Springbok Sportwagen: Fighting 911-fatigue

Hannover-based dealership Springbok Sportwagen has several classic Porsche 911s in stock, as any self-respecting classic car specialist usually would. But owner Frank Jacob also has a taste for other exceptional machines – of the type that are a little more unusual than the ever-present Porsche…

"You’ll find a Porsche 911 on almost every corner"

Jacob began importing cars from California while studying for a law degree in Hamburg. After graduating, he worked as a lawyer in Capetown before founding his unusually named company – but at this point, it specialised in music production. It was a few years before the company switched its attention to symphonic instruments of a different variety: for the past 25 years, the focus has been on racing machines and the sports cars that they have inspired. All are housed in a modern two-storey showroom in Hannover-Isernhagen, in close proximity to the A7 autobahn.

Sought-after doesn’t always mean special...

“At one point, around 50% of our inventory was made up of various 911s,” remembers Frank Jacob. “But times have changed, and we’ve responded to the demands of the market: people want something a bit more unusual. It’s clear that the 911 is a great classic but, especially in Germany, you’ll find one on almost every corner. That applies to the historic rally and racing events too – often, with 911s or other popular cars, you won’t be granted entry as the field already has a full quota of that model.”

Le Mans-bound Lola

Jacob is himself active on the racing scene and, in co-operation with racing outfit RWS Motorsport, privately enters events such as the Oldtimer Grand Prix and Le Mans Classic. This year, his 1970 Lola T210 sports-prototype will line up on the grid at Le Mans. Other notable racing machines currently in his possession include a rare Ferrari 348 Michelotto Competizione and a Reynard Formula 3 car used by Michael Schumacher early in his career, as well as a collection of legendary competition cars from Zuffenhausen – albeit in 1:24 scale.

An attractive alternative

Those looking for something special to use on public roads are also well catered for. Springbok’s 911 substitutes include a single-owner Ferrari 308 GTB and a Maserati BiTurbo Spider, neither of which have covered more than 12,000km. If it has to be from Stuttgart, there’s a pair of 928 GTSs to choose between – Jacob claimed they represent the perfect antidote to what he calls “911-fatigue”, as he handed over the keys so we could inspect them in more detail.

Photos: Jan Richter

Springbok Sportwagen’s full list of cars for sale can be found in the Classic Driver Market.

Outfitting Project Super Dirty for Ultimate Adventure

byAgustin Jimenez | Associate Online Editor www.fourwheeler.com

How do you build the ultimate off road rig? Well, that depends on the rig of choice and what terrain you’ll be headed through and how fast you want to go through it all. This question does get a little more confusing when you don’t know exactly where you’ll be wheeling and what terrain you’ll encounter. Normally this isn’t what the average shade tree mechanic encounters but if you’re going to be a part of our Annual Ultimate Adventure, you’re going to want to expect the unexpected. As our fearless sandal-wielding leader puts it, “Think of the other side of the world!” With a hint like that, it’s anyone’s guess so you better be sure to build the ultimate off road rig that can withstand any harsh terrain for hours on end. Oh yeah, it also better allow you to be self-sufficient otherwise you’ll be in for a rude trail awakening.

On this episode of Dirt Every Day, Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road Tech Editor, Fred Williams, walks us through some of the build of this year’s Ultimate Adventure project truck. This year’s truck is a brand spanking new 2013 Ford F250 Super Duty pickup. Project Super Dirty rolled off the assembly line as a 4x4 diesel model with long box and… that’s pretty much it. Who needs a high zoot truck when you’re building the ultimate wheeling rig, right?
The sparks started flying pretty quickly to hack off part of the frame in order to shorten it up for the short bed conversion which would significantly improve Project Super Dirty’s off road prowess. To give our Ultimate Adventure rig some much needed ground clearance, a set of Axle Tech Portal boxes were added at each corner. This also resulted in a much lower gear ratio which significantly improves our crawling ability in the rocks. The rear suspension was hacked off in favor of a coil sprung linked suspension design. The build also called for some much needed larger tires so a call was placed to Nitto Tire for a set of their 40x13.5R17 Trail Grappler M/T tires. Remember, this rig was going to be subjected to harsh environments so a set of 17-inch GT Cepek Beadlock wheels were entrusted to keep the beads on our Nitto’s seated when dropping the air pressure in the tires.
Check out the video of Fred and the guys at Shaffer’s Offroad hammering away on Project Super Dirty to get it ready for Ultimate Adventure 2013!

