Tag Archives: Benz

Racing For Life – Benz Prince Henry

After his successes racing, Stern bicycles, a motorbike, Ford “No 999”, becoming the first man to drive a timed lap of 60 mph at Indianapolis State Fairgrounds in 1903 and building a reputation as a match racer Barney Oldfield went to New York and bought today’s featured Benz, of the type that won the Prinz Henry Car Trails in Europe, from the Broadway Benz Co. showroom floor in 1907.

Benz Prince Henry, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

Barney and baseball star Ty Cobb are said to have driven this Benz in barnstorming events and it bears a plaque saying that it was timed at 115 mph.

Benz Prince Henry, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

The 7.4 litre / 451 cui 4 cylinder motor featured a hemi head with four valves per cylinder and produced 100hp when new and is said to have produced 130hp with further tuning.

Benz Prince Henry, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

In 1913 Barney Oldfield and his 1907 Benz stared in a 12 minuet silent Keystone production directed by Max Sennett called ‘Barney Oldfield’s Race For Life’ which featured a damsel in distress a steam train and the Keystone Cops operating a hand cart. A fuller synopsis of the film can be seen here.

Benz Prince Henry, Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, Palm Springs

The Barney Oldfield was one of the earliest to drive cars carrying sponsorship Barney used the slug line ‘Tires are my only life insurance!’

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who took these photo’s of the Benz at the Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Race For Life” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you’ll be joining me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the Lotus Renault F1 team’s 2013 season. Don’t forget to come back now !

Visited Mother Invented Brake Pads – Benz Patent Motorwagen (Replica)

This months continental Tuesday blogs will feature 4 Veteran cars, defined by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain (VCC) as being built up to and including December 1904.

There is no doubt that the first self propelled vehicles to use public highways were powered by external combustion, steam, engines, the earliest such vehicle was built by Frenchman Nicolas Cugnot in 1770 to pull heavy artillery, unfortunately Cugnot had not got the weight distribution sufficiently sorted to steer the vehicle with any degree of accuracy so it never went into production.

There followed Scotsman William Murdoch, the pioneer of gas lighting, who built and demonstrated two fully working models of a three-wheeled locomotive with a single cylinder powered by a boiler fired by a spirit lamp around 1786. These models are thought to have influenced a design by his neighbour Richard Trevithick and partner Andrew Vivian who patented their own steam coach in 1802.

Walter Hancock is then said to have built 10 variously successful steam cars before 1810. A steam coach by Goldsworthy Gurney (later Sir) carried passengers on the London to Bath Road in 1827, later still Walter Hancock built an Omnibus named “Enterprise” in 1833 which ran between the Paddington and Bank railway stations in London.

It is believed that Karl Friedrich Benz started thinking about a self propelled vehicle with an internal combustion engine while studying engineering at the University of Karlsruhe which he attended in 1860 and from which he graduated 1864 aged just 19.

Benz Patent Motorwagen, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands

His post graduate professional training included working as a mechanical engineer, a draftsman and designer in a scales factory, working for a bridge building company and cast iron construction company.

Benz Patent Motorwagen, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In 1871 Benz founded an iron foundry and mechanical workshop with August Ritter a year later Karl’s fiancée Bertha Ringer bought out Ritter, who proved to be unreliable, with her dowry.

Benz Patent Motorwagen, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands

From 1878 Benz focused his attentions on new patents which included; a 2 stroke petrol motor, throttle, carburettor, ignition using spark plugs (separately patented) and battery, clutch, gearshift and water radiator. Benz was forced by his banking partners to turn his company into the joint stock Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim in 1882 which he left in 1883 due to the diminution of his standing as owner of just 5% of the new companies shares.

Benz Patent Motorwagen, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands

The following year Benz went into partnership with Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger the owners of a bicycle repair shop to form Benz & Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik which produced static petrol motors.

Benz Patent Motorwagen, Goodwood Festival of Speed

This successful venture gave Benz time to devise the Benz Patent Motorwagen, with tiller steering, a four stroke petrol motor, coil ignition and evaporative cooling and wooden blocks for brakes, acting on the rear axle, by the end of 1885, the following November it too was granted a patent making Karl Benz the inventor of the first internal combustion powered automobile.

Benz Patent Motorwagen, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands

After tests in public, which included accidentally crashing into a wall thanks to the tricky steering, improved second and third versions were built in 1887 which featured various improvements including a carburetor on the second and wooden wheels on the third.

Benz Patent Motorwagen, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands

Bertha Benz took the third vehicle for a 110 mile spin with her sons to see her mother without her husband Karl, who invented and built the machine, even knowing about it in 1888. She stopped at a pharmacist to refuel with petrol which was sold primarily as cleaning fluid.

When the brakes began showing signs of wear Bertha asked a cobbler to nail some leather to the friction surface of the brake blocks and in so doing invented the first brake pads.

Bertha’s journey highlighted the need for a second gear to get up the hills unaided, but demonstrated the viability of Karls design of which 25 examples are thought to have been built between 1888 and 1893.

Today’s featured car is a replica of the original design owned by Mercedes Benz and is often to be found at Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands.

Thanks for joining me on this “Visited Mother Invented Brake Pads” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. 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.

Mille Miglia Tribute – Goggomobil TS Coupé

Over the last couple of years here at GALPOT Towers I have seen a few tribute cars from a modest #177 1967 Monte Carlo winning Mini to the enormous #3 1950 Le Mans Cunningham Cadillac Petite Pataud with the occasional odd ball like the #88 Mountain Dew MG B thrown in, but I’d hazard a guess that today’s cut down Goggomobile TS Coupe which stands as a tribute to the #722 1955 Mille Miglia winning Mercedes Benz 300 SLR of Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson is the strangest tribute car I have seen yet.

Goggomobil was a brand belonging to Glas that manufactured 4 different micro vehicles between 1955 and 1966 when Glas was taken over by BMW.

The car seen here would appear to be a TS Coupé that has had the roof and doors removed while the windscreen has been replaced by two ‘Brooklands’ aeroscreens.

Because the car is on foreign plates I have not been able to determine either it’s age or the engine size. What ever the exact details the engine will be an aircooled two stroke straight twin of between 250 cc / 15.3 cui and 400 cc 24.6 cui which would give somewhere between 13 hp and 20 hp depending on size.

The #722 Moss/Jenkinson 300 SLR, which won the 1000 mile street race at an all time record average speed of 97.96 mph, is widely regarded as being the worlds most desirable and expensive car, if Mercedes Benz were to ever make it available. One of the remaining Goggomobil TS Coupés, of the total 66,511 built, could be purchased for anything up to €7,000/£5,800,/USD 9000 depending on condition.

Thanks for joining me on this “Mille Miglia Tribute” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a li’l red Corvette. Don’t forget to come back now !

Shelby Pierce Arrow – Niello Concours at Serrano

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The weekend before last Geoffrey Horton took his Jaguar out of it’s garage for the last time this year to attend the Niello Concours at Serrano. He kindly sent today’s featured photographs for us to enjoy.

The achievements of Pierce Arrow and Carroll Shelby were being celebrated at Niello, above a 1933 Pierce Silver Arrow one of only three such 115 mph V12’s known to exist.

Suffering from slow sales of aero engines made under license from (French) Salmson in 1934 British Salmson extended it’s license deal to include local manufacture of Salmson cars. Above is a 1936 S4C similar to it’s French counterpart except that it has syncromesh on the top two gears of the gearbox. Around 250 S4C’s were manufactured from 1934 to 1938.

For a Delahaye the vehicle above is pretty tame, by Delahaye standards, I’m not sure of either the year, model or coachbuilder, looks most likely a 135 which could have been built 1935 and 1954. If you know which more please do not be afraid to chime in below.

