Ford Escort MKII
1976 circa
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Monday, 17 October 2011
When my friend Simon asked me to get a day off work to go and see the state of his Frogeye Sprite's restoration I didn't have to think twice.
He took me to a dusty shed lost in the English countryside where we were welcomed by an amazing character cleaning his hands with a dirty cloth. In the yard I could already see beautiful spares left there to rot, few "sleeping" projects and a Giulia SS that has clearly been there to long. I lift the merciful plastic that covers it only to find the frame rusted way beyond repair. The car is basically collapsed in the middle. A real, sad shame.
DC - "Oh, you saw the Alfa, huh? Nothing else can be done for that one, I'm afraid. The owner left it here about fifteen years ago. He did pay for the job to be started but then disappeared. I kept it inside for five or six years, but then I had to put it there. Beautiful car that was, I'll have to sell the few salvageable spares one of these days".
I knew that the visit to his workshop would have been worth a day off work but didn't expect such a start.
CCT - "I would like to take some pictures and write a feature for my blog, would you mind that?"
DC - "Take all the pictures you want, ask me all you want to know but please don't mention my name or say where I am. I've been trying to retire for the last 12 years and I keep on receiving projects. I had enough, mate. Really had enough."
He lets me into the office for a cup of tea and while he updates Simon on the latest about his Sprite I take a look around. It's exactly how I pictured it, maybe even better. He is now sitting at his huge desk with feet on the table, in front of him spare parts catalogs, bills, few dirty mugs and a tin of biscuits. On the walls a staggering amount of pictures collapsing in the frames or curled by the years. He clearly loves his job but it all also shows he had enough and he's been ready to "let go" for a number of years already.
On the left a big panel collects 80 yellowed pictures. In that alone there could be material for a year of this blog. The beautiful D-type Michelotti sticks out. He remembers working on the car "about twenty years ago, nice car that was". Will tell the amazing story of this car in a separate post.
On the opposite wall a healthy number of XK's and E-types didn't distract me too much form finding the nose of a 512BB LM peeping in a picture.
DC - "I didn't do much on that car, the body was damaged on its way to England and I've been asked to fixed it. I reckon I did a very good job on that."
I wonder if the owner ever found out...
We then walk inside the workshop and a funny grin stuck to my face. It was just as expected. A dusty and chaotic mass of spares was framing projects of all sorts. A Jaguar Mark 2 guarded a Fiat X1/9 under a dusty plastic cover the same way an old pussycat would guard a wounded kitten, a 1939 Aston and a 1936 HRG seemed ready to leave any minute now, the usual (and still sexy) group of MGs, chassis and engine of a pre war Cadillac than I can hardly figure on the road ever again.
D.C. has been very busy lately to put back on the road a Gwynne 180px, apparently a present of an extremely cool parent to his/her daughter. A very cute bath tube shaped design and a single door on one side. He just finished setting up the leather seats, hand stitched by an old friend of his, retired after a whole life in Aston Martin.
Finally, in a room of its own at the bottom of the workshop, Simon's Frogeye sits on a cart. As many other projects, he came in for a dent and ended up in a nut and bolt restoration that lasted over five years. It's not road worthy yet, but it sure looks amazing. Take a look for yourself.
It's really hard not to tell about other fascinating details of D.C.'s life, but a promise is a promise. If for any reason you think you need to contact him please enquire and I will ask for his consent.
Monday, 19 September 2011
From the original 189 applications for entry the A.C.O. selected a most promising field, but pre-race withdrawals (most notably of all the American cars, Chevrolet Sting Ray Corvettes and Chaparrals, and of the works Abarths the A.S.A.s and the new Osca) removed much of the piston-engined novelty.
Even with all the reserves admitted, the smallest field (48+1) for several years started. Ferrari was once again the marque to beat, a formidable task as 11 factory and private cars represented the Scuderia, four 4.9 330LM open and coupe Prototypes, three open 3.0 250Ps and four 3.0 GTOs (one a 330LM/GTO hybrid). Their large-car opposition included only two full teams, neither of them full-time: Briggs Cunningham's three lightweight competition E-type Jaguars and the Aston Martins, a 4.0 215 Prototype, a private and two works DB4GTs.
One new sound on the circuit was the beat of American Ford V-8s, installed in two A.C. Cobras as "slow" (about 160 m.p.h. maximum) as the Jaguars on the Straight, and a rear-engined Lola G.T. Prototype, which started despite its late arrival for scrutineering and the extensive modifications subsequently required. A 3.8 Lister-Jaguar and the modified (simplified rear suspension and 5.0 V-8 engine) Type 151 of Maserati-France completed the "big" entry. A lone M.G.B. faced four 2.0 Porsches, two Prototype flat-8s and to 2000GS fours. Two Sunbeam Alpines and a 1.6 Alfa Romeo made up the next class; two Lotus Elites and two Alfa Romeo Giulia GZS the 1300c.c. class. Rene Bonnet and an Austin Healey formed the 1150-c.c. class.
