of surviving in presentable condition for nearly 20 years, a strong selling feature in the UK mired in the depths of a property market recession at the time of the vehicles launch.

Production of all 900 series models ceased in 1998 when the saloon / sedan variant's were known as S90's and Estate / Station Wagon's as V90's.

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

Multi Purpose Vehicle - Volvo 240 Tørslanda

The Volvo 200 series launched in 1974 was a significant update of the 140 series which is outwardly easily identifiable by federal spec of railway sleeper like low impact bumpers that gave the vehicle all the style, despite the best efforts of Jan Wilsgard, of a house brick.



From 1974 - 1993 the 200 series came with a variety of straight 4 engines, some with turbo chargers, Peugeot Renault Volvo, PRV, aluminium V6's and straight 5 cylinder or 6 cylinder diesels sourced from the Volkswagen.



Over the 19 year production run there were numerous stylistic updates which softened the more extreme features of the early 200 series, it was never considered a particularly good looking car but it's robustness and average 19 year longevity did lend the 200 series a certain status cache somewhere between a Range Rover and a Mini Van, the latter which first appeared as the 200 series production was being wound up.



The 1993 Tørslanda special edition, named after the Swedish factory that built them, was a back to basics estate station wagon model, allegedly designed to cope with harsh Scandinavian winters.



It featured, by then already retro, manual mirrors, door locks and windows front & rear, plastic trim in place of chrome which fairs badly in snow, heated seats, power steering, full length body stripes and BBS style alloy wheels.



The 200 series estates / station wagons, which accounted for a third of the 2.8 million units produced in Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Italy and Malasia, were particularly popular with those needing a large cargo area, the 41 cubic feet cargo area could carry large pieces of furniture, cookers, fridges, washing machines or hay bales and was often supplied with a dealer fitted rear facing seats that could accommodate two small children. These cars are still popular with trades people in Europe today.



Whilst outright performance was rarely top of the list of a typical 200 series customers desires, Volvo did support the development of a turbocharged two door model that allowed Gianfranco Brancatelli and Thomas Lindström driving for the Eggenberger Motorsport team to share the 1985 European Touring Car Championship.


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

Halfway House - Volvo 144

The Volvo 140 launched in 1966, which superseded the Volvo 120 Amazon series, was the seed design that stayed in production across two distinct series of models for thirty years until 1996. The 140 design was significantly updated in 1973 as a precursor to the 240 series launched in 1974.



This 1973 140 model, a halfway house between the original 140 series and forthcoming 240 series, has many interior features familiar to early 240 owners including much of the entirely padded plastic faced dashboard, round, replacing the previous strip, instrumentation and rocker switch gear.



For 1973 power for the 140 series came from a 1986 cc / 121 cc straight 4 cylinder Over Head Valve B20 motor itself the last iteration of a design born out of the Volvo V8 B36 motor used in Volvo commercial vehicles.



The tail of the 1973 and '74 140's is also identical to that on the early 240 series the only thing missing is the much larger energy absorbing bumpers of the latter model.

The 140 series was dropped in 1975 with final production of all 140 variants since 1966 totalling over one million units which were built at plants in Torslanda Sweden, Ghent Belgium, Halifax Nova Scotia Canada, Melbourne Victoria Australia and Shah Alam Malaysia.


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

Swedish Tease - Volvo 1800 ES

In 1956 Volvo launched a sports car the P1900 a fibreglass bodied roadster, inspired by the Chevrolet Corvette, if you have never heard of it, or seen it, that is because the P1900 was a disaster so bad that after using one on a holiday weekend incoming Volvo President Gunnar Engellau cancelled further production after just 68 units had been produced.



Volvo's next attempt to crack the sports car market hinged on a design by Italian design house Pietro Frua called the P1800. In 2009 Volvo admitted that there Italian designed car was actually designed by a Swede working at Frua called Pelle Petterson who's father had designed the Volvo PV444.

