DJB 93 B

[mk1]

Cracking pics

[LMM76C]

Initially after the 65 RAC it was a display car, presumably doing the dealer rounds. It's possible it never returned to Comps because I'm pretty sure I've seen somewhere that Fall's 66 Scottish car was prepared by Special Tuning because of pressure of work on Comps.
It required cosmetic updating to 66 Appendix J - removal of roof light and 65 spec aux lights to comply with 66 regs on 4 forward facing symmetrical aux lights and fitting of arches, quite apart from any mechanical refurbishment.
I also suspect that refettling between the Scottish and Gulf was by ST. Later, when Fall borrowed a works car for the 67 Filldyke, it was reported that Abingdon did nothing to prepare it and Fall had to do preparation himself, perhaps using the Appleyards of Bradford work shops. Notoriously, Ian Appleyard is said to have never helped his employee Fall's pre-works rallying and it was then Appleyards' Service Manager Marcus Chambers who secretly arranged repair of the damage to the dealer demonstrator in Fall's weekend use... By 66 Chambers was at Chrysler Comps.
The changes from Morris (Aaltonen's Finnish benefactor) to Austin are routine enough not to warrant comment!

[Pete]

A few more pics...

[InnoCooperExport]

Now for sale with DHR Rofgo. This car seems to be bouncing around a bit this year...

https://www.dhrofgo.com/for-sale/1965-e ... brbMEMgeXo

[Charlynsane]

I thought DJB93B has been scrapped ? another ringer?

[Supersonic]

When Phil Short built this recreation car he was open and honest about it

Has it now became a works car

Alan

[LMM76C]

When Phil Short built this recreation car he was open and honest about it

Alan

That came later.
He turned up with it at the Longleat Hill Climb when that event re-started in the 90s (93?) and the information board propped against it clearly implied it was THE RAC car not the replica it is.

[LMM76C]

A very recent swerve was thrown when someone on the BMC Comps facebook page claimed to have restored then real 93B. Turned out it was 92B.

[LMM76C]

Having now looked at Mike Wood's photo of the destroyed Gulf car again, I cannot now see the roof light blanking plate. I am sure I saw the plate on it at the start. I have also noticed now that the 93B RAC car was not the only late 65 works car to have an off set roof light.
Changing the lamps and bumper to the usual 4 across bar for the Gulf makes sense as there was more darkness than the Scottish.
I hear R.Young's book has no answer to this question and leaves it open. Was it the same car or not?
(He would not have found definitive records in Bill Price's Comps papers because both the Scottish and Gulf were not "works"). ST for Scottish and maybe for Gulf or just borrowed for Gulf with no ST service?
I was so sure....
but real RAC/Scottish car destroyed on Gulf is still the only answer that makes sense.

[LMM76C]

I recently found a series of LAT photos of the start of the 66 Gulf (with me in most of them taking my own photos). Other LAT photos taken later in the rally show "DJB93B" with the tax disc in a slightly different place on the windscreen from the RAC65/Scottish66 car. Another is a close up of the nearside roof in a line of competing cars at a later TC. This shows no evidence of a patch over a roof light hole.
Looking again with a magnifying glass at Mike Wood's photo of the wreck in the Forest of Dean, what looked like a patch on the roof may be creases caused by the roll.
That now suggests the Gulf car was an ID swap with another works car and not the previous DJB93B. I cannot see how they would have let Fall borrow a brand new car for the Gulf, a non SMMT event, and that is the only other possible scenario.
As to which one.....? With no roof light hole it would have to be a car built for the 66 Appendix J, not an older 65 car. We would then have 2 cars and 2 reg nos scrapped around the same time...

The Young book, with access to records of Bill Price etc. was not able to answer the question (probably because "DJB93B" was not with Comps after the 65RAC but on display and then with ST for the Scottish) (see earlier post). We are on our own again it seems.

[Smithmaps]

Definitely a roof lamp blanked off with three bolts.

[spoon.450]

That’s good info.....thanks Guy.

[spoon.450]

How’s 829E looking at the moment ?

[Smithmaps]

Waiting for me to put the engine in. Its only taken 33 years!
Never rush a fine wine!

[LMM76C]

No bolts here.

Gulf 66 No roof light plate.jpg

[Smithmaps]

Full of filler I reckon.
Knocked off when it rolled.

[Pete]

The current replica is mentioned in the latest MCR mag as “condemned” by various people who’ve pointed out its got no connection to the original (so shouldn’t have been issued the number plate then!) but actually that’s total rubbish. I’ve never heard or read anywhere of the car being “condemned” by anyone ,that’s net accurate at all. On the contrary people who’ve raised the subject like me have always said what a great works replica it is, as opposed to “Rauno’s RAC winner” as it’s been described in the MCR mag previously, which it absolutely isn’t.

Everybody loves a nice works replica, nobody loves disingenuous descriptions, all that does is devalue the genuine!

[mab01uk]

[AndyPen]

Any more pics or pointers to them please? I do like the look

[LMM76C]

Full of filler I reckon.
Knocked off when it rolled.

The (external) plate was fixed with (3?) self-tapping screws, as I recall from seeing it at the start. Hopefully the sharp ends inside the roof were ground off...
I was bemused by that photo I posted of it parked at what must have been the first TC (at the petrol station in Yorkshire with Malcolm Gibbs' Cortina at the pumps). It may have been taken from further away than it appears to have been, thus losing definition to clearly see the plate.

I'm not entirely convinced the Gulf car was the RAC/Scottish car, even if the tax disc being differently placed was merely that it was a new one because the previous one ran out on 30 June. I have not yet had time to properly study the other works cars that used an offset roof light at the end of 65 or guess which other one it might have been if reg nos were swapped. The change to the 4 light bar is another question mark if Special Tuning ran it on the Scottish with 65 spec 3 lights and Fall borrowed it for the Gulf with all preparation for the Gulf being at Appleyards or by him elsewhere. There is no evidence/suggestion ST did anything to it after the Scottish. Who is familiar with the necessary wiring differences? Is taking the feed for the 65 spec centre light and doubling it for the later two 66 centre lights sensible? Re-wiring to later 66 spec would have taken time that was required for a lot of mechanical work/checks.