A Deep Sanderson joined three elongated but pretty 1 litre Alpines and two elongated Bonnets. Two smaller Bonnets, two Fiat-Abarths and a scruffy DKW Special made up the "conventional" field. Finally, racing with the others but only against the clock to average 93.2 m.p.h. as a formula equating its power unit with piston engines could not be agreed, was the Rover-B.R.M. gas turbine car, the first so powered to run in a classic road race and naturally a centre of interest. Breaking with tradition it was flagged-off individually from a facing-direction-of-race not tail-to-pit position.
The field got away cleanly on a hot afternoon. At the end of the first lap Simon in the Maserati boomed past in the lead and during the opening stages, he fought off the Ferraris of Parkes, Surtees and Rodriguez. The new Aston Martin, after an excellent start, fell back slightly but kept in touch with the leaders. But troubles came early. The DKW completed only one hesitant lap, a Fiat-Abarth two, while a Lotus and the M.G. embedded themselves in the Mulsanne sand, while a DB4GT made a pit stop. Then Masson rolled his Bonnet down the centre of the approach to the Esses in front of the tight leading group which was about to lap him. They all avoided the wreck but Phil Hill, fifth in the Aston Martin 215, hit fragments of the Bonnet and also incurred transmission damage which ultimately caused his retirement.
Ferraris now commanded the race. The gearbox trouble which had already put the Hansgen-Pabst Jaguar out slowed the Salvadori-Richards sister car. Just past 8 PM the engine of Bruce McLaren's Aston Martin let go distributing a generous quantity of oil in the fast corner just after Hunaudières. First to hit the oil was Roy Salvadori in the Briggs Cunningham entered Lightweight Jaguar E-Type. Salvadori lost control, briefly regained it but then ran onto the grass and spun. He hit the bank backwards and, with his seatbelt undone as he had been having problems with it, he was ejected though the rear Perspex window onto the back. The car caught fire but was quickly extinguished and Roy survived miraculously with just cuts and heavy bruising. Next to arrive at the scene was 'Franc' (Jacques Dewes) in the Aston-Martin DB4 GTZ. He spun but managed to avoid hitting anything though the René Bonnet Aérodjet LM6 of Jean-Pierre Manzon crashed whilst trying to avoid him. Manzon was thrown out when his car rolled leaving the hapless Christian 'Bino' Heins with few options. In avoiding Manzon, who was lying on the track, he hit the oil and spun, hitting the LM6 and a lamp-post. The Alpine-Renault burst into flames with Christian trapped inside. The fire-fighters struggled with the fire out as they tried to get Bino out of the car. He was taken to hospital but was declared dead on arrival. A post mortem revealed that he had probably died almost instantly from head injuries.
The Surtees-Mairesse 250P extended its lead through the evening and at midnight had completed 117 laps averaging 197.6 km/h. It was followed by Bandini-Scarfiotti (250P, 116 laps), Rodriguez-Penske and Gurney-Hall (N.A.R.T. 4.0 330LMs, 112 laps) the former about to retire with an oil leak, and the surviving Aston Martin (Kirnberley-Schlesser, 112 laps). Meanwhile, the unobtrusively consistent Rover-B.R.M. had covered 103 laps and was as fast as most cars through, for example, the Esses, thus dismissing pre-race suspicions that it might be a mobile roadblock.
The Aston Martin climbed to third before retiring in the early morning, turning the Barth-Linge Porsche in seventh place into the first non-Ferrari and the Grossmann-Cunningham Jaguar, eighth, the highest British car.
Speeds fell considerably as the Sarthe mist lay thick on the circuit. The Lola lost over two hours with gearbox trouble, returned to the race but soon rolled in the Esses as the gearbox selector failed again. Car after car had fallen out so that by 9 a.m. there were only 17 runners. 8 Ferraris, 2 Bonnets, a single A.C., the M.G., an Alpine, a Porsche, a Sunbeam and a Lotus. The remaining Jaguar was stationary at its pits while its front (mangled when Grossmann took the escape road at Mulsanne after a pin in the brake pedal linkage snapped), was rebuilt with cannibalized parts. At 18 hours the average speed of the leading Ferrari was 196.3 km/h but at 10.40 a.m., immediately after a refuelling stop, it caught fire and Mairesse spun it in the Esses before abandoning. But still six Ferraris led with remarkably few small cars left to impede their progress, and the Rover-B.R.M. was (unofficially) eighth. The Porsche had slipped several places after losing a wheel.
