Gilmer belts

[RonHorowitz <RonHorowitz@domain.elided>]

Subject: Re: Gilmer belts

>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?

The estimates for number of 1300 and 1700GT coupes built by Glas has been
cited as somewhere around 800 units. This discounts the larger number of
engines built for the Glas sedans, which were identical, and the V-8's
built for the "Glasarati" 2600GT, which were essentially V-8 versions of
the 1300. After the BMW takeover, around 1,250 of the 1600GT versions were
constructed using BMW SOHC engines (timing chain) and badging.

If a "production" engine is defined as an engine manufactured on a
production line in a factory using full production tooling, the Glas SOHC
qualifies. If "mass" production is defined as more than a certain number of
units, what's the number? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? A
million? It's open to some lattitude in interpretation, so it depends on
your point of view. Compared to a Chevy 350 or compared to a Ferrari 250?
Also, I don't think you can define "mass" production only as designs that
have been in built for decades. There are engines that have been built for
only a few years but in millions of units. Toe-MAY-toe, Toe-MAH-toe....

>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?

Yes. Slip of the keyboard. Same spelling as "Panhard rod."

>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.

The racers of the period had the nearly incomprehensible enthusiasm many
racers still have today. I think the difference is that since no one really
knew quite what they were doing, and since competitive equipment wasn't so
cut and dried, people felt the freedom to try anything. It was a lot easier
in the fifties for an ametuer or semi-professional to cook up something of
his own that stood a chance of being competitive. Some of the creations
were wonderful, some were pretty awful!

By any chance does anyone remember a thing from circa 1955 called the
"Fageol Twin Coach Special" or something to that effect? It looked vaguely
like a big, ugly, twin-Porsche engined version of the Nardi Bisiluro....
Haven't been able to find a reference to it anywhere, but I know I've seen
it (if only in a bad dream....)
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided