Tag Archives: Horton

Brits Take Morgan Hill – The 2013 British Fall Classic

Last month Geoffrey Horton took his immaculate Jaguar XK 140 to Morgan Hill in California for The 2013 British Fall Classic and kindly shared today’s featured photographs.

The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Above Geoffrey’s Jaguar is seen on the Monterey Road in the middle of Morgan Hill.

Alvis TA 21, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

If it’s big, but slightly smaller than a Rolls or a Bentley with a red triangle on the radiator grill it’s usually an Alvis as is the case with this TA 21 one of 302 dropheads built between 1950 and 1953 powered by a 3 litre / 183 cui straight 6.

Austin Healey 100, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Austin Healey’s were obviously just made for California sunshine the drop screen and two tone paint job point to this being a BN2 built between 1955 and 1956.

Byers MG, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Jim Byers of California designed the CR90 body to fit on cars with a 90 inch wheel base, the unused body of the car seen here was found by special restorer Jim Collins at a flee market at Lime Rock in the late 1980’s and it has since been fitted to an MG A chassis to make a most attractive 122 mph vehicle.

Ginetta G4, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

This Ginetta left the UK in 1995/6 I believe it is a Ginetta G4 fitted with a 2 litre / 122 cui motor.

Jaguar XJS, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Looking at this Jaguar XJS it dawned on me that the 1980’s will be remembered for giving us colour coded bumpers. A couple of weeks ago a well known restorer of Lotus Elan’s reckoned that the XJS seats although heavy, thanks to 3 electric motors are amongst the most comfortable eve made.

Lotus Esprit, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

The failure of the Lotus Type 82 Esprit Turbo to get a decent foothold in the US market during the early 1980’s meant that it was not until 1996 that a V8 Esprit would first see the light of day in public despite the V8 having been developed alongside the 4 cylinder turbo Type 82 model.

MG A, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Above one of the 31,501 78 hp, 96 mph MG A’s built between 1959 and 1960.

Morgan, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Appropriately Morgan was represented at Morgan Hill, this appears to be a 1968 model the wire wheels suggest is probably not be a plus Eight but if you know for sure please chime in below.

Rolls Royce Corniche, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

The Rolls Royce Corniche was introduced in 1971, the colour coded bumpers and spoiler tell us that this car is a Corniche II of which 1,234 examples were built from 1986 until 1989.

Triumph Stag, The British Fall Classic, Morgan Hill, Ca

Finally a 3 litre / 183 cui V8 powered Triumph Stag, a model that started life after Giovanni Michelotti shaped a prototype from a 1963 Triumph 2000 saloon.

My thanks to Geoffrey for sharing the California sunshine and his photographs.

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

Rosselini’s Racer – Ferrari 212 Inter Pininfarina Cabriolet #0235EU

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Today’s featured Ferrari 212 Inter Pininfarina Cabriolet was built built primarily as a road car in 1952 it is one of only two 4 seat 212 Inter’s with a Pininfarina Cabriolet body and of the other 77 212 Inters Abbot’s of Farnham fitted 1 cabriolet body and Vignale 4 more.

Ferrari 212 Inter Pf Convertible, The Quail,

The early ownership of this car appears to involve either Californian building contractor Tony Parravano and or Italian film maker Roberto Rosselini. In August 1953 Rosselini entered #0235EU in the 1000kms (600 mile) race for sports cars at the Nurburgring, Rosselini was entered to drive but did not show up, his place was taken by Dutch journalist, with competition experience, Maurice Gatsonides who partnered Riccardo Vignolo.

Maurice is quoted as having said of his ride “I was to have the most magnificent car of the whole field, as this Ferrari was bodied by Pininfarina and carried a four seat drophead coupe with graceful lines, a sure winner at any Concours d’ Elegance”.

In this linked photo the street 212 Inter Cabriolet sticks out like a sore thumb twixt the race prepared #7 Lancia D20 and the #56 Jaguar C-type.

Of the three cars in the photo that finished the race the #1 Ferrari 375MM #0286AM, far left, driven by world Champions Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina won, the three Lancia’s #5, #6, and #7 all retired with today’s featured #0235EU coming through to finish ninth, eleven spots ahead of the #56 C type driven by Belgians Kasimir Olislaegers and Charles de Keerle.

In 1954 the car was sold and ended up in the USA, in the 1970’s the motor and 4 speed transmission were removed and replaced with a cheaper to maintain Chevrolet V8 and 3 speed Muncie transmission.

All the correct bits and pieces were traced in the 1990’s and #0235EU reappeared fully restored for the first time last year.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s featured photo taken at The Quail a few weeks ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Rosellini’s Racer” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Zagato bodied Aston Martin. Don’t forget to come back now !

Greenwoods Last Customer C3 – Chevrolet Corvette C3 Greenwood #12

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The last in this series of Americana Thursday blogs celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Chevrolet Corvettes features the last of the 12 customer Corvette racer built by John Greenwood as seen in these photo’s taken by Geoffrey Horton at the recent Rolex Reunion meeting run at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca.

Chevrolet Corvette C3, Rolex Reunion, Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca

Chassis #12 appears to have been built for Albert DeLeo from a Greenwood stock 1976 chassis for the 1982 season when Albert ran the car just once in the Lime Rock 1 hour Coca Cola 400 race for which he qualified 18th and was classified as a non runner in 24th place.

Chevrolet Corvette C3, Rolex Reunion, Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca

Changes in the IMSA GTO regulations which favoured tube frame chassis over full frame cars meant the car was never raced again in period. The all aluminium 7.8 litre / 478 cui motor was fitted with Kinsler fuel injection and produced around 730 hp with a red line at 6,400 ear busting rpm.

Chevrolet Corvette C3, Rolex Reunion, Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca

The car known as a wide body has coil over rear suspension to help transmit the fearsome horsepower through the 15″ wide rear tyres to the road. The front wheels are 12″ wide 15″ diameter made as are the rears by Jongbloed.

Chevrolet Corvette C3, Rolex Reunion, Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca

Lance Smith found the pristine car at Albert’s in 1989 and since then it has undergone minor restoration.

Chevrolet Corvette C3, Rolex Reunion, Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca

French sports, GT and former Galles IRL driver Didier André car bought chassis #12 through Bonhams last year. It appears that Didier plans to bring the car up to the same specification as Greenwoods famous Spirit of ’76 #007 specification so that it can take part in historic event’s in Europe.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photograph’s.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Greenwoods Last Customer C3′ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

Unique Among Rare – Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato #0188/L

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In 1958 Aston Martin launched it’s all new DB4, which owed very little to the Claude Hill designs that spanned the 1939 concept Atom through the; DB2, DB2/4 and concluded with the 1957 Mark III. In September 1959 a short wheel base of the DB4GT was announced of which 75 were built and in October 1960 a DB4GT with light weight body work and further weight saving by Ercole Spada at Zagato was shown at the London Motor Show.

Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, Danville Concours d'Elegance

The DB4GT Zagato was powered by a Tadek Marek designed 314 hp, 3670 cc / 223 cui, all aluminium straight six motor fitted to a 4 speed all synchromesh gearbox that could push the car from rest to 60mph in just 6.1 seconds, 3 seconds faster than a standard DB4, and on to a top speed of 154mph. The disc brakes however did not have servo assistance.

Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, Danville Concours d'Elegance

The plan was to build 25 DB4GT Zagato’s however at £5,470, they were not a fast seller and production was halted with just 19 original cars built. Today’s featured car is unique among the 19 because it does not feature the faired in front head lights common to it’s 18 siblings.

Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, Danville Concours d'Elegance

With the relative rarity of these cars pushing up prices and numerous of the 75 DB4GT’s being converted to Zagato specification, in 1988 Aston Martin approved the uprating of four DB4 chassis to DB4GT specification and for these chassis to be sent to Zagato in Italy to be built into works approved replica’s known as Sanction II’s, which were outwardly similar to the original but in no way identical. These four cars sold for over US$ 1,000,000 … each !

In 2000 Aston Martin sanctioned two further DB4’s to be similarly upgraded by Zagato and this pair of cars are known as Sanction III’s.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photograph’s taken at Danville Concours d’Elegance last year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unique Among Rare” edition of Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another Aston Martin DB4. Don’t forget to come back now !

Big Block Small Block – Chevrolet Corvette C2

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Continuing this months 60th Corvette Anniversary on Americana Thursday today’s Chevrolet Corvette C2 is a 1964 model owned by Tommy and Ross Thompson since 2007.

Chevrolet Corvette, Rolex Reunion, Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca

Form the information sheet it would appear the Thompson’s have a big block 7 litre / 427 cui motor and a 5.3 litre 327 cui small block motor as seen here to race with.

Chevrolet Corvette, Rolex Reunion, Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca

The known history of this car starts in 1986 when Mark Brown, bought sponsored and raced the car up until 1992. Thereafter it passed into the hands of Bill Morrison and almost immediately on to Bill Gagliano who owned it up until 2007. Since then Tommy Thompson has won numerous classic racing awards including the Monterey Trophy for performance and presentation.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who took today’s photograph’s at the recent Rolex Reunion, Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca.

Thanks for joining me on this “Big Block Small Block” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a convertible Ferrari that hit the race track for a single 1000km race at the Nurburgring. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Prettiest Ferrari ? – Ferrari 250 Europa Vignale Coupé #0313EU

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A couple of weeks ago today’s featured Ferrari 250 Europa Vignale Coupé chassis #0313EU sold for US$ 2.8 million / 1.8 million pounds.

Ferrari 250 Europa Vignale, Bonhams, The Quail

The car was built in 1953 with a unique body designed by Giovanni Michelotti and built by Vignale.

Ferrari 250 Europa Vignale, Bonhams, The Quail

When US Ferrari distributor Luigi Chinetti took delivery of it he had no hesitation in sending to the 1954 New York Auto Show where it was at the center of the Ferrari stand.

Ferrari 250 Europa Vignale, Bonhams, The Quail

The #0313EU remained in the USA for most of it’s life being painted red with a black roof, from the original colours seen here, in 1954, in 1960 it was painted purple (!) and later that year it was fitted with a supercharged Chevrolet V8.

Ferrari 250 Europa Vignale, Bonhams, The Quail

In 2001 the correct type motor #0331 was installed in the car and by last year the paintwork was restored back to it’s original colours.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photo’s taken at Bonhams, The Quail.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Prettiest Ferrari ?” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a one off Aston Martin. Don’t forget to come back now !

Baroque Tooth Racer – Chevrolet Corvette C1 #008

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Continuing Americana Thursdays month long celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the USA’s first mass produced sports car today’s 1958 Chevrolet Corvette belonging to Brad Goldstone was photographed by Geoffrey Horton at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance in July.