Wednesday 21 August 2013

Sir Stirling's SX1000

I wrote about the Ogle SX1000 Super a couple of days ago, saying the 'BOO 799' registered car did ring a bell (click here). It was Stirling Moss who used to drive the car in question and there are several pictures of him with it, taken in March 1963 outside the Carlton Tower Hotel in London. Now, I do not know if he actually owned the little Ogle but he surely had some sort of a relationship with the company in Letchworth. Not much later, in October 1963, it was announced Moss had commissioned Ogle to design and build his 'dream car', a fastback coupe based on a Lotus Cortina. Ogle did so but subcontracted Harold Radford to actually build it. The car was used in a couple of advertisements, but disappeared soon, only to be discovered in the Philippines not too long ago. Great find. I just wonder what happened to the SX1000?

UPDATE 4 September 2013: It's alive! Click here.

There is no doubt that this is the same 'Super' Ogle as seen in the article here
Picture courtesy Historic Images
Did Stirling Moss actually own it, or was it just a little promotional work for Ogle?
Picture courtesy TopFoto

That's a 997 Cooper engine with twin SUs under the bonnet. Moss looks surprised
Picture courtesy TopFoto

Smile! This actually is an Ogle SX250, but the SX1000 is behind it
Picture courtesy Leonard Brown

Stirling Moss' 'dream car' in October 1963. Ogle designed it but Radford built it
Picture courtesy Historic Images


3 comments:

  1. The 'super Ogle' may be the one I owned for a while about 17 years ago. It was previously owned and built by Mike Anthony who, I was told, had connections with Stirling Moss and his F1 racing team. Mike put a Cooper 'S' engine bored out to 1430 cc and twin Delorto's under the bonnet. It ran on Castrol R racing oil. When I had it, 35 years after it was built, it still did 0 to 60mph in just under 5 seconds!

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  2. I read in an old copy of Motoring News ('67) this week that this car was turned into a racer and Harry Ratcliffe built the engine. I'll dig it out this week Jeroen and send it you (if I can find it again!) . Pete

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