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| GREAT BRITAIN |
| A COLLAGE OF 30'S CLASSIC BRITISH SPORTS CARS |
| A 1939 JAGUAR 3 1/2 LITRE SS |
| A 1934 4 1/2 LITRE INVICTA |
| A 1933 LAGONDA |
| A 1927 3 1/2 LITRE BENTLEY |
| A COLLAGE OF 1950/60'S BRITISH SPORTS CARS |
| 1962 4.2 LITRE DROP HEAD 'E' TYPE JAGUAR |
| 1953 FIXED TOP JAGUAR 120 |
| 1953 FRAZER NASH |
| AUSTIN HEALEY 3000 |
| 1956 AC OPEN SPORTS |
| ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT |
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| First production sports car to cover 100miles in one hour |
| THE HISTORY OF BENTLEY
W.O. Bentley began his "automotive" career as a railroad engineering apprentice at the turn of the century and immediately got into racing via the motorcycle circuit, a common practice among young Brits before World War I. Bentley gravitated through an aviation engineering stint during that war and at its end, became determined to form an auto manufacturing company of his own. Bentley Motors, Ltd. was formed in 1919 with very little capital on hand, a plight that was to plague the company for the next decade. Being a racer at heart, Bentley's first products were high- performance open cars that immediately established themselves as winners in the hectic world of European racing between the wars. Bentley cars won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times from 1923 until the demise of the company in 1931. Actually "demise" isn't the correct word. W.O. Bentley had realized early on that there was a limited market for "sporting" and race cars, and to succeed, his company would have to make bread-and-butter vehicles that would pay the bills. To this end, his London-based company built rolling chassis that were fitted with very fancy coachwork bodies for wealthy clients. The last of the line was powered by a huge 8.0-liter six-cylinder engine. Besides the inevitable open sports car bodies, it was also fitted up with limousine, touring car and coupe bodies. Bentley had become a major competitor for Rolls-Royce and other British luxury car builders. But the big Bentley couldn't have come at a worse time. The Great Depression was on and the privately-funded Bentley Motors, Ltd. was broke. Although Bentley himself was preparing a deal to sell the company to another firm, the deal was skated out from under him by Rolls-Royce in 1931. Although it was reported to have stuck in Bentley's craw, he became an R-R employee for a while. This began the era of the so-called Rolls-Bentley, cars that were more "sporting" than their R-R stable-mates but by no means the Le Mans winners of the previous decade. In the decade before World War II, the Bentley line became, in effect, the hot-rod Rolls-Royce. The Bentley chassis of that era started off life in the late '20s as a smaller Rolls that was originally conceived as a car for the up-and-coming executive. Aborting this concept as The Depression deepened, the company installed a slightly hopped-up 3.5-liter R-R engine and had more "sporting" body work installed. In this guise , it was quite successful and it quickly acquired the quasi-official title of "The Silent Sports Car." World War II devastated the British industrial complex and Rolls-Royce suffered too. The post-war Bentley Mark VI became literally a Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn with a different grill. In 1952, the R-R hot-rod concept was resurrected in the form of the R-type and in particular, the R-type Continental, a high-speed coupe designed for touring in Europe. In the years that followed, this program was expanded upon and included a turbocharged V8 that provided top speeds of 150 MPH and 7-second 0-to-60 MPH acceleration times. The turbulent financial times of the '60s culminated with the company becoming part of the Vickers conglomerate which in turn recently sold the Rolls-Royce name to BMW and the Bentley name, factory and assets to Volkswagen. The resulting conflict between the two German giants has lead not only to massive law suits but corporate animosity between the two. To its credit, the leaders of VW have resurrected the Bentley motor sports tradition in general and its return to Le Mans in particular. This, of course, pleases British auto enthusiasts immensely and helps to mollify the fact that a British automotive icon is owned by a German company. But W.O. Bentley would be even more pleased that "his" company was finally wrestled away from Roll-Royce. |
| THE HISTORY OF ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS
Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce came from very different backgrounds, they had very different educations and, until shortly before they met, their careers were going in very different directions. Yet, in 1904, they joined forces to build and sell motor cars. And, just two years later, the partnership had produced the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost: a car acclaimed as the best in the world. This is the story of those two remarkable men, of the cars they and their successors built and of the range of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars today. Royce was the son of an impoverished miller from Alwalton near Peterborough and he had, by any standards, a difficult start in life. He began work at the age of ten, selling newspapers for WH Smith. Soon he left that to find his first real job working as an apprentice at the Great Northern Railway works in Peterborough. It was while he was there that he learnt most of the basics of engineering, and it is also obvious that even at that age Royce was determined to do well. Three years later, in 1880, he moved to a firm of machine tool makers in Leeds where he worked a 54 hour week for just 11 shillings (55p). His next move was to London where his self taught knowledge of electricity enabled him to get a job with one of the pioneer electric light companies. All this, of course, was quite an achievement for someone who had started almost literally with nothing. But the real turning point in Royce's career was yet to come. That happened in 1903 when Royce bought himself a second hand French Decauville car for the journey between his home and the factory. The car, he found, was difficult to start, it overheated with depressing regularity, it vibrated, it was unreliable and the ignition system was hopelessly inefficient. (This may be the point, which annoyed Royce the most. He was, after all, quite an expert in electricity in his own right). Royce eventually became so disillusioned with the car that he decided, in characteristic style, that he could do better himself. And, just a few days later, he announced to his colleagues that he was going to build three 2-cylinder motor cars of his own design. The first of these, designed and built almost completely by Royce himself, rolled out of the factory gates in the spring of 1904. The first car was a success in almost every way: it started easily, ran smoothly and quickly and was very reliable, something which never failed to impress everyone who saw or rode in the car. 10HP Rolls-Royce At about the same time, Charles Rolls was also in business for himself (like Royce, very successful). But achieving this had been rather less of a struggle for Rolls than it was for his future partner. Rolls was born into the aristocracy, being the third son of Lord and Lady Llangattock. The landed gentry, of course, were never expected to work in those days and Rolls, like most young men in similar families, was groomed for a life of ease and luxury. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge University where his natural flair for engineering work enabled him to gain a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Sciences. It was while he was still at Cambridge that he began to take an interest in the fledgling motor industry. He went to France with his father and on his return bought himself a 3 3/4 hp Peugeot, a car which soon made a name for itself with Rolls at the wheel. It was the first car ever seen at Cambridge and when he drove it to the family home at Monmouth, the journey took him two days including many hours spent working on the car at the roadside to keep it going. By the time Rolls left Cambridge University, he was probably the most skilful driver in the country. And he proved his skill by winning the first 1000 mile (1600km) reliability trial promoted by Sir Alfred Harmsworth so convincingly that a special gold medal was struck in his honour. Meanwhile in 1902, Rolls had gone into business for himself selling motor cars and the firm, known as CS Rolls and Co, quickly became a leading motor car distributor. A few months after its formation, Rolls persuaded Claude Johnson to join the firm as a partner. Johnson had built up a reputation as a brilliant organizer of motoring events and was the first secretary of what is now the RAC. Often known as the 'hyphen' in Rolls-Royce, he was responsible for much of the growth of the Rolls-Royce Company, especially after Rolls' death in 1910 and Royce's breakdown shortly afterwards. Rolls, however, still had two major ambitions. First, he wanted his name to be associated with cars in the same way as Chubb's was with safes and Steinway's with pianos. And, secondly, he wanted to find a British car as good as or preferably better than the foreign cars he was then selling. But he very nearly missed his chance to achieve both these aims at once because when Henry Edmunds, a shareholder in Royce Ltd, told Rolls about Henry Royce's new 2 cylinder car, Rolls assumed that it would be a noisy and inefficient as all the other 2 cylinder cars on the road. He was, of course, wrong, and Henry Edmunds persuaded Rolls to make the trip up to Manchester to see the car. Rolls, Edmunds and Royce met at the Midland Hotel in Manchester and the meeting was an immediate success. Rolls tried the car and became a wholehearted enthusiast and he said afterwards that Royce 'was the man I have been looking for years'. An agreement was quickly reached giving Rolls exclusive sales rights for the cars Royce could produce and the two men really got down to work. A 10 HP car, a 10 HP chassis and engine, a 15 HP chassis, a 20 HP car and a 30 HP 6-cylinder engine were all exhibited at the Paris Salon in early December 1904. And then, on December 23rd, a contract between the two companies was signed, including a clause stipulating that all the cars should be called 'Rolls-Royce'. The company which would soon be building the best cars in the world was in business. Unfortunately, Rolls was only to enjoy the success of the company, which bore his name for a few more years because on 12 July 1910 he tragically met his death in a flying accident at Bournemouth. In contrast, Royce was to spend many more years at the head of the company stamping his unique personality on Rolls-Royce motor cars right up to his death on 22 April 1933. (Phantom II, 1929-1935) MILESTONES. Since the day in 1904 when Henry Royce's first car left the factory, more than forty different models have been built by the company. Included amongst these are the various Bentleys produced since the acquisition of Bentley Motors by Rolls-Royce in 1931. From 1904 to 1939, the company produced chassis only and it was left to specialist coachbuilders to construct coachwork to the individual requirements of the customers. After the Second World War, it was decided to produce a complete car with Rolls-Royce becoming responsible for the coachwork of the newly introduced standard steel saloon. To do this required more extensive factory space for paint shop and assembly areas and so in 1946 motor car production was moved from Derby to a new factory at Crewe where aero engines had been built throughout the war. The first car to be built completely by Rolls-Royce at Crewe was a Bentley Mk VI, not a Rolls-Royce. The Mulliner Park Ward Division of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars maintains the traditional crafts and skills of English coachbuilding. 40/50 HP SILVER GHOST, 1907-1925. The 40/50 hp which Royce himself considered to be the best car he had ever made, was the first Rolls-Royce to be known as the "best car in the world". An extract of the first reference to the 40/50 HP in the Autocar dated 20 April 1907 reads "the motor beneath the bonnet might be a silent sewing machine... there is no realization of driving propulsion; the feeling as the passenger sits either at the front or back of the vehicle is one of being wafted through the landscape". But silence, reliability and quality were not the only things to impress the press and public alike in that year. Soon after covering 2,000 miles (3218km) in the Scottish Reliability Trial the same car covered 14,371 miles (23,210km) without a single involuntary stop, beating the existing long distance record of 7,089 miles (11,140km). 1913 saw further success for the Silver Ghost when four cars were entered in the Austrian Alpine Trials and took virtually every prize awarded. During the First World War Rolls-Royce, motor cars were commissioned as ambulances, staff cars and armoured cars. Later armoured cars earned fame under the legendary Lawrence of Arabia. Even with heavily armoured bodies weighing up to 4 tons, they still managed 50 mph (80km/h). The car actually received its name from a 40/50 HP, which Claude Johnson had built for himself. He took the twelfth chassis built and fitted it with a 4/5 seat touring body which was finished in aluminium paint and adorned with silver plated lamps and fittings. A handsome silver plated brass plaque mounted on the car bore the name "The Silver Ghost". This car is still owned by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and is in perfect running order after over 500,000 miles (800,000km). The Silver Ghost was in production until 1925 and 7,870 were built. 1,700 of these were produced in Springfield, America where a factory had been established in 1921. Production in the USA ceased in 1931 because American customers preferred to buy Rolls-Royce motor cars built in Britain. The Silver Ghost has now been completely refurbished and in 1990 successfully completed a charity run from John O'Groats to Lands End. All funds donated during the trip were for the NSPCC in England and Wales and the RSSPCC in Scotland. Of course, the Rolls-Royce story is never ending. A company continuously striving to improve on perfection. From the beginning, and forever, the best motor cars in the world. Today RR is owned by Volkeswagen and is produced at a purpose built factory at Goodwood, Hampshire. |
| BENTLEY |
| THE 8 LITRE BENTLEY |
| ROLLS-ROYCE |
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| 1921 SILVER GHOST |
| ASTON MARTIN |
| History
Foundation Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London. Martin raced specials at the Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. They acquired premises at Henniker Place in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of World War 1 and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aircraft Company. Inter war years After the war hiatus, the company was re-founded at Abingdon Road, Kensington and a new car designed which would carry the Aston-Martin name. Bamford left in 1920 and the company was revitalised with funding from Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, and the cars set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. The company went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Lady Charnwood who put her son John Benson on the board. The company failed again in 1925 and the factory closed in 1926 with Lionel Martin leaving. Later that year, a number of rich investors, including Lady Charnwood, took control of the company and renamed it Aston Martin Motors, and moved the firm to the former Citroen plant in Feltham. John Benson brought in Augusto Bertelli as designer. The 1929 Aston Martin International was another successful racer and was followed by the Le Mans and the Ulster. Financial problems reappeared in 1932 and the company was rescued by L Prideaux Brune who funded it for the following year before passing the company on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, the company decided to concentrate on road cars. Car production had always been on a small scale and from the company's founding until the advent of World War II halted work only about 700 had been made. During the war years aircraft components were made. The David Brown era In 1947, David Brown Limited bought the company under the leadership of managing director Sir David Brown — its "post-war saviour". David Brown also acquired Lagonda that year, and both companies shared resources and workshops. In 1955, David Brown bought the Tickford coach-building company and its site at Tickford Street in Newport Pagnell, and that was the beginning of the classic series of cars bearing the initials 'DB'. In 1950, the company announced the DB2, followed by the racing DB3 in 1957 and the Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958. All the cars established a good racing pedigree for the firm, but the DB4 was the key to establishing the company's reputation—which was cemented with the famous DB5 in 1963. The company continued developing the "grand touring" style with the DB6 (1965–70), the DBS, and the DBS V8 (1967–72). Changing ownership Despite the cars' appreciation in value, the company was often financially troubled. In 1972, it was sold to a Birmingham-based consortium, and resold in 1975 to the North American businessmen Peter Sprague and George Minden. The new American owners pushed the company into modernizing its line, producing the V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible Volante in 1978, and the one-off William Towns-styled Bulldog in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on the existing V8 model. The Americans sold the company to CH Industrial, who themselves turned the company over in 1983 to Automotive Investments who, in turn, lasted barely a year before selling the company to Peter Livanos and company chairman Victor Gauntlett. In 1986, the Ford Motor Company purchased 75 per cent of the company, later gaining complete control of the company. In 1988, having produced some 5,000 cars in twenty years, the company finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range. In 1992, the Vantage version was announced, and the following year the company renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7. The Ford era In 1993, Ford finally bought Victor Gauntlett's shares and took full control of the firm, placing it in the Ford Premier Automotive Group. Ford substantially invested in new manufacturing and quickly ramped-up production. In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham. In 1995, the company produced a record 700 vehicles, in 1998 the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002 the 6,000th — exceeding production of all previous DB models. The DB7 range was boosted by the addition of V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001 the company introduced the V12-engine Vanquish. 2003 was a significant year for Aston Martin. At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., Aston Martin introduced the new AMV8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the new AMV8 Vantage brings back the classic V8 engine and will allow the company to compete in a larger market. The year also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history. Also introduced in 2003, was the new DB9 coupé, which replaces the ten-year-old DB7. A convertible version of the DB9, known as the DB9 Volante, was introduced at the 2004 Detroit Auto Show. In December 2003, Aston Martin announced they would return to motor racing in 2005. A new division was created, called Aston Martin Racing, who will be responsible, together with Prodrive, for the design, development, and management of the DBR9 program. The DBR9 will compete in the GT class in sports car races including the world-famous 24 hours of Le Mans. |
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| ASTON MARTIN V8 VANTAGE |
| ASTON DBR9 |
| HISTORY of McLAREN The original McLaren F1 was started in 1991 and 64 cars were made. The LM model was introduced in 1993 with 5 cars built. The GT model had 3 cars. Finally, in 1995, the GTR was introduced, and over the next 3 years, 28 cars were built. Unfortunately, production stopped in May 1998 after only 100 cars were built. The BMW powered, British-built F1 from McLaren International, Ltd, is arguably the fastest and most expensive production car ever made. The McLaren is powered by a BMW 6.1 Liter V12 engine producing 627 hp with a 0-60 mph time of 3.1 seconds and a top speed of 230-240 mph. The specially commissioned BMW engine allows the driver to be centrally situated in the cockpit, affording a more equal weight distribution. With it's 627 normally aspirated horses pouring through a bespoke six-speed transaxle gearbox, the ultra-light F1 leaps from 0 to 60 mph in a matter of a few scant seconds. The McLaren F1 holds several records, including the highest top speed (240.1 mph) and the fastest lap speed on a UK circuit (195.3 mph). In 1995, McLaren debuted the F1 GTR at the Le Mans endurance race. The McLaren took first place, taking its place in history as doing so on it's first race. In addition to taking the checkered flag, the F1 GTR also took 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 13th places in that race. To celebrate this extraordinary achievement, McLaren produced five F1 LMs, one for each of the F1 GTRs that finished the 1995 Le Mans race, with the goal being that the LM was a 1995 F1 GTR modified as little as possible to make it a street legal supercar. Consequently the F1 LM sported a more powerful 680 bhp V12, and now owns the 0-100-0 mph world record for a production car by ripping in a gut wrenching 11.5 seconds while travelling a distance of only 828.4 feet! The final version of the F1 production car was the F1 GT. It was designed to attain downforce equal to that of the LM, but to do so with lower drag. Thus, the front bodywork was extended and the rear deck was redesigned to create a stunning, yet functional, new look. Several racing versions of the McLaren were produced, including the highly successful 1995 F1 GTR, the 1996 F1 GTR, and the 1997 F1 GTR. The 95 GTR was originally developed for shorter, 4 hour Global GT Endurance series races in response to demand from customers who wanted to race their own modifications of the standard production F1. However demand quickly came about to make it into a 24 hour car to run in the Le Mans endurance race. In 1995 McLaren became the first manufacturer ever to sweep the board, scoring four of the top five places, upon its Le Mans debut. In 1996 McLaren revised the 1995 GTR to meet new BPR GT series regulations, capping the engine power output to 600 bhp. This allowed the designers to shed 100kg from the car, making it as light as the 1,000kg minimum weight limit would allow. McLaren also developed an upgrade for 95 GTRs to move them to 96 GTRs in spite of the fact that the 96 model was 70% new components. New features included a larger rear wing for markedly improved downforce. In 1997 the GTR was once again revised to meet new racing regulations, this time from the FIA GT Series and the Le Mans 24 hour race. The modifications focused on engine refinement, the inclusion of an all new sequential transmission, extensive aerodynamic changes, and substantial weight reduction. The chassis and power train were the prime candidates for weight reduction along with small weight improvements made throughout the car. In 1995 the F1 GTR weighed 1,100kg. The 96 model reduced its weight to 1,000kg, and in 1997 the GTR was able to further reduce its curb weight to a mere 915kg. |
| McLAREN FI |
| THIS CAR WHEN PRODUCED WAS THE FASTEST ROAD CAR EVER MADE |
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| THRUST SSC. The british car that holds the land speed record at 763 mph |
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| PARTIALY BUILT McLAREN BMW 12 CYLINDER ENGINE |