Wolf GB08

 

Wolf GB08 at the Course de Côte de Tonnerre 2020

See more photos from the 2020 Tonnerre Hillclimb via this link.

Wolf Racing Cars, Gardone Val Trompia, Brescia, Italy.  Wolf Racing Cars are an Italian racing car constructor who as Avelon Racing bought the rights to us the Walter Wolf name in 2009.  The original Walter Wolf Racing was a F1 constructor that famously won its first race when Jody Scheckter won the 1977 Argentine GP.  The F1 adventure ended in 1979 when Walter Wolf sold his team to Fittipaldi.  

The first car from the new Walter Wolf Racing was the GB08 a CN group prototype car.  The original GB08 had a Honda engine in common with many CN cars.  The cars are used in trackdays,  hillclimbs, prototype racing series and Endurance races all over the world.  The livery of many of the cars recall the F1 days.  

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. 

1955 Pichon-Parat Dolomites

 

A 1955 Pichon Parat Dolomites on the 2020 Tour Auto.  

For more photos of the 2020 Tour Auto - click here.

Pichon et Parat Carrossier, Sens, L'Yonne, France.  Pichon-Parat were coachbuilders who started in 1952.  The company was named after the founders, Bernard Pichon and André Parat. The Dolomites was first presented at the Paris Motor Show in October 1953.  It was built on the base of a Panhard Dyna X, a small capacity, lightweight, front engine, front wheel drive saloon car.  By adding a lightweight streamlined metal body Pichon-Parat turned it into a desirable sports car for rallying.  With a weight of about 500kg and a 750cc 2 cylinder motor it could reach about 150 kph.  Versions were also offered up to 850cc.

One of the first cars was bought by Laurent Sagnier who entered it into the 1954 Tour de France Automobile and hence its eligibility for the modern Tour Auto.  About three different styles of the Dolomites were built, all for competition.  Nowadays, these cars are rather rare as only about twenty or so were ever made.  Pichon-Parat also made cars based on the Renault 4CV, Citroens, Lancias, Talbots, BMW and even American chassis; all in relatively small volumes.  Pichon-Parat continued into the early seventies as a coachbuilder although André Parat died in the mid-Sixties.

1952 Cunningham C4R

A Cunningham C4R at the Le Mans Classic in 2018.

For more photos from the 2018 Le Mans Classic Plateau 2 - click here.

B.S.Cunningham Company, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.   Briggs Cunningham first entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race in 1950 and was determined to win it.   He never actually did but came relatively close on at least one occasion, especially with the C4R which was powered by a 5.4 litre (later 5.5 litre) Chrysler V8 engine.  The first Cunningham C4Rs were built in 1952 with George Briggs Weaver in charge of the body and chassis design.  The car was a typical front engined rear wheel drive roadster with a big engined American V8 under the bonnet.  The roadholding was reputed to be very good but brakes and steering were a weak pont compared to the Jaguars of the era.   Top speed was around 155mph.

In 1952 two of these cars came to Le Mans and came away with fourth place in the hands of Briggs Cunningham himself and Bill Spear.  Later in the year John Fitch took the car to its first win in a 200 mile race at Elkhart Lake,  1953 saw the first ever World Sportscar Championship and a Cunningham C4R won the first ever round of the Championship in March at the 12 Hours of Sebring with John Fitch and Phil Walters at the wheel.   However, at Le Mans the sole C4R could only finish seventh.  Some consolation was gained a few weeks later with a 3rd place in the Reims 12 Hours.  It also appeared in a support race at the British GP.  In 1954 two C4Rs appeared at Le Mans and one of them came third driven by Bill Spear and Sherwood Johnston.   It was a brave effort but it was becoming very difficult to take on Jaguar, Ferrari and Mercedes at Le Mans.  The car did take a few more small victories in US races.   Only two cars (plus a C4RK coupé) were built in period, but 4 authorised continuation cars were built in the 1990s and another replica was built on a C3 chassis.  

Borgward B1500 Truck

A fifties Borgward B1500 truck in Portugal

For more photos from recent classic vehicle events, click here.

Borgward, Sebaldsbrück, Bremen Germany.  Carl Borgward was involved in producing trucks from around 1924 starting with the Goliath and Hansa-Lloyd brands.   In 1952 he introduced the Borgward B1500 truck that was designed to compete with other 1.5 ton trucks and had a load capacity of 1,600kg.  There were two versions powered either by 1,758cc diesel or petrol engine.  Models prior to 1954 had the headlamps mounted on the wings and had a vertical radiator grill, but later ones like this one had them integrated each side of the radiator grill.  The later version was affectionally called "alligator nose".   The model was the most successful of Borgward trucks with over 30,000 produced.  Unfortunately Borgward went bankrupt in 1961.   As this truck was produced in large numbers you can still seem them around from time to time.  This one was seen in Favaios in Portugal in 2019.  Lovely looking fifties truck.

1910 Unic C1

Unic , Paris-Rambouillet 2018

Pour plus de photos du Paris-Rambouillet 2018, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the 2018 Paris-Rambouillet commemoration run, click here.

Unic, Puteaux, France.  Unic was an automobile manufacturer founded by Richard Brasier in 1905,  with funding from Baron Henri de Rothschild.  Originally the company made just light cars and taxis.  In the end taxis were perhaps what they became most famous for and they were commonplace in Paris, London and Monaco.  They then went on to make light vans and other utility vehicles and from 1922 trucks.  Cars were made until just before WWII.  In the nineteen fifties the truck business was integrated into Simca.

Early model numbers were a letter followed by a number.  The vehicle pictured above appears to be  a C1 four cylinder two seater from about 1910.

The name Unic comes from the French word "unique" and refers to the common interchangeable parts used in various models.   Unic cars were amongst the first sold on credit.

Porsche 959

Porsche 959 at Laguna Seca for the Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI.  The 1985 Paris-Dakar Rally car driven by René Metge.

Pour plus de photos de la Rennsport Reunion VI, suivez ce lien.

For more photos from the Rennsport Reunion VI, click here.

Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Germany.   The 959 is probably my favourite Porsche road car.  Nearly 300 were made to meet the requirements of Group B.  It was the first Porsche Supercar and took the 911 concept to another level.  It had a 450bhp 2,849cc twin turbocharged flat six engine that was derived from the Porsche Indy Car power plant,  It took the 959 to over 190mph in road trim and thus was the fastest road car at the time it was introduced in 1986.

The rear of the road going 959 defined its good looks.

It had success in motorsport.  In 1986 Porsche scored a 1-2 in the Paris-Dakar Rally with René Metge winning from Jacky Ickx.   In the same year the racing version of the 959, the 961 won its class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and came seventh overall driven by René Metge and Claude Ballot-Lena.

The Porsche 953 that was a modified 911 that included 959 components and took pat in the 1984-Paris-Daker.  Here it travels across a gravel trap at Laguna Seca!