1960's Automation Earl's Court Auto Show: Polls Part 2

Today, Petoskey Motors adds a piece of history to their display.

Dominic Bambino’s 1941 Ventnor Premium*




The Ventnor Premium was built from 1940-1941 when Petoskey Motors suspended production to focus on the war effort. Under the hood sits a gargantuan 571 cubic inch V12 producing 266 horsepower. The Premium was built to be a top of the line luxury automobile featuring an all hand-made interior and a ride comfort second to none.

Dominic “Babyface” Bambino rose to power in the 1930s taking a huge stake in gambling, illegal lotteries, the opium trade, racketeering, bribery, prostitution, extortion. When the 1940s rolled in, he was viewed to be unstoppable. During World War II, the Bambino Syndicate was notorious for hoarding ration vouchers and selling them to the highest bidder. It wasn’t until 1947 when the Department of Justice began making a serious effort to bring him down. One by one his assets were seized, illegal shipments, confiscated, and members of his organization arrested or killed. In June, 1948, there was enough evidence to go after Bambino directly. Barely escaping a running gun fight at his nightclub where the police raided, Bambino with four others made their escape in his Ventnor Premium. The V12 made the car far more powerful than anything the police had at their disposal, and Bambino easily left them in the dust. A state-wide manhunt was under way. By using local cropduster planes and coordinating with ground units via radio, the Police were able to reacquire the speeding Ventnor and lay plans to stop them. Twenty six officers waited in ambush as the gang reached Bluff Point Pass when each one opened fire with a Thompson. The gang inside never stood a chance. Experts counted 1187 bullet holes in the car. Amazingly the car still ran after that and in fact was driven into this showroom today.

*Due to me not having any skill in Photoshop, the car pictured is normal, so try to imagine it being riddled with bullet holes.

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What, no snarky remarks about how SUVs will never catch on?

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So… The owner of the Ventnor Premium exhibited at Earl’s Court 1960 was a really infamous mobster. But is Ventnor’s current mid-engined sports car, the Bambino, really named after him? I suspect it is, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

Ah, sorry to dissapoint :grin: SUVs weren’t even a thing at this point as far as I know, Range Rover didn’t arrive until 1970, and i believe that was the first true SUV?

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Cornaldie Automotive: Bonkers 195 GT

It’s fast, made from top quality materials by some blokes in a wooden shack, comes with state of the art equipment and finally… 17 inch wheels!

Powered by a 4 barrel carb V12, this luxury coupe accelerates to 100 in around 8 seconds, and completes the quarter mile in 16. It’s very easy to drive, quite sporty and very comfortable. The first batch should be rolling off the production line in early 1961, so you can preorder yours today! Starting at $33000.

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An article published by Rennen Automotive in 2017.



A new addition to the Rennen museum is the first Rennen Kusanagi, with the serial number #00001. First unveiled at the 1967 Montreal World Fair and making it’s European debut at Earl’s Court Auto Show in 1967, the second all-new model from Rennen was sleek, quick, light, yet manageable on the road unlike other mid-engined rivals of the era. Utilizing a 3-Liter V6 dervied from the Angeles, the Kusanagi produced a healthy 223 HP at 6200 RPM and revved freely to 6800 RPM. Mated to a 5-speed manual, this propelled the Kusanagi to 60 MPH in almost 6 seconds and onto a top speed of 150 MPH. The design features pop-up headlights hidden behind the front grille, wide separated rear taillights, an aggressive front and rear valence, and other small details that make the Kusanagi appear as a true sports machine.



Thank you for watching our presentation.

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It’s not an Alpine, but with its bright blue paintwork and angular wedge-shaped body, the original Kusanagi definitely resembled one!

The Ventnor Bambino has no relation to the infamous gangster. It was mostly just a coincidence. Interesting side note, the Ventnor/Kessler joint project fell through when Kessler decided to drop Ventnor from the project and design their own powertrain. Ventnor execs were pissed, so the Bambino was conceived as a means to get even.

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A 2017 article in a 1960 car show? No doubt the Doctor is involved somehow.

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The Astranti Visconte SS Prototype

Fitted with a 356bhp 4.2 litre V8 mounted in the middle of the car the Visconte weighs only 1145kg and revs up to 6000rpm. Capable of 176mph and 0-62mph in under 6 seconds through a 5 speed gearbox and fitted with large disc brakes all round the Visconte in a wild ride.


Set to appear on sale in 1965 at an estimated $16500

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Godhap and Whent. Seax.That’s just the beginning.


Powered by a pushrod 1.6Lt I4 producing 44Kw, reaching 140km/h and returning 8.6Km/L. Yours for 10250AMU, with Fruinian running costs of 1956AMU/year.
If you pulled the back seats out, you could probably race it… maybe…kind of… a little (very poorly)

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2017! Did you travel back in time mister?

Introducing the third generation S-PB by AB Sundets Bilar…

The new and improved S-PB with a brand new engine for the 396 SS model. A 6.5L V8 that dishes out 368 horsepower and 544 Nm of torque. The innovative engine uses a three valve SOHC system and is fed with two four barrel carbs.

All this power is fed to the rear wheels through a high performance four speed manual gearbox and propels the car from 0-100km/h in just 5.8 seconds!

The first batch of S-PBs will roll out during year 1960 and the starting price for the S-PB 311 is $1475 and for the 396 SS, just $1659 (1960 dollars)!

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@BobLoblaw @Dorifto_Dorito I don’t really know how to present this car in 1967, so I’m presenting it in 2017 instead for background information :stuck_out_tongue: the car will make it’s European debut at Earl’s Court Show though.

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#ADM presenting 1960 line-up

ADM is proud to present their line-up of cars for 1960 :slight_smile:
This was an important year in ADM’s life because is when they started selling cars in the whole american continent.

##Madero

Starting off with The Madero (second gen) it was the sports model of the lineup (before ADM started producing the FoxHound 9 years later). Inspired in european light cars, locally it went against Meliora’s '55 Olimpo and '62 Perenne. It was powered by a 2.4L l4 with a wooping 111hp.


Stats and more info


##Rivera
On its 3rd iteration, the Rivera passed from a curvy flow to a square shape, more oriented to premium markets. It was the first model to use the iconic Mastiff V8-

More info and stats


##Quijote

The new model in the family was the Quijote aimed to the middle ground markets between the luxurious Rivera and the budget Villa. It was powered by a detuned version of the Madero engine.

Info and stats


##Villa
The budget entry level car of ADM.


Info and stats


######Disclaimer: These cars were designed a while ago, stats haven’t been updated :stuck_out_tongue:

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Meanwhile, over at the Erin stand, we take a look at their range as it would have appeared in 1960…

The early days of the Erin Motor Company were very experimental. With quite literally no experience in making production vehicles, they made their first attempt in 1957 with the Liama, a car that was essentially a detuned prototype racer. A few years later, and they had hired a small team to develop the Erin range (just 6 people, including CEO Dominic Erin), who had begun two lines of sports cars, with a mid-range model called the Tegra and a top-of-the-end model called the Tierza.

Both were based off of the same chassis, originally an Erin Motorsport SP3-8. In practice, this sounds great, though Erin still hadn’t quite got past the whole “road car” and “not a race car” thing…

#1959 Erin Tegra


Erin’s idea of a mid-range sports car was an interior with some features and a smaller engine than their race-cars. Powered by a 2.5l V8 which produced 153 hp, the Tegra was good with performance, capable of 0-60 in 8.6 seconds and a top speed of 121 mph. It also marked the first Erin to come with a folding cloth roof!

Driving it, of course, was manic. The hard race suspension combined with with the racing-derived gearbox made it slippy and loose, though not as mad as it’s bigger brother…


#1957 Erin Tierza


This right here is one of the earliest examples of a true road-going racer. Barely any interior, slightly less power than its race car sibling and a complete lack of road-tuning. You did get a fibreglass roof to allow you to use it in the rain if you so wished, but aside from that, this was a car that would kill you if you let it.

Powered by a 3.2l V8 producing some 214 hp, the Tierza could do 0-60 in 7.4 seconds and top out at 135 mph. What really mattered though was how it behaved in the run up to that speed though; it would slide, understeer, oversteer and wheelspin all over the place, making it a lot of fun when you could control it but pretty much unusable the rest of the time.


Despite all these very clear flaws, enough of these cars sold to keep the Erin Motor Company going in the early days. A total of 166 Tierza’s and 98 Tegra’s were built at the small production facility in Nottingham, UK. Couple with the money being brought in by Erin Motorsport, and in 1961, they made their big break; the Merna and Lagana launched that year, and so began Erin’s rise to prominence.

These cars were never forgotten though; they highlighted the strong connection between motorsport and road vehicles which continues to be expressed to this day with the continued funding of and close relation to Erin[color=turquoise]Sport[/color] that the main company has.

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The tegra seems to be the best balance here…

#Summary 3
Hello once more folks, and welcome back to Earls Court. Whew! Let me tell you, champagne is one very easy drink to down when you’re in the mood. I wonder if this alcoholism runs in the family…

Let’s see what’s been going down in London these past few days!

Today’s music of choice is the wild Chuck Berry with You Never Can Tell!
Absolutely NO prices for guessing what film this is from. It should be mandatory to know this frankly. If I were in power, it’d be part of the school curriculum.

LVC showed of a concept of a thing they’re calling the ‘Land Yacht’. Unsurprisingly, it is from America, and is lavishly equipped with a plush interior and powered by a hunking great 6.0l pushrod V12. The chrome may be decadent, but boy we like sitting in it. You could land a plane on that bonnet, we’re fairly sure the time zone changes from one end of the car to the next. Will this sort of massive car catch on? Pah, of course not!

