Weather warnings from the Arctic front brought Cars and Coffee Liverpool to a halt in March, only the mad and brave stood the severe conditions. Even the hottest Lavazza Coffee and piping hot‘ Char Sui’ Roast Pork buns could not keep these hardcore petrolheads warm. Credit must be given to Peter Smith and Alun / Gary Evans-Thomlinson for being some of the most dedicated members. Both graced the Chung Ku Restaurant entrance in their similar Old English White Mini GTs new and old. The new Mini( owned by BMW since 1994), dwarfed the older Austin Mini( built in Longbridge since the 1959). One of the most iconic cars of the 20th Century along with the Model T, Citroen DS and the Volkswagen Beetle.
In 1969, under the ownership of British Leyland, the Mini was given a facelift by stylist Roy Haynes, who had previously worked for Ford. The restyled version was called the Mini Clubman, and has a squarer frontal look, using the same indicator / sidelight assembly as the Austin Maxi. The Mini Clubman was intended to replace the upmarket Riley and Wolseley versions. A new model, dubbed the 1275 GT, was slated as the replacement for the 998 cc Mini Cooper( the 1,275 cc Mini Cooper S continued alongside the 1275 GT for two years until 1971). The 1275 GT is often incorrectly described as the“ Mini Clubman 1275 GT”. The official name was always just the“ Mini 1275 GT”, and it was a separate, distinct model from the Clubman( although it shared the same frontal treatment as the Mini Clubman, and was launched at the same time).
Alun’ s BMW Mini 1499GT is a newly built limited edition model commemorating the old mini GT, whereas Peter’ s is a beautifully restored 1978 1275GT. Both sharing the black stripe below the bottom door line.
Anyway, enough of petrol, lets turn to electric. To set our scene, listen to the teenage retro Sci- Fi series Strangers Things intro soundtrack and picture father and daughter riding into the meeting unannounced on a Mk1 Raleigh Chopper and a 3 wheel Sinclair C5? These are the sort of enthusiasts you would mix with someone who owns a retro Raleigh Vektar( the future computer bike) and a guy with a Ford Mk1 Supersport, wearing a pair of Farah pants and a Sergio Tacchini tracktop, very super 80s! You must remember the Sinclair C5? A battery – powered tricycle developed by British inventor Clive Sinclair in 1985. It’ s was lovely to find one of our main supporters-Tesla, came that day to be met by this 3 wheeled icon. Can you believe such a tiny 3 wheeler was passed by safety standards- to be used on our busy public roads. It was a good job it was a flop! On a positive note, these new tech vehicles such as the BMWi models( covered in a later issue) is full of innovative gadgets, just like playing on an iPhone. Everything is controlled by an App. Press a button to check where the car is located and if the car is locked and secure, or tap another to see if the car is fully charged, warmed ready for you on a cold morning. It’ s all very clever, but It’ s a frightening thought that us petrol heads will be the rebels living in underworld of the electric society.
Cars and Coffee Liverpool’ s star car of the month and the icing to the cake for the ones who turned up that day and braved the stay until the end is Mr Lawrence Cookson’ s muscle powered 4ltr Supercharged Ford GT40. A period correct Gulf coloured Livery( Limited Edition to 323). Everything on this car shouted out loud from the colour combination to the Heffner Exhaust, Ford Racing Headers, the sound of the metallic racing short shift and those 20 / 21” Adv 1 wheels! I’ m sure Lawrence will need some muscles to tame this vehicle with amazement- it’ s no garage queen with all that dirty patina! A supercar paying homage to the old original Ford GT40 that shocked the Motorsport world for the 4 consecutive win from 1966-69 historic wins at Le Mans.
At the 2002 auto show, Ford unveiled a new GT40 Concept car. Camilo Pardo, the head of Ford’ s“ Living Legends” studio, is credited as the chief designer of the GT and worked under the guidance of J Mays. Carol Shellby, the original designer of the Shelby GT 500, was brought in by Ford to help develop the Ford GT; which included performance testing of the prototype car. While the project was still secret, it was called Petunia. The GT is similar in outward appearance to the original Ford GT40 cars, but bigger, wider, and most importantly 3 in( 76 mm) taller than the original 40 in( 100 cm); as a result, a potential name for the car was the GT43. Although the cars are visually related, structurally, there is no similarity between the modern GT and the 1960s GT40 that inspired it. Three production prototype cars were shown in 2003 as part of Ford’ s centenary, and delivery of the production Ford GT began in the fall of 2004. As the Ford GT was built as part of the company’ s 100th anniversary celebration, the left headlight cluster was designed to read‘ 100’. A British company, Safir Engineering, who built continuation GT40s in the 1980s, owned the“ GT40” trademark at that time. When they completed production, they sold the excess parts, tooling, design, and trademark to a small Ohio company called Safir GT40 Spares. This company licensed the use of the“ GT40” trademark to Ford for the initial 2002 show car. When Ford decided to make the production vehicle, negotiations between the two firms failed. The production cars do not wear the GT40 badge. The reason for the number 40 was because the height of the car was 40”! The GT won Top Gear‘ s Gas Guzzler of the Year award in 2005. One of the show’ s presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, owned a GT and despite initially reserving high acclaim for the vehicle, ultimately requested a refund from Ford due to extensive problems with the car’ s aftermarket alarm system. I guess Mr Clarkson couldn’ t handle such American muscle!
See you all again on Sunday 29th April, where we pay respect to a very dear friend, a member, and one of the biggest motor enthusiasts- Mike Rutledge, whom we lost during the writing of this article. You will have seen or spoken to Mike at the meet( he was so dedicated, he was always the first, and always the last at the meet), he owned a beautiful classic burgundy Mercedes SL Pagoda. We will miss him dearly and our regards sent out to all his friends and family. RIP Mike X.
A big thanks to our ever hard-working Cars and Coffee Liverpool Crew & Charalene Lee Coffee Crew at Chung Ku Restaurant Liverpool, C & CL Media, Alan from Change Beverages- Lavazza Coffee, Chung Ku Restaurant, Carly from Tesla, David Billing & Lookers Vauxhall, Autorenew, OCD Porsche Specialist, WSR Recycling, Tom Tully Tyres, Impact Solutions, Philangle Stamps, Wirral Life Magazine, Kim & Jim Apter from James Apter Friendship Funds( Alder Hey). Visit us on www. carsandcoffeeliverpool. co. uk. Safe Happy motoring;)