Solved NIC#190 - Whitford Special of Ivor White

[nicanary]

For one point, please tell me the driver/builder of this car, and what he called it.

[nicanary]

Experts?

[D-type]

Mike Chapman in his CSM?

[nicanary]

Mike Chapman in his CSM?

Sorry, not him.

[nicanary]

I'm putting this one up to the Pros.

This photo is genuinely available on the internet, but I have just tried various combinations of titles, and it does not come up on Google Images. I'm quite proud of this puzzle, but knowing my luck someone will solve it in the next few hours.

Remember, NO GSBI IS ALLOWED!

[Carnut]

Those are Ford Pop wheels, so it must be a Ford 1172 sidevalve special?

[nicanary]

Those are Ford Pop wheels, so it must be a Ford 1172 sidevalve special?

Ah! An in-depth analysis by a true Pro. 

Absolutely correct, of course. Try and find it!

[Carnut]

I have a feeling we've had this one before!
It's not the car I recognise but the guy in the middle of the standing group with the snazzy jacket..

[nicanary]

I have a feeling we've had this one before!
It's not the car I recognise but the guy in the middle of the standing group with the snazzy jacket..

I've just done a search using the builder's name, the name of the car, and the name of the site where I found the image, and it does not appear to have been a previous puzzle.

[Carnut]

I have a feeling we've had this one before!
It's not the car I recognise but the guy in the middle of the standing group with the snazzy jacket..

I've just done a search using the builder's name, the name of the car, and the name of the site where I found the image, and it does not appear to have been a previous puzzle.

Maybe the guy has featured in another puzzle..

[nicanary]

I have a feeling we've had this one before!
It's not the car I recognise but the guy in the middle of the standing group with the snazzy jacket..

I've just done a search using the builder's name, the name of the car, and the name of the site where I found the image, and it does not appear to have been a previous puzzle.

Maybe the guy has featured in another puzzle..

Maybe he's one of those people who like to intervene in group photos , and nobody actually knows who he is. Photo-crasher. 

[Carnut]

Is it actually an MG Special built by Antony Primett and fitted with a Ford 1172 engine and a Shorrock supercharger?  It was based on a 1933 MG J2 but I can't find a really good photo of it..

[nicanary]

Is it actually an MG Special built by Antony Primett and fitted with a Ford 1172 engine and a Shorrock supercharger?  It was based on a 1933 MG J2 but I can't find a really good photo of it..

Sorry, nothing to do with that.

[Allan L]

I think your photo is reversed as:
Ford sv exhaust is on the left
Tax discs are supposed to be visible from the n/s
The coat worn by the bloke on our right buttons the wrong way.

Having said which I have no idea what it is/was, sorry!

[Carnut]

By golly Allan, you're right!
I can now read the word 'Special' written on the bonnet, but unfortunately not what's written in front of it...!

[nicanary]

I've had this problem before with my puzzle pictures - my eyesight doesn't spot these things until it's too late. Well done Allan. Having said that, I'm saved by a reflection off the bonnet which obscures some of the letters of the name - the word "special" hardly helps in this instance.

Knowing AP as I now do, someone will solve this. It's just that the image is on a site where you wouldn't normally look. The easiest way to solve it would be to use GSBI, so I'll be aware of cheating if it happens.

[Carnut]

I've been trying to read the name but as you say it's well obscured!
Looks something like 'Rainbow Special'.  That's not it is it?

[nicanary]

I've been trying to read the name but as you say it's well obscured!
Looks something like 'Rainbow Special'.  That's not it is it?

Nope. Nothing like it.

[Carnut]

Is the base car a pre-war 7W type?

[Carnut]

I've been trying to read the name but as you say it's well obscured!
Looks something like 'Rainbow Special'.  That's not it is it?

Nope. Nothing like it.

Airflow Special?

[nicanary]

Is the base car a pre-war 7W type?

I have no idea, and it's not called an Airflow Special.

[ImpishGrin]

Seems like an obvious question but I'll ask it nonetheless. You can never be sure of anything on AP It's British, right?

[nicanary]

Seems like an obvious question but I'll ask it nonetheless. You can never be sure of anything on AP It's British, right?

Yes it is British. It is a very obscure car, but the photo and details are available on the internet if you know where to look.

[4popoid]

Gee, I thought this one had been solved ages ago, I guess I should look over old Professional puzzles more closely.  Anyway, after digging through my records, I found some notes from several months ago, which say that, after extensive Googling for modified '40's & '50's British Ford cars, I came across the photograph below.

I thought that the person in this photograph looked remarkably like the tall gent in the center of the puzzle photograph.  So going to the very obscure site where this photograph is located, I discovered that the puzzle photograph was also located there, and, yes, the tall gent in both pictures is the same person, and the builder of the puzzle car.  The caption on the puzzle car photograph reads in part: "The car was hand built by Ivor White who called all his cars Whitford specials."

[nicanary]

Wow! I thought this one was destined for the Black Hole. Absolutely correct, of course and a really great piece of detective work. Very well-deserved point to you.

I posted this puzzle at the height of the site's witch-hunt against possible cheating. As you say, it's on a pretty obscure site, namely the homepage of the town of Abertillery, which is an old coal-mining  settlement in Wales. Ivor White seems to have been a leading light in the town's motor club.