Carburetor

Carburetor (pronounced kahr-buh-rey-ter or kahr-byuh-yey-tor)

(1) A device for mixing vaporized fuel with air to produce a combustible or explosive mixture for use in the cylinder(s) or chambers of an internal-combustion engine.

(2) In the slang of drug users, a water pipe or bong; a device for mixing air with burning cannabis or cocaine (rare since the 1970s and then usually in the form “carb” or “carby”).

1866: From the verb carburate, from the Italian carburate (to mix (air) with hydrocarbons”), an inflection of carburare & the feminine plural of carburato.  As a transitive verb carburet was used mean “to react with carbon”.  Strangely, the exact origin of the word is uncertain but it was likely a portmanteau of carbon (in the sensor of a clipping of hydrocarbon) + burette (a device for dispensing accurately measured quantities of liquid).  The construct was carb (a combined form of carbon) + -uret (an archaic suffix from Modern Latin) (uretum to parallel French words using ure).  The earlier compound carburet (compound of carbon and another substance; now displaced by carbide) was from 1795 and it was used as a verb (to combine with carbon) after 1802.  The use with reference to the fuel systems used in the internal combustion engines of vehicles dates from 1896.  Carburator, carbureter and carburetter were the now obsolete earlier forms and the standard spelling in the UK, Australia & New Zealand is carburettor.  Carb & carby (carbs & carbies the plural) are the the universally used informal terms (gasifer was rare) and although most sources note the shortened forms weren’t recorded until 1942 it’s assumed by most they’d long been in oral use.  Outside of a few (declining) circles, “carb” is probably now more generally recognized as the clipping of carbohydrate.  Carburetor & carburetion are nouns; the noun plural is carburetors.

One carburetor: 1931 Supercharged Duesenberg SJ with 1 x updraft Stromberg (left; the exhaust manifold the rare 8-into-1 monel "sewer-pipe") (left), 1966 Ford GT40 (Mark II, 427) with 1 x downdraft Holly (centre; the exhaust headers were referred to as the "bundle of snakes") and 1960 Austin Seven (later re-named Mini 850) with 1 x sidedraft SU.

Except for some niches in aviation, small engines (lawnmowers, garden equipment etc) and for machines where originality is required (historic competition and restorations), carburetors are now obsolete and have been replaced by fuel-injection.  There is the odd soul who misses the challenge of tinkering with a carburetor, especially those with the rare skill to hand-tune multiple systems like the six downdraft Webers found on some pre-modern Ferraris, but modern fuel injection systems are more precise, more reliable and unaffected by the G-forces which could lead to fuel starvation.  Fuel injection also made possible the tuning of induction systems to produce lower emissions and reduced fuel consumption, the latter something which also extended engine life because all the excess petrol which used to end up contaminating the lubrication system stayed instead in the fuel tank.

Two carburetors: 1970 Triumph Stag with 2 x sidedraft Strombergs (left), 1960 Chrysler 300F with 2 x Carter downdrafts on Sonoramic cross-ram (long) manifold (centre) and 1969 Ford Boss 429 with 2 x Holly downdrafts on hi-riser manifold.

Until the 1920s, all but a handful of specialized devices were simple, gravity-fed units and that was because the engines they supplied were a far cry from the high-speed, high compression things which would follow.  In the 1920s, influenced by improvements in military aviation pioneered during World War I (1914-1918), the first recognizably “modern” carburetors began to appear, the conjunction of adjustable jet metering and vacuum controls replacing the primitive air valves and pressurized fuel supply mechanisms allowed engineers to use a more efficient “downdraft” design, replacing the “updraft” principle necessitated by the use of the gravity-feed.  Between them, the “downdraft” and “sidedraft” (a favorite of European manufacturers) would constitute the bulk of carburetor production.  The next major advance was the “duplexing” of the carburetor’s internals, doubling the number of barrels (known now variously as chokes, throats or venturi).  Although such designs could (and sometimes were) implemented to double the capacity (analogous with the dual-core CPUs (central processing units) introduced in 2005), the greatest benefit was that they worked in conjunction with what was known as the “180^o intake manifold”, essentially a bifurcation of the internals which allowed each barrel to operate independently through the segregated passages, making the delivery more efficient to the most distant cylinders, something of real significance with straight-eight engines.  Few relatively simple advances have delivered such immediate and dramatic increases in performance: When the system was in 1934 applied to the them relatively new Ford V8 (the “Flathead”), power increased by over 25%.

Three carburetors: 1967 Jaguar E-Type (XKE) 4.2 with 3 x sidedraft SUs (left), 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/C with 3 x downdraft Webers (centre) and 1965 Pontiac GTO with 3 x downdraft Rochesters.

Advances however meant the demand for more fuel continued and the first solution was the most obvious: new manifolds which could accommodate two or even three carburetors depending on the configuration of the engine.  Sometimes, the multiple devices would function always in unison and sometimes a secondary unit would cut-in only on demand as engine speed rose and more fuel was needed, an idea manufacturers would perfect during the 1960s.  World War II (1939-1945) of course saw enormous advances in just about every aspect of the design of internal combustion engines (ICE) and carburetors too were improved but in a sense, the concept had plateaued and it was fuel-injection to which most attention was directed, that being something which offered real advantages in flight given it was unaffected by G-forces, atmospheric pressure or acrobatics, working as well in inverted as level flight, something no carburetor could match.

Four carburetors: 1973 Jaguar XJ12 (S1) with 4 x sidedraft Zenith-Strombergs (left; the Jaguar V12 was unusual in that the carburetors sat outside the Vee), 1976 Aston Martin V8 with 4 x downdraft Webers (centre; Aston Martin-Lagonda originally fitted the V8 with fuel injection but it proved troublesome) and 1965 Ford GT40 (X1 Roadster 1, 289) with 4 x downdraft Webers (right, again with the "bundle of snakes" exhaust headers).

After the war, like the chip manufacturers with their multi-core CPUs in the early 2000s, the carburetor makers developed four-barrel devices.  In Europe, the preference for multiple single or two barrel (though they tended to call them “chokes”) induction but in the US, by the early-1950s just beginning the power race which would rage for almost two decades, for the Americans the four-barrel was ideal for their increasingly large V8s although sometimes even the largest available wasn’t enough and the most powerful engines demanded with two four-barrels and three two-barrels.  It was in the 1950s too that fuel-injection reached road cars, appearing first in a marvelously intricate mechanical guise on the 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W198) Gullwing.  Others understood the advantages and developed their own fuel-injection systems, both mechanical and electronic but while both worked well, the early electronics were too fragile to be used in such a harsh environment and these attempts were quickly abandoned and not revisited until the revolution in integrated circuits (IC) later in the century.  Mechanical fuel-injection, while it worked well, was expensive and never suitable for the mass-market and even Mercedes-Benz reserved it for their more expensive models, most of the range relying on one or two carburetors.  In the US, Chevrolet persisted with mechanical fuel injection but availability dwindled until only the Corvette offered the option and in 1965 when it was made available with big-block engines which offered more power at half the cost, demand collapsed and the system was discontinued, the big engines fed either by three two barrels or one very large four barrel.

Six carburetors: 1979 Honda CBX with six sidedraft Keihins (left), 1965 Lamborghini P400 Miura (prototype chassis) with 6 x downdraft Webers (centre) and 1970 Ferrari 365GTB/4 (Daytona) with 6 x downdraft Webers (right).

It was the development of these big four barrels which in the US reduced the place of the multiple systems to a niche reserved for some specialist machines and even the engineers admitted that for what most people did, most of the time, the multiple setups offered no advantage.  The research did however indicate they were still a selling point and because people were still prepared to pay, they stayed on the option list.  There were a handful of engines which actually needed the additional equipment to deliver maximum power but they were rare, racing derived units and constituted not even 1% of Detroit’s annual production.  Paradoxically, the main advantage of the multiple setups was economy, a six-barrel (ie 3 x two-barrel) engine running only on its central carburetor unless the throttle was pushed open.  As it was, the last of Detroit’s three-carb setups was sold in 1971, the configuration unable easily to be engineered to meet the increasingly onerous exhaust emission rules.

Eight carburetors: 1955 Moto Guzzi 500cm³ Ottocilindri V8 Grand Prix motorcycle with 8 x Dell'Ortos.  One carburetor per cylinder was long common practice in motorcycle design and the 1959 Daimler V8, designed along the lines of a motorcycle power-plant, was originally designed to be air-cooled and run 8 carburetors.  The production version was water-cooled and used 2 x sidedraft SUs.

Lindsay Lohan admiring Herbie’s carburetors (Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)).

Orifice

Orifice (pronounced awr-uh-fis or or-uh-fis)

A mouth, opening or aperture, as of a tube or pipe; a mouth-like opening or hole; mouth; vent (mostly technical or medical use).

1535–1545: From the Middle English orifice (an opening, a mouth or aperture), from the Old French & Middle French orifice (the opening of a wound), from the Late Latin ōrificium (an opening (literally "the making of a mouth")), the construct being Latin ōr- (stem of ōs (genitive oris)) (mouth (and related to "oral")) + fic- (combining form of facere; facio) (to make, to do) + -ium (the noun suffix).  The root of facere was the primitive Indo-European dhe- (to set, put).  The rare adjectival form is orificial; neither orificish or orificesque apparently exist.

Miss Schilling’s Orifice

Rolls-Royce Merlin V12.

Fuel to early versions of the twenty-seven litre (1648 cubic inch) Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engine was supplied with a carburetor, putting the pilots in the Merlin-powered Spitfires and Hurricanes at a disadvantage against the German Messerschmitt BF109 fighters which used a fuel-injected Daimler-Benz DB601 inverted V12.  In the British planes, during a negative G-force maneuver (pitching the nose hard down), fuel was forced upwards to the top of the carburetor's float chamber rather than into the combustion chamber, leading to a loss of power. If the negative G continued, the fuel would collect in the top of the float chamber, forcing the float to the bottom. This in turn would open the needle valve to maximum, flooding the carburetor with fuel, drowning the supercharger with an over-rich mixture which would shut down the engine, a serious matter in aerial combat.

Battle of Britain era Hawker Hurricane Mk IIA and Supermarine Spitfire Mk II.

Ms Beatrice “Tilly” Shilling (1909-1990) was a pre-modern rarity, a female engineer and amateur racing driver.  While employed as an engineer at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough she worked on the fuel delivery problem, concluding quickly the only complete solution for fuel starvation was a pressurized fuel system such as the direct injection on the Daimler-Benz V12s but that such a development would take months to design, test, manufacture and install.  However, as a stop-gap measure, she designed a flow restrictor: a small metal disc with a central orifice, looking much like a plain metal washer.  The restrictor orifice was sized to accommodate just the fuel flow needed for maximum engine power, the setting usually used during dogfights and it solved the immediate, critical, problem of the engine shutdowns following flooding.  Officially named the RAE Restrictor or RAE Anti “G” Carburetor, the device proved popular with pilots, who much preferred to call it Miss Shilling's orifice or the Tilly orifice.  The simple and elegant solution proved effective until pressurized carburetors (essentially throttle-body injection, a simplified version of the Daimler-Benz direct fuel injection) were developed which permitted even inverted flight.  With a backpack of RAE Restrictors, she toured RAF airfields on her motor-bike instructing and assisting the maintenance crews with the installation of the devices.

