Tag Archives: Colmar

A Drivers Dream – Ford Puma

The Misfit – MG C GT Sebring Replica

During the endless mergers that took place in the British motor industry after 1945 many models like today’s MG C GT owe more to merged corporate parts bins than to fresh from the ground up planning.

The rational behind the MG C roadster and GT models was too build a vehicle to replace the six cylinder Austin Healey 3000 whose ancestry can be traced back to the Austin Healey 100-Six launched in 1956.

The recipe for the new MG-C was to use the MG B body shell first seen in 1962 and fit it with the 3 litre / 183 cui six cylinder Austin C series motor that was more commonly found in the Austin Healey 3000 sports car and Austin Westminster saloon/sedan.

Unfortunately the cast iron block C series motor has 2 cylinders more than the motor around which the MG B was designed around and the C series motor was a good deal taller than the MG B 4 cylinder. This meant the chassis cross member that held the 4 cylinder motor had to be replaced, the front suspension strut suspension replaced with torsion bar suspension, the front bulkhead had to be modified and when all was said and done to accommodate an automatic transmission option the engine was not placed as far back as the engineers would have liked to achieve a 50/50 front rear weight balance.

The new MG C also had to run on 15″ wheels in order to keep the oil sump off the ground, but all in all the engineers were pleased with their 120 mph creation which had a respectable 53/47% front to rear weight balance.

Unfortunately the press panned the car in essence for not being different enough from the MG B but also because they found the handling tended towards understeer / push. It has been noted in some circles this characteristic may well have been exacerbated by the fact that the MG C was so much smoother than the MG B that journalists might not have been aware of the speeds they were traveling when experiencing the understeer push phenomenon.

Completely oblivious to the handling criticisms Prince Charles took delivery of an MG C in 1967 and this car has apparently been passed onto Prince William. The car seen here has been turned into a replica of the triple carburetor MG C’s raced at Sebring in 1968 and 1969, though the tailgate spoiler was not used by the works cars of 1968 and 1969 which were racing in the same class as full blown racing cars like the Porsche 907 and 908 models.

Of the 9002 MG C’s manufactured between 1967 and 1969 4458 were hard top GT’s. With the merger of British Motor Holdings with Leyland owners of the Triumph brand in 1968 the Triumph TR 6 was chosen as the newly merged corporations 6 cylinder sports car of choice and so the MG C died an early death, though in 1973 an even larger, but much lighter, engined MGB GT V8 would appear.

Thanks for joining me on ‘The Misfit’ 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, Vintage & Classic – Avenue Drivers Club

2 Replies

The Avenue Drivers Club was formed in 2009 by a small group of enthusiasts of cars that will do at least 100 mph and the Avenue Café on Queen Square, Bristol. Every second Sunday of the month they meet at 9 am at Queen Square for coffee and a chat.

Being Bristol the 100 mph criteria is not strictly adhered to, as I found out yesterday when I was pleasantly surprised to find several interesting Vintage vehicles, like this 1925 Talbot 10/23, which would struggle to reach that 100 mph speed under their own steam.

Like wise The BSA Ten powered by a twin cylinder air cooled engine from 1925/26 would struggle to reach 100 mph and if it did the owner would not know about it as his speedometer fell out on the way over to the meeting.

Not too sure what the function of these accessory is it appears to shine red yellow or green lights forwards and rearwards and one was mounted either side of a 1933 Morris Cowley. If you know what purpose these lights were designed for please chime in below.

GALPOT regulars may remember this Austin 10 choking on a clothes peg from an earlier blog, turns out the full name for the car is Austin 10/24 Ripley Sport. This car is thought to have been first owned by the Debyshire County Constabulary in black.

Despite my many recent Tuesday MG blogs I have not yet been able to establish exactly what model MG this nifty little 1936 racer is, if you know please chime in below.

In the running for car of the day was this absolutely immaculate 1953/55 Bristol 403, the condition of this car really has to be seen in the flesh to be believed, I can imagine this car will still be turning heads in 60 years time.

Another vehicle falling into the sub 100 mph bracket was this 1962 Austin Gipsy a would be competitor to the otherwise ubiquitous Land Rover this one with a 110″ wheelbase. There was also an immaculate Series One Land Rover and an early ‘proper’ Range Rover in attendance.

Representing Triumph was a 2000, 2500PI a GT6 and this 1966/67 TR5PI which rather took my fancy.

At the more powerful end of the scale was this 1969/70 Aston Martin DBS, with an even more powerful Ferrari 365 GTB/4 parked up behind it.

Among many things I learned yesterday was the existence of Fisher cars, I mistook this for a Ginetta G4, it is actually a Fisher Fury powered by a 1 litre / 61 cui motorcycle motor.

Car of the day was without doubt this K1 Attack, another vehicle I had never heard of before which originates from Slovakia and is powered by a Honda Type R engine. Sundays blog will reveal more about this car. Only 4 are thought to exist in the UK and this is the only one with RHD.

At the end of the meeting which lasted a very short 3 hours David Roots, who told me about the Avenue Drivers Club a couple of weeks ago kindly gave me a highly entertaining ride home ‘aboard’ his unique Lenham ALFA Romeo.

My thanks to David and everyone else who brought out their pride and joy I simply did not have time to include in today’s blog, can’t wait for the next meeting on the second Sunday in May.

Thanks for joining me on this Coffee, Croissant, Vintage & Classic edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l pscho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

12 04 12 Errata I originally had the cool white car down as a Attack K1, it’s actually a K1 Attack and it is not powered by a motor cycle engine but a Honda Type R, apologies to all concerned.

Continental Elegance – Delahaye 135 Competition #46864

2 Replies

Photographs of today’s featured car, a Delahaye 135 Competition, come courtesy of Geoffrey Horton from February’s Dessert Classic Concours d’Elegance.

The 135 Competition chassis was designed as a road car, this one has a Figoni & Falaschi body originally built in 1936. at least half a dozen French Coachworks offered bodies for the 135 chassis so no two are exactly alike.

Underneath the striking bodywork the 135 featured independent front suspension and 120 hp 3.6 litre / 217 cui six cylinder motor.

Variations of the 135 chassis recorded victories 1935 Coupe des Alpes, 1937 Monte Carlo Rally and 1938 Le Mans 24 Hours events.

Between 1935 and 1938 it is believed 453 Delahaye Competition chassis were built.

My thanks to Geoffry Horton for sending me his photo’s of this magnificent vehicle.

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

Choice Of Champions – Lotus 49B #R10 & #R12

8 Replies

The story of the Lotus 49 in all of it’s guises is inextricably linked to the one component that was a decade ahead of it’s time the Ford DFV motor, which did not win it’s last race until 1983 and was still being used in 1985 running against turbocharged powered cars.

The Lotus 49 was originally built to compete in the 1967 Formula One season for drivers Jim Clark and Graham Hill. Colin Chapman had arranged for Ford to finance the building of the 3 litre / 183 cui Ford Cosworth V8 engine which like the BRM H16 Colin had used in 1966 was to be used as an integral component of the chassis, ie, if you take the motor out of the car the rear wheels would no longer be connected to the rest of the car sufficiently to be able to even push it.

The Lotus 49 design, credited to Maurice Phillipe, was based on the 1965 Indy winning Lotus 38 which Len Terry is credited with being responsible for. Jim Clark drove the Lotus 49 to a debut win in the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix. The Type 49 in all it’s guises won 12 Grand Prix in total the last a lucky last lap win at the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix with Jochen Rindt at the wheel.

These air ducts, introduced on the 49B in 1969, allowed air to pass through the radiator and escape over the top of the car, where as on the original car the air had passed through the nose cone and out the sides of the car ahead of the front suspension units.

Producing around 400 hp when it first became available, Colin Chapman had an advantage over every other car in the field with the light and reliable Cosworth DFV which had years of development ahead of it that would see it’s output reach just short of 500 hp in 1985. Unfortunately, for Colin Chapman, realising that they needed to be seen running against other competitive teams Ford renegade on it’s exclusive deal with Lotus at the end of 1967 and allowed Ken Tyrrells Matra team to use Ford engines as well in 1968. By the mid 1970’s only Ferrari and BRM were the only regular runners not using Cosworth DFV’s.

In 1968 Brabham and Ferrari copied the high aerofoil concept first seen on the Chaparral 2E Can Am car in 1966 and on the 1967 Chaparral 2F in the World Prototype championship, a month later the Lotus 49B with new rear hubs to carry the 400 lbs of downforce generated by the rear wing appeared at the French Grand Prix.

This photo shows clearly how big an issue rear grip was back in 1968 not only is their a rear wing but the Hewland gearbox is surrounded by a large oil tank in an effort to distribute as much weight to the rear of the car as possible to improve road holding.

