Measured & Realistic – Rolls Royce Ghost V12

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The 2.5 tonne steel bodied Rolls Royce Ghost V12 is a smaller 150lbs lighter “more realistic, more measured” car that the aluminium bodied range topping Rolls Royce Phantom.

At it’s heart lies a 6.6 litre / 402 cui twin turbo charged V12 BMW N74 motor that produces 540hp and 500 lbs/ft torque, which is transmitted through an 8 speed automatic gearbox, sufficient to propel the Ghost V12 from rest to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds with top speed is limited to 155 mph.

20% of the Ghost V12’s parts are said to be common to the BMW 7 Series,

including the iDrive user interface which is used to control climate, radio/CD, navigation and communication systems.

The Ghost V12 is fitted with an active four corner air suspension with Active Roll Stabilisation and Variable Damping Control operating the air springs.

Since its’s launch in 2009 a number of special editions have been built still today available are the Mansory White with led daytime running lights, Extended Wheel Base, China Edition with red interior gold coach lines and gold mascot, Two Tone and Art Deco which features an illuminated mascot.

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

Championship Clincher – Talbot Sunbeam Lotus (Type 81)

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In 1977 the European division of Chrysler launched the Chrysler Sunbeam hatchback which was financed with Government aid that was part of a strategic plan to keep jobs at Chryslers Linwood factory in Scotland where the Hillman Imp production had come to a halt in 1976.

The new hatchback used the floor plan of the Hillman Avenger, another model manufactured at Linwood, of which sales were falling and which was to be discontinued in 1981.

In 1978 Chrysler commissioned Lotus to develop a competition version of the Sunbeam hatchback, which appears to have shared the same type number ’81’ as the Lotus Ford ’81’ Formula One car.

Incidentally this appears to be the third of two completely unrelated projects have shared a Lotus Type number, I have read suggestions this occurred because some one lost the book in which the Lotus projects were recorded, I have also seen suggestions that what ever Lotus type numbers vehicles have now, they were not necessarily the same as those that appeared on the original Lotus drawings.

The Sunbeam Lotus was produced with a 150 hp for road trim and 250 hp for competition rally trim both versions using variants of the Lotus Type 907 motor first seen in the Lotus 62 sports racing car and later in the Lotus Elite, Type 75, road car.

The Sunbeam Lotus was first seen in early 1979 but by the end of the year Chrysler had sold it’s European operations to Peugeot for US$1 (One US Dollar) which came packaged with all of Chrysler Europe’s debt. For 1980 all of Chrysler Europe’s models including the Chrysler Sunbeam Lotus were rebranded as Talbots and all of the road going Sunbeam Lotus models appear with Talbot badges.

In 1979 a works Chrysler Sunbeam Lotus team entered selected World Championship Rally events in anticipation for a full scale onslaught in 1981. The following year the now Talbot entered team scored three wins two for Henri Toivonen one on snow and the other on gravel, while Frenchman Guy Fréquelin partnered by Jean Todt, since of Peugeot and Ferrari management and now president of the FIA.

In 1981 going into the final rally of the season the RAC Rally Guy and Jean led the World Rally Drivers Chanpionship and Talbot the manufacturers championship despite only managing to score one overall victory. For some reason Guy never got to grips with his second RAC Rally start and he retired while Ari Vatenen his only challenger finished second in a Ford Escort behind Hannu Mikkola in his Audi. After Henri Toivonen also retired the manufacturers championship was clinched for Talbot by Swedes Stig Blomqvist and Bjorn Cederberg in the #14 Swedish Dealer Team entered Talbot which carried the registration/license plated LAC999V.

However I can’t be sure that the car shown in the two photos above is the same car because all thought the car above carries the LAC999V plates it is painted in the factory Talbot Sunbeam Lotus colours which were not the same as the colours carried on Stig’s car in the 1981 RAC Rally.

