Tag Archives: Sports

Awaiting TLC #4 – Elva Porsche Mk VII

A couple of years ago I came across this old Elva Porsche Mk VII in need of TLC at Race Retro.

Elva Porsche Mk VII, Race Retro

Despite being a British company Elva had a much better reputation in the United States than in the UK because their cars was raced by privateers against privateers while in the UK Elva cars tended to be raced by privateers against works supported teams particularly from Lotus.

Elva Porsche Mk VII, Race Retro

Elva’s founder Frank Nichols is said to have favoured selling his creations over racing them, letting his customers do the talking for his products on the track.

Elva Porsche Mk VII, Race Retro

Unusually in the absence of having a suitable model for sports car racing of their own Porsche supplied Elva with engines which were particularly favoured by Elva’s US customers, Porsche were even involoved in setting up the design of the Porsche powered Mk VII’s sending Porsche employee Herbert Linge to help with the motor installation.

Elva Porsche Mk VII, Race Retro

Porsche even bought two of the 19 Elva Porsche Mk VII’s for their own use and Herbert Müller used one fitted with a 2 litre / 122 cui flat 8 to secure second place in the 1963 European Hillclimb Championship.

Elva Porsche Mk VII, Race Retro

The vendor of this particular car claimed that it was originally sent to the United States with a quad cam 4 cylinder Porsche motor which was latter replaced by a 6 cylinder Porsche motor that drove the rear wheels through a 5 speed gearbox.

It is two years since this car appeared in urgent need of TLC at Race Retro and I shall look forward to seeing if this car reappears in restored form again in the near future.

Thanks for joining me on this “Awaiting TLC #4” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

One Of Those Blue Italian Things – Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder #10691

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Way back when I was a teenager my folks took me to the Cinema to see a film staring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway called the Thomas Crown Affair, a story about a millionaire businessman, Thomas Crown played by Steve McQueen, who got his kicks by executing a near faultless bank robbery.

After the job a dirty thinking insurance investigator Vicki Anderson played by Faye Dunaway is sent to help squeaky clean Detective Eddie Malone solve the case, and after narrowing the list of suspects down correctly intuits that Thomas Crown is her man. She shows up in a high profile dark read Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder at a polo match in which Thomas is playing and starts to openly film with on a small movie camera, they inevitably meet and she introduces herself as an investigator and makes no secret of the fact that he is the person she is investigating.

Later on Thomas turns up at an auction room and parked outside is the dark red NART Spyder which catches his attention and his assistant remarks “isn’t that one of those red Italian things” to which Thomas responds in the affirmative.

After much cat and mouse Thomas decides to do one more job and lets Vicki in on the idea to see if she really loves him or wants to turn him in. I’ll leave it to you to see the film to find out what happens, here is a link to the trailer.

Luigi Chinetti had plans to have 25 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyders built with Pininfarina bodies in 1967. The first chassis 09437 was supplied with a 330 hp race motor, Chinetti had a roll cage fitted and entered it into the 1967 Sebring 12 hours for Marianne ‘Pinky’ Rollo and Denise McCluggage who finished a credible 17th overall and second in class behind a Ford Mustang. The car was later scouted for The Thomas Crown Affair and painted dark red for the film.

McQueen liked the car that Dunaway had in the film and ended up buying chassis #10453. Todays featured car is chassis #10691 which won the Carmel by the Sea Concours d’Elegance best in show award last August where these photographs were taken by Geoffrey Horton.

Despite the good performance at Sebring and the appearance in the Oscar winning, best original song, Thomas Crown Affair Chinetti had trouble selling ten NART Spyders with out heavy discounts and so only ten were built. They now change hands depending on history and condition for between US$ 3 to 4 million.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “One Of Those Blue Italian Things” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t for get to come back now !

Pillow Talk – MG TF 1500

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Billed as a “sexcapade” about “what goes on when the lights go out” the 1959 film Pillow Talk stared Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

The plot centres on the romance between neighbours Brad Allen played by Rock and career girl Jan Marrow played by Doris who share an old school telephone line, a concept probably long since phased out. At the beginning of the film the son of a client of Jan’s offers her a lift home in his MG TF 1500, fitted with optional wire wheels. On the way home the couple stop for a drink and the client’s son gets too drunk to drive when in steps Brad.

Apparently watching big Rock Hudson climbing in and out of the little MG is worth the price of admission alone, the car does not feature in the trailer but you can get the gist of the film on this link.

The MG TF was launched in 1953 as a stop gap between the square rigger T series, which traced it’s ancestry back to the 1936 MG TA, and the MG A. The management of the British Motor Corporation, BMC, did not want the MG-A to be launched at the same time as the Austin Healey 100.

The TF 1500 was first seen in 1954 with a 63 hp motor up from the 57hp on the original TF. 3,400 MG TF 1500’s were built before production switched to the MG A in 1955.

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

Last British 2 Seat MG – MG TF

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When MG Rover face lifted the mid engined MG F sports car in 2002 they gave it the same TF name as last seen on the 1955 MG TF Midget. Little did they know at the time that this would become the last new British 2 seat MG to reach market.

Many of the face lift details were carried over from the MG TF XPower 500 Concept Car first seen at Le Mans in 2001.

Despite it’s overall styling which dated back to 1995 the MG TF matched it’s rivals from Mazda (MX5) and Toyota (MR2) in handling, performance and held it’s own in the domestic sales league.

However the TF’s mid mounted Rover K series motor was subject to numerous head gasket failures until a new multi layered item was designed which cured this particular issue.

Production of MG TF’s ceased when Rover MG went bankrupt in 2005 but restarted in the UK from Chinese supplied Complete Kockdown Kits (CKD) in 2008 after new owners Nanjing had transferred all the TF production assets to China. 906 CKD TF’s were built before production ceased for good in 2011.

Thanks for this “Last British 2 Seat MG” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Not A Bolt On – Lotus Turbo Esprit Type 82

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In 1979 Monaco based oil traders Essex Petrolium joined Martini as sponsors of the Team Lotus Formula One team, something that Martini were not too thrilled with as they decided not to pursue there sponsorship for a second year. For 1980 Essex became the teams primary sponsor which carried over into Lotus production car operations with the launch, at the Royal Albert Hall, of the Lotus Turbo Esprit as a limited edition Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit of which just 100 were built in 1980 and 1981.

Unlike the single carburetor bolt on turbo that Lotus dealers Bell & Colvill had been offering customers since 1978 the official Lotus Turbo Esprit was a substantial upgrade of the normally aspirated Lotus Esprit Type 79, which included a new chassis with a wider engine bay, new front suspension derived from the latest Lotus Elite, new rear suspension and a new 210 hp type 910 development of the 4 cylinder Type 907 motor with twin carburetors and Garrett T3 Turbocharger.

After the production run of 100 Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit’s had been completed a variation of the originals blue red and silver colour scheme was offered with red leather interior like the one seen above in the Paddock at Silverstone which features rare three piece Compomotive wheels as used by James Bond in the 1981 film “For Your Eyes Only“.

Most Turbo Esprit’s were supplied with one piece BBS wheels. The Turbo Esprit body work is differentiated from earlier Giorgetto Giugiaro designed Esprit body by the addition of a front below the bumper spoiler and side “skirts” with NACA air ducts for the engine bay.

The significance of the wider engine bay of the Turbo Esprit’s new chassis would not become clear until the launch of the V8 Esprit which although initially developed alongside it’s turbo sibling did not come to market until 1996 having been delayed by numerous other projects including Colin Chapman’s involvement with De Lorean.

Although well received by the press the Turbo Esprit failed to gain a substantial foot hold anticipated in the USA and the 846 examples built between 1980 and 1984 marked the beginning of a steady decline in the fortunes of Lotus Cars.

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

Rare Spyder – Ferrari 365 California Spyder #9985

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At the 1966 Geneva Motor Show Ferrari revealed two new models the Ferrari 330 GTC and today’s featured car, thanks to Geoffrey Horton’s photographs, the Ferrari 365 California Spyder of which just 14 would be built.

The 365 California Spyder is fitted with a 320 hp 4.4 litre / 268 cui V12 which is fitted to a 5 speed synchromesh gearbox and is covered by Pininfarina coachwork which features a split front bumper as first seen on the 500 Superfast Coupé and rear vents behind the front doors which would become a feature of the mid-engined Dino 246.

Being equipped with Right Hand Drive this car is easy to identify as chassis #9985, the 10 th of the 14 built and the only one to be so equipped. The expired rear UK plate RPE 909 E which was registered to Mark Tippets when he owned the car in 1986 is also a bit of a give away.

#9985 was sold to Paul Kay in June 1967 painted Blue Sera with a biege interior over the next two years the car had 3 further owners with the registration changing from “NJD 8E”, “L11” to “MNV258E” before Mark Tippets ownership. Since then the car was seen with the number “2UAE” from July 1986 to July 1990, a number still available to the owner if the car ever returns to the UK.

The car was first painted red during a restoration carried out in Florida between 1983 and 1985.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for his photographs of this rare and magnificent vehicle.

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

Nothing Better – Ferrari 250MM Pininfarina Berlinetta #0353 MM (0239 EU)

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After beating Phil Hill on the second stage of the 1952 Carrera Panamerica Mexican hot shot Efrian Ruiz Echeverria skidded of the road while in 10th place overall on the third, of five, stage of the race in his Ferrari 212 Inter Berlinetta chassis #0239 EU.

He sent the car back to Ferrari for repairs and while it was there Efrian asked if the factory would build him a Ferrari 250MM like the one used by Giovanni Bracco which had proved to be the fastest car in the 1952 Carrera Panamerica field although transmission failure 300 miles from the finish handed a 1-2 victory to the Mercedes Benz Team.

Ferrari were happy to oblige going so far as swapping the identity from Efrian’s old 212 Inter #0239EU to that of the new 250MM chassis #0353MM at the owners request so that import duty would not have to be paid on the new car.

The 1953 Panamerica entry list included five works Lancia’s with Juan Manuel Fangio in the lead car and five non works Ferrari’s. Fangio led a 1/2/3 finish for the Lancia Team and Efrian came in as first privateer in 7th place. A result that remains the best for any Mexican driver in the original series of Carrera Panamerica races run from 1950 to 1954.

Thanks to William (WDH74) at The Nostalgia Forum I have found out what the meaning of the legend “Como 123 no hay dos” which appears to be a sponsors strap line on the bonnet of the car. “No hay dos” translates to “nothing better” from Mexican in this case nothing better than products from sponsor Industrias 1-2-3 owned by Santiago Ontanon who’s products include vegetable cooking oil and laundry detergent.

The 1953 Carrera Panamerica was #0353 MM (0239 EU)’s only in period competitive outing, the car passed through various hands and 3 restorations later the car is seen above at Goodwood Festival of Speed where it was entered by Nick Mason for his wife Annette to drive.

My thanks to WDH74, Arjan de Roos, Doug Nye, Regazzoni and Tmeranda at The Nostalgia Forum for lessons in Mexican and Mexican house hold product marketing.

Thanks for joining me on this “Nothing Better” 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 rally car project. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Sports

Awaiting TLC #4 – Elva Porsche Mk VII

One Of Those Blue Italian Things – Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder #10691

Pillow Talk – MG TF 1500

Last British 2 Seat MG – MG TF

Not A Bolt On – Lotus Turbo Esprit Type 82

Rare Spyder – Ferrari 365 California Spyder #9985

Nothing Better – Ferrari 250MM Pininfarina Berlinetta #0353 MM (0239 EU)