Lagonda 3 litre Tourer

This is a car on the Exchange Station car park in Manchester awaiting its turn to start in the Lancashire Automobile Club's  Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in May 1987.

It's a 1929 Lagonda 3 litre Tourer and on 1 April 2015 I showed a photograph of this car about to start on the 1992 run and said that in that year's programme of the event the only information about the car was the name of the owner. In 1987, however, this information was in the programme:

138          1929 Lagonda 3 litre Tourer

                 Reg: UU 7296  6 cylinder 17.9 hp

                 (Tom Sharples, New Longton, Preston)

Found on an airfield after the war being used as a tractor with a diesel engine fitted. It later had a Ford V8 engine but when purchased by the present owner in 1976 it was in a rough condition, although complete.

Maserati 8CTF

This is one of the cars that took part in the Historic Seaman Trophy Race at the VSCC meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

It's E Dean Butler's 1938 Maserati 8CTF, which was driven in the Historic Seaman Trophy race by Stephen Hyett. Three of the 8CTF models were built by Maserati in 1938 with the chassis numbers 3030, 3031 and 3032. The cars were campaigned by the works in the 1938 racing season with little success, the best result being a third place for 3031 in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in the hands of Paul Pietsche. Early in 1939 3032 was sold to American Mike Boyle and as the 'Boyle Special' it went on to win the Indianapolis 500 race in 1939 and 1940. The other two cars were sold later in 1939 to French racing driver Laury Schell and his French-Irish-American wife Lucy O'Reilly Schell, who was also a well-known competitor. After Laury Schell's death soon after that in a road accident his wife returned to America taking the two Maseratis with her and they were entered in the Indianapolis 500 race in 1940. Car 3031 in the hands of René Dreyfus didn't qualify for the race, but he shared the driving of 3030 in the race with René Le Bègue, finishing in tenth place. The car pictured here is that car, chassis number 3030.

NB: Harry Schell, who competed in the 1950s with Maserati, Vanwall, BRM and other cars, was the son of Laury and Lucy O'Brien Schell.

Les Amis de Panhard et Levassor

I took this photograph at the Northern Classic Car Show in September 1986 at the Belle Vue Exhibition Halls in Manchester.

It's on the stand of 'Les Amis de Panhard et Levassor (GB)' and shows two of the cars which were on display there. On the left is a Panhard PL17 and on the right a Panhard 24. The brochure of the event had this piece about the club:

LES AMIS DE PANHARD ET LEVASSOR (GB)

On behalf of the friends of Panhard and Levassor, welcome to the stand...if you want to see some real classic cars, as distinct from just collectors cars, come on in.

"Panhard, it's American isn't it?" could be your opening gambit. We'll soon put you right on that one. Paris, France is their real home. You'll notice the cars are fairly long, the saloons are four door, six seaters.

"MUST need a big engine to push them along, two litre perhaps?" No, a two cylinder 850cc air cooled engine is all they need.

"Must be slow then." No, 85 mph for the saloon, and the coupé will do 95 mph.

"Oh, well they must be heavy on petrol?" Again, no, the 'tigre' sports coupé does about 35 mpg, the standard saloon 40 mpg plus. That's some of the reasons why we like them, cheap to run, fun to drive...

"Where's the catch?" Well people keep telling us Panhards are American! If you'd like to know more, come and talk to us, we speak English!

Denise Polley the club secretary will be glad to send you details of membership, spares, cars for sale etc, write to her.

Talbot Lago T26C

Here's a photograph of a car leaving the pits during a practice session for the Chopard 100-Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's Belgian François d'Huart in a 1950 Talbot Lago T26C, raced as a works car by Eugene Martin, Eugene Chaboud and Yves Giraud-Cabantous, and later by Maurice Trintignant for Écurie Rosier. The car is in the yellow racing colours of Belgium.

Hyde Fire Station

Hyde Fire Station is the Tameside Borough Command Headquarters and is in a rather out-of-the-way part of the town.

