Showing posts with label de. Show all posts
Showing posts with label de. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
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were not strictly necessary as the European Laws that had required them to meet a minimum head light height had been repealed, however this change in the law came so late the design remained unchanged.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 !
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 !
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Woodland For The Tenacious - Spyker Silvestris V8 Prototype
If innovation were enough to guarantee success everybody would know the name Spyker and quite a few of us would probably be driving one, given that in 1903 Spyker launched a 60 hp racer that was the first motor car with a six cylinder engine, four wheel drive AND four wheel brakes.
The company motto "Nulla tenaci invia est via" translates as "For the tenacious, no road is impassable", to which might be added "even if the way is blocked for 70 years", for despite building the royal horse drawn 'Golden' carriage for the Dutch royal family in 1898, which is still in use today and introducing 6 cylinder powered vehicles, four wheel drive and four wheel braking systems, Spyker went under in 1929.
Between 1990 and 1996 Maarten de Bruijn hand built the Silvestris (translation 'Woodland') V8, seen here at Goodwood, Festival of Speed, with which he and Victor Muller would revive the Spyker brand.
Many of the design features of the Spyker C8 model which went into production in 2000 can be seen in the Silvestre which has smaller overall dimensions than the production C8.
Power for the prototype Spyker came from a 265 hp quad cam (dohc) Audi V8 attached to a similarly sourced gearbox.
The Silvestris weighing just 960 kgs 2,116 lbs is thought to be capable of 0 - 62 mph in 4.5 secs.
Builder Maarten de Bruijn still owns the Silvestris which won it's class in the Cartier Concours at Goodwood this year.
In 2005 Maarten left Spyker to start a new venture Silvestris Aquamotive which builds aluminium space frame speed boats.
Thanks for joining me on today's Woodland edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
The company motto "Nulla tenaci invia est via" translates as "For the tenacious, no road is impassable", to which might be added "even if the way is blocked for 70 years", for despite building the royal horse drawn 'Golden' carriage for the Dutch royal family in 1898, which is still in use today and introducing 6 cylinder powered vehicles, four wheel drive and four wheel braking systems, Spyker went under in 1929.
Between 1990 and 1996 Maarten de Bruijn hand built the Silvestris (translation 'Woodland') V8, seen here at Goodwood, Festival of Speed, with which he and Victor Muller would revive the Spyker brand.
Many of the design features of the Spyker C8 model which went into production in 2000 can be seen in the Silvestre which has smaller overall dimensions than the production C8.
Power for the prototype Spyker came from a 265 hp quad cam (dohc) Audi V8 attached to a similarly sourced gearbox.
The Silvestris weighing just 960 kgs 2,116 lbs is thought to be capable of 0 - 62 mph in 4.5 secs.
Builder Maarten de Bruijn still owns the Silvestris which won it's class in the Cartier Concours at Goodwood this year.
In 2005 Maarten left Spyker to start a new venture Silvestris Aquamotive which builds aluminium space frame speed boats.
Thanks for joining me on today's Woodland edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
Friday, 5 August 2011
Ferrari Turned Ugly - Ferrari 312 P #0876 ?
Some months ago I said that after Niki Lauda tested the proposed Ferrari 312 P sports prototype for 1974 he advised Enzo Ferrari that if he wanted to win the World Formula One Championship that he ought to drop the Sports Prototype Programme.
(Ferrari 312 P 1974 Spec, Copyright holder unknown image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)
The photo above shows Niki Lauda testing the 1974 312 P that is thought to be the work of Mauro 'Fury' Forghieri who simultaneously was working on turning the Formula One Ferrari 312 B3 into a competitive proposition.
It has emerged that it was more likely that Niki and Luca de Montemezolo between them successfully convinced Mr Ferrari that continuing the sports prototype programme was not a good idea.
