Mercedes-Benz 280SL

Here are a couple of photographs I took of a car earlier this year in a car park in Hyde.

It's a Mercedes-Benz 280SL, the largest capacity variant of the W113 model. It had a 2,778cc inline 6-cylinder M130 engine and was in production from 1967 to 1971.

Duesenberg Model J Torpedo Phaeton

This car was amongst others displayed by Coys Auctions at the Silverstone Historic Tribute meeting in June 2004.

It's a 1934 Duesenberg Model J Torpedo Phaeton, chassis number 2579 and engine J-555, which apparently had a Willoughby Berline body before being rebodied as a replica Brunn Torpedo Phaeton. The Duesenberg Model J engine was a 7 litre straight-8.

McLaren M6B

This car competed in the HSCC Atlantic Computers Historic GT Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's Martin Bolsover's 1968 5 litre McLaren M6B. The M6B was a Can-Am car and was the customer version of the M6A. They were provided without engines which the customers would fit themselves.

On 22 June 2016 I showed a photograph of this car (and other McLarens) at the HSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in 1987.

Spice SE90C

This is Redgate, the first corner of the first lap of the race for Group C/GTP Cars at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

The leader, number 21, is the 1990 Spice SE90C Cosworth of David Mercer. Behind him is the number 18 Aston Martin AMR-1 of Paul Whight and Gavan Kershaw and on the outside number 70 is a Ford Dallara DP Prototype that isn't listed in the programme of the event. The red and blue number 12 is the Spice-Chevrolet GTP car of Jim Mullen, and you can just see the nose of the number 32 Jaguar XJR-12D of Nick Rini.

Emeryson Mk2

I took the photographs of this car on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1962.

It's Tony Settember's 1961 Emeryson Mk2, powered by a 1½ litre Climax engine, in which he qualified in 19th place on the grid and finished the race in 11th position. The car is chassis 1004, which I featured on 1 March 2016 at a meeting at Donington Park in 2004.

Here's Tony Settember approaching Waterway Corner during a practice session.

Surtees TS16

This car competed in the class for 1972 - 1977 Formula 1 cars at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting of August 2001.

It's Chris Perkins' 1975 V8 Cosworth-engined 2,993cc Surtees TS16. The TS16 was campaigned by the Surtees team during the 1974 and 1975 seasons, but suffered a string of retirements and low placings, the best being a 4th place in the 1974 Brazilian Grand Prix by Carlos Pace. You can read here the full racing record of the car pictured above, chassis TS16/02, which is the car he drove in that race.

Friday's Ferrari

This car was amongst the spectators' car at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017.

It's a 2003 5.7 litre V12 Ferrari 575M Maranello

Kurtis Offenhauser KK500G

This car contested the Ron Flockhart Memorial Trophy Race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

It's John Guyatt's 1957 Kurtis Offenhauser KK500G, which took part in the Indianapolis 500 race as the Mirror Glaze Special. Stuart Harper drove the 4.2 litre car at Donington Park, and it was shown in the programme of the event as a Kurtis-Indy single seater. 

Bentleys

Here are photographs I took of of four of the Bentleys at the Footman James Classic Car Show at EventCity, Manchester in September 2017.

This is a 1955 Bentley R-Type, and a note attached to the car said:
'Standard Steel saloon with automatic gearbox
Engine 4.566cc, 6 cylinders in line, number B162 Z
Registration number KWM 289
Registered January 1955 and sold by Rolls-Royce agents Watson's of Liverpool to Mr A Letheren of Liverpool.
Second owner was Mr W E McLelland of Ightham Kent who bought the car on 6th August 1958.
The ownership is then unknown until 1994 when a Mr G Heinfeld in Arizona USA sold it to Mr J Lindahl of Minnesota. Mr Lindahl spent a considerable amount of money having the car restored and repainted, and although he died in 2000 his widow kept the car until August 2007 when I purchased it.
I bought the car on the internet without actually having seen it in reality, although I had dozens of emails and phone calls with the seller and many photographs sent. I have had a reasonable amount of mechanical work done to make it roadworthy for a MOT, and registered it with its original number as delivered new.'