Petoskey wheeled out a soon-to-be classic today in the form of the Ventnor Premium. This lavish behemoth is a relic of the old days of true luxury motoring, harboring a 9.35l V12 under its bonnet, a hand made interior and enough leather to keep 10 cowboys happy for the next decade. One of these, the one on display, was famously owned by Dominic Bambino of the Gam…sorry, Bambino crime family in the 40s. After a meteoric car chase acorss the US, it was brought down - just - after a record 1187 bullets were fired into it. What a car!

Another car from [Cornaldie]9http://discourse.automationgame.com/t/1960s-automation-earls-court-auto-show-day-5/20534/53?u=deusexmackia) was the stunning Bonkers 195 GT. We’re not too sure about the name, but the styling is most certainly approved by us; it’s a classic 30s aerodynamic coupe affair, yet underneath, it’s thoroughly modern. 4 Bar Carbs, massive 17" wheels and double wishbone suspension put this right at the cutting edge. Truly a beautiful blend of old and new.

Rennen gave us a glimpse of one of these new damn-fangled supercars, called the Kusanagi. Powered by a 3.0l V6 that produces 223 hp, it’ll do 0-60 in ~6 seconds and tops out at 150 mph. We can expect it in 1967, by which time it’ll be as fast as the fastest cars from today. We can’t wait for the days when those looks are a standard of sports cars too. I mean for god’s sake, just look at it!

A challenger to that style crown came from Astranti with the Visconte SS Prototype, which is even more powerful than the Kusanagi, with a 4.2l mid-mounted V8 that is good for 356 hp. Its smooth, angular body means it’ll top out at 170+ mph at the top end, which will make it the fastest car in the world upon release…as in, 5 years from now.

G&W gave us a weirdly low quality image of their new family car, the Seax. The cute mini-sedan looks to be a cheap and cheerful runabout for the every man, sporting charming looks and an entire 60 horse powers! That 4 speed manual is certainly a big plus, and should make it quite fun to drive with any luck.

AB Sundets Bilar gave us the Mk 3 S-PB, which some are calling a “muscle-car”. Packing a 6.5l V8, 544 Nm of torque and 400 metric tons of chrome, this menacing coupe might be a little divisive with its looks but will no doubt impress everyone with its huge amount of power and sheer sense of grandeur.

ADM annoucned their line up for this year, announcing that they will now be selling cars across the American continent for the first time. The new Madero entry-level sports car and Rivera luxury sedan really took main prominence, both being praised for their new and modern styling. We certainly look forward to seeing how the Madero stacks up against European sports cars in its class.

Alongside this stood the new family cars from ADM, the Quijote and Villa. Although we won’t see them here in the UK, there’s no denying that they carry similar values of practicality, usability and reliability that we expect on such vehicles here in this country. The extra chrome of these American cars (because more is, of course, always better) set them apart from rival European models.

Finally, Le Mans racers-turned-road car maker Erin showed off their two current sports cars, which are availible on a made-to-order basis and are…well, quite bare by modern standards…

That does it for today’s round-up! We’ll be back again next week as we continue to see what the 60s will be brining us in the world of the automobile. Cheerio for now!

- Gordon Anderson

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The rest of the IMP/Monolith portfolio:

The smallest and oldest car, the Teuton, that had been a critical success in mainland Europe now goes into its 6th year of production with a small facelift to adopt the elliptic headlamps of the larger cars. Price for the entry level Teuton 130 is £885.

The new family car by IMP to broaden our market presence, simply called the Europa. It features a brand new range of short-stroke, overhead camshaft four cylinder engines with up to 100bhp in the 1900S model. The price for the basic 1500 model is expected to start around £1200, and an Estate variant is about to follow soon.

The second generation of our L6 Flagship, the unibody chassis has been improved with a DeDion-tube rear axle and a thoroughly modern bodyshape with improved rear leg- and headroom and standard Kalt-Wert air conditioning. The familiar 3.8 Litre Inline 6 has been tuned to 190bhp, while the GM Hydramatic transmission remains unaltered.
The L6 costs £4484.

The M120 is the short-wheelbase version of the innovative M110, and also available with smaller 2.3 Litre engines, a 100bhp Petrol engine and an all new four-stroke Diesel with 65bhp.

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The next day LVC presented its sports car that that will come out in 1961.
It’s called Parrot. The name is silly we know, but the car is meants to be a sports car for the masses.
The engine is a 2.1 liter inline 4, 8 valves, the engineers managed to get 100 hp out of the engine.
Power is sent to the rear wheels via a 4 speed manual gearbox, top speed of the car is 190 km/h and it can do 0-60 in 9.5 seconds. The statis may not be the best, but we think that this car is the best for the young car enthusiast who just got its driving license.



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