Tag Archives: Bristol

Last British 2 Seat MG – MG TF

When MG Rover face lifted the mid engined MG F sports car in 2002 they gave it the same TF name as last seen on the 1955 MG TF Midget. Little did they know at the time that this would become the last new British 2 seat MG to reach market.

Many of the face lift details were carried over from the MG TF XPower 500 Concept Car first seen at Le Mans in 2001.

Despite it’s overall styling which dated back to 1995 the MG TF matched it’s rivals from Mazda (MX5) and Toyota (MR2) in handling, performance and held it’s own in the domestic sales league.

However the TF’s mid mounted Rover K series motor was subject to numerous head gasket failures until a new multi layered item was designed which cured this particular issue.

Production of MG TF’s ceased when Rover MG went bankrupt in 2005 but restarted in the UK from Chinese supplied Complete Kockdown Kits (CKD) in 2008 after new owners Nanjing had transferred all the TF production assets to China. 906 CKD TF’s were built before production ceased for good in 2011.

Thanks for this “Last British 2 Seat MG” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Not A Bolt On – Lotus Turbo Esprit Type 82

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In 1979 Monaco based oil traders Essex Petrolium joined Martini as sponsors of the Team Lotus Formula One team, something that Martini were not too thrilled with as they decided not to pursue there sponsorship for a second year. For 1980 Essex became the teams primary sponsor which carried over into Lotus production car operations with the launch, at the Royal Albert Hall, of the Lotus Turbo Esprit as a limited edition Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit of which just 100 were built in 1980 and 1981.

Unlike the single carburetor bolt on turbo that Lotus dealers Bell & Colvill had been offering customers since 1978 the official Lotus Turbo Esprit was a substantial upgrade of the normally aspirated Lotus Esprit Type 79, which included a new chassis with a wider engine bay, new front suspension derived from the latest Lotus Elite, new rear suspension and a new 210 hp type 910 development of the 4 cylinder Type 907 motor with twin carburetors and Garrett T3 Turbocharger.

After the production run of 100 Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit’s had been completed a variation of the originals blue red and silver colour scheme was offered with red leather interior like the one seen above in the Paddock at Silverstone which features rare three piece Compomotive wheels as used by James Bond in the 1981 film “For Your Eyes Only“.

Most Turbo Esprit’s were supplied with one piece BBS wheels. The Turbo Esprit body work is differentiated from earlier Giorgetto Giugiaro designed Esprit body by the addition of a front below the bumper spoiler and side “skirts” with NACA air ducts for the engine bay.

The significance of the wider engine bay of the Turbo Esprit’s new chassis would not become clear until the launch of the V8 Esprit which although initially developed alongside it’s turbo sibling did not come to market until 1996 having been delayed by numerous other projects including Colin Chapman’s involvement with De Lorean.

Although well received by the press the Turbo Esprit failed to gain a substantial foot hold anticipated in the USA and the 846 examples built between 1980 and 1984 marked the beginning of a steady decline in the fortunes of Lotus Cars.

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

Coffee, Croissant & Cars #7 – Avenue Drivers Club

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The festive spirit was gathering pace, at Queen Square, Bristol yesterday, no sooner had I arrived and I was being proffered charity mince pies ! Extremely delicious they were too !

MG NA Magnette, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

Among the many visitors to the Avenue Drivers Club meeting was what appears to be a 1934 MG K1 one of it’s club badges indicates that it may have spent some time in South Africa. 14 01 13 Further investigation has revealed this car is actually an NA Magnette.

The difference between a 1952 Riley RMA and 1952 Riley RME is indicated externally by the larger rear window of the later model which leads me to conclude the model seen here is the RMA.

Appearing to have come past just for a cruise around the block was this 1958 Ford Thunderbird.

These two Austin Healey Sprites were built in 1960 on the left and 1958 on the right.

The owner of this Ford Consul has only had the car for a couple of weeks, he told me he had owned many Mini’s before buying the four cylinder Ford.

This 1966 Morris 1800 has attended many of the same show’s I have this year, it was bought and prepared for a local classic Rally on a very small budget, running to hundreds rather than thousands of pounds.

One of the first cars to offer seeing round corner capability was the 1968 version of the Citroen DS that was first seen in 1955. This DS19 was built in 1972.

Another classic from 1972 was this Hillman Avenger fitted with what appear to be period correct aftermarket Cosmic alloy wheels.

Car of the day was this 1972 Crayford Ford Capri GT 3000, built in a period when Ford did not have time to satisfy a demand for convertible versions of it’s cars. Crayford took on the job fitting it with a white interior and walnut veneer.

When production of the Ford Capri ended in 1986 Ford left the massed produced Coupé market to the likes of Toyota and their Supra models the vehicles above were manufactured in 1989 on the left and 1992 on the right.

In 1990 I went to Connecticut for a week to attend a friends wedding, while I was there I hired a Ford Thunderbird similar to this 1992 example, I could not believe how big it was for a two door, at one point I found the car could carry 4 adults and two small children with a modicum of comfort from one side of town to the other !

Above another reminder that the season of Goodwill is upon us took the form of this Morris Marina Estate which dates from circa 1973.

Finding out about the Avenue Drivers Club has been one of this years simple joys for me, what could be easier or more fun than rolling 5 mins down a steep hill and finding yourself having a couple of hours of fun looking at some of the huge variety of veteran, vintage and classic cars that come from your environs and enjoying a Coffee & Croissant with some of the owners ? My thanks and seasons greetings to everyone who has brought their cars along. Next meeting January 13th 2013 !

Thanks for joining me on this “Coffee, Croissant & Cars #7″ of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Above another reminder the

Pick Up Man – Hillman Imp Super Pick Up

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Bob has a passion for Hillman Imps which can be traced back to learning to drive one. Since then he has owned many more and become something of an expert on the model.

Living out in the country not far from Bristol he has need of an all purpose run around and one day Bob had the good fortune to be in his autocross racer friend Philip’s garage when Philip was poking holes with a screw driver through an Imp he had just acquired.

Philip agreed to give the Imp to Bob for nothing and before Philip could change his mind Bob got the car home and chopped the roof off with an angle grinder and then strategically added some steel to maintain structural rigidity.

He then matched up the C pillars and tailgate with the remaining roof behind the door frame which allowed the seats, rescued from a Peugeot 205 GTi, to be moved all the way back on their runners.

Bob has made a few mechanical improvements to the car including removing the original transverse mounted radiator and installing one from a Nissan Micra longitudinally which improves cooling of the alloy engine.

With five years on and off work completed and expenses that “didn’t run in to thousands” Bob took his Imp Pick Up to an Imp Club meeting for it’s first run and came home with second place prize in the modified class.

Best of all his wife finds the pick up far more comfortable than his other car, a Sunbeam Imp but with out the Peugeot seats. Which all goes to show as Joe Diffie observed there is something women like about a pick up man.

Thanks for joining me on this “Pick Up Man” edition of “Getting a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to came 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 !

Implements Of Destrution Not Included – Volkswagen Sharan

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A couple of months ago I took the land ladies Volkswagen Passat to Heritage Volkswagen of Bristol for an injector recall and was given a loan car for the duration of the repairs.

Much to my amusement the car I was loaned was the Service Managers Sharan, I was expecting a Golf, Polo or even an UP!, but no my Service Advisor pulled up in this huge vehicle which despite it’s gothic shade put a huge smile upon my face.

I was only in the Sharan for about 2 seconds before Arlo Guthries magnus opus on the hazards of being a litter bug in Stockbridge, Massachusetts entered my head, in the form of an ear worm which remained for much of the rest of the day, that reminded me that this Sharan is the 2012 successor to some of the more refined VW Type 2 / Transporter micro buses of yore, which these days are referred to as MPV’s.

Rather than head straight home to resume blogging I decided to go with the flow of my lightened mind and ended up making a twenty mile detour around Bristol up the M32, West along the M4, south along the M5 and back to Bristol along a circuitous route made of windy lanes I found out about during a navigation exercise.

I had an OMG moment when I realised just how much I was enjoying myself in an MPV ! Sure it was not performance motoring but it was a simple joy rolling along the back roads in this huge vehicle, never mind it had enough options and features you could probably run a successful military campaign from the 5 seats in the back with all the power points and connectivity features provided.

