Topic: Solved - MJW #646 - Gibbon Rover Special 1950s

[woodinsight]

Make and the engine it used plus the name of the builder/owner/driver for a point.

[woodinsight]

Moving up a gear

[woodinsight]

Into top gear

[faksta]

Is it Allard based?

[woodinsight]

Not Allard as far as I know.
I suspect the base is purpose built but I do know the engine is British.

[faksta]

...which should be quite a big one for such a car. What about Lagonda?

[woodinsight]

...which should be quite a big one for such a car. What about Lagonda?

More mundane than Lagonda

[faksta]

erm.... MG?

[woodinsight]

Not MG....
The engine could be found in a popular British saloon - less luxurious than a Lagonda but rather more sophisticated than an Austin/Morris/Ford for example.

[faksta]

One more Bristol special?

[woodinsight]

One more Bristol special?

I thought that might be your next guess but no - less sophisticated than that.
The make was more known for saloons rather than sporting cars.

[faksta]

Funny game called 'British cars remembered' 

Rover?

[Wendax]

Humber?

[woodinsight]

Funny game called 'British cars remembered' 

Rover?

Strange but true!

[faksta]

Could this be James Gibbon's Rover P3 based Special from fifties with a bored up to 3 liters engine? He built it together with Jim Ramsay and Ken Starling.

[woodinsight]

Could this be James Gibbon's Rover P3 based Special from fifties with a bored up to 3 liters engine? He built it together with Jim Ramsay and Ken Starling.

That's the car!
Jimmy Gibbon's Rover Special from the 1950s

[Paul Jaray]

Here:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=27332.msg316108#msg316108
is 
"Gibbon's original special was based on a Rover 10 chassis, with a stark body for trials and a more civilised one for speed events. This multi-purpose machine was christened the Girastro. Gibbon himself, Jimmy Ramsay and Kenny Starling from his Rover agency's service department, each contributed the first two letters of his surname, while Rover provided the final syllable."

this one should be

"Their later Rover Special was built up from a P3 chassis, given striking aerodynamic bodywork and a 2.6-litre engine eventually enlarged to a full three litres, years before the Rover factory followed suit. This was one of the first privately-built competition cars equipped with disc brakes. "

[barrett]

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