HARLEY 48 SPORTSTER BY RSD

It takes a pretty special Harley to stop me in my tracks, but this Sportster 48 from Roland Sands Design hits all the right notes. It’s a street tracker with a strong vintage vibe—plus enough performance upgrades to make it an entertaining ride without compromising usability.

The bike is a parts showcase from one of the USA’s biggest motorcycle-related businesses, the Motorsport Aftermarket Group. MAG owns Roland Sands Design, Vance & Hines and Progressive Suspension, and also the Motorcycle USA website, which commissioned this build. But unlike most such endeavors, the result is far greater than the sum of its parts.

The 2010-spec XL1200X v-twin now breathes through an RSD Slant Carbon Fiber intake kit, with gases exiting via a sinuous exhaust system from Vance & Hines. A V&H Fuelpakcontrol unit is plugged into the ECU to ensure optimum fuelling and maximum power.

Fork springs and 970-series shocks from Progressive Suspension improve the handling, and Sands has tweaked the ergonomics with his own brand of swept-back bars and mid-controls.

Some of the components on the MotoUSA machine are prototypes due to hit production later in the year. That includes the vintage-style teardrop tank and the tracker-ish tail unit, which have been beautifully painted by Airtrix in a classy black, gold and silver.

There’s a sprinkling of RSD ‘Machine Ops’ parts throughout, including the 19” wheels—which have an old-school textured finish but are actually machined from billet aluminum. The tires are Mitas H-18s, designed for the flat track.

Head over to the Motorcycle USA website for the lowdown on the build—and visual proof that this is one Sportster that likes to pull a wheelie. We’ve also got an exclusive high-res gallery showing the bike in detail on our Google+ page.

via BIKEEXIF

Circuit Short Rally Zandvoort 2014

Custom Speedometer Collection

In the build up to this year’s The One Motorcycle Show, Seattle Speedometer and Pen & Screen Printing Co. joined forces with a slew of artists from around the motosphere to create this unique collection of speedometers. Each was handpainted before being reassembled and all of them are fully-functioning.
If you’d like to order a custom speedo or you’d like to get your current gauges refurbished you can visit Seattle Speedometer here, you’ll be in good hands – the team at SS have done high level custom work for Abarth, BMW, Bugatti, Ducati, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Talbot-Lago, Volkswagen and Walt Siegl over the years.
From top to bottom the artists are:

1. Seattle Speedometer/Pen & Screen – Seattle/Portland

2. Stevie Gee – UK - steviegee.com

3. Raulowsky – Spain - raulowsky.blogspot.com

4. Grant Ray – Culver City CA - coroflot.com/grantray

5. Thomas Bradley – Portland OR - Thomasbradley.net

6. Ben Ellenberger – Seattle WA – Pinstriper

7. Johnny Swing – Brookline VT - johnnyswing.com

8. Bob Hansen – Portland OR – Puddlecutters Moped Gang

9. Brent Wick – Portland OR - heavyscene.com

10. Kurt Walter (ICON) – Portland OR – Design Director for rideicon.com

11. Cheyenne Randall – Seattle, WA – @Indiangiver on Instagram

BMW G 650 XChallenge

ALLO

While Everything Flows

Terry RICHARDSON & ETAM

En avant première pour le Live Show Etam 2014, Terry Richardson signe une vidéo fraîche, amusante et sexy.
A découvrir d'urgence !
Live Show Etam - 25 février 2014 - 21:00 en direct sur Etam.com

An incredible performance of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" on cellos.

Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser of the popular music duo 2CELLOS release their cover of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck". Interpreting Baroque-style musicians with a modern cello expression, they don period costumes provided by the Giostra Society of Croatia.

1973 HUSQVARNA 250 MX

This 1973 Husqvarna 250 MX is a fantastic example of an early-70s blue-smoker by Husqvarna, bikes like this from the Swedish company dominated the dust and mud throughout the ’60s and ’70s, they won 14 motocross world championships, 24 enduro world championships and 11 Baja 1000 victories across the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc classes.

