Mid fifties Austin-Healey 100M in bright red. For a little more on this hot British sportscar, click over to this site.
MGA coupe, of undetermined vintage, lol. At first I thought it was a Twin-Cam coupe, but on second and third viewing, they weren't equipped with wire wheels. I think this is a 1600 coupe, a slightly more powerful version of the original 1500. For more on the MGA click here.
The engine of the black car above. Between the inexpensive digital camera, the very bright sun and who knows what else, the photo has a very blue sheen. I "fixed" if in Photoshop, dulling it back to a black, but as far as a photo goes, it was better blue, so I went back to the original. The alloy cylinder head says "JUDSON" which I believe is an aftermarket supercharger, but I'm not sure. Maybe Nigel can help with these cars! What I CAN say is that I absolutely adore these MGA coupes. The bodystyle is very appealing to me, the very close-coupled roof and roll-up windows making it more "my" type of car than the roadster.
The sole example of the then-popular "Spridget" series, the small convertible marketed as both an Austin Sprite and an MG Midget. This is one of the last of the Midgets before the raised-suspension rubber bumper versions, probably a '71 or '72 model.
The '69 Triumph TR6 wasn't in the show, but rather parked just outside the green. I've always loved this final iteration of the Michelotti TR4/5/250/6 sportscars. The lines were the cleanest to date, and while the US version was very detuned compared with the Euro versions, all of those parts are readily available today to make up for it. For more on the TR6, click here.
An early '60s Triumph TR3A. For more on these classic Brit sportscars click here. I couldn't find it by Googling recently, but I remember a photo of Walter Cronkite in his TR3 appearing in Road & Track I believe. TR3A info here.
These two TR3s were next to each other in the show. Their engines differed in details, but I couldn't exactly say why, lol. I'm hopelessly un-mechanical. I'll say this, you could eat your dinner off either one of them, they were polished and clean beyond belief.
Part 3 next, from an original Mini Clubman to a Zsa-Zsa Corniche.
If I'm not mistaken, the red Austin-Healey looks like the same car from the Tear For Fears video, Everyone Wants To Rule The World.
ReplyDeleteGreat snaps!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNaeR9mZ97o&feature=related
This is a better video:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrPYdZ9-XZ4&feature=related
Judson was a company in PA that made superchargers for imported cars.
ReplyDeleteRoad & Track, May 1958.
http://www.imagebam.com/image/208209100685053
http://www.imagebam.com/image/8ff5d8100685507
http://www.imagebam.com/image/2da1b5100685509
the TR3s, toward the end of the run in the 60s, the TR3B appeared - had the slightly bigger TR4 engine. Maybe the difference...I don't know enough about these cars to say.
Cronkite was a real car guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bySosXZHnfI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCPNM7_ZYrU
Hey Casey. Most of your car posts go so far over my head since I don't even actually have a drivers license...but if I ever do fantasize about being a car person it usually involves convertibles and that red one would fit the bill nicely!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the video, Woody! and thanks for all the information, Anonymous! I'm pretty sure I have a May '58 R&T. and Ish, just enjoying the photos is good enough for me.
ReplyDeleteJust read the R&T you linked to. I wish I had known all that when I saw the car! I had no idea it was supercharged at the time, and probably super rare too.
ReplyDeleteI had a red '70 MGB and I think the MG pictured here is from the 60's, probably late 60's. My brother had a '58 MGA and it looked a lot like the one pictured but not exactly the same. He took it all apart and the pieces rotted in his back yard! A cryin' shame. LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks, Katie. You've had some nice cars, including your current Z3! The black MG is also an MGA which would make it probably late '50s, as they changed the grille a bit for the Mark II in 1960 I believe. According to the following link, the MGB came out in late 62, so the A would be earlier. I'm great at American cars, but European cars didn't always make exterior changes year-to-year for me to memorize!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mgcarclub.com/cny/mgb_history.htm
Someone's got there ahead of me re: Judson superchargers, but yes, it's a really desirable addition to an already nifty little car. Oddly, the only one I've seen over here in the UK with a Judson blower on it was also black, but that was a roadster I found when I broke down in my old Matra Bagheera outside a village garage in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire. It was fresh out of restoration and perhaps needed a little more attention to the blower, which whined and scraped a little more than they're meant to, I think. For that reason I didn't floor it...
ReplyDeleteAre they more common in the US? Seems likely, if the company and the kit originated there.
Thanks, Nigel! I don't know if they're very common over here either. I really wish I had known about it at the show, I would have found the owner and talked about it. I think I would have voted for a rarity like that for Best in Show instead of the flashy white-walled 120.
ReplyDeleteWE HAD A BRAND NEW 1960 AUSTIN HEALY SPRITE.PAID UNDER$2000.00 FOR IT THEN SOLD IT AROUND 1962.WE ALSO HAD 1958 MERCURY AT THE SAME TIME. THE SPRITE WAS THE ONLY CAR I EVER CRIED OVER. GRAMPS CALLED ME A PET NAME AT THE TIME HENRIETTA HOT ROD. HE ALSO USED TO CALL ME BABE. NOW HE JUST DOESN'T CALL ME.
ReplyDeleteGRANNY
you must have been quite dashing in your Sprite! Hohoo's husband, my Uncle Bill, always called her Babe too.
ReplyDeleteFUNNY MY DAD DID TOO. I MISS MY DAD BECAUSE OF THAT SOUND WHEN HE WOULD CALL FOR ME. BABE COME HERE.
ReplyDeleteA TEAR FELL.
GRANNY
G'Night, Granny!
ReplyDelete