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Travelling with a camera: my photo scans from the early 90's


reallyloud

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Nice spots and photos as always :D

 

That Iso Griffo was my car of the night at Harpenden a couple of years ago. Just stunning. I was taking some photos and the son of the owner came over, who was in his twenties. It was home restored (not blank cheque book) over a long period of time and he remembered it as it slowly came together during much of his life!

 

Those Morris and Austin trucks don't look to have even made it as far as the badge engineering dept!

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Those farm lorries are ace, what a timewarp.

 

Re the coach race transporter, it is possible that it's a Volvo engined one, a lot of the Duple/Plaxton standard coaches were built on various chassis (Ford, Bedford etc).

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This belongs to a guy who did collect expired BX's.

TOP 276Y was a red Ambassador owned by a bloke up the road from Papa Vin.

 

It was his daily driver, but then languished on his drive for about a decade. It was completely rotten and collapsed down on the suspension before the scrapman carted it off......

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The Ambassador is parked about 5 metres away from the River Thames, hence the brick being place there. As mentioned before the owner has always parked 2 derilict cars in front of his house off the main road - as far as I can recall he's had Citroens - BX's (both were removed very recently), GSA's before, and then a few Saab 96's and Fiat 127's.

 

Anyway, what follows is a embarassment of riches seen in London today. South London in particular seems to have an amazing supply of shite but there are also a few from the West London area too. I only wish I'd done this more often 15 years ago when I lived there, I'm sure I would captured a few more Talbots, Ebros or Peugeot 104's....

 

Lets start with some sporty shite.

 

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These were being nicked at an astonishing rate by the little shits in the Oxford Area in the early 90's, only 2nd to the popularity of MG Maestro/Montego's thefts. They used to do thrash the cars up and down the estates of Blackbird Leys. There was a real Daily Mail type outrage at the time, and pretty much was the only thing that Central News featured.

 

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Non turbo version, MG Montego seem to be really rare these days - I recall them being very cheap to buy due to the insurance premiums.

 

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Rare bonnet up scene....

 

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Very late registered one.

 

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...and some estate action.

 

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Yet another Y plate Cortina.

 

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I can't believe I actually saw 3 of these today, they're not exactly common.

 

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B12 Sunny - this version of the sunny is a bit of a mis-match to the rest of the range (see below, the B11 Sunny) The uk got just the B12 wagon version, but it was also sold as the Sentra in the states. The 2 & 4 door saloon version proved to be a real success as the car was good to drive and tuneable - it was seen as a budget version BMW E30 - echoing what the Datsun 510 had achieved some 20 years earlier. Of course all of this was lost on Nissan UK, who simply needed an estate version of the sunny, despite the lack of family resemblance to the B11, it sold quite well. Furthermore the car is structurally identical to the bizarre wedge shape ZX coupe that was around at the time too.

 

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This might help out the confusion of the Vauxhall 3 or 5 door estate issues - Chevettes always as a 3 door estate, but the Astra came with both 3 and 5 door, like its contemporary rival the Escort.

 

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a few random hatchbacks

 

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Early version. Looks so much better with chrome and over-riders.

 

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http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/4847647060_753de24258_o.jpg

 

Expired vans

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/4847645478_188f427b5e_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/4847026413_f586ffbeef_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/4847648172_a6b6cf4899_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/4847648582_ca8f573215_o.jpg

 

Almost certainly ex-AA.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/4847024929_255657c362_o.jpg

 

Still quite a few mk2 Astras knocking around, but I haven't seen a Bedford van version for a while. I think these became Vauxhall badged around the time this was registered, or certainly soon after.

 

A neat selection of saloons

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4088/4847024503_f74efb04ae_o.jpg

 

Looks like a mk5 van front bumper. Nice.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/4847023307_b24849ccff_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/4847644364_f54646be8a_o.jpg

 

Daft. Why would you do this?

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/4847643552_8b39c4fe80_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/4847023775_37b599665e_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4088/4847643898_5ba72381f0_o.jpg

 

Run out 900 2 door model, with 99 front.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4109/4847645594_0a54b8367b_o.jpg

 

One for Spottedlaurel - is this car familiar to you? The plate rings a bell for some reason.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4847645988_dc73d47c5e_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4110/4847025221_70ec0167c5_o.jpg

 

B11 sunny, a la Mash.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/4847022465_5366256b7c_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/4847645754_7a8d26402e_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4109/4847648060_1a5293499a_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/4847027085_b19b4cdd1e_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/4847025931_6c3b7c6071_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/4847027547_b492d02aae_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4847027393_2fce39efb2_o.jpg

 

Not seen today but I forgot to post it up last time - it was at the epic Citroen/Fiesta meet. There were some Audis, mostly Quattros and coupes and loads of new stuff, but this was the pick of the bunch. I don't like the wheels at all.

