Tag Archives: Dodge

Coffee, Croissant & Cars – Avenue Drivers Club

Two Timing – Shakespeare County Raceway

The day before Memorial day I attended the Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway for an afternoons two timing entertainment.

Situated just outside the Shakespeare central known in the tourists guides as Stratford-upon-Avon Shakespeare County Raceway is built on the site of Long Marston Airfield which served as a Wellington Bomber base during the 1939/45 war.

Looking like it had just come off the set of “Two Lane Blacktop” was this 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. The crew running it told me the 7.4 litre / 451 cui V8 was “misfiring all over the place”, a possible victim of cavitation in the fuel system thanks to the phenomenal weather we were experiencing.

A strong contingent of European based vehicles were present at the “Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic event including this first generation 103E Ford Popular Coupé rig powered by a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. The Popular was a post ’39/’45 war austerity vehicle that was only ever offered as a saloon / sedan.

There were not many cars present at Shakespeare County Raceway that could boast Farina styling, but this 1098 cc / 67 cui Austin A40 Countryman van was one of them.

Another novelty vehicle was the NC Engineering Ford V8 powered Trabant that was being given it’s first run after it’s former Cadillac motor had been replaced. interestingly everybody who was involved in the preparation of this vehicle has been invited to to drive it in competition.

Among the fabulous US vehicles running at the event was this 1932 High Boy “Roadster” which like the Popular Coupé is powered by a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. This car reminded me of Leonard Williams High Boy Roadster before it became the worlds first privately owned Gas Turbine Car.

From the plethora of vehicles bearing original patina was this 1948 Plymouth Special De Luxe Coupé complete with a 5.2 litre / 317 cui V8.

My undoubted “Star of the Car Park” was this 1958 Buick Special Convertible which looked, as did several other cars present, like it had just come off the golf course at a Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Sporting a top of the Le Mans range 5.7 litre / 350 cui motor was this Pontiac, like many competitors present the driver was wielding his own spanners to keep this fine looking car in a top state of tune.

I did not know it when I took this photo but going on the engine size of 7457 cc / 455 cui this is a rare, though I am not at all sure exactly how rare Hurst Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. In 1972 following a fatal accident with the Indy 500 no manufacturer was keen on providing a pace car so transmission specialists Hurst stepped in with a couple of hot 455 cui Cutlass Supremes in both Coupé and Convertible forms. The 1972 pace car became well remembered after Linda Vaughan was hired to appear on the back of one of the convertibles with an outsize Hurst Shifter on the boot / trunk.

One reason I was keen to attend this meeting was to get a photo of fellow Bristol Pegasus Motor Club member Crazy Chris Hartnell pulling a wheely in his slingshot Backdraft, his weather helmet was present, dry, casting a shadow, and not shaking but just like the last time he tried this the cameraman was too slow and will have to try again next time. Chris managed two 145+ mph practice runs on the day.

Since this was a practice day many interesting combinations of vehicles were being run, like the Caterham above which got well and truly dusted by the 425 cui Buick Nailhead powered slingshot ‘Soul Town Shaker’ driven by Keith Crampton.

After doing a lovely burn out while being watched by the driver of the, probably Rover V8 powered, Fiero Euro 427, the seen was set for a slightly more competitive run off than the previous Caterham Slingshot combination.

However all present were to be reminded of Shakespeare’s quote from King Lear “As Flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods, they kill us for their sport” as soon after leaving the Fiero Euro 427 standing on the line the Camaro made a dramatic exit stage left,

punched straight in to the guard railing …

and eventually came to rest at the quarter mile mark. Fortunately “th’ gods’ who would kill us for their sport’ were in benevolent mood and after he had been released from the Camaro the driver was seen walking unaided to the ambulance for a precautionary medical.

The camera gods were also smiling, after the accident I foolishly took my camera strap off to stretch out on my perch in the grandstands, waiting for confirmation that there would be no further activity on track before the curfew. When the announcement finally came I forgot that I’d taken my camera strap off got up and heard the sickening thud of my camera bouncing off the grandstand decking and into the 20 foot void beneath the grandstand and eventually hit the surface below.

