The wild and varied road cars of Sir Stirling Moss

Whilst busily highlighting Stirling’s notable victories and outstanding drives in a number of amazing racing cars though, so far, surprisingly little mention has been made of the many and varied road cars that Moss became involved with, be it from behind the wheel in competition, his personal ownership, or helping to promote and give his support and endorsement to.

To address this oversight, here is an all-too-short summary of just a few of the many road cars that contributed to Stirling Moss’ career, versatility and reputation, divided into competition, promotion and his own personal road-going vehicles.

Road cars Stirling Moss raced

Before the accident at the 1962 Goodwood Easter Monday race meeting that prematurely ended his racing career, the versatile Stirling Moss competed in a number of other motor sport disciplines, beyond single-seater and motor circuit competition, demonstrating his ability to drive almost anything to within an inch of its life and get the best out of it. This included road-going rally cars, plus the tin top racers that (new and historic) helped to revive his ‘comeback’ competition career from the late 1970s onwards.

Stirling’s rare ability to wring the neck of any car was soon clear when he successfully raced several types of car in different classes at early race meetings, even taking to rallying, for example. He quickly proved to be a competent rally driver, with the Rootes Group of Coventry soon spotting his talent and signing him in 1952 to drive a Humber Snipe – a sizeable barge of a luxury saloon and a most unlikely rally car – in which he contested a number of rally events.

In 1952 Rootes also paired Stirling with John Cooper as his co-driver to tackle the unforgiving Monte Carlo Rally, the duo finishing an impressive second overall in a better suited Sunbeam-Talbot 90. Stirling returned to Monaco with Rootes for the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally, taking a Sunbeam Alpine to a 14^th place finish, with him taking overall victory in the same model in the 1954 event, quite an achievement for a ‘circuit’ racer!

Ahead of his career-ending crash, in the early 1960s Stirling successfully made the distinctive royal blue Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB (number ‘7’) his own, the perfect road car for racing, and now a perennial, and popular, favourite, competing at the Goodwood Revival. As an ironic aside, Moss was due to drive a then-new Ferrari 250 GTO (a car he never raced) at the same Goodwood Easter Monday meeting in 1962 where he crashed his Lotus, with a brand new GTO waiting for him to try in the paddock. 

Around the time of his accident at Goodwood, Moss had set up SMART (Stirling Moss Automobile Racing Team). He acquired a Lotus Elan road car for SMART and had it modified by leading aerodynamist Frank Costin with a low-drag nose and elongated hardtop to improve airflow. Due his racing injuries, Moss was unable to race the modified SMART Elan, so (Sir) John Whitmore campaigned the light green car for the 1963 season, towing it to race meetings with a Ford Cortina Estate, painted in matching livery.

Over time, Stirling came to regret his decision to retire from motor racing, a choice he made when he had not fully recovered from his 1962 crash. In 1976, almost 15 years since his near-fatal accident at Goodwood, Moss was temporarily persuaded out of retirement to compete in the Bathurst 1000 race, sharing a Holden Torana L34 with local Australian hero, ex-Formula 1 World Champion (Sir) Jack Brabham. 

In practice ahead of the ’76 Bathurst 1000, Stirling commented on the enormous advances in tyre technology during his 15-year absence from competition. He found the modern fat and sticky slick tyres a shock after the skinny treaded rubber he had been used to, saying that he was fine through the slower corners, but “My threshold of fear is much lower than it was” adding that “If I was sensible, I wouldn't be doing this”.

On race day itself, Brabham was due to take the first stint at the wheel. Seeing the one-minute board go up, he tried to put the Holden into first gear, but selected two gears instead, causing him to stall on the start line, and being rear-ended by John Dellaca's Triumph Dolomite Sprint.

The Torona was repaired and joined the race three hours after the start, with Brabham back at the wheel. Less than an hour later, Moss took over to cover 23 laps (with a respectable best of 2m 32.2s) before the Holden's V8 engine exploded on Mountain Straight. A disappointing Stirling later said “I can't wait another 15 years for the next time. I'm too old. It took me 15 years to do this.”

