“Talk to the man in the Austin Healey. He’s a real guy. “A man of parts,” as Commander Whitehead might say. A gent with a flair for living, if you please. And live he does in his Austin Healey. A tromp on the loud-padal and his AH hums to 60 in 11 seconds or so. That’s performance. You know, of course, that the AH holds more than 100 American and International records. In fact, every record in its class. Pray, sir, when will you drive your Austin Healey.”
I just never get tired of hyperbolic advertising copy.
The restoration masters at Hall & Hall call this ex-Pedro RodrÃguez BRM P133 one of the most original 3 liter Formula 1 cars left. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt as Hall & Hall have no shortage of remarkable Formula car restorations under their belts. Which means they’ve seen lots of F1 cars at their worst, and in desperate need of restoration. This car, chassis P133-01, on the other hand, retains a good portion of the car as it was when Pedro crossed the finish line in 2nd place at the 1968 Belgian GP at Spa. Or 2nd at the Brands Hatch Race of Champions in March, ’68. Or 3rd at the ’68 Dutch GP at Zandvoort. Or 3rd at the Canadian GP. Or 4th at his home race in Mexico.
And that leaves out entirely the car’s history with Jackie Oliver the following season. There’s no doubt the car has a brilliant history.
Hall & Hall mentions that the current owner bought the car directly from the team to enter in F1 races in 1971. They must mean Robs Lamplough, who entered the car in the ’71 Jochen Rindt trophy at Hockenheim and in Brands Hatch the same year (without much success, I’m afraid).
I’ve always thought that BRM’s 60’s livery as among the most beautiful of all time. The simple orange belt around the nose that is immediately recognizable but subtle. The dealer’s photos show the car both with and without it’s nose and rear wings. Which makes me think it’s still possible to run the car with the setup Pedro preferred in the ’68 season. See the dealer’s detail page for more.
The 1909 Land Speed Record holder is a mighty, fire belching, 200hp, 21.5 liter engined dragon. It requires a driver of unending determination and incalculable courage. It is gigantic. It is angry. It is gorgeous.
In the comments on the ’36 Monaco post, Miguel pointed out this 16 minute two-part film compilation of the 1937 GP season, which definitely deserves its own post. Thanks for finding this beauty, Miguel!
The only thing that could make Man on the Move contributor Dave Pinter’s photo gallery of Le Belle Macchine d’Italia car show better would be if the Italian Cars at Pocono organizers had the event on the track and not a golf course.
I’m often envious of Mister Jalopy’s garage sale reports, but this installment really took me over the edge. Each of these helmet graphics would make a fantastic t-shirt design… hmm….
Update: There’s a copy of this on eBay with a Buy it Now price of $24.99. Happy bidding! Somebody bought it—was it one of you?
