Merry Christmas from Positive Earth!

Merry Christmas, Positive Earth readers and thank you for spending your time here.

Give a Cortina a Home

Mark I Ford Cortinas are aren't exactly thick on the ground here in the US. In fact, many of them may have corroded back into the ground waiting to be mined again for some future iron ore use.

An uncommon model of this uncommon car is for sale in Positive Earth's home turf of the American Gulf Coast. A Pensacola, Florida resident has one listed on Craig's List for an unmentioned sum. He claims that it is a 1966 model and the photos show that it is a station wagon (estate car) on Rostyle wheels (mostly).

As to be expected, the car is rather rough with various dents and scrapes. As far as corrosion goes well, you better act quickly while there is still an identifiable car. Yes, it's difficult to make a case for restoration but wouldn't an estate Lotus Cortina clone  be a hoot?  As it is, it would be of value for parts harvesting only.

Check out the Craig's List post here.

How Does That Work, Anyway?

The GadgetsWow blog recently put a series of animated gifs that help explain the operation of complex machinery. Some of the more interesting images include a rotary (Wankel) engine a radial engine and a constant velocity joint. You can check out the complete set of images here. 

A Four Speed Gearbox - - gadgetswow.com

A Classic Camera and its Classic Shots

Film Foto Forever

John Oliver runs the Film Foto Forever Web site where he posts articles about the joys of photographing with film in a related blog. John recently came into the possession of a Leica IIIC 35 mm camera that originally belonged to his wife's grandfather - Jack Holliday - who had passed away a short time ago. The camera came with a large number of slides that Holliday shot and John is painstakingly digitizing them.

One of the first batches completed included a selection of photos taken at the 1956 Watkins Glen Grand Prix. These photos captured a a series of candid moments of course workers, spectators and competitors. You'll want to bookmark his blog to keep up with the new posts. 
 

The Names in Our Cars

bbc.com

Dan Carney of the BBC's Autos Web page posted an interesting feature about the names of equipment on automobiles that were derived from their inventors. For example, the MacPherson strut (shown) so common on today's vehicles was the brainchild of Ford of England's Earl MacPherson.

Check out the rest of the feature here.

Finally - A Web Site that Allows You to Browse Self-Service Scrappers

Haunting scrapyards is one of those activities that requires no explanation to those who "get it". On the other hand, for those who don't, no amount of proselytizing will win a convert.  Count me (and most of my friends) in the first group. While browsing a yard in person is always the best way, some very smart types created the next best way: a Web site that lets you check out the inventory of 90 (as of this writing) yards across the USA.   

Row 52 provides this vital service at no charge to the user. You can search by year, make and model, or you can check out any yard in the system in its entirety if you are so inclined. The site also has contact information for local "pullers" that will - for an agreed-upon fee - pull your specific part and ship it to you. 

Useful tool or another time suck? You can thank me/hate me later.  

A Visit to the Morgan Factory

The folks from /DRIVE visited the Morgan factory in Malvern Link last year. The tour was hosted by Charles Morgan shortly before his dismissal from the firm. 



For those of you who may not know, /DRIVE is an Internet automotive news video magazine that covers topics ranging from modern supercars to classics. If you have a half hour or so invest, /DRIVE is an interesting site to browse.

This is blog post number 600. Thank you for visiting this site over the years.

An MG TD With a Spoonful

Hullabaloo 1965 and The Lovin' Spoonful made an appearance lip sync their top 40 hit "Do You Believe in Magic". In keeping with the practice of the day, the set was decorated in a theme and this one was about going places. Highway signage, mannequin-like young ladies on motorcycles and the band perched in an MG TD.

It wasn't a new car at this point in time so painting the band's name on the bonnet probably wasn't a big deal. A small dent on the passenger side rear fender tells us that the car was certainly used as intended.

 

When British Cars Were Exported in Crates

Marque1 Blog

Philip Powell over at the Marque1 blog ran a story about the export crating of British cars. Apparently, most cars were shipped overseas in crates until the early 1960s to allow more cars to be stowed in the holds of ships.

On arrival the cars were lifted out of the holds via the ship's cranes and set down dockside. Today, of course, cars are driven off the vessels.

Check out his entry here.

Orange McLarens in Formula 1 Racing

McLaren M7C Grand Prix car - Wikipedia

Fans of the SCCA Canadian-American Challenge Cup know well the shade of orange that the McLaren team used during their heyday in the early 1970s. Called "papaya" by the team, it was used extensively on all of their cars in Can-Am, USAC, Formula 1 and sports prototypes. 