I went to survey the damage and amazingly although the battery had dropped out the camera was fine as demonstrated by the fine shot of the 1938 Ford V8 Pickup above.

After all the excitement it was time to head home, but there was one final surprise as I left the gate …

… a Dodge Challenger STR8 bedecked in wedding bands, a perfect car for a wedding.

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

High End Half Ton – Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie

Small MPV – Dodge Sierra

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Since I started blogging my love of acres of Detroit sheet metal has grown in no small part due to the the California Streets blogs of Jay Wollenweber.

So it is with a little trepidation that I offer today’s blog on a vehicle probably better suited to his patch than mine and one that he will probably be able to tell me a lot more about than me, namely the the nine seat 1958 Dodge Sierra.

The Sierra name in the UK is usually associated with a 1980’s 4 door Ford that bore a striking resemblance to a jelly mould, that only gained any credibility after Cosworth had dumped it’s finest 200 hp turbocharged twin cam 4 cylinder motor under the bonnet and Ford gave it an outsize tea tray rear spoiler.

I digress, from what I have been able to work out the Dodge Sierra seen here was the Estate / Station Wagon version of the Dodge Royal which sat in the middle of a Dodge model mix that included the Coronet at the lower end, the Custom Royal at the upper end with a short lived Regal Lancer at the very top.

It would appear that Virgil Exner was responsible for the design of both the first, introduced in 1955, and second, introduced in 1957, generation Dodges, that were marketed under these model names which featured the same body shells and running gear but different motors and trim levels.

To further confuse matters in 1958 the lower priced Plymouth and higher priced De Soto ranges appear to have used the same basic Dodge body panels for their models as well.

Among the options I have seen available for the Sierra, not necessarily the ’58 model year, are swivel seat, 3 speed transmission, power steering, power brakes, power rear window, wire wheels, full tinted glass, rear view mirrors (!) AM radio and a Kleenex dispenser.

I have no idea if the asking price of £7,000 seen on the windscreen of this car at Goodwood Revival represents good value for a vehicle with a 5.7 litre / 350 cui Super Red Ram Hemi V8 with 4 barrel carb which is in need of a pair of rear drums for the brakes, but I suspect if I was looking to make that California Trip along Route 66 with a vehicle that was not 100 point Concours Condition this might be a fun vehicle in which to take a 2000 mile ride.

Apologies if I have made any obvious blunders on this blog, please do not hesitate to log in and chime in with any corrections below.

Thanks for joining me on this Hemi edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Full Size – Plymouth Voyager

US Convertibles – Niello Serrano Concours 2011

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Thanks to the generosity of Geoffrey Horton today’s images come from the 2011 Niello Serrano Concours held the weekend before last in the El Dorado hills of sunny California. Today I’ll be focusing on a fabulous array of American made convertibles seen at the show.

Vehicles manufactured by Cord Corporation were the feature Marque of the event so it was most fitting that grandson of the Cord Corporations founding father E.L. Cord should be seen here in one of the companies original models the 1929 Cord L29 Phaeton, which was the first US built front wheel drive car offered to the American public.

Of all the photo’s that Geoffrey sent to me this one of a 1930 Cord L29 Coupé with it’s bizarre, even by todays standards headlights and racy two tone paintwork, gets my nomination for car of the show. The front wheel drive L29 was the brainchild of Carl Van Ranst who had previously worked on the successful front wheel drive Miller open wheel racing cars that won that won the Indianapolis 500 on four occasions between 1926 and 1932.

Continuing on a vaguely Indianapolis related theme Geoffrey tells me this 1931 12 cylinder Cadillac 370A Roadster, was an Indy pace car in 1931. It was pulled out of a barn and restored by the owner 18 months ago.

One, of many, things I have learned thanks to these photo’s is that Cord was a brand name of cars manufactured by Auburn a company that ueber salesman E.L. Cord turned around during a leveraged buyout, above is a 1935 Auburn 851 Boat Tail Speedster manufactured just two years before both names went bust in the wake of the Great Depression.