I don't pass the place very often, but here are a couple of photographs I've taken when walking past the station.

This photograph was taken in November 2010 and shows two appliances which apparently didn't belong to the Tameside Fire Service. The nearest one is a Dennis Rapier Rescue Pump of the Chesham Fire Service, registration number L668 LUJ, and the other appliance is a Dennis SS Saxon, registration number L616 DDB.

This photograph was taken earlier this month and the one nearest the camera is a Scania 94D P260 Water Tender. Again the coat of arms on the door of the vehicle appears to be that of the Chesham Fire Service and the registration number is T236 RFS. The other vehicle is a Shelvoke Special Purpose Vehicle, registration number YHV 186T.

Friday's Ferrari

Amongst all the Veteran and Vintage vehicles at the VSCC Hawthorn Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015 was this piece of modern machinery.

It was parked amongst other spectators' cars on the infield between Lodge Corner and the Start/Finish line, and it's a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. You can read what Ferrari themselves have to say about the car here.

Jaguar R-D6

This is one of the cars that I photographed when I went to the Donington Museum in September last year.

It's the 2003 Jaguar R-D6 Concept Car, on loan to the museum from the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, and you can read all about the car here
.

Bugatti Type 50

This car was entered in the VSCC Bill Phillips Trophy Race at the Silverstone Historic Tribute 2004 meeting in June of that year.

It's a 1931 Bugatti Type 50 Le Mans, driven in the race by Mike Preston, and you can read about it in this history of the car as told by H&H Classic Car Auctions when it was put up for auction in 2002.

Austin 7 RN Van

I photographed this vehicle in Heaton Park, Manchester at the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1993.

It's not listed in the programme of the event, but it's a 1933 Austin 7 RN Van, and was apparently owned by the Oldham Chronicle at that time.

BRM P160B

Here's a couple of photographs I took on practice day at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in May 1972.

It's Peter Gethin's BRM P160B being wheeled into the paddock after a practice run. As you can see the weather wasn't being particularly kind that day.

Here's Peter Gethin rounding Old Hall Corner on his way to qualifying for pole position. In the race he unfortunately retired after 10 laps and the race was won by Denny Hulme in a McLaren M19A. This was the last race to be held at Oulton Park featuring current F1 cars.

MGs at Oulton Park

Oulton Park hosted the VSCC's  Hawthorn Memorial Trophies race meeting on 18th July 2015 with the usual mixture of vintage sports cars, and here are photographs of some of the selection of MGs that took part in the races.

Race 4 was Part 1 of the Bill Phillips Trophy Race for Standard & Modified Pre-War Sports Cars, and I watched this race at Druids Corner.

Fred Boothby in his 1933 MG J2 being passed by Nicolas Rossi's 1930 Alfa Romeo 8C 1750 GS

Mark Dolton in his 1935 MG PB being passed by David Lamb's 1929 Riley Brooklands

Miss Anne Boursot in H H McNinch's 1935 MG PA

Fred Boothby again in his 1933 MG J2

Andrew Morland in his 1933 MG L1

Mrs Sarah Foster in J Foster's 1939 MG TB

Race 9 was the Hawthorn Memorial & Spanish Trophies Race for Pre-1961 Racing Cars, and I watched this race from Lodge Corner.

Thomas Hardman in the 1935 MG Bellevue Special

Race 3, a Short Handicap Race for Pre-War Cars was red-flagged after an accident at Druids Corner and re-run after race 9, and again I was at Lodge Corner.

Harry Painter's 1934 MG PA

Mike Painter's 1935 MG Kayne Special

Frazer Nash Targa Florio

This car was in the paddock at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's a 1953 Frazer Nash Targa Florio, chassis number 421/200/177, which was delivered to its first owner, a J Hood, in June of 1953. The Targa Florio owes its name to the victory by Franco Cortese in the 1951 Targa Florio race in Sicily driving a Frazer Nash Le Mans.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph in the Ferrari Owners Club parking area in the paddock at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

I couldn't find out anything about it at the time and as the proportions of the car didn't seem to be quite right I labelled it as a 'Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Replica'. I now find that it started off life as a 1964 Ferrari 330GT 2+2, but was later 'rebodied, by Jim Rose, UK as TR/59'. The serial number of that Ferrari 330GT was 6481GT.

