Tag Archives: Gaydon

Heavy Electricity – Leyland Crompton Electricar

The Leyland Crompton Electicar was a concept designed to look at the future of motoring in 1972.

Leyland Crompton Electricar, British Motor Museum, Gaydon

To keep the costs down the car was designed to make use of many standard Mini parts.

Leyland Crompton Electricar, British Motor Museum, Gaydon

Power came from 2 3.9hp electric motors that were fed by no less than 24 standard lead acid batteries.

Leyland Crompton Electricar, British Motor Museum, Gaydon

The body was by Michelotti and the interior featured a Quartic steering wheel, that, despite it’s space saving practicality, would become the butt of many jokes when introduced with the Austin Allegro production car the following year.

Leyland Crompton Electricar, British Motor Museum, Gaydon

Top speed for the Electricar was 33 mph and the range dependent on gradient and other operating conditions was 40 miles.

Leyland Crompton Electricar, British Motor Museum, Gaydon

Electricar was fitted with an on board charger that could be plugged into a house hold socket, operating costs at 1972 prices were of the order of a penny per mile.

Leyland Crompton Electricar, British Motor Museum, Gaydon

Weighing a third more than a regular powered petrol powered Mini, thanks to those lead acid batteries, the Electricar seen here at the British Motor Museum Gaydon was shown to the public for the first time at the 1972 Geneva Motor Show.

Thanks for joining me on this “Heavy Electricity” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Mercedes Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Michelotti Mini – MG ADO70

After rejecting the ADO34 and ADO35 projects to put the MG name on a Mini based vehicle in 1966 the conglomerate known as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd since 1968 re visited the idea of building a Mini based MG in 1970.

BMC ADO70, Gaydon Motor Museum

Project code ADO70 also known as the Michelotti Mini seen here is based on a 1275GT chassis and running gear a model which had been introduced in 1969.

BMC ADO70, Gaydon Motor Museum

The only mechanical modification to the car was the fitting of twin exhaust tail pipes.

BMC ADO70, Gaydon Motor Museum

Paul Hughes at the BLMC Longbridge works was responsible for the split Targa top styling and when the drawings were complete another member of the design team Robin Owen drove the new Mini 1275GT with it’s twin tailpipe modification over to Studio Tecnico Carrozzeria G. Michelotti in Turin, Italy

BMC ADO70, Gaydon Motor Museum

For two months Robin oversaw the removal of the original bodywork and it’s replacement with the new design at Michelotti.

BMC ADO70, Gaydon Motor Museum

On returning the Michelotti Mini to the UK it was immediately apparent that the new body was too heavy and that the twin tailpipe modification was insufficient to make for the lost performance, or to warrant putting the car in production with an MG badge.

New safety and emissions legislation in the USA were also responsible for halting any further development of the ADO70.

Thanks for joining me on this “Michelotti Mini” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Mercedes Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

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Mini Midget – MG ADO34

With the runaway sales success of the front wheel drive Morris Mini Minor / Austin Mini it is not surprising to learn that the British Motor Corporation (BMC) looked at building roadster sports versions of the Mini to be marketed under BMC’s sporty brands MG and Austin Healey.

MG Longbridge ADO 34, British Motor Museum, Gaydon,

Today’s featured concept vehicle was devised under the project code ADO34 between 1960 and 1964.

MG Longbridge ADO 34, British Motor Museum, Gaydon,

The car was built with two Mini sub frames and powered by a 1275 cc / 77.8 cui Mini Cooper S engine.

MG Longbridge ADO 34, British Motor Museum, Gaydon,

The cabriolet body was designed, built and fitted by Pininfarina in Italy.

MG Longbridge ADO 34, British Motor Museum, Gaydon,

Alongside today’s featured ADO34 known as the Longbridge version distinguished by it’s rounded rear wheel arches MG at Abingdon also styled an ADO34 closer to the MG B at the front with rear arches closely resembling the MG Midget with a almost horizontal edge along the top of the wheel.

MG Longbridge ADO 34, British Motor Museum, Gaydon,

A coupé concept version was also built under the project code ADO35, while the Austin Healey concept version was built with the project code ADO36, none of which went into production.

MG Longbridge ADO 34, British Motor Museum, Gaydon,

This particular vehicle seen at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon, was registered on the road for sixth months as a 1966 model from March 7th 1990.

