Name this car....

[Dr. No]

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Peugeot

[dkCambridgeshire]

Peugeot

 

 

 … 404?? 

 

Not a Peugeot 

 

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dunk

Edited January 6, 2016 by dkCambridgeshire

[dkCambridgeshire]

Wilson's engine suggestion was along the right lines but not for this model. 

 

dunk

[Manoleica]

Maser"

[dkCambridgeshire]

Maser"

 

 

 

Incorrect.

 

dunk

[wlaidlaw]

Austin 3 litre?

[stuny]

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Sticking with blue, is it French?

[dkCambridgeshire]

Wilson, You're close-ish. 

 

The Austin 3 Litre was the 'Land Lobster' based on the 1800 'Land Crab'.

 

There was also the Vanden Plas Princess 3 Litre with a very distinctive radiator grille.

 

This model is neither ... but has a 2.9 litre engine and was not generally referred to by its engine size.

 

The marque produced the same model in various identifying designations for 14 years … culminating in this example's final model designation.  There was also a luxury version with a different marque / model name … and also a 'super luxury' type … But this is the standard model. 

 

 

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dunk

Edited January 6, 2016 by dkCambridgeshire

[dkCambridgeshire]

Sticking with blue, is it French?

 

 

 

Not French

 

dunk

[wlaidlaw]

A110 Westminster?

 

The FB60 Engines used in the Vanden Plas Princess 4 Litre R version of this car, were usually assembled by apprentices from buckets of parts, not on an assembly line. Although it was derived from a Rolls Royce designed military engine used in the Champ utility vehicle and others (the B6/B60/B61/B61SV), it was assembled by Austin. In theory it was a nice engine and with its alloy block, much lighter the old Austin 4 litre truck engine, as used in the Jensen 541R. However, it was very unreliable, maybe due to its assembly history. It was notorious for breaking cylinder head studs and then the head gasket blowing. You then found the head had welded itself firmly to the remaining unbroken studs and was close to impossible to remove. You had to leave the head soaking for days continually squirting diesel over the studs, before it would eventually come off. The flywheel bolts also tended to shear, due to torsional vibrations in the crankshaft, the camshaft tappets failed due to incorrect heat treatment and so on and so on. 

 

I used to use this engine as my worst case example, when talking to car manufactures about "Designed in reliability". It was no wonder that Austin threw in the towel after just over three years of making this. The car in the end cost more than the newly released Jaguar XJ6, which felt as it came from a different century. 

Edited January 7, 2016 by wlaidlaw

[dkCambridgeshire]

Yes Wilson … it is an Austin Westminster A110 - the luxury versions of which were the Wolseley 6/110 and the Vanden Plas Princess 3 Litre. The body was also modified to produce the Vanden Plas Princess 4 Litre R which used the FB60 RR engine. There was also a prototype Austin Healey which used the FB60 engine. The 'very special' luxury prototype was the rumoured Mini Bentley which allegedly used the centre section of the body in an attempt to design a small Bentley but no photos are available. No Riley version of the A110 was produced. 

 

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Back to you again Wilson. 

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

 

 

Edited January 7, 2016 by dkCambridgeshire

[Dr. No]

guess it's your turn wlaidlaw

[wlaidlaw]

I recall talking to John Chatham, the well known Healey 3000 racer about the "secret" Healey 4000, back in the 1970's. He thought it had used the old 4 litre "high speed" also known variously as the D series car or K series truck engine rather than the FB60. This was due to the propensity of the FB60 to break crankshafts or shed flywheels when revved over 4500 RPM, with a manual gearbox. Rolls Royce had the same problem with the similar design straight 8 6.3L B81 engine, when testing it as a replacement for the 4.9L six cylinder of the S1 Silver Clouds (itself the final development of the RR 20HP engine of 1922). The crankshafts for both the FB60 and B81 had a critical vibration period around 4000 to 4400 RPM. With the all iron D series 4 Litre, the A-H4000 was far too front heavy, apparently understeered like a pig and had terrible traction. The A-H 4000 was in an internal British Leyland competition against the MGC and TR5. Those two won and the A-H 4000, which would have been built by Jensen, lost. Jensen's production was very stretched at the time anyway, with their own Interceptors, FF's and Sunbeam Tigers. 

 

I will search for a new picture tomorrow. 

[dkCambridgeshire]

The Austin Healey 4 litre did use the RR engine:

 

http://www.ewilkins.com/wilko/ah4000.htm

 

http://englishcars.com/austinhealey/4000/ah4000.html

 

Classic and Sports Car was an excellent publication - still have mine in my loft - bound copies. Many of the magazine photos were taken with a Minolta Autocord - very under-rated camera.

 

dunk

[wlaidlaw]

 

The Austin Healey 4 litre did use the RR engine:

 

http://www.ewilkins.com/wilko/ah4000.htm

 

http://englishcars.com/austinhealey/4000/ah4000.html

 

Classic and Sports Car was an excellent publication - still have mine in my loft - bound copies. Many of the magazine photos were taken with a Minolta Autocord - very under-rated camera.

 

dunk

 

 

Dunk,

 

That was what I had thought before speaking to John Chatham. I wonder if there might have been two versions, one with the FB60 engine and one with the D series. Otherwise how would JC have known about the FB60 breaking crankshafts with a manual gearbox? Given the high weight of the D series (its block was also used for a diesel engine), the FB60 would have been a much more suitable engine. My wife's godfather owned one of the two Bentley prototype S1 Continentals with the B81 straight eight engines. I remember being surprised by the red line on the rev counter at 4000 RPM and asking why. The answer was that if you revved above this, by locking the auto transmission in low, you risked breaking the crank. 

 

Wilson

Edited January 9, 2016 by wlaidlaw

[wlaidlaw]

Dunk,

 

That was what I had thought before speaking to John Chatham. I wonder if there might have been two versions, one with the FB60 engine and one with the D series. Otherwise how would JC have known about the FB60 breaking crankshafts with a manual gearbox? Given the high weight of the D series (its block was also used for a diesel engine), the FB60 would have been a much more suitable engine. My wife's godfather owned one of the two Bentley prototype S1 Continentals with the B81 straight eight engines. I remember being surprised by the red line on the rev counter at 4000 RPM and asking why. The answer was that if you revved above this, by locking the auto transmission in low, you risked breaking the crank. 

 

Wilson

 

The other alternative is that John Chatham's memory was at fault. It always seemed hazy when working out what I had already paid him as a deposit for work done!

 

Wilson

[dkCambridgeshire]

There may have been two versions; the four RR prototypes are all accounted for:

 

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C596936

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.641967089157092.1073741894.458798004140669&type=1

 

 

 

 

dunk

Edited January 9, 2016 by dkCambridgeshire

[Michael Hiles]

I wonder (know very little) - did the straight 8 Bentley engine have any link to RR's only straight 8 as used in the very limited Phantom IV?

[wlaidlaw]

I believe it was the same engine, which was a development of the B80 engine used in various military vehicles. Peterson, the vintage Bentley restorers, are building "new" vintage Bentleys using either a 1930's 3½ or 4¼ chassis or the later Mark VI and a B80/81 straight eight engine and calling them Bentley Eights. There is an article somewhere in the Rolls Royce Owners Club archives which talks about the problems with this engine and its crankshaft vibration periods, as a consequence of which, the decision was made to develop the "new" V8. It is not as many think, a Chrysler/Dodge light truck engine fettled for Rolls Royce. It is amazing to think that this engine designed in the mid 1950's, is still in production for the Bentley Mulsanne, over 60 years later. 

 

Wilson

 

PS I think that Peterson change the B81 crankshafts to a much stiffer billet crank made by Geoffrey Farndon, to avoid the original crank problem. They may well fit a bottom main bearing steel cage as well to stiffen the bottom end. 

Edited January 9, 2016 by wlaidlaw

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[wlaidlaw]

So now for something completely different. Where is this house and who lived there? 

 

Wilson

 

 

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