Vintage Stony

from Classic and Competition Car 137 February 2022

by Simon Wright

Book Review - The Pom

1960’s Chevrolet Biscayne Vintage Stony, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, 1st January 2022. By Simon & Janet Wright.

1934 Aston Martin Mk II

© Simon Wright

A cloudy, cold and showery New Years day saw crowds of enthusiasts descend on Stony Stratford for the return of the annual Vintage Stony car display. Taking over the whole of the town centre, the turnout this year was just as good as previous years, before last years enforced layoff

1928 Bentley 6.1/2 litre. Vintage Sunbeam

© Janet Wright

due to the pandemic. As usual, the market square and surrounding area was given over to vintage vehicles and motorcycles, while the high street and shopper car parks were filled with classic and modern vehicles of interest. You need to arrive early to show your vehicle as the town rapidly fills up and the approach road is soon filled with classic cars that might be the star at any other show. I think we might have had a first at this years show, as there was

a single seater racing car on display, on its trailer. American Ed McDonough, a leading motorsport journalist, had his Formula Ford Dulon on display. This is the car that Ed

uses to compete in hill climb events around the UK. As a racing car, and something a little different, it always attracted lots of interest. I don’t recall having seen a modern single seater racing car before at Vintage Stony. Another stand out car in the high street was a 1977 British Leyland, Broadspeed, Group 2 racing Jaguar XJ12C two door coupe Originally developed by Broadspeed for the European Touring Car Championship, it is powered by a 5.3 litre V12 engine which produced 600 bhp. Due to the large size of the car, the problem was stopping, not going. Lockheed produced some bespoke eight piston callipers for the front brakes and four pot for the rear brakes to slow the 1.5 ton saloon. In 1976, the four door saloon two car team cars were driven by Derek Bell & David Hobbs and Andy Rouse & Steve Thompson in the RAC Tourist Trophy at Silverstone, where the car was fast, claiming pole position and setting fastest lap before retiring on lap thirty nine. In 1977 the lighter two door lightweight coupe, seen here, competing against the BMW 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’. The new

cars were driven by Derek Bell & Andy Rouse and John Fitzpatrick and Tim Schenken. The cars were fast , with

Fitzpatrick & Schenken getting pole position at Monza, and the Nurburgring Nordschleife, while Bell & Rouse taking pole at the Salzburgring, Brno and Silverstone. The Fitzpatrick & Schenken Jaguar also set the fastest lap in the races at Salzburgring, Brno, and the Nurburgring. The best result achieved was 2nd by Bell & Rouse at the Nurburgring Nordschleife and 4th at Silverstone. Fitzpatrick & Schenken got 3rd in class, 16th overall at Brno. Unfortunately, the rest of the results were DNFs as the cars proved to be generally unreliable.

© Simon Wright

© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

A unique car at Stony was this Morris Sports Special ‘Sabrina’ built on a 1972 Morris chassis, fitted with a 1200cc engine. The car was hand built in Malvern and got it’s name from an illegitimate 12th Century Princess who drowned in the nearby river Severn. Construction started in 1993 and took 3 years to build. Using parts from an MOT failure Mini, the original engine was a 998cc A series engine, which was later replaced with a Metro 1275cc A Series engine and 4 speed gearbox. The front suspension is from the Mini and the rear suspension is a leaf spring system from a Morris Marina van. Many of the body panels originally came from a Morris Traveller or Morris Minor. The bonnet is from a Morris Minor, side panels are Morris Minor wings and the front mudguards are Morris Traveller rear wings. A lot of the ‘chrome’ parts have been hand made from Stainless steel, except the radiator cap, which came from a Lagonda. Even the steering wheel has been hand built using African Walnut. Another unusual car was the 1950 Vauxhall Velox Caleche L. The Caleche model was constructed in Australia between 1948 and 1952. Caleche is French for open carriage. The chassis was manufactured by Vauxhall at Luton and then exported to GM Holden in Adelaide, Australia, where the open top body was fitted. There were two models produced, a Wyvern and a Velox. The Wyvern had a 4 cylinder 1442cc engine, while the Velox had the more sporty 6 cylinder

2275cc engine. The 2275cc engine, when tested in 1951, had a top speed of 77 mph and could accelerate from 0-60 mph in 23.7 seconds. The lighter body of the Caleche no doubt improved on these performance figures. In December 1952 the model was rebranded as the Vagabond. This particular car has been restored over a 10 year period from 1998 and imported to the UK in 2010 as a Historic Vehicle. It then obtained an MOT certificate and a letter from the Vauxhall Owners Club in both the UK and Australia as to its originality, as there was no documentation to support when Vauxhall Liston manufactured the chassis or when Holden fitted the body. Using engine and chassis numbers, they were able to confirm a 1951 date of manufacture.

© Simon Wright

Third generation Chevrolet Corvette C3

© Simon Wright

© Janet Wright Above 1959 Cadillac Sedan DeVill. Below 1972 Dodge Challenger.