RAE Anti "G" carburetor restrictor plate instruction sheet.

Ms Shilling was a serious engineer making an important contribution to the war effort and was not amused by the nick-names for her invention but reportedly regarded it as something typical of minds of men and carried on with her work.  The orifice was but a footnote in the history of the Merlin and the Allied war effort but did typify the improvisation and speed with which British industry developed "quick & dirty" solutions, especially in the early days of the war.

Magnum

Magnum (pronounced mag-nuhm)

(1) A large wine bottle having a capacity of two ordinary bottles or 1.5 liters (1.6 quarts).

(2) In ballistics, a magnum cartridge or firearm (a loaded with a larger charge than other cartridges of the same calibre).

(3) A firearm using such a cartridge.

(4) Used generally, unusually great in power or size:

1788:  From the Latin magnum (“great, large, big" (of size), "great, considerable" (of value), "strong, powerful" (of force); of persons, "elder, aged"), neuter of magnus (large), from a suffixed form of the primitive Indo-European root meg- (great).  The original use in English was to describe the large wine-bottle, then usually containing two quarts.  As the name of a powerful type of handgun, it was first registered in 1935 by the US company, Smith & Wesson of Springfield, Massachusetts.  Outside of ballistics, the most common use is now probably “magnum opus" (masterpiece, a person's greatest work, literally "great work", applied, in literature, music, art and (sometime a little liberally) popular culture.  The noun plural is magnums or magna.

Magnum ammunition

Lindsay Lohan in habit with Smith & Wesson .500 Magnum, Machete (2010).

Released in September 2010 at the Venice Film Festival and distributed internationally by Sony Pictures, Machete would probably be more highly regarded if the full-length feature had lived up to the promise created by the artfully-edited trailer.  Probably about twenty minutes too long, the critical consensus suggests Machete was a violent, shallow, repetitive and probably unnecessary addition to whatever was the sub-genre of exploitation it inhabited.  That said, the production values were thought high enough for those who like this sort of thing to be able to look forward to it as one of the more enjoyable movies of the summer of 2010.

Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum.

A magnum cartridge is one with a larger case size than the standard cartridge of the same calibre and case shoulder shape.  The now generic term is derived from Smith & Wesson’s Original .357 S&W Magnum, introduced in 1934; magnum ammunition containing either or both additional propellant or a heavier projectile but the term is a bit of an anomaly in the business of ballistics.  Although in the terminology of firearms, most jargon is explicitly defined, “magnum ammunition” has no precise codified set of standards, instead being just an indication of the possession of more powerful characteristics than other loads of the same calibre and shape.

Smith & Wesson .500 Magnum.

Smith & Wesson’s original .357 Magnum was introduced in 1934 in response to the growing availability of bullet-proofing technology in both automobiles and the ballistics vests used for personal protection.  It was an attempt to provide greater penetrative power without the need to increase the bore with the consequential increase in the size and weight of weapons.  Predictably though, the arms race had begun, and in the decades which followed, magnum loads would become available for a wide range of calibres, hand guns and long arms as well as shotguns, the classic .44 Magnum, later made famous in popular culture, released in 1954.  It didn’t stop there, increasing demand for the .44 convincing Smith & Wesson to develop the .500 Magnum, currently the most powerful handgun load generally available and one marketed, in addition to its other attractions, to those who might find it more convenient than a rifle for hunting big game.  The size, weight and recoil however mean it’s not suitable for all and in the US, .500 is anyway the legal limit for handgun loads.  In US law, it’s a rare restriction.

.460 Weatherby Magnum.

For that reason, even Smith and Wesson do recommend that unless one plans to hunt elephant at close range or expect to confront a charging wild boar, loads like the .357 Magnum are better for what most people do most of the time.  The same caution applies to the Magnum loads for rifles, the .375 Magnum often nominated by experts as the perfect compromise for all but the most extreme applications.  Indeed, it was loads like the .375 Magnum which eliminated most of the need for the famous old-style “elephant guns” like Holland & Holland’s .600 Nitro and the .458 and .460 Magnum cartridges of the 1950s were necessitated only by regulations governing big-game hunting in Africa mandating a load above .400.  Despite that, demand for the heavy calibres remains strong, Holland and Holland, after introducing a canon-like .700 Nitro found demand so unexpectedly strong that they resumed production of the long retired .600.  While it seems unlikely heavier loads will be thought practical, that may not matter, there being some evidence many of the .700 Nitros are sold to collectors, never to be fired.

That said, Austria’s Pfeifer firearms created supply to meet what demand there may be.  The Pfeifer .600 Nitro Express Zeliska single-action revolver weighs over 13 lb (4.85 kg) and is  22 inches (.56 m) in length, the cylinder section alone weighing 4.5 lb (17 kg).  Although generating a muzzle energy of 7,591 foot pounds (33.7 kn), paradoxically, the weight of the gun actually limits the recoil, making controlled shooting possible although, practice is essential.  With a cylinder capacity of either five .600 Nitro or .458 Winchester Magnum rounds, it's able to fire a 900 grain, .600 some 2000 feet (600+ m).  At release, Zeliska listed the revolver at US$17,316 and because each .600 Nitro Express round costs about US$45, it’s an expensive hobby.