(Ferrari 312 P 1974 Spec, Copyright holder unknown image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)
As can be seen above even after the alleged advice and Lauda's test drive, the car, seen here with Niki's team mate Clay Regazzoni at the wheel, was developed further with the wide front wing being added before the car was dropped and plans to enter the World Sportscar Championship were abandoned.
It would appear 1974 spec 312 P was based on a short wheel base 1971 312 P chassis, probably #0876, this car, with it's even more distinctive driver side cooler arrangement, than we saw in last weeks 1973 312 P blog, was never raced and has not ever been seen in public.
It is thought likely the car got destroyed on the orders of Enzo Ferrari early in 1974 before the Italian Tax Authorities were due to pay Mr Ferrari a visit.
My thanks to everyone on the 1974 Ferrari 312PB 'evo' thread at The Nostalgia Forum who contributed to this blog.
Hope you have enjoyed today's Ugly Sister edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', and that you will join me again, tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
(Ferrari 312 P 1974 Spec, Copyright holder unknown image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)
The photo above shows Niki Lauda testing the 1974 312 P that is thought to be the work of Mauro 'Fury' Forghieri who simultaneously was working on turning the Formula One Ferrari 312 B3 into a competitive proposition.
It has emerged that it was more likely that Niki and Luca de Montemezolo between them successfully convinced Mr Ferrari that continuing the sports prototype programme was not a good idea.
(Ferrari 312 P 1974 Spec, Copyright holder unknown image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)
As can be seen above even after the alleged advice and Lauda's test drive, the car, seen here with Niki's team mate Clay Regazzoni at the wheel, was developed further with the wide front wing being added before the car was dropped and plans to enter the World Sportscar Championship were abandoned.
It would appear 1974 spec 312 P was based on a short wheel base 1971 312 P chassis, probably #0876, this car, with it's even more distinctive driver side cooler arrangement, than we saw in last weeks 1973 312 P blog, was never raced and has not ever been seen in public.
It is thought likely the car got destroyed on the orders of Enzo Ferrari early in 1974 before the Italian Tax Authorities were due to pay Mr Ferrari a visit.
My thanks to everyone on the 1974 Ferrari 312PB 'evo' thread at The Nostalgia Forum who contributed to this blog.
Hope you have enjoyed today's Ugly Sister edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', and that you will join me again, tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Sign of things to come - Kimberly Cooper Special
Today's blog, on the 50th anniversary running of the ' Indy 500' in 1961, comes courtesy of photographs by Ed Arnaudin and Phillippe de Lespinay.
Photo by Ed Arnaudin for lager version click here.
AJ Foyt recorded his first of four victories at Indy in 1961 driving the Bowes Seal Fast Special, a Trevis Roadster, outrunning Ed Sachs and Roger Ward both driving Watson Roadsters.
Also on the grid of the 1961 Indy 500 was a small car built in England driven by an Australian who started 13th and came in 9th, perhaps not a stunning performance but none the less a significant marker for the future designs that would appear at Indianapolis.
The #17 Kimberly Cooper Special, was the smallest car in the field powered by the smallest engine a 270 HP 2750 cc / 167 cui 4 cylinder Coventry Climax which gave away around 150 HP to it's Offenhauser powered opposition. Uniquely that day in May the Cooper had it's Coventry Climax engine mounted behind the driver.
Despite it's power disadvantage which showed in straight line speed the Coopers lighter weight and rear engine configuration gave two time, reigning, World Champion,Jack Brabham a superior handling car going round the corners.
Had the team not made an unscheduled third stop, spending over 8 minutes stationary over three stops 'Black Jack' wound have been in a competitive position at the end of the race.
Cooper never returned to Indianapolis. The marker they had put down with the rear engine layout was taken up by others and by 1969 all Indy 500 qualifiers had engines mounted in the back, a development that was met with some resistance by both organizers and fellow competitors, who were less than thrilled by all manner of new comers turning up and eventually sweeping up the victory spoils.
