Topic: Solved NIC#1027 - Hardy Special

[nicanary]

Was it called the "...... Special"? And does it begin with letters A-K?

Yes on both counts.

[gte4289]

Caesar Special?

[nicanary]

Caesar Special?

No.

[tobytwirl]

Does it begin with A-E?

[nicanary]

Does it begin with A-E?

No.

[tobytwirl]

Any of these .... Fairley, FHB, Freikaiserwagen, Fuzzi, Gnat, GS1, Harker, Himmelwagen, Horton, Iota, Jappic, Killick, KN. Some are very unlikely but others had major changes made to them, but no photo ...

[Carnut]

Hence the "Erbas Rule"!

See Reply #3 of this thread:

https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/2007-35/puzzle-408-solved!-crosley-skorpion/

[nicanary]

Hence the "Erbas Rule"!

See Reply #3 of this thread:

https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/2007-35/puzzle-408-solved!-crosley-skorpion/

I hadn't seen that before!!! Talk about pushing your luck.

It's none of the above I'm afraid, which is quite peculiar. I've heard of this car before, but that may be because I am a frequent reader of Motor Sport magazines from pre-1960. I'm surprised that it isn't mentioned in books you obviously own.

I'm a martyr to my own cause, so just to help, this car still survives today in altered form, and takes part in VSCC events.

[tobytwirl]

pre-1960s motor sports coming out tonight - lets hope there's a picture.

[nicanary]

pre-1960s motor sports coming out tonight - lets hope there's a picture.

 

[gte4289]

A Flying Standard special?

[nicanary]

A Flying Standard special?

No Standard parts as far as I know.

[tobytwirl]

Grannie?

[tobytwirl]

Hardy Special?

[nicanary]

Hardy Special?

Your persistence paid off! I'm pretty sure this is the original , the Hardy Special I. These days it's entered as the Hardy Special III.

It was built by Dick Hardy using Morgan i.f.s and GN transmission and the 1087cc engine which could well be from a Riley 9hp. The caption mentions the car as 1922/28 so I'm guessing the former is the GN and the latter is the Riley.

A very well-earned point.

[Allan L]

What we've seen recently are Hardy II which was/is rear or mid-engined and looks like this:

Hardy III is front-engined and low and looks like this:


Those are different cars and I assume that the Riley-engined Hardy I was the first of three different Specials built by Dick Hardy.

[nicanary]

Thanks for the extra input.

[tobytwirl]

Lucky fluke for me - I was just looking for any special with Morgan front suspension, but I  could find none that were also water cooled to justify the radiator in your photo. As you say there's virtually nothing online except a mention in a Motor Sport article that it was Riley 9 based and its successor Hardy II was known as Hardy Annual because of its reliability...whatever happened to Hardy 1?

[Paul Jaray]

I tried to sum up the story of Hardy's specials.
Special MK1 was based on a Riley 9.
The story of his Special MK2 is quite longer.
In the 30s there was a GN Vitesse, modified by Charlie E. C. Martin and Gerald Sumner. It raced as Martin-Sumner Gehenna Special until it passed to Sumner brothers, who modified the body and raced it as Sumner-GN Special. They soon changed its engine with a JAP twin, tuned by Barry Baragwanath, the rear end was taken from a Bugatti Brescia and became a red monoplace. After a car crash with Robert Sumner in 1938, it was rebuilt again with a Lancia Lambda independent front end! After all that, it was sold to Dick Hardy, who took the engine and some parts for his Special MK2.
Let's get back to 1934, where a modified GN Vitesse, named the Meo Special, ran at Brooklands. The chassis was heavily modified such as the engine. The chassis was bought by Dick Hardy for his Special Mk2.
His special number three is quite a recent creation, around 2001: a 1922 GN chassis with 1932 Morgan front suspension and a V2 Jap engine.