Monday 29 October 2012

Fitzpatrick Who?



Finally my UK car magazine debut with an article in Classic American, what you were expecting Top Gear. As they say On News Stands Now! 


The article is on a very obscure custom car built in the late forties, early fifties called the Fitzpatrick. I was lucky enough to meet the builder when as part of the TV show I produced, we reunited him with his long lost creation, which I might add until the cameras rolled he never saw finished. 

It is a great story of a car and a man. The owner, builder was Phil Lacey, a fighter pilot who started flying Mustangs in WWII, Korea, cold war nuclear armed B-57's (USAF version of the British Canberra)and finally part of the famous Doom Pussy (no I didn't make that up) squadron in Vietnam.
Mr. Lacey as  a Cadet with Stearman

The car has appeared in print a few times but has been clouded in mystery. This is the first article to get the true story. I was also given access to his original drawings and photographs. 


Only down side is that I wrote the article almost two years ago and it is published under my old name. 

Well what are you waiting for go buy a copy!



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3 comments:

  1. Cassidy29 October 2012 at 16:57

    You know, "Doom Pussy" could be a good alternate choice for your next license plate. Just sayin'.

    ;c)

    Hugs,
    Cass

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  2. Elizabeth30 October 2012 at 05:57

    That is a very cool looking car.

    Canberra aka B-57 was a death trap. By the time it was in service Soviet surface to air missiles made it obsolete. Same thing happened to the 5-58 Hustler. Surviving after a bombing run was not an option. I could never figure out the nuke bomber concept since few if any would reach target due to missiles and fighters.

    US had the B-70 Valkyrie which was actually copied for use in the Concorde but even its 70,000+ foot ceiling and 3+ mach performance made it susceptible. Missiles were the way we and Soviets solved that silly problem. Nothing like enough bombs to kill us all 50 times over.

    I should have followed my older brother into cars but I was good at the government type stuff I did over the years. It does kind of suck knowing what actually works and what doesn't and never has or ever will work but I prefer not to think about it.

    ANy more word from NHS?

    ReplyDelete
  3. April30 October 2012 at 10:39

    Thanks Elizabeth, thought you might find the aeronautic aspect of this post interesting. The Valkyrie still looks like something from the future....beautiful.

    It will be about another month before I can start bugging CAMH about my "suitability" for surgery.

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