The reference - Anders Ditlev Clausager (obituary)

Jochen Thoma
07/31/2025

Anders Ditlev Clausager (© FIVA)

Anders Ditlev Clausager passed away on July 27, 2025, and various obituaries have already been published. One commentary read: "When someone dies, a library burns".

This fits Anders Ditlev Clausager particularly well. His knowledge of historic vehicles - especially from England - was inexhaustible and irreplaceable and will never be found again in one person.

If, like me, you are professionally involved with vehicle identities and vehicle history, you can't avoid Anders' books. Many of them are standard works and I use them all the time.

In addition, his name appears again and again on the delivery certificates of the BMIHT and JDHT. The idea for these certificates came from him.

At some point I contacted him because I had further questions and promptly received a detailed and substantial answer.

And if he didn't know something, he always put someone in the reply email who did! And this person always replied. That alone shows how well connected and respected Anders was, especially in the UK. A great loss. Who can I ask now?

Obituaries from FIVAand Hemmingsdocument the importance of this author and historian in detail. We are happy to refer to them.

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The eternal barn find: M. Michel's Citroën HY cattle truck

Gerhard Schütz
07/30/2025

Citroën HY in Frankfreich (© Gerhard Schütz)

For 25 years, I passed it on my bike tours in southern Burgundy, this Citroën HY "Bétaillère" (cattle truck), in a small village, right on the side of the road.

Citroën HY in Frankfreich (© Gerhard Schütz)

I never had a camera with me, and each time I thought: But next time I'll take it with me, otherwise the car will suddenly be gone.

Citroën HY in Frankfreich (© Gerhard Schütz)

Now I've finally done it. The photos are in the box.

Citroën HY in Frankfreich (© Gerhard Schütz)

And then suddenly there was the owner, M. Michel, an agriculturist for 50 years. He drove the car until he was in his eighties, patiently chauffeuring his cattle to the other side of the small but steep regional pass, to one of his remote pastures.

Citroën HY in Frankfreich (© Gerhard Schütz)

The special Heuliez body for transporting animals still makes a solid impression today, while the Citroën itself now looks a little frail.

Citroën HY in Frankfreich (© Gerhard Schütz)

M. Michel is not very talkative, but he did manage to elicit a few things: The HY type car (built 1948 -1981) is a later example and it is a petrol engine.

Citroën HY in Frankfreich (© Gerhard Schütz)

With a grand gesture, M. Michel hints that this is why he was a drunk - the car, that is. Not a diesel. Whether the 98,000 km on the speedometer are the first cannot be determined.

Citroën HY in Frankfreich (© Gerhard Schütz)

Citroën HY Bétaillère, a classic "rural sleeping beauty". It doesn't always have to be Villa d'Este, Champagny-sous-Uxelles is also quite nice.

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A guilty conscience

Bruno von Rotz
07/29/2025

Lotus Elan Sprint DHC von 1972 (© Daniel Reinhard)

I'm sure some of our readers are familiar with this. You have a guilty conscience! After all, you haven't let your classic car out of the garage for a few weeks. There are many reasons why this hasn't happened, and it certainly wasn't because of a lost love for the Lotus Elan that it hasn't been allowed out on the road since the beginning of May.

But now I finally found the time and ... was once again thrilled by this little car. It weighs just over 700 kg, is just 368 cm long and 142 cm wide. And there was even enough space for a usable trunk of 170 liters.

Every kilometer was a pleasure and I wondered why I waited so long to start it up again. The growling engine never fails to excite and, with 126 hp, has no trouble with the lightweight.

And after the drive, my conscience is at ease again. I certainly won't keep it waiting that long until the next trip. But that's probably what I thought the last time ...

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In memory of Chuck Mangione

Bruno von Rotz
07/28/2025

Chuck Mangione - Feels So Good (1977)

No, the flugelhorn-playing jazz musician Chuck Mangione, who died on July 22, 2025 at the age of 84, had little to do with cars directly. But his only big hit "Feels So Good" on the album of the same name released in 1977 made it to fourth place in the US charts. And if Doctor Strange (aka Benedict Cumberbatch) in the 2016 Marvel film is right, then it was probably the best chart result ever achieved by a jazz number with flugelhorn.

The album "Feels So Good" was probably also the first jazz record I bought myself in my life, on vinyl of course, as they did in the seventies.

The album is still part of my record collection today and accompanied me on many trips in the car on various mix tapes. And so the circle to the automobile closes, at least for me.

For all those who don't remember the famous smooth jazz-pop song, I'm attaching a live video:

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The lime

Bruno von Rotz
07/27/2025

NSU/Fiat Weinsberg Limousette von 1962 an der Albisgütli Classics 2025 (© Bruno von Rotz)

There are vehicle designations that have become standard, such as Spider or Phaeton, while others have remained the preserve of one brand. An example of the latter is the "Limousette" version. Between 1959 and 1963, chassis from the FiatNuova 500 were given a compact saloon body by Weinsberg, which was sold under this designation.

NSU/Fiat Weinsberg Coupé von 196o an der Lägern Classic 2024 (© Bruno von Rotz)

The NSU/Fiat Weinsberg was also available as a coupé, but the two-door saloons were more popular, presumably because they offered a little more space.

NSU/Fiat Weinsberg Coupé und Limousette im Jahr 1959

The Weinsberg versions cost DM 3620 as a coupé or saloon, which was still cheaper than an NSU Prinz III (DM 4016) or a VW Beetle (DM 6400). Of course, a BMW Isetta or Glas Goggomobil was priced a little lower, but they were also less of a car. And above all, there was less equipment, because the saloon had a sunroof, two-tone paintwork, ashtray and much more as standard.

Dreimal NSU/Fiat Weinsberg an der Swiss Classic World 2021 (© Bruno von Rotz)

4668 saloons and 1560 coupés are said to have been built by the Weinsberg coachbuilder; today we are talking about 40 remaining vehicles.

And as indicated, the term "saloon" remained exclusive, although many other manufacturers would also have had small saloons in their range.

Incidentally, I recently saw this pretty car again at the Albisgütli Classics...

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When we were still sitting in the back (car connoisseur quiz)

Bruno von Rotz
07/26/2025

Die Rücksitze im VW Käfer von 1961 (© Bruno von Rotz)

Many of us probably experienced our first car rides in a VW Beetle. So it's easy to remember the shape of the rear seats, the equipment and the materials, isn't it?

And of course we have ridden in the back of many other cars since then. With the transition to self-driving, however, we probably became less aware of the rear seats. That's probably why it's a little more difficult for us to clearly assign them to a specific car.

But you should try anyway, because we have selected ten rear compartments from our photo archive for our latest car connoisseur quiz for you to name. All you have to do is assign the correct description to each of the photos. Do you dare to take the back seat test?

Click here for the latest car connoisseur quiz ...

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Backdating in the radio slot

Bruno von Rotz
07/25/2025

One trend in recent years has been to make cars appear older. For example, a Porsche 964 becomes an F or G model. Providers such as Singer are very successful with this. The trend is also known as "backdating". And of course it works particularly well when a car only changes to a limited extent over the decades.

Blaupunkt Frankfurt

For some years now, suppliers of car entertainment electronics have also recognized the backdating trend and made it work for them in the DIN standard radio slot. Blaupunkt, for example, offers the "Frankfurt" and " Hamburg" radios in the old design again, while Pioneer also has a youngtimer model on offer.

Pioneer Youngtimerradio

What the devices have in common is that they look like their 30- or 40-year-old predecessors, but come with modern technology. The cassette player usually gives way to a well-disguised USB port, while Bluetooth enables cell phone pairing and streaming. However, it is a challenge to operate the modern wealth of functions with the few buttons that look like they used to.

What do you, our readers, think of this trend? We would love to read your comments under this blog post ...

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Bad English?

Bruno von Rotz
07/24/2025

Rover 3500 von 1971

Of course, even today there are still jokes about the susceptibility of British cars to breakdowns, e.g. about Lucas components, often derided as the "Lord of Darkness". But we have actually reconciled ourselves to those times and have also found a liking for cars from the island that were built in the seventies.

When you read an article from the magazine "auto motor und sport", which appeared in mid-1975, you are amazed at the scale of the problems at the time:
"Every year, the British motoring magazine 'Drive' awards a prize for the worst new car in England. In 1974, the trophy went to a Rover 3500, which required the following parts in its first 9600 kilometers: three replacement engines, two gearboxes, two clutch housings and a complete electrical wiring system. Out of 165 days, the Rover spent a total of 114 days in the workshop. In second place was an Austin Allegro 1300 with 40 faults in 10 months. It was followed by a Triumph Stag, in which the steering, gearbox and starter caused problems. All three cars were made by British Leyland ."

Yes, these were difficult times for the British car industry. Hardly a week went by without a strike. And when the workers in one factory resumed their activities, the assembly lines in another stopped. And even back then, cars consisted of parts that were produced halfway across the country and had to be available on time. Under these circumstances, it should have been clear to everyone that the cars did not leave the production line in the required quality.

Well, today the surviving cars from that era have probably been rid of most of their defects, but the British car industry has never recovered. A pity, a real pity, because the British built some great cars, the Rover 2000/3500 being just one example.

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Solex consumption race - What has become of it?

Martin Sigrist
07/23/2025

It must have been back in the pre-internet days of the 1990s when I read about an event on the market. There was talk of a fuel consumption race for Vélo-Solexes in Saarland. The aim was to drive as many laps as possible on half a liter of fuel and thus cover the greatest possible distance. That sounded exciting and a good colleague was found who wanted to set off with me and a borrowed VW T3 diesel Westfalia van. As always with such an undertaking, we were very poorly prepared. We basically had no idea - Saarland? That must be somewhere in the north. We didn't have a map and found the place anyway - Überherrn. Never heard of it before.

