Friday's Ferrari

When the new Formula One regulations stipulated a limit of 2½ litres Ferrari found that the 553 Squalo in 1954 and 555 Supersqualo in 1955 were not fast or reliable enough to beat the Mercedes Benz W196 and Maserati 250Fs. They reverted in some races to the older Ferrari 625 which was basically the 2 litre Formula Two 500 of 1952/53 with a lengthened chassis and fitted with a 2½ litre engine. One of these cars took part in the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's Alexander Boswell's car and was apparently fitted with a 3 litre engine at this time.

At the end of the 1955 season the Lancia team withdrew from racing due to financial difficulties and Ferrari took over their D50 F1 cars, racing them for the next two seasons with various degrees of modification. They took Fangio to the World Championship title in 1956 but weren't very successful the following season.

Lister Knobbly

Brian Lister started producing sports cars in 1954 first with an MG engine and later with a Bristol engine, but he had the most success with the 1957 car which used the Jaguar D-type engine. The first version of this car was known at the time as a Lister-Jaguar, but after the 1959 car was given a smoother aerodynamic body designed by Frank Costin (and designed to use the Chevrolet Corvette powerplant) the more bulbous earlier car became known as the Lister Knobbly. the photograph below shows one of these cars at the Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting organised by the VSCC at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's a 1959 car owned by Barry Wood

Here's Barry Wood at Britten's chicane during the Hawthorn International Trophy race followed by Kerry Horan in a Kurtis SX500.

Last year Lister Cars announced plans to start a new production run of the Lister Knobbly.

Bentley Speed Six 6½ Litre

This is a car I spotted in the paddock at the SeeRed meeting organised by the VSCC at Donington Park in September 2006.

It's a 1929 Bentley Speed Six 6½ litre Grafton Coupe with coachwork by Freestone & Webb, and you can read about it on this Vintage Bentleys website. The Speed Six was a high performance version of the 6½ litre car and this Wikipedia article tells you about the model. Two of Bentley's five pre-war victories at the Le Mans 24 Hour race, in 1929 and 1930, were achieved by the Speed Six.

Maserati 450S

This car took part in the Champagne Charles Heidsieck Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.

It's a 1957 Maserati 450S and was raced at this meeting by the owner, Thomas Bscher of Germany. The 450S had a 4½ litre V8 engine and was produced by Maserati to challenge for the 1957 World Sportscar Championship as the 3 litre 300S was considered to be too underpowered to have a chance of winning that series. Maserati finished in second place in the Championship winning 2 of the 7 races, the Sebring 12 Hour race and the 1000km Swedish Grand Prix at Kristianstad. Thomas Bscher's car was is variously described as being serial number 4505 and 4506 and was originally built for John Edgar of the USA, being fitted with a Pontiac engine at one point when the original engine was blown and returned to the works for repair.

Daimler 45hp

This car is in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester awaiting the start of the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1990.

It's not listed in the programme of the event, but it's a 1914 Daimler 45hp Special Limousine with body by Windover. The only information I can find about this car is that it was entered in a Bonhams & Brooks auction in September 2001 with a guide price of £50,000-£65,000 but was not sold. The notice at the bottom of the windscreen in the centre appears to read 'Christians of Southport' with a phone number, and Christians of Southport are a company on Station Road dealing in vintage cars and motorcycles.

BRM P48

Here's another of the old photographs, this time from the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in September 1960.

It's Graham Hill in the paddock in his BRM P48, the unsuccessful rear-engine version of the P25. Graham Hill finished in third position in the race which was won by Stirling Moss in a Lotus 18. This was the last season for the 2½ litre cars and BRM competed in the 1961 season with the P48/57, a car that was basically a P48 fitted with a 1½ litre engine, which was no more successful than the P48. The next season, however, a new car, the P57 with a new 1½ litre V8 engine was built and with this car Graham Hill won the 1962 World Championship.

Mini Moke

This is another of the vehicles I photographed in the Pallot Museum in Jersey when we visited in 2013.

