Tag Archives: Jankowits

Goodwood Revival 2012 – #3 Continental Curiosities

Today’s post features some of the Continental Curiosities that appeared at last weekends Goodwood Revival.

GAZ Volga 21M, Goodwood Revival

In the pits this 1959 GAZ Volga 21M was being readied for Roger Wills and Brendan Hartley to take part in the St Marys trophy races, the car ended the day with the bonnet hood wrapped round the windscreen after something came loose approaching Fordwater. Brendon finished 10th in race 1 and Roger 11th in race 2. The proogramme notes this 21M is powered by a 3 litre / 183 cui motor which is not a standard size for the model when it was built.

Austin Metropolitan, Goodwood Revival

The Nash Metropolitan was a sub compact designed in the US but built in the UK by the Austin Motor Company in Birmingham, England with an Austin motor from 1953 to 1961, this left hand drive Series III car was driven in the St Mary’s Trophy races by Shaun Rainford and 1989/1995 British Touring Car Champion John Cleland. John was not classified in race 1 while Shaun finished 21st in race 2.

Renault 4CV, Goodwood Revival

Back in the mid 1970’s Stuart Graham was a regular contender for saloon car race wins with first a Chevrolet Camaro and the Ford Capri III S. He is also a two time motorcycle Grand Prix winner. The now 70 year old Stuart can be seen preparing to climb aboard the 1951 Renault 4CV he was sharing with John Arnold. Stuart recorded a non finish in race 1 and John 25th in race 2 of the St Mary’s trophy.

Goggomobil TS250 MM Tribute, Goodwood Revival

Simply hanging in the paddock was this Goggomobil TS250 that has had the roof chopped off and a 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR Mille Miglia tribute paint job. #722 was the number of the Mercedes Benz 300 SLR driven to victory by Stirling Moss with Dennis Jenkinson reading the map in the 1955 Mille Miglia.

Peugeot 172R, Goodwood Revival

So far as I can tell the vehicle above is a 1926 Peugeot 172R also known as a 5CV named after the French Tax Bracket into which it fell. It is powered by an 11 horsepower 4 cylinder motor.

Frazer Nash "Foursome" Cabriolet, Goodwood Revival

The first of two Frazer Nash’s I learnt about at the weekend was this 1950 “Foursome” Cabriolet described in the notes on a Frazer Nash website as Fritz Fiedler’s dream car, Fritz was employed by Fraser Nash and Bristol to help set up production of various vehicles based on prewar BMW designs on which he had worked. Fieidler later returned to BMW where he eventually served as chairman. This Cabriolet appears to have been the only one of it’s kind ever built and features a larger chassis than it’s contemporary Frazer Nash vehicles.

Mercedes 190 Estate, Goodwood Revival

This Mercedes Benz 190 will have left the factory as a saloon / sedan and had a post production conversion into an estate / station wagon, given the paint scheme this one may have served as an ambulance / retungswagen. The wide radiator grill dates the car post 1960 confusingly the swish indicators on the wing / fender appear to have come from a more powerful Mercedes Benz 220.

Jankowits, Goodwood Revival

Georg Gebhard gave his Jankowits Special it’s world competition debut in the Brooklands Trophy, and I have to admire him for his bravery, given that the steering wheel is in the middle of a three wide bench seat ! The beautiful but heavy steel body sapped the cars acceleration on the straights and the seating arrangements made cornering a precarious experience even at walking pace. Unsurprisingly the Jankowits qualified last for the Brooklands Trophy over 30 seconds slower than the last but one slowest competitor. The owner is still convinced that the Jankowits is an ALFA Romeo in the absence of a single shred of evidence.

Frazer Nash Saloon "The Owlet", Goodwood Revival

The second Frazer Nash I learnt of for the first time over the weekend is this 1928 Saloon known as “The Owlet” driven by Patrick Blakeney-Edwards. Other than the car appears to be a recreation I know little else at the moment except that it is very fast qualifying over a minuet faster than the Jankowits for the Brooklands trophy race for 5th place on the grid and finishing 3rd behind a more powerful ALFA Romeo and Talbot.

Tatra T603, Goodwood Revival

Winner of the unofficial biggest exhaust pipes in the paddock award the Tatra T603 driven by John Haugland and Arne Berg proved to be more than “all show and no go” with 5th and 8th place finishes in their respective St Mary’s Trophy races.

BMW 700, Goodwood Revival

BMW was in danger of a merger with Daimler Benz such was the poor state of it’s finances when the BMW 700 Coupé was launched in 1959, fortunately a substantial number of orders along with a substantial investment saved the day for the company to remain independent. Jackie Oliver driving the #2 qualified and finished 3rd in the 1st Mary’s Race while team mate Richard Shaw qualified 5th and finished 6th in the 2nd race.

Thanks for joining me on this “#3 Continental Curiosities” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again for a Presidential Americana edition tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Ce n’est pas une ALFA Romeo – Jankowits #RO559

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

I have been following the car featured in today’s blog for nearly a year and was pleasantly surprised to finally catch up with it at Goodwood Festival of Speed last week.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Thought to be dated 1934 Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

Somewhere around 1934 two brothers Gina and Oscar Jankowits, with a background in architecture, from Flume on the Adriatic Coast then in Italy now in Croatia, set out to build an unusual car,

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

the two main distinguishing features of which were the mid engine rear wheel drive layout and a bench seat for three with the driver sitting in the middle.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Thought to be dated 1937/8 Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

The chassis was built using C section lengths of steel, uses modified 1933 Buick brakes and modified 1935 Ford suspension, when it was completed the chassis was rigged up with rudimentary road going equipment and registered in Flume with the number 2757 – FM around 1938.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Thought to be dated 1939/40 Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

The steel bodywork was then constructed,

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

and is thought to have been completed before the commencement of World War 2 hostilities in Italy.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

For the duration of the hostilities the Jankowits was hidden away.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Travel Permit Issued 24th December 1946)

After World War 2 Flume found itself in communist Yugoslavia and like many residents of the former Italian territory the Jankowits brothers obtained a permit, #2720, to visit Italy, on which a chassis number RO559 is hinted at, along with the ALFA Romeo engine number 700316, and did so never to return.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Date unknown, Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

The brothers sold their car to a US Serviceman in Trieste who shipped it home. In 1967 Colin Crabbe the ‘Indiana Jones’ of finding long lost motor vehicles found the Jankowits in New York.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Date unknown, Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

Not knowing what the vehicle was, but recognising the 6C ALFA Romeo motor, he contacted Luigi Fusi of the ALFA Romeo museum, who was familiar with all pre WW2 ALFA Romeo projects along with the people who worked on them

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

(Date unknown, Copyright holder unknown, image will be correctly credited or removed upon request.)

and was told that the Jankowits car was ‘nothing more than a special’. Eventually the car was sold to Malcolm Templeton in Nothern Ireland. Collector Neil Crabb no relation to Colin, then purchased the Jankowits and sold it to Phil Bennett in Leeds and during his ownership the car was shown at Beaulieu National motor Museum.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

The Jankowits was restored in 2004 near Modena and entered into an auction in Paris (Lot 52) , however the known history, in particular the claims that it was an ALFA Romeo with a racing history were so shaky that it was withdrawn from the sale.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

More recently the Jankowits has turned up at a number of events remade into a pseudo racer with ALFA Romeo badges replacing the previous crests of the Swiss ‘Graber’ coach builder.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

The new owner is completely convinced this car was designed and built as an ALFA Romeo racing car despite the fact there is not a single shred of verifiable evidence that the car is either an ALFA Romeo or took part in any competition.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

While the chassis was fitted with wire wheels when it was first registered all the photo’s of the car after it was fitted with it’s steel bodywork up until 2004 show the vehicle was fitted with hub caps, for more leisurely road use, as do what appears to be the original drawings of the car.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

Much has been made of the central driver position and bench seat for three, this turns out to be a completely impractical solution as the steering is very heavy and passengers are forever getting poked by the drivers elbow’s while these idea’s predated vehicles like the McLaren F1 it should be noted that Gordon Murray had the forethought to move the passenger seats back relative to the drivers seat in his design.

It has been suggested that the absence of a speedometer hints that the vehicle was intended for racing however I suspect that if the car was registered for the road back in 1938 without one, it is possible that a speedometer was not a legal requirement for prototype or special vehicles in Italy at the time.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

That the Jankowits brothers should choose to use a 6C 2300 ALFA Romeo motor for their vehicle is not in the least surprising apparently their father ran ALFA Romeo dealership.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

As has been noted by several observers the rear transmission axle with the differential ahead of the gearbox suggested in the drawings was not realised in the car we see today with the gearbox being placed ahead of a Lancia differential. This compromise might account for an erroneous belief that the engine bay looks too large for the engine and suggests the wheel base on the car we see today is longer than originally intended.

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

Make no mistake this is a beguiling beautiful vehicle that hides many secrets but,

Jankowits, Goodwood FoS

there is absolutely no evidence that this vehicle was ever part of the ALFA Romeo design program, to suggest so does a huge disservice to the Jankowits brothers who should be given all the credit for this futuristic if ultimately somewhat impractical design.

My thanks to the many contributors of the relevant threads at the Alfa bb, TNF, and alfisti.hr forums for providing the bulk of the information on today’s story and related photographs.

Hope you have enjoyed this Croatian edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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