[Taffy]

Induced by Peter Seager-Thomas´fabulous wheels, that came to me as an Pre-Easter surprise, I had to start with the BRM V16 and the Talbot Lago - immidiately!
Bodys: MacPinches kits, chassis: Penelope Pitlane, tyres: Ortmann.

The Talbot is Pierre Leveghs car from the 1950 Silverstone race (note: the red mirror housings)

The BRM is Froilan Gonzalez´car from 1954 , Silverstone, too. I don´t know, whether the colour is right, because I only had a b/w-picture. On this picture, the car is in light grey, so it couldn´t be the BRM-dark green.
I had to change the body in the front, so I had to weld a new radiator grille.

I added also tire valves and the "BRM"-engraving to the wheel nuts.

Taffy

 

[Lloyd.L]

Absolutely beautiful!

Regards, Lloyd

 

[bwaminispeed]

Very nice indeed, now, get some paint on those wheels. They look very unfinished with shiny wheels.

 

[loosesalute]

Amazing work Taffy!
Thanks for sharing,
Cheers,
Kev

 

[Mark Witham]

Beautiful cars Taffy. From memory though, I think Gonzalez only drove the V16 at Silverstone once (in July 1952), when they were still light green, so I think this is from where your picture comes. In practice the nose blister was painted yellow, but I can't remember whether it remained that way for the race.
Please post more pictures of future cars as you build them
Mark

 

[Nuvolare]

Hi Taffy

Söhne Arbeit

I love your paint an detailing work, did you make the exhaust pipe for the Lago your self?
Super, thanks for showing them to us

Nice and inspirational.

Cheers,
Danny

 

[David Lawson]

A very nice pair of cars Taffy, I particularly like the Talbot.

As Mark has said Gonzales didn't drive for BRM by 1954 when the cars were in their now typical metallic Dark Green but in 1952 the cars were in the pale green that you have used. This is confirmed in the exhaustively researched BRM trilogy by Doug Nye.

David

 

[DJ]

QUOTE (David Lawson @ 15 Apr 2012, 06:19) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>but in 1952 the cars were in the pale green that you have used.
Lovely pair of cars that you have completed there Taffy. So difficult to get the research right when there is so much conflicting information out there on the internet.

Out of curiousity I had a search too and found this:-

"17th July 1952 British GP meeting - Formula Libre race 100 miles
Cars had been changed from light green to dark green. More importantly bigger radiators and water pumps were fitted.
Gonzalez was fastest in practice but early on ran wide at Stowe while in second position and rejoined the race with a fence post through radiator. As may be expected, the car was retired on returning to the pits. Gonzalez took over the car of Ken Wharton (then in 5th.) With 3 laps to go, having moved up to third, this car was also retired when the gearbox input gears failed." Here...LINK

And this:-

Not Silverstone I know (Goodwood was later in 1952) but doesn't look light green at this time.

Of course I have no idea if the above is accurate which just goes to prove how easy it is to get confused....

 

[ferraif40]

Lovely stuff Taffy. Who's shell is the BRM?

 

[FZSsemans®]

very nice cars indeed!! I like that colour on the BRM. beautiful cars!

 

[scudbong]

Super work! How did you achieve the finish on the Talbots exhaust?

Pete

 

[David Lawson]

QUOTE (DJ @ 15 Apr 2012, 09:23) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Not Silverstone I know (Goodwood was later in 1952) but doesn't look light green at this time.

Of course I have no idea if the above is accurate which just goes to prove how easy it is to get confused....

DJ

The cars were light green at Silverstone on the 19th July 1952. So Taffy's car is right, the only error was him getting the year incorrect.

The first time BRM ran in the dark green metallic was at Boreham on 2nd August 1952 after Lorna Berthon chose the new colour.

The website that you quote is wrong about the colour of the car at Silverstone.

David

 

[stoner]

absolutely gorgous, love the detailing on the talbot. i,m with scudbong on the exhausts , are they ally tube and how did you put the pieces together. john

 

[Taffy]

Thank you for your comments!

I like the wheels, as they are. I have thought about painting them (the spokes are painted, but not the rims), because I know, that the wheels of these cars usually were not chromed, but painted or polished. But I must repeat myself: I like them shiny.

Thank you, Mark and David for giving me the right "year" for the BRM. The b/w-picture I knew is from the book "BRM V16" from Karl Ludvigsen, and indeed, it is described as: "Froílan González was pictured at Silverstone on 19 July (1952) before he left the track...." So I´m very happy to have chosen the right colour for the body!

Both cars are built using original MacPinches-kits, that I had in stock. Unfortunatly, they are no longer available...

The Talbot-exhaust came as a white-metal part with the kit. I only had to polish it and to add a bit of colour to the end and to the manifolds.

I like to have "clovers" of cars from the same period, so I will complete the cloverleafs with an Alfa 159 and a Ferrari 500, as soon, as I will get the bodys from Dave Jones...

Taffy

 

[Rob J]

Wonderful builds, Taffy, and I like your philosophy of "cloverleafs", four cars of a kind.
For the Ferrari, wouldn't the 375 or 125 be better than the 500? The 500 was a smaller two-litre F2 car, which ran in the 1952-53 championships after the 1.5 s/c and 4.5-litre cars had faded, shall we say. The 500 did run in some Formula Libre races against BRMs and perhaps Talbots, but the Ferrari counterparts to the Alfa 159, BRM and Talbot-Lago were really the 1.5s/c 125 and then the successful 4.5-litre 375.
Which reminds me - it used to be said that "Ferrari type numbers relate to the cylinder size, except when they don't". Still, they generally did in the '40s and '50s. The 500 had a 4cyl engine, the 125 and 375 V12s.
I have a BRM V16 shell myself and will be happy if I can do half as well as you.
Rob J

 

[Dagobert II]

Nice builds.
I think the colour of the BRM is spot on.
Pale Green BRM

 

[Taffy]

Rob J, you are right,

there might be better alternatives to the Ferrari 500. I have an ERA-body in stock, I think, this could be another good alternative to complete this early-50´s-cloverleaf....

Taffy

 

[HAPPY]

Splendid!

The BRM engraving on the wheel nuts: Amazing!

 

[Rob J]

Taffy: Yes; the ERA would fit well. They were still running in F1 races into the early '50s. And you'll have plenty of choice on colour, from another Linden green through to black.
As you probably know, there's an ERA section in that BRM enthusiast's website, at http://members.madasafish.com/~d_hodgkinson/ERAcars.htm , though the information may not all be "gospel", as we saw on the BRM colour, and the photos are mostly (or all) of the cars in later years at historic races or in museums.
Bob Gerard's main car would be good, as he was the last ERA driver to take high places in major GPs and he raced it against all three of your "cloverleaf's" other cars, but it had a lowered bonnet and sloping grille. There's a contemporary photo on manitouguy's blog at http://www.slotforum.com/forums/blog/manit...at=53&st=10
Rob J

 

[Taffy]

Hello, Rob J,

thank you for this additional information! I didn´t know this special part of the BRM-site yet. A very good source!

VBR, Taffy