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Sir Tim Birkin drove a quite a few other makes of cars than Bentley, particularly after Bentley withdrew from racing in 1930, although Birkin did build a very lightweight supercharged 4½L single seat Bentley, the Brooklands Battleship, at least partially financed by Lady Dorothy Paget, which held the Brooklands outer circuit record at 137MPH, until beaten by John Cobb in the 24L Napier Lion broad arrow W12 engined Railton Special. Birkin died in 1933, after burning his arm on the exhaust of a Maserati 8C GP car at the Tripoli GP, ironically reaching for his cigarette lighter. The burn became septic and he died in London a month and a half later, from a combination of septic shock and a severe attack of malaria, probably caught also in Tripoli.

I thought about Birkin, when I burnt my leg very badly on the red hot exhaust catalyst of my Morgan Three Wheeler, when I over-balanced, stretching to pick up a dropped debit card rather than a cigarette lighter. Luckily I had a first aid kit in the back of the Morgan, which had sterile alcohol wipes and a sterile burn dressing ready for immediate use but even with that, it took some months before it was fully healed - nasty things burns. I always keep a first aid kit and fire extinguisher in all my cars. I use the pyrotechnic fire safety sticks https://tinyurl.com/3uxb28wr , except in my 911 competition car, which has a compulsory FIA approved, 4kg hand held foam extinguisher and a Lifeline electrically operated  plumbed-in system for both the front compartment where the fuel cell is and also in the rear engine compartment. 

Wilson

Edited by wlaidlaw
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3 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

Correct make, it is a supercharged MG but I think wrong model. The R Type had the exhaust on the LHS and had twin pipes. 

Wilson

In that case I'll say it's the one-off 1936 Reg Parnell MG K3 with the only McEvoy 6-cylinder DOHC head. Unable to state displacement, as there seems to be some mystery and disagreement of what it actually was / is.

That damned exhaust on the 'wrong' side of the car is most confusing, and I will admit that my guess is not based on personal knowledge / experience nor actual past encounters with this car on the track or through my viewfinder, nor does it appear in any of the reference books in my automotive library, but rather is a the result of staying up late and using the internet to hunt this car down. Quite staggering the amount of material that's out there and at anyone's fingertips if you just take a little time, apply patience, logic and carefully word your search parameters.......many different ways.

I'm not at all sure that method of 'naming that car' is honorable or legitimate and if a correct guess doing it that way should really earn one the next turn....but there it is. 

JZG

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I think there were two if not more MG K3 single seat cars with either reversed or DOHC heads. The Reg Parnell one and one made by Eddie Hall, also driven by Whitney Straight Oddly the most famous K3 of all, "Humbug" the 1100 class land speed record car made for George Eyston by MG themselves stayed with a single OHC head, maybe to meet FIA regulations for production based cars. 

There were two K3' s with right hand exhausts on the Monaco grid for pre-war GP cars and one with a left hand exhaust, the green car behind the red Maserati 4CL. The other K3 with RH exhaust was one row further up. I was surprised just how quick these were, faster than all the Bugatti's, especially one Type 13, which was painfully slow and to make things worse, she spun right in front of my brother's fast approaching 6CM Maserati on the exit of St.Devote, just as he had overtaken Julian Majzub in the 2 litre ERA for the lead. By the time my brother got restarted, he had dropped to third. Not happy, as this was his last race at Monaco before retiring! 

As this photo was taken just before the start, I had no chance to talk to any of the K3 owners to get any history but the pale blue colour is the same as Reg Parnell's car in period. I understand that one of the K3's in this race had been quite recently been reunited with the Parnell/McEvoy cylinder head from its American owner. I suspect Crossthwaite and Gardner would be quite happy to make a new DOHC head for a K3 today (at a price). Next time I see Ollie Crossthwaite, I will ask him. The place where they machine a lot of their components like the gears for W125 Mercedes gearboxes (Eric Neve Engineering), is a couple of miles away from my UK house and on the route to one of my grandson's schools. It is where I get any machining work needed done. They are currently making some long stabilising studs for a 1940's vintage Novoflex LTM/LTM bellows for me. 

Your turn John. 

Wilson

 

 

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The era of the first third or so of the 20th century represents a very target-rich period for purposes of this thread. So many makers, models, directions, philosophies about   the purpose of motorcars etc. Continuing in that era here's the next puzzle car, but as Wilson cautioned us us all about the last one - "don't jump to conclusions on this one, they may well be wrong".

JZG

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Thank you Stuart and Philip.

Now..........any guesses of what this may actually be. To help things along - another clue.

JZG

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I wonder if this might be one of the front wheel drive Alvis race cars from around 1928, the 12/70. I see it is red lined at just 4000 RPM, which eliminates any of the Alfa Romeos except possibly the very early RL but most like my 1924 RL Sport were red lined at 4600 RPM. The instruments indicate British or American as oil pressure in PSI and water temperature in Fº. The other low revving cars are the W.O. Bentley cars but the switch gear is all wrong for dual ignition. 

Wilson

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Yes; Wilson typed exactly what I was about to say......:lol:......

No; sorry. I'm way out of my depth on this one. Having had a look at the dash one thing which stuck out was that the Jaeger speedo is measured in KPH rather than MPH but whether that has any bearing on matters one jot is completely outwith my ken.

I'll folllow this one with interest as I will be sure to learn stuff from Those in the Know!

Best of good fortune, chaps!

Philip.

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I do not believe another clue / hint would get us any nearer to a solution, therefore let's finish it. It is a 1929 OM 665 MM Team car Sport Milano Roadster. 

OM stands for Officine Meccaniche, founded in 1899 in Milan. Their most famous and memorable car was the Tipo 665, aka Superba, powered by a 2-liter 6-cyl. motor. This particular Superba factory team car is the most famous 665 SS MM model with a 2.3 liter supercharged motor, and scored first in class & 5th overall in the '30 Mille Miglia.

Restored in 2000 after 'thorough and exhaustive' research to look as it did at the MM start line.

OM company started production of railrad cars and rolling stock in 1918, was sold to Fiat in the 30s and was eventually subsumed into IVECO in the '70s.

If anyone wants to post a new car, please have at it........I promise never to pull anything like this again.

JZG

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I chose this one because I've liked it ever since I first saw one.  I suspect somebody will get it rather quickly.  All the usual details, please

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