Willys Jeep

This is a photograph that I took in one of the car parking areas at the Vintage Sports car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It’s a Willys Jeep, and it was quite common to see these vehicles  at meetings, particularly when bad weather was expected, to help people get their cars out when they became bogged down.

1924 Bentley Blue Label tourer

 

This is a photograph that I took at the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1975 at the junction of Peter Street and Lower Mosley Street.

The programme of the event had this note about the car:

58.         Mr D.C.Y. Dickson, Garstang, Lancs.

               1924 Bentley 3 litre Blue  label tourer 15.9 h.p. 4 cylinder

Jointly owned since 1950 by Mr. Dickson and his brother Mr. J.C.Dickson (No. 57) this car  has been driven alternately by them in every Run except last year when it obligingly stood down for a Rolls Royce! Twice winner of the Daily Telegraph Challenge Trophy; three times winner of the Vauxhall Trophy it has also won the Turner Trophy.

 

NB; Car number 57 in this Run was a 1924 3 litre Red Label tourer driven by Mr. J.C.Dickson.

1926 Sunbeam 3-litre

This is a photograph that I took at the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1975 at the junction of Peter Street and Lower Mosley Street.

It’s the 1926 Sunbeam 3-litre of A. Heib, but there are no other details in the programme of the event. The programme of the 1972 Run had this note about the car:

 

Mr. Andrew Heib, Greenmount, Bury, Lancashire.

1926 Sunbeam 3-litre Sports Tourer, 2,916 c.c.

A regular entrant on the Run and winner of the Daily Telegraph Challenge Trophy in 1970.

1924 Bentley 3 litre Blue Label Tourer

This is one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1975 and is pictured just after the start at the junction of Peter Street and Lower Mosley Street.

It's the 1924 Bentley 3 litre of Mr D.C.Y. Dickson and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

58.    Mr D.C.Y. Dickson, Garstang, Lancs.

         1924 Bentley 3 litre Blue label tourer 15.9 h.p. 4 cylinder.

Jointly owned by Mr. Dickson and his brother Mr. J.C. Dickson (No. 57) this car has been driven alternately by them in every run except last year when it obligingly stood down for a Rolls-Royce! Twice winner of the Daily Telegraph Challenge Trophy; three times winner of the Vauxhall Trophy it has also won the Turner Trophy.

(Note: the Daily Telegraph Challenge Trophy was awarded for the best performance by any competitor, the Vauxhall Trophy went to the best performance by 'Cars of 1919-1924 up to 3,000 cc', and the Turner Trophy was awarded for the best performance in a special test.)

1930 Aston Martin International

I took this photograph on Peter Street, at the junction with Mosley Street, at the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1975.

It’s a 1930 Aston Martin International and the programme of the event has this note about it:

 

‘164   Mr. R.M. Pickard, Heaton Moor, Stockport, Cheshire.

            1930 Aston Martin International.

This car, bought new by John Cadbury, was driven by him in the first R.A.C. Rally held in 1932. Mr. Pickard usually enters his Veteran De Dion Bouton but this year has brought the one he uses for everyday transport as the De Dion is having a major rebuild.’

1914 Crossley

I took this photograph before the start of the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1975.

I no longer have the programme of the event, but it's a 1914 Crossley Staff Car and the 1990 programme of the run gave this information about it:

'1914 Crossley

Reg: NA 557  4 cylinder  20 hp

(G.D.Moores, Denton, Manchester)

This Royal Flying Corps staff car is one of only

two known to exist in Britain. Originally built in

Manchester, it spent much of its life in India,

and returned to the UK in 1969. It has twin-tyred

rear wheels and has been a class winner many

 times on this Run.'

1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk I

I took this photograph at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's a 1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk I and has the 2,922cc version of the 6-cylinder inline Lagonda engine. The Aston Martin DB2/4 replaced the DB2 and was in production from 1953 to 1957, first with the 2,580cc version of the engine which was replaced by the larger engine in October 1954.

