Tag Archives: Coupé

Ferrari Friday – San Marino Motor Classic

For the final visit to this years San Marino Motor Classic today’s featured marque is, unsurprisingly Ferrari.

Ferrari 250 GT PF Coupé Speciale, San Marino Motor Classic

Oldest of the Ferrari’s in this years show and winner of the
Art Center College of Design Award, was this Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Coupé Speciale. Built in 1956 with a 410 Superamerica body the car was delivered new to a descendent of FIAT’s Agnelli family who coincidentally was also member of the FIAT boardroom.

Ferrari 250 GT PF Cabriolet S2, San Marino Motor Classic

Looking at the entry list which names only the entrant, marque and date and other resources it appears the vehicle above is a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series 2.

Ferrari 250 GT Coupe PF, San Marino Motor Classic

I’m much less certain as to the identity of the vehicle above it’s definitely one of 351 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Coupé’s. The combination of repeater light, absence of optional bonnet scoop and drivers side only door mirror lead me to believe this particular vehicle may have been built for a US Serviceman from Chicago who kept the car for 16 years.

Ferrari 250 GT/L, San Marino Motor Classic

Winner of the Pasadena Humane Society Award was the 1964 Ferrari 250 GT/L belonging to Alan & Wendy Hart, a car originally delivered to a customer in Belgium.

Ferrari 365 GTS/4, San Marino Motor Classic

There were only 122 Ferrari 365 GTS/4’s built but I have not been able to link the owner of this 1973 example on the entry list to any particular chassis of the many with yellow bodies and Borrani wheels.

Ferrari F40, San Marino Motor Classic

It will also take a historian far more capable than me to tell you which of the 1,315 F40’s, like the 1990 example above, this is.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton and Paul McNabb for sharing their photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ferrari Friday” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some details from last month’s Avenue Drivers Club meeting. Don’t forget to come back now !

Unfinished Business – Lister Coupe #

After building a successful range of open top sports racing cars powered by MG, Bristol, Jaguar and Chevrolet motors between 1953 and 1958 Brian Lister turned to Frank Costin to build an all new spaceframe chassis with an open body to be powered by a 3 litre six cylinder Jaguar XK motor for a crack at Le Mans which he considered “unfinished business”.

01 Lister Coupé_7625sc

However after the death of his lead driver Archie Scott-Brown at Spa driving a Lister in 1958 and the fatal accident which killed his 1959 leading driver Ivor Bueb, driving a Cooper open wheeler in 1959, Brian Lister was prompted to retire from building racing cars bearing his name leaving the 3 litre spaceframe project which had never been given a chassis number unfinished.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

Rhostyllen, North Wales, garage proprietor Syd Diggory finished the open bodied spaceframe car off fitting a 3.8 litre Jaguar motor in 1960. Syd entered the car in several events for Bruce Halford, who won one race at Brands Hatch with it.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

John Coundley acquired it in 1961 after his own Lister chassis #126 with the registration WTM446 had been damaged by Stephen Ouvaroff on the set of the film “The Green Helmet”.

Lister Coupé, Goodwood Revival

12 months later Le Mans racer Peter Sargent bought both the space frame Lister and the damaged, in former owner John Coundley’s eyes ‘written off’ tube framed #BHL126 registered WTM446. Peter commissioned the space framed car’s designer Frank Costin to design the double bubble closed coupé body fabricated from aluminium which is seen on the car today. Frank also made various chassis and suspension modifications to accommodate rising rate front suspension and 15″ Dunlop wheels.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

Peter Sargent was joined by Peter Lumsden at the 1963 Le Mans test weekend to drive the barely finished unpainted rebodied car, bearing the registration number WTM446 from the older #BHL126 Lister and temporarily fitted with Webber carburetors.

Lister Coupé, Goodwood Revival

The Coupé proved to be quicker than the E-Type Jaguar the two Peters had shared at Le Mans in 1962 but was in need of further development which continued right up until the day before the race when it was found that a subframe was allowing the front wheels to toe out like a ‘barn door’.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

With a fix for the suspension the Lister went to the grid with a fuel injected motor rebuilt by Jaguar fitted with oval exhausts in place of the round ones to raise the ground clearance. The Lister reached 16th place by the third hour of the event when it’s retirement was brought about by clutch failure.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

Peters Lumsden and Seargeant continued developing and racing the Lister Coupé with some success in club meetings through 1963.

