1925 Lancia Lambda

I took this photograph at the Lancashire Automobile Club’s Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1985.

I no longer have the programme for the 1985 Run, but the car also took part in 1990 when the programme of the event said that it was a 1925 Lancia Lambda and was entered by John Muschamp of Keighley, West Yorkshire. It has a 2,570cc V4 engine and the DVLA record says that has been untaxed since November 2023.

1938 ERA E-Type

I took these photographs in the paddock at the Silverstone Classic Festival meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1938 ERA E-Type of Duncan Ricketts, chassis GP1, here with a 1,988cc supercharged engine but originally with a 1½ litre unit. This and its sister car, chassis GP2 were the only two E-Type ERAs built. Only one other ERA was built later and that was the  G-Type, designed after the Second World War to compete with a Bristol 2 litre engine as a Formula 2 car, but actually competed in the Formula 1 World Championship races in 1952 when they were run under Formula 2 rules. That car later became the basis for the Bristol 450 sports car that competed at Le Mans in 1953, 1954 and 1955.

1935 Standard Avon 'Le Mans' Special Tourer

This is a car that I saw in one of the car parks at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017.

It’s a 1935 Standard Avon 'Le Mans' Special Tourer, 1 of only 9 ‘Le Mans’ style examples manufactured by Avon.

It’s based on the Standard 9 and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,056cc engine’

1949 Leyland Titan PD1/3

This is a photograph that I took at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

I didn’t make a note at the time about this bus, but it appears to be one of the Greater Manchester Transport Society’s own vehicles, a 1949 Leyland Titan PD1/3, about which the programme of the event had this note:

 

Leyland Titan PD1/3, Metro-Cammell H30/26R,1949                                                                   JNA467

Manchester City Transport 3166

Entered by P.F.Wotton, Littleborough

Operated by M.C.T. until 1969, this vehicle carries bodywork to Manchester’s own design and is the sole survivor of a batch of 100 identical buses. It operated both North and South of the city during its career.

1929 Riley Brooklands

This car took part in the Pre War Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It was driven in the race by Richard and Geoffrey Bradford and is a 1929 Riley Brooklands with a tuned version of the Riley Nine's 1,087cc 4-cylinder inline engine. The Riley Nine was designed by two of the Riley brothers, Percy and Stanley, and the Brooklands was the work of John G Parry Thomas and Reid Railton who shortened the chassis by some 15 inches and fitted an undershield the full length of the car. The engine had high compression pistons, special camshafts and 2 carburettors, increasing its output to 50bhp.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph at the Knickerbrook chicane during the Aston Martin GT Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.

It's the 2000 Ferrari 360 driven in the 50 minute race by Matthew Wilton and John Cowen. There were two versions of the Ferrari 360, the Modena and the Challenge, as well as a Spider version, each with a 3,586cc V8 engine. It doesn't say in the programme of the event which version this is, but presumably it's the Challenge.

Mercedes 190 SE

I came across this photograph recently which I had taken outside the car showroom of Stewart Wilson in Hyde.

I don’t remember taking it, but I had labelled it as a Mercedes Benz 190SE. The ‘C’ in the registration number is for cars produced between August 1985 and July 1986, so presumably Stewart Wilson was involved in Touring Car racing at that time, but I’ve not been able to find out anything about it.