The 250cc singles from Husqvarna, or Husky as the company is usually called, are remarkably adept at almost any kind of off-road racing you can name, the bike’s lightweight, punchy engine and relatively good reliability was a major contributing factor in the successes enjoyed by the company. Perhaps the most famous fan of the Husqvarna 2-strokes was Steve McQueen, a man who raced and won on the red-tanked bikes so frequently that he became an unofficial company mascot and is still closely associated with the brand 40+ years later.

The Husqvarna 250 MX you see here is due to roll across the auction block with Bonhams at the Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction on the 9th of January 2014, the estimated value is just $4,000 to $5,000 USD, making it a highly-affordable classic motorcycle that’s bound to continue increasing in value over the years.

Click here to visit Bonhams and view the listing.

An Escort With The Works

In my mind there’s only one thing better than building a classic competition car, and that’s building one with proper history – such is the case with this beautiful first generation Ford Escort. The story of how this particular Mk1 came about can be traced back to 1970, when an RS1600 rolled off the production line at Halewood to be delivered as a dealer car in London. Less than one year later however, it was snatched back by Ford’s Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) department in Boreham, and turned into a Works rally test mule.

The car remained with AVO through 1971 and during  that time was stolen by an employee and stripped, then recovered and pieced back together again, and tested by British rally royalty, Roger Clark. In rough condition, it was eventually purchased by New Zealand driver Mike Marshall and run in a couple of UK events in 1972, before the Kiwi was given the opportunity to rebuild the car at the AVO factory alongside the works machines of the day. The spec included an all-steel 1790cc BDA, Rocket box, and an experimental four-link rear suspension arrangement.

Beautifully prepared, Marshall ran the car on the ’72 RAC, but ended up crashing and having to strip and rebuild the car around a new Works body shell, but this time with all the latest AVO rally gear. The car competed in two more events in the UK during 1973, before being shipped to New Zealand and eventually running in the Heatway International Rally with two other Escorts under the Woolmark Ford Team banner – one driven by Hannu Mikkola. The car had the latest 2.0L alloy BDA and ZF five-speed fitted for that event, but afterwards was switched back to the 1790cc spec and sold on.

Given the nature of the motorsport, the RS1600 was continually modified, but then eventually crashed. Stripped of its running gear, it was relegated to a farm paddock in 1988, and sat that way half covered by a tarpaulin for eight years until being purchased by local rally man, Peter Bryan. Being exposed to the elements for such a long time had taken its toll on the shell and combined with the heavy accident damage, there was no way it could ever be brought back to life. Instead, over the course of more than a decade, Peter prepared a new shell to the exact same AVO specification – including full seam welding, period four-link boxes and steel bubble arch flares – and transferred over all the existing Works gear that was still intact, with the idea to revive the car to its RAC Rally specification. And the result of all that hard work is rather spectacular…

Making all the right noises under the bonnet is a 1.6L BDA that Peter pieced together from various parts he accumulated over the years. Although the DOHC 16-valve motor has plenty of good bits – such as a Holbay steel crankshaft, Weber 45DCOE carburettors and a Cosworth-based dry sump system – it’s very much a temporary measure, and eventually a mechanically injected 1790cc engine (as the car would have run in the ’72 RAC Rally) will find its way into the bay.

Still, with close to 170hp on tap, it’s a lot of fun, as I found out when Peter threw me the keys. Drive is transferred through an AP Racing triple-plate clutch and ZF five-speed close-ratio gearbox out to a Gartrac/Atlas rear end with a ZF 4.63.1 limited slip diff, Group 4 axles and 3/4 floating hubs. The four-link set-up in the rear – which was modelled exactly from the AVO-spec shell – features Gartrac bars and Bilstein shocks with slipper-type leaf springs, while the front end benefits from Bilstein coilovers, adjustable rose-jointed lower arms and Gartrac tarmac-spec steering arms, among many more upgrades.

One of coolest details of the build has to be the genuine right-hand drive Works high-top dashboard complete with 150mph speedo and 12,000rpm tacho, Halda Twin Master rally meter and super-rare Heuer clock/stopwatch unit. Unbelievably, the dash was still in the car when Peter rescued it, and although it wasn’t totally complete, it was absolutely able to be restored back to its original early ’70s glory, complete with aircraft switchgear and warning lights.

Ensuring the  Escort could compete in rallies both now and in the future was a very important aspect for Peter and as such, it’s been built to FIA/MSA Historic regulations. As it sits now, the only change he needs to make to bring it up to spec is to switch out the RS1600 Contours out for FIA-spec race seats with integrated headrests.

