lesapandre

Sorry to hear that BF - the job not the gearbox. Hope the new crew can make something of it. Which mag was it?

Metro at 40. Poor article on the car from the BBC - I don't recall it being designed in 6 weeks or derided -they sold over 2M FFS. They were always a useful little work-a-day thing that took a lot of development - and citing rust on cars decades old seem pretty naff. At least these cars could be fixed unlike a lot of stuff these days. Some - the MG and GTA were a bit aspirational I recall - and even Princess Di had a Metro. Sometimes I feel the BBC are very out of touch. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-54423328

Kind of like the Austin 1800 - falling between various established segments with stiff competition and not particularly durable. The Humber/Sunbeam/Hillman badges could have created some interesting cars. I wonder if any of the V6 engines survived spirited out by some brassed of design engineer. Sigh. I expect not.

He is on Twitter if it is the same: @garagehirst

Silage lagoons you could lose anything in....

Yea I can remember trips round Barcelona in them. Black and yellow and stinking of fags and hot plastic - not me...the taxi.

These are starting to look interestingly different. Interesting thread - I will enjoy hearing about this. Funny how people describe their cars when they sell them.

For Sale !Mira lo que acabo de encontrar! - CHRYSLER 180 2.0 AUTOMATICO https://www.milanuncios.com/venta-de-coches-clasicos/chrysler-180-2-0-automatico-368818257.htm?stc=em-product-android-send_friend

Some of this may have be predecated by the production line width and use of existing rear axle. Just a theory.

Very popular in Spain amongst taxi drivers - can't remember where they were made. Diesels. Probably more successful than you might think. I thing the original plan was to give it a Humber badge.

Peckham Park Road no less...just off the Old Kent Road...here is the nearest lamp post these days if you want to re-enact it in your Focus...(looks like one of those rare snow days in London). The cabin of the Ford held up pretty well...but if you want to see why safety got more important in the 60's - see this:

Some of it was sentimental I think and some perhaps getting rid of the competition in these company take-overs in the 50's. Rootes had sold Singers through their dealer network (they came into car manufacture in a funny way as dealers first then taking on brands to sell) and Lord Rootes had also served his apprenticeship at Singer - perhaps it was another marketing opportunity they saw too? Or maybe they just wanted the factory premises and skilled workforce. Customers were much more brand loyal than today - they would have inherited the Singer customer base (for what it was) and se

Try France when it reopens. Loads about. Some really nice ones. They don't have much of a classic following there at mo. This is minty and 2000€ with CT...down near Cannes. Unachievable at mo - plenty on LeBonCoin all the time. Car just has not much following. There are old bangers for a few hundred € too. Voila... J'ai trouvé une annonce qui devrait vous intéresser sur leboncoin https://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/1859337090.htm

But...if the rolling historic status for cars persists to 2022 and beyond it will be an exemption for early models.

This is always worth reposting. From MCQ. Wayne at his best and beautifully made. Re-musiced and in BW here - I think for copyright infringement reasons. The original is in amazing super-saturated colour. Director John Sturges - and edit work by William Zeigler. Dozens of cuts in it's 4 minutes and numerous individual set-ups. A little story in its own right - with a great pay-off... I recently re-watched The Searchers with Wayne. What a piece of art that is too if you have not seen it.