Shelby AC3000 ME 1981

AC Cars might not ring as many bells as Shelby but it is one of the oldest independent automobile manufacturers in Britain. Of course their greatest claim to fame was creating the AC Ace, the car Carroll Shelby based the AC Cobra on and later the S/C Cobras and Dayton Coupes.

In the 1970's AC developed the AC 3000ME. This small 2-seat mid-engine sports car had a transversely mounted Ford Essex 3.0 liter V6. As was classic for the era the styling was wedge-shaped using fiberglass for the body. It had front and rear independent double-wishbone suspension, rack and pinion steering, and four-wheel disc brakes, with a rearward 40:60 weight bias. On paper it should have been a real performer!

At about the same time PanterAmerica was importing DeTomaso Panteras into the U.S. after the Lincoln-Mercury/DeTomaso agreement ended in 1974. PanterAmerica also wanted to bring an affordable mid-engine car to the U.S. and the Belgian dealer they purchased the Panteras from was also an AC dealer. The AC 3000ME seemed the logical choice. PanterAmerica imported a rolling AC 3000ME, without engine and transaxle. The drivetrain was supposed to come from a U.S. manufacturer. However, they had problems acquiring drivetrains from either Ford or GM, the only option left was to go with Chrysler. But instead of going to them directly they spoke with Carroll Shelby, who had been recently hired by Chrysler. Carroll was on board with their idea provided a fuel-injected, turbocharged Chrysler 4-cylinder, 2.2 engine

Panteramerica restyled the body slightly, mainly front fenders and front end, with a new design, painted the car blue and silver, and added new Compomotive split rims. The prototype was presented to Lee Iacocca., but unfortunately, Iacocca, then in the middle of trying to save Chrysler, didn’t warm up to the idea of a low-volume mid-engine sports car, leaving the Shelby AC 3000ME a one-of-a-kind. Its a shame, a car that could have been a real contender, and ahead of the Pontiac Fiero, but fell by the wayside

Jiotto Caspita 1988

Yet another car that could have been but only managed to get to the first prototype stage, the Jiotto Caspita. The car was designed by by Kunihisa Ito, who was the vice-president and chief designer of Jiotto Design Incorporated.

The cars were built by Dome, but from what I have seen its not clear if two were built or if one was built and assembled with two different engines. What is certain is that two engines were used. The first one a Motori Moderni flat-12, basically a detuned F1 engine. In 1990 was stripped and then rebuilt with a Judd V10. Both engines were transversely mounted, and powered the rear wheels through a 6 speed gearbox built by Weismann. The car first made its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show in the same year. Unfortunately the project would die out in 1993 due to the global recession. With the Judd engine, the Caspita is capable of 577 horsepower (430 kW) at 10,750 rpm and 283 ft·lbf (284 N·m) of torque at 10,500 rpm. This, along with a curb weight of 2734 lb (1240 kg), gives the Caspita a 0-60 mph acceleration time of approximately 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 199 miles per hour (320 km/h).

Its a shame it wasnt built, its quite good looking I think. The rear deck is a bit too Jaguar XJR-15 but all around I like it.

Foden R Type 1934 and Unimog U5000 Crew Cab

I am definitively not a truck enthusiast, except for Unimogs and Paris-Dakar type expedition trucks. So normally I wouldn't have gone to a truck show but my job took me to one. There was some interesting things (modern truck diesels are amazing) but the two things that stood out were these two trucks.

The first is a Foden R Type truck from 1934. The workmanship on the truck was truly great. A wooden cab with brass fittings and all the nice stuff you would expect from something built in 1934. The really interesting thing though is that this model truck actually started off steam powered! The company realized that diesel was the future of truck power and so converted a design made for steam power into diesel. Quite an interesting in between moment.

 The second is something Ive always loved, the Unimog. The sheer UTILITY of the thing! If there was ever a zombie apocalypse this would 100% be what I would drive around! Add a sleeper cab in the back instead of the fire fighter equipment and done. The tires btw are 47 inches tall...hard to tell since theres nothing next to them to compare the size.

FIAT Abarth 2000 by Pininfarina

Obviously from these pictures we can see this is 100% a 1970s concept. Im not sure exactly what year it was made but seems like 1970. It quite good looking from a head on angle, but the rear end in my opinion doesnt flow as well.

In any case, being just over 39" tall it must have made quite an impact back then, and probably still would! The concept was built on a FIAT chassis and fitted with a 2ltr 4 cylinder engine with DOHC's and producing about 220bhp.

100 Years of Car Production in Oxford

This weekend I took a little day trip to Oxford just for the hell of it. Unknown to me they were having a little car meet celebrating 100 years of car manufacturing in Oxford. Right now, as far as I know, the Mini is the only car made in Oxford.

There were a few curious things there...


The first was a 1928 Morris Cowley. I normally don't go to car shows with pre 1950s cars and I probably just haven't noticed this detail before in any of the car museums Ive been in before but I thought it was pretty neat. To eliminate the need to open the window to honk the horn before electric horns were available this one went though the windshield frame.

I always get a kick out of these mechanical water temperature gauges, they look like less complicated pocket watches in a glass case.

This 1926 MG had a pair of very cool ship style air vents on the cowl! I'm not sure if they are original but they certainly looked like something that at the very least would be available in the after market in the 1920s. the inside being painted the same color as the car was a nice touch.

Lastly this odd looking "stop light" mounted on a  1933 Morris Cowley. You can read the whole explanation in the two pages written at the time but basically they were used to signal the car turning, stopping, and even a pre signal warning indicating that a signal was going to be made. I can not imagine these would have been very visible from far away with the light technology of the day and small size!

Cadillac Series 61 1950

Dont really need to say anything for this one...well, maybe just WOW!

