AnthonyG

God I remember that! Must be at least 15 years now. I remember thinking at the time it was pretty hardcore of you! In the late noughties/early teens there was still some really ropey 70s chod still knocking about, I remember one of the founders of this forum (Electric Leyland) turning up to a Stondon car museum c.2010 in an early Maxi which had no reverse gear, thus needing pushing into parking spaces so he could escape forwards.

I wondered where all these trucks with a slightly weird name suddenly came from! Are ‘Willi Betz’ and ‘Norbert Dentressangle’ trucks still about? Great names from my days of frequent motorway commuting in the 90s-00s.

Hey @Six-cylinder if the TF doesn’t have an owner’s manual I have a MGF one I can stick in the post for you? Obviously there will be differences but it will be better than nothing if you don’t have one.

Of those two, the 404. But I’d probably be a flash git and get a Vauxhall VX4/90 or something, to impress the ladies down the local Top Rank dance hall. Twin carbs and a chrome spear down the side, what could be better?

On the subject of long lasting Focus diesel estates, Gloucestershire Police have just unearthed a 60 plate example, currently panda-ing around near me.

Fairly sure it was WhatCar? that sellotaped the video to each copy. Car was still fairly independent minded in the early 90s and I doubt someone like Gavin Green would have allowed such a blatant plug, even if the car was a good design, and he was being lent on by the publishers. Nowadays they might as well give away some Porsche owners club tat with each issue, it’s complete rubbish now, Autocar is more objective and that’s a pretty low bar.

£2k is a bit optimistic, that’s just scrap value now. Keep an eye on social media and you might find out what scrap yard it ends up at, could be useful for spares. Although perhaps an enterprising Ukrainian will buy it to confuse Russian drones!

If the new owner of the Crown Vic limo is wondering what to do with it, they are very useful for transporting livestock: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-66668411 I like how only the ‘P’ and ‘O’ letters were removed from the former police vehicle’s markings, so not only was the owner driving about in a car with a bull in it, he was also displaying ‘LICE’ on one side of his car.

‘Empire made’ - that’s going back a bit! Presumably Hong Kong.

Talking of Car Transporters, picked up this at the weekend: A fiver from local BHF charity place. Missing some tyres and the tractor unit has lost its windows and interior, but the carrier is in very good condition. I thought I would be able to pick up a replacement Scammell tractor unit on the bay for less than a tenner posted, however a browse on Monday proved I may have to look at fixing it instead, as these are nothing like as common or cheap as the Bedford TK tractor units. A couple of the other complete pairs for sale on eBay were also missing the tractor unit’s windows/interior, so looks like this is common. Despite this, the sellers were still asking considerably more than I paid for the above!

@Datsuncog, interested in some of the Buragos, can I start a new box with the blue Tipo, the ‘Abarth’ silver Cinquecento, and the Lancia Delta S4 please.

To the best of my knowledge, only the Firebird, Bonneville and Tempest were ever sold here new (albeit through specialist dealers) so it looks like the rest were created when a single car was imported - for instance an ‘Acadian’ was a Canadian market model. Given ‘Pontiac Model Missing’ seems to be a category I’m surprised they won’t just accept Pontiac TranSport or whatever.

I imagine all the Crown Vics had been retired now, they were last built in 2010. Mind you, that sheriff’s Impala looks quite old, that body style was replaced around 2013 IIRC. Generally Sheriffs’ departments seem to keep cars for longer than others, maybe because they are mainly used as ‘personal transport’. I imagine city patrol cars get worn out the quickest.

Are you missing a Peugeot badge for the boot lid or did you take it off for the repaint? I still have a box of badges from when I had a summer job in a breakers yard, I can look and see if there is a Peugeot one in there if you want.

That’s it! I knew you would know who it was 😀!

@quicksilver, I followed an early/mid 1990s grey ERF tractor unit pulling some sort of bulk liquid trailer, on my way back from the last FoD event . It pulled out of front of me on the Buckingham to Bicester road, about halfway along, it turned across me very sharpish from the large farm which advertises pick your own asparagus frequently. Initially I was like ‘WTF’ but then it proceeded to travel at least 70mph for most of the rest of the way, I struggled to keep up with it, it only slowed down (to about 60-65) when it caught up a National Express coach about 3 miles out of Bicester, which it proceeded to tailgate all the way to the roundabout by the Heritage place, where it shot off in the direction of Aylesbury. Lots of diesel smoke puffing out of the stack. It did not appear to brake at any point in the journey, maybe the trailer lights were disconnected. The trailer had no plate so no idea of the actual year. It seemed illegal on several fronts, and also absolutely perfect if someone ever wanted to remake Duel but this time set it in Buckinghamshire. I assume it is well-known, or perhaps notorious locally?

Maybe the vital bit of hose for the Ferrari’s cooling system will turn out to be also used on the Fiat 128 or something, and will turn out to cost 3 Euros. Alternatively it may have been handcrafted by a Modenese artisan, and as he only makes 10 a year, subject to major Ferrari Supertax. The cooling system diagram does demonstrate what a relatively simple car the 308 is. Unlike the 1990s onwards ones, 348, 355 etc. The 404 is looking (almost) respectable now!

From a dealer ad in the April 1966 issue of MotorSport. Someone had an old Bentley and a hankering for a ‘61-64 Lagonda Rapide…

Some recent charity shop finds: Corgi MiniMetro, more or less mint so was happy to pay a fiver.. And a Corgi Fiat x/19 for £3: Finally a late 60s Corgi Pontiac Firebird for £1:50, this one needs a replacement windscreen:

The yellow ‘Dodge’ Charger is an Australian Chrysler Valiant Charger, circa 1971/2. Maybe the owner put Dodge badges on it - although an Aussie would be appalled at such trickery, they were very popular down under. Green modern thing is Lamborghini, I think it is an Aventador. The Rover P5 is lovely, nice to see a saloon as well.

Just praying for decent weather now.

‘Not ULEZ exempt’ lol. Sadiq Khan should be paying HMC £800 just to keep it out of London! Absolutely epic.

Mmmm Cadillac! What’s happening on Friday? I have the day off so can be about from the mid-afternoon onward. I will also bring that 1980s Blaupunkt Melbourne radio/cassette with me, we can try it in something to see if it is alive. Was it the Metro you wanted the period radio for?

Cops are moving to SUVs like everyone else. Gloucestershire police has XC60s.

Superb. Looking forward to seeing this in a couple of weeks time. Have you bought slowsilver his cap and gloves yet?