Thursday - February 25, 2010

WHOA HO --- I’M IN LOVE. I JUST STUMBLED UPON THIS …. AIN’T SHE NEAT?

I LOVE the look of her ... gosh I’d like to get my hands on one of these. 

I’m no mechanic or any kind of expert on cars.  I only know I have always been car mad though.  I am familiar with bankrupt and cars however. It was my habit (more then 40 yrs ago) to keep buying cars sometimes more then one at a time. No money of course but Calif. a car friendly state and credit was soooooooooooooooooo easssssyyyyy!  And I was sooooooooo stupid!  But I really couldn’t help it.  Wasn’t till I met my wife and got housebroken, er trained, no. Whatever, she got me out of that kind of insanity.  Cept once.  Coming out of a Mrs. Winners breakfast place one morning I saw a beautiful blue Caddy. This was in Nashville.  What I took at first to be a parking lot was in fact a section owned by the dealer who parked cars there when extra space needed. No matter.  I saw this car and bought it at once. I didn’t even drive it. I was in LOVE.

But looking at this today, well.  It doesn’t look the same way to me that it did all those years ago.  And frankly, given a choice I’d always rather have the antique car below.  Much sexier don’t ya think? 

Sexier than a Bentley, and so well made that it bankrupted the company.

By Andrew English
Daily Telegraph

This rakishly low-slung sports car came about as a result of Oliver Lyle (of sugar giant Tate and Lyle) looking for a car for his wife, who couldn’t change gear.
He gave his considerable financial backing to Captain (later Sir) Noel Macklin, who set up Invicta at his home in Cobham, Surrey, where the house and plant were powered by a single gas engine – this was a very different sort of car company.

Using nickel/chrome, high-strength steels in the ladder chassis and a cast aluminium bulkhead gave great resistance to twisting on bumpy roads, as well as decent roadholding.

The Meadows engine was powerful, reliable and delivered so much torque the car’s brochure boasted that the gearbox was “only for emergency use”.
S-types were also known as “low chassis” models because the chassis curves under the rear axle for better weight distribution, at the cost of ground clearance.
The quality of an Invicta is astounding, with a dashboard so full of instruments it would look more at home in an aeroplane.

Great performance is assured – on a good one, the driving experience is unsurpassed, even by a contemporary Bentley. The Invicta also looks sexier. Of the 77 built, 68 survive.

Why you want one
One of the best looking pre-Second World War sports cars. Build quality so good it bankrupted the company. Modern supercar owners will park around the back if you turn up in one of these.

Why you don’t
It’s the price of a Home Counties semi-detached and has an undeserved reputation for being tricky at the limit after “Sammy” Davis crashed one at Brooklands in 1931.

You might not know The Invicta is named after the White Knight in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. In the hands of Donald Healey, the S-Type won the Monte Carlo rally in 1931.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 02/25/2010 at 02:31 PM   
Filed Under: • Personal • planes, trains, tanks, ships, big machinery, and automobiles •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2008 Domain Owner