The inverted aeroplane wing shape and light construction of the rear wing can be seen here, in 1969 similar wings were attached to the front hubs as well, but two bad accidents caused by collapsing wings for Lotus Team mates Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt led to these devices being strictly controlled from the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix on.

So far as I can tell the chassis seen here, in the first, second and forth photo’s, at Goodwood is #R10. Chassis R10 was probably the original 49 #R5 which for reasons that are not clear was renumbered.

While carrying the #R5 chassis plate the car was raced in his second world championship winning year by Graham Hill to win the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, #R10 was subsequently used by 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti to win pole for his first Grand Prix start in the 1968 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.

Future 1970 champion Jochen Rindt was the first to use running with a 2.5 litre / 152.6 cui version of the Ford Cosworth DFV. Jochen won two Tasman Championship races in #R10.

Reigning 1968 World Champion Graham next used #R10 to win the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix. The following season Graham was driving the Lotus 49 #R7 for the privateer Rob Walker team which he crashed beyond immediate repair during practice at Monaco. Fortunately Lotus number 2 driver John Miles had failed to qualify for the race in #R10 and so it was hastily repainted in Rob Walkers colours the night before the race for Graham to drive. He finished 5th despite having broken his legs in the 1969 season ending US Grand Prix driving the same chassis just 7 months earlier !

1972 & 1974 double world champion Emerson Fittipaldi made his Grand Prix debut in Lotus Ford 49 #R10, at the British Grand Prix in 1970.

Finally the first race I ever recall seeing on TV was the 1968 British Grand Prix which was led by first Graham Hill, then his team mate Jackie Oliver before being won by Jo Siffert all three were driving Lotus 49 B’s Jo’s being the odd one out being entered by Rob Walker, who GALPOT regulars may recall had a lot of success running Stirling Moss in his Lotus 18 during the early 1960’s. Jo’s victory was the last to be recorded by a private entrant in a ‘customer’ non works customer car.

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

24 04 12 PS Tim Murray has kindly pointed out that I originally incorrectly attributed the design of the Lotus 49 to Len Terry when it should have been Maurice Phillipe, apologies for any confusion. If you see an error of fact anywhere in GALPOT blogs please do not hesitate to inform me in the comments box. Thanks to Tim for the correction.

03 08 12 Serious Errata further reading of Micheal Olivers “Lotus 49 the story of a Legend” has shown that the car which is seen in the 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th photo’s above at the Donington Collection is actually chassis #R12 and not chassis #R10 as seen in the 1st, 2nd 4th photo’s above, there are several distinguishing features which should have made this obvious at the time I originally posted this blog including the black ‘Lotus Ford’ lettering on the nose various decals and the chrome exhaust at the rear !

Chassis R12 was built up as a show car, for the Ford Motor Company, using the floor from the Lotus 49B R6/1 which was crashed by Jackie Oliver at the 1968 French Grand Prix. Built as a non runner chassis #R12 is consequently the only Lotus 49 which has never been raced, it was donated to Tom Wheatcroft’s Donington Collection when Ford no longer had a use for it.

Sincerest apologies for this error.

Same Body Bigger Motor – Ferrari 365 GTC

2 Replies

In 1966 Ferrari launched the 330 GTC of which some 600 hundred were built up until 1968.

The body of the 365 GTC which replaced the 330 GTC in 1968 was almost identical apart from the absence of the large cooling ducts in the front wings/fenders which vented air from the engine bay.

Ferrari’s 4 litre / 244 cui V12 from the 330 cars was upgraded to a 4.4 litre / 268 cui V12 for the 365 series cars which increased the horsepower from 300 to 320.

One other significant difference between the 330 GTC and 365 GTC was that the later car had the gearbox moved from behind the motor to in front of the rear axle to improve the weight distribution.

Alloy wheels came as standard Borrani wire wheels were an optional extra.

This 1969 car has covered over 80,000 miles and is one of 150 that were built up until 1970 when it was superseded by the elegantly understated Ferrari 365 GTC/4.

28 04 12, date for your diary, this car and several others featured on ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ over the past year was seen at the Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival (BIAMF) last year. This years BIAMF event, the largest annual participatory automotive event in Bristol will be on Saturday April 28th. Event details can be found on the BAIMF website linked here. If your planing on going leave a message below or e-mail me see address at the very bottom of this page and we will see if we can’t organise a GALPOT meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Same Body Bigger Motor’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !