AC Cobra Coupe 1964

Just something about the cars from this era, full of curves yet menacing looking. This is the one of a kind AC Cobra Coupe. AC Cars, which build the Ace on which the Shelby Cobra was based, built this to take on the Shelby Daytona Coupes at the 1964 24 hours of Le Mans.

Courtesy of Just a Car Guy, via  Primotipo;

Visibly lower than the Pete Brock designed Daytona coupe (41 inches compared with 48 inches- its height a function of uncertainty over Le Mans windscreen height regs) both designers sat the drivers lower in the car. Turner had also raked the windscreen, created a lower nose section and a longer flowing roof as well as designing the ‘eyebrows’ over the tops of the wheel arches he claimed help clean up airflow. During Le Mans Sears and Bolton were timed at 180.2mph @ 6300rpm, matching the Daytona Cobras despite giving away 30bhp to the Shelby entries- AC cars chassis #A98 had a 289cid/4.7 litre ‘Windsor’ engine which developed circa 355bhp, the Shelby cars had around 385bhp.

The car qualified conservatively second in class behind the Gurney/Bondurant Shelby entry and ran in that race position, at one point leading the class early in the race averaging 20mph for the first 3.5 hours. The big coupe began to have fuel feed problems which were found after the race to be caused by newspaper in the fuel tank- sabotage- which blocked the fuel filter. Much time was lost as the filter blockage was diagnosed and remedied.

A tire blew out late in the race, and the wreck of Coupe A98 was brought back to the AC headquarters in Thames Ditton and never rebuilt and or raced further ‘in period’. The very significant car was restored by Barrie Baird who negotiated its purchase in 1972. The work took over 12 years

https://primotipo.com/2018/03/08/ac-cobra-coupe/

 

 

BAUR TC3

The BAUR TC3, designed by ISDERA (Their Commendatore 112i being one of my all time favorite cars) for BAUR, based on an E30 BMW. The project was stopped by BMW because of their own upcoming Z1 project. So this is number one of one.

Th Jaguar E-Type is the on car Enzo Ferrari said was the most beautiful car ever made. Going above and beyond that are the people from Eagle...the cars they turn out are absolutely stunning. And the Eagle Speedster is probably the most stunning of them all! If I won the lottery tomorrow I know where Id be headed...

Thats some skills right there! Both on the bikrs side aaand the photographers!

Bizzarrini GT 1971

In an of themselves Bizzarrinis are already pretty unique cars. Not a lot were made when the factory was up and running, but this particular GT is even more unique as it was built long after the factory closed down. On top of that it uses a Lamborghini V12 instead of the usual Chevrolet V8s that were used previously.

This car was built by an ex Bizzarrini worker Giancarlo Riali using a Lamborghini 400GT/Jarama chassis. The body was left over after the Bizzarrini factory shut down and so Mr Riali used it to rebody the Jarama.

Its quite an interesting what if...a period body on a period chassis from a direct competitor. Makes one wonder what either company could have done, Lamborghini styling wise, and Bizzarrini engine and suspension wise.

Maserati Shamal Spyder by OPAC 1992

Unique and a one-off prototype of the Maserati Spyder. This car was intended as a successor of the 1980s Maserati Biturbo Spyder. It was first presented in 1994 at the motor show in Turin. In the beginning of 2000 this car ended up in the hands of a Dutch collector which has maintained the car perfectly. It was also regularly driven. Biturbo V8 engine is connected to a 5 speed gearbox. Technical specifications are identical to the Shamal. The manufacturer OPAC has also built a hardtop to make it complete.

Lamborghini LM004 7000

The idea of a multi-purpose Lamborghini was taken one step further with the enormous LM-004. The car was built around the same chassis as the LMA-002, but went much further, the engine wasn't the 'normal' 4754 cc unit (factory designation number L 503), but an all new 7.0-Litre one. This new engine was designed by Alfrieri and used very little parts from the original 5-Litre unit, this 7-Litre unit was actually destined for marine purposes and could be distinguished from the smaller V-12's by the larger exterior dimensions and the design of the cam cover. Several other parts around the engine were changed too, the gearbox became mechanical instead of the automatic ones in the first designs, and a special design by ZF was used, taken from the LMA-002. The suspension was also taken from the LMA, as was the power-assisted steering, but a big difference was the use of drum brakes on the rear axle.

Lamborghini aimed the LM-004 at another category of customers, this was clearly visible on the inside of this car, the seats were changed for body-hugging types like those in the Countach, upholstered in leather, with nice carpets on the floor, a complete dashboard with radio-telephone, VHF radio, stereo system, air-conditioning, refrigerator and a cold-water tap between the back seats.
All this made the LM-004 appear like a giant, upright Countach, and this large, 3000 Kg heavy beast could even reach 200 Km/h.

Only one LM-004 was built, the new 7-Litre engine did not perform well enough to allow the increase of weight against a 5-Litre unit. Therefore, further testing was done with the 5-Litre unit, resulting in the LM-002, which would be commercialized from 1986 on, in almost the same form as the LM-004.
Note that the original LM004/7000 was actually tested by AutoCar in May 1986, perhaps you can still find a copy of this test, unfortunately this rare Lamborghini no longer exists today.
Rumors state however that it was possible to order the LM002 with the 7.0-Litre Lamborghini marine engine fitted into it, naturally on special demand for a wealthy customer, prices for this 'option' were never published, but then again, anyone who would order it with this massive engine wouldn't care about a little extra cost.

VW streamline prototype

Based on the KdF-Wagen Typ 60, aka VW Beetle, it was designed by K.C. Volkhart as a fast courier car for Luftwaffe (German Air Force). Body, designed by Baron Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld, was built by Helmut Fuchs Niederwenningern/Ruhr. Thanks to its low drag coefficient (0.17 only) the streamline body allowed for speeds up to 150 km/h. The engine, mounted at the rear, was the standard VW 1.1-liter boxer, 24.5 hp.

Bentley Continental T

One of my all time favorite cars! I have just always really loved the muscle car looks combined with the Bentley refinement. The T version had a shorter wheelbase, and wider fenders compared to the regular versions of the Continental. Considering it has a GM 4L80-E it would be interesting to see what a swap to a 6 speed 6L80-E would give performancewise (and fuel savings wise). One odd thing about these is that they have two brake calipers in the front. Would be interesting to know the reasoning behind that...

 

Lamborghini LM003 Borneo

During the ownership of Automobili Lamborghini SpA by the Indonesian group, a study was made to put a LM002 replacement into production.

The LM002 obviously had flaws but it still was a steady low volume seller, therefore a United Kingdom based company was contacted to design a successor to the LM002, but later this job was handed over to SZ Design, a company based on the remains of the Zagato Design Studio.
This was to become the LM003, named Borneo or Galileo, depending on what market it was sold in. The LM003 name was actually confusing because an LM003 did already exist in the past, it was in fact an LM002 with a Turbocharged Diesel engine installed into it instead of the massive V12, but because the complete car was very underpowered with this engine configuration only one prototype was ever made and never left the factory.

A preliminary drawing was made for the new LM003 project, but an in depth market research study revealed only a small interest would exist in the new LM003. Most Lamborghini customers or future customers were not exactly waiting for a new off roader, a much more wanted car would have been an Espada successor like the L149 project or a new Diablo successor. For that reason the Borneo/Galileo never even made it into the prototype stage. A few drawings by Zagato exist, together with some technical proposals, with which a full scale mock up was created.

The new LM003 Borneo would become a joint venture between Timor, and Indonesian based automaker and Lamborghini. The body shell would not be made in Italy but in the Far East. The LM002 bodywork was in fact made in Spain when it was still in production.


The rumors persist that a new Lamborghini SUV will be produced, and if its anything like the concept that was show it will look amazing! I guess we will have to wait and see...