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

Nothing Better – Ferrari 250MM Pininfarina Berlinetta #0353 MM (0239 EU)

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After beating Phil Hill on the second stage of the 1952 Carrera Panamerica Mexican hot shot Efrian Ruiz Echeverria skidded of the road while in 10th place overall on the third, of five, stage of the race in his Ferrari 212 Inter Berlinetta chassis #0239 EU.

He sent the car back to Ferrari for repairs and while it was there Efrian asked if the factory would build him a Ferrari 250MM like the one used by Giovanni Bracco which had proved to be the fastest car in the 1952 Carrera Panamerica field although transmission failure 300 miles from the finish handed a 1-2 victory to the Mercedes Benz Team.

Ferrari were happy to oblige going so far as swapping the identity from Efrian’s old 212 Inter #0239EU to that of the new 250MM chassis #0353MM at the owners request so that import duty would not have to be paid on the new car.

The 1953 Panamerica entry list included five works Lancia’s with Juan Manuel Fangio in the lead car and five non works Ferrari’s. Fangio led a 1/2/3 finish for the Lancia Team and Efrian came in as first privateer in 7th place. A result that remains the best for any Mexican driver in the original series of Carrera Panamerica races run from 1950 to 1954.

Thanks to William (WDH74) at The Nostalgia Forum I have found out what the meaning of the legend “Como 123 no hay dos” which appears to be a sponsors strap line on the bonnet of the car. “No hay dos” translates to “nothing better” from Mexican in this case nothing better than products from sponsor Industrias 1-2-3 owned by Santiago Ontanon who’s products include vegetable cooking oil and laundry detergent.

The 1953 Carrera Panamerica was #0353 MM (0239 EU)’s only in period competitive outing, the car passed through various hands and 3 restorations later the car is seen above at Goodwood Festival of Speed where it was entered by Nick Mason for his wife Annette to drive.

My thanks to WDH74, Arjan de Roos, Doug Nye, Regazzoni and Tmeranda at The Nostalgia Forum for lessons in Mexican and Mexican house hold product marketing.

Thanks for joining me on this “Nothing Better” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Lotus rally car project. Don’t forget to come back now !

Perfect Car For A Wedding #7 – Dodge Challenger SRT/8

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It’s been a while since I have run a “Perfect Car For A Wedding” feature and of those I have run today’s third generation 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT/8 is easily my favorite.

While Ford has always been the trend setter in the pony car market segment, Dodge, who were third in first time round with the 1970 Challenger, beat Chevrolet to 2nd place by a full year at the end of the Naughties after the pony car market segmented was started the second time round by Ford in 2005.

The Dodge Challenger SRT/8 was launched at the Chicago and Philadelphia International Auto Show’s simultaneously in February 2008. Unusually all 6400 first production run STR8s were pre sold.

All US market 2008 Challengers like the one seen here were SRT/8 models fitted with 425 hp 6.1 litre / 370 cui HEMI V8s and a five speed AutoStick automatic transmission.

The SRT/8 is built on an shortened Chrysler LX platform known as the LC, and shares front and rear suspension components with the Mercedes Benz W220 S Class and W120 E Class respectively.

In 2008 Chrysler Canada built a separate run of between 670 and 719 Challenger 500’s for the Canadian market only.

The Challenger is seen here at the entrance of Shakespeare County Raceway after the owner had used it at her friends wedding earlier in the afternoon. Wishing everybody about to get married today all the best and many happy years together.

Thanks for joining me on this “Perfect Car For A Wedding #7 ” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t for get to come back now !

Safari, Trekker, Kurierwagen, Thing – Volkswagen Type181

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The Volkswagen Type 181 was born out of the incompetence of the Governments of West Germany, France and Italy to bring the Europa Jeep project to fruition. While the German military were waiting for this all wheel drive wonder mobile in 1968 the German Government approached Volkswagen to come with an interim vehicle which became the Type 181 seen today.