The Magnum Concilium

Dating from Norman times, the Magnum Concilium (Great Council) was an English assembly eventually composed of senior ecclesiastics, noblemen and representatives of the counties of England and Wales (and later of the boroughs too) which was from time-to-time convened to discuss matter of state with the king and his advisors (sitting as the Curia Regis (King's Court; a kind of predecessor to the Privy Council and later the cabinet).  The Magnum Concilium evolved into the Concilium Regis in Parliamento (the parliament of England), the first generally thought to be the so-called "Model Parliament" of 1295, which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and representatives of the shires and boroughs.  The evolution wasn’t linear, power in the land a constant struggle between king and parliament, the authority of both fluctuating as the politics of the day effed and flowed.  Nor was the parliament a united force, shrewd kings knowing how to exploit divisions between the parliamentary factions but by the reign of Edward II (1284-1327; as Edward of Caernarfon, King of England 1307-1327), the nobility was ascendant, the Crown compliant and the rest essentially irrelevant.

Execution Of Charles I, 1649 (circa 1850) by an unknown artist.

Under Edward III (1312–1377; as Edward of Windsor, King of England 1327-1377), the modern bicameral structure (a House of Commons & a House of Lords), became clear and the authority of Parliament grew although the Lords remained by far the most powerful because that was where the economic resources were concentrated.  That reality was reflected by the practice, under the Plantagenet kings, of the summoning of the Magnum Concilium being something exclusively ecclesiastical & aristocratic, the representatives of the commons rarely in attendance.  After Henry VII (1457–1509; King of England 1485-1509) convened the Magnum Concilium on several occasions in the late 1400s, for various reasons, its participation in the governance of England went into abeyance until, in 1640, Charles I was advised to summon the Magnum Concilium after he’d dissolved the Short Parliament in order to raise money because his misrule and wars of adventure had bankrupted the state.  The king got his money but his private army was soon at war with the parliamentary forces of both Scotland and England and those wars did not for him go well.  Before the decade was over, he would be beheaded.  The Magnum Concilium has not since met but experts in English constitutional law have confirmed it still exists and can, at any time, be summoned by the Crown.

Chrysler’s 440 Magnum Six-Pack

383 Magnum V8 with cross-ram induction in in 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix D-500.

Chrysler’s family of big-block wedge V8s lasted from 1958 until 1978 but, although the label is often commonly applied, not all were designated “Magnum”.  The first Magnum was a high-performance version of the B-series 383 cubic inch (6.3 litre) V8 (which differs from the later RB 383), the highlight being the option of a (long) cross-ram inlet manifold with two four-barrel carburetors.  It was only Dodge which used the Magnum label; the equivalent power-plant in a Plymouth was called a Commando (there were adjectives sometimes added) and in a Chrysler, a TNT.

1970 Dodge 440 Magnum Six-Pack.

Introduced in 1969, the highest evolution of the RB Magnum were the 440 cubic inch (7.2 litre) versions built with three Holley 2300 series two-barrel carburetors instead of the more commonly seen single carburetor induction (which were on the 440 almost exclusively in four-barrel form).  The early versions used an Edelbrock manifold cast in aluminum but supply difficulties forced Chrysler also to cast their own in cast-iron to meet demand.  Although obviously a high-performance variation, marketed by Dodge as the 440 Magnum Six-Pack, the engine was engineered to use only the centre 250 cubic feet per minute (7 m³) carburetor under normal throttle loads, the outer two 370 cfm (10.4 m³) units used only if summoned.  If one could resist the temptation of the sudden onrush of power, the Magnum Six-Pack could be quite economical by the admittedly slight standards of the time.

440 Magnum Six-Pack in 1970 Dodge Challenger.

Internally, the Six-Pack Magnums differed from the single carburetor engines in the use of stiffer valve springs borrowed from the 426 Street Hemi, stronger rocker arms (strengthened connecting rods were added in 1970), molybdenum-filled piston rings and flash chromed valves.  Better to cope with the additional stresses imposed by those high-tension springs, the camshaft lobes and lifter faces were blueprinted to equalise the loads, the lifters rotating to distribute wear equally across the surfaces subject to friction.  With its compression ratio upped from 10.1:1 to 10.5:1, upon release, the Magnum Six-Pack was rated at 390 bhp (290 kw), dropping slightly to 385 (287) when some minor anti-emission adjustments were made in 1971.  At around half the price of Chrysler’s much-vaunted Street-Hemi adaptation of the race engine, the Magnum Six-Pack was a bargain, at least matching the Hemi in most aspects of performance until speeds above 120 mph (190 km/h) were attained, along with a longer manufacturer’s warranty and lower insurance costs, at least for some.  It was good while it lasted but 1971 was the swansong for both the Magnum Six-Pack and the Street-Hemi, emission regulations and an astonishing increase in the cost of insuring the things crushing demand.

1972 Jensen FF Series III.

Across the Atlantic however, the Six-Pack Magnum did enjoy a brief afterlife after being driven extinct in the US.  Jensen, in the throes of phasing out their acclaimed but unprofitable all-wheel-drive FF, were looking for a flagship which could be created quickly and cheaply, ruling out the mooted convertible which wouldn’t appear for some years.  With their planned new F-Type unlikely to be on sale before 1973, the need was for something which demanded neither much development time nor an onerous budget.

