Tag Archives: Point

Gelände Sportwagen – Mercedes Benz W153 230S

Alongside Mercedes Benz Land Speed Record, Grand Prix and Sports Car programmes during the 1930’s the company also built a small number of Gelände Sportwagen of three types to compete in Rallies such as the Brandenburg Rally and Deutsche Alpenfahrt for the 1938 and 1939 seasons.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The most numerous was the 170VS with a 60hp 4 cylinder motor fitted to a modified W136 tubular cross braced frame of which 30 examples were built between 1938 and 1939.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The 230S was powered by a 58hp six cylinder motor which offered more torque than the 170VS that was fitted to a pressed-steel ladder-structure W153 frame of which 19 examples were built in the same time frame as the 170VS.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The Gelände Sportwagen programme concluded in 1939 with the 230SV which was an improved version of the 230S but with a short stroke engine that still only produced 58hp, but was more reliable than the 1938 model.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The spartan light weight bodies were of elektron with aluminium wings / fenders, the boot / trunk of these cars carried the fuel tank, a spare front tyre with normal tread pattern and rear knobbly treaded tyre plus a selection of spares and tools that might be required on route by competitors who were required to carry out any repairs without any outside assistance.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The frame on today’s featured W153 230S, was found after a two year search by the Mercedes Benz Classic Centre in 2002 and restored with many new fabricated parts in time for Mercedes Benz 125th anniversary in 2011.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who took these photographs at Dana Point Concours d’Elegance in 2014.

Thanks for joining me on this “Gelände Sportwagen” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another French Concept car. Don’t forget to come back now !

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2 Door 4 Seat – Mercedes Benz W142 320 Cabriolet B

In February 1937 Mercedes Benz launched the first two, of an eventual four, variations of the W142 Typ 320, that replaced the W18 Typ 290, with either 2,880 mm / 113″ or 3300 mm / 130″ chassis both of which remained in production from 1937 to 1938.

The new models were powered by enlarged 77hp 3,208 cc / 195 cui six cylinder side-valve engines that were fitted with manual all synchromesh 4 speed gearboxes.

Mercedes Benz W142 320 Cabriolet B, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

As with the W18’s W142 were fitted with numerous Cabriolet options the long wheel base chassis cabriolet options included 2 door 3seat Cabriolet A, 2 door 4 seat Cabriolet B as seen in these photographs, 4 door 4 seat Cabriolet D and four-door 6-seat with three rows of seats Pullman-Cabriolet F.

With a top speed of 81 mph the W142’s had hydraulic brakes on all four wheels to slow then down and made use of the same suspension as the W18, transverse leaf and coil springs on the front and swing axles at the back.

Mercedes Benz W142 320 Cabriolet B, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

The third W142 variant manufactured from 1938 to 1940 was for military use with 4 front hinged door, a canvass roof and off road tyres that reduced the top speed of the vehicle to 73 mph.

The final variant of the W142 built from 1938 to 1942 was powered by a motor enlarged to 3,405 cc / 207 cui, the power output remained the same thanks to a reduced compression ratio in anticipation of the increased use of fuel synthesized from coal which had a lower octane rating than the fuel refined from oil.

The military W142/III was also fitted with the larger engine in 1939 but tuned to give 79hp in order that the top speed remained at 73 mph.

Mercedes Benz W142 320 Cabriolet B, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

4,326 of the W142’s were built with the smaller engine and 885 with the larger engine, additionally 1,806 military variants were built.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs of the 1937 320 Cabriolet B belonging to Mercedes Benz Classic Center taken at Dana Point Concours d’Elegance a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “2 Door 4 Seat” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a three seat Talbot. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Heck Motor – Mercedes Benz 130 H Cabriolet

After designing the first Nesselsdorfer-Wagenbau, later Tata, Präesident in 1897, patenting the first rear swing axles in in 1903 while working for Adler and designing the first motor with a built in gearbox Austrian Edmund Rumpler founded the first German aircraft manufacturer Rumpler Flugzeugwerke GmbH with August Euler in 1908 which in 1909 gave birth to the Rumpler Luft Verkehr department.

Following the 1914-18 war Rumpler Luft Verkehr was reconfigured as an airline that in 1926 became part of Deutsche Luft Hansa AG.

Mercedes Benz 130 H Cabriolet, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Meanwhile Edmund turned his attention to the design and manufacture of automobiles again and well over a decade before the streamlined Tata T77 and Chrylser Airflow went into production in 1934 and designed the sensation of the 1921 Berlin Auto Show known as the Rumpler Tropfen, droplet, Wagen.

It is believed that around 100 of these 5 seat vehicles; with a 36 hp W6 motor mounted ahead of the rear axle, capable of 70 mph, who’s body design was inspired by aerodynamic principles of the day were built. Many served as taxi’s and were immortalised as such in Fritz Lang’s 1927 epic expressionist master peace Metropolis.

Mercedes Benz 130 H Cabriolet, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Chief Benz engineer Hans Nibel was so impressed with the chassis design of the Rumpler he convinced Benz to use a virtually unchanged Rumpler chassis to construct their own single seat Grand Prix racing car which was powered by an 80hp 2 litre 122 cui double overhead cam straight six in 1923.

The Benz Tropfenwagen was not a great success and was abandoned after the merger of Daimler with Benz in 1926, Auto Union under the direction of Dr Ferdinand Porsche would be the next team to progress the concept of the mid engined racing car.

Mercedes Benz 130 H Cabriolet, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

In 1931 Hans Nibel set to work designing a small 4 seat two door car which again was inspired by the Rumpler, but this time he put the 25 hp 1.3 litre / 79 cui 4 cylinder side valve motor behind the rear axle in the heck, hither to boot / trunk with the 4 speed synchromesh transmission in front of both the engine and rear axle.

From 1934 to 1936 130 H (Heck) was sold as a two door hard top saloon/sedan, soft top as seen here or convertible with out the side windows, while the ride was considered good for the passengers the handling was only adequate for contemporary conditions and described as awkward for the driver.

Mercedes Benz 130 H Cabriolet, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Nibel had Daimler’s Max Wagner design a new chassis for the more powerful 55hp, but similarly laid out, 150 H 2 seat roadster which had the petrol tank moved from the back as in the 130 H to the front meaning the new model had virtually no storage space, this second model was only offered and sold in limited numbers in 1936.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs of the Mercedes Benz 130 H taken at Dana Point Concours d’Elegance a few years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Heck Motor” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be revisiting this years Monterey Rolex Reunion. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Tomorrow Or The End Of Time – Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum

The first piece of music to make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end was by James Marshall Hendrix, some time in 1967 I was home alone during the day time so it was probably during the Easter holidays, I was messing about with some extremely uncomfortable ex military bakerlite head phones when the announcer on the radio told us that coming next would be Jimi Hendrix latest hit “Purple Haze”. I unplugged and took off the headphones and turned up the volume control of the radiogram a little in anticipation of something interesting happening.

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

By the time the opening riff blurted out I reached out and did something I had never done before, I maxed out the volume ! By the end of the song I was certainly tuned in and turned on to the Jimi Hendrix Experience even though I had no idea what it was, except it felt really good and I had a new found love for the colour purple and a curiosity for the line “Is this tomorrow or just the end of time ?”

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

This Tomorrow Or The End Of Time theme is revisited in the 1971 flash back road movie “Vanishing Point” which begins with an all American anti hero Kowolski driving a white 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum pulling back from a 90 mph impact with a couple of Catepillar bulldozers, that serve as a makeshift police roadblock and vanishing into thin air, before retelling the story of how Kowolski got to the point of staring tomorrow or the end of time in the face.

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

While reading up on the history of the Challenger I was interested to learn that the very first Challenger was actually a limited edition two door body called the Dodge Silver Challenger that was only available in in silver and came fully loaded with premium white wall tyres, full wheel covers, electric windscreen wipers, luxury fabric interior and deep pile carpets through out.

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

For 1970 Carl Cameron came up with the exterior design for the second generation Challenger, like the Plum Crazy FC-7 1970 example seen here at Shakespeare County Raceway earlier this year. Chrysler had determined that the similar but shorter Plymouth Barracuda should belatedly compete with the Mustang and Camaro and the Dodge Challenger should compete with the Mercury Cougar and Pontiac Firebird in the pony car market.

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

Of the engine options available to Challenger customers there were two 440 cui / 7.2 litre Magnum options one 375 hp with a single four barrel carburetor and one 395 hp with three x two barrel carburetors known as the six pack. The car seen here appears to be the 375 hp option as distinguished by the air scoop which on the more powerful six pack models sits on top of the carburetor intakes in the center of the bonnet hood.

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

Because of low sales volumes of the larger engine Challengers they have become extremely collectable, especially if the engine and chassis numbers match the original factory records. Within the pony car segment this late arrival did well to sell 76,935 copies in 1970 after which sales plummeted to less than 30,000 a year until the model was discontinued in 1974.

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

Attractive though the Mustangs and Camaros are for my money the Challenger is the most desirable of all the muscle pony cars, there is something about it’s lines that are simply a little less fussy, a little smoother and more refined that look a bit further forward than all the others seen on pony cars in my humble opinion.

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

The Challenger R/T with the 440 Magnum as seen here and in the original 1971 version of Vanishing point was capable of covering a quarter mile in 13.8 seconds by which time it would be touching 102 mph, the 440 Magnum was only listed for the 1970 model year though it was available as a special order in 1971.

Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic, Shakespeare County Raceway

When Kowolski approached the point of no return at the end of Vanishing Point he had a choice to turn back and see what the tomorrow would bring or to keep going further and faster into oblivion, giving up the struggle of life, forgetting not to let a few bad moments spoil a bunch of good ones and disappear into the end of time. I guess if you don’t know what happened next you’ll just have to see the film for your self to find out.

Thanks for joining me on this “Tomorrow Or The End Of Time” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you’ll join me for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

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Pneumatic Sunroof – Avions Voisin C-25 Aerodyne

Successful pioneer aviator and aircraft manufacturer Gabriel Voisin turned his back on aviation after the Great War of 1914-1918 to focus on the manufacture of automobiles some of which, including his 1923 C6 Labortoire monocoque Grand Prix car count as some of the most innovative, exotic, distinctive if not plain idiosyncratic and outlandish ever seen.

Avions Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, Dana Point Cd'E

The prototype C-25 first seen in 1934 included a radial 7 cylinder motor that was dropped in favour of a 2994 cc / 182.7 cui straight 6 cylinder motor for the production models such as the one seen in Geoffrey Horton’s photographs taken at this years Dana Point Concours d’Elegance.

Avions Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, Dana Point Cd'E

The aluminium panels of the wings / fenders of the C-25 Aerodyne are not the only ones supported by struts in the Avions Voisin range.

Avions Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, Dana Point Cd'E

No expense was spared in the interior appointments, the bespoke cloth to a Voisin design is just as distinctive as the rest of the car as are the René Lalique designed ashtrays.

Avions Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, Dana Point Cd'E

The C-25 was also fitted with a pneumatically operated sunroof,

Avions Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, Dana Point Cd'E

the carrier rails for which can be clearly seen in this photograph.

This particular car is one of 3 or 4 known to exist from a total production believed to have been no more than seven. After a six year restoration by the Californian Mullin Automotive Museum the car won Best in show at the 2011 Pebble Beach and 2012 Dana Point Concours d’Elegance, events.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his fabulous photographs.

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

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Don’t Tell Enzo – Chevrolet Corvette Italia by Scaglietti

The idea for having an Italian coach builder make a stylish body for a reliable American Corvette germinated in the mind of Chevrolet Dealer Gary Laughlin when he was horrified by the repair bills accruing to his Ferrari Monza in particular the crankshaft.

Chevrolette Corvette Italia, Dana Point Concours d’Elegance

Teaming up with racers Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby, Gary approached Chevrolet’s General Manager Ed Cole and secured three complete Corvette rolling chassis and shipped them to Scaglietti who at the time was responsible for building the 250 “Tour de France” Berlinetta’s for Ferrari. Wanting to keep his American connection away from the prying eyes of Enzo Ferrari it was 18 months before Gary received today’s featured car back with a continental look.

Chevrolette Corvette Italia, Dana Point Concours d’Elegance

Laughlin is said to have been unimpressed with the fit and finish of the car he received and the two remaining cars were sent back with aluminium bodies and unfinished interiors. Chevrolet also pulled the plug on the project by declining the ad hoc supply of rolling chassis in the long term.

Chevrolette Corvette Italia, Dana Point Concours d’Elegance

The car seen here, courtesy of Geoffrey Horton at the recent Dana Point Concours d’Elegance, now belongs to the Peterson Museum and is the only one of the three with a manual transmission. The other two cars all have further detail differences, the one in this linked photo has no bumperette / overiders front or rear, while the third has no intake on the bonnet / hood no vents in the front wings / fenders but it does have quarter bumpers on the front, full rear bumper and a Chevrolet like grill decoration in the nose as can be seen in this linked photograph.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s images from Dana Point Concours d’Elegance.

Thanks for joining me on this “Don’t Tell Enzo” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the Ferrari with the largest V12 ever built at Maranello. Don’t forget to come back now !

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43rd Wedding Anniversary – Dana Point Concours d’Elegance

Such is the inclement weather here at GALPOT Towers that when my landlady asked for a theme for her 50th Birthday Party I had no hesitation when I suggested having a Diving Suit Party, dry wit after all is an Englishman’s stock in trade, so it’s always a pleasure to receive photo’s from Geoffrey Horton’s adventures in the sunny world of the California Concours d’Elegance scene.

Dana Point, California

Above is Dana Point where Geoffrey and his wife Gayle spent the weekend celebrating their 43rd Anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

Bentley Hawkeye Special, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

During their stay they entered their Jaguar XK140 FHC SE in the Concours d’Elegance in which this 8 litre / 488 cui 1924 Bentley Hawkeye Special was also taking part.

Mercedes Benz 130 Cabrio Limosine, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Among the Mercedes Benz vehicles entered was this 25 hp rear engined 1935 130 H Cabrio,

Mercedes Benz 540 K, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

and class winning 1937 540K W24 Roadster with up to 180 supercharged hp capable of reaching 110 mph.

Mercedes Benz 320 Cabriolet B, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Marginally more modest from 1937 was this 320 Cabriolet B W124 similar to the four door type used as German military staff cars in films including The Great Escape, The Longest Day, The Train and Schindler’s List.

Mercedes Benz 230 S / W153, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

The Mercedes Benz 230S W153 above was developed for taking part in trials and rallies, hence the unusual bumpers which feature front and rear designed for co drivers to stand on should a redistribution of weight be required to aid traction or steering. Only 52 of these cars were ever built.

Kurtis 500M Roadster, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Leaping into the post ’39-’45 War era I believe this 1953 Kurtis 500M has appeared in a previous GALPOT post, I find it’s chunky styling even more appealing from the rear.

Arnolt Bristol, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Like wise an Arnolt Bristol has appeared on these pages before, the green example above is from the final 1959 year of production which totaled just 200.

Chevrolet Corvette Italia by Scaglietti, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Only three Chevrolet Corvette Italia’s were built in 1959 with coachwork by Scaglietti in Italy. The idea for the car was born out an expensive to replace Ferrari crankshaft required by Gary Laughlin who turned to Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby to help in realise an exotic hand built car with affordable and reliable mechanical components. The example, above, owned by the Peterson Automotive Museum is the only one of the three built with a manual transmission.

Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Not for the first time this 1934 Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, from the Mullin Automotive Museum, won the best in show award, it won at Pebble Beach last year too ! Among it’s novel features are a radial engine as used more commonly in aircraft, and a pneumatically operated retractable roof.

Jaguar XK140 FHC SE, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance

Finally I hope you will join me in congratulating Geoffrey and Gayle not only on their 43rd wedding anniversary but also on winning their class at the Dana Point Concours d’Elegance with the faithful Jaguar XK140 FHC SE that has been a part of their lives for 26 years.

My thanks to Geoffrey for his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “43rd Wedding Anniversary” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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