Engine Punk

I've just heard from Graham Allen who tells me that his Elfin 300 has now been sold and has returned to Oz. "It arrived in Tasmania last week to the safe custody of a guy who was a young member of the original team that built it. I had promised him first refusal and after testing it at Brands I decided it was not quick enough to keep up with the sports racers of the same era in the historic class I was hoping to race in. Ironically it was the same lack of cc/hp that led to it being put away 40 years ago! Anyway, it has found a good home and I can start to look for a new project." In retrospect, my closing comments about how good this car looks (see Vintage Thing No.52 ) now seem vaguely prophetic. I still think it looks gorgeous, though, and am pleased it's back home in the sunshine (although I'd like to see one in the metal one day...)

Could this car inspire the affection the much later Hillman Imp received? Who was Little Jim? Whilst rummaging around in the Boogie Wundaland archives, searching for something that was very important at the time, I found a very old photocopy from a book entitled Cars That Got Away . This had covered the genesis, amongst others, of the Hillman Imp, so it mentioned Apex and The Slug, but went back even further to tell the story of Little Jim. The origins of the Hillman Imp can be traced back far beyond its introduction in 1963. To pursue a Biblical analogy, the Imp was begat by Apex, which was begat by The Slug. But it seems that The Slug was begat by Little Jim. That would make him the Imp’s great grandfather. Before the Second World War, the Rootes group differed from the other industry giants because it did not have a very small car as the foundation for its range. People who buy small cars are often regarded by manufacturers as likely to trade up to a larger car at a late...

Regular readers of this blog will know of my appreciation of Allards but I've never seen any quite like this one or heard any references to it. The Allard badge might be on this thing as a joke but I have a feeling that it really is an Allard. I spotted this at a very wet hillclimb at Prescott in - I think - 1984. The pictures aren't brilliant but it was raining pushrods and back then my camera didn't have a light meter that worked so it's pretty amazing they came out at all. It's got a speedway JAP 500 cc engine under the driver's left elbow that drove the rear axle by chain. I think it had a gearbox and wasn't direct drive. There were some Formula 3 500s at the event but I managed to establish - probably by asking someone nearby - that it wasn't an Allard F3 car but a speedway racer used on the same cinder ovals as the bikes. If you look closely you can see the Allard badge on the nose an I am inclined to believe it is an Allard. It's got a split f...

As part of this Le Mans event, Morgan were the featured marque at the British Sports Car Welcome at St Saturnin. Among the British Mogs was this French one.( Photo by Alan Mansell) I love the little aerofoil below the sump! It looks like it's highly polished aluminium. According to the accompanying blurb, it had a 1233cc Harley Davidson fitted and "carosserie unique". Some people would decry the use of a modern powerplant but I really like what's been achieved here. And H-D's are not that modern. I'm no expert on Harley valve cover design but this one doesn't look like a Knucklehead, Panhead or Shovelhead to me. Maybe those are aftermarket items that make this engine more special. I've always had a weakness for polished aluminium. Unpainted panels like these leave bodges nowhere to hide. This Darmot must be a devil to keep clean but the effect under artifical lighting is fantastic. The best contract for such shiny panels is a dark colour and t...

This type of engine captured my imagination many years ago and I recently saw a surviving example of one, having believed - for many years - that the engine in this photo by J E Bell was the only example and had been scrapped by 1968. This engine intrigued me for several reasons. I liked the livery and wondered what colour this engine might have been. Sky blue with gold lining would be mt suggestion from this black and white image. Any sense of dereliction to a Vintage Thing or Fire Drake always makes me want to take that unloved wheeled contrivance home with me. I also felt that, by 1968, this example of rolling sculpture should have been preserved. Best of all, though, was the fact that it had pannier tanks on either side of the boiler. Living in the west country I automatically associated pannier tanks with smart little Great Western engines. This industrial locomotive, built by Bagnall of Stafford, seemed a bit special with its Walschaerts valve gear. I found this photo in Industri...

I was looking for a better picture of a GP Centron (I'm sure I've got one somewhere) but found this instead. It was taken at the Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh in c.1984 when I was a student at Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic (now Coventry University). I have the vaguest of feelings that a Centron turned up at the same show but if I took a photo of it I can't lay my hands on it. Written on the back of the print (in crayon) is VW Special - a state of the art statement of the obvious - and that's all I know about. But what sort of VW Special?. Someone's gone to a lot of trouble over this, which I'm sure is a one off. Okay it's ugly, but it's practical. Those are Beetle side windows and that's a Beetle windscreen. The front headlamps could be off a Mk1 Escort as they look suspiciously like those on my Siva Llama. I wonder about those doors. How are they hinged? Why is the handle down so low? Could it be that they are gull wing doors? If anyone anywher...

This post was prompted by a request for information about the GP Centron at the 2009 Exeter Kit Car Show. Somebody had one and wanted to know more about it so they put up a board about it in the designated car park for kit cars. They knew it had connections with Cornwall but not much more than that. I apologise for the quality of the pictures but these are photos of photos. I left my name on the writing pad asking for more info so if I hear anything I'll do an update. I happened to visit the factory at Threemilestone just outside Truro, when the moulds for the Centron II briefly resided there during the summer of 1983. At the time I was an industrial design student and tried to get a summer job out of them but had no luck. The company were called Statestyle and were developing an ultra-violet curing process for woven mat glass fibre. Staff on their experimental production line had very well bronzed forearms - it was a kind of rolling sunbed. The GP Centron was the first Beetle-base...