It was a tricky drive, though, because the ultra-lame van could barely do 80 on the highway. As the owner - an odd fellow - later admitted to me, he had cut back the engine. This was out of fear that he would otherwise prematurely ruin the water-cooled 1.6-liter in-line four-cylinder diesel engine. Why anyone in Switzerland would put up with a 50 hp van weighing almost 2 tons remains a mystery to me to this day. Our hourly average was just under 60 km/h on the limited German highway from Basel.

We, my colleague Bela (top right in the picture) and I arrived in the middle of the night - after listening to the Hans Albers pilot song about 100 times. His propeller was turning faster and faster, but our heads were pounding after the trip with the windows open. And we didn't expect to get much sleep either, as the paddock was set up around our Westy early on Saturday morning. The participants came from all over the region and beyond, from Switzerland along the German-French border to Luxembourg and on to Holland and Belgium. From 7 o'clock in the morning, it was hard to miss.

Sigrist - start number 34 - with sophisticated cornering technique on a rickety Solex

You had to bring your own fuel, the scrutineers - who probably didn't even know this word - measured out exactly half a liter, filled it into the "Töffli" and sealed the tank cap with a sealing compound, the remains of which can still be found on the cap of my Solex even after thirty years. Then it was time to pin a large start number on my chest. Sometime around lunchtime, we set off through the middle of a residential neighborhood. People sat in their camping chairs along the route, which was a maximum of one kilometer long - or rather less. And at the end of the lap, the lap counters sitting on a truck trailer recorded you on a tally sheet. The tactic was - at least according to my feelings and logic - quite simple: never take your foot off the gas, hardly ever brake and always let the bike roll.

The Velosolex is perfectly designed for its continuous speed, everything else neither saves gas nor moves you forward. The first time I rode my "Suisse-Paris-Suisse" model 3300, I came 10th out of more than 50 participants. Later, I was always unlucky and had to retire (friction roller exploded on a model 1010 or connecting rod bearing seized on a 3800 with high steering).

Both - the high-steer 3800 on the left and the Solex 1010 - would later fail, the preparations were always at the last minute...

But the preparation was always lousy, I had brought the 1010 completely disassembled in a box and somehow managed to get it up and running in time. Sure, the fun was what counted, that was it. After the end of the event, we usually stayed until Sunday, in the middle of the neighborhood on that square. It took us about three races before we realized that the local campsite was right next to the tree-lined site. Each time, by the way, we arrived in a different vehicle. After the T3, it was Bela's T2b with a 2-liter and automatic, which went just under 100, then I rented a caravan and coupled it to my DS 23IE - the most expensive edition of our Solex experience in Überherrn. The last time I was there was in a Lotus Seven Series 2, in which I again transported a Solex in individual parts - instead of the passenger seat. I then slept in a one-man tent.

Tightening the brakes behind the counting trailer in the middle of a housing estate in Überherrn, Saarland D

Then it went quiet, somehow the contact was lost, or there was no more consumption driving, I don't know. Do the Solex lemmings who used to organize this event still exist? Only one flickr account still has a few pictures, including the one I stole from this event. Who knows more?

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The shirt and the pants

Martin Sigrist
07/22/2025

Sometimes just a small gap is enough, the side window is open a hand's breadth and the unique scent of a historic car hits your nose. But it is usually not so easy to describe. In some cars it smells like grandma's old sofa, in others like the witch's kitchen of a plastic alchemist. And in between are all the nuances that only the pristine interior of an old car can produce.

Porsche 901/911, chassis number 57: the well-known "junkyard crew" car was completely rebuilt. Only the scent inside could not be reproduced.

With most cars, this scent is only slightly perceptible, but with some it is so strong in the nose that it burns itself into the cerebral cortex inseparably together with the impressions of the car. In other words, if the scent were gone, you would unconsciously get the feeling that something about the car was different or worse: broken!

Original interior of a Jaguar E-Type V12 S3 OTS, it smells very intense even when open.

But it's really great when the car accompanies you home, I mean olfactorily accompanies you home. Of course, this can happen from time to time, for example when the fuel spills out of the filler neck and spills down your trouser leg. However, it then smells primarily of petrol or - for me with some memories of military service - diesel. But there are cars where everything that has been sitting or lying inside for barely half an hour really does smell. Sometimes that's quite nice, but sometimes it's rather unpleasant.

New car: Porsche 911/992 Sport Classic. Will it develop its own scent one day?

Well, you can take a positive view and say that man and machine are becoming one - at least in terms of scent. Certain leather interiors have this tendency, such as those with leather from Conolly, but recently I had the pleasure of driving a Jaguar E-Type, which smelled rather harsh.
By the way, what I really don't like at all are these scent trees! Because it's even worse with them: I constantly have the scent of trees in my nose when I'm driving and the clothes still end up smelling like - old car interiors. Or do they smell?

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