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Oct 12, 2019 22:04:30 GMT
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The lotus 7 name is out of sequence. The Lotus 6 was introduced in '52, the lotus 8 was introduced in '54 and the Lotus 9 in '55. The 7 was a unused name that was picked up in '57. But was it unused? Colin Chapman's first foray into racing was on the chassis of an Austin 7.  His car, this one, was only OK until he split the front axle to create independent suspension, and reversed the function of the ports ( 2 inlet, 4 exhaust) on the engine because he couldn't afford to have a new head machined, and right away began to defeat everything in contest until the rules were amended to stop him doing so. Another famous protagonist of the Austin 7 was Jem Marsh, founder of Speedex and later, co-founder of Marcos. His first competitive escapades were in a special, this one  and like Chapman, started first developing that for his own racing use, then sold parts to help other people build specials and make them go fast, then founded a famous British GT and racing car manufacturing firm. |
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Oct 12, 2019 23:04:34 GMT
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I did not know but the Austin 7 is or was quite popular as a "first race car" Peter Brock built his first race car at a age of 12. His first car was a Austin 7 too.  BROCK’S 1938 AUSTIN 7 At the young age of 12, Peter Brock was highly curious about cars. Upon purchasing the 1938 Austin 7, (It was a 1938 Austin 7 that he purchased in 1957 for the approximate equivalent of just $10 today) he immediately took to it with his mother’s axe. He stripped away the entire body so that all that remained were the chassis rails, engine, driveline, steering wheel, and a plank of wood that served as a seat. A good thing that we can’t seem to find any information on what type of body the Austin sported because classic car fans would be in an uproar thinking of this hasty demolition! But Brock was more concerned with how the car ran than how it looked. His Austin 7 had a 747cc side-valve, four-cylinder engine that could reach seven horsepower – a far cry from the speedy race cars of Brock’s prime! Young Brock rebuilt the engine, modified the positioning of the radiator for better aerodynamic flow, lowered the ride height to improve handling and completely removed the brakes! Thus began the makings of the legendary motorsports champion revered today. |
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Oct 12, 2019 23:30:45 GMT
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Lots of racing specials were based on the Austin 7. It is said the entire British racing industry is based on that car, because it was so bad that it rewarded every novice car builder with success. Honing their skills, so they could move on to bigger and better things. But here is a Austin 7 based racecar that is different from most. Instead of replacing the body with open two seater bodywork, it still had the original Austin body. ( but heavily modified but chopping and sectioning it )   |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,287
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Oct 14, 2019 17:40:44 GMT
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Swallow were ostensibly a coachbuilder, responsible in part for the restyling of the Ruby saloon into something more sporty looking, for the time. They're a bit weird looking now, but when seen alongside contemporary vehicles, you do understand just how sporty and forward looking they were with the smooth curves in direct contrast to the usually much boxier offerings for small cars at the time. They were also responsible for the Doretti, which is a very handsome car indeed. The owner of this one very kindly let me have a sit in it at the Stoneleigh Triumph show a few years ago, something that I thought was a very generous gesture. There's not a lot of space to get into the car because of the massive steering wheel, but once you're in, it all feels very much where it should be.  |
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Oct 14, 2019 18:53:40 GMT
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Well, I've never heard of a Swallow Doretti before so I hat to google it and it's a lovely looking car- much nicer than the TR2 that it's based on. Can't think of an interesting connection at the moment so I'll leave this one open to someone else.
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Oct 14, 2019 19:51:16 GMT
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One of Max Balchowsksy's claims to fame was swapping a Buick V8 into a Swallow Doretti. www.doretti.co.uk/max-03.htmAnother one was racing and modifying the Dick Morgensen built special, which morphed into the first of a line of Old Yeller race cars.  |
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Oct 14, 2019 20:19:51 GMT
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A little more info on Old Yeller #1. It started out with a Plymouth engine ( straight 6 sidevalve, which was popular for oval dirt track racing at the time and Morgensen's fabricator Boyd Hough had connections there ), but after some time they swapped it out for a Buick V8. These engines are known as the Nailhead, because the valves are relatively small. This car is important in American racing history, but unfortunately for the wrong reasons... At an event where Morgensen was racing Margaret Pritchard drove the car too, flipped it, and died. Her death was gruesome, and apparently she was racing another man's racecar while her husband was out of town which added to the drama. At the time, Senator Neuberger was lobbying hard to outlaw racing in the USA. Amongst others, he used this crash and the 1955 crash at LeMans ( still the highest death count at a car race ) as his arguments. Morgensen raced his car a couple of times more after repairing it, but put it up for a consignment sale at Balchowski's shop soon after. Eric Hauser bought it, but fell behind on the payments. As a form of compensation, Max started racing it too. It was repainted in Ida Balchowski's favorite color ( she was a crucial part of the team ), and that kicked of a very interesting line of Old Yeller racecars. The reason I'm very interested in this history is that I happen to own the sistercar to Old Yeller #1. It is the Morgensen Special built for and raced by Tracy Bird ( who was Important in SCCA rulemaking later in his career) It started out with a straight 6 Mercedes engine ( out of a Adenauer limousine ), but later got a V8. It needs a full resto, and I'll use the favorite combo of Dick Morgensen. Which was a Buick Nailhead mated to a XK120 Moss gearbox.  Link is still Old Yeller #1 |
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whilst it hit the streets in 1953 with several concessions to mass production, a concept version of the buick nailhead v8 was debuted in 1951 in this wonderfully titled LeSabre Motorama dream car! ignoring it looks like it came from the jetsons, it had several futuristic innovations like rear mounted transaxle, a single headlight concealed in a jet intake, all alloy supercharged engine (which was also multifuel) and randomly integrated electric jacks to make tyre changes easier! it was also one of the first designs to feature "bullet bumpers" those spiky cones which featured heavily on later 50s cars.  |
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Last Edit: Oct 15, 2019 10:01:11 GMT by darrenh
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,287
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Oct 15, 2019 11:24:43 GMT
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Oct 15, 2019 22:02:49 GMT
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which goes into far more detail about Dagmar cars than I shall bore you with here. Eh... not bore! Illuminate us, please... |
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Dagmar was born of a company that originally produced pipe organs. This (Helsinki) car obviously had its roots in a different keyboard instrument.  |
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They only went to get their piano tuned.
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Oct 16, 2019 11:14:26 GMT
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Dagmar was born of a company that originally produced pipe organs. This (Helsinki) car obviously had its roots in a different keyboard instrument. has it got an elton supercharger tumble-weed emoji |
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Oct 16, 2019 11:24:55 GMT
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Dagmar was born of a company that originally produced pipe organs. This (Helsinki) car obviously had its roots in a different keyboard instrument. has it got an elton supercharger tumble-weed emoji Nah, doesn't need it, it's already tuned to perfection! |
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Oct 16, 2019 17:44:03 GMT
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From the car that is part musical instrument to the car that is used as one.
Renault Formula 1.
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Oct 17, 2019 12:50:36 GMT
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which seems only natural to sidestep to the renault espace F1 carbon fibre body, 3.5-litre 40-valve V10 with circa 800bhp, transaxle and rear suspension lifted from alain prosts FW14  |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,287
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Oct 17, 2019 13:02:18 GMT
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French, MPV, ludicrous, one-off... it's got to be the Citroen Picasso Sbarro.  |
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Oct 17, 2019 15:19:09 GMT
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From Picasso the obvious place to go is the BMW art cars, a series of cars with paint jobs designed by artists including Andy Warhol, David Hokney, and this one by Roy Lichenstein in 1977.  |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,287
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Oct 17, 2019 16:34:59 GMT
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One of the other artists to take part in the BMW art car thing was South African artist, Esther Malanghu. Unlike the Hokney , Warhol, etc. she went on to do several more cars in her distinctive style. Here's the artist herself and the Fiat 500 she painted.  Wikipedia naturally has an article on the artist: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_MahlanguOur link here is Fiat 500. |
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Esther Malanghu's Fiat 500 is a latemodel one. The earliest version of the Fiat 500 ( AKA Topolino ), was introduced in 1936. This type, the A Topolino, was very popular with dragracers to build Altereds out of. Here is a famous pic of one blowing the bottom end out of its Chrysler Hemi (lots of nitro and a supercharger can do that, sometimes...)  Link is a A Topolino, or a drag racer competing in the Altered class, or anything with an interesting catastrophic engine failure... |
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