Tag Archives: Dutton

Escort to Scort – Dutton Sierra

After serving a tool making apprenticeship in a Jaguar Mk X bodyshell and ADO16 bodyshell manufacturing plant with Pressed Steel Ltd in Swindon, UK Tim Dutton-Wolley built his first MG Midget based kit cars in 1969.

Dutton Sierra, Motorsport At The Palace, Crystal Palace

By 1989 Tim had survived and won a court battle with Ford over the rights to use the Sierra model name which he had been using since 1979, 5 years before Ford wanted to use the name for it’s eponymous 1980’s family car, to become the world’s most successful kit car manufacturer in terms of numbers sold.

Dutton Sierra, Motorsport At The Palace, Crystal Palace

There were three Dutton Sierra variants, three series of Ford Escort based 2 wheel drive off road SUV’s built from 1980 to 1989, and a pickup variant and drophead variants built from 1983 to 1989 when sold his designs off and and took a six year sabbatical from the kit car making business.

Dutton Sierra, Motorsport At The Palace, Crystal Palace

I understand the GPX48H registration plate once belonged to a 1970 Mk 1 Ford Escort that was used as a donor car for a Dutton Sierra Kit.

Dutton Sierra, Motorsport At The Palace, Crystal Palace

In 2007 a Scotty G in Folkstone helped the owner complete a 9 month conversion of the Dutton Sierra kit car into a blue step side pick up as seen in this link.

More recently GPX48H has been transformed into the flat side pick up Ford Zetec powered “Scort” seen in these photographs taken at Crystal Palace a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Escort to Scort” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when an Edwardian aero engined Peugeot. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Definitely Not A Lambretta – Bugatti Type 51R #BC 132

The first of of an eventual forty Bugatti Type 51’s appeared in 1931 with a twin cam straight eight replacing the single cam straight eight of it’s Type 35 predecessor. Externally the two types are almost identical with the newer model being equipped with a larger radiator, single piece alloy wheels, and as a consequence of the twin cam head, a lower pop off valve blow whole for the supercharger in the bonnet / hood.

Bugatti T51A R, Howard-Orchard, VSCC Prescott

There were three European Championship Grand Prix in 1931 and Bugatti won the second and third. Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi sharing the win in a T51 on the 12 km track at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry in France and William Grover-Williams & Caberto Conelli the win at Spa, these races were over distance of around 800 miles taking a minimum of ten hours to complete, unlike the modern maximum 2 hour Grand Prix requiring only one driver.

Bugatti T51A R, Howard-Orchard, VSCC Prescott

The following season Bugatti were outclassed by ALFA Romeo in the three European Championship races which were run over ‘just’ five hours, but their cars still won twelve of the thirty less well supported non championship races.

Bugatti T51A R, Howard-Orchard, VSCC Prescott

For 1933 the European Championship was suspended, eventually for two years, but there were five Grandes Épreuves run over distances of 200 miles, Monaco, to just over 400 miles or Spain, requiring just the one driver. Archilli Varzi won the opening race at Monaco aboard a T51 with the remainder going to Maserati and Alfa Romeo equally.

Bugatti T51A R, Howard-Orchard, VSCC Prescott

According to a Bugatti Owners site, today’s T51 recreation was assembled from many original parts and a “Hoskins” frame by Christopher F. Warman in Wales with help from Tim and Ivan Dutton in the late 1980’s. The car was registered for road use by 2006 when it competed at a variety of events, but in 2007 the registration number was transferred to a Lambretta Motor Scooter which according to the DVLA website is not currently on the road.

Bugatti T51A R, Howard-Orchard, VSCC Prescott

More recently the car was said to have been offered for sale at around £500,000 and it is seen driven in these photographs, taken at last years VSCC Prescott meeting, by Derek Howard – Orchard, who has been the owner since at least 2010.

Thanks for joining me on this “It’s Not A Lambretta” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some European cars that took the start of the Classic Run in Chipping Sodbury. Don’t forget to come back now !

23/07/14 Thanks to Tim Murray for clarifying that the Type 51 ran twin cam motors and the minimum times for the European Championship Grand Prix in 1931 and 1932.

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