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Puzzles, Games and Name That Car => Solved AutoPuzzles => 2015 => Topic started by: Carnut on May 20, 2015, 07:29:56 AM

Title: Solved - NEH 4089: Toran - one-off with supercharged Hillman engine
Post by: Carnut on May 20, 2015, 07:29:56 AM
What's this, powered by what - for 1 point?:

Remember - solving puzzles using 'Google Search by Image' is BANNED on AutoPuzzles!
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on June 03, 2015, 05:30:56 AM
Experts?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Willie McCrum on June 10, 2015, 09:06:13 AM
Lotus 23, BMW engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on June 10, 2015, 09:32:16 AM
Lotus 23, BMW engine ?

Not a Lotus and not a BMW engine!
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: BERTRAND on June 10, 2015, 12:59:30 PM
British?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on June 10, 2015, 02:02:25 PM
British?

No..
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 02, 2015, 04:39:49 AM
Professionals?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: SACO on July 02, 2015, 05:25:37 AM
French ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 02, 2015, 05:28:27 AM
Australian ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 02, 2015, 05:30:17 AM
French ?

No...

Australian ?

..but Yes!
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 02, 2015, 05:37:50 AM
Elfin ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: nicanary on July 02, 2015, 05:53:34 AM
Centaur GT ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 02, 2015, 06:08:36 AM
Neither Elfin nor Centaur..
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 02, 2015, 06:15:10 AM
MRC ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 02, 2015, 06:17:50 AM
MRC ?

No.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 02, 2015, 06:22:41 AM
One-off or was there a company behind that is known for other cars ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: nicanary on July 02, 2015, 07:10:54 AM
Bob Britten built Lotus 23 clones from his company MRC (Motor Racing Components). Would this be one of these, possibly Paul Bolton's Sterling?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 02, 2015, 08:03:23 AM
One-off or was there a company behind that is known for other cars ?

Pure one-off with no company behind it.

Bob Britten built Lotus 23 clones from his company MRC (Motor Racing Components). Would this be one of these, possibly Paul Bolton's Sterling?

No, oko94 already asked the MRC question and it's nothing to do with those at all.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 03, 2015, 06:19:10 AM
Ford engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 03, 2015, 07:40:53 AM
Ford engine ?

No.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 03, 2015, 07:43:52 AM
European engine, like Porsche maybe ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 03, 2015, 07:49:26 AM
European engine, like Porsche maybe ?

European engine, yes, but not a Porsche.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 03, 2015, 07:50:28 AM
British engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: nicanary on July 03, 2015, 08:05:15 AM
Is this car the Alfa Spider of D. Chivas?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 03, 2015, 10:13:58 AM
Is this car the Alfa Spider of D. Chivas?

I'm afraid it isn't...

British engine ?

Yes it is!
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 03, 2015, 10:17:38 AM
Triumph engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: nicanary on July 03, 2015, 11:19:31 AM
Is this car related to the Mitchell RM Mk2 ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 03, 2015, 02:43:14 PM
Triumph engine ?

No..

Is this car related to the Mitchell RM Mk2 ?

..and No.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 03, 2015, 03:29:29 PM
Climax engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 03, 2015, 07:08:12 PM
Climax engine ?

No.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: nicanary on July 03, 2015, 07:11:54 PM
BMC engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 03, 2015, 07:13:19 PM
Rootes engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 04, 2015, 10:34:50 AM
BMC engine ?

No..

Rootes engine ?

.. but Yes!
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 04, 2015, 10:59:23 AM
Hillman Imp engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 04, 2015, 07:00:16 PM
Hillman Imp engine ?

No.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 04, 2015, 07:00:45 PM
Sunbeam engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 05, 2015, 10:42:00 AM
Sunbeam engine ?

Not specifically but I think it appeared in some Sunbeam models since thy were also Rootes Group products and they all shared engines.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 05, 2015, 10:45:27 AM
The car looks small, so is it a 4-cylinder engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: nicanary on July 05, 2015, 11:49:27 AM
The car looks small, so is it a 4-cylinder engine ?

I'm assuming that this is a power unit from one of the Audax series of cars.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: shamrock on July 05, 2015, 02:15:04 PM
mp engine
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 05, 2015, 02:38:22 PM
The car looks small, so is it a 4-cylinder engine ?

