Comments on: Name that Car! Seavey Photo Art

By: S. Scott

S. Scott — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 17:42:49 +0000

Just today came across an old conversation with Norman Dewis in the archives about the first time disc brakes were used in competition:
“As a matter of fact it was spoken on Monday night at the Formula One do. Stirling was there; we were at the same table. The interviewer went over with the microphone to Stirling and he said, ‘I gather you and Norman did the Mille Miglia together in ’52?’
Stirling said ‘I can’t remember much about it.’ So he turned to me and said, ‘stand up Norman and give us a few tips on what happened.’ I said, ‘well, Stirling still owes me for a box of matches,’ I said, “He wanted me to light him a cigarette after the incident.’ I said, ‘I spent a whole box of matches trying to light a cigarette for him.’
“Also when we went into Rome to do the pit stop there, for the tires and petrol, as we drove in, there was a guy that left his door open on this little Fiat car, and we just plowed through and knocked the door off. And he came running up to us with the door in his hand, you know. Swearing and arguing.
“These are these little things that happen on these little escapades.”

By: Charley Seavey

Charley Seavey — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:45:37 +0000

So, about those disc brakes. Dé Digue is right about the Citroen beating Jaguar to mass production of disc brakes. Actually both of them were beaten by the virtually forgotten Crosley line. Crosley’s were a tiny, independent, car maker in the US that started in 1939, production ceased for WWII, then resumed in 1946 with teeny tiny cars that bordered on the micro designation. They did, however, have disc brakes and an overhead cam engine. Wrong time to be selling tiny, fuel efficient, cars in the US. They quit in 1952. A friend of the family owned a station wagon version, about which my mother expressed a desire to squash every time she got behind it in traffic. I knew about Crosley, but decided it was not really what you could call mass market the way Citroen or Jaguar were, or still are.

By: Charley Seavey

Charley Seavey — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 09:41:09 +0000

The red car next to the Jomar is a 1955 Kurtis 500 Swallow bodied coupe. My notes from 2015: “Ah, Kurtis and Mickey Thompson, a sure recipe for a great car. The body is fiberglass, basically a rip off of the 1948 Cisitalia by Pinin Farina. Thompson was supposed to drive it in the ’55 Carrera Panamericana, but the race was cancelled after the Le Mans disaster. In 1990 the car was upgraded to more modern specs, and driven in the current version of the Carrera- hence the map on the trunk.” And, ta da! here is the map on the trunk: https://www.flickr.com/photos/seaveyfamily/22080165855/sizes/l/