Tag Archives: Classic

Indy Winning Roadster Heritage – Kurtis 500 S

Frank Kuretich was born in the Crested Butte a Colorado mining village to Croation immigrants in 1908. At six Frank started helping in his Dads blacksmith shop, in Sunnyside Utah, fixing horse shoes and wagons and automobiles as they began to populate the neighbourhood.

The economic instability of the times saw Franks family move to California where his Dad took a job with Don Lee Coach & Body Works in 1922. Standing over 6 feet tall at 14 years old Frank claimed to be 18 years old and landed a job as a helper to his father customising cars for Hollywood stars where his and his fathers names were anglicised to Kurtis by the personnel dept.

While at Don Lee’s Frank started an apprenticeship at seventeen and such was his skill that he swiftly rose to become manager working in the shop for a short time with designer Harley Earl before the latter left for General Motors in 1927. After work hours Frank engaged in building numerous hot rods and special and eventually started working on midget racers with Don Lee’s son Tommy building the bodies.

In 1937 Frank went to work for the Hollywood Trailer company where he learned to how the work tubing to build vehicle frames and by 1938 Frank had set up his own shop to build “virtually unbeatable” midgets of which he would build over 1000 supplied either complete or as kits.

During the 1950’s Frank also built 120 champ cars for the Indy 500, building 5 winners. During this time Frank also built several road cars selling the design for on which became the Muntz Jet. The 500S, as seen in todays photographs at last years Silverstone Classic, along with the fully enclosed body 500KK and 500M models are all based on the 1953 Roadster Frame and suspension as used by Bill Vukovich to win the Indianapolis 500 that year.

The 500S could accommodate any motor and transmission available between 1953 and 1955 when it was manufactured. Bill Strope appears to have been one of the more successful exponents on the track with his Mercury powered 500S. Of the 20 – 20 500S known to have been built 14 are known to exist during the 1980’s a further 24 continuation models were built with the approval of Frank Kurtis son Ahren.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘indy Winning Roadster Heritage’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psych on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Beneath The Paint – Ford Capri 3000 GXL Auto

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My heart skipped a beat when I saw this fabulous Ford Capri wearing the colours of the early 1970’s works Ford ‘Cologne’ factory racing team, the last time I recall seeing a road going Capri like this in the flesh was around 1974 !

In 1970 Ford Germany built 50 RS2600 variants of the Capri to satisfy the FIA minimum build racing requirements (also known as homologation), the flared arches on the vehicle seen here at last years Silverstone Classic suggest that this might be on of those fifty specials who’s build quality was so low that they were not fit to be sold for road use.

The fifty homologation RS2600’s featured light weight glass fiber doors, boot and bonnet/hood.

Beneath the flared arches the RS 2600’s were fitted with distinctive gold centered BBS wheels, which became as iconic and synonymous with the 1970’s as Minilites had with the 1960’s.

The homologation RS 2600’s were also fitted with plastic window’s and painted with fewer coats of paint than their road going siblings all in an effort to save weight.

Success came to the works Ford Team managed by Jochen Neerpasch in the form of two European Touring Car Championships for Germans Dieter Glemser in 1971 and Jochen Mass in 1972, although on both occasions Alfa Romeo’s running in the lower Class 2 division secured the manufacturers championships.

Unfortunately despite the paintwork this car does not turn out to be one of the homologation specials at all, they were all left hand drive vehicles, a check of the registration reveals this car started out as a Dagenham (UK) built Capri 3000 GLX Auto in 1972 fitted with a 3 litre / 183 cui ‘Essex’ V6, registration details also suggest that this car is now fitted with a 3.5 litre motor which is probably one of the Buick derived Rover aluminium V8’s which are the most readily available for such conversions in the UK.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Beneath The Paint’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be going Auburn. Don’t forget to come back now !

2011 GALPOT Review #3 – Motoring Events

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This week I am reviewing the GALPOT year 2011, on Monday I looked at some of the Museums I have visited and yesterday I looked at some of the Concours d’Elegance events covered on GALPOT thanks to Geoffrey Horton, today I am reviewing some the motoring events I have attended which includes any gathering short of a full blown racing.

By the end of January cabin fever was setting in and I leaped at the opportunity to go to my first Pistonheads Sunday Service which was convened at the BMW Plant car park just outside Oxford. I am not sure how many people attended but I was pleased to see several Bristol’s including this 405 Drophead.

April sees Bristol host it’s Annual Italian Auto Moto Festival a display of all things Italian on two and four wheels. Despite the presence of a fabulous array of red Friday cars the undoubted star of this years festival for me was the Cobra killing de Tomaso Mangusta.

I managed to make two trips to Silverstone this year the first for the Silverstone Classic Press Day which was a testing session with a veritable armada of Press Corps present. Star of the day was the Hesketh 308B the same chassis that James Hunt drove to Hesketh’s only Grand Prix victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1975.

