What is this car?
Experts?
The JH1 , BUILT BY HENRI JULIEN ,WHO WENT ON TO BUILD THE AGS RACING CARS
Quote from: shamrock on June 26, 2015, 01:10:11 PM
The JH1 , BUILT BY HENRI JULIEN ,WHO WENT ON TO BUILD THE AGS RACING CARS
Good guess, but not that car, I'm afraid.
Pros?
French ?
500 cc engine ?
Quote from: oko94 on August 20, 2015, 04:08:15 AM
500 cc engine ?
You would think so, but in this instance, no it isn't.
(This car may well have been fitted with a 500cc engine at some time in its life, but I don't know for sure.)
European engine ?
British engine ?
MG engine ?
Engine from a brand that belonged to BMC ?
JAP twin cylinder (1100 c.c) motor?
Built in Australia?
Not an engine from a member of BMC, not from Australia, and not a JAP 1100cc, although that displacement is getting nearer to the answer.
Another motorcycle engine - a Vincent ?
Hillman engine ?
Built in Scandinavia?
Wow! Some very varied questions and solutions here.
Not a Hillman engine (if you look at the photo there is a very large sprocket for chain drive), not from Scandinavia (it's already established that this is a British engine in a French chassis) but it is indeed a Vincent engine!
Well, actually not QUITE a Vincent, but it is in effect that make. I'm going to be helpful and LOCK this puzzle for D-type. This car is quite obscure, and this is the only photo I could find which shows it in one piece.
No more clues. LOCKED for 24 hours.
Would that be an HRD engine?
Please unlock it as I have zero knowledge of obscure French rear engined racing cars.
Now that it's unlocked : 1949 Serval M101 with 1000 cc Vincent HRD engine, raced by Jean Gilbert Fourny
Sorry D-type, but oko94 gets the point. He has found the full original image, complete with enough to answer the question.
It was built in 1949 by Fourny (I have seen this spelled as Foury) and I can find only two race entries for the car - on 27.8.49 at the II Prix du Leman at Lausanne, raced by Pierre Nessi, where it did not start, and on 7.5.50 at the GP de Cinquantenaire at Roubaix, driven by Max Foury (that spelling again) where it lasted just 3 laps.
Both races were run to Formula 2 regulations, so it was a sort of French equivalent of the Cooper-JAP 1100 cars run by the British in these events. The engine strictly speaking was an HRD because the Vincent name wasn't adopted until 1950.
I am not sure when the car was restored, but parts of what looks very much like this car were on sale at an Autojumble, and the vendor thought they were from the Hardy Special,(not the UK car) run by Camille Hardy in French F3 events, but the dates don't fit, Hardy drving his car earlier in 1950. If I can find the relative photos, I will post them.
These are the photos of the car pre-restoration - the Autojumble was in 2010. The Hardy Special was based on a Simca 5 chassis, front-engined and powered by Zundapp. The vendor of these parts obviously didn't know what he was selling - it looks very much like the Serval to me.
Some more photos.
I feel sorry for D-Type : if he were French, a simple "monoplace moteur HRD" search would have been enough to solve the puzzle and score his first pro point !
I have found a photo of the car in period. It's 1949 and apparently Montlhery.