AC Cobra

The electronic time trap credited me with 183mph. I was at the wheel of the Le Mans AC Cobra 39PH. It was 1963 and it felt quick. Alas The Motor’s technicians pooh-poohed electronics, their slide-rules calculating that the change in axle ratio, described in the feature published July 17, rendered it more likely to be about 170mph.
Click to enlarge

Peter Bolton and Ninian Sanderson had just driven 39PH to seventh place at Le Mans. The following week I met Sanderson by chance, outside Harrods. I knew him through my association with Ecurie Ecosse and he suggested AC might lend the car for test. My colleague on the road test staff Roger Bell, later editor of The Motor and an accomplished saloon car racer, joined me at the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) test track. We did just short of 140mph, about 22.5mph per 1000rpm, through an electronic trap on the banked circuit, so at 6,500rpm it might have managed 146-147mph. On the Le Mans axle it was doing 160mph on Mulsanne at 5,500rpm, or around 29mph per 1000rpm, so had it been able to pull 6,500rpm with its rather blunt aerodynamics, that would be 189mph.

On the fresh axle ratio, even at 7,000rpm, 165mph at MIRA was more likely than 180, so discretion suggested that the figure be excluded from the feature. MIRA had a second electronic time trap on the road course, inside the banked outer circuit, on which you could go faster before braking hard for the next corner. Photographer Maurice Rowe took a fine picture of Roger lifting the Cobra’s inside wheel on one. Perhaps the slide-rulers at The Motor (they were usually precise) were not perverse to rob me of my 183mph but that assumes, of course, that all the other calculations were right.

When AC stopped making cars in 1939, they were using an engine already 20 years old. John Weller’s aluminium 1,991cc single overhead camshaft wet liner 6-cylinder was first shown at the London Motor Show in 1919. Production resumed in 1945 with the same engine in a saloon not long for the automotive mainstream. There was little to distinguish it from 1930s counterparts, except that the headlamps had sunk into the wings and the grille curled over. So long as cars remained in short supply it held its own. Traditionally a sports car manufacturer, AC wanted to make 2-seaters so engaged John Tojeiro whose sports cars were doing well in British racing. He had been hired by Charles and John Cooper to plan the front-engined Cooper-MG. Tojeiro’s formula was straightforward, his twin-tube frame accommodated the Weller engine much the same as it had obliged the 4-cylinder MG.

The shape of the AC Ace was cribbed, without much alteration and certainly no acknowledgement, from a contemporary Ferrari Barchetta. It used Weller’s now 34 year old engine and went on sale in 1953 at a premium price. The chassis was simple, a frame of two 3in diameter tubes and independent suspension both ends. The frame was stiff and the handling exemplary; still good in the 1960s after nearly 700 had been made. A coupe, the Aceca (320 made) became a collector’s piece and through steady evolution an excellent, intuitive design improved, although the power was insufficient to exploit the excellent road holding. In 1956 as an alternative to Weller’s 102 bhp, AC offered the Bristol (neé BMW) 2 litre with 125 bhp, providing over 115 mph.

The Ace was a classic, the Ace-Bristol spectacular but in 1961 Bristol stopped making the engine. A modified Ford Zephyr pushrod, of 170 bhp, scant refinement and great weight was unsatisfactory.

Above: AC AcecaIn the nick of time the United States Cavalry arrived, led by colourful Texan Carroll Shelby. The first Cobra prototype of 1962 was basically an Ace chassis altered to take a Ford V-8, with wider tyres and body modifications to cope with more than twice the horse power of the Zephyr. For sheer bravura, nothing could match it. There were 4.2 or 4.7 litre V8s, then from 1965 a 7 litre giving up to 345bhp in road trim and a top speed around 145mph. The standing quarter-mile took under 13sec.

The V8 made immense demands on the chassis, and changes were wrought, starting with rack and pinion steering. Like many carry-over designs of the 1930s the Ace continued using drop-arms and drag links, until the tendency of rack and pinion to lock-up at inconvenient moments was curbed. The Cobra's suspension was changed, coil spring and damper layouts with wishbones replacing transverse leaf springs.

Cobras went under a lot of names. Sometimes AC was dropped altogether; it was known as a Shelby Cobra, A Shelby American, and sometimes a Ford Cobra. AC provided it with a Frua body and called it simply the 428, a stylish but unsuccessful model that formed the sole AC exhibit at the London Motor Show long after production effectively stopped. The Cobra was probably the most copied, most replica-ed sports car ever. And when I see 39PH I bask briefly, just a little, in some of its glory.

