Tag Archives: Singer

To Shepton Mallet – 33rd Bristol Classic Car Show

Despite living in Bristol for 20 years come autumn I did not hear about the Bristol Classic Car show until last April. One of the reasons for this is that two years before I moved to Bristol the show moved to it’s current venue the Bath & West Show Ground just outside Shepton Mallet a good twenty miles south of Bristol and a similar distance from Bath !

Ford Cortina UREN Savage, Bristol Classic Car Show

Among the highlights of the show, which I attended for the first time on Saturday and selected from over 700 photo’s that I took was this 1972 Ford Cortina MK III with unusual bulges in the bonnet and bearing the legend ‘UREN’ in place of the usual ‘FORD’. Jeff Uren’s Race Proved company beefed up the mid size Rep Mobile MK III running gear to take a 218hp 3.0 litre / 183 cui Essex V6 motor more commonly found in the large Ford Zodiac to turn this car into 130 mph road burner with a 0 – 60 mph time of 7 seconds.

Ford Gran Torino, Bristol Classic Car Show

Another 1972 Ford that caught my attention was this 5.8 litre / 351 cui Gran Torino, not sure if that’s a Windsor or Cleveland motor nor even if there is any external way of knowing, if this happens to be your specialist subject please do not hesitate to register and chime in below.

Healey Silverstone Replica, Bristol Classic Car Show

Only 104 Healey Silverstone’s were manufactured between 1949 and 1950 so it was no great surprise to find that the example seen here is a replica, these days more commonly referred to by auction houses as ‘Evocations’, built around a shortened 1951 Healey Tickford Saloon chassis, a model of which only 222 were built from 1950 to 1954. Coincidentally this was lot 104A in the Charterhouse Auction that took place yesterday, Sunday. Lot 104 A was expected to fetch UK £30 – 40,000 about a twentieth of the price of one of the genuine Healey Silverstones still in existence.

Messerschmitt KR2000, Bristol Classic Car Show

After World War 2 many aircraft companies diversified into automobile manufacture including Bristol & Armstrong Siddeley. German aircraft manufacturers were forbidden to make aeroplanes and so Fritz Fend approached Messerschmitt with the idea of manufacturing a humble Kabinenroller (scooter with cabin) bubble car in 1952. A KR200, 10 hp 200 cc / 12.2 cui like the model seen here but with a modified body managed to average a record 64mph over 24 hours at Hockenheimring in 1955 ! Note the cabriolet version in the back ground.

MG 18/80 Six MkII Saloon, Bristol Classic Car Show

When I saw this mascot I thought it ought to belong to a Citroen 2CV powered with a Indian Motor, however it actually sits atop the radiator of a 1930 MG 18/80 Six MK II Saloon that will feature in a Tuesday MG blog in the fullness of time.

Reliant Sabra Prototype, Bristol Classic Car Show

Yitzhak Shubinsky of the Israeli Autocars Ltd saw an Ashley 1172 Special and a new chassis by Leslie Bellamy at a racing car show and came up with the idea of fitting the chassis with body work from the Ashley Special in 1960. He approached Reliant who had previously worked on the Autocar Carmel and Sussita models to build the prototype seen here known as the Sabra. Reliant ended up building the first 100 Sabra models, powered by a 4 cylinder 1703cc / 104 cui usually found in the Ford Consul Mk2, and exported to the USA until Autocars Ltd Israel were ready to start assembling the cars themselves.

Singer Roadster, Bristol Classic Car Show

When I first set eye’s on this 1951 Singer Roadster my first thought was that it looked just like Noddy’s car familiar to many kids my age born around 1959 from the Noddy’s Car picture book by Enid Blyton. Closer inspection of the book cover linked here reveals a few similarities particularly a two tone paint scheme but beyond that all resemblance is mostly a figment of my imagination.

Subaru XT 4WD Turbo Coupé, Bristol Classic Car Show

If ever a car said 1980’s it must be this 1985 Subaru XT 4WD Turbo Coupé which helped transform Subaru from farmers choice into a performance geek choice, the car was brim full of technology that was ahead of most of the opposition including computer controlled air suspension and ‘cybermatic’ steering which varied the amount of power assistance to the steering. Apparently one of these cars went straight from the docks into the Patrick Collection, when the collection was broken up the car was disposed of with out ever being driven on public roads and disappeared with out trace. If you know the where abouts of this XT 4wd Turbo Coupé please get chime in below.

Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE, Bristol Classic Car Show

Regular GALPOT readers will know I am a big fan of the Atwell Wilson Museum in Calne, the Museum are raffling the 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE seen here, tickets will be available from the Museum until the prize draw in December, I bought my first ticket at the show and hope to purchase a few more in the coming months, only 2163 of a planned 2500 of these ‘black beauties’ fitted with Triumph Spitfire sports car wheels were built.

Van den Plas 1300, Bristol Classic Car Show

A large selection of British Motor Corporation / British Leyland front wheel drive vehicles were on view in both the car parks and in the exhibition halls among the rarer was this range topping 1972 Vanden Plas Princess 1300 variation of the BMC ADO 16 vehicle which was also manufactured with Austin, Morris, MG, Riley Kestrel, and Wolseley badges between 1962 and 1974 during period these vehicles were amongst the biggest sellers in the UK until they were toppled by Fords.

Volvo 740 GL, His & Hearse, Bristol Classic Car Show

Among many stories from my days working at a Volvo dealership some of the funniest stories involve a fleet of hearses we used to look after so this 1988 Volvo 740 His & Hearse naturally raised a possibly macabre smile.

Wolsey Six, Bristol Classic Car Show

I’ll wind up today’s review of the 33rd Bristol Classic Car show, sponsored by Footman James Insurance with this amazing 1973 Wolseley Six “Landcrab” which has been kept in this immaculate condition for 39 years ! It has never been restored and has over 30,000 miles on the clock, a testimony to the rewards of regular servicing and timely repairs.

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

Share

Indy Winning Roadster Heritage – Kurtis 500 S

Frank Kuretich was born in the Crested Butte a Colorado mining village to Croation immigrants in 1908. At six Frank started helping in his Dads blacksmith shop, in Sunnyside Utah, fixing horse shoes and wagons and automobiles as they began to populate the neighbourhood.

The economic instability of the times saw Franks family move to California where his Dad took a job with Don Lee Coach & Body Works in 1922. Standing over 6 feet tall at 14 years old Frank claimed to be 18 years old and landed a job as a helper to his father customising cars for Hollywood stars where his and his fathers names were anglicised to Kurtis by the personnel dept.

Kurtis 500S, Silverstone Classic

While at Don Lee’s Frank started an apprenticeship at seventeen and such was his skill that he swiftly rose to become manager working in the shop for a short time with designer Harley Earl before the latter left for General Motors in 1927. After work hours Frank engaged in building numerous hot rods and special and eventually started working on midget racers with Don Lee’s son Tommy building the bodies.

In 1937 Frank went to work for the Hollywood Trailer company where he learned to how the work tubing to build vehicle frames and by 1938 Frank had set up his own shop to build “virtually unbeatable” midgets of which he would build over 1000 supplied either complete or as kits.

Kurtis 500S, Silverstone Classic

During the 1950’s Frank also built 120 champ cars for the Indy 500, building 5 winners. During this time Frank also built several road cars selling the design for on which became the Muntz Jet. The 500S, as seen in todays photographs at last years Silverstone Classic, along with the fully enclosed body 500KK and 500M models are all based on the 1953 Roadster Frame and suspension as used by Bill Vukovich to win the Indianapolis 500 that year.

Kurtis 500S, Silverstone Classic

The 500S could accommodate any motor and transmission available between 1953 and 1955 when it was manufactured. Bill Strope appears to have been one of the more successful exponents on the track with his Mercury powered 500S. Of the 20 – 20 500S known to have been built 14 are known to exist during the 1980’s a further 24 continuation models were built with the approval of Frank Kurtis son Ahren.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘indy Winning Roadster Heritage’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psych on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share

Classic Expo – Race Retro, Stoneleigh, Coventry 2/2.

Today I am concluding my overview of the Race Retro exhibition I started yesterday.

One of the things I loved about this exhibition was exhibitors enthusiasm to show visitors

what was under the bonnet of their exhibits.

Several exhibitors displayed their handy work and craftsmanship in the form of finished motors for display.

There was far more to see than my six hour visit would allow, I did not get a chance to look in any detail at the many motor cycles on display.

The event is best described as a mini Goodwood Festival of Speed,

slightly more intimate because of the smaller crowds but still like being a kid in a toy shop.

With thanks to Tim Murray and the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club without home this blog would not have been possible.

Hope you have enjoyed my overview of the Race Retro Exhibition and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for for a look at the first of a couple of vehicle manufacturers I do not recall hearing of before visiting Race Retro. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share

Brave Heart – Singer Chamois

Comparing today’s Hillman Imp /Singer Chamois with yesterday’s FIAT 850 it is hard to believe that the Imp/Chamoise was in production one year ahead of the 850. Unencumbered by an existing design, like the FIAT 850, the clean lines of the Imp / Chamois were the work of Tim Fry and occasional Ferrari F1 driver Mike Parkes who were given carte blanche at the start of the ‘Apex’ project.

Incredibly, well incredible to my 2010 eyes with 2020 hind sight the FIAT 850 out sold the Imp / Chamois nearly 5:1 despite the Imp / Chamois being in production for 5 more years from 1963 – 1976. This particular vehicle apparently first registered in Bristol in 1966 is the badge engineered high end Singer Chamois Mark II with a conventional throttle cable and manual choke replacing the pneumatic throttle linkage and automatic choke of the MK I in 1965.

The Imp / Chamois vehicles were built in a brand new factory in Linwood near Glasgow by a workforce more experienced in building mighty ships than assembling little cars. Knockdown kit versions were also assembled in Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Venezuela, Uruguay, Costa Rica, South Africa and Australia.

Nearly 200,000 of these vehicles were built from 1963 – 1966 it then took another 10 years to build the same number again. The engine in the rear started life as an iron block FWMA Coventry Climax fire pump engine but was made, unusually for the time, entirely out of aluminium with a redesigned cylinder head in this application.

The 875 cc 53 cui engine delivered 39 hp enough to take the car to a respectable 80 mph. The car was perhaps hampered by having the engines cast in Glasgow and machined in Coventry before being shipped back to Glasgow for installation, a round trip of some 600 miles, but more than any thing the vehicle appears to have been a largely wasted marketing opportunity when compared against the similarly sized FIAT 850.

Thanks for joining me, I hope you have enjoyed today’s Scottish edition wishing everyone with a heritage north of Hadrian’s Wall a happy St Andrew’s day.

Hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for another exciting instalment of ‘Getting a lil’ psycho on tyres’, don’t forget to come back now !

Share