It's a Mini Moke from the late 1960s. As the name suggests it was designed to use parts from the Austin and Morris Mini cars, and one of the briefs was to produce a small jeep-like vehicle with 4 seats for the armed forces which could be dropped by parachute. The low ground clearance, however, meant that it was not suitable for off-road use and so the armed forces lost interest in the project. The car did become a cult vehicle though after appearing in television series such as The Avengers and The Prisoner. There is a club for enthusiasts of the Mini Moke - 'Moke', by the way, was on old British dialect name for a donkey.

Friday's Ferrari

This car was entered in the Coys of Kensington GT Race at the Coys International Historic festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB, serial number 2021GT, entered by Lindsay Owen-Jones but driven in the race by Stefano Violati. Stirling Moss won the RAC TT race at Goodwood in both 1960 and 1961 driving a Ferrari 250 GT SWB, and he described it as 'the best GT car in the world'.

Tec-Mec Maserati

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.

Here's the car at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in 1969

In October 1989 it was in the museum collection at Donington Park

In 2005 it took part in the SeeRed race meeting at Donington Park

Albion Claymore CL3 AN

Here's a truck arriving in Heaton Park, Manchester, for the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1996 organised by the Greater Manchester Transport Society.

It's a 1964 Albion Claymore CL3 AN, which had an underfloor engine of 4.1 litres, and a three man cab, and the programme of the event had this to say about it:

G11          Albion CL 3AN                                                                                             ANF 369B

                  Entered by           A.Tett, Holme, Carnforth, Lancs

This vehicle was used by Manchester Fire Service to carry Foam Pumps and it was also used to train HGV Drivers. After a 10 year break, it was in the London to Brighton Rally in 1985.

What next?

Thomas Middleton in his book 'History of Hyde' describes some dark parts of Hyde's history, including the murder of a mill owner, Thomas Ashton, in 1831 which Middleton describes as being 'regarded as an attempt on the part of the extremists in the trade union movement to terrorise the employers'. Three men were charged with the murder and two of them were hanged after the third man turned King's evidence.
One of the chapters of 'History of Hyde' is entitled 'Some Grim Happenings of the Past' which details such things as suicides and body snatching, including the aftermath of one burial:
'The day after the interment, the sexton noticed that the gravestone was not in the position in which he had placed it after filling in the grave. The grave was then opened in the presence of some hundreds of people, and on the coffin being reached it was found to contain nothing but the grave-clothes which had been buried with the corpse; these were then given to a woman residing near, who made them into under-garments, and afterwards wore them.'
The things Thomas Middleton writes about are in the distant past, but evil deeds have been visited upon Hyde in the more recent past, and the names of Ian Brady, Myra Hindley, Dr Harold Shipman and Dale Cregan are reviled not just locally, but nationwide.
So what's going to happen next to bring Hyde to the attention of the whole nation? When I was walking down into Hyde town centre recently I passed a car parked at the side of the road and spotted this logo behind the rear door:

Oh dear! 

Napier 60hp

The Richard Seaman Trophy Vintage Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992 organised by the VSCC included a 4-lap Handicap Race for Edwardian Cars. Pictured below is one of the cars that took part in the race.

It's shown in the programme of the event as a 1908 Napier and I've seen this car described as a type 65R and as a T21. The programme said this about it:

'Trevor Tarring's 1908 60hp six-cylinder competition Napier has the largest engine in the race. With no less than 11.6 litres, Christopher Bird posted second fastest time at a Shelsley Walsh hillclimb with this car in 1911'

Mini Marcos

This is a photograph I took at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester, in August 1993.

It's a Mini Marcos, based on the British Leyland Mini, and the registration number reveals that it's a Mk IV model produced in 1981 by D&H Fibreglass Techniques Ltd. It was on the stand of the Mini Marcos Owners Club,

Barbara Hepworth

There's currently an exhibition of Barbara Hepworth sculptures at the Tate Britain on Millbank. London which is apparently 'the first major Barbara Hepworth exhibition in London for almost 50 years'. In August 1998 whilst on holiday in St Ives we visited Barbara Hepworth's Trewyn Studios where she lived and worked from 1949 until her death in 1975. Here are some of the photographs I took on that visit.

'River Form' [1965] on the left, 'Two Forms (Divided Circle)' [1969] on the right, and behind it 'Sphere with Inner Form' [1963]

'Four-Square Walk Through' [1966]

'Spring' [1966]

'Stone Sculpture (Fugue II)' [1956]

'Two Forms (Divided Circle)' [1969] - and through the right-hand circle 'Coré' [1960]

'Figure for Landscape' [1960]

You can read here what Wikipedia has to say about Barbara Hepworth.

Friday's Ferrari

Today's car competed in the Shell Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

It's the Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta TdF of Swiss driver Plinio Haas, seen here in the pit lane during a practice session. There were 4 different versions of the Tour de France car, each identified by the number of louvres in the sail panel on each side of the car between the side and rear windows. There were cars with no louvre, a single louvre. three louvres and fourteen louvres. This particular car is one of the single louvre models, of which 36 examples were built, and has the serial number 1401GT.

Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

I showed a photograph on 10th December 2014 of the original Silver Ghost at the 1993 Northern Classic Car Show. Here's a photograph of another Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.

It was taken at the Exchange Station car park, Manchester, the assembly point for the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run organised by the Lancashire Automobile Club in May 1987. Again, the information in the programme of the event about this car is very sparse, being just details of the car model and the entrant:

21          1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost,

               Reg: K377 6 cylinder 40/50 hp

               (David Marquis, Lytham)

The Silver Ghost Association has a website and is 'dedicated to the preservation and use of Rolls Royce Silver Ghost automobiles.'

McLaren F1 prototype XP5

On 6th May 2015 I showed a photograph of the McLaren F1 prototype XP4 that was in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993. I took the photograph below at the Coys meeting the following year, in July 1994.

This time it's the McLaren F1 prototype XP5, the car which in 1998, driven by Andy Wallace, reached the record speed for a normally aspirated production car at a shade below 243 mph. This site has a complete registry of all the McLaren F1 cars.

Alfa Romeo 6C 1750

This is a car I photographed at the VSCC meeting at Oulton Park in August 1996.

It's a 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 and was one of the cars entered in the Concours at the meeting. Sadly, the programme of the event doesn't have any information about the car, just one line in the entry list for the Concours, which I assume relates to this car as it's the only Alfa Romeo listed:

1          W.I.Brown          1930          Alfa Romeo

Here's a link to the Wikipedia entry about the Alfa Romeo 6C.

Greater Manchester Transport Museum

This is a photograph taken on a visit to the Greater Manchester Transport Museum in Boyle Street, Manchester, on 19th June 1983.

The first bus on the left is the electrically driven Seddon Pennine RU, designated  Silent Rider and numbered EX61 and originally with SELNEC PTE. It's apparently since been dismantled, but its sister car EX62 is now part of the museum collection. Wikipedia has this to say about the bus:

'The Seddon Pennine RU (for rear-underfloor, the location of the engine) was launched in 1969 as a competitor in the market for rear-engine single deckers. Although a very different product to the Pennine 4 it followed the same market-driven philosophy. Viz: offer the same major features as the most in-demand model but cut out most of the complexity, some of the purchase price and offer it for sale quickly and cheaply with the choice of in-house Pennine Coachcraft bodywork. The market leader was in the rear-engine single-deck segment was the Bristol RE and Seddon decided to use similar mechanical units, notably Gardner engines and Self-Changing Gears semi-automatic transmission.

The final RU to be delivered to a new customer was equipped with a Chloride sponsored battery-electric driveline and was called the "Silent Rider". It was sold to SELNEC (later Greater Manchester) PTE who numbered it EX61 in its experimental series, registering it XVU387M. The Chloride battery pack weighed four tonnes and the vehicle (unladen but for those batteries) weighed 13 tonnes (almost double the unladen weight of the Gardner-powered version) so payload was limited, by the axles fitted, to one tonne which equalled a capacity of B41D + 9 standing and although it featured regenerative braking the bus (like Lucas battery-electric Seddon Midi EX62 XVU364M which followed in 1975) was not a success. The Silent Rider project alone cost £100,000 at mid-1970s values, promotional tours to Sheffield and Chicago, Illinois, USA may have been prestigious for the Executive and for the manufacturers of vehicle and batteries, who were both major employers of voters in the PTE area, but Cook County Transit and the South Yorkshire PTE were, lacking the electrical-charging and cell-care infrastructure installed in a Manchester garage as part of the project, able to get even less use out of the thing than Greater Manchester who tried to employ its advertised 100-mile range by using it sporadically on one morning and one afternoon peak-time journey on routes 202/3. It was out of service by 1976.'

