quicksilver

I remember seeing a Morgan van much like that. GR8 design with the back wheel sticking up right in the middle of the load bay and totally exposed so anything you put near it would either fall through the hole or get minced by the wheel. I can't* fathom why they never caught on.

It's bizarre how much that stretched footage of a Chevy Nova with a bent front does look like an AMC Matador so I can see how that became a possibility. Sounds like that night at Wimbledon was a typically chaotic KLF event with them breaking the rules and spoiling it for everyone else by bringing the Pig onto the track. If you had to describe them in one word, 'unpredictable' would be a good choice.

The front looks bent at the start, which is consistent with it hitting the wall during the race. @Philmanns was there so maybe he can remember what happened afterwards? Thinking about it, the footage is very likely to be stretched if it was filmed in 4:3 and edited to fit modern wide screens. As fun as it would have been to have discovered yet another Timelord, I think it's safe to say this car is the same Chevy Nova and it was filmed at Wimbledon after the Nordoff-Robbins race in 1992.

IIRC he did say the Nova was totally destroyed even though he retired early on when it was still mostly intact. Looks like he may have brought it back out after the race and smashed it with the Pig.

It could be a Matador. I don't think it's the Nova unless the footage is stretched as it looks bigger and the rear overhang is longer, like a full-size/intermediate sedan whereas the Nova was a compact. New theory: Cauty brought two cars to Wimbledon that night, raced the Nova in the main event and then smashed the other up with the Pig for the film.

Ooh, more intrigue! As we know JLE was for sale in 1992, could Cauty have bought it from that guy called Ox? Would he have blown £1500 just to smash it up? Given what they did to the million that's probably a yes. On the other hand, that ad is from October, which doesn't leave much time to prepare it, race and edit the footage before the end of the year. Throwing another spanner in the works, it had a keeper change in September 93 and a new V5 in November, both after the tax ran out. Maybe the film was made in 1993?

This 100%. It's fundamentally for the exact same reasons we shiters like to drive older cars despite their occasional challenges but the majority of people don't. Hauliers like Rob Gassor and Bob Carmichael really do embody autoshite principles as applied to trucks.

And right on cue after I mentioned him, Rob's Uncle Phil turned up this morning.

There's only one man that could be: the infamous local character Robert Gassor aka Nobby. He loves ERFs, has had that one for years and drives it very enthusiastically. I've seen him many times, along with his uncle who has a slightly newer blue one.

Flitwick car show yesterday had a few trucks in attendance, mostly modern ones from local fleets but also these two oldies. The first is obviously a Bedford KM... But the second I wasn't sure about other than being an AEC Luckily the owner appeared while I was looking at it so I asked him what it is. It's a wartime AEC 0854 6x6 that he thinks was either a tanker or crane, one of a pair rebuilt after the war by timber merchants B & J Davies with Gardner engines, new cabs and timber crane bodies. Top speed of 28mph and an unladen weight of about 8.5 tons.

Anyone ever heard of a 126-inch Land Rover? Yes, I do mean 126 and not 127. This might be the only one. It's a leaf-sprung Series III V8 built alongside early coil-sprung 110s so putting the standard 17-inch extensions in a 109 chassis meant it ended up an inch shorter than the 127. The Hi-Cap body and Hiab aren't original and it was new to Avon & Somerset Police with a Harvey-Frost crane for winching paramedics over cliffs to tend to the unfortunates who fell off.

Tiny do some lovely stuff and those Transits are little beauties. They weren't easy to get in the UK until recently but now there's a few retailers over here. I have the other fire version, which I anglicised by removing the Chinese writing, adding UK numberplates and swapping the red beacon for a blue one. Mine didn't have the cool fire alarm packaging though, just a cardboard box. And the police minibus that got repainted as so many coach operators had them.

Fair enough, there were some Northants operators who had Vega Majors so at least one probably ended up on hire to United Counties at some point. I have that model of the SB; there were two of them (ODL 48 was the other IIRC) that as you say only made a brief appearance and were very much oddballs that didn't see much use. Also good to see a Jeffs coach as they were my local operator until twice finding themselves part of groups that collapsed spectacularly, first Bowens and then an ill-fated 'rescue' by the notorious King Long.

That's a peculiar choice of livery for a code 3. United Counties never had anything that looked even remotely like that and were a committed Bristol operator.

Just seen this. From a distance I thought it was a common-or-garden VW Type 2, then when it got closer maybe a Barkas, but no, it's a Skoda 1203. There can't be many of these over here.

I saw P16 COW today. Gr8 pl8 for a farmer so I'd expect it on a livestock truck or 4x4. It's a brand new Audi e-Tron registered two days ago so is that what modern farmers are driving?

Wheels look Austin too. Counties A40/A70 with a home-made body would be my guess.

Nobody commented on the humorous name on the yellow bus behind the DeLorean so here it is: Buster Skulenbach. I think it's a great name for a school bus company but nobody seems to have ever used it in real life.

One of the best FOD weekends. Good to see so many visitors and such a diverse lineup of cars - it's fair to say Chris and Claire's vehicular taste is eclectic. Highlight for me was having a go in the Xantia Activa, even if only round the field. It's so weird to drive round in circles on full lock with the car staying dead flat and I'm now wondering just how quickly it could handle the many roundabouts of MK.

Here's a curio. An unnamed 1/76 3D print of a DeLorean acquired on ebay a few years ago. It was quite roughly finished and a lot of ridges were apparent in the body so, inspired by the recent Hubnut test, I've sanded it down and repainted it. Looks far better now I think, but @eddyramrodwon't like it as it's the wrong material - an unpainted metal car modelled in painted plastic

I guess it was a new variant using a different body on the existing tipper chassis and they didn't bother changing the base. Mint ones are worth strong money, around £150-200, and you could invest* in a reproduction box for a mere £23!

That's because it isn't a tipper. It's the number 425 flatbed coal lorry and would have carried some sacks and a weighing scale. Somebody's turned the headboard round for some reason - the Hall & Co name should be on the front.

I don't recall ever seeing a picture of RM738 with that weird grille before. One of Chiswick's many experiments no doubt.

Fun fact: the Crayford W114 uses a modified Maxi tailgate but the W108's was from the Mk1 Granada.

Exactly this. The phenomenon can be summed up in two words: Days. Gone.