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posted 09-03-2010 19:38
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Pretty much standard saloons in the 50s I think. They got a bit sportier, and smaller, in the 60s. Peter ended his career driving Sunbeam Alpines and the Hillman Imp, which was the size of an original mini with a rear engine. I'll post some pictures when I get home, unless someone beats me to it.
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Last Edit: 09-03-2010 20:10 By ursus arctos.
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posted 09-03-2010 20:01
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Ah! many thanks. La Signora has a couple of personal photos which capture the ambience of rallying in the 50s very well, with her permission I'll post them here later.
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posted 09-03-2010 21:31
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Sweet.
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posted 10-03-2010 00:39
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The very first specifically built rally car was the Austin-Healey 3000. Although it was more complicated than that; they were built to be easily rebuilt with parts from other cars.
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posted 10-03-2010 01:17
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That's beautiful. I imagine, however, that owning one now wouldn't be as much fun as it looks because it probably is difficult to maintain. I'm just guessing.
My dad owns this (not this one, but one very similar).
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Last Edit: 10-03-2010 02:01 By Reed John.
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Last Edit: 10-03-2010 03:47 By Amor de Cosmos.
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posted 10-03-2010 05:33
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That's priceless stuff there.
Their safety gear is almost comical in retrospect. The helmets probably didn't do much.
Was rallying then more or less like it is now? Navigator tells the driver what's coming while the driver goes like a bat out of hell?
I've never heard of any of these cars. Perhaps they simply were not exported into the US so I've never seen one or heard of anyone having one.
As the emergence of NASCAR as well my dad's 1957 Ford Fairlane illustrates, America had a very different idea of what a car was supposed to look like in the 1950s.
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posted 10-03-2010 06:27
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Was rallying then more or less like it is now? Navigator tells the driver what's coming while the driver goes like a bat out of hell?
I don't really know, my familiarity with this stuff is just a family thing. I think that was how it worked. The navigator recited everything from a big roll, kept the driver supplied with pills and got yelled at a lot.
I've never heard of any of these cars. Perhaps they simply were not exported into the US so I've never seen one or heard of anyone having one.
I think most British and European cars were viewed as too small and basically equipped for the US back then. A fair number were exported to Canada and, I think some sports cars to the US, MGs, Jaguars, Morgans etc. I'd imagine, by the mid-60s, a few Alpines would've shown up too. We didn't see many American cars in Britain back then either.
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posted 10-03-2010 09:36
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Wow! Those photos are brilliant. Please post more, if you have any.
You can't imagine a car (even a British one) getting christened the 'Super Snipe' these days, could you? I still can't believe they got rallied, either.
All-time coollest rally car? Probably the Renault Alpine A110:
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...although I've got a soft spot for the sheer mentalism of the Metro 6R4:
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edit: They did 0-60 in a shade over 2 seconds! Wanna know why?...
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That's the same engine that got used in the Jag XJ220!
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Last Edit: 10-03-2010 09:41 By evilski.
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posted 10-03-2010 14:21
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evilC wrote:
Wow! Those photos are brilliant. Please post more, if you have any.
You can't imagine a car (even a British one) getting christened the 'Super Snipe' these days, could you? I still can't believe they got rallied, either.
There are loads of photos, (its a matter of finding them!)
I was surprised at the Rally Humber too. I don't think it was done often. (In fact this might be the only occasion, which would account for the PR coverage.) In the 50s Rootes mostly had him drive Hillman Minxes and Sunbeam Rapiers.
Yeah the "Super Snipe" is an odd choice. Especially as the smaller, downmarket "Hawk" is ornithologically speaking, a lot bigger and more macho creature.
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Last Edit: 10-03-2010 14:25 By Amor de Cosmos.
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posted 10-03-2010 15:13
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But most people think of the snipe as a mythical creature, e.g. snipe hunts.
That engine on the Metro is cool. I've always thought it would be cool to have something small and innocent-looking like a VW bug and then somehow stick a massive fuck-off engine in it somehow. As I recall, in the 1980s DC comics series The Question by Denny O'Neill and Denys Cowan, the titular character had such a car.
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posted 10-03-2010 15:45
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Back in the 70s a friend of mine had a VW Microbus with a Porsche engine. Sure surprised the cops a few times.
But most people think of the snipe as a mythical creature, e.g. snipe hunts.
Not in the UK I suspect.
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Last Edit: 10-03-2010 15:47 By Amor de Cosmos.
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posted 10-03-2010 16:06
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Reed of the Valley People wrote:
My dad owns this (not this one, but one very similar).
If that's a Fairlane, my dad owned one too. Back when it was new, though. Oh, and he raced stock cars in Toronto in the late '50s.
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posted 10-03-2010 16:09
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Yeah, a 57 Fairlane. My dad's family had one when it was new, and my dad always wanted another one and finally bought one from a guy in Iowa a few years back.
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posted 10-03-2010 16:18
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Nice.
My dad's one of those guys who can look off into the middle-distance and recite the year, make, model and pertinent specs of every car he's owned. "It was a '57 but I bought it in spring of '59 for $1600. And that's when I was working at X and making $45 a week." That sort of thing.
At the Toronto Auto Show a few weeks ago, they had a big homage to Carroll Shelby. Tons of old Mustangs, and a bunch of genuine AC Cobras with 427s stuffed into them. As well, there were a few Sunbeam Alpines and Tigers with absurdly big engines. Just stunning, the whole mess.
Big-ass gallery of the cars here, if you're fussed.
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Last Edit: 10-03-2010 16:20 By Worn Old Motorbike.
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posted 10-03-2010 16:44
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My dad and my uncle do that too.
Guys my age also remember cars of their youth, but instead of warm nostalgia, the conversation is usually more of a dark comedy, talking about hand-me-down 1970's POS' or mediocre 1980s and early 1990s used cars which we had and drove into the ground and were, in retrospect, horribly unsafe. Comments like "Oh, remember how we used duct tape to keep the door shut on that ride to Charlottesville that one time and then how it rusted through and we could see the road passing beneath our feet? Good times."
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posted 10-03-2010 16:57
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Snipe's are mythical creatures?
Does anyone else struggle to imagine people actually racing the first three cars on this this thread? THe raw engine power of a mobility scooter, the acceleration of teddy sheringham, and the handling of a sofa.
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posted 10-03-2010 17:07
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Reed: I'm that way with my '73 Beetle. The master brake cylinder was gone, so I drove around using the handbrake. And the alternator wouldn't charge the battery, so for months I had to park only on inclines so I could bum-start it to get going. Needless to say, it had absolutely no heat...in Canada...and no defrosting. So I had to drive with the window partially open and a small ice scraper to clear a small patch to see through.
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