Mythical Cars

Only one mythical car for me
Henry Hirise
I lived in Bexleyheath as a kid and remember seeing it in its early life there,and as a teenager at Chelsea cruise
Then watched it sit for a long time in Keith killicks driveway
To see it at santa pod a few summers back was just superb
If I could own any car...and I mean any car in the world
It would be that car

I believe this car was broken up.

The Mazda 767b.

It raced at Le Mans, but never won. The 787 ran and won, the only Rotary engine to win the race. My dad was an avid Le Mans fan and watched the cars race in 88/89/90. One day he went into someone's office, and noticed the bonnet, or front panel from a 767b (Not the 787, despite being very similar, the sponsor on the front of the 767b was CHARGE, whereas the 787 had RENOWN). You had to be a real geek to spot this difference.

So he mentions it to the guy and says how he probably saw that very panel racing round Le Mans. This guy was so happy to have someone actually know what he had on his wall that when he redecorated or moved office he called my dad and gave it to him.

I always loved the panel and having a bit of racing history in the garage. My parents divorced and my mum got the contents of the garage so the panel passed to me. I never thought I'd see it racing for real until I did a couple of years ago on the Saturday morning at Le Mans. It managed one lap before it broke down, but I still got to see it then got to see it in person in the paddock, which was awesome.

The Shelby Daytona Coupé

So again, Le Mans. I love the shape of these things, it's a toss up between the GT40 and one of these for the car I'd love to build a replica of. Anyway last year when Ford came back to Le Mans I saw by my count FIVE of these things. I never thought I'd even see one, but again on the Saturday when the classics race I spotted one going through the Porsche curves. I jumped up and shouted "It's a Daytona Coupé!" I then explained the significance of this one in five chance of seeing one in the wild as one of them is displayed in America somewhere I'm not sure it races at all.

Then another rolls around. Then another. Three on the track at the same time.

Then I saw two more in the paddock in the Ford exhibition. Every single Daytona Coupé that I could possibly see was there that weekend. It was amazing.

Those two are two among four of the greatest experiences I've had at Le Mans. The other two are Toyota breaking down on the last lap - everyone was heartbroken for them and there were people in tears and the greatest was seeing Allan Simonsen's Aston Martin finish first in 2014, the year after he died. Once it crossed the line everyone gave a standing ovation for the entirety of the parade lap. So may people were crying, including the guys on Radio Le Mans. There was so much love and respect shown for this car, and it must have been amazing for everyone who knew him to see. That was incredible.

I don't recall it at all but when I was a youngster my dad (in his capacity as editor of the then only classic car magazine in/for Ireland) took me to Dublin to a pretty large show. We could be talking about 1994 or 1995 here. It was a prestigious show too I think as it was on some very swanky grounds, maybe an estate or something.
And so we do the rounds and then he takes me over to this old silver car with colourful wings, surrounded by "Do Not Touch" signs. He talks to the owner, finds out all about it's history and so on. Then I'm asked if I want to sit in it which of course I do. It isn't a showpiece alone, it's road taxed, runs and drives so I'm kept well away from the knobs and whistles. GEN11 was the numberplate.

And as an avid Ferrari fan, I was astounded when a green Alfa turned up at a race event here in NI about 10 years back. I always wanted to see an F40 or a 250GTO in action, but didn't stop to think about the possibility of seeing Enzo Ferraris green Monza. One of one, there are now three of them worldwide. Old car rebuilding allows a certain leniency at times, and after the original was broken up in the 30's as racing cars then often were, to further someone elses racing or repair a broken car etc, the first of these three was built from the original front axle and body, or something like that. A second car was built and it maybe had the engine from the spares car and some chassis bits or something like that. And then what turned up in front of me was this huge machine wearing Franco Batistelli's Coat of Arms on the scuttle side with the original engine and rear axle, literally spitting flames every time the straight 8 was revved up. I still have an entire roll of 35mm film prints I took the first time I saw it. my dad and I in our humble Austin 7 even got to compete against it in an event or two as I recall.
Alfa Romeo bought it a couple of years ago for 7 figures so I doubt this opportunity will present itself again.

This should come to the gathering!
Whoever buys it, needs to make that a thing that happens.

Seeing Geoff Cousins' 34 Ford Cope was a bit of moment for me. Was at Doncaster Custom show, 1991 (I think) alongside Phil Rutherford's & Andy Lee's roadsters in a "Best in Britain" display. The other two were good but it was the Geoff's car that really took the biscuit and pretty much over shadowed everything else in the hall. The pointy tapered stance, the attention to detail and the over-all look really got to me, and the fact that it was there in real life, not just in a magazine, made my day.

For reasons I'll never know, I didn't take any photos so here's someone else's pic with apologies.



A few years down the line, seeing Pete Tyas's '32 coupe driving, looking super cool, not just sitting still on a showfield. another of those cars that was a notch above evreything else on the scene at hat time.


Then there's the first time seeing a Plymouth Super Bird, a car I'd always believed was super rare, never expected to see one in England.

another red letter day for me was in 1987 when dad and a 11 year old self went to the british grand prix at silverstone. this is the prost/senna/piquet/mansell/berger era. Mansell in his iconic Red5 FW11B williams, an un scheduled tyre stop, coming back from a 29 second deficit with consecutive lap records, over taking nelson piquet on the second to last lap with his famous 2 step shuffle, winning, and then entire crowd swamping the track. yeah "that one" !

awesome

Actually it's not thankfully, the wings are magnetic the bonnet is a replica and the paint is plasti dip, the car was fully restored and they have the original bonnet, apparently this was done for the pride march then the car was gifted to be auctioned off for charity with all its bits to put back to its restored state.