The McLaren (or to be precise the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) web site has an interesting article posted by writer Alan Henry discussing the team's colors:

"There used to be a time when Formula 1 team liveries were predictable and structured. The Italian teams ran in ‘rosso corsa’ racing red, the British outfits in a stately racing green, the French in a Gallic blue and the Germans in white – or bare-metal ‘silver’, as Mercedes’ well-hewn motorsport folk tale popularly recounts."

Check out  Alan's complete entry on the McLaren Blog site.

"I am the Eye in the Sky - Looking at You..." *

* With apologies to the Alan Parsons Project. 

It's certainly not often that you'll run across a Jaguar E-Type in the wild, much less often in Google Maps. But that's just what has taken place.

In the image below, you'll see a silver (ahem, actually Opalescent  Silver Gray) E-Type coupe parked outside a garage in South Alabama. Even in the low-res image, the classically beautiful lines of the car are are visible. 

Click the Image for a Larger Version

OK, the car belongs to one Richard Cunningham, current South Alabama British Car Club president and proprietor of Classic Motorcar Services. The shot was likely taken in late April not long after he and I returned from a trip to Atlanta to attend The Mitty at Road Atlanta. The blue smudge at lower left is my daily driver Honda Civic Si. I suppose I was there bending wrenches in the CMS garage. 

Do you know of other classic car sightings through Google Maps or Google Earth? Drop me a line in the comments section.

London Congestion - 1960

The folks over at the Retronaut web site ran this image of traffic in London during the rail strike of 1960. For fans of golden age British cars, there's a lot to take in.

Courtesy retronaut.com

A quick glance shows a number of Rovers, small Austins and even a Daimler  - possibly a Conquest in the scrum of drivers desperate to make it their destinations in the midst of the work stoppage that affected both surface and underground rails. 

Building the Legend

Recreations of famous cars are not uncommon. Some are more accurate than others, but all of them stem from a desire to own a piece of history. The UK has a number of producers of replica cars that are quite hard to tell apart from the real thing without a close look and some knowledge of the model before you. 

There is one car undergoing a build that will be accurate down to last detail - perhaps more true to the original than the "original" car. The subject of the build is a Jaguar XJ13.

The story of the XJ13 has been extensively documented, but in summary Jaguar determined that a return to LeMans with a top-class prototype car would be in the firm's best interest. The immensely talented Malcolm Sayer was tapped to design the car in 1965. The V12 powered car was developed in fits and starts until it was finally put away for good after it was determined that it would not be competitive without extensive further development. 

 The stunning car remained in Jaguar's storage facilities with occasional runs for publicity. One such run at the MIRA test facility in early 1971 ended with the total destruction of the car in a high speed accident. It was subsequently rebuilt to something close to its original appearance in time for it to be displayed alongside the first of the V12 powered Jaguar E-Types in 1973.   


Neville Swales' quest to build an hyper-accurate recreation began with the discovery and purchase of the only surviving twin cam V12 engine built for the original XJ13. His extensive contacts within the Jaguar organization and his research skills are the foundation for this enormous undertaking. His goal is nothing short of an absolutely perfect copy of the 1966 car. 

Neville is sharing his build with the world in his fascinating web site. He frequently posts photos and stories of the progress of his project along with details uncovered in his ongoing research. I heartily recommend that you visit it often.  

Brit Rocker's Brit Cars

Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull in a Morgan

The Daily Mail ran an article about rock and roll stars and their cars in a recent issue and  they've got a version available for online browsing.

There is a photo of a delighted John Lennon photographed in his Triumph Herald convertible just after he successfully passed his drivers license examination in 1965. There is another one of a dejected Mick Jagger answering a policeman's questions regarding the accident that damaged his Aston Martin DB6.

Take a moment to browse the article and the photos of a long ago past.  

This Bicycle Was a Car

As the weekend draws closer, it looks as though old Ma Nature is going to rain on the SABCC Scrapyard Crawl scheduled for this Saturday. Never fear, we'll still meet for breakfast and watch the predicted rain fall.

Keeping with the scrapyard theme, a group of activists/artists in Spain is building bicycles from bits gleaned from cars and trucks found in yards in Madrid. They call themselves Lola Madrid and they've got a cool Web site up promoting their efforts. 

You've probably heard about Spain's economic problems with high levels of unemployment. Hopefully, these efforts will allow a few people to find a job harvesting parts and building bikes. 



Oh, and the title makes more sense if you pronounce it by-CYLED instead of bicycled. Geddit?

Interactive Map of BL Facilities

The always-interesting AROnline web site has recently posted a Google map of the various factories operated by British Leyland.  Created by Jonathan Barber, the map is an ongoing work in progress with updates made frequently. 

The map lists in detail the factories that churned out radiators, bodies and so on, as wells as the more well known final assembly plants. Many of the pins on the map offer detailed information about the site such as the plant's original purpose and when it closed. In addition to the many plants in the UK, the Continental European factories are also located.

Road Racing in Cuba - 1958

For most Americans Cuba has been an off-limits island for their entire lives. What the under-thirty crowd knows about the island nation is largely based on a vibrant immigrant community, newscasts and the occasional diplomatic spat. Prior to the American embargo, Cuba was the destination of choice for Americans looking for sun and surf.

Courtesy Retronaut.com

Prior to the rebellion led by Fidel Castro, Cuba hosted road races on the streets of Havana where the local population got a look at some of the exotic racing machinery from Europe. Like all street races at the time, safety came in the form of haybales placed around the course and crowd control was rudimentary at best. 

In 1958, just a few months away from Castro's triumphant arrival in Havana, the second of a total of just three races over four years took place. Stirling Moss won the 1958 race with the 1957 winner, Juan Manuel Fangio, unable to participate due to the inconvenience of being kidnapped by rebel forces. He was released just prior to the start of the race but had to sit out, embarrassing the Fulgencio Batista regime.

The folks over at the Retronaut web site posted a number of photos from the event and they certainly capture a lost time. The color photos of the cars, the stars, the spectators and the course convey the glamor of the race. The sharp-eyed observer will see an MGA in race trim and a D-Type Jaguar lined up for the start. Ferrari-driving, overall-wearing Carroll Shelby is in the series, too - see if you can spot him.  

Not All Finds Are in Barns

Barn find.  Are you tired of hearing that term? In the last few years, a frenzy has been whipped up over interesting old cars allegedly found in barns. Hardly a (televised) auction passes that there are not at least a couple of  "barn find" headliners. 

Courtesy barnfinds.com

Spurred on by these big dollar auctions and "... In the Barn"  books by Tom Cotter, many casual auto enthusiasts have concluded that finding a car covered in dust inside an outbuilding is their key to instant riches. While some lucky people have had their ticket punched, most go away disappointed but wiser for the experience.

It was inevitable that a web site dedicated to barn finds would appear and it has done so in the form of barnfinds.com. The site depends largely on submissions by readers and not all qualify as barn finds. I think I even saw the term "carport find" in one of the posts.

The vehicles are certainly interesting in that there is something for everyone there. Naturally, I had to browse the British section and came away impressed with the variety. I haven't seen a Berkeley for sale in a while, but one was there.

In some instances, the site is reminiscent of the older, more established Bring A Trailer web site but that certainly won't keep me from looking in on it frequently.

Follow This Blog

Courtesy peterwindsor.com

Peter Windsor, the former SPEED TV pit lane reporter for Formula 1 has created a blog about all things F1. 

You may remember that Peter left his TV reporting gig for a chance to create an all-American Formula 1 team in 2009. As a former team manager for Williams and Ferrari, he seemed to be the right man at the right time to pull it off. Sadly, the financial realities of a worldwide recession brought the dream to an end before the 2010 season.

The blog is centered on his experiences in F1 as wells as reports from the circuits. He even has his own video commentary called The Flying Lap where he interviews F1 personalities and provides post race commentary. 

Take a moment to check it out.

Online Wiring Diagrams

Most repair guides for common British cars worth their salt have wiring diagrams included to help you identify the multicolored freeway system of wiring in your particular car. Simple black on white diagrams with color/tracer keys are very useful, but for you visual learners, a color diagram is worth the price.

The folks behind Advance Auto Wire have taken the time to render a colorized version of the diagrams for MGB, MGC, MGB V8 and Triumph TR models through TR6. They are in pdf files so you can print them in large format for easy reference. I would recommend bookmarking the relevant pages for future reference.

Advance Auto Wire specializes in upgraded, modernized wiring products for classic British cars including axillary fuse blocks and relay kits designed to provide an easy way to bring a touch modern reliability to our classic electrical systems.