NorfolkNWeigh

That last post was in the ether since last night’s shutdown. I was thinking about Telly and Film influences on things becoming classics. But I’ve come up with nothing! Where’s the 21st Century Saint’s Volvo or Regans Consul ? Even humdrum stuff like Hillman Imps, Minis and FD Victors instantly bring to mind the Fims and TV shows from my youth. Apart from Fast and Furious bollocks all I can think of are IronMan’s R8 and the Transporter A8s.

My Dad is a member of a “ Classic Car Club” at his house in Brittany, I went with him to a meeting one Sunday at a village fete type thing. His TR4 was one of about 15 Triumphs, probably more MGs , a few Jags and old Yanks . Local stuff? One Traction Avant and 2 Peugeot 203s - one of which was painted up as a US Army Staff Car! almost as weird as the US Army Fergie TE21in his local village. In fact they love anything American, if my Old Man takes his S1 Land Rover anywhere, everyone thinks it’s a WW2 Jeep, one of his neighbours even got him to take his daughter to a prom in “ Le Jeep” ! It amazes me that you’re far more likely to see a nice 60’s/70’s or 80’s big Citroen or Pug in Notting Hill than in the whole of France.

Everything on my drive, about 6 months after I sell or scrap the fucker, obviously.

When I attended the RR School in 1983, I remember being warned about the annoying noises made by these modern leather rimmed steering wheels when shuffling the wheel. The only time passengers should be aware of the chauffeur is if you’ve been asked to hurry somewhere, then you should drive at the same speed but make a few exaggerated steering or pedal inputs to give the impression of going faster. To be fair the senior instructor was probably there when @Six-cylinder’s car was made.

The other big difference is that it’s not an Insignia.

Just went to my local ( Milton Keynes) B&M for some cheap Lino, they don’t sell it anymore , but they have a lot of Hotwheels for £1.69 each. Don’t know what happened to this Zakspeed? x-Pack ? Mk2 RS2 but I don’t care, it’s mine now. ( incidentally ended up spending £80 in B&Q for cheap Lino rather than B&Ms £48😕)

Also if like the one the Met had , there was a rear facing seat that a Copper with a gun would sit with the doors open, saw it more than once escorting prisoners away from Bow Street when I had an office overlooking in 81-84.

If the Thames Compressor gets nearer a fiver id like it , if only because I was brought home from hospital when born , in a similar Thames Pink Paraffin tanker.

If the Cortinas still available please start me a new box with it !!

That Consul is lovely, but the Siku Granada offends me so much I want to buy one off eBay and turn into a banger racer after a destruction derby using a lump hammer.

Seems somebody at VAG ( Italian Asian Wedding Rental Division) was influenced by the Dime Store Buggy.

As I’m a bit weird , whenever I see a new Range Rover with double shark fins I think of the twin Flying A’s on the Atlantic. In the 1960’s Birmingham Science Museum only had a couple of cars , one of them a green Atlantic, I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen whenever I visited on primary school trips. Everyone else was getting excited by the giant trains and industrial machines, I’d be staring longingly at the Atlantic.

The museum closed at least 5 years ago, if you saw a green VR6 Corrado or blue Golf R estate that’d be my little brother , he lives just along from the shop.

Mrs N had a blue C reg MG 2.0 efi in 1992 when our offspring outgrew her XR3i . I ended up going to a breakers in Birmingham just to get red rear seatbelts, I also put some 14” steel wheels on it because the alloy centres were missing. It was faster than the XR3 and even towed our big Bessacar caravan once when I couldn’t blag a company car with a towbar for a weekend away. Swapped it for a C reg VdP SD1 after a couple of months. That was immaculate too, sigh, I miss the Golden age of cheap one or two owner BL stuff.

I picked up my first Ford Cars in April or May 1975 - I was 11. I had a complete set up to 1980 when I left school and didn’t walk past Lloyd Motors of Aberaeron every lunchtime. I occasionally picked one up up until 1987 when I again got a new one every month, as we got sent them at work up until they stopped printing them. At one time I could tell you exactly what a Cortina GL had over and above the ‘ L’ etc. They also educated me ‘ in lieu’ , ‘ appliqué’ etc words I only ever saw in Ford Cars. Alas , most were lost in the Great Magazine Shed water disaster of 2008, but I’ve still got a few and I’m going to read a couple now.

Le Cogbox nouveau c’est arrive ! Now the ( fully valeted) Corgi DB4 and the Junior Pacer I was expecting, I’d forgotten about the most of the others, especially the tiny A60 and the Corgi Rockets Capri. And of course my wife just came out to ridicule me as I was comparing the suspension travel of thin wheel Superfast, vs wide wheel , Whizzwheels and Rockets.

Here or maybe here? I actually go to Old Ford every Thursday as my Guvnor is involved in the Gentrification of Old Ford Lock, building fancy apartment blocks . The best things are the Pie and Mash shop down Roman Rd and Dino’s Cafe at New Spitalfields Market. When it’s all lentil weavers in their £1,000,000 rabbit hutches no doubt this will disappear. But then I won’t be going there anymore.

Think yourself lucky they didn’t persevere with the Maxi running gear. I used to walk past one of these every day on my way from Euston to Covent Garden, the same street had an X-Pack mk2 Capri Turbo and a ( the ?) SD1 estate, what a time to be alive! Needs a turbo and SlotMags.

The internet is obviously a cunt. SR is Sport Rallye. Opel badged various Sporty cars as “ Rallye” until a GM bean counter pointed out they could save millions by abbreviating it to R , this was patented by The Rover Motor Car Company for their ultra high performance 105 R and 110 R not to be confused with the Skoda S110R Coupe which got around the copyright infringement because of the communists regime not respecting British Empire traditions , hence their downfall not long after Vauxhalls adoption of SR for semi sporty small and mid range hatchbacks . The Company Director nonsense has already been dealt with and the designations implied connection to the ter Corps Diplomatiq and its little CD plaques accepted. Although Vauxhall very cleverly avoided saying anything in this non information. Your Astra in this great tradition of nonsensical badging appears to show no Xtra Sportiness to the untrained eye band you should remove the lying badges as soon as possible. Maybe find some from a more suitably monikered vehicle ; Citroen Traction Avant Normale or if your status allows a Renault 21 Manager.

Someone posts a picture of young Fred West with potentially an early victim crossing Oxford St behind a Fiat Dino Coupe and the number plate is all you notice?

After reading Car religiously from the age of 11 I made many costly mistakes buying terrible money pits because I remembered favourable Giant Test results. A Renault 17 Gordini, Lancia Beta Coupe and a GSA spring to mind all were theoretically superior to the Cortinas, Capris and even Zodiacs and Granadas that I inevitably went back that actually functioned as transport to work in between the Setright, Nichollls, Fraser recommended Furriners.

Excited by the reminder of the DB4, I looked for my other early Corgis. I obviously need to try harder, although somewhere I’ve got a Plymouth Suburban that was my Dad’s only non Dinky. That Classic is the former @FakeConcernand @eddyramrod, I think. Acquired in a deal for an X350 Jag. If only full size ones were a similar value these days.

Thanks , you really do go above and beyond when it comes to hunting down tiny Tat. Could I settle up for my goodies to date please ? No rush and don’t tell me what’s in there, my memory is atrocious and I enjoy the surprise!

Hate to see a 70’s Corgi Junior left behind with the modern Chineses shit, so if you happened to pick the Pacer up or are going back I wouldn’t mind it falling into my box. thanks.

I used to make mine sit in the back of a Montego, probably a safeguarding issue these days.