Tag Archives: Arthur

Royal Presidential Film Star – Rolls Royce Silver Wraith #WVH4

The first post war Rolls Royce model was the Silver Wraith which was built from 1946 to 1959.

Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The initial 127″ wheel base chassis was similar to the pre war Wraith with independent front suspension and semi elliptical leaf springs for the live rear axle.

Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The 6 cylinder motor was fitted with a new cylinder head that featured overhead inlet valves and side exhaust valves, in 1951 the displacement was increased to 4566 cc / 278 cui as seen fitted to the vehicle built in 1952 featured today.

Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The Royal houses of Holland, Denmark and Greece all selected Silver Wraith’s for their automotive collections. Silver Wraiths were also chosen as Presidential vehicles by the Brazilian and Irish governments and I believe both are still in use.

Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

Reassuringly expensive Silver Wrath models have landed roles in numerous films including The Return Of the Pink Panther (1975), Arthur (1981), a fine Sedanca de Ville by Hooper bodied example in Withnail and I (1987) and Batman Returns (1992).

Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

Chassis #WVH4 was the last to be bodied by Rippon Bros, the Silver Wrath was also the last model to be offered as a powered chassis, and appeared at the 1952 Earls Court Motor Show. More recently after a restoration that started in 2002 this car appeared in the 2011 film The Deep Blue Sea.

Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

In all 1883 Silver Wraith’s were manufactured 639 of them with a 133″ long wheel base option, that was available from 1951 and replaced the 127″ wheel base chassis completely in 1953.

Thanks for joining me on this “Royal Presidential Film Star” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at the reincarnation of a World Land Speed Record Car that lay buried beneath the Pendine Sands for 40 years. Don’t forget to come back now !

Supercharged Teardrop Special – Bristol 406

Today’s featured car started life as a Bristol 406 first registered on the 13th of May 1959.

Bristol 406 Teardrop Special, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

By the late 1990’s the car had unusually for a Bristol become a derelict when Michael Waller decided to renovate the chassis which included shortening it by 11 inches and fitting a Bristol six cylinder motor 8 inches further back from it’s original position.

Bristol 406 Teardrop Special, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

The smaller and older, than a standard 406, 6 cylinder 1971 cc / 120 cui motor was supercharged by Martin Boon and Spencer Lane Jones to bring the power up from 125 hp to 200 hp.

Bristol 406 Teardrop Special, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Michael Waller commissioned Ken Arthur to form a body from aluminium inspired by Talbot Lago T150C SS with “Goutte d’Eau”, water drop, crafted by Parisian coach builders Figoni & Falaschi for Woolf Baranto in 1938.

Bristol 406 Teardrop Special, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

After ten years Michael’s vision was realised in the form of the unique vehicle seen in these photographs taken at the Autumn Classic at Castle Combe.

Thanks for joining me on this Supercharged Teardrop Special edition of “Gettin’ a little psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a another big banger Formula 5000 car built in Bolton, Lancashire. Don’t forget to come back now !

Don’t Try This At Home – MG Metro 6R4

In 1980 and 1981 the Leyland Commercial Vehicles sponsored Williams Grand Prix team won the World Drivers Championship (1980) with Alan Jones and two consecutive World Constructors championships with their Patrick Head designed FW07’s. During 1981 one of Austin Rover who were part of the British Leyland Group approached Patrick to help them design a new rally car to conform to the forthcoming Group B regulations that mandated 200 identical cars to be built and a further 20 evolutionary competition versions.

MG Metro 6R4, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

The car Austin Rover wanted to promote was the recently launched Metro and because this was a competition vehicle the MG brand was the natural version to promote. Patrick head and his team built a space frame chassis that housed the motor behind the driver and equipped the car with four wheel drive. Apart from the roof panel, windscreen, doors, front grill and lights which were MG Metro sourced every other part of the car was competition spec.

MG Metro 6R4, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

The first prototypes were seen in 1984 powered by an interim V6 version of the aluminium Rover V8 engine which produced around 250 hp. The car was subsequently tested in numerous national rally events and proved to be quick while it last.

MG Metro 6R4, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

In March 1985 Tony Pond and Rod Arthur won for the first time in a 6R4 on the Gwynedd Rally in Wales.

MG Metro 6R4, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

By now the car had grown wings at the front and rear and had a lengthened wheel base. The car was also now fitted with what is probably the only motor designed specifically from scratch for a rallying application namely the V64V a 3 litre / 183 cui normally aspirated V6 with four valves per cylinder and double overhead cam shafts that could be tuned to give over 400 hp.

MG Metro 6R4, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

When fitted to the Metro the car could accelerate from rest to 60 mph in just 3.0 seconds an achievement compatible with contemporaneous Formula One cars. The V64V would later achieve success in Group C2 racing where it was used by Ecurie Ecosse to win the 1986 Group C2 championship and later still the V64V was fitted twin turbo chargers and fitted to the Jaguar XJ220.