Anyone who has run an old Type 2 or Transporter has probably at some time come across troublesome sliding doors closing which after 20 years had issues with the lock on the rear of the door failing to catch when a 2 cent clip came adrift of the door frame, not a worry on this Sharan the sliders shut with a reassuring “job done” clunk click.

The Sharan name is a derivative of a Persian word meaning Carrier of Kings which I guess puts the paintwork in a slightly different light.

For those not familiar with “Alice’s Restaurant” its the name of a song “not the restaurant” about how Arlo Guthrie and his friends thought it would be a friendly gesture to clear out Alices dwelling, an old church house, by loading up half a ton of garbage with shovels and rakes and “implements of destruction” into a red VW microbus and taking it down to the city dump. Unfortunately the dump was closed for Thanksgiving which is how Arlo became a litter bug but your best off finding out all about this case of blind American justice on this link.

Unfortunately shovels and rakes and implements of destruction do not come included with the Sharan but you can easily fit half a ‘short’ ton of garbage in the back. I didn’t have any garbage to take to the city dump which happened to be on the way back to Heritage Volkswagen of Bristol so I thought it would be a friendly gesture to ask my neighbors if they had anything that needed taking away and sure enough they produced a couple of bags of rubble and large pieces of wood which I happily dropped off on the way when I took the Sharan back. Fortunately the dump was not closed for Thanksgiving so I will not be getting arrested for littering.

Wishing all my friends in North America a Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks for joining me on this “Implements Of Destruction Not Included” 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 Footman James Classic Motor Show – NEC Birmingham

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Thanks to the generosity of Ted Walker I found myself making a trip to the National Exhibition Centre at Birmingham at the weekend for The Footman James Classic Motor Show, billed as ‘The place to share your passion for cars”, today’s blog features a random selection of some of the 1500 motor vehicles that were on display.

On the Daimler SP250 Owners Club stand was this unique 1960 AHC Daimler SP250 was rebodied by King & Taylor so that it could be used for a prototype electro hydraulic operated rigid roof that was patented by Anthony H Croucher in 1964.

After a six year hiatus in car production Lea Francis prepared the Lynx Roadster in 6 months using a chassis which dated back to the 1948 14hp Sports, a Ford Zephyr Mk II 6 cylinder motor with new rack and pinion steering and disc brakes in time for the 1960 Earls Court Motor Show. Seen on the Lea Francis Owners Club stand is the 2nd car of three built, which appeared on the Earls Court stand in this colour but sans motor. No orders for the ‘new’ car were taken and the Company went into receivership in 1963.

Whilst I have never been a motor cycle man I do hope at some time in my life I might get to ride a Triton like this 1959 750 example, on a suitable piece of open track, these café racer specials combine a Norton frame said to be the best handling at the time, with a Triumph twin motor said to be amongst the most reliable at the time.

What do Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari have in common ? These names all appear on agricultural vehicles. Here on the Lamborghini Club UK stand is a 1960 Lamborghini 2241 R.

The Peel P50 was designed to take carry one person and a brief case to work, indeed a 6′ 5″ TV presenter once did exactly that droving through office corridors and driving into a lift to reach his office, in the worlds smallest production car a record it has held since 1962. I am not sure if the one seen here is a replica, one of the new one built since 2011 or one of the 27 known survivors from the original batch of 50 built on the Isle of Man, but it was used earlier this year for a chocolate TV advertisement.

The de Tomaso Guará was the last project brought to fruition by founder Alejandro de Tomaso. Between 1993 and 2004 around 50 are thought to have been built the one seen here on the de Tomaso Drivers Club stand being one of no more than 12 Barchetta’s.

Unfortunately when I was visiting the show was still not open to the public so many of the stands were unmanned so I did not find out anything about this Bubble Top Hot Road on the National Street Rod Association stand. If you know anything about the bubble top please chime in below.

A couple of weeks I made my first ever e-bay bid for a Wartburg 353, albeit for a 1/32 scale slot car racer. Seeing the real thing I regret not being more experienced at the time, the slot car went for just £8.00. This particular model on the Wartburg Trabant IFA Club stand started out life as a taxi in East Germany and has been restored to original colour and condition.