Clement Voiturette

I took this photograph on the Exchange Station car park in Manchester before the start of the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1986.

It's one of Clive Williams' cars, an 1897 Clement Voiturette, and the programme of the event had this to say about it:

1           1897 Clement Voiturette

             Reg:  DS 6713  1 cylinder  2.25 hp

             (Clive Williams, Hyde, Cheshire)

In November 1985, this venerable veteran successfully completed its first London to Brighton Run, but not without mishap. Halfway there, the rear number plate fell off and had to be hand-held the rest of the way. The contact breaker assembly fell apart three times, and 15 miles from Brighton the brakes became completely inoperative, so that all braking had to be done through the gearbox with harrowing, but hilarious results. Mr Williams hopes for a less eventful Manchester to Blackpool Run today!

The Manchester to Blackpool run was organised by the Lancashire Car Club in association with the Blackpool Borough Council, and as you can see from the placards behind the car it was sponsored at that time by the Sunday Mirror newspaper.

Jaguar D-Type

The Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2003 included a round of the BRDC Historic Sports Cars Championship, and pictured below is one of the cars that took part.

It's the 1954 Jaguar D-Type chassis XKC402 which finished second that year in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. It was driven in that race by Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton and at the end of the season the car was sold to Duncan Hamilton. I remember seeing Duncan Hamilton drive this car at the first motor race I ever attended, the 1955 British Empire Trophy Race at Oulton Park, where he finished in seventh place. At Oulton Park the car was driven by Peter Neumark.

Delage 3-litre Type X

The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006 included a race for Edwardian cars, and the photograph below is of one of the cars that took part in that race.

It's a 1911 Delage 3-litre Type X and the programme of the event says this about the car:

'This car was one of four 3-litre Type X racers built by Louis Delage to compete in the 1911 La Coupe des Voitures Legeres at Boulogne. Paul Bablot drove it to victory in the event - thus earning the Coupe de L'Auto, the prize presented by The Automotor Journal.

Immediately after the race it was bought - for a hefty £1000 - by Buster Lacon, one of two spectating Cambridge undergraduates.

Later that year Lacon sold the car to his companion on the Boulogne trip, Billy McBain. McBain and his brother George both raced the car at Brooklands over the next couple of years. It then changed hands three times in 1914, finishing up in the possession of Captain Leslie Corah, who was killed in action in 1915. It remained in the Corah family though until 1951.

It was then acquired by Lord Charnwood - formerly a director, and designer, at Bamford and Martin - and he restored the car and nicknamed it 'Denise'.

Following Charnwood's death in 1955 it was little seen until it was purchased by Sir John Briscoe in 1961. In the hands of the Briscoe family it became a familiar sight, enjoying a busy demonstration career at VSCC and VCC events until recently. It was also restored again and had its coachwork brought very close to its 1911 spec.

Last year it was purchased by David Ozanne, who will this weekend give the car its first race appearance for decades.'

The sale of the car in 2005 was organised by Bonhams, and here is their description of the car when it was put up for auction.

Kenworth Recovery Truck

I took this photograph in January 2011 as I was passing through Hyde Bus Station and I hadn't seen this vehicle before, nor have I seen it since.

It's apparently a Kenworth Recovery Truck and doesn't look as if it will have any problem dealing with the removal of a double decker bus.

Burrell Road Locomotive

The Coys International Historic Festival meetings at Silverstone always had a large variety of not just Vintage, Veteran and Historic competition vehicles, but displays of vehicles from a large variety of car clubs, and commercial and public transport vehicles as well. The photograph below shows one of the commercial vehicles that was present at the 1995 event.

