Rolls Royce enters rally 'battle'

Sunday, June 3, I participated in a nice historic touring rally with some friends. This modest and social tour is organized by Altena Classic Service for ten years now. The rally is called "Slag om Ane" in Dutch which means "The battle for Ane" (Ane is the location where the firm is located.) Normally I would drive the Rover P6B V8 or the Triumph TR6 but my mind was set for an 'up class' classic experience and presence. A bright white 1971 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow was picked up at Imparts (www.imparts.nl) and I found a bright white linen jacket to complete the picture.

Cruise controlled and in a flash we were directed to the start location of the rally, did we drive or were we teleported by the Spirit of extacy? We will never know. Right from the start we realized why Rolls Royce would never give information about the engines power. The factory alway said 'sufficient' - we now know that is true - seeing the Austin Healey's, Mercedes SL Pagoda's and other sportscars shrinking to pinpoints in our mirrors!

We had a great time and we finished 7th of 42 participating cars. This without trip/twinmaster, or other aids. Just teamwork: a driver and a chief navigator at the front seats, Junior navigator calculating the distances in the rear seats (left or right depending on the actual speed and sharp bends in the road).

I almost forget to mention the last team member residing under the white bonnet: his royal V8 highness supplied us with massive torque and effortless acceleration over a total distance of 450 kilometers in exchange for 120 litres of high octane petrol. Not bad for the tons of fun the Silver Shadow gave us. We express our compliments to the people of Altena Classic Service (www.altenaclassicservice.nl) for organizing this highly enjoyable event!

Jensen Interceptor III, 1974

Last Saturday I received a phonecall from Wilco Beijer of Imparts, a Dutch specialist in British cars and spare parts. If I could spare a moment of my time to drive and photograph a 1974 Jensen Interceptor III. Why not ;-)?

It became a nice afternoon with the Jensen and it's owner. We drove for miles thru the countryside accompanied by the magnificent sound of the 7.2 litre Chrysler V8 engine.

With 325 brake horsepower under the throttle, superb leather seats, a beautiful dash and a power sliding roof the car proved to be a superb GT. A comfortable yet sporty Trans Europe Express. This fine car in excellent condition will be added to the ClassicarGarage sales collection shortly.

Rolls Royce Phantom I Super Sport

At Geert Jan Peters Automobile Restorers, located in Kampen the Netherlands, a very interesting project can be seen. At the company a Rolls Royce Phantom I is being rebodied with a 'Jarvis experimental' bodywork. The original Phantom I was found in England in the year 2006. The car was fully original and came with the original factory book in which the production of the car is fully described. Every part of the car is numbered and is described in the factory book. They discovered that every part is still matching. With only one exclusion, the speedometer.

The owner wanted a Super Sport special and he decided the car should be exactly the same as the Jarvis Experimental. A very scarce original 'Jarvis' was photographed and measured all round including the curves of the bodywork. Also a lot of documentation and factory drawings were collected. The car was stripped up to the rolling chassis. Mechanics were overhauled where necessary and a new body was created by hand by a Dutch specialist. Originally the aluminium 'Jarvis' body features a wooden framework, this car was given a rigid steel structure. The steel frame was intensively coated against rust and to prevent electrolytical corrosion between the steel and the aluminium panels.

The interior and a lot of other exterior parts were also handcrafted.

In May 2007 the car was fully built up for testing. The body was not painted so eventual flaws could easily be corrected. The car was inspected and approved for road use by the authorities. After several hundreds of miles testing every detail was inspected and the car was taken apart again. Right now the Rolls Royce Phantom I super sport is being painted. After that the car will be build up to perfection. Look at www.ClassicarGarage.nl and visit the presentation of Geert Jan Peters Automobile Restorers. - To be continued when the automobile is finished!

Mobile 'office' and Rover P6B

As I posted earlier this week I am travelling and working on several locations in the Netherlands. Right now I made camp in Aldeboarn in the north of the country!

Volvo P1800S

This fine 1966 Volvo P1800S was tested and photographed today at Piet Mozes Restorations. The car is in superb excellent++ condition! The car will be added to www.ClassicarGarage.nl shortly.

Interview with mr. Westerman CEO State-of-Art fashion

Today I had an interview with a true Porsche adept, mr. Westerman, owner and CEO of the fashion house State-of-Art. http://www.stateofart.com. The thrives inspiration from the car passion, classic Porsche cars and racing. Impressive paintings of the German artist Uli Hack are used to communicate the passion for fashion and speed. See http://www.ulihack.de. For mr. Westerman this is a busy week, Wednesday the new Mille miglia collection will be presented in Amsterdam and very soon the State-of-Art team will drive the 2007 Mille Miglia in Italy with three (!) Porsche classics! In the picture you see two very scarce Porsche 550 Spyder cars being prepared for this supreme event which starts on May 17, 2007! http://www.millemiglia.it. The interview will be published in the June issue of 'Onschatbare Klassieker magazine.

Interview with Rob Koch (Daf & Volvo car B.V.)

For next months issue of 'Onschatbare Klassieker Magazine' May 2007, I had a long and very delightfull conversation/interview with mr Rob Koch. From 1964 until 1973 he was chief of the DAF sportscar division. This Dutch car manufacturer participated succesfully in Formula 3 racing, the rally competition and rally cross. Daf managed to finish with both cars in the 1968 London-Sydney rally. This was the heaviest rally ever held. Daf managed to finish 17th and 56th. After DAF was taken over by Volvo of Sweden Rob Koch became chief styling at Volvo Car B.V. in the Netherlands. Under his supervision the Dutch design team won the contest of Volvo project G-13 (a compact front wheel drive Volvo for the American market.) This resulted in the Volvo 480 ES. After the 480 ES Rob was responsible for the 440, 460, the S40 and the V40. In the year 1993 he retired. People from the Netherlands and Belgium can read his story in two chapters, the first part next month! Website of the Dutch Classic Car Magazine http://www.okm.nl

Interview Smiths-Veglia fine classic automobiles

For the April issue of the Dutch 'Onschatbare Klassieker Magazine' I visited and interviewed mr. Robert Fluttert of Smiths-Veglia. This company sells beautiful classic automobiles from the fifites and sixties of the twentieth century. We took a little spin with his fine AC ACECA which you can see in the picture (with Robert Fluttert). The firm sells exclusive classic cars of outstanding quality for private persons on commission basis. Like the red Porsche 912 and the blue metallic Maserati Indy you see in the other picture. The cars at this firm are evaluated, tested and photographed by yours truly and technically inspected by Gabor Konkali, a very skilled technician. This year Smiths-Veglia celebrates it's 5 year jubilee. Visit the website to have a look at the beautiful classic cars and hear the engines running! http://www.smithsveglia.nl

Interview with Han Brouwers

For the April 2007 issue of the Dutch 'Onschatbare Klassieker Magazine' I interviewed Mr. Han Brouwers. As an accountant he has two passions; accounting and (racing) classic cars. He has quite a collection, lamongst others a Citroën DS, a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Talbot 105 racing car and even a scarce Triumph TR 8 in brand new condition! In the picture you see him racing his Talbot-Lago T26 GS 'Le Mans' car. A very scarce specimen of which only seven have been built.
Mr. Brouwers is chairman of the Dutch Vintage Sportscar Club. People with prewar sports-, racing cars and post war 'barchetta's' like the Jaguar C-type and D-type can join this club.
website http://www.dvscc.nl

Lets fill the blog with classic cars and more...!

Well the blog seems to work properly! This week I will start to publish classic cars which are being tested, evaluated and photographed for my website. I also have an interview for the magazine I write for, who knows maybe something unexpected happens that can be published overhere! This week, starting April 24, I will live and work a little different. Normally I drive from job to job through the Netherlands, one day here, go home, the other day there. This week a 'mobile office' will be coupled with my classic 1975 Rover P6B. The mobile office is a 25 year old classic caravan from which I will live and work! The weather will be nice so why not combine work and pleasure? Tuesday I will drive to the north of the country (Friesland) and Thursday I will drive to the south east (Limburg). Found some nice camping spots!

March 21: Press day at Goodwood House

On this beautiful day the Goodwood events of 2007 were presented with a lot of impressive sports- and racingcars. The cars raced the circuit and the rally track.

March 20: Railton-Napier

Photographed in the Brooklands Museum

March 20: Brooklands racetrack

Historical important location. Built in the year 1907 and not in use anymore. Many land speed records have been ertablished here. Nowadays the remains of the circuit and the hillclimb track can be admired. The old clubhouse and the other buildings on the premises are in use as museum. Racing and record cars, motor cycles and aeroplanes can be admired. You can see the impressive Railton-Napier record/racing car and te Concorde aeroplane