Tony ‘Giraffe’ Gallagher from The Nostalgia Forum kindly organized a trip to CGA Engineering in Warrington where former Lotus employee Colin Bennett and his sons were workong wonders with racing cars spanning the late 1960’s to the early 1990’s including the Formula 2 spec March 71B chassis above decked out in Vick’s livery in tribute to Ronnie Peterson.

Thanks to the generosity of David Roots from the Bath & West Car Club I received an invitation to attend the Classic and Sports Car Action Day at Castle Combe. A tight schedule meant I focused my attention entirely on the vehicles in the car park including this Hillman Avenger Tiger Replica.

If your a fan of simple joys, it hard to believe that you will not leap at the chance to jump in the dinky little Morgan 3 Wheeler at some point in your life, I saw this one several times during the course of the year at, Silverstone, Goodwood and during several visits to the Morgan factory.

A hectic July weekend saw me pop into the Silverstone Classic for the first of the three days of entertainment, I probably saw more cars in action and photographed more than in any single day in my entire life that Friday. Among the many revelations was this Morgan Triumph SLR which I mistook for some unknown Italian exotica on the day, unfortunately all the action I saw was qualification sessions, I’ll try and make more time for the event in 2012. Many thanks to garyfrogeye amongst many others who helped me out by contacting Mr John Sprinzel who along with the recently departed Chris Lawrence was responsible for this masterpiece of British craftsmanship.

If I had my way every Wednesday I’d be up at the crack of dawn, sometimes earlier, and head 125 miles north to Mallory Park for the finest full English, breakfast, that money can buy and enjoy a veritable pot puree of vehicles being run in and tested around the track. Sadly this year I only made it the twice but it was worth it, where else could I see a vintage Riley being driven flat out next to a spec series Ford Ranger ?

Thanks to another tip from David Roots I made a, very long, diversion on my way from Bristol to the airport to the Haynes International Motor Museum to see the Rare Breeds show. I was not disappointed, I still have many of the vehicles I saw that day to blog about in the coming month. Above is a rotary 3 cylinder motor that tilts to engage the clutch of the Lafitte 5 CV.

Among many firsts in 2011 I managed a visit to the worlds first purpose built motor racing venue, Brooklands which dates to 1907 and sadly fell into disuse in 1939 with the onset of World War 2. I was there for the William Boddy Tribute Meeting to honor a journalist who was in part responsible for realizing my own passion for all things motoring and who did much to help save what is left of the Brooklands track today. One of the highlights of my motoring year was seeing a handful of cars from Brooklands heyday being driven over the crumbling but none the less hallowed concrete.

The day after Brooklands I visited Dyrham Park which used to be a Hill climb venue in the 1960’s where a demonstration of vehicles that were and would have been, entered in the original events took place. Unfortunately today’s safety requirements make it quite impossible for a modern competitive event to take place at Dyrham Park but it was wonderful to see so many cars being driven with a modicum of spirit up the hill.

Unfortunately my hard drive went on tilt after my visits to Brooklands and Dyrham Park so I will not be able to post any further images from these two events.

A couple of weeks ago I was near Manchester for a TNF meeting with my friend Tim who had never been to Oulton Park before, so we made the short diversion from a friends house and found a track day in progress, one of the star vehicles was this 130 hp Simca 1000 which once belonged to Frank Breidenstein – President of ”Simca Heckmotor (rear engine) Deutschland”.

My sincerest thanks to everyone who made these adventures and the blogs that came form them possible, not least Tim who is both a fountain of useful information and a handy map reader.

Thanks for joining me on this events edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me for a review of 2011’s racing action tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Classic Team Lotus – Lotus Climax 21 #933

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As we saw a couple of weeks ago Stirling Moss drove a privately entered Lotus 18 to the Lotus marques first Grand Prix victory in a Lotus 18 in 1960, Moss used the same car to win three more Grand Prix in 1960 and 1961.

It was not until the end of the 1961 season that the works Team Lotus scored their first Grand Prix victory in the season finale at Watkins Glen. Innes Ireland driving a Lotus 21 similar to the one above held off Dan Gurney in Porsche to win the US Grand Prix.

The 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui 4 cylinder Coventry Climax powered Lotus 21 was a development of the Lotus 18 Stirling Moss had used to challenge the dominant Ferrari team with in 1961. Some of the parts of the 21 are interchangeable with the older 18 and some 18’s were run in 18/21 spec.

Ten Lotus 21 chassis were built in 1961 5 were destroyed in period with an 11th replacement chassis being built in 1964.

Dan Collins is seen above at the Goodwood Revival in his Lotus Climax 21 chassis #933 which is entered and maintained by Classic Team Lotus.

My thanks to David McKinnley at The Nostalgia Forum for his background information and Andy Arnold for informing me of the chassis number.

Thanks for joining me on this Classic Team Lotus 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 Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Two Lane Blue Top – Pontiac Le Mans Sport

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When I first saw this car I thought cool a GTO from 1970 similar to the one that starred in Two Lane Black Top.

