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Rodley

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Gents,

Very, very impresed so far at this thread. Glad folks out there have heard of this motor, and find it barfsome. Yep, probably wins the award for ugliest car ever. That's why I'm quite fond of it. The Classic & Sportscar bible of cars 1945-1970 has the production figures as just 6.

What were the Co-op, a kind of large 7-11 store, planning to do with microscopic 2 seater coupes? Scare people into shelter in their stores by driving past in them?
 
Didn't "Douche" Bonnett use a J.A.P. mill too? A rear mounted coupe design is somewhere in my dim dark past... It was French. I scoffed at it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
Uh-uh.

Most Deutsch-Bonnets used Panhard flat twins (with a few having 'troon motors).
FWD too. Way before almost everyone else.

And a keen little car, says I.
LeMans winning heritage. OK....for "Index of Performance" anyway (and yes, I know who cooked up the rules for *that*).
But still, D-Bs and more importantly, Panhards, were waaaay ahead of their time in many technical areas.

Plus they annoy people who don't like "blue-ish" cars...always a good thing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif (I like blue cars almost as much as the dark green sort...and more than red or silver ones).

A friend of mine just sold his. He had it for quite some time....I saw him running that D-B in autocrosses when I was a teenager. That was a while ago.....

D-B LeMans car
2001_lml_db48.jpg
 
Ya got any other photos of that D-B LeMans car? From the front it looks pretty nifty!
 
hmmm. Now I have NO idea what car that was... rear engined, pretty sure it was a Prestwich mounted rear. Lid had a grille across most of it. "fastback" coupe design. Gonna have a look at some old photos.

That D-B is pretty, and I hope you understand I'm paggerin' French cars (especially the D-B's) in jest. The Traditional Rivalry, y'know.
 
[ QUOTE ]
hmmm. Now I have NO idea what car that was... rear engined, pretty sure it was a Prestwich mounted rear. Lid had a grille across most of it. "fastback" coupe design. Gonna have a look at some old photos....

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd be interested to know what car you're thinking of. The only rear engined cars with JAP engines that I remember were some Kieft & Cooper Formula 3 cars and they were hardly coupes.
 
and I hope you understand I'm paggerin' French cars (especially the D-B's) in jest. The Traditional Rivalry, y'know.

Oh yeah....I knew you were kidding. Saw your jester/devil dealie.-----------> /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

And anyway, anyone with a collection of cars like your's would need a good sense of humor! (not that I should talk...I fly a plane made from rags and sticks).

But right you are! Here's to the Traditional Rivalry. May the dark-green cars win before the red cars rust-out, the silver cars send us all to the Poor House and the scrutineers adjust the rules in favor of the blue cars.

By-the-by, one of my good friends, Charlie Greenhaus, has a racing company called "Entropy Racing". Go here:
https://www.entropyracing.net/asp/home.asp

John C.
Cyril Kieft's son wrote me a nice note a while back, apparently in reference to something I had written here. I really did like the envelope-body sports car they built towards the end. The only cars I can think of that had the J.A.P. motor in the back were the old Formula 3 cars.

Tony
More pics of the D-B LeMans car...first is just a model.
photo22.jpg

1959_deutsch_bonnet_lemans_sports_racer.jpg
 
DARN!! You couldn't draft behind that thing, could you?
 
Interesting. I see they've a Seven "snuck" into the "fleet". Quite an effort he's got going there.
 
[ QUOTE ]


Cyril Kieft's son wrote me a nice note a while back, apparently in reference to something I had written here. I really did like the envelope-body sports car they built towards the end. The only cars I can think of that had the J.A.P. motor in the back were the old Formula 3 cars.


[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't even know he had a son. I had some contact w/ a daughter several months ago.

Their 1100cc sportscar was a nice looking little thing. It had supposedly the first one-piece fiberglass body ever made (although some 1100's were aluminum). Also, Cyril Kieft was the first car builder to recognize the potential of the Coventry Climax FW engine when he saw the fire-pump application in a marine engine exhibit. He worked with them to adapt it to automotive use (the "FWA") and was the first to install one in a car.

Of course, others were more successful with it.

Years ago, my father bought a Kieft F3 with the idea that I'd graduate to it from Karts. I wasn't too keen on the idea - I wasn't sure I'd trust a car with a bungee cord for a rear spring and I was discovering that I wasn't really a very good racing driver anyway.

Here's a shot of the car in recent times:
kieftnow.jpg


It was built for Don Parker who was a great F3 driver (some of the guys in the UK may remember him) but he was very small so the frame now has some bulges around the cockpit so larger folks can fit.

Finally, I'm still looking for the DeSoto powered Kieft that was made from the frame of one of the F1 cars. Last we heard, it was in Florida. If any of the FL BCFers know of it, or even know where there's an unidentified old special, please let me know. I'd post pictures but it probably has a different (or no) body now.
 
Autocrossing my "blue car" Alfa powered Cooper chassis with as far as I can tell is a one off aluminum body.
101334587_8427dcf487.jpg
 
Sorry about hijacking the thread. I have no history of the car; I bought the car in the late 60's in very rough shape. There are no id numbers on the chassis or body. It has transversal leaf springs front and rear with an ENV diff. The brake drums are pressed into the alloy wheels. Some of the small hub covers have "Cooper" printed on them, others "Gemini". Great fun to drive. I have to weld cracks in the body every so often. If you would like more pix or info please email me.
 
That's a neat looking car Mark... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Now you have to come up to our Calgary Euro/Brit show, and bring that for the show! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Someone has to win the long distance award...
 
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