The much admired louvers on 1972 Jensen SP.

Jensen had for years been building their Interceptor & FF models with the Chrysler RB engines and had even flirted with the idea of doing a run with the Street Hemi, a project aborted when the costs of adaptation became apparent.  In late 1970, Jensen’s need for something was communicated to Chrysler which, by happy coincidence, had a batch of Magnum Six-Pack engines which had been gathering dust in a Canadian warehouse since being effectively orphaned by the new US emission control legislation.  Within days, agreement was reached, Jensen taking delivery of the first tranche of the batch which, although unable to be sold in the US, were legal just about everywhere else.  The mechanical specification settled, discussions then turned to other features which could be included to enhance the car’s status as a premium product.  Because it was the 1970s (and there's really no other excuse), without much discussion, it was agreed to glue on a vinyl roof; that many others did the same thing is no defense.  More defensible was the inclusion of a high-quality and very expensive Learjet eight-track cartridge stereo system and, to provide some continuity with the FF, it was decided to use that model’s blue-themed badges rather than the red used on the Interceptor.  Also, interestingly, it was during these initial discussions that a fully louvered hood (bonnet) would be included in the coachwork but there’s no indication there was any concern about additional engine-bay heat, the louvers apparently just a styling device to evoke memories of earlier eras when they were common on high-performance machinery.  There was little debate about the name; several people had suggested SP was the obvious choice.  In December 1970, the first prototype SP was built although the intricacies of the triple carburetor engine weren’t entirely new to Jensen’s engineers, having a few months earlier fitted one to an Interceptor to fulfil a customer request.  Assessment of the prototype proved the adaptation was as straight-forward as expected, the minor issue of the additional clearance demanded by the big air-filter effected by a quick fix to the filter housing.

1971 Jensen SP at the Geneva Motor Show, March 1972.  Just fifteen were built in left-hand drive configuration because the SP engine couldn't meet the new US emission standards, thereby precluding sales in the market most receptive to thirsty machines.

Scheduled for release in the northern autumn of 1971, Jensen’s original plan had been to announce the SP as part of their new range including the Mark III versions of both the Interceptor and FF but the realities of the future made apparent the mixed-messaging was a bad idea.  The SP was intended to be the new top-of-the line model so announcing it with an updated version of the doomed yet still more expensive FF made little sense, the Mark III FF created only as a way to ensure the last fifteen FF body-shells (the all-wheel drive configuration necessitated a longer wheelbase) could be utilised.  Almost all FF marketing was thus terminated and the emphasis switched to the new two-model range with the SP sitting atop which meant the Mark III FF, which would become one of the Jensens most prized by collectors, went at the time almost unnoticed.

1972 Monteverdi 375/4.

Beginning its tour of the motor show circuit, the new flagship was greeted with subdued interest by the motoring press which viewed the SP as the hot rod Interceptor it was and which, while entertaining in a occasionally brutish (and rather un-Jensen like) sort of way, was not as intriguing as the soon-to-be lamented FF, the prowess of which had so astonished all who drove it, exploring for the first time the revolutionary possibilities of anti-lock braking and all-wheel-drive.  Nevertheless, the performance did impress, a top-speed of 143 mph (230 km/h) being reported although it was noted that Monteverdi’s even bigger and heavier 375/4 limousine had been clocked just a little faster and it used the 440 with only a single four barrel carburetor.  Still it was fast enough and nobody complained the SP lacked pace.

Jensen SP press release, 5 October 1971.

What did elicit complaint was the manner in which that speed sometimes arrived.  The tremendous delivery of power at full-throttle was praised but the lack of predictable response lower in the rev-range attracted criticism, the additional carburetors kicking in sometimes unexpectedly and not always when the car was heading in a straight line.  Issues with hot-starting were also apparent and even the otherwise much admired multi-louvered bonnet was found not the be without fault, the slats apparently changing either the properties of the metal or the reaction of the shape to the fluid dynamics of air-flow; at speed, the bonnet would “slightly shiver, almost as though improperly fastened” and testers, used to the cocoon-like stability of the Interceptor and FF, found it disconcerting.  While none of the reviews were damning, nor were they much more than polite.

1972 Jensen SP engine bay.

Worse was to come as customers started reporting problems, the first being the issue of under-bonnet heat.  Although a big machine by European standards, the engine bay of the Jensen was smaller than anything to which it’d been fitted in the US and, even with the louvers helping to ventilate the space, it got very hot in there and this quickly affected the carburetors which had never before been exposed to such extremes; parts warping as the metal heated and then cooled, causing air-gaps to emerge, making accurate tuning, vital with multiple-carburetion, impossible.  The factory was soon receiving reports of engines which refused to idle and, due to the inherent nature of the Holly 2300 carburetor design, engines would run too rich after a week or so of nothing more than normal driving.

1963 Jensen CV8.

For a small company like Jensen, it was a major setback.  The company had built the Interceptor's reputation on reliability and ease of ownership essentially by piggy-backing on the back of the bullet proof Chrysler V8s and TorqueFlite transmissions it had begun using in the Interceptor's predecessor, the CV8.  The approach, adopted by many in this era, appealed to buyers not sufficiently seduced by the bespoke charm and mechanical intricacies of the continental competition to wish to deal with the cost and inconvenience of the more demanding maintenance schedules listed by Ferrari, Lamborghini & Maserati.  Like the MGA Twin-Cam (and for that matter the later Jensen-Healey), the SP was a classic case of insufficient product development and testing, examples of which littered the post-war UK industry.  Perhaps there was complacency because (1) multiple carburetors were nothing new to British manufacturers and (2) the Six-Pack Magnum had a good record of reliability in the US.  However, three Hollys on a big-block Chrysler turned out to behave differently to three big SUs on a Jaguar XK-six.                  