I've always called these 'steam traction engines', but they are also known as 'road locomotives' and this one is a 1912 Burrell which has been given the name 'The Dalesman'. This engine was supplied to J Hancock and Son, brick makers, of Exeter and was originally named 'City of Exeter', being renamed 'The Dalesman' when it was later restored.

Bugatti T37

I photographed this car at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's not listed in the programme of the event, but it's the 1929 Bugatti T37 of Paul Grant of Automobiles Vanderveken of Brussels.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a car that was on display at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

It's a 2003 Ferrari F2003-GA and was driven in that season by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher winning the World Championship for Drivers and Ferrari the Constructor's title. The car behind it is a Maserati 150S.

Embraer ERJ-190

I took this photograph of this aeroplane passing over Hyde on 11th April 2015 just before it landed at Manchester Airport.

It's a Finnair Embraer ERJ-190 in Oneworld livery on flight AY937 from Helsinki. The aircraft registration number is OH-LKN.

McLaren F1 GTR

This car was in the paddock at Silverstone at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting in 1997.

It's a 1996 McLaren F1 GTR, chassis number 12R, the car that finished in 9th place in the 1996 Le Mans 24 hour race driven by Ray Bellm, James Weaver and J J Lehto, but retired from the 1997 race when in 4th place. There's a story here about the drive in this car to Le Mans for the 1997 race.

Maserati A6GCM

A few days ago I showed some photographs of the Maserati 250F V12 which I had taken at Donington Park in 2005. Here are some photographs of its predecessor which I took at the VSCC Boulogne and Hawthorn Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2006.

It's a 1953 Maserati A6GCM, a development of the original A6GCM which was introduced in 1951 to compete in Formula 2 races. When Alfa Romeo pulled out of racing after the 1951 season leaving Ferrari as the only credible Formula 1 team the FIA decided to abandon the 4½ litre Formula 1 for the 1952 World Championship for Drivers in favour of the 2 litre Formula 2 cars, and Maserati produced this uprated version of the A6GCM to compete in the 1953 season's races. The car made its debut at the non-championship Naples Grand Prix in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and José Froilán Gonzáles.

This car is finished in the Siamese racing colours of Prince Bira who had owned A6GCM serial number 2044, which was apparently converted to a 250F in 1954. This is possibly that car as it is shown in the programme of the Oulton Park meeting as having a 2½ litre engine, although it's listed as an A6GCM.

Here's the owner, David Bennett, at Britten's chicane during the race leading Richard Last in a 1933/38 MG Parnell K3, Harvey Sykes in a 1957 Cooper T43 and Peter Mann in a 1952 Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica.

Ford Sidevalve

This is a photograph I took at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester in August 1991 of 3 cars on the stand of the Ford Sidevalve Owners' Club.

From left to right they are a 1949 Ford 5cwt van, a 1959 Ford Popular 103E and a 1958 Ford Prefect 100E.

The brochure of the event had this information about the Ford Sidevalve Owners' Club:

'The FSOC was originally formed in 1969 as the Ford 100E Owners Club, catering for 100E & 107E models. In 1971 membership was extended to all Ford sidevalve powered vehicles ranging from the 1930s model Ys to the 1960s 107Es including special and sports cars. The first aim of the club is to assist members in keeping their vehicles on the road and the club holds a stock of spares for all models covered, and from time to time arranges for items to be re-manufactured to original patterns.

The second aim of the club is to have an active social side and the club holds regular meetings throughout the country with thriving local branches in Manchester and Merseyside. The club also organises 'Sidevalve days' in the North, Midlands and the South, often held at places of interest for all the family. The club produces six times a year its own popular magazine 'Side Valve News' which won the best 'Car Club Magazine' award in 1986. The Manchester branch has provided the vehicles for display at the show.'

Jack Brabham

This is a photograph I took in the paddock during practice the day before the British Grand Prix at Aintree in 1962.

