Attentive readers may have noticed a sparcity of updates, this is due to a number of reasons but it is mainly because we're really really busy this summer, mostly with stuff for the Retro Rides Gathering.  However we are still able to find time to get out and enjoy the summer shows and events, this weekend just gone we got to two very different events, grabbed some photos and bought them back for you.

Firstly we've got the annual Superprix at Brands Hatch organised by the HSCC, this year celebrated 50 years of the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.  The weather was fantastic, with the racing being close and exciting it was a great way to spend a weekend, although the cost of entry was a bit steep at £21 a day!  The event also clashed with the Goodwood Festival Of Speed, which could well have impacted the number of attendees.

Check out our gallery from the Saturday of the event here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157624301054515/

From classic Formula 1 cars being raced by millionaires to a local car park meet of more modest proportions.  The BuySellCortina forum has regular meetings and we found our way along to one on Sunday and picked out a couple of favourites.  This is car enthusiasts doing what they do best, meeting up, relaxing and shooting the breeze.

For some pictures of the stand out cars check our gallery : http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157624292000680/

Don't forget folks that the up coming Retro Show at Santa Pod is next weekend with ticket sales finishing tomorrow, RSM will be there to take some photos and share them with ya'll when we return.

Once the insanity of our summer subsides we hope to return to our regular schedule of updates and interesting features.  If you fancy helping with this, we are always happy to have submissions.

Posted on: July 7, 2010 22:29

Well that was a pleasant hiatus, hope you all didn't miss us too much and are looking forward to the new year as much as we are.

We started the new year with our regular trip to the BuySellCortina meet, which you can find pictures of in our Flickr gallery.  It is always pleasing to see how many people will brave the cold and occasionally treacherous conditions for New Years day and Boxing day meets.  A nice mid winter boost to keep you going before we hit show season proper.
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Talking of show season, it may be shut down time here in Europe, but our friends in the Southern Hemisphere are just hitting their stride, we hope to bring you some previews and coverage from shows down under, and elsewhere over the next couple of months.  If you are in such a location and fancy helping please drop us an email using the contact us page on the right, or even if you are not but want to be part of the RSM team feel free to drop us a mail too, we are always looking for people to write or photograph for us.

What else do we have coming up?  On top of our usual content we've always done a little bit about trends at the start of each year, this year will be no different.  We've also got plenty of interesting features planned for the upcoming months, so stick with us in 2010, it is going to be a great year!

Posted on: January 7, 2010 05:23

 

 

It's a Wednesday evening  in July and while most 'normal' people are contemplating what to watch on the telly or which takeaway to order there's a bunch of guys doing something a little bit special. This select group has rejected the average and taken to the track - swapped the sofa for a bucket seat and the sounds of the Coronation Street theme for the growl of an exhaust. 

This was a joint venture between Retro Cars and Retro Ford, sister titles under the Unity Media banner. Out on the track there was certainly variety but the major prescence was from the Ford marque. There were some notable exceptions amongst the Escorts, one of my favourites being a luxo-barge in the form of a JDM spec  Nissan Laurel that was well and truly holding it's own out on the Kent circuit...I doubt anyone else was going around in such comfort either!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157621781320518//

 

Posted on: July 22, 2009 07:43

In the UK at least the Taunus 20M is a rare enough car, however if you add to that some smooth Italian styling and limited production, you've got the recipe for a very nice rare car!

The Ford OSI 20 M TS Coupe, to give its full name, is the design work of Sergio Sartorelli coupled with the engineering underpinnings of the Ford Taunus 20M, a great car in its own right.  Whilst the Turin based OSI (Industriali Officina Stampaggi) as a company had produced designs for Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Innocenti, they had always been in very limited numbers, the Ford OSI however saw a move into higher production figures.  We're not talking great number though, just 2,220 units were produced between 1967 and 1968.  Of those that were produced only around 200 have survived.

The car came in 2 litre V6 and 2.3 litre V6 varieties, just as in the standard production model, performance was around the same as the standard model as well.  There was an attempted to improve the acceleration by modifying the rear axle, but that was counteracted by the larger wheels and rolling radius.

A single convertible car was made and is still around today, the rarest of this rare car.  Pictures and (German) details of this car can be found here.

It really is a very attractive European coupe, German engineering coupled with attractive Italian styling, what more could you need in life?

More information can be found here (OSI site) and the owners club website is here.

Posted on: February 17, 2009 03:41

I like this car, I like this car for one specific reason, although there are lots to like, it is the car that given the budget and equipment most of 'us' would have built out of a Mk3 Capri.  Take a Mk3 Capri, add a bit of body kit (it was the 80's), add a really nice interior, lower and stiffen the suspension, then slap a turbo charger and put it on the street.

Tickford had a long an illustrious history before getting the chance to breathe on Ford's sporty coupe, started in the 1820s as a coachbuilder, they naturally moved onto automobile coachbuilding until they effectively become part of Aston Martin in the 1950s.  In 1981 Tickford under the guise of "Aston Martin Tickford" was formed and their services opened up to other customers.  One of those companies that chose to work with Tickford was Ford.  The partnership produced some great work, including the road going versions of the Sierra Cosworth RS500 and the fantastic RS200.  However it is the Tickford Capri that kicked all this off for them.

The Tickford Capri was based on the V6 2.8i model, receiving a turbo on the engine, walnut and leather interior as well as electric windows and the obvious body kit.  Motor Sport magazine compared it to the 2.7 litre Porsche 911 in performance terms, it raced to 60 from standing in just 6.7 seconds and it topped out at 140mph.  More could probably have been done, certainly there was room for improvement in the engine department, but the car was already pretty expensive.  In fact the price was its only real failing point. eventually just 85 Tickford Turbos hit the streets.

Picking one up now days is a tricky affair, and they demand a premium, unsurprisingly.  You can find more information about the cars Tickford created at the Tickford Owners Club website.  The photos in the entry have been taken from this excellent Flickr account.

Tomorrow we'll be heading back East for some wild small car action.

Posted on: February 10, 2009 06:29

Hello! Did you miss us?  We had a lovely break over Christmas, we knew we'd not be able to consistently deliver new content over the holiday period so rather than do one or two posts we saved them up for a bumper new year!

We have a whole bunch of entries already worked out as well as some new ideas we are going to be doing over the next few months.  Also we will continue to massage the look and feel in order to get you the best user experience possible.  We will continue to update the blog at least three times a week, although we aim to do it daily.  This week you can expect to see some more trends predictions for this year, as well as an assessment of our accuracy from last year's list!  We also have a couple of winter warmers up our sleeves from last summer, in order to keep you motivated through the winter months.

We'll start with what we were up to on New Years Day though, this certainly wasn't a winter warmer!  We attended the BuySellCortina meet last year and wrote a feature on it, now we have our lovely Flickr account we are able to share more of the experience with you form this year's event : http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157612105556779/

So welcome to RSM 2009, we hope this is a great year for you and your car(s) and that you are enjoying what we do here at Retro Scene Mag.

 

Posted on: January 5, 2009 03:01

It's the start of a new series here on RSM, we're setting the camera to close-up and taking a look at individual parts of the cars we love - celebrating those little touches that draw us enthusiasts in every time. First up we have...Mk1 Cortina Rear Lights:

What was the designer thinking as he penned the back end of the iconic Mk1 Cortina? Why did he choose to put a circle into the vee shape he'd drawn? Did the lights come first? Was he drunk? We may never know, but whatever his driving force was he produced and icon. In fact the design was so good that other designers plucked them from the mediocrity of a mass produced saloon and amalgamated them in their own artistry: 

Spotted! Mk1 Cortina lights doing a stunning job as part of the TVR Grantura.

 

Here they are again! Mk1 'Tina lights appeared on ice cream vans everywhere...I'll have a flake in mine please.

If you know of any other uses, let us know. Mk1 Cortina lights, we salute you!

 

Posted on: November 29, 2008 22:04

 

Some of you might be familiar with Charlie's excellent blog (http://racecarprep.blogspot.com/) which you'll find down there to the right along with some other choice reading, but we thought it might be nice to bring some of the Sierra's magic to RSM - especially whilst were basking in the joys of motorsport week here on your favourite blog. I was lucky enough to be invited to a pre-season test session by the man himself where I took the opportunity to snap a few pics and was lucky enough to find myself in the passenger seat for a few speedy laps of Brands Hatch's legendary circuit. Not only that he bought me a Coke and a Kit Kat, such is the hospitality of the man. Now he's got a few races in the bag I thought it would be a fine time to fire some mildly prying questions at him:

Name: Charlie Moseley 

Age: 37

Occupation: Head of Communications for a bank.

Other Hobbies: I collect Cuban posters.

Car: Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth RWD

Year: Built in the mid 90s from a Ford Motorsport shell to compete in Group N touring cars (Group N was mostly standard spec)

Engine: 2 litre turbo. It runs a restrictor to limit the air into the turbo as part of the regulations for the class it runs in.

Power: 280ish BHP.

Wheels: 16X7@ Compomotive eight spoke.

Tyres: Toyo R888 semi slicks

Suspension/chassis: shorter stiffer springs with Koni and Leda dampers

Brakes: Standard calipers with EBC red stuff pads. Discs are grooved and drilled standard size.

Car/cars/car history: Regularly stole my mum's Toyota Corolla GT, father's and friends 1.9 205 GTIs in the 80s. First car was a brown Allegro estate which I crashed chasing my friend in a 205 (1.6 this time). Then had sensible Micra which I sold and bought a 1970 351 purple Mustang when I was 17. From Mustang to Suzuki jeep then no hobby cars until a revival of interest led me to Datsuns, the 910 coupe and now I have moved onto racing.

Future car plans: I must must must own a Datsun 510 SSS coupe. I'm trying to get a job with a Japanese mobile phone company so I can take trips to Japan. I will own one! For racing I love the Cosworth for grunt and simplicity. Will keep racing them but may move onto a 3 door when I move on from the Sapphire.

Dream car: Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth race car.

Favourite crisps: prawn cocktail. It's my Ebay name.

Anyone you'd like to thank: Simon and David for the endless joy that is Retro Rides. The wife for supporting my stupid racing career/hobby. Everybody who has lent a hand at race tracks this year - both physical and moral support.

Results: Only managed a 2:1 I'm afraid.

 

Thanks Charlie!

You can catch Charlie and his racing antics via his blog or, if you can make it, on the circuit at the remaining rounds of the Toyo Tyres Racing Saloons (TTRS) race series listed on his blog.

 

Posted on: June 27, 2008 08:12

The British summer is a strange beast, a few weeks ago it was lovely and hot, then it started raining.  It chose this weekend just gone to do both.  Which is a little vexing as it is what could be described as the first big weekend of the summer in terms of shows.  The three headline events are the Classic Ford Show, NSRA Billing Fun Run and the Stonor Park VW show.  As well as those three there was at least one Mini event in Bristol and Mersea Motor Madness.  Further afield the motor sports season has well and truly kicked off, any weekend from now until the end of September could see you checking out some cool racing at nearby circuits.  If you weren't out and about this weekend then make sure you stick some dates in your diary and get to some shows or motor sports this year, there is nothing like a great day out at an event to encourage you to get on with your car!

By way of encouragement have a little slice of what went on the UK this weekend.  If you are reading from across the sea (in any direction), make sure you get a UK show in your calendar for next year, they are worth the trip.

Stonor Park

http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c353/ultraflybry/Stonor%20Park%202008/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/steveo50/sets/72157605381302637/


Classic Ford

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10184672@N06/sets/72157605390126524/

http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff319/mighty_mk1/classic%20ford/


NSRA Billing 2008

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42436717@N00/sets/72157605385927906/

http://usera.imagecave.com/johntravell/BILLING2008/



What were you up to?  Did you get to any of these shows?  Whats next on your list?


Posted on: June 2, 2008 03:49

A while ago we recommended the book Cars and Stars, whilst flicking through this the other day I spotted Jack Lemmon sitting in a bright red futuristic looking Ford.  In the book there were no details of what it was.  So I did some hunting.

That hunting was pretty difficult, what with not knowing that much about American Fords, or what year the photo was taken in.  Luckily for you I'm pretty persistent, or this would be a very short entry.  The car in question is a very rare 1962 Ford Cougar I, in fact it never made it out of concept phase.

Details on the car are scant to say the least.  I tracked down this photograph of a blue version of the car :

A bit more digging revealed that it is likely to be the car used in Under The Yum Yum Tree and this still from the film put the truth to that statement :

Thanks to Internet Movie Car Database for the details and pictures of that

CoolCats.Net gave the most detail I could find about the car "This is the earliest known use of the Cougar name on a vehicle. This Cougar 406 (also known as the Cougar I) was unveiled at the 1962 Chicago Auto Show.  It had a 102" wheelbase, 406 CID power, and the gullwing doors were electric."

Does anyone know anything more?  Where do these cars live now?  There looks to have been at least two made.

Posted on: May 29, 2008 03:34