By 1.40 p.m. on Sunday the gas turbine car had completed its target distance. Of the big cars only the Gregory-Piper Ferrari, which had been in the sand at Mulsanne, really hurried to regain lost places as the race ran out. Ferrari won as expected but the extent of their victory could hardly have been forecast. Their demonstration of speed and endurance was the more outstanding because of the failures of other marques. 5 out of 11 Ferraris retired, only three of them with mechanical derangements. They equalled the Bentley and Alfa Romeo record of four wins in a row quite apart from gaining their seventh victory. The winning car covered more than 4,500 km. for the first time, took the Index of Performance award away from the small cars for the first time since 1950 (the Beltoise-Bobrowski Bonnet was a lowly seventh), and was second to the Bonnet in the Thermal Efficiency classification. It was also the first all-Italian-car and drivers-victory at Le Mans.
The first basically-new car in road racing for decades and attempted forerunner of a new era that still has to come, the Rover-B.R.M. performed superbly and would have won any Le Mans 24-hour Race before 1957. Graham Hill, Ginther and the mechanics were greeted by the loudest cheers of all at the conclusion of a triumphant demonstration.
Friday, 16 September 2011
Today's bicycle stroll in Hyde Park offered as usual an amazing classic on display.
A 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast was laconically parked on the side of the road, possibly waiting for a late photographer.
Only 36 (+1) left the Pininfarina factory in Turin between 1964 to 1966 and this is one of only 8 right hand drive, quite an exceptional sight indeed.
The Superfast was the last of the "America" Series and arguably the most desirable of all. Presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1964 it boasted the 5.0l Colombo Engine, 395 hp and a top speed of 275 km/h.
It's my favourite design ever to dress the 330 2+2 chassis, with sleek and dry decorations and a proportion of volumes that state nothing but speed and comfort.
The value of the model peaked in the late eighties, when a Series I traded for $800.000 and lost interest through the nineties. In recent auctions the demand seems to have grown yet again and I wouldn't be surprised to see this beautiful example changing hands for around the million dollars mark.
This very car is likely to be S/N 6659SF, completed in early September 1965 after 11 months of construction. It features Grigio Argento paint with "Rosso Mercedes" leather. The car allegedly came back to England after spending some years in Australia.
Who knows, maybe Peter Sellers saw this car and immediately decided to buy one, in fact he received his in "nocciola-naturale" almost exactly 12 months later.
Saturday, 27 August 2011
I found this movie not long ago in a friend's guitar whop. The whole movie is a bonanza of vintage guitars and sixties style.
I decided to share here an extract in which "the Beats" rehearse for a guitar competition. So obviously the get some cool cars and drive on a landing strip up and down while the band plays the song.
Quite normal in the sixties, I guess.
In the video there are some nice shot of chevrolet impala, triumph spitfire mark I, Austin Healey, Sunbeam Tiger and an AC Bristol.
Enjoy.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
I constantly keep an eye on auctions and internet sales for cars. When I find nice opportunities I usually submit them to BringaTrailer, an amazing resource that unfortunately is on the other side of the pond. Unfortunately I never made it to be "published", so I finally decided I will post here some of my future regrets.
This 1974 Fiat 130 Coupe' didn't find any buyer at £4.995 and has recently been relisted for £3.995. It seems to be in very good conditions for that price and I always wanted to have one of these beauties. Only 4491 of these were ever produced and I really can't imagine how many of these still survive today.
Presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971, it is in my opinion one of Pininfarina's most exquisite lines for a production car. Director of the coachbuilder's "Centro Stile" at the time was Paolo Martin, the same guy that gave us Dino Ferrari Berlinetta, Ferrari Sigma G.P., Alfa Romeo 33 Roadster, Ferrari 512 Modulo and many others.
"Motorsport" in November 1972 described the car as "a very beautifully contrived car indeed. Just consider it! The styling, the wide fluted waistline is simple clean-cut, classic. The interior is in the best possible taste, with upholstery of velvet cord, cut-pile carpeting, and a pleated headlining, ahead of which are recessed visors. The whole aspect of the 130 is that of the refined luxury car".
Even if the engine's 3235cc hardly makes this car a daily commuter, I think this could be an interesting investment at this price, even with the "noisy driveshaft /diff on the overrun" declared by the seller.
Take a look at this video of someone having fun in one of these.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
For the fourth time in a row I've been at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Here's a little video I put together to share my favourite side of this event. Being in the paddock when they start the engines and drive away to the hill climb.
It's an amazing feeling.
Also take a look at the photos I shot at the event for automobiliac.com or alternatively on my flickr photostream.
Here's a little video I put together to share my favourite side of this event. Being in the paddock when they start the engines and drive away to the hill climb.
It's an amazing feeling.
Also take a look at the photos I shot at the event for automobiliac.com or alternatively on my flickr photostream.
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