R1152

I had a 51-plate one given to me by my sister, in the same way she gave me her G-reg 5 Campus. It was shockingly built compared to the Renault, but my goodness it was fun to drive. Several happy commutes on the A1 in mid-winter in it, with a kind of cosy warmth from the heater my BMW 5er can't manage. Not that economical on a run (the BMW matches it) but better around town. It now does sterling service as a shed, because I can't bring myself to scrap it. Would I have another? Hell yeah I would.

They're probably going through what's now the middle of the slammer there...

At this point I could muddy the waters with "Mk. III or Mk. IV Exec?" but we'll stick with the Mk. IV (which would be my choice too)

Driving home tonight, a thought crossed my mind which I'll place before fellow shiters: Exec or Viscount?

I wonder if "standard" trim was aimed at being a Consul in all but name? Did a "Consul" of sorts disappear in 1970? Odd that it briefly reappeared with the Mk. I Granada.

Ooh, thanks for that - I thought it was across the range. Happy to be corrected! I do remember the odd juxtaposition of the front seat/gearchange option; individual seats plus floor change as an option on the Zephyr, with a bench and column change an option on the Zodiac (or has my mind tricked me again?) And from the days when big cars came in COLOUR!!

"1970 facelift" model - now with a (dummy) grille that matched the Zodiac's.

They were rare in the 80s because they rotted so quickly that most had gone for scrap by the time they were ten years old - if the crap "Essex" V-engines hadn't failed already. My father's one was propped up to about 1990 by both his welding skills and it getting a short motor at seven years old. Sadly, the Mk. IV was revolutionary rather than evolutionary compared to the previous big Fords and suffered badly from Dagenham getting major interference from Dearborn in the shape of one Harley Copp, God rot his socks. Says it all that its replacement came from Cologne.

I had Stomils on my Datsun Sunny.

I wonder if two of my ex-colleagues were on duty at both venues?

@LightBulbFun I have to say I'm struggling to tell the difference between a 67 and a 70...

"Reverse control"? I like the styling of the 12E but to me the ultimate "little blue invalid carriage" (I never used any of the less charitable names for them) will always be the Model 70. I just hope that one day, someone does an electric conversion...

Every day a schoolday re: the Renault 4s 🙂 @LightBulbFun With regard to this photo, what are the two cars behind the leading car?

Or berks doing a "tunnel blast"... Rest of your post, @St.Jude - absolutely superb, considerate and thoughtful advice: "I commend this to The House."

I can understand LBF's frustration when myths and errors get perpetuated by people who should really know better though - in my own little field of interest I've had to combat that, even to the extent of being told I'm wrong because the English-speaking bit of the Internet says otherwise. If @LightBulbFun is doing a book on Invacars and invalid carriages in general, I will certainly put my name down for a copy.