The March issue brought back memories of a Rover SD1 (‘I knew it was rotten as a pear. It was scrap’) and Opel Monza (Everyman Executive). During the Eighties my friend Brian had a Monza 3.0E with a fivespeed manual and limited-slip differential, which was mainly fitted to the automatics. It was a metallic brown that still looked dirty after spending a whole day washing and Simonizing! I bought it because Brian had his eye on a twin-plenum SD1 Vitesse. At the time, some school buddies and I were keen on skiing – and we had the offer of a flat in Schladming in Austria for two weeks. Somewhere in Germany after quite a few petrol stops, Brian spotted on the map that the next section of the autobahn had a long straight. Soon after we set off from the lunchtime stop my passenger in the Monza dropped off to sleep while Brian accelerated quickly until the SD1 was a dot on the horizon – but not for long. I caught him up, the speedo reading just over 150mph. When we pulled in to top up the tanks, Brian was miffed at being caught up by his old car; my passenger was miffed that he had missed it all.
The Monza did suffer from snobbery; how can a GM car be better than a BMW or Mercedes-Benz? Well, it was. The only annoying thing was central locking that didn’t operate the rear hatch. If you dropped someone off and they had things in the back, you had to switch off and open the hatch with the key. It was one of the best cars I've owned; superbly comfortable and ideal to travel many miles, even off the motorway – and the limited-slip differential kept the tail under control out of wet roundabouts.
At 79 years old, I use my late auntie’s Anglia 105E (Buying Guide) as my shopping car. She bought it new in 1966 and drove it all of 14,000 miles until she surrendered her licence in 1986, after which it came into my care. Now with 41k on the clock it’s a joy to drive – never restored, nor driven in rain. It’s totally original bar a few period accessories. You’re right, the Ford carb was rubbish. I have fitted a single SU which gives 40mpg and flat-spot-free acceleration. Now the Allard (The Hot 30). I well remember the day in the early Fifties when a family friend drove my father and I to a small car sales unit in Manchester and there was NKT 17. I never knew if it was a J2 or J2X, but what a sound when the Cadillac flathead V8 fired up! Dad campaigned the Allard at Oulton Park, Silverstone, Shelsley Walsh and Prescott with great gusto but little success. After a couple of years it was replaced by a 1925 Bentley 3 Litre. I seem to remember the Allard had a propensity to shear off driveshafts. Some years ago and with the help of the Allard club, the car was traced to the USA, its UK NKT 17 plate still in place. Happy days!
Wonderful article on Lynx Eventer and stories about the gifted owner Rupert Hine. Especially fun comments were from Sir Bob Geldof, including saying he was never interested in cars. A decade or two ago I used to live in Chelsea and often drove down the M4 on Friday evenings to spend the weekend in the country. More than once I saw Sir Bob in a Ferrari 308 or possibly a 328. It looked clean to me and he had a grin on his face!
In your story on the BMW 3.0 CSL E9 (Guiding Leicht), Sam Dawson says, ‘A J Van Loon of American magazine Sports Car World christened the car the ‘Bavarian Dino’. SCW was an Australian magazine and A J Van Loon wrote many memorable stories for it. I have a real soft spot for the 3.0CSi E9 coupé. The MD of the cinema company my father worked for bought a silver one new, and part of my university holiday job one year was to wash and polish it in the theatre car park in the Sydney CBD. Just moving it around the car park was a real treat for a car-mad young man! Not so much with the next MD’s preferred transport – a Lincoln Continental MkVI.
The Ferrari 250SWB’s extended exhaust tailpipe trims (The Racer That Didn’t) were branded SNAP (Scarico Negativo Aria Pressione or Exhaust Negative Air Pressure) and were fitted to Ferraris in 1959 and 1960. They were sold in the UK with the sales slogan, ‘Ferrari Fit SNAP and So Should You.’ The concept was one of reducing back pressure in the exhaust system. Concentric tubes included a lozenge-shaped slit in the outer tube wall where air could enter at high speed, causing a vortex at the tip of the exhaust pipe and supposedly sucking engine gases out. I bought one and fitted it to my Mini – but although it looked great, I don’t remember any advantage whatsoever in either performance or fuel consumption. They are still sold at £1500 each (you need four for the restoration), but I guess that this is small beer if you own a 250SWB.