Thanks for joining me on this “Mini Midget” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Mercedes Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Trimmed in PVC – Ford Consul Mk1 Abbot Estate

The Ford Consul was the base model of Fords large British cars that replaced the V8 Pilot and included the Zodiak and Zephyr 6 models.

Ford Consul Mk1 Abbot Estate, The Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon

The Consul included a host of modern features that included unitary monocoque body shell, and independent front MacPherson strut suspension, hydraulic clutch and hydraulic brakes on all four 13″ wheels and a curved one piece windscreen that reduced glare from on coming traffic.

Ford Consul Mk1 Abbot Estate, The Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon

Inside the stylish George Walker designed body was a three speed column shift and full width bench seats front and rear that were trimmed in the latest easy to clean PVC.

Ford Consul Mk1 Abbot Estate, The Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon

Three body styles were available for the original consul saloon / sedan, convertible with manually operated roof contracted out to Carbodies in Coventry and Estate / Wagon contracted out to Abbots in Farnham.

With a top speed of 72 mph and a rest to 60 mph time of 28 seconds the 1.5 / 91.5 cui 4 cylinder Consul Mk1 first seen in October 1950 remained in production until 1956, the example seen here at the The Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon was first registered on the 19th of March 1953 and is shown as having a 1.7 litre engine fitted which probably came from a later Mk2 Consul.

Thanks for joining me on this “Trimmed in PVC” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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T4 Turbine – Rover T4

To their credit while Rover must have realised the cost of producing a gas turbine powered motor car for the masses was prohibitive because of the cost of the exotic materials required and because of the high fuel consumption they continued experimenting with the technology until 1966.

Rover T4, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

Today’s featured 1961 T4 prototype was their final attempt at making a gas turbine vehicle for production to replace the Rover P4 models that had been in production since 1949.

Rover T4, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

For this application Rover engineers had their gas turbine producing 140hp enough to power the T4 from rest to 60 mph in 8 seconds, about the same as would be achieved 7 years later with the 155 hp aluminium Rover V8.

Rover T4, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

Designers Spencer King and Gordon Bashford carried a number of ideas over from the Rover T3 I looked at last week including all wheel disc brakes and de Dion rear suspension.

Rover T4, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

Even though the fuel consumption was improved from 13 mpg on the T3 to 20 mpg on the T4 the notion of a gas turbine powered car was eventually put to rest with the T4 and the nose was redesigned to accept a variety of petrol engines for the P6 series Rover 2000’s launched in 1963 and later Rover 3500’s launched in 1969.

Rover T4, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

Rover’s experiments continued with their Gas Turbine powered BRM Le Mans project which achieved 7th and 10th place finishes in 1963 and 1965 respectively.

Thanks for joining me on this “T4 Turbine” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another rallying Triumph. Don’t forget to come back now !

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13 mpg – Rover T3 Coupé

Today’s featured Rover T3 Coupé was Rovers third gas turbine powered car.

Rover T3 Coupé, Heritage Motor Center, Gaydon,

Spencer ‘Spen’ King and Gordon Bashford are credited with the design of the Coupé which first saw the light of day in 1956.

Rover T3 Coupé, Heritage Motor Center, Gaydon,

Among the designs novelties are all wheel drive, all wheel disc brakes and de Dion rear suspension which offers some of the advantages of independent sear suspension, but with additional complexity.

Rover T3 Coupé, Heritage Motor Center, Gaydon,

The T3 was powered by a variant of Rovers 1S gas turbine which produces 60hp that was used for fire pump, auxiliary power for aircraft like the Vulcan B2 nuclear bomb delivery system, hovercraft and as the main engine for light aircraft.

Rover T3 Coupé, Heritage Motor Center, Gaydon,

The motor, mounted behind the passenger cabin, has an operating speed of 46,000 rpm, unfortunately this gave a fuel consumption of 13 – 14 miles per gallon of paraffin.

Rover T3 Coupé, Heritage Motor Center, Gaydon,

Some features of the T3 including the all wheel disc brakes, and de Dion rear suspension found their way into the Rover P6 production model but unfortunately the gas turbine did not.

06 Rover T3 Coupé_6737sc

The T3 is seen in these photographs at the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon where it is usually to be found unless it is on loan.

