Magnificent Machines:The Golden Age of the British Sportscar

[Heuer]

One to watch tonight on BBC4 at nine o'clock!

"A look at how iconic manufacturers such as Jaguar, Austin-Healey, MG and Triumph prospered during the austerity of the post-war years. The programme explores how Britain briefly became the home of the two-seater vehicle and features memorable motors from the era, including the MG Midget, the Sprite and the Jaguar E-Type. Narrated by Tamsin Greig, with contributions by Stirling Moss, Norman Dewis and Quentin Willson."

Trailers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006np8r
http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/sgb5k ... sports-car

Repeated Wednesday 10th Oct at 10pm BBC4

[JagTheOne]

I wish I could tune the BBC... I hope that somebody will grab it and shear as a torrent

[Heuer]

I am sure it will appear somewhere

[MarkE]

A really interesting program with a lot of original footage....very similar in style to 'The Car's A Star'.
Even the lack of Lotus footage didn't detract!

[ChrisC]

A cracking program - loved the old footage and clearly demonstrated that the Etype is the best British sportscar

[Heuer]

It was indeed a superb programme spoilt only by a) the lack of a Lotus Elan - a ground breaking car which is still with us today as the MX5 and b) the ludicrously big wheeled red S1 OTS in the modern footage:




Whoever the owner of BAR 77B is they need a good slap! Looks like a refugee from a 1970's disco What do you reckon - 7" on the front and 8" on the rear; gold medallion around the neck? Three eared spinners and flared rear arches :?

PS I have an 'archive' copy of the programme PM me for information

[mystery type]

I enjoyed it as well, i liked the traffic jams and road rage bit.
always great to see the old footage clips.
Why cant we see more programmes like this. and less x factor/big brother ect

[christopher storey]

The film footage was interesting. It is a shame ( a bit like the dreadful channel 4 thing) that they could not have got a better set of people to comment , although Graham Robson was as interesting as ever . I had never heard of Ziegler, whose only factual comment was not exactly correct ( namely that the A90 Atlantic shared an engine with the A70 Hereford - the Atlantic was in fact 2/3 of the Sheerline /Austin Lorry engine which was an enlarged version of the earlier Lorry engine from which the A70 was derived ) and although it seems that Giles Chapman was once an editor at Classic and Sportscar his knowledge seemed decidedly sketchy. I was not wholly convinced that BAR77B was in fact an E - its hind quarters are rather high and I have a suspicion that it is in fact a Challenger

[Heuer]

Well spotted Christopher! I wondered what was odd about it but now you come to mention it the hood bag is odd with three Tenax fasteners and the interior looks odd. I will have a look on the Challenger Forum and see if they mention it!

DVLA shows date of first registration as 1/7/2004 (so could be an import), listed under Jaguar 3.8 with a manufacture date of 1964, presumably the donor car date although Triple C stopped making their kits in the 1990's

[MarekH]

Dear David,

The other odd thing about the red car is what looks like an unreasonably large ground clearance both front and rear.

For comparison, the s3 ROM gives the height to the picture frame of just 6.25 inches and you lose some of that further back because of the exhaust dopwnpipes.

kind regards
Marek

[Heuer]

"The moulds were visually and dimensionally exactly the same as an original E-Type roadster and are only discernible by the small bulge below the lower sill"

[christopher storey]

I just don't know.... but those door handles look too near the trailing edge of the door to me . All very strange?

[Heuer]

From another angle:


Lots of Challenger photos here: http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/picture ... Challenger