The P1800 was eventually launched in 1961, with the same engine as used in the Volvo Amazon series, making the model 50 years old this year along with the much cheaper Renault 4 and slightly cheaper E-Type Jaguar. Originally scheduled to be built by Karmann in Osnabruck Germany until Karmann's biggest customer Volkswagen intervened with an emphatic 'Nein' the P1800 was initially produced under contract by Jensen. After quality issues emerged production transferred from the UK to Sweden with the introduction of P1800 S which featured a larger 118 hp motor.



In 1970 the P 1800 E was introduced with fuel injection and in 1972 the last of the P1800 models, P1800 ES seen here, was launched with a novel one piece rear glass tailgate which transformed the coupé into a versatile eye catching shooting brake for which designer Jan Wilsgaard was responsible.

The P 1800 like many contemporary models was killed off my the 1974 US safety and emissions regulations, with some 39,407 Coupé and 8,077 Shooting Brakes built the P1800 was considered a far greater success than it's predecessor. My overwhelmimg memory of driving P1800 models is that despite being 6' tall I had the feeling I was sitting in a very deep bath tub and had a great deal of difficulty determining where the corners of the car were when shuffling these models through cramped garage space.

Hope you have enjoyed today's one piece glass tailgate edition of 'Gettin' alil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Bi- Parting Tailgate - Volvo Amazon Estate / Station Wagon

Last week I looked at the Volvo Amazon, no sooner had I written the blog than I came across this Estate / Station Wagon version with Dutch plates.



Unlike most modern vehicles of this type the Amazon had a two piece tailgate, the bottom half opens down to form a loading platform while the top half opens up a feature common to many US Estate Station wagons. Like the Mini introduced in 1959 the rear licence plate is conveniently hinged at the top so that one can carry longer loads with the tailgate down without attracting the ire of traffic law enforcement agencies.



The Amazon Estate / Station wagon was launched in 1962 seven years after the original Amazon Saloon / Sedan, and shared with it's 3 box sibling body work made of phosphate treated steel to improve paint adhesion and heavy use of undercoat and anti corrosive oil treatment.



Between 1962 and 1969 Volvo manufactured 73,000 Amazon Estate / Station wagons.

Thanks for joining me on this bi-parting tailgate edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Design Mash Up - Volvo 120 Amazon (131)

Looking back it is a sobering thought that when my four grand parents were born at the turn of the 20th century the invention of motorcar was somewhere between 10 and 15 years old and of them neither of my grand mothers ever learned to drive and only one of my grandfathers ever owned a private car and that only for five years before he died aged 63.



Nearly 60 years later I on the other hand was lucky enough to be born into the age of mass consumption by the time I was just four my parents not only had their first new car but all of their friends had new cars too !



Of those friends my parents had I soon adopted two, Ted and Syd, as my Uncles, both drove brand new grey 2 door Volvo 120 Amazons which had a factory code 131 denoting 2 door single carb versions.



Volvo's original intention was to call the model Amason, however manufacturers, of one of the most irritating sounding 2 strokes ever, Kreidler already had the Amason name registered and so the name Volvo Amason was restricted to Sweden by agreement.



In today's parlance the Amazon design would probably known as a design mash up with the bonnet lines seemingly inspired by the 2nd generation Chrysler New Yorker, the grill design seemingly from the 1955 Chrysler C-300 though designer Jan Wilsgaard claims he was inspired by a Kaiser Manhattan he saw in the docks in Gothenburg. Interesting strap line for the linked Kaiser advertisement in the light of Volvo's reputation from 1959 until the late 1990's.



During a production run of over 600, 000 units produced in Sweden, Belgium, Canada, South Africa and Chile from 1956 to 1970, in 1959 the Amazon became the first car to be fitted with three point front seat belts as standard. The seat belts fitted in Uncle Ted & Syds cars encouraged my folks to get some after market seat belts for our more modest Austin A40 Countryman, an act that probably saved their lives a year or two later when we were involved in a 30 mph collision with the side of a truck.



After 3 years of abuse at BBQ's on the beaches of Larnica, Cyprus most Sundays and nearly 25 years further good service the last time I saw Uncle Syds Amazon it was rapidly deteriorating into a rust bubble in the mid 1980's despite the fact that the engine was other wise mechanically sound. The 1970 model shown here seems to have faired considerably better.

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