This is a 1934 Bentley 3½ litre Sports Saloon, chassis number B42AH and registration number VG 6542. A note attached to this one said:
'This handsome car, which started life as a Mann Egerton Trials car (demonstrator) has had at least seven owners and obviously been used and enjoyed. It now has a 4¼ litre engine, reputedly factory-fitted, and still starts, stops and drives extremely well. The body style by one of the lesser known coach builders, Mann Egerton is much admired, especially by the ladies. Less commendable, the sliding roof is not exactly water tight and having to open the boot to gain access to the petrol filler is decidedly inconvenient! The passenger compartment is best described as compact, with the occupants having a generous degree of togetherness.
The current owners are currently undertaking a gentle and sympathetic "rolling restoration", whilst thoroughly enjoying the car's qualities in the meantime. It is likely that the present colour scheme and white sidewall tyres will be retained.
Club members may recall that the immediate past owner of B42AH was the internationally renowned artist, the late Peter Miller, whose skill at painting pictures of our cars was second to none and are the proud owners of his works.'

This is a 1952 Bentley R-Type with body be Freestone & Webb. A note on the car says:
'Prior to the launch of the new Bentley R-Type in 1952, the first 10 rolling chassis to be built at Crewe were sent to the top UK Coachbuilders of the day. The idea being to have a number of different bespoke "coach built" cars available on display at the 1952 Earls Court International Motor Show to complement the "standard steel" Bentley R-Type saloons at the model's launch. One of two chassis delivered to Coachbuilders Freestone and Webb of London, this chassis is fitted with flamboyant and elegant coachwork known as an "Empress".
The car is unique and was built specifically for display at the 1952 Motor Show to showcase the skills of the Company's craftsmen, taking several months to complete prior to the show. The bodywork is hand formed aluminium over an Ash (timber) frame, fitted with steel front wings and bonnet. It has all the luxury its "super rich" owner would expect, including drinks cabinet (driver's door) together with a colour coded fitted picnic set (passenger door), 4 picnic tables (complete with cup holders!), vanity mirrors, cigar lighters, heated rear window, a transistor radio, and a matching set of luggage in the boot. Making it not surprisingly, one of the most expensive cars available at the show, costing an "eye-watering" £6,500.
To put that in perspective the average working wage in 1952 was about £5 per week, or £250 a year! At the show you could have bought an Aston Martin DB2 at £2,500, together with a Jaguar XK120 at £1,200, and a Morris Minor at £600. THEN you could have gone out and bought a large detached house with the other £2,300, all for the price of this car!
It has a wonderful history, being in continuous use for the majority of its 64 year life, with 2 long term owners. The first being the West German Embassy in London (1953-1979), where on diplomatic plates 159D150 it would have been frequently seen around Whitehall, the various London Embassies, and no doubt on occasion Downing Street. The second was a Dr L Shiers (1979-2006), an eminent Orthopaedic Surgeon (who invented the artificial knee joint back in the early 1950's), and had his practice in Harley Street, London.
The car came with all its handbooks, tools, and a complete service history! It has never been restored just maintained, looked after and repaired as required, primarily by the two careful long term owners.
It's a wonderful old car to own, that wears its patina and age with pride!'

This Bentley didn't display any information, and I've not been able to find out much about it, only that it's a 1935 car. It seems to be one of the Derby-built 3½ litre cars and apparently once belonged to the celebrated railway photographer Ivo Peters..

Jaguar R1

This car was part of a display at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000 covering 50 years of Grand Prix racing.

It's the 2000 Jaguar R1 with a 3 litre V10 Ford Cosworth engine. Ford had taken over the Stewart Racing Team after the 1999 season and the resulting cars were badged as Jaguars, Johnny Herbert being retained as one of the drivers and teamed with Eddie Irvine. The car didn't have much success, but the team persevered for the next four seasons without any great improvement and were taken over by the Red Bull Racing Team in 2005.

Alfa Romeo RLSS

This car is approaching Lodge Corner in a handicap race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1982.

It's David Black's 1924 Alfa Romeo RLSS, a car that was produced by Alfa Romeo from 1922 to 1927. It had an in-line 6 cylinder engine with a capacity of 2,996cc.

Rolls Royce 20

This car is pictured in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester coming up to the start line for the LAC's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in May 1987.

It's a 1926 Rolls Royce 20 with a six cylinder in-line 3,127cc engine, and the programme of the event said this about it:

128     1926 Rolls Royce 20,

            Reg: OJ 9371  6 cylinder  20hp

            (William Parkinson, Atherton)

The Twenty was built to the same high standard as

the Phantom, but intended for the owner/driver.

Available in chassis form for a bargain £1,100.

