Goodwood Revival #6 - Dress Code

The Goodwood Revival is probably the nations largest annual period dress party covering the years from when Goodwood operated as a second world war airbase to 1966 when the race track around the airfield closed to regular competition.



This year Ford of Britain was celebrating it's centenary at Goodwood so the period dress on view went right back to 1911. Above Laurel & Hardy look alikes demonstrate a left hand drive 1924 Model T.



Willys Jeeps were built under licence by Ford of Britain during WW2, note this is also a left hand drive, presumably because it was foreseen that most of these vehicles would be required for the invasion of Europe. This particular vehicle appeared in the blue as used on airfields by the Royal Airforce and the driver is attired in a Royal Air Force officers uniform.



These two ladies dressed up as land girls part of a huge civilian Women's Land Army who replaced the male agricultural work force that had gone to war. Typically Land Girls wore somewhat unbecoming if practical trousers in place of skirts and dresses.



Moving into the paddock and forward a decade team mechanics are requested to wear period dress in the Goodwood Revival paddock, anyone visiting the pit area is also requested to dress in period. Above a mechanic tends Peter Thorntons 1955 Austin Healey 100 S.



Recently retired from competitive driving Sir Stirling Moss came close to loosing his life at Goodwood in 1962 after an accident that effectively ended his top level career. Stirling is seen here on a demonstration run in perhaps the ultimate Goodwood period accessory a Mercedes Benz 300 SLR raced solo by his team mate Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1955 Mille Miglia to 2nd place 22 minuets behind Moss and Dennis Jenkinson in the #722 300 SLR.



Competitors and spectators from far and wide come to the Goodwood Revival here a party from France who came with a splendid 1950's Citroen H Van and Citroen DS enjoy breakfast before the racing gets under way.



Throughout the three day Revival a scramble event was run for bikes dating from 1957 to 1966. Here the riders in period outfits are waiting to be let loose on a full lap of the racing circuit.



THe Ford Popular 103E was in production from 1953 to 1959 by which time early models such as this 1953 model were to be found on the F2 Stock Car circuit. Note the owners period brogue shoes, suit and trilby. Hard to believe this photo was taken last week.



This Left Hand Drive Goodwood Revival Transport Corps Fiat 600 Multipla was built in 1961, when tested in 1956 the 6 seat Multipla was found to be capable of reaching 50 mph from rest in 43 seconds and having a top speed of 57.1 mph. The driver of this taxi wears a patterned dress that matches the lime green colour of the lower half of the vehicle.



The gentleman to the right of this Hillman Super Minx convertible wears an outfit typical of many Goodwood Revival spectators, check sports jacket though his flat hat has deer stalker ear flaps.



Goodwood is set in a rural area of West Sussex, the ultimate period farming accessory for the Revival has to be the Ford Triple D, Doe Dual Drive, tractor built in 1963. Invented by George Pryor who wanted a more powerful tractor than any of those available to him, he came up with the idea of taking two Fordson tractors and attaching them together with an articulated coupling that with the aid of hydraulic rams could steer the vehicle through a 90 degree turn. This is a latter 130 hp model manufactured by Ernest Doe & Sons using two Ford F5000 tractors. The main draw back of the vehicle was that it was too powerful for most of the existing implements so stronger implements had to also be manufactured by Ernst Doe & Sons. Around 300 of these vehicles were sold in the UK and USA, recently a 1962 Triple D fetched a staggering £61,000 at auction.



Carry on Films were a low budget saucey national institution in 1960's Britain, featuring fairly simple plots of everyday people such as Doctors, Nurses, Policeman, Sailors and such, in 1963 the 'Carry On' team, which included a regular cast from one film to the next, released Carry On Cabby a tail of rival cab companies operated by a married couple. 48 years later at Goodwood this period Glam Cab Ford Cortina and its drivers look like they have come straight off set.



