NorfolkNWeigh

It amuses me that almost every new Range Rover you see has a £25 1980’s steering lock on it , even my local dealers used stock. Although , I’m sitting here in a £130k Sprinter, and guess what security I have to set each night?

Managed to get to a car boot sale this afternoon and spent £2 on some Matchbox and Corgi Juniors Just discovered the SD1 is a pencil sharpener, I was happy that it had tailgate glass. Also picked up this nasty Majorette Golf, just in case it’s any good to anyone for the tailgate and glass.

Volvo are still a bit vague about Police spec , even on their website. But uprated suspension and brakes are mentioned. https://www.volvocars.com/uk/buy/finance-sales/special-sales/emergency-services

Must be at least 20 years, since the current layout with traffic lights . Maybe it’s longer ago than you remember since you visited.

Re the Chevette HS, you weren’t thinking of these Lotus Sunbeams, were you ? One in each standard colour rather than the usual black or metallic blue, can’t imagine they stayed very undercover when seen sideways with that glorious twin cam exhaust note.

They also had a lone ISF, which must have been a real Police car rather than a stickered up display or demo , because I actually saw it patrolling on my one and only visit to Hull.

Always text the seller as Sarah wanting a safe little runabout for taking the kids to school. Then when you arrive mob handed in a foreign plated , but RHD Passat they’ll be so intimidated they’ll give you the car for nothing.

I love your Ghia estate , with the alloys it looks like it should have Cowley’s new desk on the roof.

I tried to convince Mrs N that The Greyhound would be a nice place for dinner last night, unfortunately she remembered us going for lunch there some years ago and Pooh-poohed the idea. It looks a bit nicer than then and just,the fact they have wine means it must have gone a bit upmarket. Im sure there was a Mk3 Granny outside then ( it could have been mine)

Being well engineered and built didn’t make much difference to sales, nor did being technically advanced guarantee any advantage . As Ford demonstrated. The ADO16 was always going to be a tough act to follow, but the Cortina had already taken the top sales spot before the Allegro came along. I think BL was being quite clever hedging their bets with the Marina and Allegro replacing the Austin and Morris 1100/1300. And it paid off if you combine the sales of the two they managed almost 2000000 of the things in 10 years or so and that against the backdrop of struggling to actually make any fucking cars at all due to lack of money, poor management and union unrest When new Allegros were seen as a cut above Escorts, Vivas and Avengers, maybe because they seemed to stay smarter looking longer, less rust and multicoloured panels on older ones , from what I remember. The fleets wanted super basic simple cheap to run shit and Ford in particular gave them that in the Escort. The 1300 Marina was considered Cortina size so wasn’t pushed as an Escort Popular rival even though a stripped out Marina would have done much better than the Allegro in that market. The E Series cars always seemed a bit pointless , as apart from the 5 speed box the 1500 didn’t really offer much more than a 1275 A Series. I always thought a sporty twin carb 1275 with a 5 speed box would have sold pretty well, maybe as an MG. The 1750 SS and Equipe might have looked the part and in theory being pretty nippy, but in reality were not very fast at all, I remember being disappointed reading an early road test , pretty sure it couldn’t break 100 mph. These are just my misremembered ramblings of a car I’ve never owned , driven or even being a passenger in. They certainly weren’t lacking in confidence for the Equippe, if the price is anything to go by ! Only £200 more would by you an RS2000 !

A load of user choosers at a company I worked at had 1.4L Cavaliers because they could have PAS and Abs as options and be the same price as a 1.6 L Cav/Sierra with metallic paint. I drove a lot of them and didn’t really notice them being underpowered.

I’m going older, a Ponton ? maybe one in this picture. ( don’t know why the picture is tiny, I stole it off a Norges Taxi page)

A book I read recently about the people and personality’s of Longbridge mentions an Austin 3 Litre V8 prototype that George Turnbull used as his personal car. Unfortunately the anecdote was from a bloke who was an apprentice at the time , recalling how unreliable it was “ even compared to a standard 3Litre” ! And how he’d be sent to Turnbull’s house with a replacement 3 Litre or 1800 and then get towed back to Longbridge by one of the Department’s Gipsy’s. Although it doesn’t sound as bad as the story that George Harriman refused to have BMC 1 on his 4 Litre R , because of all the disgruntled owners bending his ear at functions!

I was in my Jag, brown XF going towards Finmere, you’d just snapped a 16 tonner of some sort ( Merc?) and a Ferrari was just coming towards you..

My recent spot is not a car, but a person. Friday afternoon on a roundabout on the the A421 in Buckingham, daughter says to me “ Is that a Policeman taking pictures of lorries ? “ “No” says I, “ That’s @quicksilver” !!