16 replies to this topic

[coco]

MOTORSPORT March 1955 had an advert on p.48:

"140-m.p.h., 8-cylinder, twin-camshaft 2.9 Maserati Mille Miglia 2-seater. Beautiful streamlined coachwork finished in deep maroon with red leather upholstery. Consealed hood with full all-weather equipment. Special long-range lamps and pass-lights. Racing brakes with twin master cylinders. Excellent luggage room. Gives off over 250 b.h.p. yet perfectly docile for everyday use. This is one of the fastest road cars in this country"

The advert was from Brian Finglass, 2, Pembridge Mews, W11 and the asking price was GBP 650!

Sounds like an 8CM but which car was it? Or was it one of the two 8C-3000? The advert shows a photo of a rather strange looking car with massive radiator grill and Jaguar XK-front screen. Also the coachwork is very much XK-like!

Ideas?

Ciao!
Walter

[fuzzi]

This sounds like the ex- Gavin Maxwell car which he describes blowing up in "Ring of Bright Water".
If so it was reconverted to a single seater.

[David McKinney]

ex-Howe 3013, converted to two-seater spec by Finglass and, as Fuzz says, rebuilt as a single-seater in the 1970s

[coco]

ex-Howe 3013, converted to two-seater spec by Finglass and, as Fuzz says, rebuilt as a single-seater in the 1970s

Fuzz & David,
many thanks.

Any more photos available of this "GT"-Maserati?

Ciao!
Walter

[nicanary]

MOTORSPORT March 1955 had an advert on p.48:

"140-m.p.h., 8-cylinder, twin-camshaft 2.9 Maserati Mille Miglia 2-seater. Beautiful streamlined coachwork finished in deep maroon with red leather upholstery. Consealed hood with full all-weather equipment. Special long-range lamps and pass-lights. Racing brakes with twin master cylinders. Excellent luggage room. Gives off over 250 b.h.p. yet perfectly docile for everyday use. This is one of the fastest road cars in this country"

The advert was from Brian Finglass, 2, Pembridge Mews, W11 and the asking price was GBP 650!

Sounds like an 8CM but which car was it? Or was it one of the two 8C-3000? The advert shows a photo of a rather strange looking car with massive radiator grill and Jaguar XK-front screen. Also the coachwork is very much XK-like!

Ideas?

Ciao!
Walter

I am presently trying to identify a mystery Maserati sports car which I believe may be one and the same car. The car is pictured in an advertisement which looks 50s in period, and the description fits perfectly. However the address given for the vendor is R G H Salmon, Malham, Wisborough Green. I also note that Brian Finglass is attempting to sell the car in your post in 1955, when he had apparently converted the car to modern sports-car guise in 1951. I do not have a date for my photo. Was he selling the car on commission, possibly for Gavin Maxwell? (BTW the Gavin Maxwell Society claims his Maserati dated from 1936, and was ex-Whitney Straight - I think there is no doubt it was #3013, the ex-Howe car).

I know nothing about Brian Finglass, apart from the fact he was a well-known dealer in racing and performance cars at that time. I am trying to establish who provided the bodywork for the car - it seems highly unlikely he did the work himself. The appearance is very similar to an Alvis TA14, a sort of bulbous XK120. Did Finglass use a friendly local bodyshop, or was it the work of coachbuilders of repute? Or was it cobbled together from what he could put his hands on ?

[David McKinney]

... the address given for the vendor is R G H Salmon, Malham, Wisborough Green

My information is that the conversion to 2-seater spec was started by Salmon and completed by Finglass

[nicanary]

My information is that the conversion to 2-seater spec was started by Salmon and completed by Finglass

Thanks for the input. It's all a mystery - the ad by Salmon shows a complete car, fitting exactly the description of the Finglass car. There is no date on the ad, and it is offered for "a reasonable price". After storage during WWII, the remains were bought by Kenneth McAlpine, and were sold to Finglass in 1951. It was owned in 2-seater form by Gavin Maxwell and Lord Ridley, but the information on the "Barchetta" site is a bit vague, and title restarts convincingly in 1957.

It asks the question as to why it was being offered for sale in 1955 by Brian Finglass, when he had sold it in 1951.And at what point in its history was it being offered for sale by Salmon ? None of which answers my problem - who built the body?

[Bloggsworth]

Back in 1955ish and living near The Portobello Road, there was an Alfa Romeo 6C or 8C parked in Ladbroke Gardens (I was only 10, so can't be sure of the type numbers, and it was a long time ago!), and in the mid 60s a Ferrari GTO in Bramham Gardens, they were just cars then...

[nicanary]

Back in 1955ish and living near The Portobello Road, there was an Alfa Romeo 6C or 8C parked in Ladbroke Gardens (I was only 10, so can't be sure of the type numbers, and it was a long time ago!), and in the mid 60s a Ferrari GTO in Bramham Gardens, they were just cars then...

Quite so - just "old cars". Just how many '60s single-seaters and sports-racers were ruined to make "special saloons" and "modsports" cars? How I hated that period in club racing!

[Bloggsworth]

Quite so - just "old cars". Just how many '60s single-seaters and sports-racers were ruined to make "special saloons" and "modsports" cars? How I hated that period in club racing!

Saving old cars for value is a fairly recent thing, by modifying them they extended their useful life, nothing to criticise. In the 1800s the didn't put old Broughams or Landaulets away in mews garages waiting for them to triple in value every three years, they were just old carriages. If in 1955 you could extend the life of your Austin Devonshire by fitting it with Standard running gear it was a sensible thing to do. In 1978 when I moved to North Finchley a Chevron B8 was just an uncompetitive GT car and was on sale for £1200, when I left school in 1963 the three ex Swiss Air Force Spitfires for sale at Stanstead airport for £1500 each, were just fighter planes well past their sell-by date...

Edited by Bloggsworth, 20 July 2013 - 11:36.

[maseralvis]

Hi

I may have the Finglass body on an Alvis TB 14 chassis.

I bought both in 1991 ( advert in the AOC calendar in 1991 )  

The panels are made in steel, door panels are in aloy, also the panel of the boot.

All panels are bead around an angle iron subframe. 

Nothing does fit, the wheelbase is different between the Alvis TB 14 and the Maserati 8 CM. The the body is definetly not from an Alvis.

Are there photos or other informations of the Maxwell car in existance ?

I like fill up the gaps in the history of the car and this body.

All informations are welcome 

 

[JoBo]

Hi

I may have the Finglass body on an Alvis TB 14 chassis.

I bought both in 1991 ( advert in the AOC calendar in 1991 )  

The panels are made in steel, door panels are in aloy, also the panel of the boot.

All panels are bead around an angle iron subframe. 

Nothing does fit, the wheelbase is different between the Alvis TB 14 and the Maserati 8 CM. The the body is definetly not from an Alvis.

Are there photos or other informations of the Maxwell car in existance ?

I like fill up the gaps in the history of the car and this body.

All informations are welcome 

 

Why don`t you post a photo of it?

 

JoBo

[Tim Murray]

Google throws up this Vintage Postbag page from the March 1977 issue of Motor Sport which includes a letter from Brian Finglass discussing the car, and a photo of it:

http://media.motorsp...977/full/52.jpg

[maseralvis]

It is the Gavin Maxwell car. the maroon calour can still be seen in the inside of the door panels and also in the Boot. The Maserati is No. 3031, Ex Earl Howe car.

You may enter the barcetta site in the wep to get some details.

I will try to send pictures of the body soon. ( There is only the shell without radiator and interior welded on the Alvis TB 14 chassis ) 

 

    

[maseralvis]

 Sorry I made a mistake in the Car No. It is 3013.

[maseralvis]

The barchetta site is www.barchetta.cc/english/all.maserati/detail/3013.tipo.8.cm.htm

[Vitesse2]

Posted on behalf of maseralvis

 

 

 

Please find attached the foto of the body, when I aquired the car in 1991. It is welded on to an ALVIS TB 14 chassis, which doesn’t fit in any respect.

 

The seller has put the TB 14 radiator grille in front. So you also may see the difference. The spats on the rear wheels  shall cover the the wrong

Wheel distance.