The last model developed by Cord was the headlight popping 810 which had onlookers standing on the running boards of rival manufacturers cars when it was launched in New York in 1936. Rushed development and production schedules meant it gained a bad reliability reputation. For 1937 front wheel drive Cord 810’s were rebadged 812’s and although they had ironed out all of the reliability issues of the previous year the 812 series could not save Cord from financially tanking. This 1937 Cord 812 Convertible Coupe is particularly rare, if I have understood Card lore correctly, it is one of only six that were ordered without the exterior chrome exhausts sticking out of the sides of the bonnet.

Despite the now give away giant bonnet ornament it took me a good half hour to work out that the car above is a 1949 Packard Super 8 Convertible with a pre WW2 bathtub body style.

I’ll let you see if you can guess what this mystery car is before you reach the end of this blog, this car was highly rated by Time and Life magazines, Good Houskeeping described this model as a ‘social phenomenon’. Designed in Italy but not built by one of the ‘big three’ the car is said to have had 50/50 weight distribution about the axles and counted amongst it’s star owners Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin drove one in the film Kiss Me Stupid and Ronald Reagan allegedly lost his to President Lyndon Johnson in a poker game. This is one of the 99 cars built from 1956 to 1957 from a planned production run of 300.

I know the designer of my all time favourite Formula One car is a fan of the 1959 Buick Le Saber Convertible all though he would probably prefer the Invicta version in bright red.

Representing the swinging, in the UK anyway, sixties at Niello Serrano were the slab sided 1963 Lincoln Continental Convertible with it’s rear suicide doors, which are all the rage at Rolls Royce these days,

and the infinitely more modest 1964 Dodge Dart Convertible, which in optional automatic form had push buttons to select the gears.

The mystery car is the Dual Ghia, designed by Ghia in Italy and built by Dual motors in Detroit with Chrysler running gear.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for his excellent photographs without which todays post would not have been possible.

Thanks for joining me on this US convertible edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the Ferrari’s at Niello Serrano Concours. Don’t forget to come back now !

Rootes ‘n’ Chrysler – Hillman Avenger Tiger Replica

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The Hillman Avenger was conceived as early as 1963 to replace the Hillman Minx, however another project that became the Hillman Hunter eventually replaced the Minx and the Avenger was re conceived in 1965 as a midrange vehicle between the Hillman Imp and the Hunter going head to head in the market against the dominant Ford Cortina and much maligned Morris Marina.

Doing away with the traditional waist line and adopting a ‘flow back’ the Avenger avoided looking in anyway stunted alongside it’s larger Hunter stablemate, the Avenger body shell was one of the earliest to benefit from the use computers in the design process.

In 1970 the Avenger was launched with a conventional, for the period, front engine rear wheel drive layout which dispensed with the conventional rear leaf springs in favour of a four link rear suspension to give the vehicle superior handling characteristics.

Two sporting versions of the Avenger were built both with 107 hp uprated engines with big valves and two Webber Carbs , the Tiger 1, launched in March ’72, is externally distinguishable by square headlights, a power bulge in the bonnet, four fog lights and a set of Minilite wheels. Intended to be an edition limited to 100 the Tiger 1 ended up being limited to 200 examples, all bar 3 of the Tiger 1 models were Sundance Yellow with black stripes the exceptions all being white with Rootes Group (Chrysler) blue stripes.

The Tiger 2 featuring a matt black bonnet, four round headlights and a cheaper set of alloy wheels but retaining the rear spoiler was launched in October ’72 with a production run of 400. Tiger 2’s were available in Sundance Yellow or Red with the familiar black detailing.

Despite the badging on this vehicle an HPI check of the registration leads me to confidently believe that this particular vehicle is not one of only 20 original Tigers thought to exist today. Bernard Unett won the British Saloon Car Championship in 1974 and 1976 driving Mopar sponsored Avengers. In all over 600,000 Avengers were built over 11 years to 1981.

US readers might know this model better as the Plymouth Cricket, it was also sold as the Dodge Avenger – South Africa, Dodge 1800 & Polara – Brazil, Dodge 1500 in Uruguay and Argentina where it was also known as the Volkswagen 1500 !

With thanks to David Rootes who facilitated my visit to the Classic and Saloon Car Action day at Castle Combe recently.

Thanks for popping by the Tiger edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring