The Car Spy

There’s power-a-plenty on tap, and different ways of producing it too, at this year’s Footman James Classic Motor Show when it returns to Birmingham’s NEC from 11-13 November.

The Rover P4 Drivers Guild is showcasing a superbly-executed and exceptionally-accurate replica of JET 1, the first gas turbine-powered car launched in 1950.

Rover, who led the field in jet engine development in the early 1940s, investigated using gas turbine engines for its road cars. This remarkable car, which uses a Rover V8 engine for dayto-
day use, has a genuine Rover gas turbine in the rear.

To mark its 60th anniversary, and Sydney Allard’s favoured Ford or Mercury side-valve mastery, the Allard Owners Club is featuring a ‘family’ of side-valve V8 powered cars. The cars on display will sport a range of engines, from 3.6-litre through to a bored, stroked, and highly-tuned 4.4-litre.

The TVR Car Club is spanning nearly three decades of TVR development. TVR can trace its roots to 1947, but it’s during the ‘swinging sixties’ that the marque truly arrived thanks to the Grantura, Griffith, Vixen, and Tuscan models.

The 140bhp Tuscan, a beautifully-restored, one-owner-from-new example, is in perfect contrast to its display partner, a 880bhp V12 and road-legal Cerbera Speed 12. A spin-off from TVR’s GT1 racing programme, the Speed 12, a boundary-pushing and anarchic creation, uses two TVR V6 engines mated together.

Taking pride of place on the Capri MK1 Register’s stand is a wonderful recreation of the Team Gunston racing Capri Perana A2. Painstakingly and authentically detailed, and powered by a
300bhp Ford V8, it takes Capri tuning to a whole new level.

The Ford RS Owners Club is paying homage to the power and competition heritage of the Cosworth BD-series of engines. Conceived as a belt-driven version of Cosworth’s 1598cc Formula 2 FVA engine, the BDA, the first version of the BD-series, arrived in 1970.

Variants of this feisty four-cylinder, a real powerhouse, were fitted to special RS models, namely the Escort RS1600, Escort RS1800, RS200, and the oh-so-rare RS1700T. One of each will be on display.

For more information on the Footman James Classic Motor Show or Classic Motorbike Show,
visit www.necclassicmotorshow.com