The next bus is a 1963 Daimler CVG6K with a Metro Cammell H37/28R body that was originally in service with Manchester City Transport, and the vehicle on the right is a 1939 Bristol K5G with a Willowbrook L27/24R body that was fitted in 1951 and was originally part of the North Western Road Car Company's fleet.

Tojeiro Aston Martin

This is a car I photographed at the Donington International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004 organised by the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association.

It's got an Aston Martin badge and looks vaguely like the third and final styling of the DB3S in 1956, but it's actually a Tojeiro Aston Martin. I don't remember seeing a Tojeiro Aston Martin competing in the 1950s and I've not been able to find out much about this car, but it had a Bristol engine in 1955 when first made and sold to Percy Crabb. At some point it ended up in Belgium which is where it may have been fitted with the engine, which is apparently the straight-6 engine used by the Aston Martin DB2/4. At the Donington Park meeting it competed in the 2¼ hour Gentleman Drivers GT and Sports Car Endurance Race driven by Paul Grant with two co-drivers shown in the programme of the event, Christian Mullaert and Mary Grant-Jonkers.

Roy Salvadori

I took this photograph of Roy Salvadori in the paddock on the Friday practice day for the Aintree 200 race in April 1961.

In the race he drove one of the Cooper-Climax T53P cars for the Yeoman Credit Racing Team, qualifying in ninth place on the grid and ending the race in eighth position. You can see the Yeoman Credit Racing Team transporter behind Roy Salvadori in the photograph.

Here are the Yeoman Credit Racing Team cars of Roy Salvadori (no. 6) and John Surtees (no. 5) in the paddock. John Surtees finished in fourth place in the race, nearly two minutes behind the winner, Jack Brabham, in a works Cooper-Climax T55.

Roy Salvadori drove in the Formula One World Championship for eleven years from 1952 to 1962, for a variety of teams, mostly in British cars. His best season was 1958 when he finished in fourth place in the World Championship driving for the Cooper works team, but he's probably best remembered for a winning drive in the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hour race partnered by Carroll Shelby in an Aston Martin DBR1/300.

Friday's Ferrari

Another look at a Ferrari that I've featured a couple of times previously, this time pictured at Silverstone in July 1997 at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting.

It's Dudley Mason-Styrron's Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta, driven in the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge race by Sally Mason-Styrron. The programme of the event shows it as a 1954 car, but it's shown in www.barchetta.cc's history of the car, serial number 0040M, as having been built in 1950. It does say, however, that it was 'brought up to 195 specification and then 212 by factory', so it's possible that one of these modifications may have caused it to be redesignated as a 1954 car.

Speedway: Belle Vue Aces v Cradley (10 July 1976)

Heat 1: Alan Wilkinson

Heat 2: Steve Bastable

Heat 3: Chris Morton (blue) & Arthur Price (yellow/black)

Heat 4: Bruce Cribb (white) & Steve Bastable (yellow/black)

Heat 4: Peter Collins

Match Result: Belle Vue Aces 48 Cradley 30

Bristol L5G

Arriving at Heaton Park, Manchester is one of the entrants in the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally organised by the Greater Manchester Transport Society in September 1995.

It's a 1950 Bristol L5G with ECW B35R body, formerly part of the Crosville fleet. The programme of the event says this about the vehicle:

H10       Bristol L5G, Eastern Coach Works B35R, 1950                               LFM 728

                Entered by            R Jones, Deeside, Clwyd

                New to  Crosville Motor Services and  operated  in North Wales until 1969 when

                it was withdrawn and sold to Cheshire Constabulary. With present owner since 

                Sep 93.

Lola Mk1

The Historic Car Races organised by the Aston Martin Owners Club at Oulton Park in September 1986 included a round of the Historic Car Championship, and the car pictured below was one of the participants.

It's a 1960 Lola Mk1, entered in the race by the Viking Property Group and was driven by Brian Ashby.

Here's Brian Ashby at Lodge Corner during the race.

MGA Twin Cam

There were three stands for MG enthusiasts at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1986, the MG Car Club Ltd, the MG Owners' Club and the MG Octagon Car Club. It seems from the insignia on the umbrella behind the car that this photograph was taken at the MG Car Club stand.

