1977 ECotY - Rover Vitesse

There were not many four door executive vehicles that would look comfortable parked along side a Ferrari or Maserati in the 1970's but the Rover SD1 powered by the familiar alloy Buick derived V8 and designed by David Bache is certainly one that could keep such company in any car park and not look out of place.



Thanks in part to a painfully slow process of rationalisation that was occurring at British Leyland during the early 1970's involving many duplicitous departments and management within the nationalised organisation it took 54 months for the SD1 to move from drawing board to production.



David Bache was not in the least shy about his design influences incorporated into the SD1 including these indicator lights which are almost identical to those found on a Ferrari Daytona.



Built in a new purpose built £31 million factory in Solihull the SD1 was marketed as the Rover 3500 and launched in July 1976 to an ecstatic reception regarding the styling and performance, though the quality of some of the materials used and build were short of the market leaders particularly the emerging BMW brand. The deep front spoiler and BBS pattern wheels on this model signifies a later model in this case built in 1986.



The Vitesse badge hitherto associated with Triumph models belies the fact that the SD1 had technical and marketing input from the still separate and competing Triumph design and management offices. In late 1980 the Rover Vitesse, seen here at the Atwell Wilson Motor Museum, was introduced as the performance version of the Rover 3500 and the Vanden Plas the Luxury version that included leather seats.



While the styling of the SD1 was ahead of it's time the rear suspension was actually a technological step back from the de Dion suspension used on the previous Rover P6 to a live rear axle, though this made the cars easier and cheaper to build the move did not compromise the handling, much praised in the contemporary press, in anyway.



Since British Leyland had so many competing brands in its range the 1977 European Car of the Year award winner was not the money spinner that it should have been because it was priced so as not to compete directly with the Jaguar XJ6 against which it was seen in an extremely favourable light.

Thanks for joining me on the 1977 European Car of the Year edition of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres', I hope you'll join me again tomorrow when I'll be looking at a fully loaded turbocharged competitor of the Rover SD1. Don't forget to come back now !

Rare Breeds - Haynes International Motor Museum

Last Sunday I made a 'little' detour to the Rare Breeds Car Show at the Haynes International Motor Museum on the way to the airport to pick up some friends.



Among the 70 odd vehicles on display were half a dozen Formula 500's some 50's (UK) Stock Car replica's, for those in the US these are more like 1/4 mile paved and dirt Late Sportsman race cars than NASCARs Stock Cars, and a number of interesting vehicles one is unlikely on an average everyday commute.



Around 10,000 Austin 3 litre vehicles nicknamed 'Land Lobsters' were built between 1968 and 1971 which though well appointed were no competition for the similarly sized Triumphs, Rovers and Jaguars which would soon all become merged into the same nationalised British Leyland conglomerate. There are thought to be around 60 of these vehicles left and this one has been in the Stephen's family since new.



Some of you may remember my blog on the wreck of a Bowden Super Two I wrote some months ago, this is an Austin 7 Hamblin Cadet with the smaller body that the Bowden Super Two bodywork was based on. At £34.10/- this was the cheapest bodywork on the market, it was made to fit pre war Austin 7's. The owner of this car is the son of Sid Hamblin who founded the SE Hamblin company and personally built this car.



The Austin Mini Wildgoose RV has also featured on GALPOT before, this is a 1967 model with larger wraparound cabin windows and a tilting roof incorporating canvas sides, looks a little less like an airport control tower than the original. This particular vehicle has had the original 850 cc / 51.8 cui motor replaced with a 1275 cc / 77 cui unit and gearing to match so that it can easily cruise above the minimum motorway speed limit of 50 mph.



My Uncle in Germany had a DKW 1000S before he swapped it for a more versatile square back. These two stroke powered cars were relatively expensive in the UK so not many were in imported although Jim Clark made his racing debut driving a DKW before going on to win two World Championships and the Indy 500. This Left Hand Drive (LHD) model was imported from Sweden via Norway.



From 1933 - 1939 Ford commercial vehicles in the UK were badged Fordson. This Fordson 7V served as an auxiliary fire tender during World War 2. Because of it's relatively powerful V8 motor 7V's were much in demand for use as racing car transporters after hostilities ceased.



E691 is a replica of Nev Hughes 1935 Model 48 Ford raced, in 1955, built by Keith Barber. Current owner Roy Clarke rescued it in 2006 and it recently featured, as did several of the vehicles seen in the back ground in an advertisement for the Audi R8 V10 Spyder. It can be seen painted black with red stripes under the 'B9' at 1m 01 secs in this clip.



Also featured in an earlier post has been a GAZ M21 Volga this 1962 model one of only two known to be in the UK is in considerably better condition than the one I featured on the former East German border in 2006.



