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7 hours ago, NigelG said:

Maybe an AutoBianchi Bianchina? Late 50s early 60s?

We have a winner! :D

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Based on the FIAT 500 power train. A truly delightful, nutty little car ... :) 

G

Edited by ramarren
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And before I get out of the way, I didn't think it was worth doing a guessing game on this one because I can't think of a single angle of photo taken of one of these cars that wouldn't be instantly recognizable to any auto enthusiast worth the moniker ... It was in the interior shop for some interior work after being somewhat badly treated by a flood ... Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupé. 

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Enjoy! G

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3 hours ago, ramarren said:

And before I get out of the way, I didn't think it was worth doing a guessing game on this one because I can't think of a single angle of photo taken of one of these cars that wouldn't be instantly recognizable to any auto enthusiast worth the moniker ... It was in the interior shop for some interior work after being somewhat badly treated by a flood ... Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupé. 

Enjoy! G

Interesting place...other nice stuff in the background 😊

 

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5 hours ago, Lelmer said:

Interesting place...other nice stuff in the background 😊

Yes indeed! In one of those frames is an Alfa Romeo 1900 Coupe from the early '50s that about six were made, and on other occasions I've stopped by to see a pair (not just one) of W.O. Bentleys, various Maseratis from the '50s-'60s, scads of custom trucks and T-bodies and ... you name it, it's meandered through at some point. Great people, outstanding work, amazing car community! :D 

G

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20 minutes ago, ramarren said:

Yes indeed! In one of those frames is an Alfa Romeo 1900 Coupe from the early '50s that about six were made, and on other occasions I've stopped by to see a pair (not just one) of W.O. Bentleys, various Maseratis from the '50s-'60s, scads of custom trucks and T-bodies and ... you name it, it's meandered through at some point. Great people, outstanding work, amazing car community! :D 

G

When I was at college (circa 1956) in Cricklewood North London, I used to walk around the Bentley factory (Oxgate Lane)and outbuildings, chassis and part built cars etc.. I was absolutely gobsmacked at both the beauty and engineering of those Bentleys. 

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I thought the Cricklewood Bentley plant was closed down in 1931 after bankruptcy and purchase by Rolls Royce (the Bentley 8 litre was a considerably better car than the Phantom II RR). Car production recommenced at Derby in September 1933 with 3½L chassis based on the 20/25 Rolls Royce with an uprated engine and other sporting features. This was supplied as a chassis only for the buyer to choose his own coachbuilder. The Cricklewood site I always understood was bought or leased by C A Vandervell for making electrical equipment for cars and diesel injection equipment for trucks. CAV was eventually absorbed by Smiths industries and in due course Lucas. 

Wilson

Edited by wlaidlaw
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25 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

I thought the Cricklewood Bentley plant was closed down in 1931 after bankruptcy and purchase by Rolls Royce (the Bentley 8 litre was a considerably better car than the Phantom II RR). Car production recommenced at Derby in September 1933 with 3½L chassis based on the 20/25 Rolls Royce with an uprated engine and other sporting features. This was supplied as a chassis only for the buyer to choose his own coachbuilder. The Cricklewood site I always understood was bought or leased by C A Vandervell for making electrical equipment for cars and diesel injection equipment for trucks. CAV was eventually absorbed by Smiths industries and in due course Lucas. 

Wilson

Well I too looked at the dates, but can assure you the buildings and cars were there, I remember the guys wearing those brown twill coats. Over the years I often wondered if any of the chassis ended up on the track. Cherished memories. Smith’s factory was really in Cricklewood, Oxgate Lane was about a mile towards Staples Corner. 🍷

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Some years ago, I had one of the first Big Six Bentleys made in 1925. It was originally owned by the British music hall and movie star, Jack Buchanan. He took it to the USA with him in 1926, when he got a two year contract on Broadway. It was a slightly odd car using the long 12 foot limousine wheelbase but an aluminium open four seat tourer body by Vanden Plas. I bought it from a closing museum in California, where it had resided since 1930 and had only covered less than 20,000 miles from new. I converted the engine to Speed Six specification, mainly to get rid of the horrible hissing Smiths five jet single carburettor, replacing it with an official Bentley conversion kit of twin SU's. It was not a great car to drive as there was far too much chassis flex, which would normally have been stiffened by a closed steel limousine body, so sold it on. It is now owned by Rob Walton (Walmart).  I then became the very proud possessor of the wonderful Rabagliati Brooklands Speed Six Special Bentley. It had been originally built as a Speed Six with a Weyman saloon body in 1928 and was then rebuilt by W.O.'s brother Horace Milner Bentley, into a competition special. The chassis was shortened and lowered then had a quite narrow four seat body built onto to it, looking a bit like an SSKL Mercedes. It had a full race 6.5 litre engine producing around 220 BHP. It is often referred to by its registration number BXB8. The well known Bentley authority Rivers Fletcher, said it was the best handling W.O.Bentley he had ever driven. I used to know Rivers quite well and I had the privilege of taking him for the first ride in BXB8, since before the war. I believe he had delivered the car when new to Col Euan Rabagliati from the H M Bentley premises in Soho, London, then the centre of the second hand bespoke motor trade in the UK. 

Rabagliati was a remarkable (if apparently not very nice) man. He claimed to have been the first man in WW1 to shoot down a German plane, air to air, when as an RFC observer, he had taken his big game hunting rifle with him and shot and killed the pilot of the German plane in late 1914. True or not, just not sure. He went on to become very senior in the RAF after its formation in April 1918 but could not get along with Viscount Trenchard, so got posted to India to set up the Indian Air Force. After a few years he got bored with that, resigned as an Air Vice Marshal and came back to the UK, where he became a racing driver and also made money as a gambler. He was involved in the very unpleasant accident at Brooklands in 1930, where 6 spectators were killed and a number badly injured. That is the origin of the posters now put up at all UK motorsports events - "Motor Racing is Dangerous", as Brooklands was sued by the relatives of the deceased and injured spectators. He never raced himself again after that but employed others to drive his cars. Rabagliati later went to work for the British Secret Service (MI6) but was sacked in 1939 for his involvement in the infamous "Venlo Incident" which was a monumental disaster for MI6. He then went to work for SOE (Special Operations Executive) a competitor for MI6 for the rest of the war. After the war, he moved to Monaco, where again he topped up his substantial private income with gambling. I know his nephew, Duncan Rabagliati, who is deeply involved with the historic Formula Junior racing scene. We keep saying we must write a biography of his uncle but never quite get round to it. 

Wilson

Edited by wlaidlaw
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Wilson

Your glorious summary of Rabagliati’s wonderful life reads like one of those obits you still sometimes (though obviously increasingly rarely) get in the Times where you read-on agog thinking to yourself “why of course after controversially losing that series of races at Brooklands at a young age he would have chosen to forgo a dreary career in MI6 and to instead have taken up a diplomatic position in South East Asia, returning to successfully captain England in the triumphant Ashes series of 1932 and then to go on to become the youngest member of parliament to represent “Arundel and South Downs”….

I have something interesting from our village fete but need to download the pics 

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Sorry for the delay M9M was in the country and I was in London...

 

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Delightful sight at our village summer fete..

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