Clan Crusader

The Clan Crusader was produced by the Clan Motor Company in Washington, Tyne and Wear in the United Kingdon between 1970 and 1974, and since then several efforts have been made to bring the car back to production.

The Clan Crusader typically had a Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) Monocoque (French for single [mono] and shell [coque]), body with Hillman Imp Sports Engine from the Rootes Group (later Chrysler Europe).

The Clan Crusader was designed by a group of engineers who had previously worked for Lotus and were led by Paul Haussauer with John Frayling focusing on the styling. The Clan company was set up in 1969, and production started in 1971 at a new factory in Washington set up with the help of a government grant.

The Clan Crusader was available fully built or in a kit version. Although the car received good reviews and achieved some competition success, it was expensive at £1,400 when compared with rivals and as a result the company shut down in November 1973. Total production of the first phase of the Clan Crusader was 315.

The exact specs of the Clan Crusader (licence plate: NYL 7L) in these Car Journal photos are as follows:

Engine
Rear mounted, 55 BHP, 4 Cylinder, 875 CC. All aluminium, Single overhead Camshaft with Twin Spromberg Carburettors. Based on the Coventry Climax Featherweight design.

Transmission
Transaxel containing 4 speed all syncromesh gearbox with Hypod bevel final drive

This Clan Crusader has been an on-going restoration project since 1992 and the car has been off the road and dry stored. It was put back on the road for the Clan Owners Club 30th anniversary on 1st June 2008.

RAC - Royal Automobile Club

The RAC is a UK breakdown company that was originally formed in 1897 to assist members with motoring services including roadside assistance. During the early 1900's the RAC started to introduce mobile patrols that saw the patrolmen wearing a uniform that was very similar to the military police of the day, they even had an rank structure very similar to the army! They rode around on motorbikes and sidecars to carry their tool kit and an array of spare parts (fan belts, engine hoses, fluids and spare petrol). The only way the controllers could contact the mobile patrol men was by telephone, so they had to wait in laybys and at major road junctions by the public telephone box so they could be contacted. This was until the advent of basic radio sets around 1930, which allowed two way contact with the local HQ.


During the 1960s the patrol men upgraded to small vans and by 1970 the last of the motorcycle patrols had been superseded. Most roadside telephones had been phased out and the advent of the mobile telephone saw the remaining roadside telephones become redundant and the last of the RAC telephones were withdrawn from service.


Since being sold by the members of the Royal Automobile Club in September 1999 to Lex Service plc, who in 2002 renamed themselves RAC plc, RAC was been acquired by Aviva plc for around £1.1 billion.


Car Journal hopes you enjoy the photos taken of our friendly local RAC patrol man in action in London one night in August 2008.

Porsche's new Panamera

As Car Journal reported back in February 2008, the Porsche Panamera is going to be unveiled at the 2009 Geneva motor show.

The Porsche Panamera is the fifth range from Porsche (Porsche Boxter, Porsche Cayman, Porsche 911, Porsche Cayenne) and is developed to be a strong competitor to the Volkswagen four-door coupé, the future Aston Martin Rapide and the Mercedes CLS.

Even thought the Porsche Panamera takes some inspiration from the design elements of the 911 range, there are also significant differences:

While the Porsche 911 has always kept its rear-mounted boxer engine, the Porsche Panamera will be available with a choice of three front-mounted motors although they are set back as far towards the centre of the car as possible.

Powering the entry level Panamera will be Volkswagen’s 3.5 litre 6 cylinder motor developing 300 bhp, while Porsche’s own drive train will be a direct-injection eight-cylinder petrol engine, available in naturally-aspirated guise (350 bhp) and with twin-turbo (560 bhp).

The Porsche Panamera should have enough grunt to be enough to beat the competition for a while as Mercedes’ CLS 63 AMG comes up with "only" 514 bhp! However, should Stuttgart make the CLS even stronger, Zuffenhausen would strike back with the Porsche GT’s 700-bhp ten-cylinder unit!

The aim of the Porsche Panamera is to be a true sports car while at the same time it shall be a family car for every day use with 4 full seats, a luggage compartment of around 450 litres and easy access to the rear. When it hits the road in 2009, Porsche hopes to be able to sell 20,000 units annually – and to jump over the barrier of 100,000 sold cars per year.