Tag Archives: Royce

Heavy Metal Classic – Standlake Arena

With a full entry of 228 National Bangers and the first date of the season the Heavy Metal Classic at Standlake Arena near Witney in Oxfordshire attracted a full stadium of spectators and almost full overflow car park despite the promise of heavy rain and just above freezing temperatures.

MG B GT, Amie Chandler, Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

I confess my brain was so frozen I do not remember too many details of what went on though I do remember an interesting conversation regarding the machinations of Dr Jonathon Palmer’s empire based at Brands Hatch, above the #418 MG B GT was driven by Amie Chandler in the “Under 2 litre RWD Classics” class.

Ford Granada Estate, Pat McPhilimy, Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

Pat McPhilimy strikes a professional pose in his #42 Ford Granada Estate during the first race for the Unlimited Class.

Rolls Royce Corniche, Garry Webb, Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

The Unlimited Class featured 2 Rolls Royces, above the rare Rolls Royce Corniche driven by Garry Webb is seen passing the #155 Ford Zodiac Mk IV driven by Robert Philips.

Ford Ka, Paul, Quinell, Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

Paul Quinell easily won the unofficial most trashed rear axle with both wheels still attached and rotating award in his #469 Ford Ka which ran in the Micro Banger Class.

Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

Peter Dodge guides his BMC Farina, could be an Austin or Morris but is almost certainly not a Wolseley, past the wreck that comprises the #909 Triumph Toledo driven by Jamie “Mr Blobby” Duff and #183 Morris Marina Estate Jack Strudwick that has been rear ended by an unidentified competitor.

Morris Marina Van, Billy Bond, Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

Short on steering control but still making progress Billy Bond dips his #72 Morris Marina van in the infield mud above.

BMC Farina, James Dodge, Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

James Dodge like Peter pedaling a BMC Farina engages in a bit of rim riding hoping he will not get T boned by the green #632 Ford Cortina driven by Kallum Reed.

Jaguar Mark X, Steven Hart, Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

The #70 Jaguar Mark X driven by Steven Hart above in the Unlimited Class sports a deflector on the bonnet, how effective it was at either keeping the occupant dry or giving him improved vision is debatable.

Ford Granada, Randy Mulder, Heavy Metal Classic, Standlake Arena

I’m pretty sure the winning car of the unlimited class was the #88 Ford Granada driven by Randy Mulder, though looking at the entry list I see there was a second #88 entered for Billy Page so I am now not quite so sure.

Either way after an entertaining afternoon getting rather wet and cold watching 228 Bangers slip and slide through the mud I headed back to the overflow car park and was pleased to get my Golf Estate out of the parking facility without the aid of a four wheel drive pickup truck that was standing by just in case.

Thanks for joining me on this “Heavy Metal Classic” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres.” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another Daytona 24 Hour competitor. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Crumpled Cup Auto Solo – Rolls Royce Car Park Filton

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On Sunday I headed down to Queen Square for the regular second Sunday of the month Avenue Drivers Club meeting only to find all access roads blocked by Bristol Half Marathon stewards one of whom apparently had no idea where Queen Square was, which made for an interesting point of departure for a conspiracy theory which I shall refrain from repeating here.

MCW Metrobus MkII, Rolls Royce Car Park, Filton

Later at mid day I made my way over to the Rolls Royce Car Park at Filton for the Bristol Pegasus Motor Clubs first Crumpled Cup Autosolo. Upon reflection I wish I had stopped off longer at The Ark Bus, 1982 MCW Metrobus, a faith in motion project, to ask for some much needed devine intervention to help me to remember the three different routes through the 31 cones that were to make up the three timed tests of the event.

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The Volkswagen Golf Mk IV Estate is not an obvious choice of vehicle for this type of event and certainly not when carrying more than half a tank of fuel, but I determined that I would have fun and that I did in spades despite the fact that of my nine runs, three times through each of the three routes I actually only managed to complete the course correctly on five occasions ! Fortunately this was still better than some so I did not come last in the front wheel drive class.

Honda Civic, Rolls Royce Car Park, Filton,

Martyn Mitchell warned me that his Honda Civic would only be in contention for the slowest time of the day and perhaps next time he will join me by the bus in some requests for devine intervention on the memory front.

Citroen Saxo, George/Ashley Pope, Rolls Royce Car Park, Filton

Father and son George and Ashley Pope shared their Citroën Saxo to take front wheel drive honours with Ashley only scoring two clean runs on the final test which ironically was the only test on which George scored only one clean run, George was the comfortable winner of the front wheel drive class and would have finished 3rd overall had the event been run as an open competition between all eight competitors.

Westfield SEiW, Andy Moss, Rolls Royce Car Park, Filton

Struggling with the turning circle of his self built Westfield SEiW was club chairman Andy Moss.

Vauxhall VX220, Martyn Lidbury, Rolls Royce Car Park, Filton

Despite having the smaller Lotus Elise size front tyres on his Vauxhall VX220 Martyn Lidbury also struggled with the turning circle of his car which otherwise made all the right noises as he drove it to third in class on his first event with the club.

Westfield SEiW, Ben Bishop, Rolls Royce Car Park, Filton

Second in the rear wheel drive class was Ben Bishop in his Westfield SEiW with the second best score overall too.

Mazda MX5, Chris Buckley, Rolls Royce Car Park, Filton

Lowest scores of the day were recorded by Chris Buckley in his supercharged Mazda MX5 who only scored maximum points on his very first run of the afternoon.

Everybody seemed to enjoy the event which I hope shall be the first of many to come, my thanks to Pete Goodman for getting permission from Rolls Royce to use the venue, to Alan Spencer for organising the event, to Tim Murray the events secretary and score keeper, marshals Ann Mitchell and Nick Woods and not least my fellow competitors who made the 4 hours of the competition fly by.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Crumpled Cup Auto Solo” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Mercury Monterey. Don’t forget to come back now !

Imports – Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance

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Welcome to the third and final installment of our trip to Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance courtesy of Geoffrey Horton who has kindly shared his photographs from the event.

Rolls Royce 20/25 Vincent Van, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Among the imports this I find this 1933 Rolls Royce 20/25 Vincent Van charming in much the same way as the Paper Boys 1929 Rolls Royce Twenty I looked at earlier this year.

Bentley 4 1/4 Sports Saloon, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Austin and Barbra Kilburn’s 1938 Park Ward bodied 4 1/4 litre ‘Derby’ Bentley chassis #B165LE was awarded third place in the Bentley class.

Cisitalia 202 Aerodynamica Berlinetta, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Eight of the top nine positions in the 1947 Mille Miglia were secured by cars with an engine capacity of less than 1100 cc / 67 cui, this Cisitalia 202 Aerodynamica Berlinetta driven by Inico Bernabei and Tullio Pacini finished 2nd in class and 3rd overall behind the winning 3 litre Alfa Romeo and the class winning sister Cisitalia 202 Spyder driven by the legendary Tazio Nuvolari and Francesco Carena.

Allard K2 Roadster, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Winner of the Arcane Oddities and Rarities class was David Rossiter who’s 1951 Allard K2 Roadster strikes a pose above.

Jaguar XK140 FHC, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Despite his 1955 Jaguar XK140 FHC SE/MC looking more pristine than ever and being fitted with an all important otter switch judges decided to award Geoffrey and Gayle Horton 2nd place in the Jaguar Sports Cars class, I’m sure you will join me in offering them sincerest congratulations and better luck next time.

Porsche 911 E, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Finally above is a 1970 Porsche 911 E, I believe chassis # 911 022 0224, belonging to George Jewett who was awarded 3rd in the Porsche class.

My thanks again to Geoffrey Horton for sharing the photo’s that have graced these photo’s for the last three days.

I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1975 Formula One challenger. Don’t forget to come back now !

Perfect Car For A Wedding #8 – Rolls Royce Phantom I Gurney Nutting #44KR

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In 1925 Rolls Royce replaced the 40/50, retrospectively named as the Silver Ghost model that had been in production since 1906, with a model billed as the ‘New Phantom’.

1926 saw production of the New Phantom commence at the Rolls Royce’s Springfield, Massachusetts works though the specification of the vehicles differed, the cars built in Derby all featured 4 wheel brakes with a servo assistance system built under license from Hispano Suiza.

The New Phantom was powered by a 7668 cc / 467 cui straight six motor with a seven bearing crank shaft and with overhead valves that produced 100hp. Later models like this 1929 model were fitted with aluminium cylinder heads.

The chassis of the New Phantom was similar to that of the 40/50 the UK models having up to 50 Enots Nipples requiring regular laborious lubrication from an Enots oil pressure gun, while US built New Phantoms had a Bijur centralized oiling system requiring a stroke from a single pump.

Like all Rolls Royces of the time it was supplied as a rolling chassis sans body. The original owner of this car had the Gurney Nutting body from his existing Daimler moved to his New Phantom, apparently not an unusual practice at the time.

Most UK built New Phantom chassis would have come with an exterior petrol gauge as can be seen inside the chassis rail here, US models mostly had their petrol gauges on the dash.

The New Phantom was replaced in by the Phantom II in 1929, with the New Phantom being retrospectively renamed Phantom I. Chassis #44KR seen here at the Rare Breeds Show at Haynes International Motor Museum last year will have been one of the last Phanom I’s to be built, it belongs to special occasions hire specialists RRElite Ltd.

Thanks for joining me on this “Perfect Car For A Wedding #8” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Get The Fire Brigade ! – Rolls Royce 40/50

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Last in the present series of Sunday Rolls Royce blogs comes courtesy of photographs sent to me by Geoffrey Horton of a Rolls Royce 40/50 taken in a car park in California a couple of months ago.

Recognising the make was of course relatively easy, a big clue to the model was the absence of any front wheel brakes which did not become ‘optional’ until 1923.

Allan Lupton at The Nostalgia Forum found out that the car was almost certainly built at the Derby Factory in the UK because these RAF wheel hubs were only used on a few early Springfield, Massachusetts built 40/50’s in 1921.

Not withstanding the cars general red colour there are several clues that this car has seen service as a fire engine…

the fire extinguisher was a clue,

as was this insignia with what appears to be a fire station number on it.

Sebastian Tombs of The Nostalgia Forum recognised the dash as being close to the original which again dated the car as early 1920’s.

The biggest clue to the story of the car in it’s present condition lay in the rear number plate which Jonas at The Nostalgia Forum recognised as Swedish, the C denotes the car was registered in the Uppsala and Jonas found out the Rolls was registered there with the Uppsala Volunteer Fire Brigade on the 31st January 1935 having arrived in Stolkholm probably in 1934. Jonas then identified the insignia on the door as being that of Uppsala, the forth largest city in Sweden that lies 40 miles north of Stockholm.

Enquires with the local Authorities in Uppsala the Historic Fire Association in Sweden led me to Urbin Duhrin who kindly revealed documentation showing that the Rolls Royce was converted into a Fire Engine by Wattholma who’s proprietor was one ex Fire Captain F W Kylberg who left the Stolkholm Fire Service in 1918 after receiving an injury and started a business converting large imported vehicles into fire engines.

Christer Johanson back at The Nostalgia Forum then found an interesting legend relating to Fire Captain Kylberg and this Rolls Royce which as told by active Fire Chief Leif Lofgren translated from Swedish runs something like this, the Swedish Civil Fire defense was not very advanced in 1935 so in order to sell the converted Rolls Royce Fire Captain F W Kylberg allegedly organised some “targeted marketing” by waiting for the end of a meeting of Uppsala alderman which took place in a church. When the meeting showed signs of ending Kylberg lit a small straw fire and as the aldermen alighted from the building they were confronted by the fire and a short while later Kylberg emerged with his fire truck, which had been hidden nearby, to put out the fire, showing by example the usefulness of his fire truck and making a sale !

An example of how unsophisticated the Swedish Fire Defence services were as late as the 1950’s involves two more of Kylberg’s converted vehicles one a 1923 Cadillac the other a Chevrolet of “unknown vintage” after a fire drill at Nortrtälje the Chevrolet broke down and so had to be pushed bumper to bumper from behind back to base by the Cadillac to the rear of which was hitched the Chevrolet’s trailer mounted water pump.

Jonas Fröjd tells me that today’s featured Royce remained in service with the Uppsala Fire Brigade until April 24 1944 and was then transferred to the Voluntary Fire Brigade at Vattholma, the same town where Frederick Kylberg had converted the vehicle from a passenger car to a fire engine in 1935. The car remained registered with the brigade at Vattholma until March 12th 1964 when ownership changed to the Swedish Nobleman Per Henrik Gustav von Essen in Friherre who appears to have taken it off the road and off the official records.

Thanks again to Allan Lupton I believe this car was built in 1921 originally with a Hooper body, I have made enquiries with two Rolls Royce owners clubs to see if they can put me in touch with the current owner and find out what happened to the originally Hooper bodied 40/50 between 1921 and 1934. As and when this information comes to light I’ll post a follow up blog.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs, to Lola 5000, Jonas Fröjd, Allan Lupton, Vitesse2, Kayemod, Sebastian Tombs, Duncan Rollo, Tim Murray, David Birchall, Michael Ferner, LittleChris, 275 GTB-4, David McKinney, Micheal Hickey, Bloggsworth, MikeC, and Crister Johanson who all chipped in at The Nostalgia Forum, to Tobias Assiego Archivist at Uppsala kommun and Chief Fire Engineer Mats Sundelius at Uppsala Fire Defence who put me in touch with Urban Duhrin of www.brandhistoriska.se.

Apologies if some of the Swedish spelling is out, all corrections gladly accepted.

Thanks for joining me on this “Get The Fire Brigade !” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a 1000 mph ride into the future world land speed record book. Don’t forget to come back now !

Cu Ghost – Rolls Royce Brockman 40/50

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The Rolls Royce 40/50 launched in 1906, dubbed by Autocar the following year as “The best car in the world”, was only ever supplied as a chassis on to which a body would be individually crafted by an independent coach builders.

It is not known if, upon completion in Derby of today’s, today’s featured 1921 example was sent to a recommended Coachbuilder or straight to Dick Brockman and Company’s coach building works in Reading west of London.

The hand starter was merely a precaution on this chassis as electric lighting and starting was fitted to all 40/50’s from 1919 on.

The Spirit of Ecstacy also known as “Ellie in her Nightie”, was originally sculpted by Charles Sykes and made of chrome alloy was not adopted as an option until 1911, by all accounts Henry Royce was not a fan of the mascot and only agreed to it being offered as an option to dissuade his customers from using less suitable ornamentation.

Up until 1915 shiny brass, and nickle fittings were quite common but after the Great 1914/18 War these items tended to be painted.

Using .065″ copper sheet Dick Brockman and Company appear to have manufactured the body of this vehicle without resorting to either welding or riveting which would have been common practice.

This car, photographed by Geoffrey Horton at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance earlier this year, is powered by an 80 hp 7428 cc / 453 cui six cylinder motor connected to a 4 speed manual gearbox.

Restoration of the car included replacing the dash board, front and rear screens along with the rear cockpit.

Once the restoration was completed the car won the 1991 Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach.

Many of the fitting were supplied by the Restoration Supply Company, Reno who carried out the restoration.

Despite it’s age this vehicle apparently has no problem keeping up with today’s traffic at ‘modern speeds’ with the smooth and silent performance that established the reputation of Rolls Royce as the manufacturers of the finest cars in the world from the beginning.

Friction dampers such as the one seen here were in common usage until the second half of the twentieth century when they were replaced with shock absorbing struts.

Opulent and refined this 40/50 represents the definition of what a hand crafted from nose to tail Rolls Royce should be, this car is regularly to be found in the National Automotive Museum in Reno.

Remarkably this is not the only copper bodied car by Dick Brockman and Company they were also responsible for building the body on a 1930 Rolls Royce Phantom II, Freestone & Wedd also built a copper bodied Rolls Royce on a pre owned 1937 Phantom III, other copper bodied cars include home made hand beaten 1920 Dodge now on view at the Southward Museum in Paraparaumu new Zealand. There are also two copper Cobra bodies one designed by Virgil M Exner in 1965 known as the Mercer Cobra, and the other a Kirkham Replica Cobra. Finally a supercharged rear engined Ford GT was fitted with a retro ’40’s copper hot rod body by Kirkham for the SEMA show in Las Vegas some years ago.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photo’s of the Copper bodied Rolls Royce Brockman 40/50 copper Ghost.

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

The Welsh Twin Royces – Rolls-Royce Boattail Speedster

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Gary L Wales winner of the 1984 Great American race for ‘antique’ cars is also a prize winning restoration expert who also has penchant for what he calls ‘Retro Design’ with which he aims to put together pleasing and fun vehicles for the road which recombine some of the best ideas stolen from the entire history of motoring.

Today’s featured car started life as a 1937 Rolls Royce 20/25 chassis onto which had been built a Saloon / Sedan body. The car ended up as a termite demolished derelict in Puerto Rico and in the mid 1980’s Gary acquired the chassis which is fitted with a 25/30 4257 cc / 259 cui six cylinder motor. 25/30 motors were introduced to the 20/25 chassis because owners were having bodies fitted to their cars which were too heavy for the 20/25 3699 cc / 225 cui motors. Note Gary has used double hinges for the bonnet / hood which nicely extend the line of the radiator grill.

Gary who by his own admission “flunked ruler reading” like any artisan turns his remarkable designs from his head into sheet metal using traditional techniques and tools, employing the work shop floor for schematic layout and traditional tools like the English Wheel.

For the Boattail Speedster Gary decided to move the motor, transmission and fire wall back a full 18 inches to give this car a longer bonnet line with the added benefit of improving the handling. The design for the wings / fenders was inspired by the French coach builder Henri Labourdette.

The dash board is original note the goggles are hanging from a map reading light to aid navigation by the passenger at night.

Labourdette also made numerous boattailed bodies back in the day, the wood work for Gary’s Rolls was cut by Gary’s neighbour John Maddocks who happens to be President of an Antique Boat Society.

The Philippine mahogany with darker Honduras mahogany edging is backed by aluminium from which the rest of the bodywork was also made.

If one lets ones eye follow the center line of the vehicle from the rear to the front it passes through the centre screen pillars which frame the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot on the radiator grill at the front.

If it is remarkable that Gary should build one such car it is surely all the more remarkable that around the time he acquired this chassis he acquired a second chassis of the same type and similar age which had served as an Ambulance in London during the ’39/’45 war. Gary made an identical twin of today’s featured Speedster and both are usually seen together. As with much else Gary’s Retro Designed pair of Speedsters have also become award winners.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who took these photographs at last years Palo Verdes Concours d’Elegance, and to Gary Wales who kindly confirmed which of his Rolls Royce twins Geoffrey took the photos of.

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

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Royce

Heavy Metal Classic – Standlake Arena

The Crumpled Cup Auto Solo – Rolls Royce Car Park Filton

Imports – Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance

Perfect Car For A Wedding #8 – Rolls Royce Phantom I Gurney Nutting #44KR

Get The Fire Brigade ! – Rolls Royce 40/50

Cu Ghost – Rolls Royce Brockman 40/50

The Welsh Twin Royces – Rolls-Royce Boattail Speedster