1974 Bitter CD

Erich Bitter built his first car in 1973 based on an Opel floorplan and running gear, and between 1973 and 1986 he built 395 Bitter CD's and 488 SC's. Three of these cars were displayed by the Bitter Owners Club at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018 and this is one of them.

It’s a 1974 Bitter CD, and was described as follows:

 

'395 examples of the CD were built by Baur of Stuttgart for Bitter between 1973 and 1979. This CD is the only CD in the UK and was a personal import. The car is based on a shortened and stiffened Opel Diplomat chassis and fitted with a 5354cc American V8  (short block Chevy) and will achieve a top speed of 130mph. This was the 10th CD built and exported to South Africa by GM to try and establish the Marque there but no others followed. It was brought to the UK from South Africa in 2015 by its current owner. There are now less than 200 CD's left, mostly in Germany with a few in the Netherland, Belgium and the USA.

The car is owned by Andrew Grace.'

1996 Volvo S40

I took this photograph at Druids corner during qualifying for the HSCC/TCRE Touring Car Challenge race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It’s Jason Minshaw in his 1996 Volvo S40 which has a 4-cylinder inline 2 litre engine.

Saab 9-3

I took these photographs in a  supermarket car park in Hyde in October 2018.

It's a second generation Saab 9-3 which was produced by Saab from 2003 to 2014 and offered a range of petrol and diesel engines from 1.8  to 2.8 litres. The DVLA says that it no longer has a record of this car.

1995 Porsche 968 RS Turbo

I took these photographs at the Aston Martin Owners Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

It's a 1995 Porsche 968 RS Turbo which has a 4-cylinder inline 3 litre engine and is a restyled version of the Porsche 944.

1999 Renault Laguna

I took this photograph at Druids Corner during qualifying for the HSCC/TCRE Super Touring Car Challenge race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It’s Mark Jones in his ex-Jason Plato 1999 Renault Laguna which has a 4-cylinder inline 1,988cc engine.

1962 Morgan Plus 4

I took this photograph at Druids Corner during qualifying for the Equipe Pre ’63 race at the Aston Martin Owners club’s meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

It’s Mark Hoble in his 1962 Morgan Plus 4 which the programme of the event says has a 1,962cc engine. They may have confused the engine capacity with the date of manufacture as the Plus 4 was provided with a variety of engines of around 2 litres, but none of them with a capacity of 1,962cc.

1993 Vauxhall Cavalier ST

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock on the Saturday testing and qualifying for the Bank Holiday weekend’s Gold Cup races in August 2018.

There’s no mention of this car in the programme of the event, but it appears to be one of several cars in the paddock that had taken part in the British Touring Car Championship races in the 1990s. I’ve not been able to find out much about the car except that it’s a Vauxhall Cavalier, and the name ‘Jones’ on the side window seems to point towards Josh Jones who competed in a Vauxhall Cavalier in the 1993 season.

1961 Cooper T61

This is a photograph that I took at Druids Corner at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It's Stuart Tizzard in his 1961 Cooper T56 during the Saturday Qualifying for the HSCC/FJHRA Formula Junior Rear Engine race. The T56 was the second Formula Junior car produced by Cooper and was originally provided with a 994cc BMC engine but Stuart Tizzard’s car has a 1,098cc Ford Cosworth engine.

1953 Jaguar C-Type

This car competed in the Jack Fairman Cup race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

It's David Brazell’s 1953 Jaguar C-Type which has the 3,442cc 6-cylinder inline Jaguar XK engine.

It's actually a replica based on a 1952 Jaguar XK120, chassis no. 672178.

1967 Lancia Kappa Estate

This is a car that I spotted on one of the side streets in Hyde in December 2018.

It’s a 1967 Lancia Kappa Estate which was produced from 1996 to 2000 with the option of several different engines.

As the DVLA now has no record of R340 MFM I don’t know which engine this car had.

Ford Popular 103E

This is one of the vehicles I photographed at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It’s a customised Ford Popular 103E and the only information about it was a note in the windscreen saying that it was a Ford Popular. The DVLA record says ‘Vehicle details could not be found’.

1971 Triumph Vitesse MkII

This is a photograph that I took at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a 1971 Triumph Vitesse MkII, the last of a line of cars that started with the Triumph Herald in 1959. The first Vitesse in 1962 had a 1,596cc 6-cylinder inline (instead of the 4-cylinder engine of the Herald) and this was increased ton1,996cc in 1966. The Vitesse MkII was introduced in 1968 with an uprated 1,996cc 6-cylinder engine and ceased production in 1971, being replaced by the Triumph Dolomite.

1964 McLaren M1A

This is a photograph that I took on the finishing straight just after Lodge Corner during qualifying for the HSCC Pre’80 Endurance Challenge race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It’s Andrew Wareing in his 1964 McLaren M1A, a Group 7 sports prototype car, which has a 5.9 litre V8 Chevrolet engine. The M1 was the first sports car designed and built by McLaren, though after the first couple of cars production was devolved to Elva Cars.

1959 MGA

This car competed in the Jack Fairman Cup race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

It's David Godwin's MGA, a car that was produced from 1955 to 1962. The MGA had a 4-cylinder inline engine, originally of 1,489cc, increasing in size twice and ending up with the 1,622cc unit of the Mark II. The programme of the event says that David Godwin's car has a 1,654cc engine.

1972 Volvo 144DL

This is a photograph that I took at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It’s a 1972 Volvo 144 and a note in the windscreen of the car gives the following information:

Volvo 144D

1972

This car has been owned by Matt since 1993 when he bought it for £250 at the age of 18.

The car was involved in an accident with a lorry 2 years later (no injuries to Matt, and as the policemen at the scene said, “if you had been in anything else you wouldn’t be here”).

Unable to part with the car Matt kept the car covered up until the right person could be found to work on her. That was in 1997, when she was put back on the road.

As time moved on the bodywork started to age badly and for many years the 144 came off the road, that was until Matt was asked to take some pictures of the car for Practical Classics to show the common rust spots. As he photographed his old friend, in her rusty state, he decided that time had come to bring her back to life.

So after some fairly extensive bodywork by Mark Hill of Classic Customs, here she is, not quite finished yet, (but are they ever really finished) but definitely getting there and looking fantastic.

HYB 250K recently won ‘Best Volvo 140 Series’  at the Volvo Enthusiasts Club, 2017 National Gathering.

Owned by Matt Stadden - Hampshire

1965 Trojan 200

This is a photograph that I took at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity, Manchester in September 2018.

It's a 1965 Trojan 200, a Heinkel bubble car built under licence by Trojan. The notes at the side of the car read as follows:

1965 Trojan KMV 106C

Owned by Alan and Mark Fisher from Hull

At a previous classic car exhibition we were approached by Roy Drudge of Lincoln who had previously owned the car and was selling it so that the car could go back on the road. He and his brother had owned the car for the last 32 years and it had been stored in a Nissen hut near Newark for the last 12 years. The car was solid and just needed a couple of patches underneath repairing - the brakes, suspension, lighting and engine were all overhauled and in May 2005 the car passed its MOT and was back on the road. We have decided to leave the bodywork and Interior as it is for now and have protected the body to from getting worse. (This is our next project!!) This car is one of the last 80 Trojans made and some of the parts are different because of this (lights, quarter lights etc). The car was first registered on the 4^th January 1965 stopped the manufacture of bubblecars in 1964 so this one probably sat for a year on a garage forecourt before being sold.

 

In 2015 Mark and Lisa started to plan their wedding and decided to use the Trojan as the Bride’s car. So work started restoring it. Lisa decided on the colour of the car. The wedding took place on the 7^th October 2017 . It was Lisa’s Dad drove the Trojan for the first time.

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Custom Car

This is a photograph that I took at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

I don’t remember there being any information about the car at the show, but it’s obviously a customized Chevrolet Bel Air. It’s got the ‘Ferrari-inspired’ front grille of the second-generation Bel Air that was only available in 1955, the first year of production. It seems that a large number of potential customers wanted a more conventional full-width grille so the car was given a facelift for 1956.

Toyota Corolla KE20

This is a photograph that I took at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a Toyota Corolla KE20, a second generation of the Corolla E20 which was produced between 1970 and 1974. It was available with a 4-cylinder inline engine of 1.2, 1.4 or 1.6 litres.

1971 Lola T212

This car took part in the HSCC Pre '80 Endurance Challenge race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018 and is pictured in the paddock prior to the commencement of racing..

It's the 1971 Lola T212 that was driven by Bob and Vicky Brooks and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,798cc Ford Cosworth FVC engine. It was designed by Lola for the 1971 European 2 Litre Sports Car Championship which it won, thanks to winning drives from Helmut Marko, Vic Elford and Jo Bonnier. The car pictured has the same livery as the only Lola T212 to take part in the 1971 Le Mans 24 Hour race where it was driven by Guy Edwards and Roger Enever, but it retired after 8 hours with a broken flywheel. If it is that car it is chassis HU26.

1969 Jaguar XJ

This is a photograph that I took at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a 1969 Series I Jaguar XJ and has a 6-cylinder inline 4,235cc engine. The Series I car was introduced in 1968 and replaced by the Series II in 1973.