MG Metro 6R4, RAC Rally

The Metro 6R4’s debut in the World Championship Rally was in the 1985 RAC Rally, which happened to start about two miles from where I was living in Nottingham that year. The #10 of Tony Pond and Rob Arthur, which is seen blasting through a forest on the opening day above, would record an excellent third place behind two Lancia Delta S4, which were also on their debut appearance.

MG Metro 6R4, RAC Rally

Malcom Wilson and Nigel Harris seen on the same stage above retired with engine failure after completing 23 of the 63 stages. I took these photographs in a non approved area and was pelted with stones from the gravel track as the cars passed by. With the benefit of hindsight this is not recommended at home, the following year 1985 RAC winner Henri Toivonen and co driver Sergio Cresto were killed when their Lancia Delta S4 plunged into a Corsican ravine and caught fire on impact earlier in the season a Group B car slid into a crowd on a special stage injuring 30 spectators and killing 3 more.

These two fatal events led the sports governing body the FIA to ban Group B from the end of 1986 with several teams withdrawing from the sport immediately.

My thanks to Sterling49 and Tim Murray at the Nostalgia Forum for helping to identify the drivers and co-drivers of the two cars seen on the RAC Rally.

Thanks for for joining me on the “Don’t Try This At Home” 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 Lil’ Car That Scared The Fat Cat – Doretti #1196

3 Replies

The Doretti was designed by former Bristol Omnibus apprentice Frank Rainbow while he was working for the Tube Investment Group. In January 1953 Frank was given 9 months to design and build the first Doretti car by Eric Saunders, managing director of the Swallow Coachbuilding Company which became part of the TI Group in 1946 after spawning S.S. Cars in 1934 which became Jaguar in 1945.

In 1952 Eric met Arthur Andersen of the Rome Cable Corporation, who was interested in the production of a vehicle specifically designed for sale in the USA and discussion turned to the production of a car to be designed by Frank with bodies to be made in Wales.

Using his connection with Sir John Black at Standard Triumph, Eric Saunders secured a supply of Triumph TR2 running gear for the Swallow Doretti, a name derived from a marketing company operated by Arthur Andersens daughter Dorothy Deen and Paul Bernhart which was to market the car.

Frank completed the first car with a Reynolds 531 chrome-molydenum steel tube chassis on schedule and it was exhibited alongside a Triumph TR2, which Doretti parent Cal Specialities Company was also responsible for distributing.

From 1954 to 1955 around 280 Doretti’s were built in a factory with a maximum of just 18 employees.

The success of the Doretti frightened Jaguar, which was by now a large customer of the same TI Group that facilitated the birth of the Doretti, into giving Tube Investments an ultimatum to disengage from the Doretti project or loose the Jaguar account. Doretti production halted overnight on the receipt of the ultimatum and thus the Doretti name lives on in around 180 of the cars that are thought to have survived.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Cal Specialities Company edition of ‘Getting a ‘lil psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for a look at another European sports car that changed the image of it’s manufacturer forever. Don’t forget to come back now !

1914 Indy Winner – Delage Y

3 Replies

Continuing this months series of blogs celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 today’s photograph by Ed Arnaudin was taken in 1964 and shows the most famous of the Delage Y’s which, in the hands of Rene Thomas, won the 4th running of the Indy 500 in 1914.

Designed by Arthur Michelat four Y models are thought to have been built between 1913 and 1914 at the Delage factory on Boulevard de Verdun in Courbevoie in NW Paris.

This one was fitted with a 113 hp, 4 cylinder 4.5 litre 275 cui motor, featuring 4 valves per cylinder, was connected to a 5 speed gearbox making it one of the most advanced racing cars of it’s time.

In 1913 Paul Bablot drove the pictured vehicle to victory in the, latter of two, French Grand Prix held at Le Mans.

With support from British journalist in Paris WF Bradley, the Indianapolis 500 attracted the first foreign entries in 1913 which in 1914 included two Delage Y’s, the 2nd Delage driven by Albert Guyot placed 3rd in the race.

Rene Thomas prior to winning the Indianapolis 500 at his first attempt is also known for surviving the worlds first mid air collision near Milan in 1910 after his Antoinette monoplane ‘fell’ onto the Farman biplane of Captain Bertram Dickson who was not so lucky.

Thomas went on to record a land speed record of 143 mph in 1924 at Arpajon south of Paris aboard another Delage. Amazingly after a full life of risk taking Rene Thomas died aged 89 in 1975.

The story goes that as this winning car was being loaded on to a ship to return to France it was purchased and ultimately remained in the USA. The car was later ‘found’ by Edgar L. Roy a founding member of the Vintage Sports Car Club of America and restored by him prior to the car finding it’s way to the IMS Hall of Fame Museum.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for sending me the scan of his Dad’s photo and to E.B. of The Nostalgia Forum for identifying this vehicle.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s 1914 edition of ‘Getting a lil psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for a look at a 1915 White Squadron Stutz. Don’t for get to come back now !