In 1963 owner Kjell Kvale, believing some hopelessly optimistic performance figures for a 6 cylinder Aston Martin engine had Joe Huffaker install it in 'Black Jacks' 1961 Cooper T54 for Pedro Rodriguez to drive. Due to poor straight line speed Pedro Rodriguez was bumped in qualifying for the 1963 Indy 500.
The unique T54 then passed through 3 hands and by 1977 it had morphed into a Chevrolet powered sprint car. Fortunately many of the original parts that had been replaced in the morphing process had been kept.
Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay
In 1990 Philippe de Lespinay and Robert G Arnold managed to purchase over 70% of the parts belonging to the T54, along with it's original equally storied engine, giving Thomas Beauchamp, Gene Crowe and Quincy Epperly the task of restoring the Cooper back to it's 1961 specification using as all of the recovered original parts, including all of the surviving body panels.
Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay
During the restoration Jack Brabham found time to visit the shop in California and inspect the work in progress.
Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay Monterey 2006
Thirty years after first driving the T54 at Indianapolis Jack Brabham took a belated fairy tale victory to win the 1991 Monterey Cup.
Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay
Since then the T54 has appeared at the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Marconi Automotive Museum, Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and in 2006 was selected as the star of the 2006 Rolex display at Monterey.
In July Philippe will be bring the Kimberly Cooper Special also known as the Cooper Coventry Climax T54 to Goodwood Festival of Speed, where I look forward to seeing the car for the first time in the flesh and meeting Philippe.
My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for scanning and sending his Dad's photos, to Phillipe de Lespinay for permission to use his photos more of which along with the complete story on the restoration of the T54 may be seen here.
Hope you have enjoyed today's rear engine edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
Correction in an earlier edit of this blog I incorrectly stated Pedro Rodrigueuz had crashed the Cooper Aston Martin, this was definitely not the case and a case of labelling error by a third party, apologies for any confusion caused.
Photo by Ed Arnaudin for lager version click here.
AJ Foyt recorded his first of four victories at Indy in 1961 driving the Bowes Seal Fast Special, a Trevis Roadster, outrunning Ed Sachs and Roger Ward both driving Watson Roadsters.
Also on the grid of the 1961 Indy 500 was a small car built in England driven by an Australian who started 13th and came in 9th, perhaps not a stunning performance but none the less a significant marker for the future designs that would appear at Indianapolis.
The #17 Kimberly Cooper Special, was the smallest car in the field powered by the smallest engine a 270 HP 2750 cc / 167 cui 4 cylinder Coventry Climax which gave away around 150 HP to it's Offenhauser powered opposition. Uniquely that day in May the Cooper had it's Coventry Climax engine mounted behind the driver.
Despite it's power disadvantage which showed in straight line speed the Coopers lighter weight and rear engine configuration gave two time, reigning, World Champion,Jack Brabham a superior handling car going round the corners.
Had the team not made an unscheduled third stop, spending over 8 minutes stationary over three stops 'Black Jack' wound have been in a competitive position at the end of the race.
Cooper never returned to Indianapolis. The marker they had put down with the rear engine layout was taken up by others and by 1969 all Indy 500 qualifiers had engines mounted in the back, a development that was met with some resistance by both organizers and fellow competitors, who were less than thrilled by all manner of new comers turning up and eventually sweeping up the victory spoils.
In 1963 owner Kjell Kvale, believing some hopelessly optimistic performance figures for a 6 cylinder Aston Martin engine had Joe Huffaker install it in 'Black Jacks' 1961 Cooper T54 for Pedro Rodriguez to drive. Due to poor straight line speed Pedro Rodriguez was bumped in qualifying for the 1963 Indy 500.
The unique T54 then passed through 3 hands and by 1977 it had morphed into a Chevrolet powered sprint car. Fortunately many of the original parts that had been replaced in the morphing process had been kept.
Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay
In 1990 Philippe de Lespinay and Robert G Arnold managed to purchase over 70% of the parts belonging to the T54, along with it's original equally storied engine, giving Thomas Beauchamp, Gene Crowe and Quincy Epperly the task of restoring the Cooper back to it's 1961 specification using as all of the recovered original parts, including all of the surviving body panels.
Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay
During the restoration Jack Brabham found time to visit the shop in California and inspect the work in progress.
Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay Monterey 2006
Thirty years after first driving the T54 at Indianapolis Jack Brabham took a belated fairy tale victory to win the 1991 Monterey Cup.
Photograph courtesy of Philippe de Lespinay
Since then the T54 has appeared at the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Marconi Automotive Museum, Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and in 2006 was selected as the star of the 2006 Rolex display at Monterey.
In July Philippe will be bring the Kimberly Cooper Special also known as the Cooper Coventry Climax T54 to Goodwood Festival of Speed, where I look forward to seeing the car for the first time in the flesh and meeting Philippe.
My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for scanning and sending his Dad's photos, to Phillipe de Lespinay for permission to use his photos more of which along with the complete story on the restoration of the T54 may be seen here.
Hope you have enjoyed today's rear engine edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !
Correction in an earlier edit of this blog I incorrectly stated Pedro Rodrigueuz had crashed the Cooper Aston Martin, this was definitely not the case and a case of labelling error by a third party, apologies for any confusion caused.
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Cobra Killer - de Tomaso Mangusta # 8MA 1216
This Mangusta is one of a handful of genuinely show stopping cars at the Italian Auto Moto Festival on Bristol last weekend and my personal favourite of those present.
When I was a kid and we got our first black and white television I was completely captivated by a Sci Fi puppet series called Thunderbirds and there were three real machines representing transport that seemed to capture that vision of the future, the Mangusta with its clean lines and gullwing engine cover, the supersonic Concorde and the ship named Queen Elizabeth 2 or QE2.
Mangusta translated means mongoose a carnivore immune to some snake venom known to kill vipers and typically avoid cobra's. However the myth is that Mongeese are cobra killers and that is why the name was chosen for this vehicle because de Tomaso wanted to build a car that was better than the Shelby Cobra after a misunderstanding about a supply of engines that went to Shelby.
The Giorgetto Giugiaro body is fitted on to pressed steel back bone chassis which has it's origins in de Tomaso's first road car the Ford 4 cylinder Kent powered Vallelunga.
401 Mangusta's are thought to have been built from 1964 to 1968 of which around 128 may have survived.
All bar one Mangusta were fitted with Ford V8's the 306 hp 4729 cc / 289 cui for the European Markets, and the 220 hp 4949 cc / 302 cui for the US Market, the US versions had pop up lights in place of the twin headlamps of the European versions. The odd Mangusta was built with a Chevrolet Small Block V8.
Tarantino aficionado's might recognise the 155 mph Mangusta from Kill Bill Vol. 2, see trailer at 1m 27 seconds, and Kylie Minogue fans might recognise the Mangusta from the 2001 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' video.
Chassis 8MA 1216 seen here was purchased by Alitalia pilot Giancarlo Furiosi and kept by him until 2009 when portrait photographer Jonathan Root acquired it.
Hope you have enjoyed today's Cobra Killer edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a black cat. Don't forget to come back now !
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Eye popping variety - Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival
Yesterday was a long day due to a variety of pleasurable commitments which meant I got up at 7 am so that I could go down to watch the Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival being set up.
Getting up so early was not in the least disappointing , seeing my home city centre full of Ferrari's, Maserati's, a couple of De Tomaso's and a familiar Lamborghini amongst many others, some models of which I saw close up for the very first time.
It was a particular joy to briefly meet David who's Special ALFA Romeo Lenham Healey was featured on this blog some month's ago and Richard Harman who's extremely rare South African Autodelta 3 litre / 183 cui ALFA Romeo GTV6 will be feature on this blog in the not to distant future.