OpelMonza vs. Rover SD1 Vitesse
The March issue brought back memories of a Rover SD1 (‘I knew it was rotten as a pear. It was scrap’) and Opel Monza (Everyman Executive). During the Eighties my friend Brian had a Monza 3.0E with a fivespeed manual and limited-slip differential, which was mainly fitted to the automatics. It was a metallic brown that still looked dirty after spending a whole day washing and Simonizing! I bought it because Brian had his eye on a twin-plenum SD1 Vitesse. At the time, some school buddies and I were keen on skiing – and we had the offer of a flat in Schladming in Austria for two weeks. Somewhere in Germany after quite a few petrol stops, Brian spotted on the map that the next section of the autobahn had a long straight. Soon after we set off from the lunchtime stop my passenger in the Monza dropped off to sleep while Brian accelerated quickly until the SD1 was a dot on the horizon – but not for long. I caught him up, the speedo reading just over 150mph. When we pulled in to top up the tanks, Brian was miffed at being caught up by his old car; my passenger was miffed that he had missed it all.
The Monza did suffer from snobbery; how can a GM car be better than a BMW or Mercedes-Benz? Well, it was. The only annoying thing was central locking that didn’t operate the rear hatch. If you dropped someone off and they had things in the back, you had to switch off and open the hatch with the key. It was one of the best cars I've owned; superbly comfortable and ideal to travel many miles, even off the motorway – and the limited-slip differential kept the tail under control out of wet roundabouts.
Two of “my” cars in the Nov issue
At 79 years old, I use my late auntie’s Anglia 105E (Buying Guide) as my shopping car. She bought it new in 1966 and drove it all of 14,000 miles until she surrendered her licence in 1986, after which it came into my care. Now with 41k on the clock it’s a joy to drive – never restored, nor driven in rain. It’s totally original bar a few period accessories. You’re right, the Ford carb was rubbish. I have fitted a single SU which gives 40mpg and flat-spot-free acceleration. Now the Allard (The Hot 30). I well remember the day in the early Fifties when a family friend drove my father and I to a small car sales unit in Manchester and there was NKT 17. I never knew if it was a J2 or J2X, but what a sound when the Cadillac flathead V8 fired up! Dad campaigned the Allard at Oulton Park, Silverstone, Shelsley Walsh and Prescott with great gusto but little success. After a couple of years it was replaced by a 1925 Bentley 3 Litre. I seem to remember the Allard had a propensity to shear off driveshafts. Some years ago and with the help of the Allard club, the car was traced to the USA, its UK NKT 17 plate still in place. Happy days!
Geldof in a Ferrari
Wonderful article on Lynx Eventer and stories about the gifted owner Rupert Hine. Especially fun comments were from Sir Bob Geldof, including saying he was never interested in cars. A decade or two ago I used to live in Chelsea and often drove down the M4 on Friday evenings to spend the weekend in the country. More than once I saw Sir Bob in a Ferrari 308 or possibly a 328. It looked clean to me and he had a grin on his face!
It’s Australian you know
In your story on the BMW 3.0 CSL E9 (Guiding Leicht), Sam Dawson says, ‘A J Van Loon of American magazine Sports Car World christened the car the ‘Bavarian Dino’. SCW was an Australian magazine and A J Van Loon wrote many memorable stories for it. I have a real soft spot for the 3.0CSi E9 coupé. The MD of the cinema company my father worked for bought a silver one new, and part of my university holiday job one year was to wash and polish it in the theatre car park in the Sydney CBD. Just moving it around the car park was a real treat for a car-mad young man! Not so much with the next MD’s preferred transport – a Lincoln Continental MkVI.
Exhaustive detail
The Ferrari 250SWB’s extended exhaust tailpipe trims (The Racer That Didn’t) were branded SNAP (Scarico Negativo Aria Pressione or Exhaust Negative Air Pressure) and were fitted to Ferraris in 1959 and 1960. They were sold in the UK with the sales slogan, ‘Ferrari Fit SNAP and So Should You.’ The concept was one of reducing back pressure in the exhaust system. Concentric tubes included a lozenge-shaped slit in the outer tube wall where air could enter at high speed, causing a vortex at the tip of the exhaust pipe and supposedly sucking engine gases out. I bought one and fitted it to my Mini – but although it looked great, I don’t remember any advantage whatsoever in either performance or fuel consumption. They are still sold at £1500 each (you need four for the restoration), but I guess that this is small beer if you own a 250SWB.