He didn’t have to wait that long. Following some low-key races in a Volkswagen Golf GTi in the late 1970s, in 1980 it was announced that Stirling (then aged 50) would ‘formally’ return to motor racing, sharing an Audi 80 touring car with a young Martin Brundle. After his best-forgotten Bathurst 1000 experience, Moss struggled again with modern wider slick tyres, and this, combined with the Audi’s unfamiliar front-wheel-drive layout, left him outclassed. A wet race at Brands Hatch in 1981 proved to be an exception though. Having qualified 11^th in dry conditions, the rainy race saw Moss climb up to second and challenge for the lead, only to be let down by mechanical failure once more!

After his high-profile competition ‘comeback’ disappointment with Audi, Stirling stuck with racing and lively ‘demonstrations’ (both in road car saloons and dedicated race cars), but in the more ‘gentile’ world of historic motor racing, returning to a number of the machines he raced in his heyday at popular events such as the Goodwood Revival and Monaco Historique.

Promotion and Personal Endorsement

With his racing career prematurely over following his 1962 accident at Goodwood, the entrepreneurial side of Stirling’s character came to the fore as he successfully began an effective (and doubtless lucrative) new career promoting suitable products; most being car and motor sport related.

Moss cleverly maintained a high-profile public presence and profile, often appearing in the media, on television and print ads, popular TV shows (such as Morecambe and Wise), and even playing cameo roles in films such as the crazy Peter Sellers 1967 ‘Casino Royale’ spoof.  He was astute enough to endorse a number of products, occasionally allowing his name to appear on a suitable item, such as a handful of road-going cars, as highlighted below.     

Although not willing to sell himself and his reputation too far, Stirling did occasionally accept some unusual promotional opportunities. During the 1950s, occasional Browns Lane works driver Moss drove a Jaguar XK120 non-stop around the banked Montlhery circuit, just south of Paris, to break a number of international endurance records, for example, a feat that reinforced his already strong ‘Best of British’ reputation. 

Possibly inspired by this impressive undertaking of endurance, in late 1968 Suzuki (then unknown as a car maker outside of Japan) commissioned Moss to perform an original marketing stunt. To help promote the new Suzuki Fronte SS ‘Kei’ car sporting derivative onto its home market, Suzuki paired Stirling with TT-winning motorcycle racer Mitsuo Itoh, tasking the duo to drive two Fronte SS models (one red, one yellow) on a high-speed demonstration journey along Italy's 466-mile (750 km) Autostrada del Sole that runs from Milan to Napoli. In April 1970, Moss and Itoh attained an average speed of 76.08mph (122.44km/h), quite respectable for a 36PS car with a 360cc engine smaller than those of most motorcycles. The original Moss Fronte now resides in Suzuki's museum in Hamamatsu.

A couple of years later, and rather closer to home, Stirling was joined by some ‘crumpet’ (his words, not mine!) to drive and pose with a curious new British city car, the tiny two-seater TiCi. A pair of TiCi models (with their rear-mounted Mini engines) were driven around London’s West End by Moss and some accompanying young ladies, stopping occasionally for an impromptu photo shoot by a London landmark, such as the Houses of Parliament. The photos show that Stirling was clearly enjoying every minute of the experience!

Inevitably, in the early 1980s Audi’s marketing team exploited the full potential of using Moss and his Touring Car Team connection to help promote its latest Audi 80, using him in period TV and print ads, plus public appearances at Audi dealerships and its Earls Court Motor Show stand.

Stirling also took the unusual step of allowing his name to be applied to not just one, but four, special performance road cars, a practice increasingly common now with racing drivers. Three of these four ‘officially approved’ Stirling Moss-branded cars make sense, but the forth is something of a mystery with no obvious connection to the great man.

The road car in question is the Chrysler Valiant VG Stirling Moss Special, an Australian derivative of an earlier Chrysler Corporation Dodge and Plymouth model. Limited to just 100 examples, the Australian Valiant Stirling Moss Special was effectively a luxury option pack available for the bland six-cylinder Valiant VG sedan. Stirling was appointed by Chrysler Australia to feature in its TV and print promotion of the Valiant, ahead of the eponymous limited edition model being launched in 1971.

The trio of remaining Moss-branded cars make more sense, as they all had a direct link with Stirling, and were all given his personal blessing. The first of these is the limited-production Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss.