Stanguellini FJ

I took this photograph at the HGPCA's International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

The car didn't compete in any of the races at the meeting - there were none for which it was eligible - but 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.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Coys of Kensington Pre-1964 GT Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It's the 1963 Ferrari 250GT Lusso of Paul Osborn, chassis #5031GT, with the 3 litre V12 engine used by all the Ferrari 250 range. The programme of the event lists the drivers of this car as Tony Dron and Paul Osborn, but the barchetta.cc record says the driver was Terry Hoyle.

On 22 November 2013 I showed a photograph of this car at the 1996 Coys meeting at Silverstone.

De Tomaso Mangusta

This was one of the competitors in the Historic Road Sports Championship race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017.

It's the 1969 De Tomaso Mangusta of Mike Eagles

The Mangusta was produced by the Italian manufacturer De Tomaso from 1967 to 1971, initially with a Ford V8 engine of 4,728cc and later with the larger 4,949cc unit. According to the programme of the event this car has a 5,500cc engine.

Riley 12/4 Special

This car took part in two 5 lap handicap races and an 8 lap scratch race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

It's Christopher Roden's 1934 Riley 12/4 Special with the Hugh Rose designed 4 cylinder 1,496cc 12/4 engine, based on the Riley Nine engine.

Cooper T51

This was one of the competitors in the Pre-1966 Grand Prix and Tasman Cars race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1959 Cooper T51 of Peter Gooch. The car is one of three cars originally purchased by the British Racing Partnership/Yeoman Credit Racing Team in October 1959 for use in the 1960 racing season. It was fitted with a Coventry Climax FPF 2½ litre 4 cylinder in-line engine and features the unusual carburettor air intake only found on the Yeoman Credit cars. Chris Bristow, Tony Brooks, Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill were amongst the drivers who raced the Yeoman Credit cars in the 1960 season.

On 19 December 2016 I showed a photograph of this car that I'd taken at the 1999 Silverstone Coys meeting.

Elva Mk IV

Here's one of the cars that competed in the AMOC '50s Sports Cars race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.

It's Rod Begbie's 1958 Elva Mk IV and is powered by a 1,098cc Coventry Climax FWA engine.

These two photographs of the car were taken during the race at Druids Corner

Lester MG

This is a photograph of one of the cars that took part in the 10 Lap Scratch Race for 1950s Sports Racing Cars at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

According to the programme of the event car number 47 was John Gray's Lotus Eleven, but this is the 1952 Lester MG of George Edney, shown as number 165 in the programme which said this about the car:

'The engine to use before the appearance of the Climax was the MG XPAG which is used in the RGS MG of Peter Wardle (109), the Gammon of Dave Saunders (163) made by Peter Gammon and the Lester (165) driven by George Edney. The Lesters were built by Harry Lester from near Reading, whose cars were run by Jim Mayers, Pat Griffiths and Gerry Ruddock who came together to form the Monkey Stable, which had considerable success in the early 1950s.'

The XPAG engine was introduced after Morris had taken over MG and was based on the 1,250cc OHV engine of the 1938 Morris Ten. It was first used in the MG TB and subsequently in the TC, TD, TF and Y models. The one in this car was from an MG TC and was modified to give a capacity of 1,467cc.

Corse Clienti

Yesterday's photographs of the Ferrari Racing Days meeting were taken from the terrace at the end of the pits at Silverstone overlooking Club Corner. During the lunch break on the Sunday of the meeting many of the Corse Clienti personnel gathered on the steps of the terrace for an official photograph, and I took the opportunity to take one myself.

Unfortunately because of the telephoto lens I couldn't get all the group in, so I had to take two photos.

Then more and more people came to join the group, so I had to take two more photos.

The Corse Clienti website has photographs of the drivers taking part in the Ferrari Challenge series of races.

Friday's Ferrari

Here's a couple of the Corse Cliente cars that took part in the Ferrari Challenge races at the Ferrari Racing Days event at Silverstone in September 2017, photographed at Club Corner.

This is the turbocharged 3.9 litre V8 Ferrari 488 Challenge of James Weiland

The Ferrari 488 Challenge of Christian Kinch

ERF D1.641

This vehicle took part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1996 at Heaton Park, Manchester.

