Tag Archives: Mopar

FliteSweep Deck Lid – Imperial Crown

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In 1955 Chrysler turned the hitherto top of the Chrysler range Imperial model into an exclusive standing alone premium brand a division of Chrysler Corporation in much the same way as Continental became a premium division of Lincoln in 1956 and Cadillac has always been the premium division of General Motors.

Imperial Crown, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

For 1957 the second generation Imperials were launched with wider platforms that were unique to the Imperial brand and wider than any of it’s rivals. Three motor options were available ranging from 6.4 litre / 392 cui Hemi’s to 7.2 litre / 440 cui Wedgeheads. So far as I have been able to determine from the DVLA records today’s featured ’57 Imperial Crown is fitted with a non standard MOPAR 6.2 litre 383 cui engine which did not go into production until 1959.

Imperial Crown, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

A highly rated smooth ride was facilitated by Torsion-Aire suspension with torsion bars on the front and multi-leaf springs on the rear axle the benefits of which one critic elucidated thus “cornered at speed flatter than a tournament billiard table”.

Imperial Crown, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

Virgil Exner evolved his ‘Forward Look’ and 1955 “The New 100-Million Dollar Look” design themes on the 1957 Imperial which featured the FliteSweep Deck Lid complete with optional faux continental tyre bulge in the boot / trunk lid.

Imperial Crown, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The gunsight tail lights were way ahead of the game and along with several other details would be a much copied feature on General Motors products from Buicks Buick, to Cadillacs over the following years.

Imperial Crown, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

While power seats and dual exhausts were standard on all Imperials, Custom, Crown, LaBaron or custom built Crown Imperial trim levels were available according to the customers requirements.

Imperial Crown, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

Despite being so far ahead of the curve in handling, styling and size the ’57 Imperials were outsold 1 to 3 by the ’57 Cadillacs.

Thanks for joining me on this “FliteSweep Deck Lid” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a highly collectible FIAT. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Turbo Mopar Under The Hood – Bristol Brigand

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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 !

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Unparalleld Vision – Bristol 603 E

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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.

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Criptic Details – GALPOT Quiz

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I thought it would be fun to look at some details I caught on camera in recent weeks and set a a cryptic details quiz. There are no prizes answers will be given next in next Wednesdays blog.

Quiz

It’s a ’58, but which letter ?

Quiz

Another slippery MOPAR, but which model ?

Quiz

What was the code name that Product Planning Dept leader Erick A. Reikert lent to the base model of this RS Turbo ?

Quiz

Surnames names of two US presidents who might be associated with this door handle.

Quiz

What was the most popular block used in the Formula A / Formula 5000 open wheel series ?

Quiz

Which Brazilian went on to become a three time world champion after running into the rear end of Martin Brundle’s Formula Three Ralt RT3 ?

Quiz

Enzo Ferrari described this as “The most beautiful car ever made” what is it ?

There are no prizes but if you would like to e-mail your answers to me at info@www.psychoontyres.co.uk before mid night Monday where ever you are I’ll publish a list of anyone who gets all the answers right or failing that the person or persons who get the highest scores on Wednesdays, please do not give away answers on fb links. Wishing you all good luck.

Thanks for joining me on this “Criptic Details” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”,
I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the last in the present series of racing Corvette’s. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Chthonic deity of vengeance – Plymouth Fury

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Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

The second generation Plymouth Fury was in production from 1960 to 1964, in 4 door saloon / sedan, 2 door coupé, 4 door estate / station wagon or 2 door convertible body styles. The model featured in today’s blog was built in 1961.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

Second generation Furies are distinguishable from their earlier siblings by featuring unit-body construction doing away with the need for a separate chassis.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

The Fury takes its name from mythological subterranean personifications of vengeance.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

An electric motor powers a hydraulic pump which acts to power the hood down and back up, the hood is locked shut manually and sealed with a couple of press studs.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

Allegedly the ’62 Fury was downsized after the President of Chrysler misheard a GM executive saying that Chevrolet, GM’s bargain equivalent of Chryslers Plymouth brand would not have any full size cars in it’s ’62 model line up.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

With some 5,400 body welds to each Plymouth the unitary construction of the second generation Fury was estimated to have 40% more sag resistance and double the twist resistance of the first generation Fury with its body on frame construction method.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

There is some debate about the ’61’s down turned fins which were critically acclaimed but not well received by the public , were they a deliberate feature or an unresolved feature by designer Virgil Exner who suffered a heart attack in 1960 and was near death when the 1961 and ’62 Fury designs were finalised.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

A particularly cool feature of the second generation Fury is that it has no gear stick / shift either floor or column mounted but instead the Torqueflite automatic gearbox is operated by just five simple push buttons at the 9 o’clock position to the left of the steering wheel.

A copy of this transmission operating system was also adopted by Bristol Cars on their 407 model which also used identical Chrysler 313 cui V8 engines and Torqueflite gearboxes to this particular Plymouth Fury.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson Museum

Imported from California in 1976 this is thought to be the only working ’61 Plymouth Fury in the United Kingdom and can be hired for weddings for a modest £275 pounds.

My thanks to the Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum for keeping this magnificent land yacht in working fettle and on display,

Thanks for joining me for another Mopar edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when we take a peak at something very large and in charge from behind the Iron Curtain. Don’t for get to come back now !

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