Tag Archives: Buchanan

Hemispherical FirePower – Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe Newport

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The advantages of a hemispherical cylinder head are that it makes an efficient combustion chamber with minimal heat loss to the cylinder head, however there are numerous difficulties to be overcome to make such a head reliable and commercially viable due to the complexity of the cross flow valve gear, the need for domed piston crowns to attain the necessary compression ratio and the need for high octane fuel to prevent inefficient and destructive detonation in the combustion chamber.

Chrysler engineers began developing hemispherical combustion chambers in 1940 for an inverted V16 that powered a prototype for the P.47H Tunderbolt and was considered for the XP.60C, but the motor was so delayed it never went into production.

Later Chrysler also worked on a hemi head design with Continental for the 810hp Continental AV-1790-5B V12, air-cooled twin-turbo gasoline engine that powered the M47 Patton Tank which was manufactured from 1951 to 1953.

Chrysler New Yorker, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

In 1951 Chrysler introduced it’s first FirePower V8’s with hemispherical heads on the New Yorker and Imperial models and as an option for the Saratoga.

Bill Sterling and Robert H. Sandidge drove a Hemi powered Saratoga to a third place finish in the 1951 Carrera Panamericana finishing behind two Ferrari 212 Inters, less than 16 mins behind the winning car driven by Piero Taruffi and Luigi Chinetti.

Similarly Belgian Paul Frére drove Hemi powered Saratogas’s to class wins at the Mille Miglia and Spa 24 Hour races, Lee Petty won the first of his three NASCAR titles in 1954 scoring seven victories in Hemi powered Chryslers and Dodges.

Chrysler New Yorker, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

The grill on today’s featured car suggests that it is a Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe Newport built for the 1954 model year which was fitted with a 235 hp version of the Hemi that was good for a theoretical top speed of 97 mph.

New Yorkers appeared on the Carrera Panamericana in 1951,’52 and ’53 but were not as successful as the Saratoga, Reginald McFee scored the models best result a 12th place finish in 1952.

Today’s featured New Yorker was driven on the 2011 Carrera Panamericana by David Buchanan and New York auto engineer Raffi Najjarian dropping out on day 2, I believe they finished third in class with the same car in the 2015 edition of the event.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs taken at Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance in 2011.

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

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Shortened, Channeled and Tubbed – Studebaker Champ

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This month I’m taking a break from Maserati Monday’s to return to a short run of pick up Monday’s featuring some interesting highly modified pick up’s.

A couple of weeks ago Johnny “Wicked in Suede” Martinez posted today’s first photo taken by his wife Linda, of himself and his friend Barry Buchanan standing next to Barry’s ’62 Studebaker Champ Pro Street Rod, my first excited reaction was to find out more about it and to see if I could get some more photo’s for today’s blog.

Studebaker, Champ, California,

The Studebaker Champ was a pickup built between 1960 and 1964 with a cab based on the Lark compact and is probably most notable for having a novel, for the time, sliding window at the back of the cab.

Studebaker, Champ, Dodge 383, California,

Early champs had a choice of motors including; a 170 cui flathead 6 the design of which dated back to 1939, 259 cui V8 or 289 V8, sitting in front of the recessed firewall of Barry’s ’62 Champ is a ’67 Dodge Coronet big block 383 good for an easy 335hp in unmodified form when it was manufactured.

Studebaker, Champ, California,

Modifications to this Champ include lowering the body on the chassis by 4″ a process known as “channeling”, it has also been “tubbed” meaning that large interior wheel arches have been welded in to accommodate the 295/50/15 rear BF Goodrich tyres which are fitted to American Racing 5 spoke rims.

Studebaker, Champ, California,

The Coronet 383 is fitted a an A727 transmission which I believe is better known as Chrysler TorqueFlite the original push button variations of which were first seen in 1956, the custom interior easily accommodates Barry’s 6′ 4″ frame.

Studebaker, Champ, California,

Barry has shortened the pick up bed, which houses the 12 gallon fuel tank, by 18 inches, mounted on the back of the bed is a spoiler sourced from a Pontiac Fiero .

Studebaker, Champ, California,

The rear axle is a Ford 9″ which would orginally have been used in; Fairlane, Mustang, Falcon, Torino, F100 and F150 applications.

Studebaker, Champ, California,

Linked here is a youtube clip of Barry talking about his Champ and some wonderful footage of him driving it on a California cruise.

My thanks to Barry and his girlfriend Kathy Junge who also worked on the Champ and took all but the first of today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Shortened, Channeled and Tubbed” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a vehicle with an aero engine that had a reputation for catching fire when in operation. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Why does the sight of a little Mini Moke make every body rock ?

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Today’s blog is dedicated to Rowdy Mini Moke fan club member ‘Archidude‘ of Brevard NC, who sent me a link to this interesting Mini Moke video.

Designed as a vehicle with military applications in mind the Mini Moke made use of BMC Mini mini parts bin, including the engine, drive train and 10″ wheels which rendered the vehicle useless for military off road purposes because the Moke did not have much ground clearance.

However the vehicle produced between 1964 – 1993 did find a niche as a recreational vehicle in the sunny climate of many former British Colonies and was the first vehicle ever used on Pitcairn Islands, of HMS Bounty Fame, becoming the remotest vehicle on earth.

Correction Edited 29 09 19 The above vehicle is an AMC Andersen Cub not a Moke. Thanks to Dean and every one at www.moke.org who helped me correct this error.

Of the 50,000, Mokes made in Britain, Australia, and Portugal some have a competition history which includes Hans Tholstrup and John Crawford who nursed their Moke from London to Sydney in the 1977 Marathon and most unlikely of all Charlie Smith and Barry Seaton who gallantly jumped in their Moke to take on a field of Ford GT40’s and Ferrari 250 LM’s including winner Andy Buchanan,seen here , co driven by none other than Jacky Stewart at Surfers Paradise in 1966.

Finally Mini Mokes were used as Taxi’s in the surreal television series the Prisoner, a catch phrase of which was; Be Seeing You !

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