Model T Ford on Ben Nevis

Getting a Model T Ford up Ben Nevis was a formidable undertaking. Dudley Grierson got about two-thirds of the way up on an MMC-Werner motorcycle in 1901 but Henry Alexander, the Edinburgh Ford dealer, made it all the way in May 1911. Ford of Britain, celebrating its centenary this year, has just released a picture from its archives showing the car on a mountainside bridge. Alexander and his chums had to build some crossings over rocky screes and tumbling burns, and the car underwent a certain amount of dismantling. It had only minimal bodywork. Snow-chains were used but since a Model T weighed only 1200lb (544kg) manhandling was possible. I got as far up as Grierson once, on foot, on narrow steep pathways.
Easily assembled. Easily taken apart to ascend Ben Nevis The first British Ford assembled from imported parts was produced on 23 October 1911. Ford’s Irish factory supplied chassis items until Joseph Sankey, of Hadley Shropshire, could take over so by the 1920s Model Ts were made from home grown components. A moving production line came in September 1914. Assembly had been a stationary affair with axles and chassis laid out on the floor and building a Model T took 12 hours. Moving assembly tracks had been used elsewhere, but Ford waited until components could be made accurately enough to be interchangeable. Build time was cut to an hour and a half. The following year the flywheel magneto operated an electric lighting set, not altogether satisfactorily, since being dependent on engine speed, the lights grew dim when driving slowly. The Model T’s success was overwhelming. All other Fords were discontinued to try meeting the demand. A quarter of a million Model Ts came off the line at the new Detroit Highland Park plant; 3000 a year made Ford Britain’s biggest car maker. Historian Anthony Bird wrote: “To say of the Model T Ford that it was a remarkably bad car would be tantamount to doubting the judgement of the 15,007,033 satisfied customers who bought the Lizzie during her production life of 19 years. To placate their shades and turn aside the howls of angry derision which must greet the statement let it be rephrased, to say that Henry Ford, like Carl Benz before him, was an obstinate man whose undeniable ingenuity was tinged with perversity, with the result that his masterpiece was marred by some curiously maladroit features.”
From The Ford in Britain Centenary File: Available March

MGB Twin Cam and Austin A30

Classic cars cost more than you expect. I loved my MGB and A30. They were fine in prosperous times but I am relieved, in a way, I don’t still have them. The A30 was pure nostalgia. The first car I ever owned was an A30 and recreating the noises and the feel of what you were driving as an early-twenty-something was enjoyable. I was late into having my own car. The A30 was a strong monocoque, it was quite sound when I bought it but keeping the dreaded tinworm at bay seemed never-ending. And I did like (see other blogs) to make a car feel like it was when new. I could do this with the MG. Pretty well all it got from its donor car was the chassis plate. As the accompanying piece from the Telegraph of 1998 shows, it was an attempt to create a Twin Cam MGB. Had it been more skilfully executed, it would have been a fine car. As it was, it proved troublesome but it looked sensational – perfectly period, and it was about as fast as my Z3, which meantime remains my regular everyday classic.

Austin A70 Hampshire Countryman

The Austin A70 Hampshire Countryman I discovered at Goodwood features in Colin Peck's British Woodies 1920s-1950s, one of Veloce's splendid Those Were the Days series. It is on the jacket and inside, complete with badges, which it has since lost. The period badge bar remains. There is no room for badges on the flush fronts of cars nowadays. Shame really. They did add a bit of personal identity to a car. Apparently Papworth Industries made 900 of these handsome estate cars between 1947 and 1949. Only seven are believed to survive, of which MAS 867 is the only one roadworthy. The main picture on the jacket is a Ford Pilot - the Austin is hidden by the folded bit on the picture above.

Alfasud in Venice

You can scarcely imagine a less suitable place for a car launch than Venice. Yet Alfa Romeo once used it for an Alfasud in the 1970s. We had a test route based at nearby industrial Mestre through interminable traffic, so it was a less than successful exercise for a car that was a revelation. Sadly it suffered terribly from body rot. Alfa had been directed by the Italian government to build a factory in Naples for the relief of unemployment and, as with every attempt by politicians to meddle in the motor industry, it ended ignominiously. It used such low quality steel that the pretty bodywork started disintegrating almost as soon as it left the line at Pomigliano d’Arco. Wikipedia thought this might be due to, “storage conditions of bodies at the plant,” which seems altogether too kind. The Alfasud design was developed by Austrian Rudolf Hruska and 893,719 saloons and 121,434 of the exquisite Sprints were made between 1971 and 1989. However as Autocar reported despite its incredible handling, easy cruising and practicality it suffered from a bad driving position, lack of safety equipment and, in a damning criticism for the usually well-disposed testers of September 20 1973, it was, “not that reliable.”
Alfasuds then cost £1,471. The engine was a sweet-revving flat four with a belt-driven overhead camshaft at each end. Rack and pinion steering and superb balance made it an outstanding drive at a time when Austin was making the Allegro and Morris the Marina. The Sprint was an early work by Giugiaro but frailty led to the delightful Sud being consigned to a footnote in automotive history.

Went back to Venice last week. The streets are still flooded, yet what an architectural and cultural delight it is, notwithstanding hordes of tourists. They flock to it and pay up cheerfully. WS Gilbert knew how expensive Venice was when he wrote with perfect irony, “We’re called Gondolieri/ But that’s a vagary/ It’s quite honorary/ The trade that we ply…”

JENSEN SP

I really can’t be bothered with old cars that are stiff in the joints or creak, rattle and break down. It’s not a fashionable view, but there you are. After a lifetime testing cars straight out of the factory, carefully prepared by press departments, that is how I like them. Patina is all very well but the only way we can understand old cars is with thoroughgoing complete renovations. Proper restorations, which bring them back to what they were when new, are instructive.

Take this beautiful tangerine Jensen SP restored by owner Phil Hayes. Preserved on blocks for 17 years, it was brought back from Kent to Cheshire four years ago to win silver at a Jensen Owners’ Club concours. A star of the NEC Classic Car Show it has still only done 47,000 miles and following my recent Jensen item, Phil kindly sent photographs showing how splendid it is. Refurbished, he says as a labour of love, he has good reason to be proud; the before-and-after pictures of the engine show how much work must have gone into it.

