Kiddies version of Moss\'s 1955 Mercedes 300SLR
In 1952 when I was 12, a gullwing Mercedes-Benz 300SL won the Le Mans 24 Hour race. I then became a complete Mercedes-Benz nut and through the 1954 and 1955 Grand Prix and sports cars race series I collected and devoured every race report in British car magazines. A fascinating report was Denis Jenkinson's story in 'Motor Sport' about the Mille Miglia victory in 1955. I started a scrapbook, which I still have and regularly wrote to the factory in Stuttgart. Every time they would reply. School work came second!
In 1954 I designed a foot pedal door opening mechanism for the gullwing door. This would replace a hand operated door handle. Instead of the good people at Mercedes saying here is this kid from South Africa irritating us again they sent me a lengthy letter saying that they had sent my idea to their plant in Sindelfingen for evaluation. It was felt that the rods could become jammed in the event of an accident, so thank you we'll stick with the present system. I give Daimler-Benz, as they were known then, ten out of ten for PR! Kids quickly become adults and then customers. Not that I drive a Mercedes-Benz now but a classic 1958/59 220S Ponton is still a dream.
In the 1960s I worked for Stirling Moss in London and had many opportunities to talk to him about that wonderful era and to hear about that fast drive around Italy in 1955 from the horse's mouth as the saying goes.
In 1987 when I visited Stirling for a trip down memory lane he asked me to walk up Park Lane, round the corner from his house, to have a look at something in a luxury car showroom. There stood two cute half scale cars, a red Ferrari 328 and an open topped yellow Lamborghini Countach, both powered by Honda lawnmower engines. Price was a staggering 10,500 pounds each, compared with a Sierra 2.0GL at 12,500.
Stirling said that he liked the little half scale cars and that if we could build similar cars in South Africa at much lower prices he would be interested in becoming involved on the marketing side. Other business ventures took precedence and the kiddies car idea was forgotten.
In early 2001 I saw a pic of Stirling doing a demo run in Europe in the self same Mille Miglia 300SLR, number 722. That got me thinking and I suggested to Robbie Senekal that we should tackle the project as an after hours hobby project. Next thing Robbie was in hospital for a major back operation and when he recovered he found himself heading up Jimmy Price's GT40 project. Not time for kiddies cars!
There was one person I felt who would be ideal for the project, Malcolm Duncan in Johannesburg. Duncan, apart from being an astute engineer, designer and inventor, is another Mercedes-Benz nut with a collection of classics, including a 300SL Roadster, a large die-cast and model collection and probably every book on the marque.
Duncan jumped at the idea and being a man of action started work on the project immediately. He the came up with the idea of a two thirds scale car as bigger kids could drive it and also the original Mini 10 ins tyres would be virtually to scale. Visually the car will be accurate in every detail and I suggested to Duncan that when photographed it should indistinguishable from the real car. Power will be from a Yamaha Quad Bike as all the electrics are in place.
The first hand formed aluminium body has been completed and I attach three pics below. Malcolm will make six exclusive aluminium bodied cars and then the production models will have fibreglass bodies.
As there's a chance that we can display the first car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed at the end of June, there's now a mad rush to complete the car.
There's another interesting piece of history with regard to Malcolm. He owns an ex-Paul O'Shea special 300SL engine one of only six ever built.
A medical doctor in Johannesburg who raced power boats in the early 1960s somehow managed to get hold of one of these rare engines for his boat. In later years Duncan managed to buy it.
I quote verbatim from page 312 of the book QUICKSILVER CENTURY:
' Late in 1956 Paul O'Shea, fresh from his latest SCCA championship season with George Tilp's 300SL coupes, came to Germany to assess the competition potential of the Roadster prototype. He tried it at Solitude, Hockenheim and Nurburgring tracks. It was judged to be promising for racing, especially considering that it was neither to the final standard of frame stiffmness nor yet equipped with the low-pivot rear suspension.
There was only one problem. Since production was just beginning, the SCCA was unwilling to admit the Roadster as a standard model for the 1957 season. If it were to race, it would only do so as a sports-racing car in Class D against other 3-litre cars. Typical opponents were such dedicated racing cars as the Maserati 300S, Ferraro Monza and Aston-Martin DB3S.
After O'Shea's visit, in November 1956 the decision was made to prepare two special Roadsters, four spare engines and five different rear-axle ratio sets for SCCA Class D...........
The O'Shea engines were identified by distinctive light-weight fabricated aluminium inlet manifolds and air scoops. See pic below of Malcolm with his engine.
Small is beautiful!
Andre 40
In 1952 when I was 12, a gullwing Mercedes-Benz 300SL won the Le Mans 24 Hour race. I then became a complete Mercedes-Benz nut and through the 1954 and 1955 Grand Prix and sports cars race series I collected and devoured every race report in British car magazines. A fascinating report was Denis Jenkinson's story in 'Motor Sport' about the Mille Miglia victory in 1955. I started a scrapbook, which I still have and regularly wrote to the factory in Stuttgart. Every time they would reply. School work came second!
In 1954 I designed a foot pedal door opening mechanism for the gullwing door. This would replace a hand operated door handle. Instead of the good people at Mercedes saying here is this kid from South Africa irritating us again they sent me a lengthy letter saying that they had sent my idea to their plant in Sindelfingen for evaluation. It was felt that the rods could become jammed in the event of an accident, so thank you we'll stick with the present system. I give Daimler-Benz, as they were known then, ten out of ten for PR! Kids quickly become adults and then customers. Not that I drive a Mercedes-Benz now but a classic 1958/59 220S Ponton is still a dream.
In the 1960s I worked for Stirling Moss in London and had many opportunities to talk to him about that wonderful era and to hear about that fast drive around Italy in 1955 from the horse's mouth as the saying goes.
In 1987 when I visited Stirling for a trip down memory lane he asked me to walk up Park Lane, round the corner from his house, to have a look at something in a luxury car showroom. There stood two cute half scale cars, a red Ferrari 328 and an open topped yellow Lamborghini Countach, both powered by Honda lawnmower engines. Price was a staggering 10,500 pounds each, compared with a Sierra 2.0GL at 12,500.
Stirling said that he liked the little half scale cars and that if we could build similar cars in South Africa at much lower prices he would be interested in becoming involved on the marketing side. Other business ventures took precedence and the kiddies car idea was forgotten.
In early 2001 I saw a pic of Stirling doing a demo run in Europe in the self same Mille Miglia 300SLR, number 722. That got me thinking and I suggested to Robbie Senekal that we should tackle the project as an after hours hobby project. Next thing Robbie was in hospital for a major back operation and when he recovered he found himself heading up Jimmy Price's GT40 project. Not time for kiddies cars!
There was one person I felt who would be ideal for the project, Malcolm Duncan in Johannesburg. Duncan, apart from being an astute engineer, designer and inventor, is another Mercedes-Benz nut with a collection of classics, including a 300SL Roadster, a large die-cast and model collection and probably every book on the marque.
Duncan jumped at the idea and being a man of action started work on the project immediately. He the came up with the idea of a two thirds scale car as bigger kids could drive it and also the original Mini 10 ins tyres would be virtually to scale. Visually the car will be accurate in every detail and I suggested to Duncan that when photographed it should indistinguishable from the real car. Power will be from a Yamaha Quad Bike as all the electrics are in place.
The first hand formed aluminium body has been completed and I attach three pics below. Malcolm will make six exclusive aluminium bodied cars and then the production models will have fibreglass bodies.
As there's a chance that we can display the first car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed at the end of June, there's now a mad rush to complete the car.
There's another interesting piece of history with regard to Malcolm. He owns an ex-Paul O'Shea special 300SL engine one of only six ever built.
A medical doctor in Johannesburg who raced power boats in the early 1960s somehow managed to get hold of one of these rare engines for his boat. In later years Duncan managed to buy it.
I quote verbatim from page 312 of the book QUICKSILVER CENTURY:
' Late in 1956 Paul O'Shea, fresh from his latest SCCA championship season with George Tilp's 300SL coupes, came to Germany to assess the competition potential of the Roadster prototype. He tried it at Solitude, Hockenheim and Nurburgring tracks. It was judged to be promising for racing, especially considering that it was neither to the final standard of frame stiffmness nor yet equipped with the low-pivot rear suspension.
There was only one problem. Since production was just beginning, the SCCA was unwilling to admit the Roadster as a standard model for the 1957 season. If it were to race, it would only do so as a sports-racing car in Class D against other 3-litre cars. Typical opponents were such dedicated racing cars as the Maserati 300S, Ferraro Monza and Aston-Martin DB3S.
After O'Shea's visit, in November 1956 the decision was made to prepare two special Roadsters, four spare engines and five different rear-axle ratio sets for SCCA Class D...........
The O'Shea engines were identified by distinctive light-weight fabricated aluminium inlet manifolds and air scoops. See pic below of Malcolm with his engine.
Small is beautiful!
Andre 40
