barrett

Some footage of the weekend including Leyat on the road here

These are the real ones, but there are several replicas around. A guy I know has a wonderful, very authentic-looking replica down in Surrey

No, there's only two genuine ones, a saloon in private ownership and a torpedo in a Paris museum - this is a recreation Jeff Lane had built a few years ago which I think lives in France at least some of the time. Was pretty amazing seeing it just driving about on the road - ditto the 1893 Salvesen steamer which was also on the same event. Both make the Peugeot look pretty sensible

Well guess what? It's 'drive a tiny car to France' time again 300 miles in two fairly relaxed days of driving, with a cruising speed of about 38mph. Other unsuitable cars were seen, wine was drunk, food eaten etc, all lovely stuff Managed 100 miles on the way back before this happened which sadly ended things, as it was only barely driveable like that. Cadged a lift back, car still in France awaiting recovery. Not a bad effort though. In other news, this happened a couple of days ago... Not sure WTF happened there, it just spontaneously shattered. Brings the total number of working old cars down to zero, and the total number of working cars whatsoever to one (The exhaust has also fallen off my 206 - must be a Peugeot thing) which is annoying, but I guess everything'll be sorted at some juncture, can't get too stressed about old cars not working, eh?

At the risk of being voted Internet's Most Humourless Man for the third year in a row, as a Renault 16 owner I can't let that go. Philippe Charbonneaux had no input in the R16 design. He was a self-publicising fantasist who would take credit for anything if he thought it would further his career (just like Raymond Loewy, who somebody once claimed designed the Coca-Cola bottle. He simply didn't correct them, and decades later it's still reported as fact). The R16 was designed by Gaston Juchet.

Had a highly detailled dream last night that I'd found a shop selling lots of cheap old diecast, and I was going round taking photos of everything I wasn't buying myself for 'the men on the internet' to see if you wanted anything. Then went to my local Sainsbury's, which had a small toy section featuring some very nicely detailed 1:24 models of 1982 Sherpas, in panel van, pick-up, minibus body styles. £18.99 each, which seemed a bit steep but I was going to pay for it with my nectar points. Ah, but twas just a dream...

Get an old paint brush and slather on a load of old engine oil to the sides of the leaf springs when you do the oil change. There probably was a manufacturer-approved product at the time, but using old oil is general practice in the Vintage car world for anything with leaves. Possibly not much help if they're already totally seized up but I make a point of doing it every now and then with my old stuff and it certainly doesn't hurt things.

Finally found a Flavia Coupé I can afford £1300 ono https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/575108667483175/

who's the lad on here with an Espace addiction? Surely the wheels are worth £100 alone

@Rust Collector £800 Monaco in Newhaven. Needs sills for MoT (included) https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/937932034112683/

What's the thing bottom right that looks like a Bentley Continental?

I think I'll always regret not buying this thing, even more so now I've seen what the most recent owner has done to it Wasn't exactly perfect before, but it looks absolutely dreadful now. Only a full respray can fix that. Idiots.

That's really cool. Love and old-school 2-doorisation, don't really see that sort of stuff any more

It's definitely been got at, and as such I would very much like to commission a @bunglebus restoration on this car in the colour scheme of my BX, please and thank you. Will pay moderately handsomely.

I've been meaning to show these on here for ages, and a conversation about Monicas just now made me get the book of the shelf, so here it is. Norev was planning a plastic 1:43 Monica toy but it was canned when the real thing went under. Such a shame!

Yeah, if that was a 'short boot' car I'd probably be figuring out a way to buy that. Looks great!

I think the best thing for this is to be cubed and forgotten. Like Savile's Range-Rover carawagon thing, there can't be many people who would want to preserve something associated with such an unpleasant person. Scrap it and move on.

I did! I can't say I'm that interested in 'liveried' cars though, particularly when the civilian Renault 12 is in such a nice colour There's a not-too-expensive (unboxed) axample on ebay at the moment, actually, but I can't afford to spend any more money on fripperies this month

Hello men. I've been very broke recently so went a while without picking up anything new, but I have had a couple of post-payday packages arrive this week. First up, I struggled to resist this lovely AMT Ford Torino dealer model that @bunglebus found recently, which he very kindly sold me for what it cost him despite it almost certainly being worth quite a bit more on the open market. It's big! Not sure why, really, but it's found a shelf space to sit on for now. More on-brand for me are these I already have the Indra, but I couldn't resist a couple of boxed Pilens. The Mangusta is something I've been looking for for a while. I've always been curious about the origins of this one. According to my source, Pilen No 313 was launched in 1970 in this bronze and a chrome-plated version. Having never seen one up close, I've never been able to figure out if it's based on an existing casting or if it's a 'unique' Pilen before It's probably most closely related to the Dinky version, which also has the opening engine cover, and has a base which forms the front and rear valances like this does However, after studying photos of al the other 1:43 Mangustas online I reckon this is actually a unique casting, as none of the details match up. Obviously the main difference is this one has opening doors, but that means the entire construction of the roof and pillars is quite different. The inclusion of the glass roof is an oddity for a model launched in 1970 (only the 1967 prototype had this feature) but only Solido built a production-type version with a solid roof. I think the jury is still out here, but there's enough different to make me think this is a Pilen original, and as such I've added it to my list. sidebar - what's the origin of the Nacoral Mangusta? Fixed engine cover, but opening bonnet and doors. Glass roof, but valances are part of the body casting. Is this another original? The 'new' Indra is a bit more complete than my old one This is one of my favourites - the opening boot in particular (and this is difficult to describe) just fits so nicely (the one on the left is actually slightly open) - there's a lip in the body casting and another lip in the bootlid so the shutlines are miniscule. Unneccessary and expensive and very satisfying. Time for a group shot I guess That's nine (I think) 'originals' and a couple of re-casts. Really glad I don't collect these things or else it could get out of hand.

New(ish) Autocult release Ouch. I love this brand - they make exactly the sort of weird old shit I'm interested, but I've never been tempted to actually buy one before (they're c.£100) but that's one for my sheld of 'cars wot I've owned' which I never thought would exist. Alright, it's a Monteverdi, but for all intents and purposes it's near-identical to the Heron. Better start saving.

Crikey! got some MoT left, too. I wonder what's wrong with it? Or, more specifically, what isn't wrong with it...

Well if you're going to poke the bear, No5 is a Méan Sonora. Built in the town of Méan, Belgium, from 1966-71-ish. GRP, mid-engined sports car witha choice of power - Ford Cortina or Renault R8 the most numerous

Yes, I know what they are, but we all know I'm not allowed to play these games...

voila! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204328086327

It'd be great to find out how viable this might be to save. Just looking at that wheel, it looks better than the ones fitted to our one, and I assume there will be plenty of other small bits and pieces which are shared by petrol and electric versions that would be worth salvaging. Did anyone get anywhere with tracking it down?