As the name suggests this Festival is a veneration of all modes of Italian powered personal transport including a stunning array of motor bikes, Benelli, Laverda, Ducatti, Moto Guzzi and MV Agusta among them, many worthy of inclusion in this blog and indeed one will also appear on this blog in the near future.
Finally mention should be made of the many 'Mods' who turned up on their Lambretta's and provided a welcome Quadrophenia inspired sound system to their area of the Festival.
I'd like to thank the organisers for arranging a memorable day out in my adopted home town and thank all those who took the time and trouble to bring their bella machina's from far and wide, I look forward to sharing more detailed images and stories of some of the 50 vehicles I photographed during my all too brief two hour visit.
Compared to last years excellent Festival the organisers excelled themselves and cranked up the level of expectation for next year up another notch.
Hope you have enjoyed todays Italian edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow when God willing I'll be reporting on my competition debut in the discipline of Production Car Car Trial's. Please keep your fingers crossed for me and don't forget to come back now !
Getting up so early was not in the least disappointing , seeing my home city centre full of Ferrari's, Maserati's, a couple of De Tomaso's and a familiar Lamborghini amongst many others, some models of which I saw close up for the very first time.
It was a particular joy to briefly meet David who's Special ALFA Romeo Lenham Healey was featured on this blog some month's ago and Richard Harman who's extremely rare South African Autodelta 3 litre / 183 cui ALFA Romeo GTV6 will be feature on this blog in the not to distant future.
As the name suggests this Festival is a veneration of all modes of Italian powered personal transport including a stunning array of motor bikes, Benelli, Laverda, Ducatti, Moto Guzzi and MV Agusta among them, many worthy of inclusion in this blog and indeed one will also appear on this blog in the near future.
Finally mention should be made of the many 'Mods' who turned up on their Lambretta's and provided a welcome Quadrophenia inspired sound system to their area of the Festival.
I'd like to thank the organisers for arranging a memorable day out in my adopted home town and thank all those who took the time and trouble to bring their bella machina's from far and wide, I look forward to sharing more detailed images and stories of some of the 50 vehicles I photographed during my all too brief two hour visit.
Compared to last years excellent Festival the organisers excelled themselves and cranked up the level of expectation for next year up another notch.
Hope you have enjoyed todays Italian edition of 'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow when God willing I'll be reporting on my competition debut in the discipline of Production Car Car Trial's. Please keep your fingers crossed for me and don't forget to come back now !
Sunday, 19 December 2010
La motte de beurre - Renault 4CV
Despite being ordered by the Germans to concentrate on the design and production of commercial vehicles for military use the design of the 4CV commenced under the instruction of Louis Renault while his factory was under occupation in 1940.
Renault called on his designers to 'make him a car like the Germans' - presumably Beetle - since the 4CV like the Beetle shares a rear engine layout.
In 1947 upon its launch the steering was direct the wheel requiring just 2 1/4 turns lock to lock however over the years this was criticised as being too difficult to handle in the wet, so by the end of production in 1961 a ridiculous 4 1/2 turns were required lock to lock.
The 4CV was the first French vehicle to break the million unit sales barrier, 4CV models were also produced in England, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, South Africa and in Japan where under the Hino brand these vehicles have a particularly good reputation for superior quality.
1950 the original water cooled in line four 747 cc / 45 cui engine was replaced by the 17 hp 760 cc / 60 cui 'Ventoux' engine which survived through various Renault guises until 1984 and then had its life extended through various Ford do Brazil incarnations until 1996 when the 4WD Ford do Brazil Pampla was phased out.
As fuel octane ratings rose and the compression ratio's of the engine increased power was raised to 21hp by the time 4CV production came to an end, Renault tuners such as Alpine managed higher outputs for their successful competition units.
The 'La motte de beurre' - the lump of butter - nickname derives from a combination of the cars shape and the fact that early models were painted with war surplus yellow paint originally intended for vehicles to be used by the Afrika Korps.
