Tag Archives: Colmar

Windowless Aluminium Door Roadster – Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SL

In November 1955 Hong Kong Army Seargent Douglas Stearn drove a Mercedes 190 SL to second place in the Macau Grand Prix for the Zung Fu Company, finishing behind the Austin Healey 100 driven by Robert Ritchie.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

For 1956 Mercedes Benz built two light weight competition 190 SLR’s, featuring window less aluminium doors.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

Additional weight was saved by replacing the windscreens with perspex racing aero screens and deleting the soft top, front and rear bumpers.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

Power was also increased from 104 hp to 115hp which gave the car a top speed of 121 mph, though these speeds are unlikely to have been reached around the tight Macau street circuit.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

One of the 190 SLR’s was delivered to the Zung Fu Company, the offical Mercedes Benz dealers for Hong Kong and Macau to this day, for Douglas to drive in the 1956 Macua Grand Prix.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

Douglas duly won the race at his second attempt beating the Ferrari 500 Monidal driven by Mário Lopez da Costa and the MG A driven by Fernando de Macedo Pinto.

The 190SL seen in these photographs taken at Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands, was imported to the UK and first registered for the on March 5th 1957, it appears to have been converted to an approximation of the SLR spec by Redcastle Classics in 2008.

The whereabouts of the two original 190 SLR’s are unknown to me at this time if you know please do not hesitate to get in touch.

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

34mm Turbo Restrictor – Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype

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The second generation Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero was built between 1991 and 1999, today’s featured 1996 T3 Prototype was built to compete in the Granada Dakar Desert Rally and aside from the name and a few components shares little in common with it’s commercial namesake.

Going into the 1996 Granada Dakar Rally Mitsubishi were looking to win their 4th Dakar Rally 4 wheel title outright, their first since 1993, as were ’91, ’94 and ’95 winners Citroen.

Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The T3 Prototype was built on a space frame competition chassis featuring double wishbone and coil spring suspension all round, the tad over 2m / 6’6″ wide, with a 3m wheel base chassis was covered with a 4m carbon fibre and Kevlar body.

Weighing only 1410 kgs / 3100 lbs the vehicle was powered by a 2.4 litre / 147 cui 4 cylinder 16 valve 4G64 motor fitted with an inter cooled Turbocharger and a new for ’96 mandated 34mm air restrictor that kept the power output down to a claimed 300hp.

Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Thee T3 Prototypes were entered for crews; Bruno Saby/Dominique Serieys who won in 1993, Kenjiro Shinozuka/Henri Magne and Jean-Pierre Fontenay/Bruno Musmarr.

A fourth T3 Prototype with RVR Space Runner bodywork was entered for Hiroshi Masuoka / Andreas Schulz and the whole team was backed up with 9 trucks and 76 personnel led by Ullrich Bremer who were also mandated by the regulations to compete.

Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Pierre Lartigue and Michel Perin completed a hat trick of wins in their Citroën ZX Rallye Raid Evo 5, a car which traces it’s origins back to the Peugeot 205 T16, while Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Bruno Musmarr came home in 3rd, driving today’s featured #206 seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed, ahead of the sister car of Bruno Saby and Dominique Serieys which finished 7th and 17th place Kenjiro Shinozuka and Henri Magne.

Kenjiro and Henri went on to win the event in 1997, Jean-Pierre with Giles Picard won in ’98, Hiroshi and Andreas won in 2003 the year after Hiroshi won the event for the first time with Pascal Maimon, all of these victories counting towards the 12 Dakar overall 4 wheel victories Mitsubishi have won to date.

Thanks for joining me on this “34mm Turbo Restrictor” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Mercedes Monday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This #5 – Connew PC1 002

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One of the many highlights of 2015 were a precious few hours I spent cleaning and polishing all manor of wheels, wings, aluminium panels and nut’s and bolts in the company of Peter Connew and his family with his cousin Barry Boor.

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The reason circumstances brought us together was that Peter, seen at work on his lathe above, kindly accepted an invitation to give a talk about his experience building and racing the Connew PC1 to The Nostalgia Forum Hertfordshire UK Film Show at Ware Village Hall in May.

02 Connew PC 1_5001sc

Peter and Barry, seen below, devoted a huge amount of time to finding and cleaning the bit’s, many of which had not been seen or handled for forty years, to put as much as was possible of the car back together.

03 Connew PC1_5022sc

Along with the foot pedals, steering wheel, instruments, cables, fluid bottles and original leather seat one box contained a couple of Hewland DG300 gear ratio’s which caused Alain de Cadenet to seek a discount when he bought the rest of the gearbox from Peter for his de Cadenet Le Mans car.

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In the absence of springs and shock absorbers pieces of wood were cut to replace them to keep the front suspension in shape, and in the absence of a Ford Cosworth DFV engine or Hewland DG 300 gearbox a sheet of wood was cut to support the rear of the chassis the correct 2″ inches off the ground.

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Peter’s kids Chris and PC all chipped in on the day before the talk as did Peter’s wife Iris, who helped out back in the day when the car was originally built and on this occasion painted the lettering into tyres, amazingly the 40 year old Firestones and Mag wheels still hold pressure though one would not want to use them for anything other than display purposes.

Connew PC1, TNF Herts Film Show, Ware Village Hall

As you can see by the comments on this link, the first appearance of the Connew PC1 in public since the 21st of October 1973, when a broken shock absorber caused Tony Trimmer to crash in to the barriers at Brands Hatch, and the talk by Peter were both welcome and well received.

Peter and Barry are keen to locate a Ford Cosworth DFV engine block and Hewland DG300 gearbox casing so that they can attach the rear wheel’s if you can help locate either at a sensible price please get in touch so that “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This #6” is not too long in the making.

Thanks for joining me on this “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This #5” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Desert Racer. Don’t forget to come back now !

Finance Chairman’s Choice – Ferrari 250 GT Ellena Coupé #0807GT

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Today’s featured Ferrari is the 23rd of 50 250 GT Ellena’s to be built between 1957 and 1958, it is believed to have originally been delivered to Ferrari’s representative in Hollywood California.

Ferrari 250 GT Ellena Coupé, Blackhawk, Museum

It’s ownership trail is not known until Cy Yedor bought the car in the 1990’s and had it restored to regular Concours award winning condition by Gary Thieltges of GT Motors in Glendale.

Cy was best known as a racer, he Ken Miles MG Special R1 against James Dean in the 1950’s, race starter and Competition License Director of the California Sports Car Club, he later also became Finance Director of The Ferrari Club of America.

In 2001 Cy sold #0807GT to Mark Templeton in Florida and Mark in turn sold the car on to Ferrari Connoisseur Diego Ribadeneira by 2004 and a year later it was bought by Inventor Henry P. Camisasca.

#0807GT was sold for $687,500 at RM Auctions to a yet to be identified purchaser in 2013.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photo taken at the Blackhawk Museum last year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Finance Chairman’s Choice” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Wishing all GALPOT readers a prosperous New Year, don’t forget to come back now !

Shadeyside Bonded Body – Chrysler Prowler

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Aged just seven Chip Foose started working on car at his Dad’s Project Design shop, in Santa Barbara, California in 1970.

Chrysler Prowler, Pendine Sands

After financial difficulties Chip dropped out of the Art Center College of Design in 1982, but returned to graduate in 1990 by which time he had designed a retro coupé / roadster for a a Chrysler-sponsored college project.

Chrysler Prowler, Pendine Sands

After attracting much attention with it’s Dodge Viper, Chrysler design director Thomas C. Gale, also a hot rodder, gave the Plymouth Prowler which was influenced by Chip Fooses College design the go ahead as a concept car in 1993.

Chrysler Prowler, Pendine Sands

The Prowler went into production in 1997 with a chassis and body built from adhesive bonded aluminium at a facility in Shadeyside, Ohio with the rest of the assembly being completed by hand in Detroit.

Chrysler Prowler, Pendine Sands

Initially the Prowler was powered by a 214hp 3.5 litre / 213 cui V6 but in 1999 this was upgraded to produce 253hp, the motor is linked to a a four-speed Autostick semi-automatic transmission mounted in in the back, a al Alfa Romeo and Porsche 924/944/968 among many others to improve weight distribution, by a torque tube.

Chrysler Prowler, Pendine Sands

When the Plymouth brand was dropped in 2001 the Prowler continued to be marketed as a Chrysler until production ceased in 2002 with 11,700 examples built.

The 2002 example seen in these photographs taken at Pendine Sands was first registered in the UK on the 19th of December 2002.

Thanks for joining me on this “Shadeyside Bonded Body” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Wishing all GALPOT readers a Happy New Yew Year. Don’t forget to come back now !

Honest No Nonsense Teresa – Ford Cortina Mk V 1.6 L Estate

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On the 24th August 1979 Ford launched the final iteration of it’s Cortina model that had dominated the British sales charts every year since 1972 except 1976, when the more economical Ford Escort Mk II took the top spot.

Ford Cortina Mk V 1.6L Estate, Summer Classics, Easter Compton,

Developed under the project name Teresa the Mk V Cortina featured new front wings, bonnet and grill, new bumpers with fashionable plastic end caps, side trim and the saloon / sedan had new larger fear light clusters.

Ford Cortina Mk V 1.6L Estate, Summer Classics, Easter Compton,

The rear of the Mk V Estate / Wagon, which accounted for 20% of Cortina sales, was identical to the Mk IV apart from the bumpers, stiffer suspension and lower gearing also differentiated the two variants.

Ford Cortina Mk V 1.6L Estate, Summer Classics, Easter Compton,

One contemporary report sumarised the 1’6 GL Estate as “an honest no nonsense workhorse” that was “also surprisingly refined and agile.”

Ford Cortina Mk V 1.6L Estate, Summer Classics, Easter Compton,

On the 22nd July 1982 the last Cortina rolled off the production line at Dagenham when the model was replaced by the Sierra, nearly two months later on the 17th of September 1982 today’s featured 1.6L estate / wagon was registered for it’s first owner, helping to make the Cortina the UK market’s second best selling car of 1982 when the sales charts were topped by the Ford Escort Mk III.

Thanks for joining me on this “Honest No Nonsense Teresa” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a limited edition hot rod. Don’t forget to come back now !

Electric Love – Renault DeZir

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In 2010 Renault announced that the direction of their next series of concept cars would reflect six stages of life; falling in love, discovering the world, starting a family, working, having fun and becoming wise that a Renault customer might encounter.