Launched at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show with a retail price in excess of $1million, just 75 of these very special SLRs were made, built to honour the famous Moss/Jenks Mille Miglia victory in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR in 1955. The SLR Stirling Moss featured unique open ‘barchetta’ coachwork, with no windscreen or roof. This special model was tuned to attain a top speed of 217mph (350km/h) with 0-62 mph acceleration achieved in 3.0 seconds, with the supercharged 5.4-litre SLR AMG V8 engine uprated at 660PS. The open roadster was around 200kg lighter than the ‘regular’ SLR coupe, due mainly to a carbon-fibre construction and speedster styling.

More recently, the revived Lister Motor Company introduced a series of ten handcrafted Lister Knobbly Stirling Moss editions to mark Stirling successfully racing a special lightweight Knobbly in the 1950s; at Goodwood in 1954, Silverstone in 1958 and Sebring in 1959. The ‘new’ Knobbly is a continuation model, using super lightweight materials for the ten special Stirling Moss editions, each car priced at around £1 million.

The final special Moss road car is particularly intriguing, as the original idea behind it was conceived by Stirling himself. The car in question is the Ogle Ford Cortina GT Coupe, designed to Stirling’s brief by Ogle Design of Letchworth, with the distinctive coachwork created by Harold Radford Ltd of London. 

This special Cortina came about when Moss reportedly approached Ogle Design in the early 1960 wanting a bespoke fastback coupe built for his personal use. Stirling set out some guidelines for what he required; essentially was a four-seater GT which struck a balance between performance, comfort and economy. The GT needed to carry four adults and their luggage in comfort and decent speed on 500-mile day trips, while still retaining reasonable fuel economy and purchase price. Moss also insisted that it should be based on a proven production car to make servicing straightforward.

Ogle initiated the design concept using a contemporary Ford Cortina 1500GT, with Tom Karen (the designer of the Reliant Scimitar GTE, Bond Bug and Raleigh Chopper bicycle) being responsible for converting the Moss-approved sketches into the final road car. The finished Ogle Cortina GT was first presented to the public by Stirling Moss himself at the 1963 Earls Court Motor Show. After the Show, it was registered ‘SM 7’ and used by personally by Moss for many years. One other example was made, which also still survives to this day.

Personal vehicles

With a great love and fascination for cars and all things mechanical since childhood, it was somewhat inevitable that Stirling Moss would personally own and drive some interesting road cars, even before his natural gift for driving competitively became evident.

Although he grew up around some interesting cars owned by his parent’s, both of which occasionally dabbled in motor racing as keen amatures, Stirling’s first personal car was a pre-war Morgan Three Wheeler, and he is believed to have owned some pre-war sporting MGs too.

By the time he was achieving notable racing successes in the 1950s, he drove a number of cars provided by a few of the manufacturer works teams he raced for, such as Rootes and Jaguar. By the late 1950s Stirling had bought a second hand 1952 Aston Martin DB2, which he used to drive to races across the UK and Continental Europe. He kept the car throughout his life, the DB2 being on loan to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon in Warwickshire, where it still resides.

During the 1960s, he drove an MG B roadster, a number of Mercedes-Benz SL Pagoda (W113) models (Stirling was a Mercedes-Benz Brand Ambassador, having kept a close relationship with the Germany Company and remained an enthusiast and collector of the marque for many years), plus an exotic Facel-Vega HK500 from Paris.

With his move into central London, smaller, practical vehicles became Stirling’s personal transport of choice. He could often be seen zooming around Park Lane on one of his many scooters, and he was an ‘early adopter’ (and became a great fan) of Smart cars. He eventually replaced his last Smart ForTwo with a Renault Twizy, this tandem electric two-seater being repainted in a unique metallic green at his request, and easily identifiable by Stirling’s famous ‘7 SM’ licence plate. He retained a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss edition until the end too, for when he needed more speed than the Twizzy could provide.

Stirling Moss will be greatly missed, but many of his vehicles (be they road or race cars) will live on to remind us all of this exceptional motor racing talent. Rest In Peace Mr. Goodwood.

TiCi image courtesy of Maximum Mini, race images courtesy of Motorsport Images.