Hope you have enjoyed todays French edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres and will join me tomorrow for some vintage fun in the final run up to Christmas. Don't forget to come back now !
Sunday, 7 November 2010
The conspicuous underdog - 'Petit Pataud' Replica 2/2
Today I'll be sharing some details about John Aibels fabulous 'Petit Pataud' Replica 1950 Series 61 Cadillac Coupe, if you missed the story about the original here is a link to yesterdays post.
John found his bottom of the range Series 61 Cadillac with the correct Petit Pataud 121" wheel base in Iowa, it did not have the optional power windows, amazing I had no idea they had even been thought of in 1950, but Johns car was originally fitted with a Hydra - Matic automatic transmission and he went to considerable trouble to locate a correct manual one as used at Le Mans, an item difficult to find because it is also the transmission of choice amongst hot rodders.
Being a volunteer at CAM (The Collier Collection) John was given access to the original and correctly identified the Marchal driving lights, GI two way radio among many other parts, and noted how and where they were correctly installed. It took around a year to meticulously hunt down these items on E-Bay and to collect all the bits and pieces prior to the car being sent to a restoration shop for a three year restoration.
The car is fitted with a roll bar and five point harness though John is a little sceptical about the capability of the drum brakes to handle serious competition, I am not sure he has the Alfin drums and additional brake ducting
Cunningham had fitted to the original.
Apparently the Cunnigham 'Petit Pataud' was used as both a tow car and shop vehicle after its sturdy service at Le Mans, evidence of this can be seen in this link to a photo of the restored original where a chrome tow hitch cover is plain to see under the bumper, also the original no longer has the 35 gallon long range fuel tank and filler as can be clearly seen on the passenger side of Johns car just behind the C pillar.
He says of his car "You are right everytime we drive the car we get the thumbs up and smiles from a lot of people. It also drives great, it is very comfortable, it just soaks up the bumbs on the roads. She rolls like a ship in the turns, but holds very well."
I'd like to thank John for sharing his photo's and thoughts on his marvellous motor car, a reminder of a golden age of optimism, a time when with a few good connections a showroom car fitted with a double barrel carburettor, some French springs, a long range fuel tank and GI two way radio you could compete in one of, if not the most romantic race in the world.
Thanks also again to Chief 187 who so thoughtfully set these last two blogs up for me.
Hope you have enjoyed this weekends extraordinary vehicle, new followers and comments are always appreciated and a useful tool to help me source more for you in future, thanks for dropping by don't forget to come back now !
Slightly off topic, today is a big day for all three contenders in the post season NASCAR Chase for the Cup, covered by less than 40 points the only strategy to win the cup now has to be to win the next three races, looking forward to seeing if Kevin Harvick can step up to the plate and pull it off. Go Harvick ! Go #29 ! Go Happy !
10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.
John found his bottom of the range Series 61 Cadillac with the correct Petit Pataud 121" wheel base in Iowa, it did not have the optional power windows, amazing I had no idea they had even been thought of in 1950, but Johns car was originally fitted with a Hydra - Matic automatic transmission and he went to considerable trouble to locate a correct manual one as used at Le Mans, an item difficult to find because it is also the transmission of choice amongst hot rodders.
Being a volunteer at CAM (The Collier Collection) John was given access to the original and correctly identified the Marchal driving lights, GI two way radio among many other parts, and noted how and where they were correctly installed. It took around a year to meticulously hunt down these items on E-Bay and to collect all the bits and pieces prior to the car being sent to a restoration shop for a three year restoration.
The car is fitted with a roll bar and five point harness though John is a little sceptical about the capability of the drum brakes to handle serious competition, I am not sure he has the Alfin drums and additional brake ducting
Cunningham had fitted to the original.
