The Cars of the Hitchcock Films

While the films of Alfred Hitchcock might not be about cars, they do feature them. Outside the predictable traffic jam of contemporary Americana lie some interesting vehicles – here are our favourites. Bentley 4¼ Litre in Foreign Correspondent Having purchased the assets of the company in a slightly acrimonious courtroom battle in 1931, it took new owner Rolls-Royce two years before it re-introduced the Bentley marque to the showrooms. The car was the ‘3¼ Litre’, a ‘smaller’ Bentley aimed at a new type of owner happy to drive himself yet not wanting the out-and-out sporting experience once offered by the Cricklewood cars. Inevitably, though, weight was soon added by the many coachbuilders entrusted with bodying the new car, so at the end of 1935 when Rolls-Royce announced the 4,257cc 25/30hp model, this formed the basis for Bentley’s own ‘4¼ Litre’, available in a variety of body styles from stolid saloon to rakish two-door convertible. A special DHC 4¼ Litre - with a one-off Mulliner body commissioned by Duncan McMartin - featured in 'Foreign Correspondent', acting as the lead chase car after being commandeered by reporter Johnny Jones (played by Joel McCrea) to pursue the assassin. See car in the Classic Driver Marketplace >> Lagonda LG45 in Suspicion Powered by a W.O. Bentley-modified, 4.5-litre Meadows straight-six, the Lagonda LG45 was the spiritual successor to the ‘Cricklewood’ Bentleys. The company had won at Le Mans in 1935, and to stress its sporting credentials and link this victory to its road car range, by the late 1930s its LG45 Rapide was a contender for the title ‘fastest car in the world’. As with most cars of the period, customers could choose their preferred bodywork from a variety of coachbuilders. In the film's climax, Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) uses the power of an LG45 on a cliff-top road, terrifying his wife Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) to the point where she considers leaping from the car to a certain death. See car in the Classic Driver Marketplace >> Lagonda V12 in The Paradine Case Having left his own company to the mercies of hard-nosed Rolls-Royce in Derby, W.O. Bentley was soon involved again in the motor business, this time at Lagonda in Staines where he had overall responsibility for engineering and design. His finest creation was the 4.5-litre V12, an advanced design with relatively short stroke and the potential to develop nearly 200bhp. With styling by Frank Feeley (later a key figure at Aston Martin), the Drophead V12 Lagonda is one of the most elegant and desirable pre-War British cars. Another brief Lagonda cameo appearance came in 'The Paradine Case'. Of course, it could be a complete coincidence, but given Hitchcock's reputation for attention to detail, perhaps it was one of his trademark discreet clues underlining his enthusiasm for British machinery? See car in the Classic Driver Marketplace >> Porsche 356A Speedster in Family Plot There can be few cars that better illustrate the maxim ‘less is more’ than the simple Speedster bodywork of Porsche’s famous 1950s ‘low-cost’, American-market special. Yes, ‘low cost’ – despite today’s heightened values. At the time, American importer Max Hoffman specified the car as a stripped-out, no-frills entry model. Many were raced, the specially streamlined and lowered windscreen replaced by a simple aero screen, and the car’s bucket seats were perfect for 10 laps of Laguna Seca and then a drive back One down to Santa Barbara. It might be the white Mustang of Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris) which has the most prominent role in Hitchcock's final film after having its brake lines severed, but it was the fleeting appearance of a pretty black 356A Speedster that caught the collective eye of Classic Driver. See car in the Classic Driver Marketplace >> Willys Jeep in Topaz The vehicle that won the War? That accolade normally goes to GMC’s CCKW 6 X 6 truck, but there’s no denying that, with WW2 production running at nearly 650,000 examples, the iconic Jeep has to be one of the conflict’s most widely used forms of transport. Whether it was in the jungles of Malaya, the frozen Steppes or the Normandy beaches, soldiers came to rely on the versatile 4 x 4 from Willys. Spotters take note: post-War you can tell a Willys-made Jeep from a Ford-manufactured one by its seven-, not nine-barred grille. Hitchcock's 1969 espionage thriller depicted a French intelligent agent's role in the Cold War. Considering the era, it was an inevitability that a Willys Jeep would feature; however, it appears that the vehicle used was in fact a civilian version painted in military colours. See car in the Classic Driver Marketplace >> Aston Martin DB2 Drophead Coupé in The Birds The Drophead Coupé version of the DB2 was introduced in late 1950. Only a few months before, an attractive coupé was shown at that April’s New York Motor Show. With a modern chassis by Claude Hill, Frank Feeley’s timeless styling and Willie Watson’s (originally Lagonda) 2.6-litre straight six, the new Aston Martin - only the second-ever ‘DB car’ - was a winner. The DB2/4 was a later version of the DB2, with a revised rear chassis and smaller fuel tank – it, too, spawned a convertible version. Read the full article on elsewhere Classic Driver >> In 'The Birds', Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) runs an Aston Martin DB2/4 Drophead Coupé, which is also used by the group to cautiously leave the house during the final scene. Mitch Brennan (Rod Taylor) clearly had faith in the material quality of the Drophead's roof... See car in the Classic Driver Marketplace >> Text: Steve Wakefield / Joe Breeze (classic Driver) Photos: Classic Driver dealers

