Volkswagen SP2

Volkswagen SP2 as seen in Paris.

Volkswagen do Brasil, São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil.  The SP2 was a sports car developed and produced locally by Volkswagen in Brazil between 1972 and 1976 for the local market as a replacement for the Karmann Ghia.   A rather attractive coupé it suffered from being underpowered for a sports car, although about 10,000 were sold.  It did however have a modern and attractive interior.  The car was built on a Volkswagen Variant Chassis but with an air-cooled flat 4 cylinder engine enlarged to 1.7 litres but still with only 75 hp.  Thus a top speed of 100mph and 0-60 time of around 16 seconds didn't really live up to its head turning looks.  Not many were exported and they are are now quite sought-after. The SP stood for São Paulo and there was SP1 that was even more underpowered!   It is said that the SP2 inspired the Porsche 924. 

1954 Dick Jacobs MG YB Special Coupé

1954 Jacobs MG Special, Stuart Dean, Etretat Hill Climb 2017.

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Dick Jacobs, South Woodford, Essex, England.  Dick Jacobs was a well known driver post-WW2 who drove for the works MG team and built a number of MG specials.  He took over the Mill Garage from his father in December 1945 and the next year it became an MG dealership. He then took up racing MGs with his first race being at Goodwood in 1948 in a supercharged MG TC where he finished fourth.  in 1949 he took his first win, had his first drive for the MG works team and built the fist of his MG specials on a TA chassis using a supercharged TC engine.  In the early fifties he raced an MG YB in production races with some success.  In 1954 he built two specials based on the MG YB, one of them being built on the last ever YB chassis 1551. The one built on chassis 1551 is the one owned by Stuart Dean and seen above at Etretat.   They had special glass fibre bodies built by RGS Automobile Components Ltd and 1.5 litre MG engines.  They were raced throughout 1954 but were however no match for the Lotus-MG of Colin Chapman.   Dick Jacobs drove a prototype MGA for the works team at the ill-fated 1955 Le Mans 24 hours but had a very bad crash that ended his racing career.  He did however recover to continue his MG business.  Stuart Dean regularly races and hill climbs this car including at the famous Goodwood Revival meeting.

Opel Commodore GS/E

Daniel Louis, Opel Commodore GS/E, Course de Cote du Mont Dore VHC 2016.

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For more photos of the Mont Dore Mountain Hillclimb, click on the link above.

Opel, Rüsselsheim ,Germany.    The GS/E was a sporty 2 door coupé version of the Commodore with a more powerful version of the 2.8 litre 6 cylinder engine.  This is the "B" version of the Commodore that was produced from 1972 to 1977.  It was used in touring car racing in the seventies.   One finished third in the 1973 Spa 24 hours.

1953 Porsche 550 Coupé

1953 Porsche 550 Coupé, Laguna Seca 2015, Porsche Rennsport Reunion V.

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Porsche, Stuttgart, Germany.  The car picture above was the very first Porsche 550 and was a pure racing prototype rather than a modified road car.  It had a 1.5 litre flat 4 engine and was capable of over 120 mph at circuits like Le Mans.  The car was initially an open roadster and won its class at the 1953 Nurburgring 1000kms.  After this it was converted to a coupé and finished second in class at Le Mans to its sister car.  In the colours it is pictured here it competed in the Carrera Pamericana but did not finish.  it finished the season by winning its class in the Buenos Aires 1000kms.  Beautiful, stunning car!   Drivers of this particular car included Hans Herrmann, Helm Glockler and Jaroslav Juhan.

1949 Porsche 356 SL Gmünd Coupé

1949 Porsche 356 SL, Porsche Rennsport Reunion V, Laguna Seca 2015

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Porsche, Gmünd, Austria.  After the war Porsche moved to Gmünd in Austria to design his own cars. They were rear engined roadsters and coupés built around Volkswagen components.  With an aluminium body and an air-cooled boxer 4 cylinder engine these cars started the Porsche tradition. The aluminium bodies later became steel and Porsche moved back to Germany but Porsche kept some aluminium bodies as super light works competition cars.  In 1951 they entered the Le Mans 24 hours and the car pictured won the 1,100cc class beating the French DB Panhard and also the 1,500cc class winning Jowett Jupiter.   This was Porsche's first entry into the Le Mans 24 hours, a race they would eventually win for the first time in 1970. In 1952 one of these cars won the Liege-Rome-Liege rally.

1947 Stanguellini 1100 Motto Coupé

1947 Stanguellini 1100 Motto Coupé, Le Salon RetroMobile, Paris  2016

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For more photos of the 2016 RetroMobile exhibition in Paris, follow the link above.

Stanguellini, Modena, Italy.  Vittorio Stanguellini was a Fiat dealer in Modena who started to produce cars with modified Fiat engines.   This 1947 car had a pre-war Fiat 508 chassis.  It has an lightweight aluminium body produced by CA-MO Torino (Motto).  The car raced in Italy during the late forties.  There is probably only one of these cars in the world.