Described as very difficult to drive this RHD Lafitte 5CV Cycle Car is positively bristling with innovative technology starting with an inverted Y 3 cylinder air cooled radial engine that tilts with a hand mechanism in order alter to the friction driven gear ratio. The Lafitte has way ahead of it's time independent front suspension but no foot brakes ! This car has recently been certified as roadworthy for the first time since 1964 but the owner thought discretion was the better part of valour and brought this amazing device to the show on a trailer.



There seems to be a lot of interest in triking at the moment stimulating no doubt Morgan's recent return to the manufacture of trikes. For those who cannot afford Morgan's starting price their are plenty of alternatives. The front wheel drive Spirit Gordini M3 started life as two separate front wheel drive Renault 5 / Le Car models one '79 tother '85.



Another new manufacturer to me is Tornado apparently founded in 1957 in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire by Bill Woodhouse and Tony Bullen. Amazingly this car had lain awaiting restoration when it's owner passed aeay and thanks to the Faithorpe Sports Car Club it was passed on to Bill Woodhouse who did not know what to do with it until two gap year students the Hillier brothers took it upon themselves to rebuild the car in order to gain engineering experience under the guidance of the current owner and founder of the company Mr Woodhouse. The Talisman is one of 186 Ford powered examples made.



Finally my car of the day award goes to this Triumph Spitfire based Special made by Martin Harcourt using an English Wheel and alot of effort to make the polished aluminium panels on this unique single seater. When it's complete Martin hopes to use his shiny special in sprints and hill climbs. I am sure he will have plenty of fun with it.

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

Who Said A Spider Couldn't Fly ? - Aston Martin DB2/4 Mark II Touring Spider AM/300/1161

The Aston Martin DB2/4 launched in 1953 was a 2+2 hatchback based on the Aston Martin DB2 dating back to 1950.



In 1953 David Brown the owner of the marque sent several bare chassis to a variety of Italian styling houses and coach builders and presented the finished cars at the great motor shows of the day where orders were taken for limited production runs.



The Mark II DB4/2 was launched in 1956 with a 140 hp 3 litre / 183 cui straight six motor. Three of these new chassis were sent to Carrozzeria Touring to have flamboyant Spider bodies designed by Signor Formenti fitted.



Formenti's design was a clean break from what had gone before with exceptionally clean lines for the period with unusual twin air scoops on the bonnet



and further air scoops ahead of the rear wheels.



Sales of the vehicle did not materialise as expected after the first car, seen here at the recent Silverstone Classic, was displayed at the 1956 Turin Motor Show and the second car had appeared at the Paris Motor Show.



After it's launch in Italy this particular vehicle was acquired by Associated Newspapers in London who ran a competition in the Daily Express in which the winner who could best sum up the drophead would take it home.



Mr Alexander Smith, entry "Who Said A Spider Couldn't Fly ?" was adjudged the winner, and took the, then left hand drive, car home.



AM/300/1161 remained in England and was converted to right hand drive while the two remaining examples were sold to customers in the United States where they remain to this day.

Although the first collaboration between Aston Martin and Carrozzeria Touring was not an immediate success the two companies worked together on a long line of vehicles that included the DB4/2's successors the DB4, DB5 and DB6.

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

16 Blocks of Classics ! - Carmel by the sea Concours d'Elegnce 2011

Here in the UK the Autumn is already closing in with days of rain. To cheer myself up with a hint of California sunshine I thought to share with you these fabulous photo's from last month's Carmel by the sea Concours d'Elegance kindly sent to me by Geoffrey Horton.



I understand for the day of the event sixteen blocks in central Carmel are closed down and given over to that part of the motoring fraternity that is fanatical about presenting their cars built between 1945 and 1989 in better than new condition. First up a Cadillac powered 1955 Allard J2R.



When I first started reading 'Motor Sport' in 1973 the car to have in touring car racing was the 3.0 litre / 183 cui BMW CSL which in full works Group 2 specification with 'batmobile' rear wing fairly wiped the hitherto dominant Ford Capri off the top place on the winners rostrum of the European Touring Car Championship. A #55 Jaegermeister sponsored 3.0 CSL looking very much like the car in Geoffrey's photo, but without the 1974 IMSA GTO spec vented flared wheel arches, driven by Derek Bell and Harald Ertl, won the RAC Tourist Trophy on the 23rd Sept 1973.



I have already posted a blog about the unique 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible, that was declared the winner of this years Carmel Concours, so with best wishes for the Birthday boy most of you know from his posts on this blog as Jr Cracker here is a Ferrari 250 GT Boano chassis 0553 GT which has gone through several colour changes and engine changes but after a twenty plus year gap now has it's original motor safely re-installed. Last sold in January 2008 for US$ 975.000.



