Re: Gilmer belts

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

Peter Krause wrote "I think (JH, correct me) the Glass 1700GT was the first
commercial application of a toothed rubber belt to drive the single overhead
cam. Shortly afterwards, the 1438cc Fiat 124 Sport entered production."

I'm not about to 'correct' Peter, except perhaps on turning Glas to Glass. I
had marveled when Ron Horowitz cited the Glas GT (in v9n072) and marveled even
more when Ian Rankin also not only cited the Glas 1300 GT but gave the
April/65 'Road and Track' as a source (without, however, being punctilious
about the page - -).

Mark Battley rose to the defense of Michael Smith "who had used the phrase
'mass production use', which I still believe is a valid claim for the Fiat
engine - being produced in large volumes for about 3 decades." Excellent
point. How many cars did Glas build? Was it a prototype, or one of three? Ten?
Fifty? How do you spell 'Etceterini' in German?

Anyhow, I won't debate Peter (or Will Owen, who says Pontiac was first in
1965.) Don't know, never heard of the Pontiac, had completely forgotten about
the Glas, was only dimly aware of the Fiat use (very parochial, I am) and
can't find out just now; my new knee is progressing like gangbusters but the
walker still keeps me from my library. I vaguely remember (or misremember?) a
next mention of the Glas GT as going onto the market as a BMW when Glas went
bankrupt, and beyond that remember no further mention until now on the
erstwhile 'Alfa' digest.

Personally, I will tiptoe around the whole toothed-belt business; chains may
be as archaic as carbs but I am looking forward to eventually improving my
fleet's chains/belts ratio. Meanwhile I shan't rile them more than I need to.

Ron Horowitz also wrote "Interestingly, the first DOHC motor to use a cogged
belt was a Panard special built right here in the USA using Norton "double
knocker" DOHC heads and barrels machined and bolted to a Panard block. (And
the manufacturer of the drive belts said it would never work!)" Skipping
another spelling quibble- wasn't it Panhard? - what a nice nostalgia trigger.
It may have been a relatively brief period that small homebuilts proliferated
in American road racing, but they did seem to have great times.

Anyhow, belts or not, enjoy -

John H.
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