Tag Archives: Road & Track

Volvo Survivor – Ferrari 750 Monza #0538M

Seriously regular GALPOT may remember a Ferrari Friday in March 2011 in which I posted a photograph taken in 1956 by Road & Track photographer Carlisle Blackwell featuring a Ferrari 750 Monza on the 20th Century Fox back lot.

Ferrari 750 Monza, Blackhawk Museum

Geoffrey Horton caught up with the car chassis #0538 at the Blackhawk last year and while I have no new information about the car I thought you might enjoy looking at the one off low nose body which original owner Mr Paravano is rumoured to have paid Scaglietti well over the odds for.

Ferrari 750 Monza, Blackhawk Museum

Soon after #0538M was purchased by William Shaker for $600,000 with a Chevrolet V8 installed the car is said have gone on an unmanned trip down Mr Shakers drive and come to rest against his Volvo, ironically Volvo is Latin for “I roll”.

Ferrari 750 Monza, Blackhawk Museum

I have not been able to establish which, if indeed any, of the Ferrari’s panels were damaged in the incident.

Ferrari 750 Monza, Blackhawk Museum

Another mystery as yet unresolved is who was seen at the wheel of #0538M when Carlisle Blackwell took the photo’s of it for the cover of Road & Track in December 1956 ?

Ferrari 750 Monza,

(Photo Reproduced Courtesy of the Blackwell Archive)

If you recognise him please do not hesitate to chime in below.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs from the Blackhawk Museum and Pamela Blackwell for permission to use her fathers photograph.

Thanks for joining me on this “Volvo Survivor” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again for a look at a nice self build. Don’t forget to come back now !

Brighton Speed Trials Under Threat of Permanent Cancellation !

In their infinite wisdom, Brighton & Hove City Council are seeking to ban the Brighton Speed Trials from 2014.

If you care about speed and or motorsport history, please sign this linked petition to save Brighton Speed Trials in 2014 and beyond.

It’s a faf to Register before signing, but relatively painless compared to loosing the event which has been run with few interruptions since 1905.

You do not need to be resident in Brighton, or even the UK to sign.

More on Brighton Speed Trials on this link.

Thanks and please spread the word through whatever social media you have at your disposal.

Share

Black Or White – Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0

Today’s featured Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 is the ultimate road version of the 997 bodied GT3’s built between 2004 and 2012 topped only by the track only GT3 R and RSR models.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0, Family Club Day, Castle Combe

GT3 cars are marketed as an entry competition model to Porsche customers the first was offered on the 996 bodied 911 in 1999. The GT3 RS models come fitted with a roll cage and carbon fiber seats for added safety.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0, Family Club Day, Castle Combe

According to contemporary reports in Road & Track Porsche had to reopen the assembly line on which the 4 litre / 244 cui motor’s were built because the decision to build the GT3 RS 4.0 limited edition had come after the decision had been made to launch the new 991 bodied 911 series.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0, Family Club Day, Castle Combe

The GT3 RS 4.0 493hp and can accelerate to 60 mph in just 3.8 seconds and on up to 193 mph, making it fractionally quicker than the one off 1998 Porsche 911 GT-98 Straßenversion I looked at yesterday.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0, Family Club Day, Castle Combe

Only 600 GT3 RS 4.0s, like the one seen here at last years Family Club Day organised by the Bristol Motor Club at Castle Combe, were built and they were available only in black or white.

Thanks for joining me on this “Black Or White” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some more Porsche Automobilia. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share

Enigmatic Swiss Shark – Monteverdi Hai 450 SS

Peter Monteverdi is once quoted as having said “If I didn’t build cars I’d probably be an infinitely richer man as well as a much healtheir one” and looking at the story of the four cars that bear the Monteverdi Hai name it is easy to see why, he only sold one and kept the other three.

Montiverdi Hai 450 SS, Goodwood Revival

The Hai (German translates as shark) appears to have been developed as Monteverdi’s ultimate sports car, it has precious little luggage space under the bonnet there is just enough room for the spare wheel while the space behind the engine is just big enough for a couple of overnight bags. This car appears to have been built to take on the man who pushed Peter Monteverdi into building his own cars, by demanding an order for 100 cars and payment for them up front, none other than Enzo Ferrari himself.

Montiverdi Hai 450 SS, Goodwood Revival

Peter backed out of this ludicrous deal with Enzo in 1964 gave up his Ferrari dealership and built his 375 horsepower Grand Tourers, an example of which we saw last Wednesday, instead. Monteverdi then set about building the Hai for which Chrysler built a special one off Hemi that at the time was the only one in the world fitted with air conditioning which Monteverdi wisely insisted on. Mid engine cars usually have cabins that are heat sinks thanks to front mounted radiators, the plumbing required for them that runs alongside the cabin and the engine heat that get transmitted forward from engine bay.

Montiverdi Hai 450 SS, Goodwood Revival

The chassis is by a steel box section frame and incorporates a de Dion rear suspension which keeps the rear wheels at a constant track and camber when cornering. There is no power assistance for the steering the 49/51% front to rear weight distribution apparently renders it unnecessary.

Montiverdi Hai 450 SS, Goodwood Revival

The 450 hp power Hemi is attached to a ZF gearbox the gate pattern of which is by all accounts less than orthodox, the body work is said to have been designed by Trevor Fiore and built by Fissore. The first car, painted in a unique metallic magenta, appeared at Geneva in 1970 there after it was tested and appeared at Geneva in 1971 with detail differences including repositioned door handles, allegedly in order to give the illusion that more than one of these cars had been built.

Montiverdi Hai 450 SS, Goodwood Revival

The original 450 SS was clocked at 176 mph, before it ran out of road, by Automobile Quarterly while Road & Track timed the acceleration from rest to 60 mph at 4.7 seconds, a sensational time for any vehicle built in 1970 let alone 2013.

The first car was sold and is still in private hands having been returned to it’s original metallic magenta colour in 2006. The second Hai 450 was built on a longer wheel base, with a 440 Magnum motor, higher door handles, alloy wheels and Ferrari 375 GT/4 Daytona like indicators on the front wings the Red and Black car was given the 450 GTS designation. The GTS has been in the Monteverdi collection since it first appeared in 1973.

It is not known why Monteverdi never completed his intended production run of 49 Hai vehicles. The figure may have been spin or hype, Monteverdi may have been concerned about the safety of his customers and their ability to handle such a high performance mid engined vehicle which was quite a rare configuration at the time. The cost of US$ 27,000 dollars would certainly have been prohibitive that kind of money would be the price of a couple of contemporary Aston Martin’s or one and a half Ferrari Daytona’s, alternatively it maybe that Peter Monteverdi realised the first Hai he built was just the kind of man bate eye candy necessary to draw potential customers in for his lesser models.

In the 1990’s two further Hai’s were built, it is said both were on the longer GTS type wheel base and that they were built from left over stock. Of the four cars said to have been built frustratingly I have only been able to discern the original magenta 450 SS and a GTS.

Today’s featured Hai seen at Goodwood in 2011 is a bit of an enigma, it closely resembles the original magenta car with it’s wire spoke knock off wheels, the high door handles mean it was certainly one of the last two built, but is the 450 SS badge simply left over stock on a 440 Magnum powered car or is it just possible that the perfectionist Peter Monteverdi managed to procure a second 426 Hemi with an air conditioning unit attached, having regretted ever selling the original Hai 450 SS ?

The only glimpse I can give you into the possibility that Peter built a second 450 SS is that the first quote with which I opened this blog that ends, “but I’d certainly not be a happier man!”

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

Share