MY FEEDLY

Heinkel Kabine: From Bombers And Fighter Planes To Microcars

During World War II the names Heinkel and Messerschmitt struck fear into the hearts of both the military and civilian populations of all Allied countries. They were the two biggest German aircraft manufacturers, and they were responsible for the bombers and fighters that terrorized the skies over Europe.

In the years after the war both Heinkel and Messerschmitt were banned from building aircraft, and so to stay in business they both ate a large slice of humble pie and turned to building microcars in order to stay in business.

Fast Facts – Heinkel Kabine

The Heinkel Kabine is a microcar built by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke over three generations between 1956 and 1958.
Both three and four wheeled versions were offered, occupants got in and out of the car through the front opening door, and the cars had a fabric roof that offered an emergency exit if the door was jammed shut in a traffic accident.
The model you see here is the Heinkel Kabine 200 Type 154, it’s powered by a 198cc 9.9 hp engine, it can accommodate two people, and it has a top speed of 90 km/h (56 mph).
Unusually for a microcar from this era, the Kabine had a four-speed transmission with a reverse gear, making life far easier for its owners.

Heinkel: From Jet Fighters To Microcars

Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was one of the most strategically important German aircraft manufacturers during WWII, if not the most important outright. The company supplied bombers like the Heinkel He 111 that allowed the Nazis to reach far across Europe bombing targets including Britain, they also flew out across the North Atlantic as a torpedo bomber targeting Allied shipping.

The Kabine has seating for two with some space for groceries, the car is left hand drive and it has a fabric roof that doubles as an emergency exit.

Although they were always best-known for their bombers the company was intent on challenging Messerschmitt’s dominance in fighter aircraft production. Despite showing a lot of promise the Heinkel fighters were produced in limited numbers, nothing approaching the popularity of the Messerschmidt Bf109.

At the mid-point of the war Heinkel became the first company in the world to build a functioning fighter jet prototype, the Heinkel He 280, and the company invested significant time and resources developing both jet and rocket engines for potential future applications.

After the war Heinkel and Messerschmitt were banned from building aircraft, for obvious reasons, and so Heinkel turned to building bicycles, scooters, and the Heinkel Kabine microcar. It was a major fall from grace for the company however it did successfully keep the firm in business, over the succeeding decades there would be a number of acquisitions, until finally in 1989 what remained of Heinkel was absorbed by Airbus.

The Heinkel Kabine

In the years immediately after WWII Europe was still reeling from the death and destruction that had ravaged the continent from 1939 till 1945. Supplies of everything were in short supply, particularly steel and gasoline, but people still needed transportation.

As a result of this demand manufacturers began building small-capacity motor scooters, motorcycles, and microcars – vehicles that required little in the way of steel and gasoline, but were still capable of getting people to and from work as the rebuilding continued.

The visibility out of the car is exemplary with panoramic 360º views. The windows don’t open, so the driver would open the roof for ventilation.

Heinkel engineers developed the Kabine in the mid-1950s, almost certainly with some influence from the Iso Isetta and its German-made cousin, the BMW Isetta. Unlike the Isetta, the Heinkel Kabine would have a relatively short production run of just three years between 1956 and 1958, though they would later be built under license in Ireland and then later in the United Kingdom by Trojan Cars until 1966.

The three generations of the Kabine were the 175 Type 153 (174cc), the early 200 Type 154 (204cc), and the later 200 Type 154 (198cc). The designs were all quite similar, though some later cars had two wheels paired at the back rather than one, technically making them four-wheelers.

All cars were powered by a single-cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke engine with overhead valves, and power varied between 9.1 hp on the Type 153 to 9.9 hp on the later 154 cars. The Kabine offered a comfortable interior with excellent 360º visibility thanks to the bubble-like windows, and unlike many microcars it came with a four-speed transmission with a reverse gear – offering much easier parking for its owners.

Relatively few examples of the Heinkel Kabine have survived to the modern day, so it’ll be interesting to see what the car shown here sells for when it crosses the auction block with Mecum later in October.

It comes with owner’s and workshop manuals and it has a light blue paint scheme over a plaid pattern interior. The listing explains that the fuel system was recently refreshed with a rebuilt gas tank and carburetor.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual German microcar or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Mecum

The post Heinkel Kabine: From Bombers And Fighter Planes To Microcars appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/heinkel-kabine-microcar/
via gqrds

The Ford Supervan – A Van Built On A GT40 Chassis With A 435 HP V8

The Ford Supervan was built in the early 1970s by Terry Drury Racing, they used an actual Ford GT40 chassis including its Gurney-Weslake 435 hp V8. It was the fastest van in the world when it was built and Ford used it extensively as a promotional tool, visiting race tracks and drag strips across Britain.

From a distance the Supervan looks close to factory original, it’s only when you get closer and notice the bubble wheel arches that are struggling to cover a set of wide racing slicks that you begin to realize it’s a little unusual.