It's a 1942 ERF D1.641, and the only information about the vehicle I have is this entry in the programme of the event:

ERF D1.641                                          USU 952

Entered by    D Booth, Bridgewater Park, Eccles

Having been found derelict in Bradford 1986, many hours, approx 2,500 hrs, have been expended in

restoring this unusual vehicle. Worked all its life in Scotland. Believed to be the last D1.641 in existence.

TVR T350C

I photographed this car in the paddock at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

It's a 2005 TVR T350C, a car based on the TVR Tamora. It was produced from 2002 to 2006 and was powered by TVR's 3,605cc Straight-6 Speed Six engine.

Brabham BT19

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996 featured a tribute to Jack Brabham in the year of his 70th birthday. During the weekend of that meeting there were track parades by some of the cars bearing his name and here's a photograph I took during one of those demonstrations.

The first car here, driven by Jack Brabham himself, is the 1966 Brabham BT19 with which he won the 1966 World Championship. Only one BT19 was ever built, designed by Ron Tauranac in 1965 and originally intended to have a 1½ litre Coventry Climax engine, but when the F1 regulations were changed to allow engines twice that size from the 1966 season it was replaced by the 3 litre V8 Repco engine. Following the BT19 is the 1971 Brabham BT34 'lobster claw' car driven by, I think, John Watson. Jack Brabham won the World Championship in the BT19 and remains the only man to have won it in a car bearing his own name.

On 20 May 2014, the day after the death of Jack Brabham, I posted my own little tribute to him which included a photograph of the Brabham BT19 that I'd taken in the paddock at this 1996 meeting.

Anglo American Eagle TG2

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

It's a 1966 Anglo American Eagle TG2 with a 4 cylinder in-line 2.7 litre Climax engine that was used before the 3 litre Weslake V12 engine became available. The best result with the Climax engine was 5th place by Dan Gurney in both the French and Mexican Grands Prix in 1966.

Audi R8

I walked past this car parked in a Hyde street recently.

It's an early Audi R8, a 2007 model, and has the 4,163cc V8 32 valve engine.

The finish is described as satin black.

ERA R7B

This car competed in the Brooklands & Goddard Trophies race at the VSCC's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's Paul Mullins' 1936 ERA R7B, originally built with a 1,488cc supercharged straight-6 engine which by this time had been replaced by the 1.980cc version of that engine.

Here's Paul Mullins during the race at Britten's chicane.

On 20 April 2016 I showed a photograph of the car that I'd taken at Donington Park in 2005.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph taken inside one of the pit garages at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

The nearest car is a 3 litre V12 1967 Ferrari 312, chassis number 003 67, driven by Chris Amon that season. It's not listed in the programme of the event as having taken part in any of the races at this meeting. The other three cars here all competed in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race. Car number 51 on the right of the 312 is Terry Jones' 2.4 litre V6 1959 Ferrari 246S, chassis 0778, number 21 is Paul Osborn's 2 litre 4 in-line 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial, chassis 0468MD, driven in the race by Tony Dron, and number 52 is Bernie Carl's 2.5 litre V8 1962 Ferrari 268SP, chassis 0798, driven by Gregor Fisken.

Maserati 4CM

This car took part in the Motor Sport HGPCA Pre '52 Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's a 1932 Maserati 4CM, originally delivered to Giuseppe Furmanik of Rome as an 1,100cc car. He doesn't appear to have had any great success racing the car, but he did set a World Speed Record for 1,100cc cars in 1934 with a speed of 222.634 kph for the flying kilometre. The car was later acquired by Gino Rovere who replaced the 1,100cc engine with a 1.500cc unit for Voiturette racing and also commissioned the distinctive radiator grille. At the time of this Silverstone meeting the car was owned by Simon Bull and was driven in the race by Martin Stretton. A more complete history of the car was provided by Bonhams when the car was offered for auction in 2014.

1960 Jaguar D-Type

I took this photograph at Aintree at, I think, the August Bank Holiday meeting on 7 August 1960.

It's an Ecurie Ecosse D-Type Jaguar in the rather ridiculous looking guise adopted to comply with the FIA Appendix J Regulations that specified a minimum height for the windscreen and a mandatory luggage space. You can barely see the added luggage space here, but there's an unsightly bump on the rear of the car next to the tail fin, and you can just see the top of it over the driver's door. I don't know who drove the car at this meeting, but it took part in the Le Mans 24 Hour race that year driven by Ron Flockhart and Bruce Halford, retiring after 168 laps with a broken crankshaft. It appears to be chassis XKD606.