 

And finally as promosed the Fiat. I wonder if the owner is a Fiat fanatic, or just some random old geezer who's had the car since new and just drives it as a mode of transport.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/4847644058_cd730a7b03_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4153/4847644210_2540bdfb7a_o.jpg

 

There you go, have fun!

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Jeeezus. Amazing work there again. London always amazes me, Japanese cars in particular seem to survive there really well, along with the older Fords and Volvos. I saw a U11 Bluebird for the first time in perhaps a decade last time I went.

Is that 9 in the Clapham area?

You mention MKII Astras being fairly abundent still, I thought otherwise but recently Ive been seeing more of them than normal... all late ones though. A C reg Astravan is a good find. I cant even remember when I last saw a MKI Sierra Cosworth.

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Gah! That fiat is such a honey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its all too much, I have literally done an 'oil change' on myself.

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Given that the Orion in the pics has a MK 5 Escort van front bumper, was the MK 5 just an elaborate restyle of the MK 4? i.e. would the bumper be a relatively straight swap?

 

I always thought the MK 5 was a totally new model - Ford's marketing at the time certainly suggested it was.

 

Or has someone gone to some serious bodging effort here (fitting a bumper from a totally different vehicle for some bizarre reason)?

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I think they pretty much go straight on, see there are many crap XR3i 'verts with 'cossie' bumpers and the like.

Certainly the Mk5 was pretty much unchanged mechanically and dynamically (until they had to hastily rehash it!).

 

Used to work with a bloke who had a mk5 with a 4-speed gearbox and the 1300 hcs rattle lump. :shock:

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The MKV was an all new design, so how on earth theyve got that bumper to fit is beyond me! Doesnt look too out of place oddly, I guess the owner went down to the scrapyard and asked for an Orion/Escort bumper and was greeted with that. Kind of weird because its a hell of a lot bigger than the original one.

Suprised no ones commented on that scabby as hell Transit, was it still taxed?!

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The kind of swappery and botches on cars using not original bits is usually rife in parts of the third world where cars have more value to them - the owner of that Orion clearly wasn't interested in originality - credit to him for keeping it on the road. I guess the size of the car compared to the MK5 isn't too different - todays car segment sizes are really baffling and in many cases the styling is horribly out of proportion these days, with lights become part of the body surface and over use of plastic - todays cars are truly ugly.

 

Which neatly brings me to the my show of the month...in some cases BL cars would have once been slated as being ugly, but I think in almost every instance time has been very kind to them. I won't put all 400+ shots up, seeing as Seth and Dollywobbler has covered most the ground but I'll put up a few that caught my eye. This is the first time I've been to this event and although a few of the cars were familiar to me, the variety was breathtaking - and as bonus, hardly any open topped 2 door models, 4x4 or Jaguars - just the genuine underdogs.

 

Asides from the cars, the show was well organised and had a nice calm vibe to it - the material grade A metal and as Seth captured in his snaps, owners with that typically British character - I wish I spent more time photographing the people, but I was anxious to get in as many cars as I got there late.

 

Another highlight for me was the non-functioning loud speakers for a while, a series of odd cryptic crackled noises followed by a dog barking, made me laugh out loud several times. Anyway....

 

Quite a few non-BL vehicles were allowed to be displayed.

 

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One of a small number of Maxis, it appears that these haven't been cherished as the other models despite its very long production run. Shame really, another example of what could have been a world beater.

 

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The owner of this bought it new, and actually wrote to BL about the car wayward handling. They wrote back and called him a liar, he still has the letters too.

 

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German registered Allegro 1 - must be close to unique out there. I've noticed a lot of historic German cars making appearance with the H suffix - I assume its to do with mileage/taxation issues.

 

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These were neat......

 

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....but nowhere as cool as this dude.

 

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Very good Princess turn out - this model was a 1978 special edition model.

 

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The worlds longest oil slick. Ok thats unfair.....

 

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Because again, like the Fiesta fest I saw a few weeks back, to see so many SD1 together reminds you how great looking these cars are - David Bache designed probabily one the worlds most elegant hatchbacks.

 

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A 2000 pov spec model - I didn't get a snap of the engine bay, but I think Mash might have.

 

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Speaking of which, here's his car which he managed to sell with no problems!

 

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http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4854720938_20f542e033_o.jpg

 

Surprisingly few minis too, but like the other more recognised BL family, they tend to have their own events.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4854104469_6da6ac543a_o.jpg

 

Great selection of rally cars included too.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4854725852_ef8863eba3_o.jpg

 

More current stuff.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4854109609_3ef8652b03_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4854106717_f9267974e5_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4854105849_369d0e91d9_o.jpg

 

This was neat. Non turbo version too, both versions were massive sellers.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/4854109757_f4bdcd8590_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4854723342_b20fd2a19f_o.jpg

 

Would this Maestro be a Tickford version?

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4854100987_9b4cba114b_o.jpg

 

...and finally a more sedate selection of beauties.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4854730226_3366f76522_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4139/4854107799_56c52a8c2c_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4854727696_539d427143_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4139/4854107193_185e5c949a_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4854728320_c1d2fd0257_o.jpg

 

How neat is this Westie?

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4854728998_8b3735f196_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4854728660_e0d74df992_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4854103173_f29839de52_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4854720688_b700b33e48_o.jpg

 

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http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4854723080_aba3f0280e_o.jpg

 

Probabily all in all the best £3.50 I've spent in a long time.

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Oh yes!, I think next year i WILL have to go to this (and avoid the thought of going to see anything with a japanese badge instead), I love your photos, These two in peculiar are full of WIN.

 

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The owner of this bought it new, and actually wrote to BL about the car wayward handling. They wrote back and called him a liar, he still has the letters too.

 

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8)

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Always contentious and always going to be a source of debate, but the breadth of cars on display today speak for themselves I think. I have no problems with Retro-rides forum and its mods and members, but I rarely post stuff there - it moves far too quickly for my tired old eyes.

 

Here's my pick of cars from the day, which again were very diverse - like the owners really. Bumped into lots of old friends and met some new ones too.

 

Start off with some German beauties.

 

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I think this is my car of the show - its almost certainly the earliest around. Curiously this was initially marketed as a coupe until the Scirocco arrived.

 

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Good GM turn out too.

 

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I love manta A's. I would like to get one, one day.

 

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I think this would be one of those Viva E models I mentioned recently - the Droopsnoot had been discontinued due to low sales so they used the shells but placed puny 1200cc lumps in them.

 

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GRRRR.

 

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I think this belongs to occasional poster Briandamaged. Nice to see one so clean and original.

 

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Then some Fords:

 

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http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4876567472_a413d6eef9_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4876568748_d2c15ecd70_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4876568618_821dbefc1c_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4876571864_aeddb55145_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4875962401_217080344e_o.jpg

 

As ever, a great Japanese car presence. This has to be the biggest collection of Datsuns I've seen for a long time - time for a proper display next year I think.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4876569102_d1f7dd60e4_o.jpg

 

Not rat look - just genuinely neglected. I think this was a barn find.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4876569274_e84da872d8_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4876569436_fb7c1b770a_o.jpg

 

Extensively restored.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4875961557_9123882328_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4875962217_a7dce4a326_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4875967257_459172de54_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4876570122_88e9f9fcfd_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4875962725_404db9e9bb_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4876567628_f637c1403a_o.jpg

 

These were actually imported into the UK in facelifted form in the late 60's. This is a Dutch example.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4876566794_703ed00803_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4876568270_5d7d46b2d4_o.jpg

 

Turbo version

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4876688198_7678a3bce7_o.jpg

 

I quite like these, never officially imported but joins the odd list of curious Nissans that were built.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4876570912_611665baa2_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4876576970_5f4b704181_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4876574200_197d9d9617_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4876578410_e46bb3af43_o.jpg

 

Selection of BL stuff.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4875969351_05ecb66a3e_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4139/4875966333_40011d57f5_o.jpg

 

This was really well done - roof graphics made up from 60's motown record sleeves

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4875960757_957fd76e08_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4875961367_92701679c6_o.jpg

 

I haven't seen a MG Montego for years - bizarrely this is the 3rd I've seen over the last week.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4876567298_7088320848_o.jpg

 

Some Rootes stuff.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4876574356_3564792913_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4876573348_41e364aa18_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4875967739_08f310d4e5_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4876570298_68f9a216f2_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4876573704_23f088ba30_o.jpg

 

And a few of the others.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4875960281_2d45852f71_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4139/4876568062_0c0e960327_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4876567922_7ef704e17d_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4876573882_ea36d528ed_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4876577270_486b566b70_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4876575534_d63410e022_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4875963301_dbc1b71fff_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4875965947_3f9dc043d9_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4876567128_edc4116c9b_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4876577446_2fa23afff1_o.jpg

 

EDIT: Forgot to post this up too.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4876255525_ee89f5ac9d_o.jpg

 

It was parked up behind the Haynes Museum and was last taxed in 1999.

 

...and this one was spotted at Gaydon about 2 weeks ago - in slightly better condition - as they updated it, it lost some the curves but maintained its right to be shite.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4876865508_202c6a2226_o.jpg

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