This Jensen was important, a transformation from the uncouth CV8 of 1962. Vignale’s elegant Interceptor, introduced in 1967, still looks good today. It was a welcome change from bulgy glass reinforced plastic to sleek shapely steel. Along with cars like the Aston Martin DB4 of 1958-1963 the Jensen showed up-market British cars could be stylish. Alas it proved prone to rust, but preserved beautifully as in this case, it reminds us what a triumph it was. Penalty of the 7212cc V8 is fuel consumption I described at the time as like the bath running out. I went to the press launch where the FF was demonstrated on wet grass banks. Sixteen years ahead of the Audi Quattro, this was a refined four wheel drive car with automatic transmission, Powr-Lok diff, Dunlop Maxeret anti-lock brakes, a 4in longer wheelbase and two extractor vents on the side.

Glorious Goodwood

Off-track the Goodwood Revival is a paradise. The racing is fine but how glorious to find oddball cars you haven’t seen for years. An Austin Sixteen like the one in which I passed my driving test. A bit down at heel perhaps but what do you expect for a 63 year old? They made 36,000 for a post-war car-starved market. And Riley RMs. There seemed to be a lot this year. Imagine it; torsion bar independent suspension and twin high-camshafts in 1946-1952. How well-proportioned and what fun for geeks looking for dark blue badges for 1½ Litres and light blue for the 2½. The first time I saw 100mph from a driving seat was in a 2½ in Glencoe. Maybe it wasn’t quite. Speedometers were notoriously optimistic, but it certainly felt like it. The car park was full of that were quite ordinary a generation ago, like the Austin A70 Hampshire converted into a woody estate. I wonder if it was original. Quite a lot were made as estates in a wheeze to escape tax. I wonder if it was sold.
Exotics in the car park. The Hispano-Suiza badge features the colours of Spain (red and yellow) and the Swiss white cross on red. The story behind the stork, like the Ferrari prancing horse, goes back to a First World War aviator, in this case the French ace Georges Guynemer an adversary of the Red Baron. His SPAD biplane, powered by a Hispano-Suiza V8, failed to come back from a flight over the Western Front on 9 September 1917. His squadron adopted the stork symbol of Alsace (annexed by Bismarck in 1870-1871, which France was then trying to win back) and in 1919 it was applied to the cars made at Bois-Colombes, in the Rue du Capitaine Guynemer.
Aeroplanes were one of the best bits. This is Number One daughter with the Spitfire. She is into vintage clothing and the hat is based on a 45rpm vinyl record. See http://tuppencehapennyvintage.blogspot.com. It is astonishing how the British enjoy dressing up. The period feel is amazing even though what looks like a visiting general taking to Dad’s Army is a Major with a staff officer’s hat and the medal on the left dates from the First World War (but with the ribbon the wrong way round). Well maybe not so odd. Quite a lot of the Walmington-on-Sea worthies guarding the Tangmere satellite airfield were probably 1914-1918 veterans.

Jensen SP

Despite a fuel consumption like the bath running out, the Jensen SP was a glorious finale to a range of cars which, in seems, Charles Dunstone the Carphone Warehouse founder wants to revive. He has joined the board of Jensen International Automotive, according to The Sunday Telegraph, after investing in the company that aims to relaunch the Interceptor. I tested an SP in the 1970s. Its acceleration was swift yet its refinement so profound that I could take my elderly (and very cautious) father to 125mph without him realising. It had multi-choke carburettors with accelerator pumps that squirted neat petrol down their throats providing highly exciting speed along with single-figure mpg.
The 7.2litre 385bhp SP was made from 1971-1973 and http://www.richardcalver.com reveals that SP meant the “Six-Pack” Chrysler engine that not very surprisingly failed its emissions tests in the United States and had to be discontinued. Jensen bought up Chrysler’s stock of the engines to make the 232 SPs, of which 216 were sold in Britain. The SP coincided with the opportunist Kjell Qvale’s arrival at a critical time for Jensen. Fifteen SPs were made with a tan vinyl roof, one of which, I recall, was the Jensen press car. I can’t remember the colour. Richard Calver would know.
Had to dig deep in the archives for a Jensen piece. This one does not refer to the SP. It comes from a freelance column of about 1971.
The works at West Bromwich prospered making Austin-Healeys and Sunbeam Tigers, and I remember how massively Jensens were made. They looked as if they would last for ever. If they were remanufactured with fuel injection and modern engine management systems they might be quite practical. They could even be made a bit lighter. At 36cwt (1829kg) the SP carried a lot of inertia. It handled well but was scarcely nimble.

Editors and The Vauxhall Motorcycle

Andrew Neil was affable, professional and responsive throughout the 13 years I was motoring correspondent of The Sunday Times. We didn’t talk a lot but when I called, he called back. He didn’t much care for my predecessor (I thought her competent enough) judging by memos in a desk I inherited. Irascible? Not really. Approachable? Invariably.

I worked for lots of editors. The Guardian, The Times, Telegraph, News of the World, Motor, Autocar and most motoring magazines. Peter Jackson, editor of Drive, the AA magazine, the Sunday Times Magazine and Road and Car paid well and approved expenses an MP might envy. Editors were polite, reasonable people who encouraged contributors. If they didn’t like what you were selling they would say so. Which was fine; you could always sell it elsewhere.

Michael Bowler was an old colleague at The Motor. Founder editor of Classic Car he edited The Automobile until Jonathan Rishton replaced him. I wrote for The Automobile from time to time. Michael was professional. He liked features that were accurate, well written and appropriate. I liked The Automobile. I have kept every issue over its entire 28 years. That will make 336 magazines to the end of the current volume.

I won’t be renewing my subscription.

The magazine’s not bad; it has lost Bowler’s deft touch but Rishton is so rude. Ignores messages. Fails to call back when he says he will. Never replies to emails, even to say No. Editors are not what they were. Andrew Neil was a pleasure to work with.