As regular GALPOT readers will know Geoffrey Horton restored a rats nest back into a 1955 Jaguar XK140 FHC SE / MC which he now enters in Concours events. The 1956 example above has been in the same family since 4th January 1956, it is totally original and unrestored, as the owner says “cost of $90,000” and “cost of to keep it original, with sentimental value = priceless”

Not sure what this one is at the time of writing looks a little like a Mk 1 Triumph Spitfire with a lot of additional chrome, the wheels look like they come from a Berkeley. If you know what this one is please chime in below, it’s certainly not in my I-spy book of cars.

Carroll Shelby ordered two new Cooper Monaco’s beefed up to carry Shelby’s 289 Ford V8’s for the 1963 URRSC sports car championship.
Chassis #CM/1/63 seen here was driven by rapidly rising star Dave MacDonald to victories in both the 1963 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside and the Monterey Pacific Grand Prix at Laguna Seca which along which helped MacDonald secure the 1963 URRSC sports car championship.

The 1965 Shelby GT 350 was built to compete in the SCCA National B Production Championship with full race suspension larger oil pan and straight through exhaust side pipes. It was fitted with ‘only two’ seats to comply with the SCCA regulations. This particular copy, one of 562 built in 1965, has been in the same family since new.

For 1970 the US Department of Transport demanded extra visibility over the bonnet / hood of all cars and so all post 1970 model year Mercedes 280 SE’s received a lower grill than in previous years. The Low Grill 280 SE Cabriolet above is one of just 237 built in 1970.

Capable of reaching 60 mph in six seconds and covering the quarter mile in just 14.4 seconds the Ford Torino GT introduced in 1970 could be ordered with sports deck, hideaway head lamps and reflective side stripes, just like the one seen above.

The English Corvette as the Triumph TR8 was known was manufactured 1978 to 1982. This one would appear to be one one of the 2400 dropheads built between 1980 and 1982.

The Panoz Esperante can be ordered in GT, GTLM and GTS specs with an after market JRD upgrade available if you need the speed and have the budget to satiate it. The car above is a 2005 model is the first of 80 Supercharged GTLM models. Amongst Wild Bills other vehicles are an amphibious Amphicar and Messerschmitt Kabinen Roller !

And so it’s time to thank Geoffrey one the last time this year for his fabulous Concours d’Elegance contributions to GALPOT this year, there will of course be further contributions about individual vehicles, and hope that his Jaguar stays safe over the off season in anticipation of the 2013 California Concours d’Elegance season.

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

PS Since writing this Geoffrey has informed me that the unidentified car that looks like a cross between a Triumph and a Berkeley is a 1956 FIAT 1200 TV Spider. We live and we learn ! Thanks again to Geoffrey.

Cum On Feel The Noize – Donington Park Test Day

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When Ted Walker told me about the possibility of a 1939 Mercedes Benz 154 Grand Prix racer appearing for a test day at Donington Park a couple of weeks ago my ears just knew I had to be there to hear it.

At 6 am (ish) I picked up GALPOT contributer Tim and headed up to Donington Park and headed for the Hall & Hall pit where a mouth watering selection of cars was on display including this 1982 Matra V12 powered Ligier JS17 Grand Prix car.

Next to and in front of the JS17 were not one but two 1973 World Sports Car Championship winning Matra 670 C’s powered by similarly awesome sounding V12’s !

As we waited in the pits for the Gentleman from Crosthwaite and Gardiner to prepare the W154 for an engine warm up this Lola T70 Mk 3 Coupe rumbled down pit road to wet our appetites.

After a five minute warm up the plugs on the W154 were changed and one lucky Rob Hall jumped out of his Matra and into the Benz. The car sounded great although it was anything but a smooth test as first a recalcitrant motor had to be cured and then a water leak from the radiator brought and end to proceedings. While it was running cleanly the ear splitting sound of the 476hp 3 litre / 183 cui two stage super charged V12 was music to the ears !

As the test day progressed Tim and I took a wolk around the track which I had not seen, despite several trips to the Donington Museum, since the early 1990’s. Since my last visit the gravel traps have substantially increased in size and safety fences have increased in height. Above Rob Hall charges down the Craner Curves pursued by a Porsche GT3.

One of the many advantages of traveling with Tim is that he has breath taking memory for motor racing details, he has won several prestigious motor racing knowledge awards, during the Test day he pointed out that the arch in the Folly above was part of the pre war Grand Prix circuit through which the likes of the Mercedes Benz W154 along with Alfa Romeo’s, Auto Unions and ERA’s once raced in anger !

The works Gulf Prodrive Aston Martin team had three V8 Vantages present the #97 above, seen exiting Coppice, appeared to be the 2012 Le Mans entry driven by Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner which finished 19th overall and 3rd in class behind to Ferrari 458 Italia’s. The distinctive deep thump of these V8’s made it easy to tell where they were on the track even when they were not in view.

When we got back to the pits we found Terry Durdin’s 1972 Formula Ford Crosslé 25F being prepared for an afternoon’s run.

Another rumbling monster with a Le Mans history was this Sunbeam Tiger Coupé, one of two built by Lister for the Rootes Groups 1964 Le Mans challenge. Keith Ballisat and Claude Dubois qualified 34th for the endurance classic but both cars, powered by Ford 4,2 litre / 260 cui motors failed to finish due to engine failure.

There were two Ferrari’s present a 360 and this F430 driven by Sam Smeeth.

Following in the footsteps of Danica Patrick is the ambitious Laura Tillet who has stepped up to Formula Renault this year. Here her Fortec run Tatuus FR2000 is being prepared for a last minute run before the track closed at 5pm.

We did not time all the cars but thought the 2 litre / 122 cui BMW powered Ralt RT1 Formula 2 car of Philip Harper was amongst the quickest on the track. Ted Walker told us that Philip was running laps in the 1 min 02 second bracket. Tim and I reckoned Philips time would have seen him challenging James Hunt and Mario Andretti for second or third place at the very first meeting held at Donington Park the Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy in 1979. To be fair the 3 litre / 183 cui cars of Hunt and Andretti had a much slower chicane to negotiate than Philip did.

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

43rd Wedding Anniversary – Dana Point Concours d’Elegance

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Such is the inclement weather here at GALPOT Towers that when my landlady asked for a theme for her 50th Birthday Party I had no hesitation when I suggested having a Diving Suit Party, dry wit after all is an Englishman’s stock in trade, so it’s always a pleasure to receive photo’s from Geoffrey Horton’s adventures in the sunny world of the California Concours d’Elegance scene.

Above is Dana Point where Geoffrey and his wife Gayle spent the weekend celebrating their 43rd Anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

During their stay they entered their Jaguar XK140 FHC SE in the Concours d’Elegance in which this 8 litre / 488 cui 1924 Bentley Hawkeye Special was also taking part.

Among the Mercedes Benz vehicles entered was this 25 hp rear engined 1935 130 H Cabrio,

and class winning 1937 540K W24 Roadster with up to 180 supercharged hp capable of reaching 110 mph.

Marginally more modest from 1937 was this 320 Cabriolet B W124 similar to the four door type used as German military staff cars in films including The Great Escape, The Longest Day, The Train and Schindler’s List.

The Mercedes Benz 230S W153 above was developed for taking part in trials and rallies, hence the unusual bumpers which feature front and rear designed for co drivers to stand on should a redistribution of weight be required to aid traction or steering. Only 52 of these cars were ever built.

Leaping into the post ’39-’45 War era I believe this 1953 Kurtis 500M has appeared in a previous GALPOT post, I find it’s chunky styling even more appealing from the rear.

Like wise an Arnolt Bristol has appeared on these pages before, the green example above is from the final 1959 year of production which totaled just 200.

Only three Chevrolet Corvette Italia’s were built in 1959 with coachwork by Scaglietti in Italy. The idea for the car was born out an expensive to replace Ferrari crankshaft required by Gary Laughlin who turned to Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby to help in realise an exotic hand built car with affordable and reliable mechanical components. The example, above, owned by the Peterson Automotive Museum is the only one of the three built with a manual transmission.

