Bike Show This Weekend

Well thanks to Andrew Greenwood Classicshows I’ll be attending the The 15th Classic & Modern Japanese & European Motorcycle Show over at the historic Donington Park. If you attending and see me there give me a shout for some free stickers, if you’re not attending then hold fire for a write up and pictures.

 

For more information-

http://www.classicshows.org/donington020214.php

 

Railton F28/F29

Reviving a British marque that had not been produced in 40 years was the plan behind a new company in the 1989 set up by ex Aston Martin designer (he designed the Bulldog) Sir William Towns. They took a Jaguar XJ-S convertible and basically rebodied it in aluminium, taking the aging 70’s styling and giving it a fresh sleek styling with the V12 and 285bhp retained. The idea was to compete with Aston Martin and Bristol in the luxury sports car market.

Dacon 828

Thanks to Jalopnik posting this up in their recent “Theses are 10 unbelievable cars you never knew existed” article, along with a few others that will end upon here, its appeared on a few Facebook pages, but it was the same picture the one of the rear I wanted to see and know more.

Randon Picture: Triumph 4 Door TR7

First off apologies for the quality of the picture, its the only one I could find, but it seems to show a 4 door concept version of the Triumph TR7 and to be honest its doesn't look half bad. Don't forget the TR7 came on the wave of the wedge so this would have been a perfect tool to modernise the Triumph offerings.

If anyone has better pictures or information then please get in touch.

*edit 20/02/14- Looking at the recent thread over on Pistonheads it looks like this is a Photoshop image rather than a concept model. Still I do quiet like it.*

Ferrari F50

Following up to the outstanding F40 wasn’t going to be easy but 10 years later Ferrari gave it ago and unleashed the F50 on the works in 1995. So how do you make the ultimate road racer that has to replace the ultimate road racer? Well take a big dollop of F1 influenced design cues.

FSO Syrene Sport

This is what you get when you give a free hand to some young designers who are told to build a test bed for new applications and upgrades to an existing production car the Syrene. Under that sculpted sporty body was a new four stroke, two cylinder 700cc boxer engine. Unlike the sporty attributes of that fibreglass body the new engine really didn’t give the performance producing only 25bhp, with all that power going through a four speed gearbox.

Random Video: How a differential works 1937

This has to be the best explanation of how the complicated intermals of a defferential actually work, straight from 1937 no flashy animations or overly done pictures just simple principals that explain it perfectly-

Article: What defines a Retro Car?

The age old question that’s been knocking around the internet for years now and one I get asked regularly as an admin on RetrobeutesFacbook Page.  Is the age of a car?  Or in the case of say the 2CV the date it was first produced? Does it a have a defined cut off of 1989?

Saab Paddan (The Toad)

Car companies use test mules, older cars that are retrofitted with future underpinnings so the company can test then without the opposition or public noticing. In 1965 Saab decided to replace the now dated 96 with a new modern car. As part of this development programme the Toads, as they became known, were built, four in total.

Zingers

Back in the early 70’s you could buy these supped up monster engined model cars. What self-respecting young developing petrolhead could resist them with those huge wheels and crazy styling? Well to go along with the promotion of these models the manufacturer built some scaled up versions, well the engine was full size that the cars shrank around it. Who knows if they actually ran or where you could sit, or how that would handle they just look damn cool to me. Just imagine seeing them all lined up at car and drag racing shows, just awesome.

Chromeography: Review

If there’s one aspect of car shows that I really get enjoyment out of, apart from spotting a rare underappreciated vehicle, it’s looking at all the details. This inevitably means looking at an abundance of chrome, a subject I’ll be covering in an article later this year. This website though however caught my eye “Chromeography” looking primarily at chrome formed text where ever you may find it, there is therefore there is a vast array of car badges from the golden ages of car production.

Random Video- The 1967 London Motor Show

While looking for information on the Jaguar Pirana I came across this news reel of the 1967 London Motor Show, it’s from a completely different time describing the show as "this is the year when women will have the saw in what goes" before going on to described that as being able to drive their drunk husbands home from the pub. There are though some great looking cars with such features as "fuel injection", "steering headlights" and small electric city cars, all very modern.

Lamborghini Sogna

Taking a Lamborghini Countach as a base vehicle and then crafting a flowing curvy body out of aluminum to create a supercar dreamt up by a 13 year old boy, it not something that major manufacturers do. It was also the case with this one built by Japanese company Art &Tech independently from Lamborghini, it was debuted at the 1991 Geneva Motor Show.