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The Three Captains – Austin Maxi

Queen Elizabeth the II’s cousin born seventh in line to the British throne on the 4th of July, Michael George Charles Franklin, is better known as HRH Prince Michael of Kent.

From 1961 to 1981 Prince Michael served his country after training at Sandhurst he was commissioned into the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own) who’s motto is Death of Glory.

Austin Maxi, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

The ADO 14 Austin Maxi was the first all new model to be launched by the newly merged British Leyland in 1969, it was also the last production design to come to fruition by the Grecian British designer Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis who’s CV included the designs for the Morris Minor, the BMC Mini, BMC ADO 16 1100/1300 series cars, and BMC ADO 17 1800/2200 series cars, like the 1100, and 1800, models the Maxi featured a transverse mounted engine powering the front wheels and hydrolastic suspension.

Organisers of the 1970 Daily Mirror World Cup Rally which was to run 15,000 miles through Europe, Southern and Central America from London to Mexico received entries for four Austin Maxi’s, two for cars crewed entirely by ladies.

Austin Maxi, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

The Royal Hussars & 17th/21st Lancers entered today’s featured Maxi that was to be crewed by Captains; HRH Prince Michael of Kent, who like Alec Issigonis lays claim to Grecian ancestry, Capt. Gavin Thompson and Capt. Nigel Clarkson.

With some support from the Leyland works team this Maxi unlike regular production Maxi’s has a welded up hatch back tailgate to give the body additional rigidity and a rudimentary aluminium boot / trunk lid has fitted with even more rudimentary hinges.

Austin Maxi, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

Like wise the sheet steel door skins, shared with the 1800 Landcrab series, have been replaced with aluminium panels to save weight and the steel bonnet / hood was replaced with a glass fibre example with two non standard fairings to accommodate the non standard twin SU carburetors.

As I understand it both the two works Maxi’s and the two private entries were fitted with the smaller 74 hp 1500 cc / 91.5 cui 4 cylinder motors although now this and the surviving Marshalls of Cambridge example appear to have the larger 1750 cc / 106 cui motors fitted.

Austin Maxi, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

The motors will have been detuned with lower compression ratio’s to cope not only with the poorer quality fuels available along the route, but also the altitudes on the South American legs which reached 15,000 feet where even some of the crews had to be given oxygen.

Alf Ramsey, later Sir, the England football team manager who had overseen England’s one and only World Cup win in 1966 returned to the scene of his greatest victory to flag off the eventual 96 starters from Wembley Stadium on the 19th of April 1970.

Austin Maxi, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

The 4,500 mile European leg of the Daily Mirror World Cup Rally initially headed east across the the continent through Munich in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia as far as Sofia, Bulgaria.

From Sofia the route headed South East through Italy to Monza through France and Spain to Lisbon in Portugal where the surviving crew’s caught a boat across the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Austin Maxi, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

Up to this point the three Captains were looking good and made it to Lisbon with 70 other surviving crews on the 25th of April in time for the Atlantic crossing to Brazil aboard the SS Derwent.

12 days later on the 8th of May the three Captains were flagged off in their #70 Maxi for the 12,000 Southern and Central American leg of the event from down town Rio de Janeiro.

Austin Maxi, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

10 miles from the start at Ltuporanga, the #70 Maxi with the three Captains aboard left the road and with smashed drive shafts were left with no alternative but to withdraw.

The two works entered Maxi’s made it to the finish with the #74 London Evening Standard sponsored Maxi crewed by Rosemary Smith, Alice Watson and Gina de Rolland classified 10th behind the Winners Ford Escort crewed byHannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm.

Austin Maxi, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon,

The #96 British Leyland / Autocar sponsored entry crewed by Terry Kingsley, Peter Evans, Michael Scarlett came home last but one in 22nd place.

The Austin Maxi probably never received so much attention again, apart from the larger engine and a small interior upgrade in 1971 the car soldiered on until 1980 before a face lifted Maxi 2 went into production for just 12 month’s before production was halted with over 400,000 units built.

Today amongst one hundred patronages and Presidencies HRH Prince Michael of Kent is President of the Royal Automobile Club in Piccadilly London, Royal Patron of the Brooklands Museum and Patron of the Commission for Global Road Safety.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Three Captains” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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