In 1964 John Coundley and Jack Fairman shared the car in the 1000 kms race at the Nurburgring where they qualified a lowly 68th and retired with rear suspension failure on the Coupé’s final international appearance.

David Harvey, now Jaguar owners club chairman become the next owner of the unique Lister and had it fitted with a D-Type motor and gearbox. David and his wife drove it competitively in sprints and hillclimbs, earning a class record at Gurston Down, and when his usual road car was off the road the Coupé was also used as a daily driver since it was registered and taxed with it’s WTM 446 registration.

The known chain of ownership of the Coupé includes historic owner and collector Neil Corner before it was acquired by Hexagon of Highgate who had the roof chopped off to return the car to the open top specification as it was raced from 1960 to 1962. In 1972 Gerry Marshall won the last ever motor race run at Crystal Palace in the open top space frame Lister. Some years later Gerry drove the car again under new ownership to win the 1980 Lloyds and Scottish Championship historic series.

The Coupé GT bodywork was returned to the car by Maurice Gomm for Dr Philippe Renault a private museum owner from Le Mans in the mid 1980’s.

More recently the Lister Coupé has become a regular competitor at Goodwood Revival where it survived major damage in 2006 and 2010. In 2012 the Lister Coupé was shared by 1970 Le Mans winner Richard Attwood and 1992 British Touring Car Champion Tim Harvey.

The two entities that have born the registration WTM446 became the subject of a court battle after the Lister #BHL126, which former owner John Coundley had considered a “write off”, was brought back to life.

The new owner of the rebuilt #BH126 took the owner of the spaceframe Lister Coupé and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to court in a dispute over who owned the WTM446 registration. The Court appears to have found that no car should have that number and has not issued it to either vehicle since.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unfinished Business” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a Cunningham. Don’t forget to come back now !

Mythological Hunting Virgin – Bugatti Type 57, Atalante Coupé, #57504

Of the 710 Bugatti Type 57’s built between 1934 and 1940 the single fast back Aerolithe, four fast back Atlantics an 17 Atalante Coupés, such as the one seen here, were fitted with the most radical bodies for the period.

Bugatti, Type 57, Atalante, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Named after a mythological Greek Goddess who was brought up by bears to become a happy but fierce hunter, sworn to virginity, the Atalante differs from the Atlantic having a single screen and none of the riveting seams for which the Atlantic and Aerolithe are best remembered for.

Bugatti, Type 57, Atalante, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Unlike the Atlantic body which was only fitted on the lower Type 57 S chassis the Atalante Coupé was fitted to both original type 57 chassis with the axles below the chassis rails and the lower 57S chassis.

Bugatti, Type 57, Atalante, Hillsborough Bugatti, Type 57, Atalante, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance d'Elegance

The Atalante body seen here by Geoffrey Horton at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance a couple of years ago is fitted to an original Type 57 chassis as can be seen by the fact that the bonnet / hood stands well clear of the height of the front wings / fenders.

Bugatti, Type 57, Atalante, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

This particular Atalante was built in 1937 and is believed by the owners, the Academy of Art University® in San Francisco, to have been retained by the factory and used by Jean Bugatti who was responsible for the styling.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs taken at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance in 2011.

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

Turbo Mopar Under The Hood – Bristol Brigand

By the early 1980’s the temporary austerity enforced on the global economy by the oil crisis ten years earlier was giving way to a new era of prosperity that would be characterised in the immortalisation of Gordon Gecko in “Wall Street“.

Bristol Brigand, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Likewise in the motor trade cars were becoming seemingly exponentially faster thanks to widespread use of turbochargers which had the benefit of boosting horsepower of small motors without the cost of having to develop new large motors, additionally turbochargers could give executives a powerful model with a small motor typically 2 litres / 122 cui without the tax liabilities and inefficiencies of a 3 litre model.