Perhaps the ultimate in bling is this 1931 Cadiallac 355 on the American Auto Club North West stand, according to the description it is covered in 23.5 carat gold leaf, has a mink over carpet, and 7 diamonds in each wheel ! The car spent many years in a German motor museum where it is described as having been the property of the pianist Liberace, who was very popular in Germany, however no one is able to verify the veracity of the claim but on the other hand who else could possibly have anything approaching such chintzy taste in motor vehicles ? If this floats your boat the car was for sale.

Several rare and storied Sunbeam Tigers were on the Sunbeam Tiger Owners Club stand, the one seen here is one of only 10 Right Hand Drive Mk II models built, the first 6 went to police traffic enforcement agencies and four more went to dealers, this one went to the Hatfield Rootes Group dealers W Waters & Sons and remained in the family until 2009.

This 1958 Elva Mk III is usually on view in The Technology Collection at the Bexhill Museum. Bexhill on Sea has a ‘disputed’ claim to being the birth place of British Motor Racing and was home to Elva until the company moved to bigger premises in Hastings where I believe this Mk III would have been built.

This March 75A Formula 5000 has gone through many changes the original ’75 Formula 2 chassis tub was swapped for a ’76 Formula 1 chassis tub in 1977, the engine was originally a 3.4 litre / 207 cui Ford GAA V6 before it got swapped for a 3.0 litre /183 cui Ford DFV V8 and then a 5 litre / 305 cui Repco V8 it has won races driven by yet to be World Champion Alan Jones in ’75, Damien Magee in ’76, Guy Edwards in ’77 and to sprint victories Terry Smith Brighton and on the Isle of Man in ’79 and ’82 respectively. 75A/1 is now fitted with an original spec Ford GAA V6 motor and the March 761 formula 1 chassis tub from it’s second 1977 incarnation.

On the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club stand there were several cut away items on display including this Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II.

This 1987 Ford P100, on The Mk III Cortina Owners Club stand, would originally have carried a Ford Sierra front end but it has been modified to carry older Cortina Mark III wings and bonnet and nose. It is fitted with a Ford Cologne 2.9 litre / 176 cui V6.

Austin’s Allegro replaced the various badge engineered ADO16s in 1973 with its curiously for the time rounded styling and a novelty ‘quartic’ steering wheel that was subject of much period derision. The ‘quartic’ steering wheel was quickly and quietly dropped. In 1975 Series 2 Allegros, like the 1977 HL seen here were introduced. I was recently at a talk given by Mike Nicholson who was a works British Leyland co driver who took part in the 1975 RAC Rally with Pat Ryan and he reckoned reliability issues aside it was not a bad car. The car above seen on the Allegro Club International stand was bought for parts in 2007 and when it was realised the body was still solid it was repaired and sold by the current owner to friend, requiring further repair the current owner bought it back fixed it up and took it on last years Rat Rod Rally2Romania, to find out what happens next you will have to read the Allegro Club International newsletter, Quartic.

On the Ford Sidevalve Owners Club stand I found a manufacturer I have never heard of. Shirleys were built at the Monks Path Garage at Shilrley, Solihull outside Birmingham. Originally these GRP bodies were known as Kenmars. This Mark II with revised nose was purchased as a body believed never to have been fitted to a chassis in 2007, it now sits atop 1949 Ford Anglia chassis and running gear. Production of Shirleys came to a halt in 1962.

Silverstone Classic were represented by this 2012 Volkswagen Type 2 (T2c) production of which will be coming to a halt in Brazil next year.

On the MotorSport Magazine stand I found this Connaught Type A Formula 2 car, I’m not sure of it’s history but it will give me something to work on. If you know the history of this car please chime in below.

Finally on the Classic of the Year stand this Bristol 411 was on display voting is closed and the winner will be announced on November 21st. The Bristol was bought and restored by the present owner in time for him to take it to Amsterdam where he celebrated his 50th Birthday.

My thanks again to Ted Walker of Ferret Photographic for facilitating today’s blog.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Footman James Classic Motor Show” 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: Bristol

Last British 2 Seat MG – MG TF

Not A Bolt On – Lotus Turbo Esprit Type 82

Coffee, Croissant & Cars #7 – Avenue Drivers Club

Pick Up Man – Hillman Imp Super Pick Up

Royal Enfield Transporter – Volvo 740 GL Pick Up

Implements Of Destrution Not Included – Volkswagen Sharan

The Footman James Classic Motor Show – NEC Birmingham