Thread: Big bucks for old bangers.

Not an old banger , a one off custom transporter.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Not an old banger , a one off custom transporter.

Without the Ecurie Ecosse provenance it is just another old banger. Lucky for the vendor there was an eccentric American millionaire who wanted it to cart his C & D types around.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Not an old banger , a one off custom transporter.

It's still an old banger, albeit a beautiful sounding TS3, AKA a knocker.

A bit of useless info for you This Transporter would have only been seen at Le Mans from 1960 - 1962. It came about as after Ecurie Ecosse's 1st and 2nd at Le Mans in 1957, the membership of their Association increased dramatically. One of the supporters was Ronnie Alexander who was a director of the famous W Alexander & Son bus and coach body building company. With the help of the Scottish Rootes group agent, British Aluminium, Dunlop and many others, the project got off the ground. Designed by Alexander's Selby Howgate [himself and enthusiastic Bentley driver] the first appearance was at Chatterhall in late May 1960. The distinctive upper level swoop was supposed to represent the most streamlined thing in nature - "a fish" according to Howgate. Though it reminds me of a typical Alexander design trait in that all the coach bodies from 1930's through to the 1960's had a similar shape, but upside down, for their front corner roof drain channels. The idea was that water would drip from the front corner and not over passengers entering the front door of the coach.

Personally I think if you can afford nearly ten million dollars to buy two old jags , then $3.2 million on an "art deco" transporter is a snip, just for the sound of that diesel two stroke

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0sLp7wvq60]Driving a Commer 2 Stroke Knocker TS3 - YouTube[/ame]



On another note Ian, did you see that programme on tv last week that showed some guy in America who had 55 split screen vw's in his back yard

noice!

Some nice machinery in there

Bonhams : The December Sale HighlightsThe Ecurie Ecosse Collection sells for £8.8million

Originally Posted by V8Ian

It's still an old banger, albeit a beautiful sounding TS3, AKA a knocker.

I know about knockers. Wall and Co. had eight of them all told. Good eight tonner but not a prime mover by any stretch of the imagination. We did put a single axle trailer on one. This, or a two axle dog trailer were the limits of a knockers performance. People did pull bogie trailers with them on line haul but to my mind this was straining the friendship They were, after all, only 145 horsepower. I reckon a Detroit two stroke sounded better. Their time was gone by the mid-sixties. I don't recall when production and sale finished. I think around 1973 by which time they were an underpowered anachronism.

Originally Posted by jerryd

Personally I think if you can afford nearly ten million dollars to buy two old jags , then $3.2 million on an "art deco" transporter is a snip, just for the sound of that diesel two stroke

You really have to attend some of the high end auctions in the USA to appreciate just how much money is around over there. I have spectated at Pebble Beach (nothing under a million from memory), Amelia Island (some cheapies here $145,000), Miller-Offenhauser Society at Milwaukee where a Miller 91 engine out of the shed and complete but probably not run in 75 years fetched $250,000 as is and a magnificent front drive Miller 91 car brought rapid bidding up to $3,250,000 and was considered a bargain. The curator of the Packard Museum in Dayton told me they have a standing offer from a collector for two of their cars of $2,500,000 each if they don't send them to auction.