1955 Vauxhall Velox

This is one of the cars that were on display at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a 1955 Vauxhall Velox E Series which has a 2,275cc 6-cylinder inline engine and was produced between 1951 and 1957. This note in the side window gives the history of the car:

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the HGPCA Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's described in the programme of the event as a 1958 Ferrari 250TR, but has had a chequered history, being built in 1956 as a Ferrari 290 MM with chassis #0606 and a 3,491cc V12 engine. As a Scuderia Ferrari car it won the 1956 Swedish Grand Prix in the hands of Maurice Trintignant and Phil Hill, then in the 1957 season was raced by the Ecurie Nationale Belge. At the end of the season it returned to the Ferrari factory and was loaned out during 1958, then in 1959 it was converted to Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa specifications with a 2,953cc V12 engine. It was sold as a Ferrari 250 TR to Brazilian Jean Luis Lacerda Soares who raced the car in 1960, but in 1962 Fernando Moriera borrowed it to race at Interlagos and the front half of the car was totally wrecked in an accident during the race that killed the driver. The less damaged rear part of the car was used to create an Corvette V8 engined special which was used through the 1960s after which the engine was removed and the rest of the car was untouched until the mid 1980s when it was brought to the UK. The new owner, Paolo Sebastiani was under the impression that he had the remains of a Testa Rossa #0726 and had the remains reconstructed as that car, which is how it appeared at this Silverstone race where it was driven by Paolo Sebastiani. It was then sold in the 1990s to a John Godfrey who did some detailed research and found that the remains were of the 290MM, #0606, and when John Godfrey later died the current owner bought the car from his estate and commissioned Neil Twyman to return it to the same specification it was when it last left the Ferrari factory in 1959.

1930 Maserati 26M

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting in June 1970.

This is Lord Doune's 1930 Maserati 26M, chassis 2514, that was driven by Ray Fielding in the Richard Seaman Memorial Vintage Trophy Race. The programme of the event describes it as a Maserati 8C and says this about it:

'.....also in the third row is a most welcome dark horse in the form of a rare 1930 blown 8C 2½ litre Grand Prix Maserati. This car was brought over from Switzerland by Lord Doune, famous for his Scottish museum of Sports and racing cars and the Doune hill climb course, who has entered the car to be driven by Ray Fielding.'

1901 De Dion Bouton Tonneau

I took this photograph just after the car had left the start point of the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1985.

I no longer have the programme of the event, but this car was a regular participant in the Run and the 1986 programme says this about it:

 1901 De Dion Bouton Tonneau
 Reg: D 235   1 cylinder   8 hp
 W.A. Pownall, Hazel Grove, Cheshire
The original "Surrey with the fringe on top" - this car has won the concours
in its class on the run ten times. It spent much of its early life in India where
it was owned by a prince. It was also once owned by Sir William Rootes.

1982 Maserati Kyalami

This car was in the paddock at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's a 1982 Maserati Kyalami which has a 4,930cc V8 engine and 210 of these cars were produced between 1976 and 1983.

1959 Maserati Tec-Mec

This car is receiving a lot of attention at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in June 1969 where it was driven by Tony Merrick in the Allcomers Scratch Race.

The Maserati 250F was first raced in 1954, evolving from the earlier A6GCM model, and was used by the Officine Alfieri Maserati team until 1957, Juan Fangio winning the World Championship in that year, after which Maserati pulled out of racing for financial reasons. The 250F continued to race in the hands of private entrants until the end of the 1960 season when the 2½ litres formula ended. In 1958 the Tec-Mec company was founded by former Maserati designer Valerio Colotti who built an updated version of the Maserati 250F, designated the F415, which only competed in one World Championship Grand Prix, the 1959 United States GP, where it retired after only 6 laps. The car has competed since then in historic car race meetings, and for a time it was also part of the Donington Collection in the museum at the Donington Park racecourse.

1959 Stanguellini FJ

This is a photograph I took at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

It's a Stanguellini Formula Junior car from the late 1950s. Formula Junior was conceived in 1958 as a class of racing which would form a relatively inexpensive entry level class for drivers to take their first steps to a racing career. The engine, transmission and brakes of the car had to be sourced from production cars with a 1,000cc limit on cars weighing 360kg and 1,100cc for 400kg cars. Italian cars mostly using the Fiat 1,100cc engine were the most successful in the first two years as the British manufacturers still concentrated on the 500cc Formula 3 series. Cooper, Lotus and others soon started to produce mid-engined Formula Junior cars though, and by 1960 British cars were picking up most of the victories. This car was sold by the Museum in 1994 and in 2004 it was offered in auction by Bonhams who gave this information about the car.