1952 Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It’s a 1952 Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica which has a 6-cylinder inline 1,971cc engine based on that of the BMW 328. This car is chassis 421/100/164 and its original owner was Col. Hal O'Hara Moore. It has the chassis from 421/100/152 which was wrecked in an accident in 1951 and its competition history reads as follows:

Rallye Soleil Cannes 1952 - Winner; Rallye Soleil Cannes 1953, 1954; Tulip Rally 1952, 1953, 1954; Liege-Rome-Liege 1952 - DNF; RAC Rally 1952, 1954

1924 Trojan Utility

This was one of the competitors in the Lancashire Automobile Club's annual Manchester to Blackpool Veterans and Vintage Car Run in June 1975 and is pictured in Manchester before the start of the event.

It's a 1924 Trojan Utility, but I don't have any other details of the car as I no longer have the programme of the event. The Trojan had a 1,527cc 4-cylinder two-stroke engine, later reduced to 1,488cc to bring it into the under 1½ litre class, but the DVLA record says that this car has a 1,141cc engine. It also has solid rubber tyres.

1929 Bentley Napier

This car is pictured at Clay Hill taking part in the Vintage Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's Peter Morley in the 1929 Bentley Napier, a vehicle that he and David Llewellyn created in 1968 using a 24 litre Napier Sea Lion engine which has a 'W' configuration - two banks of four cylinders in a 'V' with a third upright bank between them. The car was originally built on a Sunbeam chassis but after an accident was rebuilt using the chassis of a 1929 8 litre Bentley. The nose of the car was later altered to resemble that of the Napier Railton. This may well be the year that I was watching from Clay Hill when Peter Morley lost a wheel from the Bentley Napier as it rounded the Knickerbrook corner putting him out of the race.

1962 Lotus Elite

I took this photograph in the one of the car parks at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's a 1962 Lotus Elite which has a 1,216cc 4-cylinder inline Coventry Climax FWE engine. 1,030 of these cars were built between 1957 and 1962, although some sources say there were 1,047. The DVLA record shows that this car has not been taxed since August 1987.

1954 Frazer Nash Sebring

I took this photograph in one of the car parks at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's a 1954 Frazer Nash Sebring only three of which were built and which, as with most of the post-war Frazer Nash cars, has the 6-cylinder inline 1,971cc Bristol engine. This car is chassis 421/200/207 and was driven in the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour race by Cecil Vard and Dick Odium, but retired from the race with engine problems after 6 hours.

1957 Maserai 250F

This car took part in the Allcomers Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's the 1957 Maserati 250F of Neil Corner and has the 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine. It was campaigned mainly by Jean Behra in the 1957 season, but was also driven that year by Juan Fangio and Harry Schell, and is chassis #2528. This car has been owned and raced by the Corner family, Nigel and his father Neil, since 1972. Behind the Maserati is a Bugatti, possibly a Type 55?

1950 Frazer Nash Mille Miglia

This is a photograph I took at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's a 1950 Frazer Nash Mille Miglia, one of eleven cars that were built, all with the 6-cylinder inline 1,971cc Bristol engine - although the DVLA record says that the engine of OPL 2 is 1,998cc. The car is chassis 421/100/118 and an article in Frazer Nash's Chain Gang Gazette in August 2004 says this about the car:

'The third MM (chassis 118) was completed for the Earls Court Show in October 1950 and the following month sold via Tony Crook to a Philip Strutton. Painted maroon (a popular colour for MMs) it changed hands each year but was used in only a few minor competitive events until purchased by Gerry Burgess in 1954 for use in rallies including the Alpine and Tulip, when it was painted white. It was then raced in different colours by various owners up to the 1970s and is now owned and kept in beautiful condition by Frank Sytner.'

The Frazer Nash chassis record says that the colour of the car in 2009 was 'now metallic Jaguar grey' which is the colour the car was when I photographed it at Donington Park in 2003 and is the same colour I've seen it in more recent photographs, although the DVLA seems to consider it to be silver.