Then when I started to write this blog I noticed the colour coded front bumper did not look like the low impact Endura urethane safety bumpers found on the 1970 GTO, though these could be deleted from factory orders which were then supplied with chrome bumpers from the Pontiac Le Mans.

I also noticed the missing air scoops on the bonnet which was also standard on the GTO, and so it dawned on me that what we are really looking at is not ‘The Humbler‘ with Vacuum Operated Exhaust (VOE) but a 1970 Pontiac Le Mans with a non standard colour coded front bumper.

This Le Mans model is fitted with a 5.7 litre 350 CUI V8 which despite being the base motor of the Le Mans Sport line up will impress the ladies at the local kebab stand plenty, even without the VOE of it’s illustrious GTO sibling. Bearing in mind it costs around US$ 9.54 for an imperial gallon of fuel or US$ 7.93 for a US Gallon in the UK at the moment just starting this car up must be a severe drain on the finances of all but the extremely brave.

Seen earlier this year at the Classic and Sports Car Action Day held at Castle Combe the owner of this car belongs to the Old Skool Trackers a group of enthusiasts whose future outings are posted on the link.

Thanks for joining me on this “Two Lane Blue Top” 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 Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Weekend Racer – Maserati A6G/54 GT Zagato Coupé

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From 1947 to 1956 Maserati built several series of 2 litre / 122 cui sports cars with 6 cylinder motors for racing and road use.

By 1954 the twin cam six cylinder motor was producing 150 hp and the first of a total of 60 A6GCS/54 models were made available.

The A6GCS/54 models were built with Belinetta, Barchetta and Spyder bodies supplied by either Frua, Ghia, Allemano or Zagato.

There are two variations of the Zagato coupé body on the A6G/54 GT chassis, two vehicles were built with double bubble roofs and 20 were built without.

The 1956 vehicle seen in today’s photographs at Silverstone Classic is thought to be the 7th from the non double bubble production run of 20, it is said to have been delivered to Maserati’s concessionaire in Rome, Gugliemo (Mimmo) Dei.

It is also said that this car was raced by gentleman racer Guiseppe Musso brother of Grand Prix driver Luigi Musso, though I have not been able to establish exactly in which, of the many events Guiseppe competed in, he drove this particular car.

Their was an earlier series of the Maserati A6G/54GT Zagato Coupé, known as the Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato Coupé, though so far as I have been able to ascertain the two models are otherwise as idententical as one might expect from a production run of hand built motor cars except the A6G 2000 is said to have been fitted with a less powerful motor.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Zagato 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 Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Pop Up Swansong – Ferrari 456M

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The Ferrari 456 launched in 1995 was the long awaited V12 powered 2+2 replacement for the Ferrari 412 GT which had been out of production since 1989.

During the intervening 6 years if you wanted a 2+2 Ferrari you had to make do with the mid engine 8 cylinder Mondial 2+2.

Ferrari reentered the front engine rear wheel drive GT market with a V12 that owed nothing to the Ferrari 412 but was derived from the 65 degree Ferrari Dino V6 motor which in V12 form with 4 valves per cylinder and two overhead camshafts could produce an unstressed 436hp.

In 1998 the 456 was upgraded to 456M (Modificata) spec, externally distinguishable by the fog lights mounted in the grill, like the 1999 example seen here earlier this year at the Siverstone Classic.

456M spec motors were said to be good for an even smother 442hp thanks in part to a change in the firing order of the 12 cylinders and in part to the improved Bosch electronic engine management system.

There are a number of extremely rare variations on the 456 platform, these include two four door saloon / sedans built for the mysterious Nafsas Al Khaddaja allegedly resident in Belgium.

Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei is said to have ordered 7 456 GT Venice 4 door shooting brakes, but found he only had $9 million dollars in spare change when it was time to pay for them so only took six of them home without any change.

The Sultan of Brunei had two 456 Spyders built while Mike Tyson had an aftermarket Spyder conversion on his.

Finally there is Shaquille O’Neal’s example which features a number of aftermarket modifications to accommodate his 7′ 1″ frame including much longer seat rails and a unique, for a 456, targa top.

The 456M was the last Ferrari to feature pop up headlights which were no longer necessary at the time the car was launched in 1995, but remained since they had been a requirement at the time the design of the model commenced. In all 3,289 456 variants had been produced when production switched to the 612 Scaglietti in 2003.

Fellow blogger Jay Wollenweber spotted the older 458 model on the sunny streets of San Ramon recently.

Thanks for joining me on this Pop Up 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 Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Classic

Indy Winning Roadster Heritage – Kurtis 500 S

Beneath The Paint – Ford Capri 3000 GXL Auto

2011 GALPOT Review #3 – Motoring Events

Classic Team Lotus – Lotus Climax 21 #933

Two Lane Blue Top – Pontiac Le Mans Sport

Weekend Racer – Maserati A6G/54 GT Zagato Coupé

Pop Up Swansong – Ferrari 456M