KAWASAKI KZ750 BY VALTORON

Valdetorres del Jarama is a small village in Spain, half an hour from the center of Madrid. It’s also home to a sculptor’s foundry called Valtoron, named after the local river.

The foundry is run by two brothers with a passion for traditional metalwork. In their free time Carlos and Pablo live and breathe motorcycles, and occasionally, their two worlds collide. Over the years they’ve been quietly using their skills to create some remarkably original motorcycles, which were revealed in public for the first time at the 2012 Mulafest show in Madrid.

The reaction of the audience at the show convinced Carlos and Pablo to disclose more of their two-wheeled work—which includes this 1977 Kawasaki KZ750, repurposed into a vintage dual-sport machine. (If you haven’t heard of the KZ750, that’s understandable: it was designed to compete with twins like the Triumph Bonneville and Yamaha XS650, but despite having the requisite simplicity and character, it never really took off.)

Valtoron started by modifying the KZ750’s chassis for strength, and grafting on uprated components better suited to offroad use—including 41mm Husqvarna forks slotted into Suzuki triple trees, and Betor shocks from an Ossa Desert Fuego. The footrests are now from a vintage KTM GS 250, and the bars from a Bultaco Pursang—now fitted with Renthal grips. The front brake is from a Yamaha SR250.

Valtoron used their casting know-how to produce the bodywork, creating a look we haven’t seen before. All the panels were cast in aluminum in the foundry, from the fenders to the side covers to the tank, which was designed and shaped using clay. The gas cap has been cast in bronze.

It’s an unusual approach, as befits an isolated workshop operating outside the mainstream of custom motorcycle builders. But it ‘works’, to put it bluntly, and Valtoron is a name worth keeping an eye out for. You can follow Carlos and Pablo’s progress via theirwebsite and Facebook page: they don’t speak English, but the pictures speak a thousand words.

Images courtesy of Kristina Fender. Thanks to David Borras of El Solitario MC for the tip.

via BIKEEXIF

Testing the Toughest: 65 years of Land Rover

Exactly 65 years ago, on 30 April 1948, the Land Rover marque was born. To celebrate, Land Rover assembled 138 of the most innovative, remarkable and downright bizarre cars from the last 65 years at the Packington Estate, its original testing ground. We drove some, goggled at some, and picked our five favourites.

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Learning to swim


“No, no, no,” said the instructor, as I reached for the seat belt seat of this amphibious Landie. “That’s the last thing you need. If something goes wrong, you want to be able to bob out.” The car’s huge, inflatable side pods are removable, their design copied from 1960s military prototypes, but ours stayed in place as we trundled through woods to the lake. 

Ah, the lake: here we are and our heart rates rise. As it turns out, however, getting into the lake is the easy bit: you simply drive into the water and switch from prop-shaft to genuine propeller. Steering is harder; you pull on the delicate control between the seats and, for many long seconds, nothing at all happens. Then the floating Landie starts to swing round – and keeps swinging, almost always too far, so that you find yourself progressing via a series of zig-zags across the lake. Finally, back at the bank, the trickiest bit is getting out again: drive by propeller to the edge, switch to normal engine drive at just the right moment and – theoretically – the 4WD simply carries you up and out. Theoretically.

