Articles by Michael Carnell

David Townsend, the artist behind Sports Car Art, has come out with some beautiful 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles. Some of them have been done in partnership with Moss Motors, and while Moss is carrying the MG, Triumph, and Austin-Healey, David is directly offering the Cunningham E-Type Jaguar, XKSS, C and D-Types, AC Cobra MKI, and the Austin-Healey 3000 Works Rally car. The puzzles are $59.95, build out to a full 18″ x 36″, and come in a really nice flip-top box.The puzzle quality/construction is of good quality cardboard and once constructed they would also look very nice framed. David began working on British cars as a youngster. From his first car—a ‘61 Morris Minor—through a succession of British iron including several MGBs, a Triumph TR3, Austin-Healey Sprite, Jaguar 3.4 MK1 and various other assorted vintage cars, his appreciation for these machines has […]

From his position as Competition Director for Standard-Triumph in the United States, R.W. “Kas” Kastner was the guiding influence and prime instigator for the company’s success, essentially writing the book on how to successfully race cars on a budget and setting the standard for others in the industry to follow. He will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. Kastner’s experience in the automotive industry spans over 50 years. He has particular experience in the field of performance vehicles and automotive racing and racing team management. Triumph powered cars still participate annually in the appropriately named Kastner Cup.

As an airman in the United States Air Force, Robert “Bob” Johns parlayed his amateur success into a position as a Triumph works driver, including stints at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Bob Johns will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on Friday, June 2. Bob Johns was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, and began working in his father’s auto repair shop at the age of twelve, which fueled his interest in racing. By age nineteen, he was full-fledged, fast-car crazy. In fact, he attended the last two original-course races at Watkins Glen in 1951 and 1952. These races instilled in him the auto racing fever.

Our Video of the Week for this first week of May comes via Aston Martin. Watch an incredible celebration of Aston Martin’s heritage, bringing together 28 very special Aston Martins with a combined value of £65 million in a film produced to celebrate the transfer of ownership of the three super hangars at St Athan. The Aston Martin Vulcan was the first car to turn a wheel at the site of the British luxury carmaker’s second UK manufacturing plant at St Athan in South Wales recently, signaling the start of the redevelopment of the former MOD site into a state-of-the-art facility. The appearance of the Aston Martin Vulcan though was just the start of an incredible celebration of Aston Martin’s heritage, which brought together 28 very special Aston Martins with a combined value of £65 million in a film produced […]

Donald Healey was a man with many talents – pilot, mechanic and rally driver. Most notable to the majority of British car fans, Donald Healey was the driving force behind the Austin Healey sports cars such as the Austin Healey 3000 and the bugeye (or frogeye) Sprite. Donald Healey, CBE will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame this June.

Peter Egan is one of the people who is near legendary to many car folk, especially those of us even slightly involved in the writing or publishing end of things. As a longtime columnist and writer for Road & Track magazine, he represented the thoughts, aspirations, and tribulations of so many British car enthusiasts that he might as well be given prophet status. He will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. Peter Egan was born in Wisconsin in 1948.  He became a sports car fan early on through magazines and the by attending races at Elkhart Lake. After a short stint in the Army, Egan married and began work at Foreign Car Specialists in Madison, Wisconsin. His love of all things motorized has propelled him from that point onward. Although he never graduated college, […]

Instead of using caffeine to wake you up, how about a nice brisk morning drive in a beautiful Triumph TR3A? Via the fine folks at Petrolicious, our Video of the Week the go rounds is titled “A Triumph TR3A to Warm Up a Cold Morning“. Another soft spot for me since I once owned a small-mouth TR3, although admittedly I sold it before the was put back together enough to see road time.

Norman Dewis, OBE was the chief test driver and development engineer for Jaguar Cars from 1952 to 1985. During his time at Jaguar, he helped develop one of the greatest-ever upgrades in automotive braking, the disc brake, which has probably saved tens of thousands of lives over the years. Dewis, along with 23 other outstanding individuals, will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in June.

Michael Dale is the retired President of Jaguar North America where he was responsible for the company’s activities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Prior to being named President, he had been responsible for all U.S. Jaguar sales and marketing activities, including advertising and sales promotion. Michael Dale will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017.

Jimmy Cox is a former engine guru and works mechanic at the MG Development Department responsible for many of the company’s racing and record-breaking successes. He was with the successful MG record breaking team at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1959 and was also part of the MG team who went to Le Mans in 1955. Jimmy Cox will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. In 1945, at the young age of just 14, Jimmy Cox started work at MG’s Abingdon factory as a mere messenger boy. That eventually led to work on the MG TC production line, but in 1949 Cox entered the military for his two-year duties. Upon returning to MG in 1951 he again was working on standard production cars but soon had the opportunity to take over responsibility […]

Gerry Coker was a designer for the Donald Healey Motor Company, he was responsible for the design of the Austin-Healey 100 and Sprite, later joining Chrysler and the Ford Motor Company, where he invented the 3-postion tailgate. Gerry will be inducted into the Britsh Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017.