1970 Dodge Super Bee 440 Magnum Six-Pack with typical girlfriend of typical buyer.

The occasional quirk of the Magnum Six-Pack was not unknown in the US but there the nature of the thing was well-understood; it was a hot-rod engine bought by those who wanted such things, most owners young, male, mechanically adept and often anxious to tinker under the hood (bonnet).  The Jensen buyer was a wholly different demographic, mostly older, affluent men who either had rarely seen under a bonnet or hadn’t looked for many years and their expectations of a car which was twice as expensive as Jaguar’s V12 E-Type were very different to those youthful Californian baby boomers had of their hotted-up taxi cabs.  Used to the effortless, if thirsty, behavior of the Interceptor, some found their SPs, the high-performance of which most could rarely explore, were behaving like brand new, very expensive old clunkers.

Jensen FF with typical mistress of typical buyer.

Weeks of testing and experiments with all sorts of adjustments proved pointless.  In Jensen’s workshops it was always possible to produce a perfectly running SP but, after sometimes as little as a week in the hands of owner, it would be back, displaying the same symptoms and in the end, Jensen admitted defeat and offered the only solution guaranteed to work: remove the triple induction system and replace it with the Interceptor’s faithful Carter Thermoquad four barrel carburetor.  That alleviated all the drivability issues but did mean that having paid their £6,976.87, a premium of a thousand-odd pounds over the anyway expensive Interceptor, the emasculated SP became an Interceptor with a vinyl roof, an eight-track cartridge player and a vibrating bonnet.  The factory’s records suggest between a quarter and a third of buyers opted for the Theromquad fix and some refunds were paid to the especially unhappy.

Last gasp: 1974 Jensen Interceptor convertible.

Although Jensen had known, because the Magnum Six-Pack was out of production, the SP was not going to have a long life, it had been hoped it would fulfil its role until the new F-Type was expected to be released in 1973.  However, having built 208 SPs, Jensen didn’t take up their option on what remained in Chrysler’s Canadian remainder bin and, once the stock already delivered was exhausted, the SP was allowed quietly to die.  Between September 1971 and July 1973, 231 Jensen SPs were completed with one final example built in October, a special order from someone who really wanted one.

1972 Jensen-Healey publicity shot.

It was the start of a run of bad luck that would doom also the Interceptor and the entire company: (1) Development issues would beset the F-Type which would never see the light of day, (2) the Jensen-Healey (1972-1976) sports car which had seemed so promising turned into an expensive flop and (3) the first oil shock in 1973 rendered the Interceptor and many of its ilk suddenly big, thirsty dinosaurs and not even the release in 1974 of a much-admired convertible version could rescue things.  Bankruptcy loomed and by 1976 the end came.  However, in the way flawed but charismatic English cars have often, decades on, enjoyed second acts, the SPs are now much prized and there’s a small industry devoted to restoring them to their six-barreled glory, modern materials and techniques of insulation & cooling now able to transform them into something as well-behaved as any Interceptor.

The magnum’s place in the hierarchy of Champagne bottles.

Lindsay Lohan with Magnum (ice cream) backdrop.

Galaxy

Galaxy (pronounced gal-uhk-see)

(1) In astronomy, a large system of stars, galactic dust, black holes etc, held together by mutual gravitation and isolated from similar systems by vast regions of space.  They exist (in at least the billions) as independent and coherent systems although because not static, can collide and merge.  Planet Earth is in a galaxy called the Milky Way.

(2) Figuratively, an assemblage of things or persons seen as luminous or brilliant.

(3) To gather together into a luminous whole (archaic).

(4) In mathematics, a hyper-real number in non-standard analysis

(5) In fashion or graphic design, any print or pattern reminiscent of a galaxy, constructed usually by blending semi-opaque patches of vibrant color on a dark background.

(6) The Milky Way, the apparent band of concentrated stars which appears in the night sky over earth (now long obsolete and used only in historic reference).

1350–1400: From the Middle English galaxyë, galaxie & galaxias from the Old French galaxie and Medieval Latin galaxia & galaxias (the Milky Way; in the classical Latin via lactea or circulus lacteus), from the Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxías kyklos) (milky circle) from γάλα (gala (genitive galaktos)) (milk) and related to the Latin lac (milk)), from the primitive Indo-European g(a)lag (milk).  Galaxy is a noun and verb, the adjective is galactic the noun plural galaxies; the present participle is galaxying and the past participle galaxied.)

The technical astronomical sense as it’s now understood as a discrete stellar aggregate including the sun and all visible stars emerged as a theory by 1848, the final scientific proof being delivered in the 1920s; the figurative sense of "brilliant assembly of persons or articles" dates from the 1580s.