Apparently the Cunnigham 'Petit Pataud' was used as both a tow car and shop vehicle after its sturdy service at Le Mans, evidence of this can be seen in this link to a photo of the restored original where a chrome tow hitch cover is plain to see under the bumper, also the original no longer has the 35 gallon long range fuel tank and filler as can be clearly seen on the passenger side of Johns car just behind the C pillar.
He says of his car "You are right everytime we drive the car we get the thumbs up and smiles from a lot of people. It also drives great, it is very comfortable, it just soaks up the bumbs on the roads. She rolls like a ship in the turns, but holds very well."
I'd like to thank John for sharing his photo's and thoughts on his marvellous motor car, a reminder of a golden age of optimism, a time when with a few good connections a showroom car fitted with a double barrel carburettor, some French springs, a long range fuel tank and GI two way radio you could compete in one of, if not the most romantic race in the world.
Thanks also again to Chief 187 who so thoughtfully set these last two blogs up for me.
Hope you have enjoyed this weekends extraordinary vehicle, new followers and comments are always appreciated and a useful tool to help me source more for you in future, thanks for dropping by don't forget to come back now !
Slightly off topic, today is a big day for all three contenders in the post season NASCAR Chase for the Cup, covered by less than 40 points the only strategy to win the cup now has to be to win the next three races, looking forward to seeing if Kevin Harvick can step up to the plate and pull it off. Go Harvick ! Go #29 ! Go Happy !
10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
The conspicuous underdog - 'Petit Pataud' Replica 1/2
It's a great honour to feature on 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' a 'Petit Pataud' replica belonging to John Aibel. This will be another two part blog starting today with the history of the real 'Petit Pataud' finishing tomorrow with some of the fascinating details about this faithful replica.
The 'Petit Pataud' legend starts with an invitation from 1949 Le Mans winner Luigi Chinnetti to facilitate an entry in the 1950 Le Mans entry for Briggs Cunningham.
Seeking advice from a well respected mechanic Bill Frick, Cunningham made a false start building a hot rod like device by dropping a Cadillac V8 into a Ford body and dubbed a Fordillac. If any one knows of any pics of this 'device' please leave a message below.
The Le Mans organisers deemed the Fordillac ineligible so Briggs bought two showroom 1950 Series 61 Cadillac Coupes one was given an open aluminium body devised by employees of the Grumman aircraft manufacturer and dubbed 'Le Monstre' by the French press, the other was more modestly prepared for endurance racing by Frick - Tappett Motors and dubbed with typical French irony 'Petit Pataud' 'little clumsy' a name I believe usually referring to new born pups.
The Cunningham team were surprised to find 'Petit Pataud' the more or less stock underdog of the stable driven by Miles and Sam Collier proved quicker than the heavily modified 'Le Monstre' straight out of the box. Though this was rectified during the course of practice for the race.
The 24 hours of Le Mans had an unusual start procedure, drivers stood on the opposite side of the track from the car and at the drop of the flag sprinted across the track and jumped in to their cars fired them up and drove off, in a piece of comedy reminiscent of a 'Herbie' film 'Petit Pataud's' doors were found to be locked after it's driver sprinted across the track at the start, fortunately the window was open so he reached inside to unlock the door from the inside !
Miles Collier who raced in the 1939 Le Mans race advised Briggs to equip his cars with fold away shovels in case either car found itself buried in the famously unforgiving artificial sand banks installed to prevent the more wayward vehicles from venturing too far from the notoriously fast and dangerous circuit.
Briggs rejected the advice and paid the price on lap 2 of the race when he found himself trapped in the sand bank at the end of the 4 mile long Mulsanne straight, Briggs probably wasted several minuets borrowing a shovel from a spectator and wasting half an hour successfully digging his car out and resuming the race.
'Petit Pataud' meanwhile as to be expected from a land yacht was sailing along at a nice and steady pace reaching 120 mph on the Mulsanne and running 1,956 miles to average 81.5 mph for 24 hours and finish in a commendable 10th place overall, 2nd in class behind a Cadillac powered Allard.
