His company Societe Automobile Alpine, was
founded and the first model was the A106. The Renault 4CV has a rear mounted
747cc engine, all independent suspension, wishbones and coil springs at
the front and swing axles with coil springs at the rear. Redete replaced
the standard gearbox for a special five speed box and the engine was tuned
so that a maximum speed of 120mph was achieved. With a production rate
of two a week, by 1960 when the A106 was discontinued 650 had been made.
The Renault 750, the basis for the first
Alpine was designed in secret during the Second World War and had an inline
four cylinder OHV engine located behind the swing axle rear suspension.
This layout was retained in the Alpine and made a low profile design possible
as the only equipment running through the passenger area was the gear change
linkage. The disadvantage of this layout was the rear weight bias allied
to swing axle suspension geometry led to unpredictable handling, but the
layout was very popular during the fifties and sixties. Alpine
A106
DB short for Deutch and Bonnet, who builtnumerous
racing sports cars between 1939 and 1961. In the early nineteen fifties
they began to race Panhard based sports cars in the 750cc class, from 1952
they began to market Panhard Dyna based coupes with engines ranging from
610cc up to 850cc, fitted with a wind cheating aluminium bodies. From 1955
a GRP body was specified and the Panhard engine could be supplied in many
sizes up to 1300cc. Never a series production car the DB was famous for
it’s success in the index of performance category in the LeMans 24 hour
races during this period.
Panhard was one of the oldest car makers
in France and so in the world and after the Second World War they changed
direction from building luxury cars to lightweight cars. Using the design
offered to them by J.A.Gregoire a pioneer of front wheel drive and the
use of aluminium in car construction as a basis, they developed a car with
many original features. The components used by Deutch and Bonnet were the
transverse twin air cooled engine that was located in front of the leaf
spring independent front suspension, the gearbox and the front wheel drive
transmission. In standard 850cc form the engine produced 42bhp and proved
capable of further tuning. DB mounted these in their own box section steel
chassis.DB Panhard
Gilbern of Llantwit Fardre in Wales where
makers of sports coupes, and were producing cars from 1959 until
1973,starting with the GT sports coupe,in production until 1966,
first in kit form and later also a factory built car. The company founders
Giles Smith and Bernard Friese designed a car with a GRP body mounted on
a multi tubular chassis,using Austin A35 front suspension and a BMC live
rear axle with coil springs and controlled by a Panhard rod.Various engine
options were available, the smallest was the 948cc BMC unit as fitted in
the Austin Healey Sprite at that time,other options were the Coventry Climax
FWA engine as used in the contemporary Lotus Elite and the BMC engine fitted
in the MGB was used from 1963.All the later Gilbern models had larger engines
and so become heavier and do not interest us here. The cars styling was
not exceptional and the specification not radical, but they were finished
to a high standard and that led to their modest success.Gilbern
GT
Abarth’s output was so fragmented that
it is impossible to define a definite production model, but more like snapshots
of his work as time progressed. The Fiat-Abarth coupes with engine capacities
ranging from 700cc to 1000cc with bodies by Zegato, were outstanding for
their diminutive size and beautiful form. Based on the Fiat 600 components,
the tuning of which was Abarth’s main business and as the 600 it was rear
engined. Some cars were fitted with an Abarth DOHC conversion for this
pushrod unit.
The Fiat 600 was developed by Abarth intoa
very popular sporting vehicle in Italy despite it’s humble beginningsas
an economy car. The extreme expression of that development was the 750
Zegato. With an aluminium body designed and made by Zegato on a fiat 600
floor pan. Like the Renault 750, the 600 was a rear engined car, the engine
also being a water cooled inline four with overhead valves, but in the
750 Zegato, usually fitted with an Abarth double overhead camshaft conversion,
as well as the more common Abarth modifications, an increase in capacity,
multiple carburettors and free flow exhaust system. The combination
of a well developed if small engine, a low profile lightweight slippery
body added up to a potent little car.Abarth Zegato
750.
In 1954 Alfa Romeo entered the small car
market, not with a saloon but with a sports coupe, the Giulietta 1300 Sprint.
Unusually the Berlina version came second. The technical specification
of the car was similar to the 1900 range of models, the first new Alfa
introduced after the second world war. With a double overhead camshaft,
1290cc, inline four cylinder engine with an aluminium block and head that
produced 80bhp at 6300rpm. Mounted in a platform chassis with coil spring
and wishbone front suspension and a live rear axle located by radius rods
and an “A” bracket and coil springs. The Sprint had a steel body designed
and made by Bertone, welded to the chassis. The 1290cc engine was steadily
developed and in 1956 a 90 bhp version was fitted to the “Sprint Veloce”
a lightened version of the “Sprint”.
By 1959 an output of 100 bhp had been attained and this version of the engine was fitted into the “SS” (Sprint Special) another design by Bertone created for the racing enthusiast and the “SZ” an alloy bodied ultra lightweight designed and built by Zegato also for the racing curcuit. The SS and the SZ were the first to use the five- speed gearbox when it became available, it later became available for fitting to the other Coupes.The “Giulietta” range was in production until 1962. Alfa Romeo Giulietta
The MGA Coupe in production from 1956 to
1962 was derived from the MGA Roadster. Introduced in 1955, being a radical
change from all previous MG roadsters with a full width body on a substantial
box section chassis. With independent front suspension using coil springs
and wishbone and half-elliptic springs and a live axle at the rear. When
first produced the it had a 1500cc version of the BMC “B” series engine
producing 68bhp, later model of the car had a 1622cc version of the same
engine and that produced 80bhp.
The Roadster and the Coupe models only differed
in that the Roadster had a fabric top and flexible side-screens (normal
ware for sports cars at that time,) and a top speed of 96mph, the Coupe
being fitted with a permanent steel top and wind up windows and due to
the improved aerodynamics, a top speed of 102mph.
In 1958 a higher performance version of both
models was created by installing MG’s own version of the BMC “B” engine
fitted with a chain driven double overhead camshaft which produced 108bhp
at 6700rpm from 1622cc. These were named the “MGA Twin cam”, and a top
speed of 103mph and a 0-60 time of 9.1 seconds was the result. Dunlop disc
brakes were fitted all round to these cars, making sure they could stop
as well as they could go and Dunlop pressed aluminium disk wheels.The Twin
Cam was intended for use in motor sport and in production until 1960.
By 1962 all the MGA models had been superseded
by the much heavier MGB.There is more about the MGA in “MG by McComb”.
MGA Coupe
The first TVR car sold, a one off was made
in 1949 in Blackpool as TVR’s are today. It took until 1958 and a hand
full of assorted cars before the first series production model the Grantura
MK1 was introduced. It’s design was evolved through those previous cars
with it’s multi-tubular backbone chassis, sprung by torsion bars and Volkswagen
trailing link suspension at both front and rear. The principle engine fitted
in the Mk1 was the Coventry Climax FWA 1,098cc or the in 1216cc FWE form
mated to a ZF gearbox, this was topped by a distinctive coupe body in class
reinforced plastic.
Although an interesting package the Grantura
was never properly developed. Between 1958 and 1960 a hundred examples
of the MK1 were produced, as with a weight of only 660kg and a slippery
body form it had a lively performance, with a top speed of 101 mph and
a 0-60 time of 10’8 seconds. This could explain how purchasers overlooked
poor detail construction.More about the Grantura can be found in “TVR The
Complete Story” by John Tipler.
.TVR
Grantura
In 1956, Colin Chapman began the design
of two new cars, one was a car to compete in the forthcoming Formula 2
and the other was to be a lightweight sports coupe. Both were to have Coventry
Climax engines located at the front although of different type’s, and to
share the same suspension design. The formula two car had a multi-tubular
space frame chassis that was conventional at the time, but the coupe, the
Elite chassis was a revolutionary design, being similar to the by then
common steel unitary construction chassis’s of mass produced cars but made
of glass reinforced plastic. The aim was for a lightweight unit that could
be made in greater numbers than a tubular chassis.The FWE engine was engineered
for the car by Coventry Climax from existing models as the capacity of
1216cc made the car eligible for the US 1250cc racing class. The transmission
consisted of a BMC gearbox then a short propeller shaft to the chassis
mounted final drive unit and finally fixed length drive shaft’s that also
acted as transverse arms for the strut type rear suspension. With rack
and pinion steering, Girling disc brakes at the front and inboard at the
rear to complete the advanced specification. The body style was conceived
by Peter Kirwan-Taylor an accountant, it was then refined by Frank Costin,
it is to me one of the most beautiful cars of all time.Lotus
Elite
As with all Lotus designs, weight reduction
was a great consideration and was kept down to 670kg, so performance was
outstanding for a 1200cc coupe. The later 83bhp engine versions could attain
a maximum speed of 118mph and a 0-60 time of 11 seconds. Despite manufacturing
problems the Elite remained in production for five years and 988 were made.
Lotus has never used a GRP chassis again although all subsequent Lotus
car have had GRP bodies. Others have used GRP chassis since and many of
them have been lightweight coupes.
Greyhounds
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