Big, flash and powerful American cars are always popular in the UK. There were quite a few out on New Years Day. Everything from the iconic ‘Pink Cadillac’ , a 1959 Series 6300 Cadillac DeVille, with huge rear fins and bullet tail lights, through to the sleek Chevrolet Covette. The 1972 7.2 litre Dodge Challenger (left) was produced between 1970 and 1974 as a challenger to the Pontiac Firebird and Ford Mustang. It was available with a range of engines from 3.2 litre straight 6 to a 7.2 litre V8 and either a 3 or 4 speed manual or 3 speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

© Janet Wright

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air

The original Hillman Minx saloon was first announced in October 1931. The Hillman Motor Company was founded in 1907 by William Hillman at Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Coventry. The Aero Minx was the sporty two seater convertible version. Powered by an 1185cc four cylinder side valve engine, with aluminium cylinder head and downdraft Stromberg carburettor, which produced around 30 bhp. Front engine driving the rear wheels through a 4-speed manual gearbox. It had a lower chassis than the previous 1933 model, with an underslung rear. It had a live, Beam rear axle, with half elliptic leaf springs with a beam axle front suspension. Drum brakes all round. Maximum speed was 59 mph with typical fuel consumption of around 35 mpg. The model was discontinued in 1935.

© Simon Wright

Looking a little out of place in the vintage Market Square was the 1941 Buick Super 8 Coupe. Date wise it fitted in, but design wise it looked like it was from another planet. The Buick Super was produced between 1940 and 1958. It was designed for passenger comfort instead of performance, using a smaller engine than the Buick Special. The 1941 engine was upgraded to 4.1 litre Fireball straight 8 cylinder engine, which produced 125 hp, thanks to a higher compression ratio, redesigned Turbulator pistons and smaller spark plugs. It also introduced the ‘Compound Carburetion system, the forerunner to the modern four barrel carburettor, with a twin two-barrel construction.This car featured the Sedanet fastback rear style, wider and lower body.

© Janet Wright

© Janet Wright

1950 Healey Nash Healey Prototype.

More at home in Europe, this Healey prototype (X5) was originally built for the Le Mans 24 Hours race, using a modified Nash Dual Jetfire inline 6 cylinder engine, which produced 126 bhp. Thanks to the aerodynamic body design, the car was able to reach 124 mph. The car was driven by Duncan Hamilton & Tony Rolt and despite an off after being hit by another car, they finished 4th overall. For the 1951 Le Mans race, the prototype was fitted with a coupe body and the pair finished 6th overall. The coupe body was then removed and the car was entered for the 1952 Mille Miglia, with a larger 4.1 litre engine. Leslie Johnson & Bill McKenzie finished 7th overall and 4th in class. Here it was shown having competed in the 2020 1000 Miglia driven by Warren Kennedy & Michael Strasser. They finished 249th out of 292 finishers. 1965 Autobianchi Bianchina (Quatro Posti) Berlina. Autobianchi was an Italian car manufacturer, founded in 1955 by Bianchi, Pirelli and Fiat. A low volume manufacturer used by Fiat to test innovative concepts which would later find their way in to main stream Fiat models, Some of these concepts included fibreglass bodies and Front Wheel Drive (FWD) The cars fetched a premium price over similar sizes Fiat cars. The company was alter absorbed into Lancia.

The Bianchina was the first model produced by the company in 1957 and based on Fiat 500 mechanicals. These included the two cylinder air cooled 500cc engine, mounted in the rear and producing 18 bhp. In total, only around 275,000 were built up to 1970.

© Simon Wright

Berkeley B65 Magnificent Mercedes Benz W23 130 1957 Chevrolet 3100 Pickup

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright 1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal 1968 Sunbeam Stiletto

© Janet Wright © Simon Wright 1973 Datsun 240Z

This is a new Austin Special, built single handed by Andrew Shepherd over the winter of 2017/2018. Based on a low frame Austin Ruby, with the engine and many mechanical components from that car. The body design is unique, in the style of a World War 2 aircraft. Even the instruments were sourced from period air ministry stock. The 3 bearing engine has been completely rebuilt after the original car had stood under a tree for 55 years, filled with water. The 4-Speed gearbox and clutch just required a complete overhaul. The exhaust, Brooklands Silencer and fishtail were hand bent, formed and welded. The rear lights are aircraft navigation lights with a bulb conversion. The frame is ply with oak stringers covered in doped calico.

1935 Ford Model 48. This American model Ford V8 saloon was introduced in 1935 and replaced the Ford Model A engine with the 3.6 litre Flathead V8 engine connected to a 3-speed sliding-mesh manual gearbox. The body was lowered and the front springs were relocated ahead of the axle to give more interior space. The rear transverse leaf spring suspension remained from the previous Ford Model 40A. The body was a more modern Art Deco design, with the front grille moved forward, with a more integrated bumper. It was offered in two trim levels, Standard and DeLuxe. An interesting optional extra offered was a second windscreen wiper - not fitted on this vehicle. This particular car has been modified under the skin, with the original engine replaced by a 5.7 litre Chevrolet V8 engine

© Simon Wright

1934 BSA Ten saloon. The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) originally manufactured small firearms in 1861. In 1880, the company branched out to build bicycles. In 1910 they added motorbike production, for which the company is most famous. They also produced a prototype automobile in 1907 and sold 150 the following year. The car side was unsuccessful due to poor management and in 1910 BSA bought Daimler. The BSA Ten was manufactured by Daimler as a cheaper version of the Lanchester Ten. It was powered by a 4 cylinder 1185cc side valve engine connected to a Daimler fluid flywheel and Wilson 4-Speed preselection selfchanging gearbox. It produced 28 bhp and had a maximum speed of 57 mph.