A Spider for the sqeamish ! - Fiat 124 Spider

Way back in the Dark Ages I learned to drive in a Fiat 124 Special T, the car I'd rather have been driving is the shorter wheelbase 124 Spider.



With body work designed by Pininfarina the Spider was introduced in 1966 and production continued until 1985.



This particular model was sold as the 2000 Spider between 1979 and 1982 before production moved from Fiat to Pininfarina for three final years.

Thanks to everyone who has joined me this week, wishing you all a fabulous weekend, 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 !

Sa Majesté conduit par technologie ! - Citroen SM

If ever there was an automobile manufacturer that highlighted how conservative the automobile industry is, it would be Citroen, who during their years of ownership by Michelin really pushed the envelope with some out of the box thinking in terms of approach, technical innovation and design to their automotive solutions.



Top of the list of Citroens innovative vehicles I would put the UFO like Citroen SM launched in 1970. This GT car was born in part out of Citroens ownership of the Maserati brand. Note the inner pair of headlights turned with the steering wheel to help drivers see around corners, an innovation carried over from the Citroen DS.



Powered by a 178hp 2.7 litre / 164.7 cui (US 180 hp 3 litre / 183 cui) 90 degree V6 as used in the Maserati Merak, the SM was the most powerful front wheel drive vehicle of its time. The car featured not only self levelling suspension capable of running on just three wheels but also innovative variable assist power steering with just one turn from lock to lock, that was also self centering.



Just as the DS became known as 'La déesse' - 'The Goddess' the SM became known as 'Sa Majesté' - 'Her Majesty', though the S probably stems from 'Project S' which started the SM ball rolling and M unsurprisingly probably comes from Maserati.



Styling by Robert Opron reflected his American influenced tastes including these stainless steel fins in the rear bumper design.



The SM had an exceptionally low drag co efficient of 0.26, does anyone remember the fuss Audi made in 1982 when their C3 100, 200, 5000 series came out with a drag co efficient of 0.30 ?



Amazingly when Citroen decided to prove the SM's prowess in motor sport they chose to debut the car not on the race track but on the hard core African 1971 Rallye du Maroc which it promptly won. Later a 'bread van' version was also used in rally events.

In 1987 Jerry Hathaway turbocharged an SM and his wife Sylvia took a production class land speed record at 202 mph at Bonneville that still stands. Jerry also built a cool matching SM tow truck and trailer rig on which to transport the LSR SM.

Hope you enjoyed today's edition of Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres, don't forget to come back now !

Superleggera ! A Q car to leave Mr Bond eating dust - Aston Martin DB4 GT

Anybody who thinks of them selves as any kind of a car enthusiast will have to admit a visit to a VSCC meeting at Prescott is worth it just to see the mouth watering vehicles in the car park.



The vehicle above is a case in point. When I first saw it I thought it was a DB5 or DB6 those faired in lights were a bit of a give away... but boy was I ever wrong ! The clue as to the identity of this vehicle is the 'egg box grill' which predates the horizontal bars of the grill of a DB5 or DB6, making this model a DB4 of series 3 or earlier.

The red and white badge in the centre of the grill indicates that the owner is a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists.



The car bears the legendary Superleggera badge on the side of the bonnet indicating it is built using the light weight tubeframe duraluminium construction pioneered and licensed by Carrozeria Touring of Milan.



At 5 inches shorter than the 1110 regular DB4's this car is one of only 75 DB4 GT's sharing the same short wheel base chassis as the 20 original DB4 GT Zagato's (plus 4 Sanction II's and 2 Sanction III's). The DB4 GT also has thinner body panels than the standard DB4 and an upgraded 302 hp 3750 cc / 228 cui in line 6 cylinder engine distinguishable by a twin spark plug head. It was capable of 153 mph (8 miles and hour faster than Mr Bonds DB5) and 0 - 60 in just 6.1 secs, not bad for 1959 !



The final give away that this model is a DB4 GT are the clearly visible bulky racing fuel filler caps. If like me you like your performance vehicles to be slightly understated, relative to say the DB4 GT Zagato then you'll absolutely love this car.

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

The #3 From 1/32nd scale to 1:1 - Scalectrix Mini.

There used to be a joke that the first thing a man would do on the announcement that his partner had given birth to a boy he would go out and buy a Scalectrix set. And indeed I remember buying one for a friend as his wedding gift, prophetically his wife gave birth to three sons, triplets !



Photo Neil Munn - http://www.munz.co.uk/scalextric/

Scalectrix is Britain's premier entry brand into the world of 1:32 scale slot car racing. Launched in 1957 Scalectrix has produced many sets based on various layout's with two little Mini's to race.

The 1970's #3 1275 GT Mini shown here, picture courtesy of Nei Munn, is a fictionalised racer based loosely on the 1960's Britax Mini Cooper .



It was perhaps no surprise to see a full size replica of the #3 Scalectrix Mini at the Mini Festival recently. The 1275 GT replaced the Mini Cooper completely in in 1971. The hideously restyled, by Roy Haynes, boxy front end was based on the Austin Maxi and was safer but comically less efficient aerodynamically than it's predecessor. For all it's faults the restyled Mini did achieve success in racing Richard Longman becoming two time British Touring Car Campion in 1978/79 in his 1275 GT and still has its fans today.

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Take a bow Dave Randall - Ginetta G4

A couple of months ago I was visiting my folks up near London, went for a walk and and stumbled into this wonderful 1966 Ginetta G4 belonging to Dave Randall.



He told me his car is fitted with a Ford 1500 cc 91 cui engine and that he races it in the HSCC Historic Road Sports Series. It turns out the next day Dave went to Mallory and scored a perfect Q1, F1, C1 and fastest lap !
Not bad racing against more powerful Morgan's and Triumphs.

Research has revealed that Dave won the 2010 HSCC Historic Road Sports Series Championship with one round to go. Congratulations Dave !

Wishing everyone a sunny day, don't forget to come back now !

Perfect car for a wedding #2 Humber Super Snipe MK IV

This is a magnificent Humber Super Snipe MK IV from my collection of Wedding vehicles.



Powered by a 113 hp 4138cc / 252 cui overhead valve straight 6 this vehicle is capable of 91 mph with an average fuel consuption of a wallet burning 15.5 miles per (imperial) gallon.



Production of 17,993 examples of this model commenced in 1952 and ceased in 1958. The car is by UK standards an enormous measuring 197" by 71".

Wishing all the best to every one getting married today, don't forget to come back now !