Translate

Wednesday, 2 April 2025

1929 Lea Francis

I took this photograph at a classic car show organised by car dealers Gordon Ford of Stockport in July 1987.
It’s a 1929 Lea Francis with what the DVLA record says is a 1,479cc engine. A search of Lea Francis models doesn’t show any with that size engine, so it’s probably a Lea Francis 12 which had a 1,496cc engine. There's a Lea-Francis Owners' Club for owners and enthusiasts.

Tuesday, 1 April 2025

1955 Vanwall

This is a photograph that my brother took in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in September 1955.
It's the 1955 Vanwall (#VW2) that was driven in the race by Harry Schell. He qualified in fifth place on the grid, but retired after 16 laps with a broken universal joint. The race was won by Stirling Moss in a Maserati 250F.

Monday, 31 March 2025

1958 Maserati 250F

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Corporate Jets Historic Grand Prix Car race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

Leading is Lindsay Owen-Jones in his 1958 Maserati 250F #2534 followed by Martin Stretton in David Duffy's 1955 Connaught B-Type and what looks like Nigel Corner's 1957 Maserati 250F. In the background is Robin Lodge in the ex-Gilby Engineering Company's 1954 Maserati 250F.

Sunday, 30 March 2025

1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

This car took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1979.
It's the 1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost of D. Marquis and is pictured in the assembly area prior to the start of the Run. The information in the programme of the event about this car is very sparse, being just details of the car model and the entrant:

27          Mr D. Marquis, Lytham
              1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, 6 cylinder 40/50 hp
 

Saturday, 29 March 2025

1938 ERA Parnell Challenger

I took this photograph at Druids Corner during one of the races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Formula Vintage meeting at Oulton Park in May 2019.
It's Duncan Ricketts in the ERA Parnell Challenger which was conceived by Reg Parnell for the 1½ litre Formule Internationale which was expected to be introduced in 1941 - events in 1939 obviously stopped that from happening. It was apparently intended to be fitted with an MG engine, but its only appearance before the war was at Prescott in early 1939 when it had an ERA engine. After the war Reg Parnell fitted it with an 8-cylinder inline Delage engine, but lost interest in the project after acquiring a Maserati 4CL. It was driven by David Hampshire in a couple of events with the Delage engine in 1947 and more recently came into the ownership of Duncan Ricketts who restored the car with a supercharged 1,488cc ERA engine.

Friday, 28 March 2025

Friday's Ferrari

This was one of the cars in the International Paddock at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.
It's a 2001 Ferrari 360 Spider and has a 3,586cc V8 Tipo F131 engine with twin overhead camshafts and five valves per cylinder. The Ferrari 360 was produced from 1999 to 2004, and 7,565 examples of this Spider model were made.

Thursday, 27 March 2025

1936 Albion K127 Dropside Lorry

This was one of the vehicles that took part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society’s Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1988.
A note in the programme of the event reads as follows:
 
BTB 429 Albion K127 Dropside Lorry. 1936. Entered by D. Huffer, Manchester.
Originally supplied to special specifications to Messrs. Pincroft – Dyers & Finishers of Adlington, Lancs.