Bristol Brigand, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Many manufacturers like Lotus naturally made sure everybody new your car was fitted with a turbocharger, though later a more discrete approach was introduced by some like Volvo. Amongst the Créme de la Créme unsurprisingly Bristol chose to take the more discreet approach with the turbocharged variant of it’s 603 model which was differentiated from it’s less powerful brethren by; standard alloy wheels, a visually inconsequential power bulge in the bonnet / hood and the “Brigand” name on the boot / trunk lid.

Bristol Brigand, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

The series 3 603’s introduced in 1982 were among the first to be given names used by Bristol’s early owners the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the normally aspirated 603 Series 3 is known as the Britannia after a turbo prop airliner with the Brigand named after a ground attack bomber. The Brigand equipped with a 5.9 litre / 360 cui Chrysler V8 and a Rotormaster Turbocharger was said to be capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in 6.1 seconds and a top speed of 150 mph.

Bristol Brigand, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Brigands like today’s 1985 example, seen at the Bristol Classic Motor Show at Shepton Mallet a couple of years ago, were manufactured from 1982 to 1994 with minor exterior revisions, no production numbers for these cars was ever released some believe there may be 16 left while How Many Left.com shows only an extremely conservative 2 as taxed for use in the UK !

If you think the tail lights look familiar that probably show’s that at some point in your life you have sat behind a Bedford Commercial CF2 van.

Thanks for joining me on this “Turbo Mopar Under The Hood” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an agricultural BMW powered Mopar. Don’t forget to come back now !

Unparalleld Vision – Bristol 603 E

When Bristol replaced it’s faithful 411 models in 1976 it came out with all guns blazing launching the Targa topped 412 and today’s featured model the 603 which owed little to it’s older sister apart from a familial face with four round head lights.

Bristol 603 E, Bristol Concours d'Elegance, Greenwich

The 603 was launched in E and S form’s, the E like the 1977 example seen here was supplied with a 145 hp 5.2 litre / 318 cui Chrysler V8 while the S was fitted with the 170 hp 5.8 litre / 360 cui motor.

Bristol 603 E, Bristol Concours d'Elegance, Greenwich

Since it left the factory today’s featured car has been fitted with a stroked 360 Mopar to bring it up to 375 hp 6.6 litre / 408 cui spec. An Edelbrock carburetor and special inlet manifolds helping to more than double the cars original horsepower numbers.

Bristol 603 E, Bristol Concours d'Elegance, Greenwich

The official rest to 60 mph time for the more powerful S variant was a sprightly, for 1976, 7.6s with a 1/4 mile time of 18.2 seconds, one would imagine with double the horsepower these numbers would take a significant dive.

Bristol 603 E, Bristol Concours d'Elegance, Greenwich

The 603 is noted for it’s slim window pillars which offered unparalleled vision, and yet this did not give the car in anyway an overly futuristic glass house look, the 603 was very much of it’s time and it’s variants remained in production until the one off Blenheim S4 was built in 2009.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unparalleled View” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an agricultural pick up. Don’t forget to come back now !

Tony Crook RIP.

It was with sadness that the motoring fraternity learned of the death of Tony Crook earlier this week.

Tony had a long and successful racing career which included driving two Bristol powered cars in the 1952 and 1953 British Grand Prix, run to Formula 2 regulations.

Tony went on to become an agent and later the sole agent for Bristol Cars in which he took a 40% stake when Bristol Cars became independent of it’s parent the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1960.

In 1973 Tony bought out Bristol Cars founder Sir George White to become sole proprietor and distributor of Bristol Cars until 1997, when he sold a 50% stake to Toby Silverton which became 100% in 2001.

Tony continued working for Bristol until 2007.

We offer sincerest condolences to Mr Crooks family and friends.

Classic Connection Vega$ – Bentley R-Type Coupé #B77ZX

In 1952 the second post ’39-’45 conflict Bentley was launched known as the R-Type. Internally the vehicle was known as the Bentley 7 following the Mk VI launched in 1946, the two models are differentiated by a slightly larger motor and larger boot/trunk of the R-Type.

Bentley R-Type Gooda Coupé, Danville Concours d'Elegance

Like the Mk VI the R-Type was available with either a standard steel saloon/sedan body by Pressed Steel of Coventry or a bespoke body from a decreasing number of coachworks. It is not clear exactly which body was fitted to today’s featured 1954 car when it was new but the chassis number tells us it was definitely a saloon and not one of the 208 two door Continental chassis built between 1952 and 1955.

