To the moon with the Ford

Bruno von Rotz
03/31/2019

The race to be the next man on the moon seems to be in full swing again. According to reports, the Americans want to land on the Earth's satellite in four years' time.

However, it could well happen that the US astronauts sent by Trump meet a couple of Europeans who have been hitchhiking across the surface of the moon in their Ford Transit for 40 years. At least that's what the picture taken in 1979 suggests.

However, the special Ford Transit was photographed in London at the Custom Car Show in early March 1979. According to Automobil Revue at the time, the modified "3001 - Space Transit" had an additional rear axle and an interior remodeled in space design (with a huge video recorder).

The car was built in collaboration with the Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation, which also operated a NASA control station in Houston.

I wonder if the special Ford Transit has survived?

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When Dinitrol began to be injected into the cavities

Bruno von Rotz
03/30/2019

Dinitrol-Aufkleber

Today, no (modern) car buyer could imagine taking their car to a specialist garage for a cavity protection treatment before driving it for the first time.

This was different 50 years ago, when rust was one of the biggest enemies of car longevity, especially in self-supporting constructions. Careful car owners protected their cars with a Dinitrol treatment, for example. They also liked to make this known with a sticker (see above).

The idea of intensively protecting cavities originally came from the Scandinavian countries. As early as 1951 to 1954, the ML method was developed in Sweden, in which a rust inhibitor is sprayed into the cavities of a car at high pressure. In 1954, a breakthrough was achieved with Dinitrol 33B. And this Dinitrol and the associated treatment method soon found their way to us.

In 1968, Automobil Revue explained the modern cavity treatment in an article and estimated the treatment price for a mid-range car at around 150 francs.

Ford Capri S von 1977

And that's how the Ford Capri S pictured got its cavity protection. In the 1970s, however, the treatment was probably already somewhat more expensive, but many car buyers still chose this protection option to ensure a long life for their car.

Today we are grateful for it!

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Some legendary car brands would be 100 years old this year if they hadn't disappeared

Bruno von Rotz
03/29/2019

Tatra 603/2 von 1964 (© Daniel Reinhard)

Once again, new or reborn car brands were celebrated in Geneva. And Bentleycelebrated its 100th birthday. Suddenly the historian can think of other car brands that could also have celebrated 100 years in 2019, had they survived?

Without much searching, we have found eight brands that were founded in 1919.

Want some examples? There is Ansaldo. Or Farman. Or Salmson.

Salmson GSS von 1926 (© Daniel Reinhard)

Leyator Armstrong-Siddeleywere also founded in 1919. Tatraor Lea Francisare probably even better known, but also Voisin.

Lea Francis 2 1/2 Litre Sports von 1949 (© Bonhams)

You can find short articles on all these brands in the "disappeared brands" channel, but of course also on a few hundred brands that would not happen to be celebrating their 100th birthday this year.

P.S. It's a shame that the birthdays of these stamps are not also celebrated, including Alvis . But they are still remembered on a broader scale, as the exhibits at the OTM Fribourgshowed .

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On the 80th birthday of Jochen Neerpasch

Daniel Reinhard
03/28/2019

Jochen Neerpasch mit Jessica und den zwei Hunden (© Daniel Reinhard)

Jochen Neerpasch, who was born in Krefeld on March 23, 1939, turned 80 last Saturday. Our warmest congratulations.

He began his motorsport career in 1958 with a Borgward and quickly established himself as one of the great touring car and sports car drivers. He mastered the difficult-to-drive Cobra like no other.

Jochen Neerpasch nach Unfall mit Ford GT40

He later drove a Ford GT40 and then joined the Porsche works team. He won a total of five rounds of the one-make world championship and stood on the podium 18 times.

His career as a racing driver was not really that important to him, as he aspired to the position of race director early on. In 1968, he set up Ford's racing department and enjoyed great success with the Capris in the European Touring Car Championship and the Escort in the World Rally Championship.

From 1972 to 1980, he was at the helm of BMW, where he built up the M-GmbH. With the three BMW Juniors, Marc Surer, Manfred Winkelhock and Eddie Cheever, he attracted a lot of attention.

Neerpasch also became the father of BMW's "Art Cars" and launched the legendary ProCar series (1979/80) with the company's own beautiful M1 sports car. Later came Group C with Sauber-Mercedes from 1988 to 1991, when he was Head of Sport at Mercedes-Benz. He won Le Mans in 1989 with the Sauber-Mercedes C9.

Few people have achieved as much in their lives as Jochen Neerpsch.

Today, the always calm and level-headed motorsport professional is enjoying his well-earned retirement on Lake Constance with his partner Jessica and their two dogs.

We have previously published a detailed article about Jochen Neerpasch by Rainer Braun .

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Who is actually in control of the car?

Bruno von Rotz
03/27/2019

Cockpit des Jaguar XK120 OTS von 1952 (© Daniel Reinhard)

A few days ago, car magazines (and online) reported that automatic "speed limiters" are to be introduced in Europe. Using GPS data and a camera, cars are to be "slowed down" to the signaled maximum speed without the driver having to do anything, and this will happen as early as 2021 or 2022. If the car exceeds the local speed limit, the engine control system would simply take away the power and thus reduce the speed.

This naturally makes you wonder who is actually in control in a car. Even today, modern cars often take the lead, for example when they initiate emergency braking or influence the steering (via the lane departure warning system).

And it is precisely this paternalism in modern cars that makes rustic driving in classic cars so interesting and entertaining. Because when we steer, brake and change gears ourselves, it is not so much the speed but the sheer pleasure of driving that makes us enjoy it.

This is probably one of the reasons why modern classic cars may never become as popular as cars from the sixties or seventies are today, because classic car enthusiasts want to experience the full pleasure of driving, not just the part that the on-board electronics allow us to enjoy.

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Semi-autonomous cars already existed in the 1950s

Bruno von Rotz
03/26/2019

Golden Sahara in den Fünfzigerjahren

Many visitors to the Geneva Motor Show probably didn't even notice the restored show car on the Goodyear stand.

Golden Sahara am Genfer Autosalon 2019 auf dem Goodjear Stand

The car was built in the 1950s on the basis of an accident-damaged but practically new Lincoln Capri Hardtop. The car was built by George Barris and Sim Street. The further development of the Golden Sahara even had technology on board that allowed it to drive at least approximately autonomously. This was over 60 years ago!

The car's steering and controls were inspired by airplanes.

The Golden Sahara made major appearances at the motor shows of the 1950s, which was also due to its special paintwork and the special tires from Goodyear. It was also seen in Hollywood films.

At some point, the car was forgotten until it was rediscovered a few years ago, auctioned by Mecum in 2018 and subsequently restored.

Restaurierter Golden Sahara

The result of the work was now on display in Geneva. Spectacular!

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The sixties are the most popular automobile era (Question of the week)

Bruno von Rotz
03/25/2019

Frage der Woche - Welche Epoche für Zeitreisen an vergangene Autosalons?

If time travel were possible, then car enthusiasts could also travel back in time and revisit the motor shows of the past, for example. But which era would they choose when they got into the time machine? This was investigated in a " question of the week " and the result was pretty clear.

Around two-fifths (42.5%) would travel back to the sixties and visit an IAA, a Geneva Motor Show or a motor show in another city.

The second most popular era would then be the 1970s (20.5%), slightly ahead of the post-war years up to 1959 (19.4%).

13.1% would travel back to the pre-war period and just 3% to the 1980s.

1.5% of the 268 respondents could not warm to any era, or not to time travel at all.

So the sixties are not only very popular when it comes to buying a car, but also when it comes to just looking at cars.

Here are the results of the survey in graphic form:

Frage der Woche - Welche Epoche für Zeitreisen an vergangene Autosalons? (Ergebnisse)

However, we have already formulated another new question of the week. This time we would like to know how much fuel the old cars of Zwischengas readers consume.

