Name this car....

[wlaidlaw]

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The car is a JBW-Maserati, built by Fred Wilkinson for Brian Naylor in 1958/59, with chassis design based on a Lotus 18. Brian had been racing a Maserati 150S, up-engined like many were, to the 2.5 litre engine, which he then reused in his F1 car. There were only 2 original 250S Maserati cars built by the factory, one of them above, which is the one given to Fangio at the end of the 1957 season, as Maserati could not afford to pay his bonus for winning the F1 championship that year in the low line 250F. For the last ?25 years, the JBW has been owned and raced by my friend Marshall Bailey, a very successful Scottish farmer. I thought I had a better photo of it than the one I posted but if I have, I can't find it. In the one above, it is going through the chicane after the tunnel at Monaco and I am looking almost vertically downwards at it from an apartment balcony right above the chicane. 

I am not a big fan of the 250S car, as with my prosthetic right ankle, I find the brake pedal, which is about 6 inches above the accelerator, very difficult to get onto quickly. The brakes being the same size drums used on the 150S cars, are not  big enough and fade quite rapidly. I don't know why the factory did not fit the big drums off the 250F Grand prix car, which are about as good as drum brakes get. The 250S brakes also have a very long travel pedal, which again I find difficult. I far prefer the later T61 Birdcage car, which I think is a lovely car to drive with wonderful handling and good disc brakes, although the engine in its 3 litre guise is quite rough and agricultural. 

Open to anyone with a photo to post. 

Wilson

[Ivan Goriup]

Let's try this one.

Maker, approximate year and model name please - not a one-off, rather, one of very few of a special version of the company's main product......any more info would give it all away.

JZG

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[wlaidlaw]

Bentley special, based either on a pre-war 4¼, post war Mk.VI or R type? Some of these, like the one my brother has in South Africa, have been fitted with a tuned version of the Rolls Royce B81 straight eight 6½ litre engine. Wonderfully thunderous beast, pretty much unsilenced. 

Wilson

[Ivan Goriup]

Yes, there is some outward similarity between the Bentley 4 1/2 liter Single Seater 'Birkin Blower' Special, the car I think you're referring to, and especially in the crop I chose, but the car I posted is not a Bentley. Curiously, the Birkin Blower car was designed by Reid Railton for Bentley Boy Tim Birkin, whereas W.O. Bentley, who had left the firm he founded after his bankrupcy and 'annexation' by Rolls-Royce, designed the engine and had major input on the rest of the current mystery car, built entirely by another British manufacturer.

Anyone care to take a stab.

JZG

[wlaidlaw]

John, 

I am afraid your information on the "Blower" Bentley is not quite correct. The supercharged engine was developed by Amherst Villiers, while working in Tim Birkin's workshop. The only other change from the regular sports version of the 4½, apart from the engine, is stiffer front springs to accommodate the considerable weight of the supercharger, sitting between the front dumb-irons and cooling air vents to the front drums. Many were later converted from the original D type gearbox to the more robust C type gearbox used on Speed Six cars, which also improves the gearchange, the cogs having larger teeth. Amherst Villiers had previously designed the Napier Lion Bluebird for Malcolm Campbell, amongst other cars. I think the confusion may be that Amherst Villiers worked for Reid Railton at one point, maybe as a consultant on the Napier Railton for John Cobb, as he was an expert on the Lion W12 24L Aero Engine. 

Although the 4½ supercharged Bentleys make good racing cars, they are not great in everyday use. They overheat in traffic and the steering is noticeably heavier, even than the considerably larger six cylinder cars. I took a supercharged 4½ Bentley with some other underwriters, to the private day of the Farnborough Air Show (as an airline insurer, I had access to the non-public days). The traffic was very heavy on the way out and we sat simmering nicely for about 20 minutes, with people coming up to us and offering tea bags, until I had to pull over and search for a couple of gallons of water to top up the radiator (I used a handy fire bucket that I found and handed back to the guards at the front gate) and we then waited for the traffic to clear. That was a extended test drive to see if we liked the supercharged 4½, with a view to buying but as a result of my experience that day, we did not get it and bought the Rabagliati H.M.Bentley Speed Six Special instead (Built by W.O. Bentley's brother in 1934 from a 1927 Speed Six saloon). 

Wilson

[Ivan Goriup]

I don't claim to be a Bentley expert, I merely parapohrased  what was written on the placard that accompanied the Bentley Birkin Blower Single Seater when it was shown at Pebble Beach in 2010, as shown below.

Thank you for the information, in the meantime I still await the correct answer to the current puzzle car.

JZG

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[wlaidlaw]

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The single seater is a very different car and that may well have been made by Reid Railton in his Brooklands workshop. Quite a few of these racing Bentleys were extensively modified from standard. The Rabagliati car I used to have, was narrowed, shortened and lowered from a standard Speed Six. Even the radiator was cut down and both the engine and gearbox were slightly lowered inside the chassis to lower the centre of gravity.

Euan Rabagliati was an amazing man. He was with the RFC during WW1 and ended up as a colonel pre formation of the RAF. Supposedly when an observer in the early part of the war, he downed a German plane by shooting the pilot with a hunting rifle. He then was sent out to India as an air vice marshal, to set up the Indian airforce but found the social life in India a bit too tame, so resigned his position and came back to the UK. For the next few years, he was a racing driver, successful gambler and part time spy with MI6. He was sacked by MI6 for his involvement in the "Venlo Incident" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venlo_incident and went to work for the SOE. After the war he moved to Monaco and supported himself from his gambling winnings and I would guess a substantial private income. Supposedly he is one of the portfolio of people on whom Ian Fleming modelled James Bond. 

Wilson

[Ivan Goriup]

Perhaps an additional clue showing another view of the current subject will spark some new guesses.

JZG

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[wlaidlaw]

Delahaye 135S? 

Wilson

[stuny]

Could this be the 1939 Lagonda v12 racing car which belongs to Jo Harding from San Diego?

[Ivan Goriup]

Stuart, spot on, and you even got the owner's name correct. Yes, a 1939  Lagonda V12 Le Mans, as seen at the 2010 Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca.

This car and a twin came in 3rd and 4th in the '39 24 hours race.

You're up next.,

JZG

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Edited March 20, 2023 by Ivan Goriup

[stuny]

Thank you, Ivan.  All the usual data to win, and extra points for a relatively unusual mechanical feature of this car:

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[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Stuart,

Does the "relatively unusual" aspect have to do with "wheels"?

Best Regards,

Michael

[Graham (G4FUJ)]

I recognise the car in the background - Mini

[stuny]

Michael - No

Graham - Yes

[stuny]

the "relatively unusual" refers to this feature (common today) being rare when this car was designed and first sold.

[Ivan Goriup]

The Bosch horn would indicate that this is probably of German origin......and I'll get very brave and go further, and claim that this could very well be a 1939 Adler, although to the best of my recollection Adlers had a chrome plated grill surround with a rather large stylized eagle badge on the grille ( Adler is eagle in german ). 

Perhaps this is a entry level model built to a price point. 

JZG

[stuny]

Ivan -

Nice job of advancing the identification - the Bosch horn does confirm it to be a German car of about the Adler's vintage (though this one is a few years older.  But not an Adler.

Here's a more generous crop - Actually the only full car photo I have:

 

 

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[wlaidlaw]

Interestingly that actual car is shown in my older version of Georgano Encyclopaedia of The Automobile. Didn't they name a league after it? 

Wilson

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[stuny]

Wilson -

Possibly.  I assume you mean the racing league, far more recent than this car.