Advertising Last completed movie pages
1950 HWM Alta F2 
Class: Cars, Racecar — Model origin: 
![[*]](/res/star.png){kind=small}
Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase
Comments about this vehicle| Author | Message |
|---|---|
|
◊ 2008-05-05 05:58 |
![[Image: capture3bqz5.6186.jpg]](http://pics.imcdb.org/0is145/capture3bqz5.6186.jpg) ![[Image: capture3dux1.th.jpg]](http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capture3dux1.jpg "http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5595/capture3dux1.th.jpg") -- Last edit: 2008-05-05 05:59:18 |
|
◊ 2008-05-05 15:53 |
It is a 1950 HWM-Alta F2. http://www.autobanter.com/showthread.php?t=207933 |
|
◊ 2008-05-07 10:41 |
I had a look at the link. It would appear that this car is the one that became the 'Stovebolt Special' when it had its Alta engine replaced with a small block Chev V8 in the 1950s. I saw it in Oregon in 1978. I believe it now lives in UK. |
|
◊ 2012-06-11 18:24 |
Yes, this is the Stovebolt Special, the car which gave Stirling Moss his first works drive and which was crashed by Kirk Douglas in The Racers. She is now owned by motorsport journalist Simon Taylor, who often races this car in hillclimbs around Britain. |
|
◊ 2019-03-07 13:29 |
"The “Stovebolt Special” — which will be headlining this summer’s Classic & Sports Car Show — is arguably one of motoring’s unsung heroes. Its extraordinary history takes in glamorous worldwide locations, famous racing drivers, life-long competition glory and Hollywood fame. It was the car that launched racing legend Stirling Moss’s career, and was driven by film star Kirk Douglas in a 1955 movie. Designed and built in 1950 by HWM (Hersham & Walton Motors), a homespun British team, it was originally created to compete in Formula 2 — an open-wheel racing series that featured smaller, lighter, and cheaper cars than those used in Formula One. Although HWM was a small Surrey-based team, operating on a shoestring budget, the outfit made a name for itself by humbling the likes of Ferrari and Maserati in any race they could get to, all around Europe. The Stovebolt was one of three cars run by HWM in 1950, all of which were driven that year by Stirling Moss in what was his first paid drive, aged 20, marking the start of his professional career. Following its early racing career the HWM car found fame of a different kind. After being shipped to Hollywood and painted red, it featured in The Racers, a big screen drama starring Kirk Douglas. The actor drove it in the film, crashing it spectacularly at Monaco. After The Racers was released in cinemas, Seattle resident Tom Carstens, who at the time was unhappy with the Allard that he was racing, called the movie studio to see if Douglas’s little red car was for sale. Current owner Simon Taylor, a racing writer, publisher and commentator, who is writing a definitive history of HWM, explains: “The props man told him, ‘What do you think we are, a secondhand car dealer? We have two Ferrari things and two Maserootis [sic], and that one … if you want it, you’ll have to buy the lot, and I won’t take a penny less than $3,000’.” $3,000 in 1954 equates to less than $30,000 (£21,000) in today’s money. Carstens bought all the cars and sold the Ferraris and Maseratis, then rebuilt the HWM into what became known as the “Stovebolt Special”." from here. |
Add a comment Advertising Advertising