The Type 181 is based on a Karmann Ghia floor pan, a little wider than that used for the Beetle, and had running gear from the Volkswagen Type 2 which included reduction gears for the driven rear wheels that helped raise the ride height of the Type 181 to give it some off road capability.

Military Type 181’s were adopted my several NATO forces apart from Germany once the Europa Jeep project was abandoned in 1979.

Civilian versions of the Type 181 were first seen in Europe, Kurierwagen, and Mexico, Safari,in 1971 with US versions, Thing, appearing the following year. In 1975 Trekker versions of the Type 181 were sold in the UK but they were not popular and soon withdrawn from the UK market.

90,883 Type 181’s were built in Wolfsburg 1968–1974, Hannover,1974–1983, Puebla, Mexico 1970-1980, and Jakarta, Indonesia 1973 – 1980.

Note the Hannover built 1976 example seen in today’s photographs features a Porsche steering wheel and Porsche alloy wheels.

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

Hot Rover #2 – MG ZS

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The MG ZS was the second prong of Rover MG’s three pronged attack on the market for hot vehicles launched in 2001 alongside the MG ZR I looked at last week.

The ancestry of the MG ZS can be traced back to fifth generation Honda Civic, the floor pan of which Rover used to build the Rover 400 model which when face lifted became the Rover 45.

The ZS was made available with a range of tuned motors from the Rover 45 and a tuned 175hp version of the 2.5 litre / 152 cui V6 from the larger Rover 75.

The 2001 vehicle seen here at the Goodwood Revival last year is the model topping ZS 180 with the 175 hp V6 that gives the ZS a rest to 60 mph time 7.3 seconds and top speed of 139 mph. The ZS 180 has larger brakes discs and brake calipers than all of the other ZS models.

The Honda based chassis pan with double wishbone front suspension and multi link rear suspension proved eminently adaptable to switch from optimised for comfort settings required for Rover 45 customers to optimised for handling settings required for MG ZS customers which along with the ZS steering came in for praise from press when launched.

The large rear spoiler was standard on ZS 180 models up until 2004 when the model was face lifted with a much smarter body kit.

Thanks for joining me on this “Hot Rover #2” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t for get to come back now !

Royal Enfield Transporter – Volvo 740 GL Pick Up

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The Volvo 740 as introduced in 1984, it featured the same body as the V6 and 4 cylinder Turbo Intercooler 760 models but was fitted, initially, only with normally aspirated versions of the 4 cylinder motor which had hither too been found in the Volvo 240 models.

Today’s featured model was built in 1989 with a fuel injected pushrod overhead valve 1986 cc / 121 cui 4 cylinder B20F motor that was known in the trade as a log burner because it’s 120 hp worked hard to move the older 240 models at a respectable pace. This car is fitted with a standard 5 speed manual transmission.

In 2000 the previous owner of today’s featured car converted his estate / station wagon into a pick up so that he could carry his Royal Enfield motor cycle to rallies and shows.

With over 265,OOO miles and a full service history Volvo Enthusiasts Club member Colin Hughes expects to keep this vehicle for a good while yet, when I was selling these cars new back in the day we used to boast that such cars could easily be made to last over 20 years this one looks like it could easily last twice as long. Colin has another Volvo 740, a hearse.

Thanks for joining me on this “Royal Enfield Transporter” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a vehicle billed as “Born To Perform Miracles”. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Measured & Realistic – Rolls Royce Ghost V12

Championship Clincher – Talbot Sunbeam Lotus (Type 81)

Nothing Better – Ferrari 250MM Pininfarina Berlinetta #0353 MM (0239 EU)

Perfect Car For A Wedding #7 – Dodge Challenger SRT/8

Safari, Trekker, Kurierwagen, Thing – Volkswagen Type181

Hot Rover #2 – MG ZS

Royal Enfield Transporter – Volvo 740 GL Pick Up