The 1957 Indy 500 was won by Sam Hanks in the Epperly Belond Exhaust Special, Jack Turner driving the #19 Bardahl Special a Kurtis 500G started 19th and came in 11th last man to complete the full 200 laps.



I believe this wonderful Lola T70 Mk 2 is the only car to have ever to have won a Can Am race powered by a Ford V8, a 302 cui motor fitted with Westlake heads, which Dan Gurney used to take honours in the second ever Can Am race at Bridgehampton in 1966. John Surtees won the 1966 Can Am series in a similar, but Chevrolet powered, Lola T70 Mk 2.



The vintage and history of this Morgan 4-4 is still a mystery to me but nice to see someone flying the motherlands flag in a swinging sixties style.

My thanks to Geoffrey for his wonderful photos, I hope you will join me in wishing the man behind GALPOT's Ferrari Friday's, Jr Cracker, a very Happy Birthday !

Thanks for joining me on this Jr Cracker birthday edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I'll be taking a close look at a rare Aston Martin by Touring. Don't forget to come back now !

Ciao Enzo - Ferrari F40

Today's Ferrari Friday blog is dedicated to the person who first suggested Ferrari Friday blogs to me many months ago, Jr Cracker, otherwise known to me as Mike who's Birthday it is tomorrow.


image upload

The Ferrari F40 what was technical tour de force intended to bring together 40 years of learning and achievement in one road vehicle to celebrate the first 40 remarkable years in the story of Ferrari S.p.A.



With a tested 200 mph capability the F40 held the title of worlds fastest production car, when it was launched in 1987, to underline it's technical superiority.



The F40 was not only the companies most powerful and fastest car, but at US$ 400,000 in 1987, it was also the most expensive car Ferrari had ever offered for sale.



1,315 examples of this type were manufactured between 1987 and 1992 the last of them selling for a rumoured US$1.6 million.



Many of the technical specifications were advanced from the Ferrari (288) GTO including the twin turbo V8 engine which in this application was increased to 3 litres / 183 cui producing 470 hp.



Keeping such a powerful motor cool in such a small vehicle required ventilation through the rear screen.



Until 1990 F40's like this particular 1989 example, seen at the Italian Auto Moto Festival, were bereft of power sapping catalytic converters.



During Bonneville Speedweek 2006 Amir Rosenbaum recorded a top speed of 226 mph in his lightly modified F40, standard versions could reach 120 mph in just 11 seconds faster than both the Lamborghini Countach and Porsche 959 which were it's main competitors.



Enzo Ferrari knew when setting out the specifications of the F40 that this would be his final engineering statement and it was indeed the last vehicle bearing his own name that he was to commission before his death aged 90 in August 1988.

Thanks for joining me on the F40 Edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

La Machine - #17 Vollstedt - Offenhauser 77 (14)

As I have blogged elsewhere in 1978 the USAC Championship came to England and I was lucky enough to see the one of the two championship races at Silverstone and meet some of those involved at a meet and greet at Jubilee Gardens on the banks of the Thames in Central London.



One of the enduring memories of those two events was seeing the striking lines of Rolla Vollstedts #17 La Machine - Vollstedt - Offenhauser 77 [14], to my mind one of the most visually arresting open wheelers ever built, one that has a place of special veneration reserved at the top table in Art Tidesco's Automotive Temple of Speed.



1960 US Olympic Team Skiing alternate Dick Simon was the driver of the immaculately turned out Vollstedt. Simon's best finish in 1978 was 4th at Phoenix he also scored three further top tens finishing the season 18th in the Champ Car Series standings.



The master mind behind the car was Rolla Vollstedt, a man with more stories to tell than I'll ever have hot dinners. Rolla has been devoting his life to racing since 1937 when he took part in unsanctioned Oregon street races with a Buick Coupé in 1937.

Working with modest budgets among Rolla's many achievements since starting his team in 1947 are building the first rear engined Offenhauser powered Indycar complete with rear wing to improve traction and counting the legendary Jim Clark, in 1967, along with Janet Guthrie, the first woman to compete in the Indy 500 among the drivers of his Championship cars. Rolla was also the last owner to attempt to qualify an Offenhauser powered for the Indy 500 in 1983.

I would like take this opportunity to wish Rolla a happy 93rd Birthday Day and thank him for building one of the most alluring automobiles it has ever been my privilege to see.

Thanks for joining me on Rolla Vollstedt's Birthday edition of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres', I hope you'll join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. 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 !