It will all end badly

The Milky Way, planet Earth’s cosmic suburb was in the late fourteenth century defined as "the galaxy as seen in the night sky", and was a loan-translation of Latin via lacteal which had existed formerly in the Middle English as milky Wey, Milken-Way & Milky Cercle.  The philosophers (natural scientists) of antiquity had speculated on the nature of what they could see when gazing at night sky and some (Democrates, Pythagoras (and even the historian Ovid)) guessed they were looking at a vast array of stars, the matter when Galileo, using his telescope, reported that the whole vista was resolvable into stars and it attracted other names including Jacob's Ladder, the Way to St James's, and Watling Street.

Artist's impression of the Milky Way generated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2019.

The Milky Way was originally thought the entire universe but as telescopes improved astronomers by the mid nineteenth century speculated that some of the spiral nebulae they observed were actually vast and immensely distant structures perhaps similar in size and shape to the Milky Way but the proof of that wasn’t definitive until the 1920s.  Galaxies are held together by the gravitational attraction of the material within them, most coalescing around a nucleus into elliptical or spiral forms although a few are irregular in shape.  Galaxies range in diameter from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of light-years and contain between a few million and several trillion stars, many grouped into clusters, with these often parts of larger super-clusters.

Lindsay Lohan Samsung Galaxy S24 phone case.

German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was among the first to theorize the Milky Way was not the only galaxy in the universe and coined the term “island universe to describe a galaxy”.  Kant was right and while estimates vary, over one hundred-billion galaxies exist in the observable universe, most of which are moving away from our Milky Way; those farther away receding faster than those nearby.  The Milky Way rotates at about 560,000 mph (900,000 km/h) and completes a full revolution about every two-hundred million years, thus one galactic revolution ago, dinosaurs roamed the Earth.  In about four billion years, the Milky Way will begin a slow-motion (in astronomical terms) collision with the Andromeda galaxy, a process which will take at least one hundred million years.  Optimistically, astronomers have suggested the ellipsoidal result be named Milkomeda.

Notable Ford Galaxies, 1959-1970

Initially to augment their range-topping Fairlane, Ford adopted the Galaxie name in 1959 as a marketing ploy to take advantage of public interest in the space race, using the French spelling to add a touch of the exotic.  On the full-sized platform, the name was used until 1974 but it was the brief era of the charismatic high-performance versions built in the early-mid 1960s which are most remembered;  already a force on US circuits, they became also in England, Australia, South Africa & New Zealand, one of the more improbably successful racing cars.  The Galaxie was notable also as the platform which Ford used to create the LTD, essentially a Galaxie bundled with a number of otherwise optional features and some additional appointments, sold at an attractive price.  It was an immediate success and had two side effects, (1) other manufacturers soon used the same tactic, creating most notably the Chevrolet Caprice and (2) the creation of "a luxury Ford" began the process of rendering the Mercury brand, introduced in 1938 as "the luxury Ford", eventually redundant.  In an evolution which would play-out over two decades, the interior fittings of the Ford LTD and its competitors would become increasingly ornate although critics were sometimes divided on the aesthetic success of the result.  A generation after the name was retired in the US, Ford in Europe used the anglicized spelling, in 1995 introducing the Galaxy, a dreary family van.

1959 Ford Galaxie Skyliner.

The Galaxie was a mid-year addition to the line, assuming the role of the top-of-the-range model from the Fairlane 500, a position it would occupy until 1965 when it began to be usurped by the LTD, added that year as a Galaxie option although it would later become a separate model which would outlast the Galaxie by more than a decade.  Best remembered from the 1959 range was the Skyliner, a two-door convertible with the novelty of a retractable hard-top a marvel of analogue-era engineering, the operation of the all-steel apparatus a mesmerizing piece of mechanical choreography from the early space-age, controlled by three drive motors, ten solenoids, many relays & circuit breakers, all connected with a reputed 610 feet (186 m) of electrical cabling.  Despite the intricacy, it proved a reliable system.

1960 Ford Galaxie Starliner.

As the 1960s dawned, the muscle car thing was still years away, the intermediate and pony-cars on which they would be based not yet in production and by choice, Ford probably wouldn’t have produced any high performance versions of the Galaxie.  For some time, Detroit had been putting more powerful versions of their biggest engines into their top-line models but these tended to be early interpretations of what would later come to be known as the “personal car”, heavyweight coupés laden with power accessories, air conditioning and luxury fittings but those big engines were increasingly and extensively being modified by those seeking competitive advantage in what rapidly had become the wildly popular racing series run by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).  With some alarm, the sanctioning body, concerned both at the extent to which the cars being used differed from their “stock car” concept and the high speeds being attained, imposed rules designed to restrict the use of components used on the track to those genuinely available to customers.  Thus was born the 352 cubic inch (5.8 litre) (FE) “Special” V8, a US$204.70 option available on all 1960 Fords except the wagons although, reflecting the intended market, niceties like air conditioning, power steering and power brakes weren’t available.  Rated at 360 (268 kW) horsepower, the 352 Special actually out-powered the 430 cubic inch (7.0 litre) (MEL) V8, which, at 350 horsepower (261 kW), was available in the Thunderbird but was so bulky and heavy that its use on the track had been curtailed although it would enjoy some success in powerboat racing.  The 352 Special also provided quite a jump in performance from other 352s which offered a (standard) 235 horsepower (175 kW) or 300 (224 kW) in the 352 Super, neither exactly sparkling performers although typical for the era; a Special-equipped Galaxie managing a standing quarter-mile five seconds quicker than a Super, admittedly one hampered by one of Ford’s early, inefficient automatic transmissions.  The 352 Super wasn’t available for long but the streamlined Starliner body to which most of them were fitted proved to have aerodynamic properties close to idea for use on NASCAR’s ovals but public enthusiasm for the style soon waned and it was replaced by something thought more elegant but which proved less slippery, inducing Ford to try (unsuccessfully) one of the more blatant cheats of the era and one which would prove to be the first shot in what came to be called the “aero-wars”.