On the Thursday, Al and I had a run out in the Morgan to Blois. Al always reckons that you have to pace yourself when spectating the Le Mans 24 Hours. You can get over excited and then race will eat you up. Many people never leave the campsite, sleeping off hangovers by day and raising hell all night. Some are wired into the excellent Le Man FM radio station and wander around in a world of their own with combination radio hats and enormous ear phones/ear defenders that blot out all other noise around them. Blois is about an hour and a half away, to the south east on the River Loire – Blois on the Loire via Amboise, where they eat framboise (raspberries to me and you). King Stephen of England (famous for fighting Queen Matilda) was born here around 1097 but the town’s other notable feature is a magic museum – La Maison de la Magie - dedicated to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. I’d never heard of him but he’s the guy Harry Houdini named himself after (although he made a mistake and actually...

Despite the recession and continuing economic gloom, the 2009 Exeter Kit Car Show at the West Point Exhibition Centre was still upbeat. Some people pointed to vacant spaces in the exhibition hall and maybe the weather did put some people off but there was still loads to see. This machine is the KZ1 and is a one off, although there are plans for production. Apparently, there has already been strong interest in the car from Middle eastern customers and although the designer is British production will probably be in Eastern Europe. I don't know if there is any link to the Ascari KZ1 but it looks superb. I went with Peter Tuthill, author of (among others) Cornwall's Motor Industry. He's currently working on a similar book on Devon's motor industry and needless to say that I've put my name down for one. As soon as it's out, you'll hear about it on this blog. Peter is another self publisher like me, so has to do practically everything himself but it'll be wo...

The prototype Elfin 300 looks like a sports car should look like My blog entry on the ( MAE head prompted the owner of this car, Graham Allen, to get in touch. It's an Elfin, the prototype Elfin 300 in fact, and features the MAE head on an 1150cc block. (Photos by Graham Allen) "The car is an Australian make called Elfin who were the equivalent of Lotus for Oz, making over 250 racing cars in the 60's and 70's. "My car is the prototype 300 which has a Holbay S65 engine, essentially a Cortina block with their own head, similar to the MAE one but 1150cc. You will find a few makes of downdraft head, Lucas and Holbay amongst others and they were used in Formula Junior and Clubmans 1500 series. Thus you find some heads are 1100 and others with larger valves and chambers are 1500. "I'm not sure how much of an advantage they really were as the fastest Cosworth engined Juniors were sidedraft but for cool looks you can't beat a pair of twin Webers s...

I’ve only recently got into Alice Cooper and for this I have to thank my mates Glyn and Andy. They’re not punk rockers but they know what I like and knew that I’d like some of the songs from Vincent Furnier’s long career. I once bought an Alice Cooper album because it had School’s Out on it but the other songs didn’t appeal. That and Elected seemed to be enough for me for years but on a foray through Alice Cooper’s back catalogue I found plenty to like about it, even if he sometimes sounds like Barry Manilow (but I'll ignore such soppiness). Alice Cooper is about spectacle as much as anything so when I heard he/she/they was/ were playing at the Pavilions in Plymouth I moved pretty sharpish to get my ticket. Andy saw Alice Cooper at the Cornish Coliseum years ago and will rave unprompted about how this was one of his favourite all time gigs. But would they live up to Andy’s expectations? Or to mine having discovered classics like Eighteen , Poiso n and No more Mr Nice Guy ? Of cou...

Question : which motorsport event has a higher death toll for spectators than for drivers? The answer is Le Mans. The photo (by Alan Mansell) was a bit of a clue. A higher percentage of drivers have died, of course. And huge numbers of spectators have descended on the Sarthe circuit over the years but this doesn't detract from the sense of occasion through being there. The 2009 event was my third time at Le Mans (previous expeditions were in 2004 and 2005) and I enjoyed this year's festival of motoring excess just as much as ever. Audi had been the dominant team but this year Peugeot were in the ascendant with the petrol powered Aston Martins having an outside chance. And after last year, in which Peugeot narrowly lost overall victory to Audi, the leading French diesel manufacturer was out for revenge. With the recent foul weather, I’m enjoying looking back to a fantastic event with some very warm weather. I would have liked a Morgan entry as they celebrate 100 years this year...

This bike has to be the most stylish British tow stroke roadster without exception. I was captivated by its italianate lines many years ago when it appeared on Steve Wilson's book British Lightweight Two Strokes. I've probably mentioned before that, as a lanky git, 250 motorcycles are the practical lower limit for me but that doesn't stop me liking their delicacy and the "born with wheels" feeling a small and nimble bike can give you. It might be hereditary, too, My dad went on a European odyssey with my Uncle Phil on Uncle Phil’s 250 Panther and that had a Villiers 2T engine just like this Norman. They had a good time although the frame broke in Italy and we used to have a photo, now unfortunately lost, of an Italian blacksmith welding it up. There was a good reason for Steve Wilson to choose the Norman B4 for the cover for his book - it's a good all round bike with few flaws and about as good a bike as a Villiers powered twin can get. And for me the Norman B...