In the 50's & 60's if one wanted a convertible or estate / station wagon variant of a Ford one would usually have to take it to a coachworks like Crayford to have the work done, as was the case with this 1963 Ford Corsair, at the time this Corsair was built Mini skirts and boots were all the rage, I remember my English Teacher wearing an outfit like this at my London primary school in 1966 and she was the talk of the school for being so 'with it'.



Even the track marshals working along the start / finish straight, seen here rushing to the aid of Gerhard Berger, get into period dress for the Goodwood Revival.



There was a pot puri of military dress code on display at this years Revival covering Allied forces from WW2 through to Vietnam. Here two US personal fraternise with a British Army Sargeant and a Women's Auxiliary Air Force Sargeant.



Among the bravest spectators in period costume at an otherwise testosterone fuelled Goodwood were these two cross dressers,



while these two bikers were amongst those enjoying an equally wild side of dress code, note the fur lined parker of the 'Mod' in the back ground, back in the day 'Mods' and 'Bikers' were at each others throats as immortalised in the film Quadrophenia.



Finally bringing us to the end of the racing era at Goodwood in 1966 this cameraman epitomises the effect the Beatles Sgt Peppers Album had on fashions when it was released on the 1st of June 1966 one month and one day before the Goodwood circuit closed gates for thirty two years.

Thanks for joining me on this Goodwood Dress Code edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you'll join me again tomorrow when I'll be looking at an unusual woody that was up for auction at the Bonham's revival sale. Don't forget to come back now !

Goodwood Revival #5 - Ferrari Open Wheel

Last Friday I managed to get photo's of many of the Ferrari's on track and just the one off track at Goodwood. In order to break these photo's down into manageable blogs today I'll be looking at five of the single seaters present at last weeks Revival meeting.



Oldest of the open wheelers present was this 1952 Ferrari 500/625 chassis #0482, this type started life as a 2 litre / 122 cui Formula 2 vehicle for the 1952 and 1953 World Championship seasons and was then upgraded for the 1954 season to 2.5 litre / 153 cui for the 1954 World Championship which was run to new Formula One regulations. I am not entirely sure what the exact history of this particular chassis is.



So far as I can tell this Lancia Ferrari is a recreation of the 1956 D50a type, as used by Juan Manuel Fangio to win his forth World Championship in 1956. This particular car, built by Jm Stokes who has manufactured six such vehicles, has Alain de Cadenet operating the loud pedal of the throaty V8, by some considerable margin making the best sound of the day on the track.



This V6 powered 1959 #33 Ferrari Dino 246 owned by Ian Wade and driven by Rick Hall is also a recreation,



while the #12 1960 Dino seen here driven by Tony Smith is genuine with a history. The chassis number was originally #0007 Phil Hill led a Ferrari 1-2-3 victory at the 1960 Italian Grand Prix with this car. This was Phil's first ever Grand Prix win and the last ever recorded for a Formula One car with a front mounted motor. Genesis and Metallica manager
Tony Smith can be seen talking about and driving this car on this link.



Finally the 1961 Ferrari 156 #0002R, above with Jan Biekens at the wheel, is a recreation of the type of vehicle that Phil Hill drove to become the first American World Drives Champion. This car is a recreation, again by Jim Stokes, of 156 chassis #0002, with a 65 degree V6, as used by Oliver Geneblen to finish 4th in the 1961 Belgian GP, Geneblen's car was painted yellow in deference to the Equipe Nationale Belge team which entered him into the race.

Thanks for joining me on this open wheel edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I'll be taking a look at some of the fashion that graced the Goodwood last weekend. Don't forget to come back now !

Goodwood Revival #4 - North Americana

Among the many fascinating things to see at the Goodwood Revival last weekend was a fine collection of vehicles and a few drivers from the North American continent here is a small selection of highlights.



I imagine this front wing / fender trim on a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 serves a double purpose aiding drivers positioning of the car in a tight maneuver.



My vote for Car of the Car Park at Goodwood was this 1964 Falcon Sprint V8 which looks like it has been neglected for a decade or two, more pix of this car next week.



Bonhams offered a fine selection of vehicles at their auction including this 1950 Ford V8 Custom Deluxe 'Woodie' Station Wagon Chassis no. BOEG164430, which was imported to the UK in 2009, the vehicle does not appear to have found a new owner.



I have not seen an Edsel before, this 1958 model brought home just how colossal a beast an Edsel really is, well suited to the open spaces of North America but a bit like a duck out of water on Englands winding narrow lanes.



When I was younger I remember being bewildered by the attention to detail of the bright work on some of the 1960's land yachts, who could fail to be impressed by the jet age rear light cluster of a 1963 Ford Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe.



Probably in the running for the largest vehicle in the Goodwood Classic car park was this 1959 Cadillac 6200 Sedan Flat Top, quite simply an awesome automobile, I can just imagine the Chuck Berry hits pouring out of the radio.



One of several vehicles built in Canada racing at the Revival was this 1958 Sadler Chevrolet Mk3, I am not sure if this was a one off but counting amongst the drivers of a vehicle of this type were Bob Said father of sometime NASCAR racer Boris Said and Eddie Sachs.



This 1962 Kellison J4 Grand Turismo drew an instant Wow ! reaction when I saw it lurking behind the start grandstand, another vehicle I had not heard of before, Kellison kit cars were the brainchild of Korean Airforce Vet Jim Kellison, this one based on a Corvette C1 chassis. These cars could be fitted with any US proprietary V8 and drive train. The #905 was used on factory Kellison's at Bonneville where a best speed of 186 mph was recorded in one of these simple but effective devices.



I am not really a motor cycle man and if I was I'd go for a café racer like the Triton, but this Harley Davidson looks topically cool with its checkered flame tank, rather like the gargantuan Edsel and Caddy 6200 Series probably not the most suitable of machines for the conditions usually found in West Sussex.



Of all of the WW2 era aeroplanes none says speed quite like the P51 Mustang with its Rolls Royce Merlin V12 motor built under license by Packard. I am not entirely sure if this is an airworthy airframe or just for show but it looked the business surrounded by a B-17 and a host of similarly powered Spitfires.



Last time I recall seeing the distinctive red helmet of Rupert Keegan was when he drove the #16 Ultramar Newsweek Lola T610 in 1982. After an ill feted attempt to run in CART with the Machinist Union team in the mid 1980's the 1979 British Formula One Champion, note not a world title but a national one, completely disappeared from my radar until I saw him driving the #85 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa belonging to Bruce Chapman.



In the same race as the Corvair was the #17 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 pedalled by Kiwi two time winner of the world touring car cup Paul Radisich and owner, seen at the wheel here, Jim Woodley.



Another vehicle coming from Canada was the 1966 Chinook Chevrolet Mk 2. Built in Toronto by Hungarian Canadian George Frejer. The car is seen here in the hands of rapid F5000 exponent Jay Esterer who won the Whitsun Trophy on Sunday.



Ed Hamill appears to have built two Hamill Chevrolet SR3's one for himself that started with an Oldsmobile motor and a second one for the Tero Corvette Team for Hamills workshop neighbour Roy Kumnick to drive in 1966. So far as I can tell this is the Roy Kumnick car, now driven by Chris Chiles, which if I am correct features a rounded steel tube frame as opposed to the square steel tube frame Hamill used to build his own SR3.



George Anderson was responsible for the design of this 1965 Wolverine Chevrolet LD65 and it was built by Lee Dykstra who went on to achieve much with the Bob Tullis Group 44 Jaguar programme and in the CART Indycar Series. The Wolverine was driven by Jerry Hanson in the 1966 Can Am series, third owner Frank Opalka had the car painted white in 1968 as it is seen here being driven by Mogens Christensen.