Sir John Black was Chairman of Standard-Triumph, helped support Morgan, Swallow and Jaguar production, and responsible for the creation of the TR range. Sir John Black will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in June. Black was born in Kingston upon Thames in 1895. He studied law at the University of London before joining the military during the First World War. He eventually achieved the rank of Captain the  Royal Tank Regiment. After the war, he left both the military and law when he joined the barely 10 years old Hillman Motor Company as sales manager in 1918. He was appointed a director in 1919.

Tony Adamowicz was born in New York on May 2, 1941. Although he won enduring fame for winning championships in Trans Am and Formula 5000, he also competed at Le Mans and Daytona. What brings him to the British Sports Car Hall of Fame, however, is his start as one of the first racers employed by Group 44. During his career racing, in what many deem to be the golden age of sports car racing, Tony drove with the likes of John Morton, Sam Posey, Chuck Parsons, and of course, Group 44 head and fellow Hall of Fame inductee, Bob Tullius. His illustrious professional career spanned more than two decades, from 1966 through 1989.

The British Classics XI car show was last weekend, April 1st, and the Land Rover and I attended. Hosted by the British Car Club Midlands Centre, this show is held in conjunction with Tartan Day South Highland Games and Celtic Festival. The site for the event is the Historic Columbia Raceway in Cayce, South Carolina. The funniest part of the day was pulling up to the show’s registration table and having the very nice woman manning it look at me and then look quizzically at my ride. I told her I was there for the show and had pre-registered. She cocked her head, looked at my ride again, and then asked, “OK, but what is it?” 

There are lots of great British car shows throughout the season and lots of fine car museums. But, every so often people and events and places come together to create a not-to-be-missed opportunity. This is the case with the upcoming Induction Ceremony to the new British Sports Car Hall of Fame that will be held the evening before Moss Motorfest in Petersburg, Virginia. The event is filling up fast, and the ticket-required ceremony and party are going to sell out soon. Make your plans now, get your tickets, and you won’t regret it. Registration for the Friday activities officially closes on May 19, but will likely end earlier if they reach their maximum capacity. And I believe they will. The new Hall of Fame is being constructed to not only showcase the cars we all know and love, but to highlight and thank the folks […]

Not to do two MG videos in a row, but this one is fun. And I like MGs, so there is that two. This week out Video of the Week is the second in a series called “The Wrenchmen” from Hagerty and features work on a 1970 MGB. Seems lots of good videos are coming out of Hagerty these days. Anyway, this series basically has a couple of professional mechanics going around to regular folks with classic cars and helping them over some rough spots to get them back on the road. The description of this video is… Three days, two Wrenchmen, one garaged MGB and a bunch of problems. Wrenchmen Davin and Matt roll through South Carolina to help David and Jocelyn get their 1970 MGB back on the road after being parked for far too long. The MGB’s […]

A note of good luck to our friend and occasional contributor Robert Morey as he and John Scott take on the 9th annual Flying Scotsman Rally going from Slaley Hall to Gleneagles. They will be at the wheel of this beautiful 1937 MG VA. Departing from Slaley Hall on Friday 31st of March the 9th running of the iconic Flying Scotsman,  Britain’s Premier competitive Vintage car rally will be another epic adventure set in the glorious and big sky countryside of Northern England and Scotland. The schedule is … Day 1 – Slaley Hall to Edinburgh – Friday, March 31 Day 2 – Edinburgh to Aviemore – Saturday, April 1 Day 3 – Aviemore to Gleneagles – Sunday, April 2 A list of the participants’ vehicles includes some astounding cars, for the record Robert and John are in car #96. The parade of cars […]

Whether you know it or not, you very possibly already have a part produced by Clark & Clark Specialty Products on your car. I met Robert Clark at the recent BMTA conference, and he explained to me that their parts for a variety of marques and ranging from seat belt retainers and battery boxes to hood lifts and carburetor caps are sold by mass-market vendors including Moss, Victoria British, and The Roadster Factory. After discussing the ins and outs of engineering, development, and production, we then got down to the real business of the parts he produces. One of the newest items in their line was of particular interest to me – a replacement for the telescoping trunk support used by my Triumph Spitfire 1500. The original type supports are quite common on all types of MGs and Triumphs, and while […]