Bentley R-Type Gooda Coupé, Danville Concours d'Elegance

In 1966 the owner of #B77ZX Robert (Bob) Gooda commissioned the Coupé body by Robert Peel that is seen in these photographs taken by Jay Wollenweber at Danville Concours d’Elegance a couple of years ago. The following year Brian Dumps raced the car in a Bentley Drivers Club event at Silverstone in which several other unusual post war Bentley’s also appear to have taken part. There is also an image of B77ZX taking part in an as yet unidentified grass track event linked here.

Bentley R-Type Gooda Coupé, Danville Concours d'Elegance

After it’s 1960’s competition career #B77ZX turned up in Series 2 Episode 10 “Classic Connection” as a background vehicle of the late 70’s television series Vega$ staring Robert Urich as investigator Dan Tanna (Down Towner ?) , unfortunately this is not a series that made it to the UK but I gather the plot of Classic Connection revolved around a classic car show on the city where what happens, stays.

Bentley R-Type Gooda Coupé, Danville Concours d'Elegance

A search on the internet shows the car has changed hands many times appearing in two Bonhams auctions most recently in 2009. Members of the Goodwood Road Racing Club will be lucky to see the allegedly 250 hp Gooda Special at the 72nd GRRC members meeting on 29-30 March 2014 when it will be driven by owner Terry O’Reilly in the Tony Gaze Trophy.

If any GRRC member who would like to invite the author as their grateful guest to the aforementioned event at Goodwood, please do not hesitate to get in touch below.

My thanks to Jay Wollenweber for kindly sharing his photographs and to Vince “raceanouncer2003” H at The Nostalgia Forum for his help with finding out additional details about the car.

Thanks for joining me on this “Classic Connection Vega$” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a well known NASCAR entrants Nitemare. Don’t forget to come back now !

Lower Exhaust More Hot Luggage – Ford GT 40 MK III #M3 1103

Today’s featured car is a Ford GT40 Mk III chassis M3 1103, I believe the third of just seven built under JW Automotive’s direction at Slough.

Ford GT40 Mk III, Goodwood Revival

#M3 1103 was built in 1968 and sold to the Chairman of Beaverbrook Newspapers Sir Max Aitken who kept it for four years before selling it to someone who had flared wheel arches fitted to accommodate alloy wheels and repainted white with blue stripes.

The third owner kept the car at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu for many years through the 1980’s.

CKL Developments were responsible for preserving #M3 1103, which has less than 6,500 miles on the clock to it’s original condition and correct deep red colour for it’s forth and current owner.

Since my original GT40 Mk 111 post I have found out that the tailpipes on the Mk III were lowered to run alongside the gearbox, as opposed to over the top of the gearbox on all previous incarnations of the GT40, which allowed for a larger luggage space on top of the gearbox with the disadvantage that the luggage was now much warmer than had previously been the case.

The white car featured a couple of years ago is #M3 1107, the last of the GT40’s to be made in Slough, it has been retained by Ford since the day it was completed. #M3 1107 has been seen in numerous museums and for a while was used as personal transport by Ford’s über Public Relations executive Walter Hayes while he was based at Ford HQ in Dearborn.

#M3 1103 is seen above at the Goodwood Revival meeting where both it at #M3 1107 are regularly used as course cars during the running of the Goodwood Revival race meetings.

Thanks for joining me on this “Lower Exhaust More Hot Luggage” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me for a look at a one off vehicle commissioned from Ferrari and Pininfarina. Don’t forget to come back now !

Brighton Speed Trials Under Threat of Permanent Cancellation !

In their infinite wisdom, Brighton & Hove City Council are seeking to ban the Brighton Speed Trials from 2014.

If you care about speed and or motorsport history, please sign this linked petition to save Brighton Speed Trials in 2014 and beyond.

It’s a faf to Register before signing, but relatively painless compared to loosing the event which has been run with few interruptions since 1905.

You do not need to be resident in Brighton or even the UK to sign.

Thanks and please spread the word through whatever social media you have at your disposal.