Capable of 186 mph, with a body designed by Peter Brock, the 1964 Shelby American Cobra Daytona Coupé CSX 2300 entered by Daniella Ellerbrock for 1999 Indy 500 winner Kenny Brack and 8 time Le Mans Winner Tom Kristensen, seen at the wheel here, was the second of the five cars finished by Carrozzeria Gransport in Modena. This car leased from Alan Mann Racing first appeared painted white with red & blue stipes driven by Bob Bondurant and Jochen Neerpach later to become head of competition at Ford, BMW and Mercedes. The car was repainted in Guards blue when it returned to Alan Mann Racing.



The 1964 #98 AC 289 is the English built variant of the 'Cobra', a name that belonged to Shelby before he sold it on to Ford. This one was driven by Kevin Kivlochan and 1998 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever. Edit 22/09 Bill P has informed me Kevin's car is chassis #COB6008, which was originally supplied to Bruce Ropener owner of the Croft Circuit in North East England.



Taking it's model name from a weepy Hollywood film about a stray mongrel 1959 Balchowsky-Buick Ol' Yeller II this vehicle is also a mongrel with a Studebacker Champion solid rear end, Buick V8, Buick aluminium drum brakes and a Morris Minor steering rack and white wall tyres more commonly found on station wagons. Max Balchowsky chose all these items for the car drawing on his experience with previous race cars and hotrods. When it held together this inexpensive, $1452.76, sports car driven by the like of Max himself, Dan Gurney, Bob Drake, Bob Bondurant, Carrol Shelby and Jerry Entin, could hold it's own against Ferrari's.



My final piece of North Americana is a replica of a 1964 BRP-BRM a British design, faithfully replicated in New Zealand, currently owned and driven by Kurt DelBene who I understand has a day job in Silicon Valley. Great to see someone out racing with one of the more obscure British Formula One manufacturers, helps me to believe that one day I will see the Connew back on it's wheels and driven with vigour.

My thanks to Tony 'Giraffe' Gallagher, Doug Nye, Paul Parker, Jerry Entin, and bill p at The Nostalgia Forum for their valuable contributions to today's blog.

Thanks for joining me for this North Americana edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me tomorrow for an over view of some of the Ferrari's at Goodwood last weekend. 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 !

Goodwood Revival #2 - Rover 2000TC

Welcome to the 365th edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' when I started this blog one year ago I thought I might struggle to make it last a week, I can't quite believe that my enthusiasm now is stronger than it was then, this is in no small part due to every one of the 44,000 plus hits that I have had from over 20,000 views.

I'd like to thank every one who has popped by, all those who have left comments and especially all those who have generously given, tickets, invitations, time and effort donating photographs details on the vehicles and stories for me to publish. Over the next couple of weeks I will be powering up a dedicated GALPOT website for these blogs, all of the existing blogs will be kept on line, you will receive timely updates as the new website progresses.

Today's car the Rover 2000TC is a personal favourite, identical to a little Corgi model I had that featured jewel head lights, a sky roof and golden jacks so that I could swap the wheels. I must have driven that toy Rover 2000TC several hundred thousand miles on my hands and knees and changed the wheels several thousand times too.



Launched in 1963 the Rover 2000 was originally supplied with 104 hp single carburettor 4 cylinder motor, by 1966 Rover launched an export the model with a more powerful 124 hp Twin Carburettor (TC) motor.



Initially the 2000TC was only made available to export markets, officially because the twin carb manifolds were in short supply and because of a 70 mph speed limit introduced in the UK in 1965.



Six months after the 2000 TC was launched supply of twin carburettor inlet manifolds improved and the 2000 TC was made available in Britain.



Unlike rivals like the Citroen DS and Triumph 2000 the heavily sculpted rear seats of the P6 meant only two passengers could be carried in the back.



The de Dion rear suspension used in the construction of the P6 limited the amount of space in the boot and many P6's used to carry a spare tyre wrapped in a purpose made vinyl bag, on top of the boot lid.

Additional P6 blogs can be found on the following links, P6 Cabriolet, P6 2200SC, P6 Estoura.

Thanks for joining me on this 1st anniversary edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again for the 366th edition tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !