Wheels Day back on Track…

We’ve had a very busy few weeks. Starting with the Goodwood 74th Members Meeting, which was great and we promised you a post but we’ve got so many photo’s to sort from the event that it’ll have to wait for a short while.

However, better news is that Mario is out of his Winter Hibernation and has been out and about. We started him up on the Thursday before Easter and took him for a careful first drive. One of the front brakes was stuck on and got rather warm but a gentle drive and some sharp breaking seemed to free it off, James also took the wheel off and it would appear the problem is caused by the brake shoe adjusters not adjusting so that will be a future project. I took him round to the local hand car wash for a bit of spruce up but he embarrassed himself by refusing to start after his wash. The battery which had seemed fine that morning just died completely but at least it was easily rectified.

On Good Friday we set off for Wheels Day organised by the Surrey Street Rodders at Rushmoor Arena near Aldershot. Following the problems a couple of years ago, you now have to pre-register and Mario had been selected and was in possession of a shiny pass. Unlike previous events we practically drove straight in, much better organised. By far the best day of the Easter Weekend, it was lovely, warm and sunny, although it was a shame it had rained so much the night before making the ground rather boggy. Mario got his usual attention and lapped up the compliments while we wandered around the exhibits and stalls, picking up a great one-man vintage lunch box/picnic set which is destined to become a ‘Gin Caddy’. We had a great day and Mario certainly enjoyed the run after being cooped up for the Winter.

Very subtile paint on this woodie rod, flames and checkers but in muted colours which unfortunately don’t show too well in the photo. This Saab pickup was great. For those old enough to remember, Rainbow’s Zippy and George in a rod! Needs a bit of work but the horns were a great extra. Favourite car of the car (apart from Mario of course). The ‘paint work’ was fantastic and appears to be real, James made a guess at about 17 or so layers and rubbed down in an amazing nearly symmetrical pattern before being matt lacquered. A beautiful little Simca which had a rather stompy engine. Hopefully the owner Des will be bringing it to our car show in May. It won a prize at Wheels Day. Lovely immaculate VW Pickup with a mini VW bus in the back. Easter Monday dawned pretty bright after the horrendous night of Storm Katie and we were going to take Mario to the GRRC Spring Sprint at Goodwood but it was cancelled due to weather damage to the grandstands. However a friend from Derbyshire was staying in Chichester so we took Mario to pick her up and out for an afternoon tea and bubbles at the Kennels. With a ride in Mario she had the full Goodwood Experience! We had a few problems getting home as travelling cross country we came across several lanes blocked by fallen trees and floods.

So all in all a pretty good Easter. The Members Meeting blog will follow shortly.

Cars we love but can’t have… No 1

Regular readers will know that we love a bit of internet research but it often gets out of hand. We see an odd picture of something unusual that we love, dig a little deeper and it grows into a project. The problem with this is that the search becomes involved and the post takes ages to do, so we decided that we’d do a few quick posts just on something we’d found that was interesting, that we’d love to have in the family but were very unlikely to, as they always turn out to be ultra rare and hence ultra expensive!

This idea started out well when this popped up on Facebook…

A 1957 Abarth 750 Coupe Goccia,
With a lightweight and aerodynamic body designed by Michelotti for Vignale and Arbarths expertise in designing fine and highly tuned engines, this prototype was aimed at establishing a world speed record in it’s class. With a naturally aspirated 700cc Petrol engine it was said to be able to attain a top speed of 150kph (93mph).

Only three cars were made in 1956/57 and it was never considered to be a production car. The first one was shown at the 1956 Geneva Motor Show and featured Gullwing doors but these were dropped for the further two produced. The later cars competed in the 1957 Mille Miglia and many other events in Europe. From some of the pictures we found at least one car is still around and has appeared at shows around the world. We’re unsure of is whereabouts but it was sold possibly to Japan.

As usual researching this post started to turn up some other interesting beasts, lots of 750 derivatives from designers such as Nardi but we’ll be good and save those for another day.

We are off to the 74th Members Meeting at Goodwood this weekend so should be back with some pics next week and Mario will be coming out of hibernation to take part in Wheels Day on Good Friday.

UPDATE – one of our readers has told us that at least two of the three Goccia Coupe’s still exists and one is in the UK!