Last week we saw some of the people coming over to sunny Lincolnshire, now it's time for a closer look to some of the cars, notably Tim Harber's Biota, Frank Hubbard's Oyler Contessa and Tim Carpenter's Unipower GT.
Tim Harber had been trying to buy this Biota for the past two years, but it was only days prior to the Blyton Park event that he struck a deal. The car hadn't been on the road since 2003
Picture Jeroen Booij
It wears a Mk2 nose, but it is in fact a Mk1 car, perhaps a bit of a hybrid like this one?
Picture Jeroen Booij
Interior is all standard with the typical 'Clam seats' and unusual gearchange pattern
Picture Jeroen Booij
To Tim's own surprise the car started almost on the button. Engine is a standard 1100
Picture Jeroen Booij
When did you ever see two Biotas on the track? It happened at Blyton Park...
Picture Jeroen Booij
Frank Hubbard's Oyler Contessa was beautifully restored in under 18-months period. Body, with all seams removed and typical vinyl roof were in remarkable good state
Picture Jeroen Booij
All original parts that could be maintained were restored, only mod is that Frank didn't use the Wolseley Princess grille that it came with - he didn't like that
Picture Jeroen Booij
It had just passed the 25,000-miles mark when Frank bought it. Interior is very richly equipped
Picture Jeroen Booij
Oyler of Halifax coachbuilt very few cars. This one came about in 1978. By 1981 they'd gone
Picture Jeroen Booij
Oyler's centre badge shows a naked lady. Not even a Rolls-Royce has that!
Picture Jeroen Booij
Tim Carpenter is seen here having thoughts on how to repair his car. What went wrong..?
Picture Jeroen Booij
Well, hammering it down on the track caused serious cracks in the top of the left hand side rear suspension mount, as can be seen here
Picture Jeroen Booij
Having planned to drive it back home to London that afternoon and not wanting ‘to sleep somewhere on a Lincolnshire airfield’, Tim took his car to the Mini grass track racers who were on the other side of the circuit. They welded in a new mount on-site!
Picture Jeroen Booij
A couple of days later I received a message from Tim: "My race fabricator friend made some really nice new suspension mounts for my car. When we looked, we saw that the other side was starting
to crack as well. The new ones are much more substantial so should last another 50 years at least!"
Picture Tim Carpenter
Have seen another image of the Oyler Contessa with a 1975 Wolseley 2200 grille behind the Oyler center badge, which looks pretty decent IMO.
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