Matthew Henderson

Little meet on the beach

I’m well aware that a lot of what I mentioned in the captions of the images is unimportant and rather just “fun fact”, but I thought I’d tell you anyway. I’m also aware that a lot of these images are similar (even similar to pictures with other cars in them, like the NA Miata “photoshoot” I did previously), but that doesn’t matter.

For quite a while now, I’ve had the “great” idea of swapping a 5-cylinder Volvo engine into my MX5 and I’ve been thinking about how I can do this as cheaply and reliably as possible. So I wonder; if I were to put in that engine, could I take the ECU out of that same Volvo and put it in my MX5? If not, what ECUs are no as expensive as ME221s but can do the job reliably? Thanks in advance MH

This 1972 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R C10 (Hako) is soon to be auctioned off at BH Auctions in Oyama, Japan. The car was previously owned by Shigeru Watanabe, it’s a common enough name, but this particular mr. Shigeru Watanabe is the legendary “god of GTRs”. The car was the inspiration for the livery of a different Hako 2000 GT-R, which, in turn became the inspiration for the livery that I made in FH4, as you can see below.

Yep, the CUT 7 E-Type is for sale at Henderson Fellowes in London. Active in historic motorsport since 2000 and a regular visitor of the Goodwood Revival. It was returned to its period correct specification (as you see it in the pictures) in 2013 by its current owner. If you’ve heard of CUT 7, you’ve probably seen it at the Goodwood Revival, so how about I tell you about the car’s history.

I’ll see if I can turn this into a series and keep it going. Knowing myself, that probably won’t happen… but I’ll do the best I can do. The 2 key features of this series are the car and the engine, layout and specifics will be discussed in the text. Only the car and engine will get a full intro. Also, money is no object. It’s all about dreaming up things that are hardly possible and will need quite a bit of engineering to put together.

Bonus What’s your favourite pic of the Ford? Do you know any points of the map higher than the one I’ve reached? I’d love to know.

These are the wheels I want to get (except in Bronze)… they are Japan Racing JR3s and the reason I chose these is because: 1; they’re cheap (€110 per wheel) 2; they’re local (Dutch made) 3; they’re commonly used in the Dutch car community (even outside of MX5s, there’s someone on my campus who has JR3s on his Civic) 4; they’re TE37 rip-offs, so they’re bound to look good (as Metalluis16 will confirm… I do like TE37s…)

The week I left for lake Garda is the week when this car was officially revealed at the dealership where I work. I have now had the chance to see it up close and drive it. So here are my thoughts.

Apparently, the person who bought this rather sleek looking Lambo had enough influence to buy it without its wing. Quite something, wouldn’t you say?

I quite like it tbh,

Originally owned by Nicolas Arroyo, a Cuban petrolhead, This 300SL won 1st in class at the second (and last) Cuban GP. As Arroyo had been ambassador when visiting the US before the revolution, he decided to move to DC when the revolution started, selling his 300SL to a Cuban racing team in 1959. In 1965, it was sold to an enthusiast, who didn’t really do anything with it, other than have his mechanic maintain it for the full 15 years he had owned it.

Also a comparison between a car that has no hips and a car with Marilyn Monroe hips.

C10 vs. S30Z The original battle; HakoSuka versus the S30 Z. The biggest engine the Hako got was an S20, a 2.0-litre twin-cam straight 6. The biggest the Z got was an L28, a 2.8-litre single-cam straight 6. In terms of engineering Skyline’s engine is more advanced, but is that enough to replace 0.8-litres worth of engine? Well, it’s not much… but the Z has got 10 extra horses out of those 0.8-litres. The Hako only got 160hp vs. the 170 out of the S30’s L28.

The Quattroporte is one of the world’s longest running series of performance saloons, but the only one to be turned into an estate was the previous generation, which was called the Bellagio Fastback. I guess the owner of the newer generation Quattroporte you can see in the first pic really liked the Bellagio and decided he wanted to turn his new Quattroporte into an estate. He brought it to a person called Adam Redding (body restoration specialist), who helped turn the RHD Quattroporte into an estate.

The Elan was Lotus’ first attempt at making a road car after making plenty of race cars such as the legendary Super 7, the Eleven, or the Type 18. The car was the smallest roadster money could buy, and ended up being a source of inspiration for the design of the legendary NA generation Mazda MX5. Of the SI Elan, 52 26Rs were made, and another 49 SII 26Rs. There was conversion (named the Shapecraft conversion) which turned the 26R into a fastback. It was basically Lotus’ Low Drag.

I never realised how good a deal they are, roughly €2000 for a front engined, front drive, B20A powered retro Honda. I think they look good too. The only minus points (IMO) are Honda’s fanbase and the fact that it’s front-wheel drive.

Powered by either a 1.5-litre or a 2.0-litre straight-6, the A6 (“A” standing for “Alfieri”, one of the Maserati brothers, “6” of course for the number of cylinders) was their GT/racing series. Of the variants, the “G” model had a cast iron block (in other words, the 2.0-litre engine, as that was the only one with a cast iron block, although displacements were mentioned in the names, “G” for “Ghisa”), the “CS” model was their GT series race car (“CS” for “Corsa & Sport), and lastly, the “CM” was a single seater (“CS” for “Corsa Monoposto”).

1976 Ferrari 512BB 1979 BMW M1 1975 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S 1975 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale 1974 Lamborghini Countach 1984 Isdera Imperator 108i Honerable mentions: 1976 Lotus Esprit Turbo (S1) 1976 Porshce 911 (930) Flachbau To be entirely honest, I don’t know what I’d choose, they are all pretty awesome in these specs. I think I’d go for the Lotus, but if the honerable mentions weren’t on the list, the Ferrari 512 or the DeTomaso Pantera… the ‘80s had their awesome features too, I guess.

These are (by far) not all, don’t worry, they’re just a few examples.

For those who believe the Miura is the original supercar: I believe that this is in fact the original supercar. The Miura is the first car to have a transversally mounted V12, mid-engined cars date back to the ‘40s. What people forget is that FIA required cars to be homologated before they’d be allowed to participate in the 24 Hueres du Mans, and though Ferrari shifted the requirements slightly with the 250 GTO (ironic, isn’t it?), they too, required their cars to be homologated. Meaning that, yes, the 250LM also has road-going versions.

There was a time that I had a small obsession surrounding this car, not as bad as with the 250 SWB, but still… a noticible liking. So I’m sure you can understand why I think it’s sad that this little Abarth is so rare. How rare, you ask? 3 units in total. The first 2 were powered by a 1.1-litre Fiat engine, and the last was powered by a 1.3-litre Alfa Twin-cam engine. The latter of which ended up being burnt in a garage in Italy, after living a part of its life as Carlo Abarth’s personal car.