1933 Barnato Hassan Bentley

This car is the 1933 Barnato Hassan Bentley Special and was driven by Keith Schellenberg in the Richard Seaman Memorial Vintage Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

Walter Hassan was a mechanic at Bentley in the 1920s at the time when their 3 litre, 4½ litre and 6.6 litre cars were a force to be reckoned with, winning the Le Mans 24 Hour race 4 years in succession from 1927 to 1930. He had been mechanic to Woolf Barnato and when the Bentley Company went into liquidation and was taken over by Rolls Royce in 1931 he went to work for Barnato. In 1933 he designed a new chassis frame and built a car round this and the 6½ litre (actually 6,597cc) engine from the Bentley ‘Old Number One’ Speed Six that won the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1929 and 1930, and this car became known as the Barnato Hassan Special. It was raced at Brooklands, but not by Woolf Barnato who didn’t race there following the death of Clive Dunfee in a race in 1932. After serious damage to the 6½ litre engine at Brooklands in 1934 it was replaced by an 8 litre (7,983cc) unit and the car was rebuilt as a single seater in 1936, in which form Oliver Bertram lapped Brooklands with it at 143.11 mph – just short of John Cobb’s 143.44 mph in the Napier Railton.

1950 Healey Silverstone

This photograph was taken in one of the car parks at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's a 1950 Healey Silverstone, one of 105 such cars made by the Donald Healey Motor Company. The cars were powered by a 4-cylinder inline 2,443cc Riley engine, and being very light were suitable for competition as well as for road use.

Bristol 404

I photographed this car at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's a Bristol 404, though the DVLA now has no record of the number so I don't know the year it was built. The Bristol 404 is a two-door coupé which was built from 1953 to 1958 alongside the larger four-door Bristol 405 and has the 6-cylinder inline 1,971cc engine. Just 52 examples of the 404 were produced and 308 of the 405.

Maserati 250F

I took this photograph in the paddock at Oulton Park at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting in June 1975.

Both 1957 Maserati 250Fs, number 3 being that of Patrick Lindsay, chassis #2527 and number 1 being the car of Neil Corner, chassis #2528. The Maserati 250F has a 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine and was developed from the earlier A6GCM car to run in Formula 1 World Championship races when the regulations allowed an engine capacity of 2½ litres from 1954. The Maserati 250F competed in every year of that 2½ litre Championship from the first race of 1954 to the last race of 1960 and Juan Fangio became World Champion in 1957 driving for the Maserati team.

Bugatti Type 59

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's Neil Corner's 1934 Bugatti Type 59, chassis 59123, a car formerly owned by Earl Howe. The car was built with a modified Type 54 chassis and had a supercharged Type 57 straight-8 engine of 3,257cc.

Aston Martin Ulster

This is a photograph that I took at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

If memory serves me right the photograph was taken on the inside of the circuit near to Knickerbrook where there was an access road to the circuit. The car is Derrick Edwards' 4-cylinder inline 1,495cc 1935 Aston Martin Ulster which he raced in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race that day. I know that one of the people in the car is A C (Bert) Bertelli who was Technical Director of Aston Martin from 1926 to 1937 and who designed the Ulster and other Aston Martins during that time. According to the programme of the event Italy's Count Giovanni Lurani (known as 'Johnny'), who was a prolific racing driver in the pre-war years, was due to be at Oulton Park that day and the programme says:

'....we are hoping he may do a demonstration lap in the actual 1½ litre Ulster Aston Martin which, 40 years ago, he drove to a class win and third place overall with his co-driver Gildo Strazza in the Targa Abruzzo 24 hour race over the historic Pescara circuit. This car is the well known one raced in VSCC events today by Derrick Edwards and Judy Hogg.'

I don't recall if Johnny Lurani was driving it that day - the only note I've made is that A C Bertelli was in the car.