Marcos Mantis XP 1968

When the Marcos Mantis XP debuted in the 1968 Spa 24 Hours race in Belgium it must have been like the Batmobile showing up. With the more normal and curvy looking Fords, Porsches and Ferraris of the late 60s this very angular racer represented the hopes of a very small British manufacturer who was fighting for a place in the performance car market.  The Mantis XP DNFd the Spa race due to electrical problems, and has been mothballed ever since then until its recent resurrection by a careful restoration in California.  The 1968 Marcos Mantis XP is literally a one-of-a-kind, not only as far as how many were made, but also in terms of its looks which even nowadays is unique...let alone in 1968!

Some would say the late 1960s represented a high water mark in the automotive world. This was the era of the Ford GT40, Ferrari Dino, Lamborghini Miura, and many other cars whos curves still fascinate today, not to mention all the extremely futuristic prototypes of the era. The Marcos Mantis XP simply brought its futuristic design to the world championship racing circuit.  It was powered by a mid-mounted BRM-Repco V8 Formula 1 engine, whose cylinders rose into the clear-covered engine compartment in the rear of the vehicle.  This engine gave it a pace which was enough to compete with the world’s top race cars until the electrical problems which sidelined it at the Spa 1000km.

thankfully even though Marcos is no longer in business, the Marcos Mantis XP is seeing new life on the vintage exhibition circuit giving everyone a look at what the future might have looked like circa 1968.

Lancia HIT concept by Pininfarina 1988

Many times I come across or recall cars that I cant find much information on and usually tend not to post those as I would like this blog to be as much for information as for just looking at nice pictures. Since there are many cars that I havent posted due to this I am going to start doing so so as to have them even if it is for aesthetics sake.

So, this is the Lancia HIT designed by Pininfarina in 1988. It is based on a Lancia Delta. The HIT was shown to the public at the 1988 Turin Motorshow. The name 'HIT' was formed from 'High Italian Technology, an indication that this car was a technology demonstrator. the technology that it demonstrated was not so much the drive train which used the mechanicals of the Delta HF Integrale, but the chassis which was created using carbon fiber. The composite materials gave an overall weight of just 980 kg. when a stock Delta HF weighed in at 1215 kg.

Considering what an awesome car the Delta HF was, this would have been amazing with 235 Kg. less!

Aston Martin Lagonda Vignale Prototype 1993

Back when this car came out I thought it was the most awesome thing ever! It just looked so incredibly futuristic to me, plus back then concept cars were still very heavy on the colorful, rounded plastic interior details and this was all machined metal and high tech looking. Looking at it now it looks like one of those fat car sculptures...how things change. Guess it was never bound to be one of those timeless designs.

This is definitively one of those cars that made full use of the synergies available to Aston Martin at the time. In the early nineties they were owned by Ford and were having a tough time selling cars or even knowing what KIND of cars to make. At the same time Ford also owned Ghia, the Italian Carrozzeria purchased by them in 1970. With Ford money a plan was hatched to see what Aston could build to get more sales. Eventually Moray Callum was enlisted to design a saloon to revive the defunct Lagonda brand. In a twist of serendipity Moray’s older brother Ian was simultaneously designing the DB7.
These being Ford projects they decided to have some platform sharing to build the new DB7 and Lagonda. The DB7 used the Jaguar XJS chassis, and the Lagonda concept was based on another car within Ford, the 1990 Lincoln Town Car. The Lagonda’s bulbous, art deco styled bodywork sat on a extended Town Car chassis, and also borrowed the suspension and four-speed gearbox, as well as the Ford 4.6-litre DOHC V8 which only made 190bhp. The Ford engine was only to be used in the prototype, and once the car reached production it was planned that it would use the 5.9-litre V12 (which incidentallyI work on now).

The Lagonda Vignale was first shown at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show. Its rounded organic shape hid its enormous dimensions – it was wider and had a longer wheelbase than the Silver Spirit of the same era. The lack of a corporate styling in past Lagondas basically gave Moray Callum a chance to design whatever he liked. “We pretty much did what we wanted to do,” he recalls. “There wasn’t much DNA to hold onto… we just tried to reproduce a flamboyance about the car.” Callum’s unusual design, for the time in a  saloon, of making the overhangs short (a practice common now) together with its large wheelbase and size gave lots of room in the interior.

In the end the Lagonda Vignale’s design wasn’t enough to help it go into production together, or even instead of, the DB7 in Aston Martin’s production plans. Despite it being well received, Ford considered the Lagonda brand too expensive to revive, given its obscurity outside the UK, and the DB7 fitted in with the Aston Martin brand heritage because of its DB predecessors.

Luckily there were two cars made and sold. One of course one was sold to the Sultan of Brunei for £1.3m in 1995. This car had several design changes including slightly smaller dimensions (it used a different Ford chassis), different headlights and redesigned grille, burgundy paintwork and an upgrade to V12 power. A second car in Sorrento Blue car was kept by Ford until 2002 and then sold by Christie’s for $403,500. Unfortunately a third the gray car was destroyed once its worthiness as a publicity tool had expired.

Ghia Barchetta based on a Ford Fiesta XR2 1983

So many "What if..." cars out there that could have really changed the way things turned out. Take this Ghia Barchetta based on a Ford Fiesta XR2 platform. It predates the Miata for quite some time, and Ford might just have been started a new roadster renaissance rather than Mazda! The front end looks quite sleek I think, although the rear end is definitively a product of 80s styling. Its always hard to tell by pictures how large a car is but unless the guys standing next to this one was 6' 6" it does look quite tiny, the windshield top is barely higher than his waist! That mighty have been its downfall had it ever seen production...but who knows, maybe not.