Fast Facts – The Ford Supervan

Ford built three Supervans, the example you see here was the first and it was followed by the Supervan 2 in 1984, then in 1994 the Supervan 2 was rebuilt into the Supervan 3.
The original Supervan was made using a retired Ford GT40 chassis with its body removed, a Mark 1 Ford Transit van body was then grafted onto the top.
The top speed of the Supervan was listed as 150+ mph (240 km/h) and it proved successful in 1/4 mile races. It also ran display laps and show races on circuits around the UK, often racing against other Ford vehicles from the era like the Ford Escort.
The Supervan was a major PR win for Ford in the UK, helping to promote their commercial vans which at that time were the vehicle of choice for many tradesmen.

The Supervan was quick on track, spectators noted how strange it was to see a Transit moving so quickly with the howl of the Gurney-Weslake V8 coming from the back. Image courtesy of Ford UK.

The Original Ford Supervan

By the early 1970s the racing world had moved on, and the Ford GT40s that had been such a dominant force at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and international endurance racing were no longer competitive on track.

Somewhere deep in the heart of Ford UK someone had an idea to promote the Transit, the company’s wildly successful commercial van. It’s possible, in fact probably likely, that the idea was conceived in a pub due to the fact that bolting a Transit body to a Ford GT40 chassis is unlikely to have been formulated in a sober mind.

Hemmingway once said “You should always do sober what you said you would do drunk, and that’ll teach you to keep your mouth shut.” Luckily for us, this is exactly what happened with the Supervan, the executives signed off on the idea and the construction work was contracted out to Terry Drury Racing.

With a swept capacity of 435 hp, the Le Mans-winning Ford GT40 V8 in the back of the Supervan immediately made it the fastest van in the world. Image courtesy of Ford UK.

The build was completed in 1971, and Ford unveiled the car to much amazement at the Easter 1971 race meeting at Brands Hatch. The Supervan completed a number of hot laps, setting the best lap times ever achieved by a Transit, as the 5.0 liter 435 hp V8 howled from the rear cargo compartment.

The Supervan was capable of 0 to 60 mph in 7.0 seconds, 0 to 100 mph in 21.6 seconds, with a top speed of “well in excess” of 150 mph.

It became clear that the box-like aerodynamics of the van were limiting it when circuit racing, but this proved less of an issue on the drag strip – and as it happens drag racing was enjoying a surge in popularity at the time.

So popular was the Supervan that Ford had it updated in 1978 with a new Transit body to keep it current, then they had the Supervan 2 built in 1984 which was later rebuilt into the Supervan 3 in 1994.

The above video gives a great look into the original Supervan in its heyday, and it’s not hard to see why it was so popular.

All images courtesy of Ford UK

The post The Ford Supervan – A Van Built On A GT40 Chassis With A 435 HP V8 appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/ford-supervan/
via gqrds

Lola T70 MkI Spyder – Owned by Carroll Shelby and Dan Gurney

This Lola T70 MkI Spyder has remarkable double-barreled former ownership, having been previously owned by both Carroll Shelby and Dan Gurney, two larger-than-life legends of American racing.

Lola is a former British carmaker that deserves to be far more famous than it is, it was Lola founder Eric Broadley who was largely responsible for developing the Ford GT40 that would so famously go on to repeatedly trounce Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Fast Facts – The Lola T70 MkI Spyder

The Lola T70 was first introduced in 1965 after company founder Eric Broadley had left the Ford GT40 program in England.
The T70 became a dominant force in mid-1960s Can Am and sports car racing, claiming a slew of wins including a one/two finish at the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona.
An advanced aluminum monocoque chassis was developed for the T70, a fiberglass body was then fitted and almost all T70s were powered by American V8s.
Due to the fact that over 100 examples of the Lola T70 were built in period, and the fact that there are companies now building exact replicas, the model is a popular choice for vintage motorsport competition.

Lola Cars – From Club Racers To World Champions

Eric Broadley built his first car, the Broadley Special, back in 1956. It was a simple affair built to race in the Ford Ten Special class, it was powered by the Ford Model C 1,172cc side valve engine that had been developed before World War II.

The T70 is one of the most elegant Can Am cars of its age, surviving examples can still be seen being raced in events like the Goodwood Revival.

Within two years Broadley had developed the Lola Mk1 which was proving to be wildly successful on the race tracks of England, orders started to flood in and in 1958 he officially founded Lola Cars Ltd in Bromley, Kent.

As Broadley was toiling away in his shed building his first racing car there’s no way he could have known that just eight years later he would be contracted by one of the world’s largest automakers to build them a new race car to defeat Ferrari.

Broadley created an updated version of his own Lola Mk6 for Ford now known as the Ford GT40, and it wouldn’t just beat Ferrari once – it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four years on the trot between 1966 and 1969.

After The GT40 – The Lola T70

Immediately after Broadley left the GT40 program he set to work on a new car to build on the lessons he had learned developing the Lola Mk6 and the Ford GT40. This new car would be the Lola T70 which would be offered in three major iterations over the course of its production – the MkI, the MkII, and the MkIII coupe.

The T70 made use of a modern aluminum monocoque chassis with a lightweight fiberglass body. An American V8 was almost always used, mounted in a rear-mid position and the transmission extended out the back.

The driving position in the T70 had the driver laying almost flat on their back to get the lowest possible front area for optimal aerodynamics and CoG.

This new model from Lola would prove so popular that over 100 were made, countless race victories were taken and before the era of cars like the Porsche 917, McLaren M6, and the Ferrari 512 the T70’s main competition was the Ford GT40.

The enduring popularity of the Lola T70 has resulted in a number of companies existing today to build replicas, Broadley Automotive based in England builds T70s that are so historically accurate that they have been granted FIA Historic Technical Passports (HTPs). These cars now compete alongside original T70s, Ferrari 512s, Ford GT40s, McLaren M6s, and Porsche 917s for victories in vintage motorsport competition.

The Lola T60 Shown Here

The T70 you see here is a MkI from the first year of production – 1965. Interestingly this Lola was formerly owned by two of America’s biggest motorsport names: Carroll Shelby and Dan Gurney.

This car was raced by Dan Gurney’s All American Racers (AAR) in period, driven by Jerry Grant among others. It’s powered by a 5.0 liter Chevrolet racing V8 with power sent back through a Hewland 4-speed manual transmission to the rear wheels.

More recently this car was a participant in the Rolex Monterey Reunion in 2011, 2012, and 2016. It was also a participant in the Road America Concours d’Elegance in 2017 and 2019, it was shown at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in 2011, and it was shown at the Carmel-By-The-Sea Concours on the Avenue in 2014.

If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on Mecum, it’s due to cross the auction block in mid-October and at the time of writing there’s no price guide.

Images courtesy of Mecum

The post Lola T70 MkI Spyder – Owned by Carroll Shelby and Dan Gurney appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/lola-t70-mki-spyder/
via gqrds

For Sale: A “Back To The Future” Spec Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck

Although the DeLorean DMC-12 is the undisputed automotive lead character in the Back to the Future series, the jet black Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck that appears in all three films as a key plot point for Marty McFly is a close second.

It would be the Toyota that Marty was driving in the third and final film when he refuses to drag race Douglas J. Needles and his gang, as a result he no longer has the crash that had formerly caused him to have such an unfortunate future.

Fast Facts – Back To The Future And The Toyota Pickup

This Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck was built to be an exact replica of the model used in the “Back To The Future” films, right down to the license plate “2BAK860.”
The truck remains the second most memorable car in the film trilogy (after the aforementioned DeLorean), and it helped elevate the profile of the SR5 globally.
Toyota has been selling versions of its pickup truck, known as the Hilux in many countries outside the USA, since 1968 and it’s now on its seventh generation.
Thanks to its role in the “Back To The Future” films the truck became a cultural touchstone, and modern electric vehicle startup Alpha Motors has developed a pickup truck strongly influenced by the McFly Toyota.

Marty McFly’s Toyota

Every kid (and I’m sure many adults) who saw Back To The Future in the 1980s remembers the overwhelming feeling of lust that overcame them when they first saw the gloss black 1985 Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck appear on screen.

This 1985 Toyota SR5 was built to be indistinguishable from the example used in the second two films, right down to the license plate.

There can be no denying the fact that the appearance of the truck in the BTTF films helped to elevate Toyota’s pickup trucks from tradesmen’s workhorses to objects of desire, not just in the United States but around the world.

Sadly the truck used in the first film is believed to have been wrecked by the person who won it in a raffle after filming was completed. A second truck was then sourced and built to almost identical spec to the first one – this was the truck used in the following two films.

No one could have predicted that the second Marty McFly truck would end up being used by smugglers to run drugs between the United States and Mexico, or that it would end up being painted bright orange and sold for next to nothing on Craigslist in California decades later.

Thankfully the truck was discovered along with its original documentation and completely restored back to the way it looked on screen – if you’re interested in its fascinating backstory you can hit play on the 30 minute documentary below.

Above Video: This 30 minute documentary covers the restoration of the real, screen-used Toyota SR5 from “Back To The Future.”

The Marty McFly-Spec Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck Shown Here

The truck you see here was painstakingly converted into the same specification as the original from the second two films, right down to the number plate “2BAK860.”

The recipe to build your own Marty McFy truck is mostly limited by the rarity of the 1985 SR5 Pickup Truck, a one year only model in this trim before Toyota changed the front suspension from a live axle to fully independent.

The original truck has black and chromed steel wheels with locking front hubs, a 5-speed manual transmission, a gloss black roll bar in the rear with four KC Daylighter spotlights paired with a front bull bar and twin KC spots. It also has a suspension lift and a polished black paint job, and it rides on Goodyear Wrangler tires.

The truck you see here was built to this specification and it’s now indistinguishable from the original, with the exception of the prodigious price tag of course. It’s now for sale with Mecum and will be crossing the auction block in mid-October.

If you’d like to read more about this truck or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.