Briggs and Phil Walters brought 'Le Monstre' in one lap down, about the time it would have taken to borrow a shovel, on 'Petit Pataud', a small victory for the clumsy team underdog perhaps but just the stuff of legends that makes Le Mans such a fascinating race.
Tomorrow I'll continue with details about Johns fabulous replica and some surprising differences with the restored original which make Johns car today arguably closer to the original Le Mans spec as raced in 1950.
Thanks to Chief 187 who set up my connection with John Aibel, and thanks to John, unfortunately I was not able to visit Florida to take these magnificent pics which he kindly sent to me.
Thanks for stopping by wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, don't forget to come back now !
10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.
The 'Petit Pataud' legend starts with an invitation from 1949 Le Mans winner Luigi Chinnetti to facilitate an entry in the 1950 Le Mans entry for Briggs Cunningham.
Seeking advice from a well respected mechanic Bill Frick, Cunningham made a false start building a hot rod like device by dropping a Cadillac V8 into a Ford body and dubbed a Fordillac. If any one knows of any pics of this 'device' please leave a message below.
The Le Mans organisers deemed the Fordillac ineligible so Briggs bought two showroom 1950 Series 61 Cadillac Coupes one was given an open aluminium body devised by employees of the Grumman aircraft manufacturer and dubbed 'Le Monstre' by the French press, the other was more modestly prepared for endurance racing by Frick - Tappett Motors and dubbed with typical French irony 'Petit Pataud' 'little clumsy' a name I believe usually referring to new born pups.
The Cunningham team were surprised to find 'Petit Pataud' the more or less stock underdog of the stable driven by Miles and Sam Collier proved quicker than the heavily modified 'Le Monstre' straight out of the box. Though this was rectified during the course of practice for the race.
The 24 hours of Le Mans had an unusual start procedure, drivers stood on the opposite side of the track from the car and at the drop of the flag sprinted across the track and jumped in to their cars fired them up and drove off, in a piece of comedy reminiscent of a 'Herbie' film 'Petit Pataud's' doors were found to be locked after it's driver sprinted across the track at the start, fortunately the window was open so he reached inside to unlock the door from the inside !
Miles Collier who raced in the 1939 Le Mans race advised Briggs to equip his cars with fold away shovels in case either car found itself buried in the famously unforgiving artificial sand banks installed to prevent the more wayward vehicles from venturing too far from the notoriously fast and dangerous circuit.
Briggs rejected the advice and paid the price on lap 2 of the race when he found himself trapped in the sand bank at the end of the 4 mile long Mulsanne straight, Briggs probably wasted several minuets borrowing a shovel from a spectator and wasting half an hour successfully digging his car out and resuming the race.
'Petit Pataud' meanwhile as to be expected from a land yacht was sailing along at a nice and steady pace reaching 120 mph on the Mulsanne and running 1,956 miles to average 81.5 mph for 24 hours and finish in a commendable 10th place overall, 2nd in class behind a Cadillac powered Allard.
Briggs and Phil Walters brought 'Le Monstre' in one lap down, about the time it would have taken to borrow a shovel, on 'Petit Pataud', a small victory for the clumsy team underdog perhaps but just the stuff of legends that makes Le Mans such a fascinating race.
Tomorrow I'll continue with details about Johns fabulous replica and some surprising differences with the restored original which make Johns car today arguably closer to the original Le Mans spec as raced in 1950.
Thanks to Chief 187 who set up my connection with John Aibel, and thanks to John, unfortunately I was not able to visit Florida to take these magnificent pics which he kindly sent to me.
Thanks for stopping by wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, don't forget to come back now !
10/11/10 Erratum, I got the model types a bit mixed up and have removed all 'de Ville' references from the text above, the Series 61 shown here is the shorter model known as Type 61 Coupe, not Coupe de Ville which was the Type 62. Apologies for any confusion.
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