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LotusCars > ggreider  > Cars > Sports and Exotics
Not necessarily great pictures, but some great cars -- some exotic, some merely quixotic

(Quotes unless oherwise attributed are from ultimatecarpage.com.)
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Lotus' first fully streamlined sportscar, the Lotus 8, did well in 1954, but  poor accessibility of the engine made on-track repairs nearly impossible. 

By 1955 Colin Chapman and aerodynamics expert Mike Costin designed a revised 8 around a smaller, bored-out MG engine 

The result was the Lotus 9 (above at Lime Rock Park paddock, September, 2010) which used the same wheelbase as the 8 but was smaller in every other dimension, making for a more accessible engine bay.

Chapman drove the 9 at LeMans that year but was black flagged for reversing on the course.

To commemorate the Le Mans outing, all FWA engined 9s were dubbed Le Mans. A cheaper version with a Ford engine was also available.
The result of a chance social encounter during a QE I Atlantic crossing with Donald Healey hoping to make a deal for Cadillac engines and the president of Nash Motors, George Mason, telling DMH to stop by if GM wouldn't talk.

GM wouldn't, Nash would and from 1951 to 1954 Nash-Kelvinator sold these guys to the US market.

This car won first in class and third overall (behind two W194 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLs) at Le Mans in 1952. Other flags taken include 1950 Le Mans (4th and 9th), 1950 Mille Miglia (9th) and 1951 Lemans (3rd).

Originally based on the Healey Silverstone, the body was re-designed in 1952 as seen here by Pinin Farina, four-liter engine and drive train was based on the Nash Ambassador, with engine modifications and final assembly by Healey.

Though powerful and reliable, the tri-partite construction program and attendant shipping costs proved uncompetitive in the marketplace.

As a footnote, one Nash-Healey convertible was used in the TV show Superman as Clark Kent's daily driver.
Another Le Mans car, this 1953 Ferrari 166 was driven by Kirk Douglas in the utterly forgettable movie "The Racers." 

The track let Director Hathaway shoot during the 24 Heures (The track footage of 50s Euro race circuits is the best part of the picture; worst is a toss-up between Douglas's walking through his part and the total inability of the female lead -- Bella Darvi -- who was Daryl Zanuck's girlfriend at the time -- to do anything -- anything -- remotely plausible.), but said the car had to stay in the race if it was on the track. 

Douglas finished dead last, but at least he did not kill himself or anyone else.

I later heard it running in Essex, CT at a show there a few years later; a side shot with overlapping caption appears in this gallery, photo 134.
1954 Siata 208 CS Stabilimenti Farina Berlinetta; only fifteen of this coupe model were built on the sixty chassis Siata created to accommodate the Fiat 70º V-8. Everybody else bought the convertible Spyders. 

One was fitted with a Chrysler V-8 which in that year was available with hemispheric heads and so might have had more go-power than the relatively anemic 100-110 bhp the Fiat produced without tweaking.
1953 Allard J2X; one of 83 built and believed to be the only one in the US with the Ardun hemispheric head alluded to by the license plate. In addition to Ford, Allards were also raced with with Cadillac or Chrysler engines.

Sydney Allard virtually invented the big-Detroit-engine-into-small-agile-European-body sports car concept in the 1930s. A Ford dealer in England with a history of two-, three- and four-wheel racing, Allard built his first "Allard Special" on a Ford engine-chassis with a Bugatti body in 1936.

Zora Arkus Duntov (more commonly known as the Godfather of the Corvette) and his brother Yura established Ardun in New York after fleeing Europe as the Nazi's advanced through France. They developed and supplied hemispheric heads for Ford military truck engines to relieve overheating problems under heavy loads.

Coincidentally, those head also boosted horsepower into the 300 range.

In addition to doing development work on the J1 and J2 Allards, Duntov co-drove one at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1952 and in 1953.

Driving an 1100cc Porsche 550 RS Spyder, he also won class victories in 1954 Le Mans and 1955 Le Mans.
In 1960 Jim Hall met Dick Troutman and Tom Barnes just off the (Lance Reventlow) Scarab project.

They applied the many lessons learned to building Hall's new car. -- in many respects a slimmer and smaller version of the Scarab -- constructed around a rigid steel tubular frame.

A 283ci Corvette engine was enlarged to 318ci by increasing the stroke. Hall estimated his small-block V8 was good for around 300 bhp.

The Chaparral debuted in a 1961 SCCA race at Laguna Seca, where Hall drove it to a second place finish behind a Maserati 'Birdcage'.

The last of its kind, the Chaparral may very well have been the fastest of the front-engine sports racers .

Of five built, this is serial number #001 at speed. Lime Rock Park, September, 2010
1927 Bugatti Tipo 35c qualifying for VSCCA racing at Lime Rock Park, September 2010. The Tipo 35 was "…the most successful racing car ever constructed. The versatility of the chassis enabled it to compete successfully in Grands Prix, long distance road races or hill climbs."
Officially established in 1958, the Junior Formula was intended to be an incubator of technology and talent for F!.

In the first years, the front engined (1100cc Fiat four) Stanguelini was the car to beat. This 1959 racer was at the top of the game, briefly.

The Ford and BMC-powered rear-engine Lolas, Lotuses (Lotusi?) and Coopers took over in 1960 and the Italians went back to the drawing board
1928 Bugatti Tipo 44, powered by an inline eight-cylinder 2992cc engine (actually two four-cylinder blocks conjoined); one of allegedly 160 2+2 roadsters built qualifying for VSCCA racing at Lime Rock Park, September, 2010.

The significance of Bugatti racers in these years was illustrated at the 1930 Monaco Grand Prix – of the 23 automobiles on the starting grid, 14 (60%) were Bugattis.
1954 Siata 208 CS Stabilimenti Farina Berlinetta; only fifteen of this coupe model were built on the sixty chassis Siata created to accommodate the Fiat 70º V-8. Everybody else bought the convertible Spyders.

One was fitted with a Chrysler V-8 which in that year was available with hemispheric heads and so might have had more go-power than the relatively anemic 100-110 bhp the Fiat produced without tweaking.
1954 Siata 208 CS Stabilimenti Farina Berlinetta; only fifteen of this coupe model were built on the sixty chassis Siata created to accommodate the Fiat 70º V-8. Everybody else bought the convertible Spyders. 

One was fitted with a Chrysler V-8 which in that year was available with hemispheric heads and so might have had more go-power than the relatively anemic 100-110 bhp the Fiat produced without tweaking.
1954 Siata 208 CS Stabilimenti Farina Berlinetta; only fifteen of this coupe model were built on the sixty chassis Siata created to accommodate the Fiat 70º V-8. Everybody else bought the convertible Spyders.

One was fitted with a Chrysler V-8 which in that year was available with hemispheric heads and so might have had more go-power than the relatively anemic 100-110 bhp the Fiat produced without tweaking.
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Original size: 4020x2808 |
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Keywords: siata 1954 09071016
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