It's an MGA Twin Cam, and you can read about the Twin Cam in this piece by the MG Owners' Club. The brochure of the 1986 Northern Classic Car Show said this about the MG Car Club Ltd:

'MG Car Club Ltd

The MG Car Club was founded in 1930 at the factory in Abingdon, it catered for the enthusiasts at the time who raced their cars. Today of course it caters for everyone who likes MG's. The magazine 'Safely Fast' began then as well, and is now still the club's magazine. The club spans 56 years of MG's from the very early Midgets to the saloon Metro, Maestro and Montego's of today, on our stand we hope to reflect this age. There will be a supercharged 'Y' type to look at and a ZB Magnette. More modern machines like the Metro Turbo and 6R4 rally car will be on display. There will also be a jubilee edition Midget, the only one ever built. To get back to the racing scene there will be a race prepared MGA.

As I said before the club caters for all the MG's. And all aspects of MG's. So come and see us on stand A19. For further information, contact Pat Stoot, The MG Car Club Ltd, PO Box251, Studley, Warwickshire, B80 7AT'

Scammell Scarab

This is another of the vehicles in the Pallot Museum in Jersey which we visited in May 2013.

It's a 1964 Scammell Scarab and you can tell from the trailer that it was used in the brewing industry. Because of its very tight turning circle the Scarab was popular with companies that had to carry out deliveries in urban streets. The notice in the windscreen reads:

J 39136

Scammell Scarab

3 Ton

New in 1964

New to Selfridges, Oxford

Street, London

Brought into Jersey in 1971 by

Randalls Vautier Brewery

Used for transporting bulk beer

Bought by present owner 1993

Owned & restored by: Sam Pallot

Lotus 80

The Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010 included a race for Grand Prix Masters F1 Cars 1966-1986 and the car pictured below in the pit garage is one of the cars that took part in that race.

It's a 1979 Lotus 80 and was driven in this race by Sid Hoole. Colin Chapman had started exploring the use of ground effect in his cars with the Lotus 78 of 1977 and the Lotus 80 was an attempt to maximise the benefits that it gave. The car was introduced at the 1979 Spanish Grand Prix where Mario Andretti finished in third place, but started in only two races after that, retiring both times. In the other races that season the team ran the Lotus 79 which had given Mario Andretti the 1978 World Championship. You can read about the Lotus 80 here.

Friday's Ferrari

This Ferrari took part in one of the Shell Historic Ferrari Maserati races at the VSCC meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

It's Nico Koel's 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Competizione, serial number 07641. There were ten of these cars built, for competition purposes, with the short nose, alloy bodies, 6 carburettors and wet sump lubrication. They had a 37 gallon (140 litres) competition fuel tank with outside filler caps and three vents behind the rear wheels.

Singer 10 hp

This is a photograph taken on the Exchange Station car park before the start of the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran & Vintage Car Run organised by the Lancashire Automobile Club in June 1986.

It's a 1923 Singer 10 hp and the programme of the event had this to say about the car:

26      1923 Singer

           Reg: ND 1891  4 cylinder 9.7 hp

           (Clive T. Cooper, Cheadle Hulme)

This Manchester registered car would appear to

have remained in the area all its life. A product

of the takeover by Singer of the Coventry

Premier Motor Co., it represented an entry into

the popular market, being a less costly version

of the Edwardian 10 hp model. The engine is

overhead valve, actuated by exposed push-

rods. It runs on beaded-edge tyres and has rear

brakes only.

Cooper Bristol

This car took part in the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy race at the Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting organised by the VSCC at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's a 1952 Cooper Bristol MkI - later known as the T20 - and was driven at this meeting by the owner Barry Wood.

Ecurie Ecosse are best known for their efforts in sports car racing, particularly their winning performances with Jaguar D-Types at Le Mans in 1956 and 1957, but they took part in the British Grand Prix from 1952 to 1954 with two cars, including this Cooper Bristol which was driven in the 1952 British Grand Prix by the founder of Ecurie Ecosse, David Murray.

Here's Barry Wood at Britten's chicane leading Pete Candy in the 1936 Riley Super Rat Special and Geoff O'Nion in his 1959 Elva 100.