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But maybe it is a Lotus ... if so was it conceived when Colin Chapman was alive and 'in charge' ?

 

dunk

 

Yes on one his 'off' days. Not quite as bad a day as the one he designed the type 62B/Alpine V6, which put me in hospital for 3 months, then rehab for a further 6 on its first test outing.

 

Wilson

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Yes on one his 'off' days. Not quite as bad a day as the one he designed the type 62B/Alpine V6, which put me in hospital for 3 months, then rehab for a further 6 on its first test outing.

 

Wilson

 

Thank you Wilson ... Now need to go through all the Lotus models again ... :confused: I could not see any with the untidy looking front end. And I hope you made a full recovery from the 62B shunt.

 

I'd not heard of the 62B; was it a 62 variant based on the 47 ?

 

dunk

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Thank you Wilson ... Now need to go through all the Lotus models again ... :confused: I could not see any with the untidy looking front end. And I hope you made a full recovery from the 62B shunt.

 

I'd not heard of the 62B; was it a 62 variant based on the 47 ?

 

dunk

 

Dunk,

 

It was a strengthened type 62 with a semi monococque tub and a stressed member engine behind (basically a type 49 rear end but with an Alpine 2.4L 4 cam V6 producing around 360 BHP). Something went horribly wrong when I was testing it at Goodwood. Unfortunately it hit the same marshal's post that did for Bruce Maclaren but a glancing blow. The idea was to enable to sell Lotus to sell their unloved type 62 by replacing the horrible LV220 2 litre boat anchor with the Alpine engine, which I held the UK agency.

 

Wilson

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Dunk,

 

It was a strengthened type 62 with a semi monococque tub and a stressed member engine behind (basically a type 49 rear end but with an Alpine 2.4L 4 cam V6 producing around 360 BHP). Something went horribly wrong when I was testing it at Goodwood. Unfortunately it hit the same marshal's post that did for Bruce Maclaren but a glancing blow. The idea was to enable to sell Lotus to sell their unloved type 62 by replacing the horrible LV220 2 litre boat anchor with the Alpine engine, which I held the UK agency.

 

Wilson

 

Very interesting Wilson ... I hope the post has been removed ... I can imagine what a scary moment that was.

 

dunk

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I think it might be a Lotus 40 ... but only three of them were made.

 

dunk

 

Correct. A Lotus type 30 with 10 more mistakes = 40. The one I drove about 15 years ago did not have the bib spoilers of the one in the picture, having very sensibly been in a static private collection in Australia since the 1960's (best place for it). With a new 4.9L Geoff Richardson Ford 450 BHP engine in the back it was truly horrible and scary. Dreadful understeer on corner entry changing to vicious snap oversteer half way through. I would imagine Jim Clark was one of the few able to drive it fast. Possibly the nastiest race car I have ever driven.

 

Wilson

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OK here's a modified saloon ... quite popular in its day

 

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Pics taken with my X1

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

Edited by dkpeterborough
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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

 

 

Wilson you got it in one :) ... I guess the rear vents are the giveaway. The car was seen at the Stamford Classic Car Show last year ... that's Stamford Meadows, Stamford near Peterborough.

 

The description on the windscreen states, "Hillman Imp Sprint . Bought for £100 34 years ago and used every year since ... " can't decipher the rest but assume owner means raced every year since.

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

Edited by dkpeterborough
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The parents of my best friend at school owned James Ross and Sons, the Rootes Group distributors for the South of Scotland and main dealers in Edinburgh. As my parents lived some 200 miles further north, I used to go out from school for lunch every Sunday with them in Edinburgh. One Sunday morning when my friend's father came to collect us from school, he said that there were some very special guests for lunch. They were Peter Harper, the then works race/rally driver and Sheila Van Damm, the world's most famous lady rally driver other possibly than Pat Moss Carlsson. Much more exciting for us boys was that they arrived in a prototype Imp. We were drooling over the little jewel of the Coventry Climax designed all alloy, overhead cam engine, which seemed a different era from the cast iron pushrod lump in the Mini.

 

How sad then that inadequate development, appalling manufacturing at Linwood by militant out of work miners, shipyard workers and hopeless managers, with the final nail in coffin being Lucas, prince of darkness electrics, made the whole car a nightmare of unreliability. The brother of my friend used to race a 998cc version of the very pretty coupé Sunbeam Stiletto.

 

Wilson

 

PS Bit of delay until next post as have my pinny and turban on, doing the hoovering, dusting and bed making, ready for all 9 family members to arrive this evening. W

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I used to think that the Imp's body design/shape must have been influenced by cartoonist Barry Appleby's cars drawn in 'The Gambols' comic strip for the Daily Express. The Singer and Sunbeam variants were very smart looking cars. Some parts were common to the BMC 1800 - I used to visit a scrap yard to take parts off them for my Austin 1800.

 

dunk

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Here is your next one folks

 

Wilson

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