Valve Bounce

3.5 Cabriolet day

It was a crisp sunny day in London on Saturday and it brought out some interesting cars. As well as seeing a Shelby Mustang and Bristol 401 we also saw a W111 cabriolet as we were driving down Baker Street. It was navy blue and had a 5.6 badge on the boot lid. I'm assuming someone had shoehorned a 5.6 engine into a 3.5 Cabriolet body - quite popular in Germany apparently. It looked fabulous but did have the hood up. 

Then as were looking for a parking spot around Brompton Road we spotted this 3.5 Cabriolet parked up with the top down.  I've been on events with this car before and it won the club concours last year it looked pretty damn fine. No sign on the owner unfortunately...

There were only 35 68 RHD 3.5 cabriolets ever made so seeing two on the same day 37 years after they rolled off the production line must be slightly unusual!

Ex-Earl Howe 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante Barn Find

A multi-million pound Bugatti was probably not what the nieces and nephews of Harold Carr expected when they opened their newly inherited lock-up. The Ex-Earl Howe Type 57S Atalante has been getting a bit of press over the Christmas break. The car is up for auction at Retromobile on the 7th of February and is expected to reach over £3m.

The question is once you've bought it what do you do with it? How far do you go with the restoration? Unused and untouched since the 60s it is complete and would need very few new parts most could be refurbished. Let's hope that the new owner sticks with the current trend and lets the patina of Brooklands in the 1930s and storage during the war shine through.

The history of the car is fabulous, and there's a great article explaining the background in the Times. It sounds like the owner knew the value of his collection and had fended off car collectors, and potential purchasers for a long time so he could leave it as an inheritance.

Source: Bonhams

Mercedes at Oulton Park 1958 - Three Pointed Star

A great selection here from an old Sound Stories LP that I’ve just transposed to MP3. It tells the story of Mercedes-Benz at Oulton Park in 1958. This was a Richard Seaman Memorial meeting and featured the 1937 W125 and 1938/9 W154 Mercedes-Benz (the LP sleeve calls it a W163 but I belive this was the engine not the car) both driven at ‘characteristic’ speeds. Their appearance together served to honour the memory of Richard Seaman who drove both cars while he was a member of the Mercedes racing team. He won the German Grand Prix in 1938 at Nurburgring in the W154. An English driver in a German car winning in Germany in 1938 a few red faces on that day no doubt. Richard Seaman died at Spa driving in the Belgian GP in 1939. Chris Nixon’s biography is well worth a look.

This recording also features interviews by Laurence Pomeroy with the two young drivers - Peter Collins and Tony Brooks.

Modern Radios in Old Cars

Here's my first in a new series of my little pet hates! First is modern hi-fi system in old cars. Let's face it they look ridiculous and there's no need...

There's loads of people offering FM conversions and ipod inputs for the older radio why not use them? Lester Moon has made a couple of 60's Radiomobiles with FM and ipod inputs for me and they've been fabulous. His company is Vintage Radio Services in Bristol. For German Radios you can't beat Koenig's.