Tag Archives: Bristol

43rd Wedding Anniversary – Dana Point Concours d’Elegance

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 !

More Strength & Softer Springs – MG 18/80 Six Saloon Mk II

Champagne Super Nova – Bristol Motor Club Family Clubs Day

When is a Ferrari a FIAT ? – FIAT Dino Spider

1 Reply

For 1966 the second tier open wheel Formula 2 regulations called for an engine size of up to 2 litres / 122 cui with a maximum of 6 cylinders based on a stock block of which at least 5,000 copies had been manufactured.

Ferrari had an engine of the requisite size and number of cylinders, known as the Dino V6 which had been evolving through sports car and formula one racing since 1957 to win the 1958 and 1961 World Drivers Championships and even the 1965 European Hillclimb Championship.

However Ferrari had not come close to manufacturing 5000 of any model at the time and so a deal was struck with FIAT to manufacture the FIAT Dino in sufficient quantities to meet the 5000 unit regulation required for Formula 2 homologation. In 1966 the FIAT Dino was launched as an open top spider with bodywork by Pininfarina, using a 158 hp 2 litre / 122 cui Dino V6 to power it. A coupé version was launched in 1967. Interestingly FIAT insisted on producing the Dino V6 engines in Turin to ensure there were no breaks in the supply, which was against plans envisaged by Enzo Ferrari who hoped to build the engines at Maranello.

The 1967 model, seen here at last years Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival, has belonged to the same owner since 1979, it’s motor was rebuilt in 2007 and according to it’s owner last year it had it’s distributor rebuilt and water pump replaced. Production of the 2 litre FIAT Dino was halted in 1969 and replaced by a larger variation which I’ll be featuring in two weeks.

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

Dick Mayo Sprint – Castle Combe

Double Twelve – Brooklands

1 Reply

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 !

Fritz’s Kabinenroller – Messerschmitt KR200

3 Replies

Unlike Bristol Aeroplane Company which chose to prepare for and switch from aircraft production to car production after the ’39-’45 war Messerschmitt was temporarily banned from aircraft production after the cessation of hostilities and had little choice but to switch to automobile manufacture in order to survive.

In 1952 Fritz Fend showed Messerschmitt his idea for a three wheeled motor scooter, Kabinenroller, based on the design of an earlier invalid vehicle which found a market among non invalids desperate for cheap transport alike.

The KR175 was produced from 1952 to 1955 when it was substantially redesigned around the original frame.

The new KR200 as seen here at the Bristol Classic Car Show featured cut outs in the wheel wings / fenders.

Note this car was driven to Regensburg in 1999 where the designer Fritz Fend signed the dash.

Other improvements on the KR200 included improved canopy design, larger wheels and suspension improvements attributed to the introduction of hydraulic shock absorbers.

The larger 10 hp 200 cc / 12.2 cui 2 stroke motor gave the KR200 a top speed of 56 mph and because it was a two stroke it could be reversed by pressing a button which reversed the direction in which the motor spun.

To prove the viability of the KR200 a single seat low drag body version was taken to the Hockenheimring in 1955 where it set 22 international class records including an average speed of 64 mph for 24 hours.

The KR200 was a huge success such that when Messerschmitt resumed aircraft manufacturing in 1956 Fend was allowed to purchase the assets needed to carry on with car production and carry on using the Messerschmitt brand name.

In all 40,000 KR200’s were manufactured up until 1964 including a KR201 roadster. A 4 wheel version was also developed along with a variety of 3 wheel utility vehicles.

Fritz Fend is also credited with inventing the alarm system that goes off when one pulls the key out of the ignition of a vehicle after one forgets to turn the light off.

Thanks for joining me on this “Fritz’s Kaninenroller” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Swinger that suffered repeated damage when being parked in the Bay area. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring