Tag Archives: Museum

Choices Choices – Simply Italian National Motor Museum Beaulieu

In the interests of keeping my regular Friday readers happy I needed little convincing by GALPOT regular David Roots to forgoe the delights of the Avenue Drivers Club monthly meeting at Queens Square, in order to take a trip to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu for the third Simply Italian parade on Sunday.

On the way down I passed at several cars making their way to Queens Square, a magnificent Alvis and several other vintage cars taking part in a Vintage Rally, and a number of classic sports cars taking part in a Classic Rally before stumbling accross this F40 as it slowly made it’s way through the achingly picturesque village of Beaulieu, pronounced ‘Bewley’.

In the never seen one before category was the Vignale Gamine, one of just 300 vehicles, based on a FIAT 500 platform with a 21 hp 2 cylinder motor. This slow selling Alfredo Vignale pet project led to Carrozeria Vignale going out of business and the production facility being acquired by de Tomaso for their Pantera models.

One of my favourite toys when I was not yet six was a Lancia Flamina similar to the 1962 Coupé seen here which had yellow jeweled headlights.

Appropriately on the other side of the car park to the Vignale Gamine was this de Tomaso Pantera which with it’s Ford motor and running gear has to be one of the most practical and affordable ways of running a genuine Italian super car.

Speaking of practical this 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Baldoni, one of just 250 550 hp 200 mph 2 wheel drive super cars with a distinctive white and gold stripe was carrying a child seat on the passenger side. The owner told me he has had the car just nine weeks and in that time has driven it 5000 miles at 25 mpg on the road and as little as 5 mpg on track days. He has also had to replace a set of tyres !

Around lunch time the grounds of the National Motor Museum echoed to the sound of LEFT ! RIGHT ! LEFT ! RIGHT ! LEFT ! RIGHT ! LEFT ! as a squad of 13 field gunners from HMS Sultan ended a 56 mile weekend yomp with a limber and 12 pounder field gun, of the type used during the Boer War, in tow. The gun and breach alone weighs some 400 kgs, nearly 900 lbs ! All of this was to honour the men of 40 Commando in the Falklands Conflict who covered the same distance in 1982 to retake Port Stanley and to raise funds the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, follow this link to find out more and make a donation.

After lunch the results of a public vote for the most popular vehicle present was announced, the 1988 FIAT Panda 4×4 above, which came complete with a fitted tent was awarded a bottle of Beaulieu Bubbly, a local sparkling wine.

A well deserved second went to GALPOT regular David Roots and his Lenham based ALFA Romeo 4C Special,

while most visitors votes went to this Maserati Merak.

My thanks and congratulations to David for telling me about this fabulous event which was interspersed with visits into the National Motor Museum which I shall cover in greater detail on Sunday.

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

Static Show Car – Ferrari F310

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Coming off two championship wins with Benetton in 1994 powered by Ford and 1995 powered by Renault Micheal Schumacher named his price, allegedly of the order of $30 million per year, and joined Ferrari in order to take up the challenge of attempting to become the first driver to win the World Drivers Championship in a Ferrari since Jody Scheckter in 1979.

John Barnard who’s designs include the Indy 500 winning Chaparral 2K and Grand Prix Winning McLaren MP4/1 and subsequent championship winning McLarens was responsible of the design of the F310 with which Schumacher was to win races in in 1996 and challenge for the championship in 1997.

The original version of the F310 featured the only low nose in the field …

but by the half way mark a high nose as pioneered by Dr Harvey Postlethwaite and Jean-Claude Migeot at Tyrrell in 1990 was permanently adopted by the Ferrari Team in order to maximize the use of airflow beneath the car to the advantage of the cars handling. It is curious that Jean-Claude Migeot did not introduce the feature during his spell at Ferrari in 1992.

The design if the F310’s side pods with a separate…

‘floor’ beneath harks back to the Ferrari F92A a design that proved so recalcitrant that it led to designers Jean-Claude Migeot and Steve Nichols replacement by John Barnard !

The F310 was the first Ferrari to feature a 3 litre / 183 cui V10 motor, although this static show car seen at the Haynes International Motor Museum probably does not even have a mock engine, again following pioneers Renault and Honda who had opted for this unusual yet successful layout in 1989. Reliability was an issue for these V10 motors though that did not stop Micheal winning 3 races in 1996 and challenging, albeit controversially, for the championship with the F310B in 1997.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Static Show Car’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Lotus 41. Don’t forget to come back now !

Stewart’s Nemesis – Ferrari 312 B2 #007

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In 1970 Ferrari launched the first in a long line of Grand Prix cars powered by flat 12 motors that would eventually power Niki Lauda to World Championships in 1975 and ’77 and Jody Scheckter to a Championship in 1979.

The initial incarnation of the flat 12 powered Ferrari Grand Prix challenger was known as the Ferrari 312 B, B for boxer although the motor is actually a 180 degree V12 design ie the crank pins operate pairs of pistons rather than individual pistons as on a true boxer motor. The 312 B in the hands of Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni scored 4 championship Grand Prix wins at the end of 1970 in the absence of Jochen Rindt who would be declared the World Champion posthumously.

For 1971 Mario Andretti joined Ickx and Regazzoni and won the South African GP in a 312B and a non championship race at Ontario before the team introduced the 312 B2 of the type seen here at the Donnington Park Museum. The new car showed some initial promise with Ickx winning the Dutch Grand Prix second time out in part thanks to the superiority of the Firestone wet weather tyres but there after the B2’s suffered appalling reliability with Ickx and Regazzoni and Andretti scoring points on just 4 occasions from 15 further starts between them in the remaining 1971 season.

Things did not improve much in 1972 when Lotus and Tyrrell’s now joined by McLaren’s superior reliability left only scraps on the table for forth placed Ferrari who’s highlight of the year was a one two finish at the Nurburgring for Ickx and Regazzoni after Regazzoni was involved in contact with Jackie Stewart’s Tyrrell that all but ended the Scotsman’s 1972 World Championship challenge.

For 1973 Ferrari would have it’s first ever monocoque chassis, built in England, prepared in the guise of the 312 B3 for what would be an even more disastrous season than 1972, but for the first three races of the season the old B2 wheeled out and driven by Ickx and Arturo Mezario the B2 scored 11 of the teams 12 points that saw Ferrari plummet to 6th in the constructors championship.

This particular chassis appears to be #007, the four B2 chassis numbers carried on where the B finished off and so were numbered 005 to 008. Andretti drove this car to 4th place finishes in Germany ’71 and South Africa ’72 and Clay Regazzoni drove the car at the ’72 German Grand Prix to the 2nd place finish that all but ended Stewart’s championship run in the process.

My thanks to galbet and Sire Bruno de Losckley at Ferrari Chat for helping to sort out which car this is.

Thanks for joining me on ‘Stewart’s Nemesis’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Biggest, Fastest, and most Expensive – Duesenberg J Derham Tourster

Gas Turbine Highboy – ’32 Ford Boeing Roadster

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One of the earliest motoring books I was given was called Cars Cars Cars Cars by SCH Davis, published by Hamlyn in 1969, from memory the concluding chapter dealt with the future of motoring with a look at some of the gas turbine passenger concept vehicles that had been unveiled over the previous 10 or 20 years.

Unfortunately the promise of the so called ‘Jet Car’ has yet to become reality and this had troubled Boeing Engineer Leonard Williams, a full ten years before I read about them, so that when he heard of the opportunity to buy a government surplus Boeing gas turbine for $500 he took the opportunity to build the very first privately owned gas turbine motor vehicle.

The story of Len’s gas turbine car began after a trip to the road races and Concours d’Elegance at Watkins Glen in 1949 where he was deeply impressed by a 1932 Highboy Roadster from Massachusetts fitted with an immaculate flat head Mercury motor, hydraulic brakes and a black lacquer paint job which stood out among the Duesenbergs, Jaguars, Ferraris, and sundry European exotica.

After returning to Willow Run Michigan where he was studying Leonard purchased a a rusty ’32 Roadster from the son of Preston Tucker, of Tucker cars, who was living with his Grandmother in Ypsilanti for $50. Len bought a ’41 Ford for a $100 and swapped over the motor, transmission, brakes and wheels over to his Roadster making a few improvement’s to the motor along with a set of Pontiac tail lights.

Upon graduating from the University of Michigan in 1950 Len moved with his wife Gladys to Seattle where he was employed Boeing and towed his not quite complete Roadster west behind his ’41 Chevrolet. Once Len had finished transforming the Roadster into a Hot Rod he used it as his daily transportation and joined the Dragons Hot Rod Club who used to run a 1250 ft drag strip at Arlington Airport for fun. Above Lens Roadster can be seen at Arlington fitted with token mud guards / fenders as required by the State of Washington.

While running at Arlington the ’41 Ford Motor in the Roadster was eventually replaced with a ’49/’50 303 inch / 4965 cc Oldsmobile motor that was machined out to 331 cui / 5425 cc and fitted with a four barrel carburetor. Len drove his Roadster to Bonneville for the Southern California Timing Association Speed trials in ’51, ’52 and ’54s and was timed at 134.12 mph. This was before the establishment of a street legal class and was no match for the trailered cars.

Len put the Roadster aside after Bonneville in ’54 while he fixed up a ’33 five window Coupé with a 283 cui / 4637 cc Chevrolet motor and Corvette cams and manifolds that was capable of 95 mph in 2nd gear. By the time he got back to the Roadster it was suffering from salt corrosion so he decided to strip the car for sand blasting and resprayed the chassis red and body white.

It was after he completed rebuilding the Olds motor for the Roadster and before he had reinstalled it that Len found out about a surplus Boeing 502-8 gas turbine, as used in the military version of a Cessna 170 the L19 reconnaissance aircraft, which he acquired from a New York government surplus lot.

Detailed records indicated that the motor Len purchased had been used to set the Class C small plane altitude record at 37,062 feet it was then put into storage until it became surplus. More surprisingly the motor fitted into the engine bay like a glove, apart manufacturing a couple of steel straps to bolt the motor to the chassis frame, splitting the radius rods, manufacturing an adaptor to connect the turbine output shaft to the Roadsters propshaft, a pair of five inch diameter tailpipes and fitting a 35 gallon fuel tank not much else had to be done, as Len said at the time “it was almost as though Henry (Ford) had the turbine in mind when he built the car (in 1932)”.

The Boeing 502 gas turbine features a combustion chamber which creates hot air that is forced by a fan through an enclosed space at the end of which a second fan attached to an output shaft gets spun before entering the exhaust pipe. Because the two fans are not directly connected there is no need for a gearbox effectively providing the motor with a built in infinitely variable transmission. In theory one could stand on the brakes and run the gas turbine at maximum 37,000 rpm without stalling the motor, though one might burn out the fan blades if one tried this.

In the rush to complete the car Len, like Rover who manufactured the T4 concept gas turbine car around the same time, dispensed with fitting a reverse gear, however despite the absence of reverse Len resumed driving his ’32 Roadster to work at Boeing’s Plant One.

The Roadster was now capable of 0 – 60 in 5 seconds but was conservatively geared at the rear axle for a top speed of just 75 mph, though Len later fitted a higher gear rear axle and saw an indicated top speed of between 110 mph and 115 mph, but he never ran his turbine powered roadster in competition.

Despite being able to run on a variety of fuels diesel to Jet A one of the drawbacks of the efficient producer of power compared to weight is the inefficient use of fuel, a tear jerking 5-6 mpg was the best Len got from his roadster which was prohibitive even when fuel was available at 16¢ a gallon back in the day.

Len’s gas turbine Roadster project was entirely self funded, Len estimates that by 1962 he had spent around $1500 on the car and a lot of spare time. Eagle eyed GALPOT readers may remember it was around this time that Len’s work took him to Indianapolis with the John Zink Trackburner.

Today Lens ’32 Roadster can be seen at the Le May Museum, unfortunately one of the turbine wheels was burnt out during a demonstration in 2006 and has yet to be repaired.

My thanks to Mr Leonard Williams for today’s remarkable story of private innovation, more details of which can be found on Lens website linked here.

Thanks for joining me on this Gas Turbine edition of ‘Getting’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow.

Wishing everyone a merry festive season, I’ll be back tomorrow with a short seasonal blog to celebrate a GALPOT contributors birthday. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

2011 GALPOT Review #1 – Motor Museums

Chinese Whispers – Ferrari 375MM Vignale #0286AM

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Today we are looking at a one off Ferrari 375MM Vignale chassis #0286AM, seen here at the recent Phil Hill Tribute at the Peterson Museum, that for 35 years was reported as being buried in a hole in the ground.

The Vignale bodied chassis 0286AM started life as one of four from a total of 10 340 MM’s with a 4.1 litre 250 cui Lamperdi V12. However before #0286AM left the factory it’s motor was upgraded first with a 4.5 litre / 274 cui V12 which had it’s origins in the Ferrari 375 Grand Prix Car, bringing the erstwhile Vignale bodied 340 MM up to 375 MM spec, in fact today’s car is seen as the prototype 375 MM. The motor was then bored out to 4.9 litres / 299 cui to the so called 375 plus spec.

#0286AM appeared at four events in 1953, Luigi Villoresi qualified on pole for a sports car race at Spa but the car was withdrawn before the start due to engine problems. Villoresi set fastest lap in the Circuito di Senigallia Race but again retired with engine problems.

Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina drove #0286AM to victory at the 1953 Nurburgring 1000 kms after the engine had been changed from one of the other team cars before the start of the race. Somewhere around this time #0286AM was scheduled to transfer to the ownership of Tony Parravano however the engine problems at the Nurburgring meant this transaction never took place and Tony was given another 375 MM chassis #0362AM.

US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti then bought #0286AM painted it black added a full width screen and entered it for himself and Alfonso de Portago in the 1900 mile 1953 Carrera Panamericana where engine problems prevented the car from completing the race. The car was then sold to Carlos Braniff in Mexico City.

Braniff had the car prepared for the 1954 Carrera Panemericana with a standard 4.5 litre / 274 cui motor he had a second spare wheel fitted in the tail and added the distinctive head rest and fin as well as adding cooling vents for the wheels. Carlos drove the car to a second place finish at the The Lone Star National Sports Car Race held at Bergstrom and Phil Hill came second in the Orange Empire National Races held at March AFB prior to the Carrera Panemericana for which Hill was teamed up with Richie Ginther.

Hill & Ginther were in contention for the 1954 Carrera Panemericana win when they ran out of fuel on the 7th of 8 stages, on which they only managed a forth place finish. Hill & Ginther made up for the disappointment by completing the 572 mile final stage of the event, held on open roads remember, at a blistering 137 mph average to recover a 2nd place finish overall. That 137 mph average for the eighth stage of the Carrera Panamericana has never been beaten.

In 1955 Lou Buero became the owner of the car now repainted dark red / brown during the 1955 season Carrol Shelby drove the car to a victory at Torrey Pines. Lou Buero then had the head cylinder heads crack at the end of season races at Nassau and #0286AM would then go unseen in public for 39 years.

It turns out that the reports of the car being buried in the earth were just a tad far of the mark, after Lou Buero Snr passed away his son had tried to revive #0286AM by attempting to fit a Jaguar motor and gearbox, however having failed he entombed the car in a 20ft trailer barricading it in so that no one could steal it in 1956. The myth of the car being buried in the ground stemming perhaps the inevitable Chinese Whispers over the ensuing 39 years owing to the dark red / colour of the car when it was last seen and the fact that it had been entombed in a trailer.

#0286AM was in need of a ground up restoration after spending 35 years in less than ideal conditions in Arcata, California, galvanic corrosion of the steering wheel had been so bad the wood rim of the steering wheel had dropped off ! The process began in 1994 and by 1997 Phil Hill was reunited with #0286AM and he promptly drove it to victory at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races. That same year #0286AM also won the Pebble Beach Cup at the Concours d’Elegance.

My thanks to Mark Savory who was partly responsible for restoring #0286AM who’s website gives a more complete history and further photo’s of the car.

Thanks for joining me on this 137 mph edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !