Tag Archives: SM

Coventry Dealer Car – Peugeot 205 T16 EVO 1

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In 1983 Peugeot launched the Gerard Welter styled 205 front engined front wheel drive hatchback that would be declared Car of the Decade by CAR magazine in 1990.

Peugeot 205 T16 EVO 1, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

In 1984 Peugeot built two hundred 205 Turbo 16’s with a turbocharged transverse petrol engine, using the the cast iron block of the Diesel version of the XU engine with a 16 valve cylinder head, mounted behind the passenger seat that powered all four wheels through a Citroen SM sourced gearbox.

Peugeot 205 T16 EVO 1, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

Having built the 200 Turbo 16’s Peugeot had a vehicle with which they could compete in the top Group B Rally class with an evolution of the car known as the 205 Turbo EVO 1, or T16 EVO 1 in the UK.

Peugeot 205 T16 EVO 1, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

Today’s featured 205 T16 EVO was built from factory supplied parts by the Peugeot UK dealer funded Peugeot Sport UK at their base in Coventry for Finns Mikael Sundström and co driver Voito Silander to drive in the British Rally Championship in 1985 and 1986, it was registered on the 1st of June 1985.

Peugeot 205 T16 EVO 1, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

Mikael’s best result in this car came in the 1986 Scottish Rally which he won from the Ford RS200 driven by Mark Lovell with co driver Roger Freeman, Mikael finished 4th in the World Championship RAC Rally at the end of the season.

Peugeot 205 T16 EVO 1, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

Mikael went on to win the 1986, ’87 and ’88 Finnish Rally Championships driving a Group A Mazda 323, he retired from driving Rally cars in 1992. While running his own Rally team in Finland in 2001 Mikael died unexpectedly of a heart attack aged just 43.

Peugeot 205 T16 EVO 1, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

206 Turbo 16’s in EVO 1 and EVO2 form would become the most successful of the Group B cars that entered Rally events from 1984 to 1986 when the class was abruptly abandoned in the interests of safety.

Peugeot 205 T16 EVO 1, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

The model claimed 16 World Rally Championship wins, seven for Timo Salonen partnered with Seppo Harjanne, five for Ari Vatanen and Terry Harryman, three for Juha Kankkunen and Juha Piironen and one for Frenchman Bruno Saby and Jean-François Fauchille, Peugeot also finished the 1985 and 1986 seasons as World Rally Manufacturers Champions.

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Almost Factory Catalogued Convertible – Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine

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From 1961 Citroën commissioned Henri Chapron to build the DS19 Usine (factory) Convertible’s to order for distribution through the Citroën dealer network.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The Usine unlike the earlier Chapron devised La Croisette Decapotable was based on Flaminio Bertoni’s drawings for a DS Cabriolet.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

As might be expected from the most expensive model in the DS range the Cabriolet d’Usine was kept up to date with all the latest DS face lifts which in 1968 included a reworked nose by Robert Opron who would go on to style on the Citorën SM and CX models.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The DS third face lift by Opron included a pair of headlights in the front wing/fender cluster that swiveled up to 80° with the steering to improve the drivers vision when cornering.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The swiveling headlight feature was pioneered on the 1935 Tatra T77a and copied by the 1948 MY Tucker 48, which never went into full scale production, both of which had a third central headlight that swiveled with the steering.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

This car is officially registered as having been built in 1969 when just 47 DS21 variants, with the original DS type hydraulically operated transmission and DS21 M with conventional manual clutch operated transmission were built.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

With a motor officially registered as 1985cc / 121 cui this model would be a DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine meaning either a clerical error as by 1969 only DS21 Cabriolet d’Usine’s with 2,175cc / 132 cui motors were built or this vehicle is no longer powered by it’s original motor, there never having been a factory catalogued DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine so far as I know.

Thanks for joining me on this “Almost Factory Catalogued Convertible” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting the revival of the Chateau Impney Hill Climb. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Spirit that never breaks down – Rolls Royce Silver Spirit.

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The radiator grill design and tragic Spirit of Ecstasy mascot makes Rolls Royce one of the few instantly recognisable brands no matter what age or model. The mascot on this model instantly retracts if dislodged allegedly preventing injury to pedestrians and making the item much harder to collect by even the most determined fans of the Beasty Boys.

The Silver Spirit was a development of the Silver Shadow with a new body and suspension that brought RR into the 1980’s.

Sufficiently powered by a 6750cc / 411 cui V8 the Silver Spirit and slightly longer Silver Spur no longer featured the Citroen licensed self levelling suspension of the Silver Shadow but one using a Girling automatic hydraulic ride height control system riding on gas charged shock absorbers.

The Registration of this vehicle suggests that this might be a 1984 model but the alloy wheels to my not so well trained eye look to be of a more recent vintage. The Silver Spirit/Spur series is the twin of the Bentley Mulsanne / Eight series.

The Silver Spirit is the only Rolls Royce model that has ever come in to my hands, albeit briefly in my capacity as quality controller at a Volvo Garage, it certainly is an impressive machine to be seen driven around in, the ride quality is superb but the feel of the car with its spindly steering wheel and column shift left me feeling I was driving a very well appointed 1972 Volvo 144.

It should always be remembered that a Rolls Royce never ‘breaks down’, but if not looked after properly it might ‘fail to proceed’.

Erratum: in response to a question about the Citroen SM suspension on October 20th I stated that ‘Rolls Royce / Bentley took out licenses to use similar (Citroen hydropneumatic self levelling) systems on the Silver Shadow/T, Silver Spur/Mulsanne’ in fact as I have written above the Silver Spirit/Spur have a Girling self levelling systems. Apologies for any confusion that arose.

Hope you have enjoyed your stay, don’t forget to come back now !

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Sa Majesté conduit par technologie ! – Citroen SM

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If ever there was an automobile manufacturer that highlighted how conservative the automobile industry is, it would be Citroen, who during their years of ownership by Michelin really pushed the envelope with some out of the box thinking in terms of approach, technical innovation and design to their automotive solutions.

Top of the list of Citroens innovative vehicles I would put the UFO like Citroen SM launched in 1970. This GT car was born in part out of Citroens ownership of the Maserati brand. Note the inner pair of headlights turned with the steering wheel to help drivers see around corners, an innovation carried over from the Citroen DS.

Powered by a 178hp 2.7 litre / 164.7 cui (US 180 hp 3 litre / 183 cui) 90 degree V6 as used in the Maserati Merak, the SM was the most powerful front wheel drive vehicle of its time. The car featured not only self levelling suspension capable of running on just three wheels but also innovative variable assist power steering with just one turn from lock to lock, that was also self centering.

Just as the DS became known as ‘La déesse’ – ‘The Goddess’ the SM became known as ‘Sa Majesté’ – ‘Her Majesty’, though the S probably stems from ‘Project S’ which started the SM ball rolling and M unsurprisingly probably comes from Maserati.

Styling by Robert Opron reflected his American influenced tastes including these stainless steel fins in the rear bumper design.

The SM had an exceptionally low drag co efficient of 0.26, does anyone remember the fuss Audi made in 1982 when their C3 100, 200, 5000 series came out with a drag co efficient of 0.30 ?

Amazingly when Citroen decided to prove the SM’s prowess in motor sport they chose to debut the car not on the race track but on the hard core African 1971 Rallye du Maroc which it promptly won. Later a ‘bread van’ version was also used in rally events.

In 1987 Jerry Hathaway turbocharged an SM and his wife Sylvia took a production class land speed record at 202 mph at Bonneville that still stands. Jerry also built a cool matching SM tow truck and trailer rig on which to transport the LSR SM.

Hope you enjoyed today’s edition of Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres, don’t forget to come back now !

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