Curtiss Wright 2500 “Bee” Air Car

A whimsical dream or true possible future of the car, well in 1959 Curtiss Wright decided to develop a ground effect vehicle, to you and me a sort of hover craft. There was even interest from the military so much so that two vehicles were built. But unlike the pre-development marketing images the sleek lines were replaced with a rounded off box and it was big, very big 8’ wide and 29’ long and still only had room for two.

Random Picture: 6 Wheeled Jaguar XJS

Not been able to find much out about this 6 wheeled Jaguar but it certainly is unusual so ticks that box for inclusion on here.

Aston Martin Lagonda Series 2

It was a time of the wedge, the 1970’s lead to some of the most iconic cars such as the Lotus Esprite and the Lamborghini Countach. However the wedge sprawled out to luxury car Aston Martin who decided to stretch it and modernise is fleet of elderly cars. The result was to bring take the existing Aston Martin Lagonda, Series1 which was more of an elongated DB5 with a nose job and radically update it for the Series 2.

Stiff Speed Tumbler

Posting on this site means I go looking for website that verge on the odd in terms of cars, however once in a while you come across a site that just blows you away. That’s what happened with Stiff Speed. I was originally looking for pictures of retro cars for another forum that I help administer Retrobeutes, but as I scrolled down I just got intoxicated with it. The fact most of the pictures are scanned in “real” photos with their time honoured fading. They show car scenes such as hot rodding and drag racing with a mixture of choppers thrown in for good measure, through various decades with what was the cutting edge styling and modifying of the time which today just seems nostalgic.

Opel Blitzbus Ludewig "Aero"

It’s amazing where you get inspiration, spotted this vehicle in a model shop that was closing down as a 1/72 kit, its streamlined body with coach style seating but low headroom instantly peaked my interest.

During the 30’s car styling had embraced the streamlined form and Ludwig Brothers, who produced bodies of their own design on to truck chassis from various producers, had particular success with its streamlined Blitz truck for Opel.

Classic and Performance Show, Tatton Park

Well the car show season is well into swing of things and this weekend was the turn of the Classic and Performance Show at Tatton Park. This show is huge with loads of clubs and stalls and autojumble where you could just about buy anything. Like lastyear I was here for the day with my Scirocco on the Retrobeutes stand. Unfortunately due to the forecast weather punters were thin on the ground for the whole day, which did mean I got to have a really good look round at the cars attending the first day of the weekend show.

Toyota EX-2 Concept

1969 was a good year for Toyota and its concept building department, not only did they showcase the EX-1 which lead to the design cues of the original Celica but they also showed this, the EX-2.

Ford Capri Perana V8

The Ford Capri as we all know was Europe’s answer to the Mustang. Despite having aggressive styling and that ever so long bonnet it never really got the engine it deserved or filled it. Granted it did eventually get the awesome 2.8i as well as Ford’s V6. Most enthusiasts believe the Capri was always missing 2 cylinders. However if you were lucky enough to live in South Africa in 1970 then not only could you get those 2 additional cylinders but it was also endorsed by Ford as well. That’s right following the success of a performance/racer version of the Cortina Ford asked Basil Green (owner of Perana) to build them a prototype version of the Capri using its 5ltr V8 out of the before mentioned Mustang before endorsing it for production by Basil.

2013 Scirocco Register National Meet

This day followed the same format as the 4 previous ones I’ve been to (2012, 2011 etc). That means an early start to meet up for the 100 mile convoy down from Manchester via Lymm Services and Stafford Services picking up cars on the way before the main rally point at Telford Services. After meeting up with 30 or so other Scirocco enthusiasts it was time to make the last 5 mile run to RAF Cosford the location of the meet.

Audi 100 Coupe S

With Audi only being early on into its Volkswagen resurrection plans this was released a few years after the 4 door salon version in 1970. With shorter chassis it allowed for some more power from that upfront engine over the saloon and was offered with bored-out 1.9 litre producing 113bhp. The stylish fastback body allowed it to be sold as both a GT car and the sports car in the limited Audi line-up in the 70’s.

VWNW 2013

It’s the first weekend in August which in the northwest of England means its Volkswagen Northwest and the early start to a Sunday morning. I was there for the day as I had arranged the Scirocco Register’s club stand so had plenty of time to take it all in. Well if the rain that was forecast held off.

Like previous years (2012, 2011, etc) there were club areas, concours area, auto jumble, for sale area and general sales for anything from tools and parts to plants and cupcakes.

ATS 2500 GT

This car is the result of disgruntled Ferrari engineers who became disillusioned with the family politics setting up a company, Automobili Turismo e Sport, to build a better car. To prove the point it was built on a space frame chassis, with double wishbone suspension, power brakes, electric windows and was one of the very first mid-engine sports cars.