Yes

I'm assuming that this is a power unit from one of the Audax series of cars.

Yes

mp engine

Could you enlarge on this question please?  I don't understand it!
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 06, 2015, 03:26:12 AM
Was the car built between 1964 and 1967 ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 06, 2015, 04:30:35 AM
Was the car built between 1964 and 1967 ?

1960s but I don't know the exact year.
Not as late as '67 I think.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 06, 2015, 05:25:07 AM
1390 cc engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 06, 2015, 05:31:38 AM
1390 cc engine ?

No.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 06, 2015, 05:45:42 AM
1494 cc engine ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 06, 2015, 06:14:24 AM
1494 cc engine ?

I would have said 1492 but my memory's not what it used to be so 1494 might be right, yes!
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 07, 2015, 04:39:20 AM
1494 cc engine ?

I would have said 1492 but my memory's not what it used to be so 1494 might be right, yes!

I checked into the engines and my reply to nicanary saying it was from one of the Audax cars.
In fact they had 1592 cc engines so it's not from one of those.
The 1500 cc engines were fitted to the Avenger and the Arrow cars, so it's most probably from one of those.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 07, 2015, 04:57:01 AM
I'm confused. The Hillman Minx Series III had a 1494 cc engine, so that's a valid displacement for an Audax engine, isn't it ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 07, 2015, 05:00:11 AM
I'm confused. The Hillman Minx Series III had a 1494 cc engine, so that's a valid displacement for an Audax engine, isn't it ?

You might be right.  I only looked on the 'Net rather than in my books and I didn't find that one.
Maybe that's the same engine that was fitted to the later Arrow series then..
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: nicanary on July 07, 2015, 05:29:39 AM
No point in getting too pedantic. The Arrow cars usually had 1725cc engines, I think, but the poverty-spec Minx variant had the old 1494cc engine.

I reckon the puzzle car had a Rapier engine fitted, or a Minx with twin-carb setup or similar tuning. To complicate matters, the Rootes cars had 1592cc engines from 1961, so the engine in this car must have been quite old when fitted.

Still can't find it, although I've found some great new sources since I started looking!
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 15, 2015, 11:37:53 AM
How come we cannot find an Australian, mid-sixties, Audax-powered one-off ? Let's try a different approach. Was it built for hillclimbing ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 15, 2015, 12:21:11 PM
Was it built for hillclimbing ?

I believe it was, yes.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: oko94 on July 15, 2015, 03:29:13 PM
Was it built in the state of Victoria ?
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 16, 2015, 05:50:38 AM
Was it built in the state of Victoria ?

I can't say with certainty where it was built, but Victoria state is quite likely.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Paul Jaray on July 18, 2015, 03:30:40 PM
This is the Toran, space frame chassis and a mid-mounted 1500 supercharged Hillman engine with VW box. The body was aluminium and glass. Probably it had a Bolwell nose.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: nicanary on July 19, 2015, 08:18:27 AM
This is the Toran, space frame chassis and a mid-mounted 1500 supercharged Hillman engine with VW box. The body was aluminium and glass. Probably it had a Bolwell nose.

Well solved. I had spent hours going through the usual sites for Australian specials, but got nowhere. It's surprising how many cars in that country were fitted with Hillman Minx engines, sometimes supercharged - I'm keeping some of them for future puzzles!

Using your information, last night I found the original puzzle photo, and now I can't retrieve it! I wanted to check out the date and origins of this car, because Paul Bolton also fitted a supercharged Minx motor to his MRC (called a Sterling) and also to a Rennmax BN7, and I wondered if he had a link to this puzzle car.

I'm glad it's solved now, it was starting to frustrate me.
Title: Re: NEH 4089
Post by: Carnut on July 19, 2015, 10:29:15 AM
This is the Toran, space frame chassis and a mid-mounted 1500 supercharged Hillman engine with VW box. The body was aluminium and glass. Probably it had a Bolwell nose.

Yes indeed.  Well done.
Attached is another picture, which I guess shows this car was indeed built for hill-climbing.
Apparently the builder of the car cast the one-off magnesium wheels for it himself; very enterprising!