1961 Ford Galaxie.

The power-race had for a while been raging on the ovals but NASCAR’s rules dictating all the bits be available for public sale and produced in sufficient number to make purchase genuinely possible meant the race moved to the showroom and thus, public roads, something which produced a remarkable generation of cars but which would have implications for the public, the industry and, ominously, the laws which would follow.  Facing competition with more power and displacement, Ford in 1961 released a version of the new 390 cubic inch (FE) (6.5 litre) this time with an induction system which used three two-barrel carburetors rather than the single four barrel which had sat atop the 352 Special.  Strangely, most owners had to go a circuitous route to get their six-barrel 390, few assembled that way by the factory, the cars instead delivered equipped with a high-performance version of the 390 which included in the trunk (boot), a kit with the parts and accessories to upgrade from the supplied single four barrel carburetor to a triple, two barrel apparatus.  Intended for installation by the dealer, thus equipped, power jumped from 375 horsepower (280 kW) to 401 (299 kW).

1962 Ford Galaxie 406 (replica).

The power race however was accelerating faster than the vehicles it inspired and in 1962, the Galaxie’s new high-performance engine was a 406 cubic inch (FE) (6.6 litre) V8, offered either with a single four-barrel carburetor and rated at 385 horsepower (287 kW) or a 405 horsepower (302 kW) version with the triple two-barrel Holleys.  The 406 certainly delivered increased power but the internal stresses this imposed, coupled with effects of the higher speeds now possible exposed weaknesses in some aspects of underlying engineering, some components being subject to forces never envisaged in the late 1950s when the design was finalized.  The most obvious and frequent failure afflicted the main (bottom-end) bearings and, part-way during the production run, change was made to add a second set of bolts to secure the main-bearing caps, the novelty being that they were drilled sideways, entering through the skirt of the block, thus gaining the moniker “cross-bolted”.

Ford Galaxie 427s, Brands Hatch, 1963.

The 406 however had a production life of less than two years, replaced in 1963 by a the 427 cubic inch (FE) V8, an engine which would be offered in so many configurations that the stated power ratings were more indicative than calculated but the versions available for the street versions of the Galaxie were rated at 410 horsepower (360 kW) if fitted with a single four barrel carburetor and 425 (317 kW) if running a pair.  The 427 would go on to a storied and decorated history on the street, strip and circuit including twice winning the 24 hour classic at Le Mans but unexpectedly, it had a successful career in saloon car racing in England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.  Predicted at the time to be briefly fast, loud and spectacular before its hunger for brake linings and tyres ended its outings, it instead proved competitive, stable and reliable, dominating the 1963 British Saloon Car Championship, ending the reign of the 3.8 litre Jaguars.  In the US however, although the 427 had powered the Galaxie to trophy winning successes in the 1964 NASCAR season, the larger displacement had further increased internal pressures and reliability issues with the bottom end had again been encountered.  The cross-bolting had solved the issues caused by vibration but now the lubrication was proving inadequate, the oiling system setup to first to lubricate the top end and then to the crankshaft.  The solution was another oil galley along the side of the block, delivering priority lubrication to the bottom end; introduced in 1965 as a running change, these engines came to be known as “side-oilers”, the earlier versions retrospectively known as “top oilers”.

1966 Galaxie 7 Litre.

By 1966, the era of the Galaxie as a race car was nearly over, Ford finding the Lotus Cortina and the Mustang quicker on tighter circuits while on the big NASCAR ovals, the race teams during the year switched from the full-sized cars to the intermediates, the Fairlane (the name re-applied to a smaller vehicle after 1962) now the platform of choice.  In 1966 & 1967, the 427 remained available but demand was muted, the two-door Galaxie gaining an option called "7 Litre" (they really did use the European spelling (presumably to avoid a linguistic clash with "Galaxie") and the choice was between the 427 (noisy, cantankerous, an oil burner, expensive and powerful) or the 428 (mild-mannered, smooth, quiet & cheap) and the market spoke, the sales breakdown between the 427/428 in 1966/1967 being 11035/38 and 1056/12.  The message was clear; there were many who wanted high-performance cars but fewer and fewer wanted the package in a big machine, the attention of the market now focused on the intermediates and pony cars.

1970 Ford XL.

By 1970, except for a run heavy-duty units for police fleets which used the old 428, for its top-line option, the full-sized range switched to the new 429 cubic inch (385) (7.0 litre) V8, designed with emission control systems in mind, which had for a couple of seasons been offered in the Thunderbird.  Although available in a version rated at 360 horsepower (265 kW) which was rather more convincing than the perhaps optimistic numbers granted to some of the 428s used in the earlier Galaxies, the emphasis was now on effortlessness rather than outright performance although, Ford was the last of the big three still to offer a four-speed manual gearbox in the big cars and the option lasted until 1970 although the deletion from the option list must have been a late change because while brochures printed for that year’s range included it, it seems none were built.  Actually, technically, by then such things were no longer Galaxies, the two-doors after 1967 called just the “Ford XL” although everyone seemed still to call them Galaxies and for those who still lusted for the ways things used to be done, Plymouth did offer their triple carburetor 440 cubic (7.2 litre) inch V8 but only with an automatic transmission.  It would last only until 1971.