As great as the Mk1 looks from a distance, the real beauty of this build is in the details. Many of the original period fittings and fixtures were long gone by the time the original car was abandoned in a paddock, and those that couldn’t be purchased, Peter made – sometimes only having old photos of AVO Works cars as a guide. All the blood, sweat and tears has definitely paid off though, because this has to be one of the coolest retro rally cars in New Zealand. Better still, Peter’s not shy about using it! 

Brad Lord

ROBINSONS SPEEDSHOP CB360

The BSMC’s Robinsons Speedshop have been busy again, quietly building away in Luke’s Essex workshop, but rather than the usual large capacity Cafe Racer or Brat this latest build from Robinsons is a sweet little CB360 scrambler, and the reason is simple. Luke handed over the overall creative direction to his new missus, Lauren. …It seems she has great taste (…in bikes, anyway).

The donor had been knocking around for a very long time, within sight of the British seaside, which means wet salty air and seized parts on anything mechanical that hasn’t been used for a while. But Luke was lucky, the bike came apart with no problems and when all the bits came back from being blasted, it all looked good.

The previous owner had also mentioned he thought the ignition was fried, but on further inspection it turned out the loom had been poorly repaired; full of cables twisted together and secured with tape. One new loom later and the re-assembled bike fired up without a hitch.

Once she was a runner, Luke handed the cosmetics and styling over to Lauren. “It basically came down to being chunky with a upright riding position. The wheels were stripped down blasted and powder coat, set-off with some very fat continental TKC80s, giving the bike a totally different look.”

“The front end was the next stop and the weedy stock fork just didn’t cut it. We did think about doing a front-end swap but being a smaller bike nothing really worked.  In the end we kept the front end and reworked the internals lowering and stiffening them, and with some simple machining we made covers for the upper legs just to give to look of it being a little more beefy.”

The stock bars were replaced with a set of Renthals, finished with a used look to match the controls and yoke. “As for the clocks, the jury is still out. I was thinking of putting a digital one on but I may put the original clock back on with just the speedo and no rpm.” The rear of the bike was de-tabbed and looped to fit the bench-seat. The battery is hidden away under the swing arm and the rear number plate and rear led Bates style light are mounted at the top of the right shock.

Bikes like this always work. The scrambler ergonomics on a light weight and reliable Honda CB, with reworked suspension and wide bars,can only result in the rider wearing a grin like the proverbial Cheshire cat. Luke puts it best.“For not a whole lot of effort the bike looks grand, and is a joy to buzz around town on.”

See more from Robinson’s Speedshop on their Bike Shed page and Luke’s Website.

FILLIE’S FLATTRACKER

We’re loving the influx of trackers into the Bike Shed’s inbox. They’re lightweight, punchy and ridiculously fun to ride – and they’re a lot more friendly around most cities that a stretched-out cafe racer. This one belongs to Philippe Gisgand, AKA Fillie, a friend of Bike-Shed builder Andy, and is fellow member of Belgium’s Flying Hermans.

Fillie is 40 and lives in Ninove and is working with Andy on the Fly Low event, coming up on the 18th May (mark that in your diary, if you’re anywhere in Northern Europe).

The bike is a 1979 Yamaha XS650 and is more than just a cosmetic overhaul. It’s been fully rebuilt and repurposed for it’s new stance and attitude.

Apart from the obvious Flat Tracker rear-end the bike has also had the chassis uprated with progressive springs in the forks, with the bike suspended on a pair of Exel rims laced to Talon hubs with a Brembo caliper biting down at the front disc. A Tarozzi brace keeps things from getting squirrelly under turning.

Gas mounted shocks take care of the bumps at the back, via an aluminium item made my Motolanna. The engine is fed by a pair of big fat Dellorto carbs wearing K&N air filters. The audio is sorted through a two into one LeoVince SBK exhaust. The battery has also been ditched to save weight, which meant replacing the ignition for a power dynamo. Big boots are all you need on a proper tracker. Internal mods include a improved lubricating mechanism which pumps 50% more oil than the original item.

It took Fillie almost a complete winter to build his bike and Andy tells us “now he drives it like he stole it.” Is there any other way?

Thanks to Andy for bringing the bike to our attention and to Fillie for letting us share it with all of you. Don’t forget to save the date for the Fly Low event in May (one week before the BSMC III in London) .