Not for the first time this 1934 Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, from the Mullin Automotive Museum, won the best in show award, it won at Pebble Beach last year too ! Among it’s novel features are a radial engine as used more commonly in aircraft, and a pneumatically operated retractable roof.

Finally I hope you will join me in congratulating Geoffrey and Gayle not only on their 43rd wedding anniversary but also on winning their class at the Dana Point Concours d’Elegance with the faithful Jaguar XK140 FHC SE that has been a part of their lives for 26 years.

My thanks to Geoffrey for his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “43rd Wedding Anniversary” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Double Twelve – Brooklands

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Last Sunday I was spoiled for choice of interesting events to attend and opted for going to Brooklands where the Double Twelve event was billed as the biggest motoring competition held at the World’s oldest circuit since 1939. Unfortunately I missed the speed trials which were held on Saturday but I did catch the Driving Concours on Sunday.

As ever, when I visit Brooklands,I probably learned more on Sunday than I had forgotten in a life time. Among many cars I had either never seen let alone heard of was this Hupmobile Eight in the car park.

This ALFA Romeo, looks like a anorexic “Montreal” but in fact is a 1968 “1750 Berlinetta” a road registered prototype driven here by Corrado Lopresto, one of several ALFA Romeo Prototypes present and one of numerous cars that had been brought over from Italy for the Double 12.

A Bristol powered AC Greyound cost 25% more than a Shelby American Cobra when it was manufactured, this 1963 example is one of 82 built between 1958 and 1964 and features a sunroof fitted new by the Allard Motor Company.

Martin Tinsley driving the 1932 2 litre Lagonda, above, demonstrates it’s impressive turning circle on one of the driving tests.

Another vehicle that had come all the way from Italy was the Mercedes 230, above, driven by Massimo Delbo who won the Mercedes Benz Pre and Post War Sports and Touring Cars class of the Driving Concours.

Looks like a Willy’s JEEP from the good ol’ USA and was billed as a WWII Jeep, but in fact this M201 was built under license by Hotchkiss Brandt in 1957 for a contract from the French Military. If you would like to own this vehicle it is the prize in a Raffle organised by the War and Peace Show more details on this link. I now have tickets to win a Morgan, a Triumph and a JEEP, one day I just have to get lucky !

The first time I took a photo of Les Buck’s Lotus 61 it was tipping down at Prescott the photo was so blurry all I could make out was that the car was yellow and green. Les told me he plans to be out at Prescott today so weather permitting I’ll have a second crack at getting a photo of the car in action.

With my recent run of Tuesday MG blogs it was a thrill and a surprise to stumble across the oldest MG known to exist this MG Super Sports dates back to 8th January 1925 and during the ’39-’45 war was converted to a hay-mower !

Restricted to a top speed of 15 mph, in order not to be categorised as a motor vehicle on British roads, the Sinclair C5 was a hybrid powered by an electric motor or pedal power. Despite being launched with the aid of Stirling Moss, in 1985, it was the object of much derision with a lamentable performance climbing hills. I suspect this model may have a turbo conversion with 24v electrics because it effortlessly whistled up the Test Hill without the aid of pedal power and appeared to be traveling well over 15 mph.

At the other end of power spectrum was the Rolls Royce Merlin / Meteor powered 27 litre / 1650 cui Handlye Special, built and driven by Robin Beech, which by virtue of laying a single 20 yard black stripe at the bottom of the Test Hill got my vote for the “Gettin’ a li’l Psycho on Tyres” award !

The ‘Deutsch Bonnet’ DB HBR5 Coupé belonging to Derek Fritz came third in it’s class of the Driving Concours event a car I shall cover in greater detail in a future Wednesday Continental Curiosity blog.

Overall winner of the Driving Concours was Andrew Hall in the 1935 Fraser Nash TT Replica, not to be confused with being a replica of a 1935 car, Andrew can be seen in the passenger seat receiving the trophy a Brooklands Screen mounted on hefty chunck of the Brooklands Track.

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