Just A Mix Of Pics - Ray Green Collection

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Nigel Watts pics have been moved over to his own thread, which is a better platform.

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Back to 1937 - Dad's of course...

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This may well be 1936 and I have no idea what make of car. However, the photograph brings back many memories, despite the fact it was taken 10 years before I was even born! (Note the cost per gallon of petrol...)

My dad used to help out at the garage on the pumps and it is where he first met my mum, when she needed the tyres pumping up on her pushbike. All together - "Aaah!" I think it is the proprietor (Jack Horde) holding the pump.

Our family home (that dad eventually bought/inherited), was literally 2 houses to the right of those in the background and the garage was therefore visible from our front gate.

It was later taken over by Roy Sharpe, who later built up a fleet of mainly very ancient buses for the school runs to the far side of town. Mum and her sister were part timers on those morning and afternoon school runs. Tough in winter as the pea souper fogs often meant walking in front of the bus trying to find the white lines on the road. More than once, we had to hop off our bus to lighten the weight, as it struggled up a particularly steep hill, when the driver's double declutch down into first gear was too slow!

The garage later became "Speeds", the local Volvo agents and now it is a block of apartments.

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1938 Robin Hanson

1963 International Trophy again - not sure if I had already posted the Hill pic.

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Back to the Roycroft 2015. They had run out of programmes when I went for one, so if anyone has a spare, I'd be pleased to take it off their hands.

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Legends Meeting again 2015.

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Dad's again. Flitting between the ages, as the very modern ones are often on the lap top - which I use at night, before transferring them to the PC, whereas the scanner and the bulk of the pics are of course on the PC.

The stewards of today would have a fit pointing out the obvious hazards here... Starkey's bridge (in the background) was retained when Tom Wheatcroft rebuilt the track, but the track now runs to the right of it, rather than through it.

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British GP at Silverstone - 1948 - Villoresi - though I have had conflicting information about the identification... Number 18 was certainly logged as Villoresi - who won.

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[Terry S]

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7 litre Skoda anyone? As mentioned before, the UK special saloons rules insisted on engine and gearbox in the original location and Skoda's proved an ideal base.
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I known nothing about these Skodas as they weren't sold in Australia.
Are you saying that the engine was in front of the gearbox at the rear of the car? If so they would be eligible for Aust. Sports Sedans regulations?

[Oldfart]

Terry, I am guessing that if the Corvair was allowed as it originally had the motor out back like a VW then a Skoda with the same layout would also have been eligible, just guessing though.

[Jac Mac]

Remember reading of these cars in old Cars and Car Conversions, Im sure the Skoda and VW of Mick Hill & others had the engine mid mounted with gearbox out the rear which of course is back to front from original installations. Both these pics suggest that the wheelbase was lengthened to match this configuration.
Our OSCA & initial Sport Sedan Rules were not so free, I tried to do the same with my Imp for OSCA which was a no no, believe Bill Leckies Imp did a couple of meetings with mid mounted setup before the rules police made him switch it around, he then confounded everyone by going just as fast with the big pendulum hanging out the rear!

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Didn't know about Mick Hill's passing, when Googling for the Super Saloon rules. Hugely popular driver especially around Derbyshire and the East Midlands:

FORMER racing driver Mick Hill, who has died at the age of 70, completed one last lap of the Donington Park circuit where he won many races in the 1970s.

The hearse carrying his coffin made a lap of the track on the way to his funeral at Markeaton Crematorium yesterday.

Mr Hill, who died on November 19 (2014) after a long illness, was a stalwart of the national Super Saloons racing scene in the early 1970s, building and driving some memorable cars of the period.

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These included the J'Anglia, which was a Jaguar-engined Ford Anglia, a five-litre VW Beetle Super Saloon, under whose shaped skin was a Chevrolet, and the Ford Boss Capri V8.

He recorded a total of 96 overall race wins, securing seven championships along the way in a career that stretched more than 21 years.

A former telephone engineer from Long Eaton, Mr Hill was ranked first in the 1971 Autosport National Survey of Race Results with 33 overall wins, in a year that included winning the Triplex Saloon Car Championship

In 2009, Mr Hill was reunited with one of his old cars at a race meeting at Goodwood. He was in tears when he was reunited with the Chevrolet-powered Volkswagen Beetle he raced more than 30 years before.

The car was making its first public appearance following an 18-month rebuild. And an invitation to race at the prestigious three-day Festival of Speed, attended by the world's top drivers and cars, saw Mr Hill and the Beetle reunited.

Mr Hill, who had lived in Spondon and Swarkestone, also recorded 20 overall wins in 1972, which allowed him to become National Hepolite and Glacier Saloon Car Champion.

The following year he was crowned KMS Silverstone Driver of the Year, beating James Hunt and Jackie Stewart, and Esso Uniflo Special Saloon Car Champion with 18 overall wins.

His 10 overall wins in 1974 allowed him to win the Super Saloon Championship and the Forward Thrust Saloon Car Championship. Mr Hill was also a member of the British Racing Drivers Club from 2000.

Christopher Tate, Donington Park managing director, said: "The team was glad to be able to honour Mick today on his last lap of the Donington track.

"He had always been a strong competitor in every race he competed in and was a well-known figure locally and in the world of motor sport. We wish his family well and send our condolences."

[Oldfart]

Jac, the rear wheel seems further back, but the windows look very much the same size as original, but the front wheel has been moved back some too. Where the trim strip is, there is over 100mm on a "standard" car, so perhaps the wheelbase isn't that much more? For what it's worth a Skoda Coupe has a 2400mm wheelbase.

[Terry S]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28612[/ATTACH]Remember reading of these cars in old Cars and Car Conversions, Im sure the Skoda and VW of Mick Hill & others had the engine mid mounted with gearbox out the rear which of course is back to front from original installations. Both these pics suggest that the wheelbase was lengthened to match this configuration.
Our OSCA & initial Sport Sedan Rules were not so free, I tried to do the same with my Imp for OSCA which was a no no, believe Bill Leckies Imp did a couple of meetings with mid mounted setup before the rules police made him switch it around, he then confounded everyone by going just as fast with the big pendulum hanging out the rear!

So the road going Skoda had the engine out back behind the gearbox. Then for racing it was put in front of the gearbox.
So it would have been illegal when the regulations changed , just as the Gardner corsair and the Thomson VW.

[Jac Mac]

So the road going Skoda had the engine out back behind the gearbox. Then for racing it was put in front of the gearbox.
So it would have been illegal when the regulations changed , just as the Gardner corsair and the Thomson VW.

[color="#0000FF"]Correct, what you really needed was a 4 seater GT40 or Chapparal . Actually with hindsight the little Volvo, Pontiac Tempest, Porsche 924 etc with transaxle at rear, engine in front would have been ideal candidates for those series. [/color]

[Grant Sprague]

These cars remind me of the Davrin [Davron]..... not sure the correct name , but when I was going to club meetings in UK these cars I had never seen b 4 but were very fast compared to what we use to see race in Kiwi land in the mid 70,s

[Grant Ellwood]

Back in the '90s I had a rear engined Renault Alpine GTA, I was pleasantly shocked by how well it handled with the big iron V6 hanging out the back of the trans.

[Oldfart]

Grant, the Douvrin V6 (used by Volvo, Renault, Peugeot and de Lorean) is an alloy block, but yes still hanging out the back

[Grant Sprague]

Are that's what it was .and seemed quick in its day ...... Thanks Old Buddy

[Grant Sprague]

Talking of the rear engine set up , I [long time ago] bought the prototype Saker tull... rear engine ford v6 had audi transaxle I managed to strip the cam wheel soon after I bought it off Bruce thought it might have had the alloy wheel but to my surprise not to be , the car is on Sprague family photos.....

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Went on a 'lad's day out' today to the car museum at Hamilton. A 1950's cafe and an exceptionally well presented display of cars, motorbikes, lots of oil company memorabilia (including a massive number of tanker models) and other models.

The ground floor is mainly American cars and the mezzanine upstairs, mainly European.

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Not sure about the colours here, but I acquired a part dismantled Singer Bantam from VCC member Kevin Andrew some years ago, but sold it on to someone in Waiheke - untouched.

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The Auburn is a replica.

Oversized carb here!

I wonder how many knew there was another Lycoming Special? Not being a Kiwi, I didn't!

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[Oldfart]

Ray, that's the Lycoming which was at Roycroft and I drove it both days, just as you have photographed it. (But with the bonnet on)