The Vauxhall Motorcycle. Part 1

In 1920 Vauxhall was in a quandry. It had had a good war, making 25HP staff cars for British officers. One took King George V to Vimy Ridge, another General Allenby on his entry to Jerusalem. A Vauxhall was first across the Rhine following the Armistice, but post-war the outlook was bleak. Laurence Evelyn Pomeroy (1883-1941), inspired designer and architect of its Edwardian prosperity had intimated he was leaving.
1922-1927 OD
Pomeroy had been responsible for the glorious 30-98, spent much of the war experimenting with camshafts, and was off to America to work in aluminium. His successor, Clarence King, did not inspire confidence. King had worked with the Adams Manufacturing Company and the Société Lorraine, but was something of a mystic and trying to earn a living in France as a painter.

The Vauxhall directors wanted something new. Losing the 1914 TT to Peugeot rankled, so in 1922 they commissioned two projects from the design consultancy led by 37 year old Harry Ricardo. He was to restore Vauxhall prestige in motor racing with a 3 litre racing car for 1923. “It was”, said Ricardo, “one of my most fascinating jobs; a racing engine for which I was given a perfectly free hand.” Provided with a budget the generosity of which astonished WO Bentley, he undertook the design himself.

Vauxhall also wanted to sell a smart sporting motorcycle to returning servicemen, for which Ricardo engaged Major Frank Bernard Halford (1894-1955).

Ricardo’s racing Vauxhalls were well engineered but only moderately successful. They competed in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, where Bentley regarded them as at least unsporting, or worse, imposters. They seemed to him out and out racing cars, which was not sporting. He was further annoyed when the sole Vauxhall survivor took third place, not only splitting the winning Bentleys, but also beating WO, who dropped to fourth after losing 6sec through missing a pit signal.

It was Vauxhall’s last hurrah. The cars were good but times were hard and motor racing was expensive. The team was disbanded and the cars sold. Raymond Mays bought one which in 1928, with a supercharger as the Vauxhall Villiers, paved the way for Mays and Peter Berthon to create ERA.

FB Halford was a former Royal Flying Corps pilot. He had ridden a 4-valve Triumph with a Ricardo engine to 13th place in the 1922 Senior TT, so he knew what he was doing with a classy motorcycle. His inspiration came from aircraft engines, which usually flew inverted, crankshaft uppermost driving the propeller. Halford’s motorcycle in-line 4-cylinder had its crankshaft underneath, like a car’s. (to be continued)

Driving in Europe

Pride of Dover a couple of weeks ago
I am careful of French police. I used the BMW Z8’s splendidly straightforward cruise control on the recent Le Mans Classic trip. Went Dover-Calais by P&O and although this time I never saw any, I’ve been caught too often, along with other British tourists, by Autoroute radar traps. They must make millions of Euros in tolls and fines. I wish somebody would do a survey of how much, like the one undertaken by the German online travel-agency ab-in-den-urlaub.de .

This showed that Germans drivers suffered 515 874 speeding tickets from Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Belgium and Italy alone, while Germany rarely fines foreign motorists. Around 5 million German cars are taken on European holidays each year. There are many reasons for the fines – sometimes tourists can't read the Italian-language sign for “Quiet Street”, hidden in the parking area next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This means €194.50 if you are not prepared to pay without appealing.

The agency ab-in-den-urlaub.de has calculated that 515,874 parking tickets with a value of €53.6 million were sent to German drivers during 2009 alone. That means in 10 years, European countries have cashed in €520 million from German drivers abroad.

Around half the total €25.5 million is collected in Switzerland. Swiss police accompany drivers to the next bank to demand money on the spot. Second highest earner is the Netherlands. In 2009 192,503 fines were sent to Germans with a total value of €19.2 million.

Transport lawyer Alexander Koden told the agency, “It is particularly difficult to prove whether a foreign traffic offence is really justified.” It can take over a year before a payment demand arrives. Not only that: The Italians accept only appeals which are written in Italian. English, German and French are accepted as official languages within the EU, however that still does not mean that one is allowed to write to an Italian police department in English or German.

Once more, says the agency, “The EU has shown its neither-here-nor-there mentality. Traffic signs in Sweden, Greece and Italy may only be produced in the local language. As unity of the signage is not provided, many tourists fall into the traffic fines trap simply as a result of misunderstandings.”
Joanna was driving the BMW at 115mph; OK in Germany, not elsewhere

Hitler's Mille Miglia

BMW Car has done a good layout for my feature on The 1940 Mille Miglia BMW 328. This was the car that took part in what has, perhaps unkindly, been called Hitler’s Mille Miglia. It wasn’t. It was Mussolini’s. BMW Car has unearthed a poster for what the Italians called the First Gran Premio Brescia delle Millia Miglia. Maybe they changed the name because they thought the Germans might win. Which they duly did. Top: A Sunday Times column featuring the exquisite 2-seater I drove in 1993. No wonder Sir William (as he became) Lyons cribbed the style for the XK120. Below: I photographed the 328 in front of one of my favourite hotels, Turnberry, Ayrshire, where in 1952 I saw it win, driven by Gillie Tyrer. I was quite young and impressionable.

Classics

Imposters every one. None had a proper ticket for the air-conditioned press tribune
Le Mans Classic. More like a motor racing Glastonbury than Garden Party Goodwood. The press service was well-meaning rather than effective. Took a long time to get accreditation because they wanted professional insurance of some sort and when we got to the Circuit de la Sarthe they had very nice well-mannered gels, very polite, very French, very pretty and totally unhelpful. It was very hot, 40 degrees, and it would have been nice if my number one daughter had been given some sort of paddock pass so she could carry my camera bag. At my age you need somebody to do that, but no it was impossible. What about a car pass to get us around on the infield? No that was impossible too.

In the event it scarcely mattered. Forty years of blagging into places where officials don’t want you to go, got us pretty well everywhere we wanted. It helped having BMW’s Z8, which meant we could park it at the BMW Classic exhibition tent. It also helped that number one daughter has big eyes, which distracted officials sufficiently when I mumbled (in Englishy French – it might as well have been Gaelic) that mamselle was with me and waved my enamel badge on a string.

Camped at Maison Blanche, well I say camped, number one son Craig had brought a camper van, which was a help although the queues at the shower block and half a dozen loos for a very large car park, mostly full of Brits, was more Pop Festival than Glorious Goodwood.

I always liked Le Mans. It was one place I thought I’d go back to as a spectator when I stopped covering Le Vingt Quatres Heures. I did this mostly between 1965 and 1985 and even went to the French Grand Prix (2 July 1967, Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans if you are interested) to see Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme win in Brabham Repcos from Jackie Stewart in a V8 BRM and Jo Siffert in a V12 Cooper Maserati. The caravan site looked like a loop of the Bugatti circuit, which was never used for a French Grand Prix again although Le Mans likes to think of itself as the birthplace of French motor racing. OK the first grand prix ever took place there in 1906 but it really is now a bit of a circus that takes itself much too seriously.

Ah well. The Le Mans Classic was fine really, with lots of swarthy rich people in Ferraris driving rather badly and masses of worthy clubs from the UK, Triumphs, MGs, Jaguars all having a wonderful time. The enthusiasm people show for classic cars is quite touching. They’ll chat uninhibitedly in the queue for the loo about how they fell in love with their first TR2 in 1955 and isn’t it nice the way you can drive along with your arm overhanging the door. Nostalgia is exactly how it used to be. Any TR2 driver will tell you to get the revs at two-five for the little crackle noise in the exhaust.

Alfa Romeo - Jaguar Anniversaries

Two anniversaries on the eve of Goodwood Festival of Speed; Alfa Romeo is 100 and Jaguar 75. Jaguar is home-grown maybe even a little homespun by comparison with Alfa’s halcyon days, yet Alfa Romeo is the featured marque in West Sussex. It could have been that 100 is a nice round figure. It could have been that Goodwood has featured Jaguar in the past and thought it was time somebody else had a chance. Alfa has allure; it is one of the great classic makes with a history as old as motor racing. Jaguar has allure too; it is a classic and while its motor racing heritage hardly matches Alfa’s in grand prix racing, it has won Le Mans seven times (between 1951 and 1990) against Alfa Romeo’s four on the trot 1931-1934. The Cartier Style et Luxe exhibition will celebrate Italian design, another opportunity for Alfa to show off, with the pre-war supercharged 8Cs. These include the ex-Doune 1938 Sommer-Biondetti Le Mans 2.9 Coupe, an exquisite car in the lead by 12 laps on Sunday afternoon, when a front tyre burst on Mulsanne at 130mph. It retired with a broken valve, but you could still see the damage the tyre inflicted on the Superleggera body at Lord Doune’s small museum in the 1970s. It will be the Cartier Lawn’s 16th time at Goodwood.

XK120: Artistic. Ruth always laughs when she sees my reflection on the headlamp rim.
Both makes had charismatic founders. Both fell from grace. When the Italian government forced Alfa to build in Naples it produced the enchanting to drive but flakily rust-prone Alfasud. Jaguar had quality problems and an unwelcome legacy from the dog days of British Leyland. Jaguar quality is now a match for anybody, as the influential JD Power surveys prove. The jury is still out on Alfa’s quality yet its vigour is undiminished. A caveat on the stylish and swift new Giulietta concerns road noise. Hardly anybody, it seems these days, is capable of making a car that suppresses it. Jaguar is a notable exception. But it doesn’t get it on to the hallowed lawns at Goodwood.


GOODWOOD AT ITS MOST GLORIOUS

Alfa Romeo 158/159

Goodwood Festival of Speed press day Alfa 158/159
Alfa Romeo is being less than generous to itself describing the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone as the inaugural F1 European Championship race. It was won by Giuseppe Farina driving an Alfa Romeo conceived in 1937, largely built in Modena by Scuderia Ferrari. A 1.5 litre, it gave 190bhp on test, 205bhp for its first race at Livorno and 225bhp at an astonishing (for 1938) 7,500rpm. By the time it reappeared in 1946 the supercharged straight-eight was doing 265bhp and the two-stage supercharged cars in the 1948 French Grand Prix at Rheims 310bhp.
Dr Farina’s car at Silverstone in 1950 was giving 350bhp at 8,500rpm and the engine had altered so much that in April 1951 Alfa changed the type number from 158 to 159. The British Grand Prix was the first race in the new WORLD Championsip, which Farina went on to win in 1950. There had been a European championship inaugurated by the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) in 1934. Chosen by a committee on the basis of a season’s grand prix racing, holders were Rudolf Caracciola, Bernd Rosemeyer and Hermann Lang
Goodwood Press Day: Number one daughter
Alfa Romeo is inviting UK owners to submit pictures of their cars to an online archive, which will form a mosaic of Alfa’s Centenary model, a new Giulietta. The images will appear in a mosaic, capturing Alfa’s heritage, beginning, Alfa says, “with the Type 158 that won the inaugural F1 European Championship race 60 years ago at Silverstone.”
Every image uploaded before June 18, will be included in a prize draw for an Alfa Romeo goodie bag and a pair of VIP tickets to the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 2 - 4July, when Alfa is the featured marque. There will also be an overall prize of a luxury weekend at The Goodwood Hotel with a Giulietta to drive. The winner will also get the chance to drive the 8C Competizione on the Goodwood circuit.
Alfa had a quirky badge with a serpent eating a child
There was not much room in the cockpit
Alfa Romeo UK Brand Communications Manager, Damien Dally, says: "2010 is a huge landmark for Alfa Romeo and we feel that this project will perfectly capture the brand's identity and really allows us to celebrate with the thousands of people who have put us where we are today - our customers."
To submit a photo, visit www.alfacentenary.co.uk.
I have never owned an Alfa, so no picture of mine, but I have tested and admired the iconic brand a great deal over the years. Here’s the Mito Multiair I enjoyed in Scotland recently.

A Missing Rolls-Royce

Scotland on Sunday, 1 December 2002:

Financial ghosts following the demise of the Royal Scottish Automobile Club are not yet laid to rest. Secrecy and obfuscation surround the disposal of the club’s assets. Pictures and motoring memorabilia were sold off without telling the members. The mystery surrounding the club’s heirlooms, the world’s second-oldest Rolls-Royce and a unique Arrol-Johnston, built in Dumfries in 1922, may soon be resolved. The Rolls-Royce was bequeathed to the club in 1974 under the will of Adam McGregor Dick with a stipulation that it should remain in Scotland and never be sold. The first part has already been infringed; it has been languishing at P&A Wood, of Great Easton, Dunmow in Essex, for several years because no money was made available for restoration.

The general secretary of the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club confirmed to me that he had been negotiating with the RSAC for years, offering to pay for restoration in return for the car spending some time among the club’s extensive collection of Rolls-Royce artefacts at Paulerspury, Northants. While ownership should remain in Scotland, there seems no reason to turn down the RREC’s request, and bring this fine car back to life. Made in 1905, chassis 26330 is the only survivor of six three-cylinder cars made by Henry Royce in Manchester, as he was forging his partnership with The Hon C S Rolls in London.

When he handed the Rolls-Royce over to the RSAC, AM Dick appointed its office-bearers as trustees, never contemplating a day when the club might be declared insolvent. A later generation of governors, of the institution in which he had such faith, has alas failed him. In 1905 the Rolls-Royce chassis cost £500, with a further £530 for a Barker side-entrance tonneau body and canopy. Nobody knows how much it is worth now. In automotive terms it is like the crown jewels, none ever comes up for sale, but even with a replica body made by J B Stevenson of Glasgow in the 1960s, it would be insured for upwards of £1 million.

The trustees met last week and are, “… now investigating various legal avenues which should modify the existing arrangements to enable the donor's wishes to be respected. There is no question of the car being sold.” The liquidator, as trustee for the club, therefore effectively for its office-bearers, is expected to seek senior counsel’s opinion on a petition to the Court of Session. This would look for clarification of the donor’s intentions now that the club has virtually ceased to exist. It looks as though the car will now be held in trust for the nation although what that means in practice remains to be seen.

That was eight years ago. Went to the old RSAC headquarters in Glasgow for the press launch of the Alfa Romeo Mito Multiair last month. It is now an up-market hotel, tastefully done, but the visit to the historic premises prompted me to wonder what had become of the Rolls-Royce. I can confirm that it is still at P&A Wood and its ownership remains an issue. Watch this space Artwork is James Leech's from the late George Oliver's splendidly detailed 1967 Profile on the car

Ford Capri

It is always a worry when you go round a motor museum and see cars you drove on the press launch. Ford did some spectacular presentations in the 1960s, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and from 12-15 January 1969 Cyprus for The Car You Always Promised Yourself, the Capri. It had been a busy week. Monday a press conference with Colin Chapman of Lotus, Tuesday the London Racing Car Show, Thursday a meeting with Harry Ballantine of Ecurie Ecosse to learn about the apparent collapse of the team, Friday by BEA Trident to Milan in connection (I guess) with my reporting for Gazetta Della Sport, then back on Saturday by Alitalia Caravelle. I used to note in my diary what I flew in. On Sunday off again by Trident2 to Nicosia. This was a return trip to Cyprus, where ten years before, I had spent a year of my National Service with the Royal Artillery in Famagusta. On Monday we drove round the snowy Troodos mountains, Tuesday to Famagusta and beautiful Kyrenia lunching at Bellapais Abbey, returning Nicosia-Athens-London on Wednesday. I will drive a Capri on the Guild of Motoring Writers' Classic, not a mark 1 like the above but a later 1977 Mark II.

Ford had done Capris before. The first 109E in 1961 and 116E the GT with 5-bearing engine the following year based on the curious reverse-rake rear window Classic.

From The Ford in Britain File; Dove Publishing Ltd

1961 Capri 109E

The voluptuous lines of the Capri were a surprise to a British market that regarded 2+2s as sports cars, and was unfamiliar even uncomfortable with the concept of a car in which appearance took precedence over passenger space. It was legitimate if space was sacrificed to speed, but a rear window raked at 40 degrees, and an enormously long rear deck just for appearances’ sake was somehow too contrived. The name outlasted the model. It had been used on a Lincoln, and Ford now applied it to a version of the Classic intended for export, but to which the home market unexpectedly warmed. Two inches (5cm) lower than the saloon, its small frontal area gave it an advantage in top speed, but it had no sporting pretensions. Rather thin cushions could be specified for the rear shelf, normally carpeted as an addition to the enormous boot, enabling it to serve as a back seat when absolutely necessary. Luggage room was even bigger than the Classic and the boot floor, which was of pick-up truck proportions, was rubber-covered. The front seats were better shaped than the saloon’s and finished in two colours of pvc. Like the Classic however the Capri driver was still required to do a certain amount of home maintenance to ensure satisfactory running. Ten points required attention with a grease-gun every 1000 miles.

Looks like Dagenham-on-Thames with 1960s river traffic

INTRODUCTION July 1961-August 1962 BODY Coupe; 2-doors, 2+2-seats; weight 2055lb (932.15kg) ENGINE 4-cylinders, in-line; front; 80.96mm x 65.07mm, 1340cc; compr 8.5:1; 54bhp (40.3kW) @ 4900rpm; 74 lbft (100Nm) @ 2500rpm; 40.3bhp/l (30.1kW/l) ENGINE STRUCTURE pushrod overhead valve, chain-driven camshaft; cast iron cylinder head and block; Zenith 32VN downdraught carburettor, centrifugal and vacuum ignition; AC mechanical fuel pump; 3-bearing hollow-cast crankshaft. TRANSMISSION rear wheel drive; 7.25in (18.4cm) hydraulic sdp clutch; 4-speed manual gearbox, synchromesh on 3; hypoid bevel final drive 4.13:1. CHASSIS steel monocoque structure; ifs by MacPherson struts and anti-roll bar; live rear axle with half-elliptic springs and lever arm dampers; Girling hydraulic non-servo 9.5in (24.13cm) disc front, 9in (22.86cm) drum rear brakes; recirculating ball steering; 9gal (41l)(10.8US gal) fuel tank; 5.60-13 tubeless tyres. DIMENSIONS wheelbase 99in (252cm) track 49.5in (126cm) length 170.77in (434cm) width 62.2in (166cm) height 54in (137.16cm) ground clearance 5.86in (15cm) turning circle 34ft (10.36m) EQUIPMENT fresh-air heater, leather upholstery, push-button or manual control radio optional extras; screenwasher standard, pvc upholstery, carpet, 12 body colours, 7 two-colour choices PERFORMANCE maximum speed 81.2mph (130.35kph) The Autocar 16.45mph (26.4kph) @ 1000rpm 0-60mph (96kph) 21.3sec fuel consumption 27.9mpg (10.12l/100km) PRICE £627, purchase tax £288 12s, total £915 12s (£915.60) PRODUCTION 11.143 including 1291 kits

The later better known Capri was destined to be a cult car yet nowadays curiously unloved, except by real zealots. You can dial the web for a hundred owners’ clubs for Capri events, spare parts and enthusiasm. There are branches everywhere yet maybe the car’s slightly louche image when it was new has not worn well. Maybe people remember the short engines that left a lot of space under the long bonnets, or the slightly tacky add-on cosmetics .

From The Ford in Britain File; Dove Publishing Ltd

1969 Capri 1300, 1300GT, 1600, 1600GT

The Car You Always Promised Yourself had a profound effect. In a sense it was like the original Capri of 1961, neither a sports car in the accepted sense, nor an everyday saloon. It created its own niche as a sort of European Mustang and enjoyed astonishing success. The long bonnet, 2+2 seating and style gave it a cachet hardly any car enjoyed before, and not many would again. The basis was typically Cortina, only the top half was really new, the first engines were wide-ranging, and an important innovation was an array of X, L, XL and R custom pack options, giving customers a wide choice of upholstery and equipment so that they could, in theory at any rate tailor their Capri to suit themselves. There were dummy air scoops, chrome wheel trims, reclining seats, map-reading light, extra lights and special paint schemes with anti-glare matt black on the bonnet just like real rally cars. Launch prototypes were shown with BDA 16-valve twin cam engines (the Escort was first to get it) but never went into production. The Capri was destined to be a huge success; it built on Ford’s mastery of production engineering through relying on components already in production. it would be made in Britain and Germany, and getting on for 2million would be sold during the next 17 years.


This looks as though it could have been photographed on the launch

INTRODUCTION November 1968 production to December 1973 BODY coupe; 2-doors, 2+2-seats; weight 1300 880kg (1940.05lb) 1300GT 900kg (1984.14lb); 1600 GT 920kg (2028.23lb) ENGINE 1300 4-cylinders, in-line; front; 80.98mm x 62.99mm, 1298cc; compr 9.0:1; 42.51kW (57bhp) @ 5500rpm; 9.2mkg Nm (lbft) @ 2500rpm; 32.8kW/l (43.9bhp/l). 1300GT 53.69kW (72bhp) @5500rpm. 1600 87.65x66mm; 1593cc; 53.69kW (72bhp). GT 65.62kW (88bhp) @ 5700rpm ENGINE STRUCTURE pushrod ohv, chain-driven camshaft; cast iron cylinder head and block; Ford GPD carburettor; centrifugal and vacuum ignition; mechanical fuel pump; 5-bearing crankshaft. 1300GT and 1600 Weber 320 carburettor; 1600GT Weber compound. TRANSMISSION rear wheel drive; 19cm (7.5in) diaphragm spring cable-operated clutch; 4-speed manual all-synchromesh gearbox; hypoid bevel final drive 4.125:1 (1300) 3.89:1 (1600). Borg Warner 35 automatic available 1300 GT, 1600, final drive 1600GT 3.777:1 CHASSIS steel monocoque structure; ifs by MacPherson struts and anti roll bar; live rear axle with half-elliptic springs and radius rods, telescopic dampers; Girling hydraulic 24.1cm (9.49in) disc brakes at front (optional 1300s), 24.4cm (9.61in) GT and 1600; 20.32cm (8in) rear drums; dual circuit; vacuum servo; rack and pinion steering; 48l (10.56gal)(12.68USgal) fuel tank; 6.00-13 cross-ply 1300, 165-13 GT and 1600 radial-ply, 4.5rims DIMENSIONS wheelbase 256cm (100.79in) track front 134.5cm (52.95in) rear 132cm (51.97in) length 426cm (167.72in) width 164.5cm (64.76in) height 129cm (50.79in) GT and 1600 128cm (50.39in) ground clearance11.5cm (4.53in) turning circle 9.75metres (32ft) EQUIPMENT SLR pack £79 12s 10d (£79.64p); fixed seat belts £8.49p, inertia reel belts £14.01p PERFORMANCE maximum speed 1300 138kph (85.96mph), 1300GT and 1600 150kph (93.44mph), 1600GT 160kph (99.66mph) 1300 26.2kph (16.32mph) @ 1000rpm; 1600GT 28.8kph (17.94mph) 0-100kph (62mph) 19sec; 13sec 1600GT
fuel consumption 9.1l/100km (31.04mpg); 9.8l/100km (28.83mpg) 1600GT PRICE 1300, £682, £890 7s 10d (£890.39p) including PT; 1300GT £985 70p; 1600 £936.9p; 1600GT £1041.83p PRODUCTION 374,700 UK Capris

1969 Capri 2000 GT, 3000 GT

The one-shape-fits-all recipe of the Capri was well judged. Buyers rang the changes with engines and accessory packs to their hearts’ content. Rear axle radius arms had been deleted from Cortina GTs on the grounds of road noise; they were reinstated on the Capri to provide GT handling and developed with care so that there was negligible sacrifice in noise vibration and harshness, the celebrated NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) that Ford took seriously to compete with classic makes in the sporting or semi-sporting or even quasi-sporting field. By the dawn of the 1970s it did not much matter if a car was sporting or not, but it had to be refined, smooth-running, and if not completely quiet it had to make the right noises. The 2000GT V4 was not quite ready at launch, it went into production in March, the V6 3.0litre followed in September. The first addition to the range was the 3000E, technically the same as the 3000GT, but cosmetically upmarket and better equipped. In 1971 the 3.0 litre Essex V6 was revised with better breathing to provide more torque and 138bhp (102.91kW) instead of 128bhp (95.45kW), a change that was never applied to the same engine fitted to soon-to-be-replaced Zodiacs. The German Capri RS2600 was not sold in Britain and only 248 of the dramatic RS3100 with big-bore V6 of 1973 were ever made. INTRODUCTION November 1968 production to December 1973 BODY coupe; 2-doors, 2+2-seats; weight 2000GT 960kg (2116.42lb), V6 1056.89kg (2330lb) ENGINE 2000 4-cylinders, 60deg V; front; 93.66mm x 72.44mm, 1996cc; compr 8.9:1; 68.61kW (92bhp) @ 5250rpm; 141Nm (104lbft) @ 3600rpm; 34.4kW/l (46.1bhp/l). V6 93.66 x 72.4mm; 2994cc, 8.9:1; 95.45 kW (128bhp) @ 4750rpm; 235Nm (173lbft @ 3000rpm ENGINE STRUCTURE pushrod ohv, gear-driven camshaft; cast iron cylinder head and block; Weber 40 compound carburettor; centrifugal and vacuum ignition; mechanical fuel pump; 3-bearing crankshaft. V6, Weber 40DFA carburettor, 4-bearing crankshaft TRANSMISSION rear wheel drive; 22.86cm (9.0in) diaphragm spring cable-operated clutch; 4-speed manual all-synchromesh gearbox; hypoid bevel final drive 3.545:1; Borg Warner 35 automatic available. V6 3.22:1 final drive CHASSIS steel monocoque structure; ifs by MacPherson struts and anti roll bar; live rear axle with half-elliptic springs and radius rods, telescopic dampers; Girling hydraulic disc brakes at front, 24.4cm (9.61in); 20.32cm (8in) rear drums; dual circuit; vacuum servo; rack and pinion steering; 48l (10.56gal)(12.68USgal) fuel tank; 165-13 radial-ply tyres, 4.5rims DIMENSIONS wheelbase 256cm (100.79in) track front 134.5cm (52.95in) rear 132cm (51.97in) length 426cm (167.72in) width 164.5cm (64.76in) height 128cm (50.39in) ground clearance11.5cm (4.53in) turning circle 9.75metres (32ft) EQUIPMENT SLR pack £79 12s 10d (£79.64p); fixed seat belts £8.49p, inertia reel belts £14.01p PERFORMANCE maximum speed 171kph (106.52mph), V6 183kph (113.99mph) 30.6kph (19.06mph) @ 1000rpm, V6 33.4kph (20.8mph) 0-100kph (62mph) 11.3sec, V6 9.2sec fuel consumption 12.3l/100km (22.97mpg), V6 12l/100km (23.54mpg) PRICE £833, £1087 10s 7d (£1087.53p) including PT PRODUCTION 374,700 UK Capris

The Ford in Britain File; Dove Publishing Ltd http://www.dovepublishing.co.uk/