2014_09_13-motor-uk

MOTOR CARS | 191

On their British debut, one of the best known Italian racers, Giulio
Ramponi took the drive, finishing in 9th position overall and second
in class. At the Tourist Trophy on 23rd August, Ramponi again was
in charge of the car, however he would crash in practice, rolling the
car into a ditch. Although contemporary photos do not appear to
show much external damage to the OM, it curtailed this race for
Ramponi. As far as we can tell this would be final major outing for
‘1095’, and it vanished from the scene until in early 1950s when the
car surfaced again.

Recognition of 1095’s importance today can be attributed to the
exhaustive research made by Anthony Hopton, its owner of more
than 30 years from 1966. He systematically pursued any leads to its
history in an age when a number of those associated with the car in
the 1930s were still alive. All of this is supplied with the car today.

Among this correspondence, is a letter from Eric Lister who
owned the car in 1950. In it he writes: ‘I bought it from a dealer in
London called Brian Finglass who specialised in exotic motor cars.
I wandered into Finglass’ garage, looked at his stock, couldn’t
find anything. Just before I left I saw something in a corner under
a white sheet. I lifted it up then discovered it was an OM, a car
which I had heard of but knew very little about. Finglass told me it
was an ex O.M. Team car which was never raced as it had turned
over in practice during the 1930 Phoenix Park Races. The car was
never sent back to Italy but repaired and stored for several years by
Rawlence, the concessionaire, and really only used for about 30,000
kilometres after the war”.

Lister kept the car for little more than a year before it passed to

Leslie Byrom and then to Hopton. In Hopton’s fascinating series of

correspondence with many of the luminaries of the day, he sought

to find anyone that might have been associated with Rawlence and

OM in period, ranging from TASO Mathieson to R.F. Oats himself,

including Angelo Tito Anselmi and others. Through this he was

able to retrace the car’s steps and to establish affirmatively that GN

8762/6651095 was indeed the Ramponi car.

In one eye opening letter, Mathieson recounts that the OM’s ‘road

holding steering etc. were superb and in my opinion were superior to

the type 43 and 55 Bugattis and the 1750 and 1500 Alfa Romeos.

I speak from personal experience’ ‘I consider the OM to have been

one of the best cars I ever owned.’ - high praise from such an

experienced racer.

During Hopton’s long term ownership of three decades the car

was sympathetically and comprehensively restored. Hopton kept

the SSMM until 1999, when it passed to another luminary of the

collector car world Heiko Seekamp. In his ownership the car received

a thorough cosmetic and technical restoration at the hands of

Bernhard Huke. From then onwards the OM was a regular sight on

the Mille Miglia Retrospective, on numerous occasions wearing the

coveted number ‘1’ and being first out of Brescia.