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Monday, 18 May 2026

1948 Leyland Tiger PS1

This vehicle took part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1990.

It's a 1948 Leyland Tiger with a Brush body, and was provided new to Burnley, Colne and Nelson.  The note about it in the programme of the event reads as follows:
 
Leyland Tiger PS1, Brush, 1948                  HG9651
Burnley, Colne and Nelson
Entered by R Eckersall, Ashton U Lyne, Lancashire
Sold by BCN in 1996 and purchased for preservation in 1974. During repairs to the body the rear entrance has been replaced.

Sunday, 17 May 2026

1953 Riley RME

This is a photograph that I took in one of the car parks at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.
It's a 1953 Riley RME, 3,446 of which were produced between 1952 and 1955 and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc engine. 

Saturday, 16 May 2026

1948 Maserati 4CLT

This is a photograph that I took in the Donington Park Museum in March 1996.
It's a Maserati 4CLT which was a development of the pre-War 4CL and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,491cc supercharged engine. The first 4CLT was produced in 1947 and the 1948 variant made its debut at the San Remo Grand Prix, winning the race in the hands of Alberto Ascari. The 4CLT has ever since been known as the 'San Remo'. After spending some time trying to find this car's chassis number I eventually came across this site  which says it's #1607 and gave this information:

'Maserati 4CLT-48 [1607]: To Enrico Platé for 1949 (dated 14 Nov 1949 in Maserati records) and raced by Bira up to Geneva 1950. Car fitted with a 4450cc OSCA V12 engine for Bira for the 1951 season. The OSCA was taken to Australia in 1955 by Bira as a spare car to his 250F and sold there to Alf Harvey who raced it from 1955 to 1959. The car then went to the UK for historic racing and was bought by Tom Wheatcroft in 1971. Subsequently in the Donington Museum.'


Friday, 15 May 2026

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph that I took at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.
It's a Ferrari 360 Modena, a car that was introduced in 1999 replacing the Ferrari F355 and was superseded by the Ferrari F430 in 2004. It has the 3,586cc Ferrari F131 V8 engine with twin overhead camshafts per bank and five valves per cylinder.

Thursday, 14 May 2026

1901 De Dion Bouton

This is one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club’s Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car in April 1965.
All that it says in the programme of the event is that it’s Ralph Wilde’s 1901 De Dion Bouton. It also took part in the Run in 1966, however, as number 4 and the programme on that occasion had this note about it:
 
4.       Mr. R. Wilde, Radford Semele, Leamington.
           1901 De Dion Bouton Voiturette 503 c.c.
This is the first of the four-wheeled De Dion petrol cars, as opposed to the earlier steamers. It is a  descendant of the tricycles and is the earliest example of the famous De Dion rear axle now used on high-performance cars, including the Rover 2000. This example was rebuilt from scratch by the present owner and the task took five years. Won the Matthew Brown and Carburol Trophies in 1965.
 
Note: The 1965 programme says that the Matthew Brown Trophy was awarded for the best performance by a Veteran Car, and the United Lubricants Carburol Trophy was awarded for the best combined performance on the road and in the Concours d’Elegance by a Veteran or Edwardian Car.

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA

This is a photograph that I took at Britten’s chicane during the Under 2 Litres Touring Car race at the Gold Cup Meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008.
It's the 1965 Scuderia del Portello Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA driven in the 1 hour long race by Jason Wright. The Giulia was produced from 1962 to 1978 with a 4-cylinder inline engine of either 1.3 litres or 1.6 litres and the programme of the event says that this car has the 1.6 litre engine. The car behind looks like Roz Shaw and Tom Sheppard’s Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT.

Tuesday, 12 May 2026

1955 Lancia D50

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000 celebrated 50 years of Formula One, the World Drivers' Championship having started in 1950, and the first race of that Championship was run at Silverstone on 13th May of that year. At the July 2000 meeting at Silverstone there was a representative display of cars covering that 50 year period, and the car below was one of those taking part.
It's a re-creation of the Lancia D50 that competed in the Championship in 1954 and 1955 and It has a reproduction chassis with an original offset 2,488cc V8 engine and transmission salvaged from Enzo Ferrari's 'scrapyard'. This car was owned by Robin Lodge, and was entered in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars, but Robin Lodge had taken the precaution of also entering his 1959 Ferrari 246 Dino for that race, both numbered 42, in case the Lancia was not allowed to take part because of a doubt about its eligibility. In the end the car was allowed to race and was driven by Robin Lodge - the Ferrari also  took part in the race, renumbered as 54 and was driven by Willie Green.