And as before, all previous questions of the week, or rather their evaluations, can of course be viewed in a separate topic channel .

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For the historians of tomorrow

Bruno von Rotz
03/24/2019

From time to time, cargo ships sink and valuable automobiles can also run aground. This was already the case with the Andrea Doria in the 1950s, but it happened again on March 12, 2019, when the Grimaldi Group's "Grande America" caught fire and sank off the coast of France.

There were apparently around 2000 cars on board, many with an Audi badge. Among the sunken vehicles were also four Porsche 911 GT2 RSs, whose production had already ended. Now Porsche apparently wants to start building them again so that the Brazilian buyers of the 700 hp sports cars can still get their dream car.

Who knows how much will be known about this incident in 30 or more years' time, and whether historians won't be tearing their hair out over missing cars, unclear production figures or incomprehensibly assigned chassis numbers ...

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Everything is ready

Bruno von Rotz
03/23/2019

Zwischengas-Stand auf dem OTM Fribourg 2019

We have set up our stand at the Fribourg classic car and parts market. For once, it's not an exotic sports car or a rare special body that's on our stand, but an Opel Rekord LS Caravan from 1988, which is probably rarer today than many exotic cars, especially in this condition.

Opel Rekord LS Caravan 1988

The Rekord Caravan was a popular workhorse at the time and only a few examples are likely to have been as well cared for as the blue example with just over 50,000 km on our stand. The minimal equipment - no radio, no electric windows, no central locking, etc. - looks charming today and the crystal blue paintwork makes the Opel special.

Heckansicht des Opel Rekord LS Caravan 1988

Of course, we will dedicate another article to this beautiful estate car. And you can still visit the Fribourg classic car and parts market until Sunday evening (March 24, 2019).

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The majority is not always right - a Porsche Turbo has not been the best investment over the last two years

Bruno von Rotz
03/22/2019

Porsche 930 Turbo

Two years ago, in March 2017, 530 Zwischengas readers tried their hand at being an oracle by predicting which of five classic cars would perform best in terms of value.

There were five cars to choose from at the time, namely the Porsche Turbo 930 3.3 from 1977, the VW Beetle Standard 1200 from 1961, the Ferrari 328 GTS from 1988, the Jaguar E-Type Series 1 4.2 Litre Convertible from 1964 and the Maserati Khamsin from 1976.

Frage der Woche 80 - Wertsteigerung von fünf Autos

At the time, 40 percent predicted that the Porsche Turbo would develop most favorably in terms of value, 15 percent chose the Ferrari 328 GTS as the best investment, with the Beetle accounting for the same percentage. 14 percent assumed that the Jaguar E-Type would have the best chance of a good performance, while 13 percent finally tipped the Maserati Khamsin as the most valuable purchase.

We promised to look again in two years' time. To do this, we memorized the Classic Data Condition 2 listings from March 2017 and can now compare them with the current valuations from March 2019.

And it turns out that the Porsche Turbo (pictured above) would not have been the best investment.

VW 1200 von 1961

Surprisingly, the value of the VW Beetle has risen more sharply and the Jaguar E-Type has also increased more than the 930 Turbo, according to Classic Data. Even the Ferrari 328 GTS would have fared slightly better. However, after just two years, the differences are relatively small, especially as we are currently in a market correction phase.

	€ value March 2017	€ value March 2019	Increase in value
Porsche 911/930 Turbo 3.3 from 1977	115000	116000	1 %
VW Beetle 1200 Standard from 1961	15400	17600	14 %
Ferrari 328 GTS from 1988	80000	82000	3 %
Jaguar E-Type Series 1 4.2 Litre Convertible from 1964	122100	134000	10 %
Maserati Khamsin 4900 from 1976	145000	140000	- 3 %

Maybe we'll just have another look in two years' time ...

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