It's Jack Brabham in the Brabham Racing Organisation Lotus 24 preparing to go out on a practice run. He drove the Lotus in the early part of that season whilst he was waiting for his new Brabham BT3 to be ready - his team had hoped that he would be able to race the car in the British Grand Prix but in the event it wasn't ready until the following race, the German Grand Prix. At Aintree Jack qualified the Lotus in ninth place on the grid and ended the race in fifth place, a lap behind the winner Jim Clark in a Lotus 25.

Here's Jack Brabham approaching Waterway Corner during a practice run.

Maserati 250F V12

The featured marque at the VSCC SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 was the Maserati and the photograph below shows one of the cars which took part.

The car isn't shown in the programme of the event, but it's Thomas Bscher's Maserati 250F V12.

The 250F was introduced in 1954 to compete in the new 2½ litre Formula, but by 1956 it was finding it difficult with the 6-cylinder car to compete with the Lancia-derived Ferraris and the British Vanwalls and it was decided to explore the possibility of fitting a V12 engine into the chassis of the 250F.

This car was purpose-built to use the V12 engine (in other words they didn't take an existing car and replace the 6-cylinder engine with the V12) and is serial number 2531.

The car only had one outing in a World Championship Grand Prix and that was at the 1957 Italian Grand Prix at Monza in the hands of Jean Behra where it retired due to overheating.

Before any further development was able to be carried out financial problems caused Maserati to pull out of racing at the end of the 1957 season.

Here's the car during the race at Donington Park at McLean's Corner leading the 1956 Maserati 250F driven by Rick Hall. Maserati retained the V12 engine when they sold the car and it was by this time fitted with a 3-litre V12 engine from a Maserati Tipo 63 sports car.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a car that appears regularly at historic car meetings in the hands of the owner David Cottingham and is here seen at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in 1993.

It's a 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC, with a 2 litre 4-cylinder engine, that was conceived as a customer car and never raced by the works. The serial number is 0682MDTR. Behind it is the 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France, serial number 0911GT, then owned by Reza Rashidian.

Aston Martin DB3S

This car took part in the Autumn Historic Car Races meeting organised by the Aston Martin Owners Club at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's a 1955 Aston Martin DB3S, chassis number 103, which was originally campaigned by the Kangaroo Stable racing team of Australia. At the Oulton Park meeting it was driven by Tony Smith. Whenever I see a DB3S I think of when I went to see the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1955 where one of the support races was for sports cars, and I remember standing at a bus stop in Liverpool waiting for a bus to Aintree when the four Aston Martin DB3S works cars came trundling past on their way to the circuit. An exciting sight for a 13 year old schoolboy. Those four cars finished in the first four places in the race.

Morris LD

The vehicle shown below was one of the entrants in the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1996.

It's a 1965 Morris LD with Wadham Stringer ambulance body and was entered in the rally by J.Murphy of Fazakerley, Liverpool. There's no other information about it in the programme of the event, but I understand that it is believed to be an ex-Liverpool ambulance.

The Morris LD was produced by the British Motor Corporation in conjunction with the Austin 1000/1500kg van which both used the Austin 2.2 litre petrol engine. The Morris LD was preceded by the Morris Commercial PV and succeeded by the BMC 350 EA.

BRM V16

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 included a display of BRM cars to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the marque. Included in the display were three of the original BRM V16 cars.

This is the original car, designated BRM Mk1 No. 1 or V16/01 and this is the one usually on show at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, The Mk1 is also known as the P15.

This is BRM Mk1 No. 3, or V16/03 and is the Donington Museum car. It was driven in the BRM demonstration run that day at Silverstone by José Froilán Gonzáles.

The third car on display was the BRM V16 Mk2 No. 1, or V16/04, which was then owned by Nick Mason and driven by him in the demonstration run. It is now owned by Bernie Ecclestone. The Mk2 was also known as the P30 and was a shorter and lighter version of the Mk1.

You can read the history of the V16 BRMs in this madasafish.com history of the car.