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Latests new in the world of classic cars and restoration.

TIGOSE at Salute to Style

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Among TIGOSE Members at Salute to Style, historic racing Porsche restorer, Andy Prill added two Porsches to the Le Mans and Racing Sportscars display: the freshly restored and famous Mila Schön RSR in the Italian designer’s livery, and an original RS61 with Sebring racing history; classic car specialist JD Classics (Jaguar Heritage Racing’s partner for Jaguar Cars Ltd), brought a splendid 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV, a 1963 Aston Martin DB4 Series III Coupé and a superb 1950 Jaguar XK120 Competition Roadster.

 

Preferred TIGOSE Partner H&H also displayed two classic racing cars at Salute to Style: a 1936 Type 135 Delahaye Competition Special and a rare 1925 Bentley 3/4.5 Litre light Tourer. Both are up for sale privately with H&H, one of Europe’s largest specialist auctioneers.

Only eighteen Type 135 Delahaye Speciale competition cars were made, taking 1st, 2nd and 4th places at the 1938 Le Mans 24-hours, with podium positions at events as diverse as the Grand Prix de l’A.C.F, Spa 24-hours, RAC Tourist Trophy, Coupe d’Automne, Mont Ventoux hillclimb, Mille Miglia, Paris 12-hours, Grand Prix de Pau, Donington 12-hours, Grand Prix des Frontieres and Cote Lapize.

Created by Monsieur Jacques Capoulade during the 1980s using genuine Delahaye components, the two-seater was campaigned by its previous owner at Montlhery, Nurburgring, Silverstone, Brno and Donington, as well as several Mille Miglia retrospectives.

The Bentley is one of just 39 Bentley 3 Litre Light Tourers made. Originally sporting Freestone & Webb Open Four-Seater coachwork, its present Vanden Plas-style ‘Le Mans’ body was fitted during the 1970s. Rallied throughout Europe and as far afield as the USA and Australasia, it has a wonderful patina.

 

The International Guild of Specialist Engineers, founded by Michael Scott, is in its first full operating year; Guild Members, as well as Commercial and Preferred Partners, are mutually supportive and enjoy a range of services and benefits; The Guild has British designers Tony Southgate and Peter Stevens as its President and vice-President, respectively. The Jota Group (www.jotagroup.com), Andy Prill (www.maxted-pageandprill.com), H&H (www.classic-auctions.com) and JD Classics (www.jdclassics.co.uk) are among TIGOSE Members and Partners. www.tigose.com

 

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TIGOSE Member David Clark (Jota Group) awarded Spirit of La Sarthe trophy

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‘The Spirit of La Sarthe’ Trophy awarded to The International Guild of Specialist Engineers Member and accomplished racer David Clark

– Trophy inspired by the life of racer, BRDC and Club des Pilotes Board Member Colin Pool

– De Cadenet Ford and McLaren F1 GTR displayed at Salute to Style at The Hurlingham Club

 

Accomplished racer and historic car dealer David Clark was presented with “The Spirit of La Sarthe’ trophy to celebrate the life of famous racer and historic motoring enthusiast Colin Pool, who died in May. The private ceremony, held on Friday 18 July, ended the second day of Salute to Style at the Hurlingham Club, this summer’s brand new luxury motoring and lifestyle event in central London.

David Clark, chairman of the Jota Group and Member of The International Guild of Specialist Engineers (TIGOSE), was a friend of Colin Pool’s. The De Cadenet Ford, part of the Le Mans display and previously owned and raced by Colin, was lent for the occasion by Martin Birrane, owner of Lola cars and the famous Mondello race track. Clark’s own McLaren F1 GTR, which led Le Mans for 13 hours and eventually came third overall, also featured in the same display.

TIGOSE and 96 Club founder Michael Scott, adds: “it could not have been more appropriate to award The Spirit of La Sarthe Trophy to David Clark, in recognition of his team’s success as the highest-placed British team racing at Le 24h du Mans each year; that the ceremony took place during Salute to Style, and surrounded by racers with so much history and connections to the 96 Club and The International Guild of Specialist Engineers, was a truly unique occasion.”

 

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Does UK manufacturing have a future?

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Jaguar Design Director Ian Callum, on the future of manufacturing in the UK, and foreign ownership:

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140702110036-338303448-is-there-a-future-for-manufacturing-in-the-uk-absolutely?trk=prof-post

Triumph specialist and TIGOSE Member Jigsaw at Le Mans Classic

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Triumph specialist and TIGOSE member Jigsaw brought two Le Mans Spitfires to Le Mans Classic at the beginning of July.

The rolling road session for one of them, ahead of Le Mans Classic, saw 124bhp at the flywheel; she was fitted with a 3:27 diff with 7.500 revs to play with.

Down the Mulsanne, she was doing 140mph on the first run.

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The future of old skills

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TIGOSE’s Preferred Partner Aston Scott has a range of trading brands; one, ‘Road Runner’, caters for small independent motor traders, the in-between specialists who look after out-of-warranty modern vehicles and young classics.

This article, by Phil Curry (www.aftermarketonline.net) addresses some concern about how modern diagnostics take care of current models, streamlining processes, yet classic car maintenance and servicing is a different matter altogether.

Who makes sure that this industry (and classic cars) have a future?

Vice-President Peter Stevens, on eccentric designs and aspiring students

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The first problem with being a design student these days is that the pressure is on to… “GET A JOB”.

 

The second problem is that no one is sure how to do that?

The suggestion from teachers is to fit to what the industry wants: if you want to work for VW, for example, draw Volkswagens. But VW has a whole lot of designers who can already draw Golfs and Polos in their sleep. What difference will you, the student, make?

What the best design studio chiefs want, is to see work they never saw before that shows how the mind and soul of the designer works.

Some of the most creative designers may decide that this industry is not for them and that using the automobile as a ‘blank canvas’ on which to impose their personality is what they really want to do. Some people think that this turns cars in to art, but actually… it’s still design, and that is fine with me.
Such is the pressure on young designers to get their portfolio together that they miss out on what a rich and varied world car design can be.

Hands up those who have heard of Baron Margo! Margo is a Florida-born but Los Angeles-based artist/designer who builds his own fantastic machines, anything from robots to spacecraft and boats, bikes and of course, cars, which he drives on the roads of California. When he is asked where his inspiration comes from he will say “from everywhere”: there is a bit of Steam Punk, a bit of Jules Verne and a lot of Margo in these machines. The great thing is that the workmanship is fantastic, the engineering works properly and the look is very different – and he is a car designer – how cool is that?”

 

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Concept cars at Goodwood

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Vice-President Peter Stevens’s view of concept cars at Goodwood Festival of Speed

Very interesting to see three car companies showing concept cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. All three were virtual concepts designed for ‘Grand Turismo’ computer games that had then been turned into full size concept models.

 

Clearly Goodwood’s ‘Moving Motor Show’ event is now seen by major manufacturers as a great opportunity to launch new ideas, and the prestige of having a car showcased on ‘Grand Turismo’ is now a very important marketing tool.

So, is it a good idea? The modeling required for a virtual car on ‘GT 6” or ‘GT 7” has to be of a very high standard so company Alias and Photoshop teams get a very good workout. Usually the CAD models go straight to full-size machined forms with none of the fine-tuning that production concepts get at the clay modeling stage; and it shows! The Aston Martin DP 100 was supported by some very nice illustration and photoshop work: who would not be captivated by an overhead shot of the car lit by sunlight filtered through the trees just beyond the Goodwood start line? But then we had a chance to see the crude red, white and black reality, a sad-looking, derivative piece of work with a droopy front end, (remember the 2005 Pininfarina Maserati Birdcage concept?).

Nissan unveiled their 2020 Vision ‘GT 7’ in front of Nissan Design Chief Shiro Nakamura and a huge crowd of enthusiasts; the car was extremely dramatic, its complex surfaces being for the most part well-resolved although the rear wheel arch opening was a very strange shape that had little to do with the rest of the car. The rear-end details were aggressive with a functional-looking diffuser; but the conventional rear wing looked like a component from earlier this century, not something for 2020.

For those who hadn’t seen the Volkswagen GTI Roadster ‘Grand Turismo 6’, it was good to be able to study the car in three dimensions. This VW was not nearly as dramatic as the Nissan and not nearly as unresolved as the Aston Martin; it was simply a very professional piece of work but again nothing really new.

The recent criticism of motor show concept cars has often been that they are irrelevant, very unlikely ever to be made and self-indulgent of the motor companies. Now ‘Grand Turismo’ has given them a perfect excuse for irrelevant, self-indulgent one-off fantasies, or for showing the future form language of their products. If it is the latter, then surely the design process needs to be as rigorous as for any other company product.

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TIGOSE is looking for apprentices in specific areas

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The International Guild of Specialist Engineers has Members who are actively looking for apprentices in the following areas:

Colchester

Corby

Loughborough

Tonbridge

Interested parties should apply using the online form on TIGOSE’s website (clicking on it will take the applicant to an external link) or contact TIGOSE using email, ‘phone or the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/tigose.