Magnificent Rustbucket

I have never driven on a motoring holiday in France, but when I went as a kid and I went with my parents we would have occasional bursts of speed on the Autoroute like that (generally when my mother was complaining we would never get there on my dad's meandering route) - but we never did it consistently. My father liked a powerful car and I remember we once covered the distance between two peages too quickly and were made to park up and wait for a period. My father was quite relieved there was no fine. People used to drive in far faster in the UK way-back too. I remember kneeling on the back seat of an XJ12L and watching all the cars disappear into the distance through the rear window as it wizzed along at nigh-on 150 mph on the newly opened M56. No seatbelts or anything. Different times - this would have been the mid-70s, I guess.

When I was a small child on holiday in the South of France in the late '70s, I remember my dad talking to a fellow who had driven down there in an A30, all the way from the North East of England with his wife and two children. They were camping somewhere IIRC. I wasn't particularly impressed - but my father was (his first car was an A35), which is why I remember it. In those days it was a 'thing' for people with a powerful car to do the journey from Cheshire where I lived to the South of France in one day. You could do some real speed back then. It was an anathema to my dad who preferred gentle touring with lots of stops, but he had a couple of friends who did it, one of whom had a Mercedes 450SEL. I was far more impressed by the idea of powering down in one day in a big V8 - but I remember my father saying the guy making the same or longer journey in an A30 four-up with luggage was far more of a feat. Forty years later, I agree with him.

What a superb spotting thread.

Yes, they drive quite well actually, in an old-fashioned gung-ho fun sort of way. I like the Z3 2.8.

I'm surprised an Eventer was ever cheap enough to be bangered. I don't remember them being down to 'throw away' money like the ordinary XJ-S and the XJ saloons. I guess the man was prepared to spend a bit to race a rarity.

1941 Cadillac Series 60 Special.

Ford LTD in the early 1980s.

My Jaguar was initially registered with a K plate, but had a private plate put on it when it was still fairly new. Some years later the private plate was removed and put on to another car. The DVLA re-issued the original K plate to the car, but marked it 'Non transferable.' Some years further on, the same private plate was put back on to the car. The private plate is not marked non transferable and can be removed and put on to another car. If I was to do so, it is highly likely the DVLA would re-issue the car with the original K plate which would again be non- transferable. As stated by others, it is to prevent 'plate rape'.

FANTASTIC car. Wow.

I haven't visited Autoshite for a while, but have enjoyed reading this.

A Lendrum and Hartman right hand drive Caprice - a rare car. Sad to see it in this state.

The XJ-S has a fly-off handbrake.

Talking of Audis, the Audi 200 of both shapes are a good fit for this thread. They were good cars and very competent against the likes of the Granada, but comedy over-pricing pitted them against the XJ6, the S Class and the 7 series. Vanishingly few were sold - and discounts were huge. I only ever saw one at a dealership, never once on the road.

It was - particularly at over £17,000 in the early 'Eighties. You could have a Jag or an S Class for that.

Ford LTD