SOLVED: Djetset 769 - Stanley Reed rear-engined Citroen Special, 1950

[Djetset]

What is this, including the builder and year, for a point please?

[Djetset]

Up a level...

[Djetset]

Up to the sub 400 Club Pros...

[faksta]

Disregard

[Djetset]

Disregard

This will keep Nicanary twice as busy as now open to all Pros! 

[nicanary]

 .

Australian?

[Djetset]

.

Australian?

Shouldn't you be looking for racing Opels!  No, not Australian.

[nicanary]

The badge on the front of that Opel sure looks like Carlo Abarth's!

Is this small racer from South Africa?

[Djetset]

The badge on the front of that Opel sure looks like Carlo Abarth's!  I thought that too, but it's not an Abarth creation!

Is this small racer from South Africa?

Yes, although size-wise I think it might be larger than it looks in the photo.

[nicanary]

Was this car built by Stanley Reed?

[Djetset]

Was this car built by Stanley Reed?

Spot on!  Locked to you to tell me the year and more about this car please.

[nicanary]

Was this car built by Stanley Reed?

Spot on!  Locked to you to tell me the year and more about this car please.

There's the rub - I've found a caption on a website and it simply tells me the owner/driver. I'm just going onto the the internet - I may be gone some time.........

[nicanary]

I can tell you that it was Citroen engined, inspired apparently by the Auto Union which the young Reed had seen competing in South Africa pre-WW2. I can find a record of him racing it in 1953, so it was presumably built in the early 1950s.

The other photo I found shows a finned protuberance just below the driver's left elbow which I presume was an oil cooler.

[Djetset]

That's enough for me.  Well done Nicanary, as this is indeed South African Stanley Reed's Citroen Special, built in 1950 using a rear-mid-mounted Citroen Traction Avant running gear.   The point is yours.

[nicanary]

That's enough for me.  Well done Nicanary, as this is indeed South African Stanley Reed's Citroen Special, built in 1950 using a rear-mid-mounted Citroen Traction Avant running gear.   The point is yours.

Thanks. I found the info faster than I expected. I have no idea where you found the puzzle image - it's nowhere to be seen on the 'net, that's for sure. The upside to solving such puzzles is that you get to find new sites on the web which can provide future puzzles of your own!

[Djetset]

I was impressed at the speed that you found this one, especially as there was nothing on-line about this car I think (like most of my puzzles; I prefer the old-fashion print media, especially as it helps prevent any dodgy image searches, which I fear happens from time-to-time).  Good work, and great to hear that it has led you to some new potential puzzle sources too. 

[nicanary]

There are references to this car on a certain well-known site, and this provided me with the information I required. As you know, it's a case of knowing where to look. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - I don't understand why so many AP members don't bother for the sake of 2 minutes' work.

[oko94]

A photo published in 1950.

[pnegyesi]

Autocar, 2 December, 1949