Discussion
Jonny TVR said:
Thats incredibly interesting thank you and I didn't fully appreciate all of that. I knew a little but very interesting thank you for taking the time. I'm at Emblem on Monday to pick up my testarossa and drop off the Cobra for a spanner check.
Funny how i can retain so much useless information always car related but can't remember anything important like birthdays and anniversaries I'm dropping off a friends Aston Oscar India off to Aston Martin Services at Ferndown on Monday morning,
Shame we are on a tight schedule otherwise would love to come over to Emblem and say hello,
They built my 308 engine to race spec some years ago , when they where in Blandford ,
From memory i think the mechanic who put it together was Nigel but he's probably long retired by now ,
,
ratrod 2 said:
Jonny TVR said:
This may or may not be of some interest to you being a Cobra owner but will try not to bore you to much ,Back in the day i would buy my Ferrari's from Maranello's when owned privately by Colonel Ronnie Hoare who
more or less started Maranello's as a hobby and somewhere to maintain his Ferrari race cars having his main income from his Ford
dealership F English in Bournemouth along with a small showroom close to the main Bournemouth shopping centre and parks
for selling a few more exotic cars , my dad bought a Aston Martin DB 4 from them for the princely sum of £1,495 so going back a while
Maranello's was very much run as a family business with 9 to 5 hours apart from every third Saterday a salesman would have to work from 9 - 12 ,
On the death of the Colonel the business was sold to Inchcape and wasn't long before the orginal staff were replaced by a different generation
of salesman , My friend who was one of the longest standing salesman there was told he had to work a alternate 7 day week which he
replied we sell Ferrari's not Fords and refused to work on any Sunday as they were now working a full Saterday instead of the previous
9 - 12 hours and resigned ,not too long after he was followed by the rest of the original staff along with the sales manager Mark Konig
who drove for Ferrari at Le Mans and Sebring and also manufactured his own racing car named the Nomad BRM ,
My friend after doing a spell with Aston and Bristol Cars managed to get offered the position of sales manager
with Brian Angliss selling the MK 1V Autocraft Cobra ,My friend invited me to the factory which was at Brooklands ,
On my arrival i was greeted with rows and rows of completed Cobra's ,this was the early days when made with alloy bodies and fitted with the 302 Ford
V8 's before they resorted later to carbonfibre bodywork with the Lotus V8 .
Can't exactly remember the exact dates but i think there must have been some sort of recession going on at the time and although
i was told the cars were sold and awaiting collection with some being exported he said it with a wink because that what he had been told to say
to the customers ,If they showed some serious interest they would get a call from my friend to say they had a cancelled order and could take delivery
immediately and avoid the imaginary waiting list ,
My friend now in his late 70's has his own business selling Bristol cars in the west country and we still stay in touch .
Another one of my useless bits of information ,
:Edited by ratrod 2 on Wednesday 19th June 00:51
Fessia fancier said:
Just to say nice post Rat Rod (and the Cobra looks great)
Thank you, Got a bit carried away as usual , there's a fine dividing line between boring the ass
off everyone with things that are of interest to yourself and maybe not to others ,
Dare say many of the younger generation would have switched off after the first sentence as way before
their time,
ratrod 2 said:
Thank you, Got a bit carried away as usual , there's a fine dividing line between boring the ass
off everyone with things that are of interest to yourself and maybe not to others ,
Dare say many of the younger generation would have switched off after the first sentence as way before
their time,
Just came to post some encouragement ratrod. I find your old anecdotes wonderful and almost read them in sepia! Please don’t feel you are boring anyone as they are great to read and interesting too. off everyone with things that are of interest to yourself and maybe not to others ,
Dare say many of the younger generation would have switched off after the first sentence as way before
their time,
As a regular to lyndhurst in my youth to drool whilst my mum used to visit the butchers opposite this brought back some memories.
Shnozz said:
ratrod 2 said:
Thank you, Got a bit carried away as usual , there's a fine dividing line between boring the ass
off everyone with things that are of interest to yourself and maybe not to others ,
Dare say many of the younger generation would have switched off after the first sentence as way before
their time,
Just came to post some encouragement ratrod. I find your old anecdotes wonderful and almost read them in sepia! Please don’t feel you are boring anyone as they are great to read and interesting too. off everyone with things that are of interest to yourself and maybe not to others ,
Dare say many of the younger generation would have switched off after the first sentence as way before
their time,
As a regular to lyndhurst in my youth to drool whilst my mum used to visit the butchers opposite this brought back some memories.
I can categorically tell you it had side skirts fitted by the factory. My dad was the owner and when he went to the factory to spec it there was a white one being made ready for its owner. They asked my dad if he would like them and he said yes obviously. I have photos of it being delivered somewhere. Oh and the other car was a white one which belonged to Keke Rosberg.
(Assume you are referring to D111HUV): You must get bored with saying this again and again, as so many people don’t seem to listen. I hope whoever took the skirts off D111HUV kept them, as they are extremely rare.
Are you able to share a photo of the car being collected from the factory with the skirts, as that would sit as definitive proof forever that they are factory skirts. I suppose you didn’t take a
photo of both the red and the white cars together did you?
Now THAT would be worth sharing!
Happy to feature on my Instagram if you like?
Are you able to share a photo of the car being collected from the factory with the skirts, as that would sit as definitive proof forever that they are factory skirts. I suppose you didn’t take a
photo of both the red and the white cars together did you?
Now THAT would be worth sharing!
Happy to feature on my Instagram if you like?
Adam. said:
Just googled the D111 plate
Assumed they were the 88.5 skirts but they are different smoother ones. Never seen them before.
Was this a special customer order or a standard cost option?
It was a special request of the original owner and it seems that they were put on at the factory rather than dealer when new. It reverted back to the standard spec well before my time. I believe that it was the only one like it. I prefer without.Assumed they were the 88.5 skirts but they are different smoother ones. Never seen them before.
Was this a special customer order or a standard cost option?
Oz10explores said:
I can categorically tell you it had side skirts fitted by the factory. My dad was the owner and when he went to the factory to spec it there was a white one being made ready for its owner. They asked my dad if he would like them and he said yes obviously. I have photos of it being delivered somewhere. Oh and the other car was a white one which belonged to Keke Rosberg.
If this is the case please can you PM me or give me more details. I'm the current owner. Jonny TVR said:
Just looking at these photos now, I am now 10 years old again. I had some birthday money so went to the newsagent to buy Car magazine. Spent ages reading about the Countach. I was very lucky to be taken for a drive in his Countach about 15 years ago from a contributor to this very thread, thank you. 
Jonny TVR said:
I remember getting that same magazine and a year earlier I had seen one driving towards me whilst walking our family dog. Not what you expect to see in suburbia up North!
The Car magazine first made me want to buy a Countach , buying my first one in 86 . I sold it within a month , and bought a very nice one soon after .I then bought another one in 88 to part exchange for a new 88.5 car F920OYR
I also bought a new Testarossa in 88 . It is hard to believe how different these two cars are .
The Testarossa quiet and refined ,good long distance car and easy to drive .
The Countach is hot and noisy , incredibly fun to drive , you do not need a radio.
You need to live in a quiet part of the UK with great roads , I found about 1 hour early morning was perfect .
Keep well away from traffic jams or you get clutch knee .
Hi Ferruccio - those are astounding values.
Re that black 25th Aaniversary , what was special about it?
The Sotheby's website suggests circa 12,000 km so it’s prob not the mileage.
The next Countach book will focus on giving the body design and engineering evidence for a complete reappraisal of how people view the Countach versus the Miura.
The received wisdom that the Miura is Lamborghini’s star car does not stand up to objective examination.
The voluptuous curves vs the origami lines.
The transverse vs longitudinal engine orientation
The truly revolutionary South-North engine gearbox orientation
The model that spawned a dynasty
The hard-fact comparative data , when viewed through unprejudiced eyes, demands a total revision of how we view a genuinely revolutionary car versus its beautiful and radical but comparatively derivative predecessor.
If the above is not enough to convince those mired in the swamp of conventional thinking, just listen to what Marcello Gandini, Giampaolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani said about the one versus the other.
Heresy , when backed by a solid evidence base, rocks - just like the Countach !
Have a lovely bank holiday weekend
Re that black 25th Aaniversary , what was special about it?
The Sotheby's website suggests circa 12,000 km so it’s prob not the mileage.
The next Countach book will focus on giving the body design and engineering evidence for a complete reappraisal of how people view the Countach versus the Miura.
The received wisdom that the Miura is Lamborghini’s star car does not stand up to objective examination.
The voluptuous curves vs the origami lines.
The transverse vs longitudinal engine orientation
The truly revolutionary South-North engine gearbox orientation
The model that spawned a dynasty
The hard-fact comparative data , when viewed through unprejudiced eyes, demands a total revision of how we view a genuinely revolutionary car versus its beautiful and radical but comparatively derivative predecessor.
If the above is not enough to convince those mired in the swamp of conventional thinking, just listen to what Marcello Gandini, Giampaolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani said about the one versus the other.
Heresy , when backed by a solid evidence base, rocks - just like the Countach !
Have a lovely bank holiday weekend
carspath said:
Hi Ferruccio - those are astounding values.
Re that black 25th Aaniversary , what was special about it?
The Sotheby's website suggests circa 12,000 km so it’s prob not the mileage.
The next Countach book will focus on giving the body design and engineering evidence for a complete reappraisal of how people view the Countach versus the Miura.
The received wisdom that the Miura is Lamborghini’s star car does not stand up to objective examination.
The voluptuous curves vs the origami lines.
The transverse vs longitudinal engine orientation
The truly revolutionary South-North engine gearbox orientation
The model that spawned a dynasty
The hard-fact comparative data , when viewed through unprejudiced eyes, demands a total revision of how we view a genuinely revolutionary car versus its beautiful and radical but comparatively derivative predecessor.
If the above is not enough to convince those mired in the swamp of conventional thinking, just listen to what Marcello Gandini, Giampaolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani said about the one versus the other.
Heresy , when backed by a solid evidence base, rocks - just like the Countach !
Have a lovely bank holiday weekend
Nothing special about the Anniversary!Re that black 25th Aaniversary , what was special about it?
The Sotheby's website suggests circa 12,000 km so it’s prob not the mileage.
The next Countach book will focus on giving the body design and engineering evidence for a complete reappraisal of how people view the Countach versus the Miura.
The received wisdom that the Miura is Lamborghini’s star car does not stand up to objective examination.
The voluptuous curves vs the origami lines.
The transverse vs longitudinal engine orientation
The truly revolutionary South-North engine gearbox orientation
The model that spawned a dynasty
The hard-fact comparative data , when viewed through unprejudiced eyes, demands a total revision of how we view a genuinely revolutionary car versus its beautiful and radical but comparatively derivative predecessor.
If the above is not enough to convince those mired in the swamp of conventional thinking, just listen to what Marcello Gandini, Giampaolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani said about the one versus the other.
Heresy , when backed by a solid evidence base, rocks - just like the Countach !
Have a lovely bank holiday weekend
I’ve had the debate a few times with Simon Kidston about whether the Miura is too expensive or the Countach is too cheap. He clearly thinks the latter with his book in progress.
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