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Minimalism



Range Rovers have that touch of luxury, eh? Not this one. We tried off-roading in the demonstration chassis from the first production Range Rover and the thrill of seeing the coil springs working and the propshaft turning half-convinced us that not only is it possible to do without air-con and audio system, but you don’t really need a body at all. It just spoils the fun.

We also spoke to Roger Crathorne, a Junior Development Engineer under Spen King when the first Range Rover was designed: “In some ways the original Range Rover was better off-road than the Land Rover. The coil spring suspension had much more travel than leaf springs, for example.” 

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Butch boys’ toy


Drive any Land Rover on the road and it gives you a feeling of invincibility. But the Defender is the toughest toy of them all – especially when you’re behind the wheel of the new Special Edition ‘LXV’ (roman numerals for 65, to celebrate the marque’s 65th year) with its 16-inch Sawtooth alloy wheels in Santorini Black. There might be full leather seats in the cabin, but the atmosphere is more Mad Max 3 than Range Rover Evoque. It gives off a sense of “don’t mess with me”. 

In low-ratio first gear, you feel you could climb a wall; and when our route suddenly ‘ended’ at river that crosses the private Packington Estate, there was no need for inflatable side-pods. The Defender simply waded on through.

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Bog-crosser


Climb up into the ‘Cuthbertson tracked conversion’ and it gives a new meaning to the words ‘commanding driving position’. It’s like sitting on the top floor of a bus. 

Built in the 1960s, the road wheels of the Series II were replaced by four tracked ‘bogies’ to raise the vehicle’s height and minimise ground pressure, enabling it to cross boggy ground. Much as we’d have liked to take the bizarre bog-crosser for a spin, the owners of the Packington Estate were none too keen to see their croquet lawn turned to bogland, so we simply sat in the cabin and struggled to overcome vertigo. 

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1989 Camel Trophy winner


For extreme off-road adventure, there was little to beat the Camel Trophy – competitive expeditions exploring the most demanding terrains in the world. In 1989, the route was through the Amazon basin and the eventual winners were the brothers Bob and Joe Ives, from the UK (the only Britons ever to win the event).

We jumped at the chance of an off-road drive in the actual winning Land Rover One Ten: not exactly 1,062 miles of hostile Amazonian rainforest, but what a feeling to pilot this well-worn but beautifully maintained vehicle. The long gearstick is wobbly, but never grates as you move it firmly into place; and there are always the sand ladders and shovel to get us out of trouble should we fall foul of a few sheep droppings. 

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Text: Charis Whitcombe (Classic Driver)
Photos: Land Rover

Lito 500: When Swedes get cross

Motorcycles from Osso and Rickman are often seen as the ‘cool kids’ of classic motocross, but anyone familiar with the bikes made by Lito will surely agree they are serious rivals when it comes to kudos - not to mention competition prowess.

In 1958, young Swedish motocross rider Kaj Bornebusch founded his own small motorcycle company, with the intention of building “the perfect dirt bike”. He chose the name ‘Litoverken’ and what began as a two-man operation soon became a Mecca for the European motocross community.

Just a year after it was established, the company produced its first motorcycle; of a similar design to the famous Monark bikes, it had a 500cc engine developing almost 45bhp. Soon afterwards, Bornebusch struck a deal with fellow Swede Sten ‘The Viking’ Lundin – who had recently won the 1959 World Championship on a Monark – for him to race in the Championship astride a Lito. This resulted in a 1961 title win, and the subsequent interest saw around 30 similar works machines built before the company closed in 1963. 

Due to their rarity and championship-winning DNA, the factory racers are held in high regard by in-the-know collectors. The bike shown above is one of these coveted machines.

Related Links The Lito 500 factory racer seen here can be found in the Classic Driver Marketplace

Text: J. Philip Rathgen Classic Driver
Photos: Premiummotorrad