Infamous Shite in History.

[Skut]

3 hours ago, warren t claim said:

During my more idle moments this week I've been pondering this unsolved case from north of the border. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_MacRae

 

One of those events that could be as simple as a drunk man crashing a Volvo or an assassination. The explanation that SNP firebrand Macrae crashed and then shot himself with his own antique firearm in a fit of remorse strikes me as a bit pat. Your going to have a massive hit of adrenaline after rolling a car.  It will be a rare high for a depression sufferer and not a likely moment to top yourself. Christ its only a totalled maroon Volvo. 

A man with a lot of enemies. The British nuclear industry amongst them. 

[DoctorRetro]

Surely this is infamous? 

[Motown]

On 11/15/2011 at 9:26 AM, Vin said:

 

Ian Gow was blown up by the IRA in 1990. He died in his Montego.

 

 

 

If you want an 'Infamous Shitefest' you should read the description of the Hungerford Massacre. Random deaths and shite aplenty

I remember seeing footage of the Hungerford Massacre that poor copper in the Vauxhall Senator riddled with bullets didnt stand a chance  

[PiperCub]

9 hours ago, Skut said:

One of those events that could be as simple as a drunk man crashing a Volvo or an assassination. The explanation that SNP firebrand Macrae crashed and then shot himself with his own antique firearm in a fit of remorse strikes me as a bit pat. Your going to have a massive hit of adrenaline after rolling a car.  It will be a rare high for a depression sufferer and not a likely moment to top yourself. Christ its only a totalled maroon Volvo. 

A man with a lot of enemies. The British nuclear industry amongst them. 

Wouldn't be the first - Karen Silkwood? Just sayin'

[JeeExEll]

That Volvo blends in well. Nice scenic picture there.

[PiperCub]

On 11/1/2017 at 12:17 PM, Datsuncog said:

Conservative MP and Shadow Northern Ireland Minister Airey Neave's Mk1 Cavalier, following the detonation of an INLA bomb which killed him while leaving the Houses of Parliament underground carpark in March 1979. Security to the car park was stepped up as a result. I first saw this picture in an 'Illustrated History of the 20th Century' library book as a kid, and it made me stop because it looked so ordinary on one level (Cav coming out of a car park), and so definitely not ordinary on another.

 

As an ex-WW2 army officer on the cusp of becoming the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Neave was seen by militant Republicans as a "legitimate target". Some more moderate Nationalists however despaired at the killing, as Neave's experiences as a POW in Colditz had left him with an abiding hatred of torture and human rights abuses. He had already vowed to gather evidence and take action in his capacity as SoS against allegations of brutality and collusion by elements of the security forces in Northern Ireland. SDLP leader Gerry Fitt commented at the time, "those responsible for his death may have killed a friend rather than an enemy."
 

 

Remember this one as my dad had just got a Mk1 Cavalier himself. I thought it was weird that someone of influence and power was driving the same car as my dad. But if someone wanted to be under the radar then it's a good choice to be in something that blends in. 

Didn't know Neave's history (I was a kid) until much later, at the time I thought he was just another politician. Gerry Fitt's comment made way more sense after that. 

[Vinylseats]

Scene of the Brink's-Mat robbery in 1983.

 

 

I was wondering if the Allegro was involved in the robbery, but it's probably just an unmarked police car 1983-style.

[warren t claim]

I love it when one of my threads from the dead gets exhumed!

[sierraman]

18 hours ago, Vinylseats said:

Scene of the Brink's-Mat robbery in 1983.

 

 

I was wondering if the Allegro was involved in the robbery, but it's probably just an unmarked police car 1983-style.

No, they used a Mk2 Transit for the actual robbery to load all the gold on and for reconnaissance on the day a Hillman Avenger Estate. The inside man had a Manta. 

[Richard_FM]

I've made the effort to re-read this thread from the start.

A while back I checked out all of the Yorkshire Ripper's cars on the DVLA site & wasn't surprised none of them are on the database.

One of the cars used in the A34 murders was sold to a second hand dealer who deliberately burnt it out in a public display rather than sell it on.

The IRA targetting British personnel in mainland Europe led to the withdrawal of the black & white British Forces numberplates which made them easy targets.

[warren t claim]

 

42 years ago today.

[Pieman]

On 5/4/2022 at 8:03 PM, sierraman said:

No, they used a Mk2 Transit for the actual robbery to load all the gold on and for reconnaissance on the day a Hillman Avenger Estate. The inside man had a Manta. 

Wasn't prolific saloon car racer Nick Whiting said to be involved in the Brinks Mat robbery?  He ran a performance car garage just down the road from Brands Hatch, and in 1990 he disappeared along with several cars from his garage and was later found murdered and buried in a shallow grave in Essex.

His brother was Charlie Whiting, long time FIA race director, who died suddenly in Melbourne just before the first Grand Prix of 2019.

As for the Willie MacRae case, I don't think that Volvo crashed there at all and I reckon it was placed there - from the pics there doesn't seem to be any disturbance to the ground where it would have left the road.

[sierraman]

7 hours ago, Pieman said:

Wasn't prolific saloon car racer Nick Whiting said to be involved in the Brinks Mat robbery?  He ran a performance car garage just down the road from Brands Hatch, and in 1990 he disappeared along with several cars from his garage and was later found murdered and buried in a shallow grave in Essex.

His brother was Charlie Whiting, long time FIA race director, who died suddenly in Melbourne just before the first Grand Prix of 2019.

As for the Willie MacRae case, I don't think that Volvo crashed there at all and I reckon it was placed there - from the pics there doesn't seem to be any disturbance to the ground where it would have left the road.

Not sure off hand, from what I’ve read I don’t believe he was on the robbery but that many people were having a hand in disposing of the gold that it’s possible he had an association with one of those involved.

[Split_Pin]

Mentioned earlier in the thread, I have one of these.

Word on the street was that she bought a German car to piss off the rest of the Royals for obvious reasons.

[martc]

I should have thought that a German car would please the Saxe-Coburg Gotha's. Now a Jowett Javelin - that could have caused some upset.

[sierraman]

5 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Mentioned earlier in the thread, I have one of these.

Word on the street was that she bought a German car to piss off the rest of the Royals for obvious reasons.

Giving Diana a car to tool about in during the nineties must have been the best PR move you could have made.

[Vinylseats]

Donald Neilson aka the Black Panther's Morris, used in 1975 to transport kidnapped Leslie Whittle from Highley in Shropshire to her place of death in Kidsgrove near Stoke-on-Trent. I believe the car was found in Dudley where a security guard had been shot by Neilson, who later died.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonus image of a young Martyn Lewis reporting about the case

 

 

 

 

 

 

[D.E]

The Swift used in the 2009 Queen's Day attack:

[warren t claim]

On 5/6/2022 at 8:15 AM, Split_Pin said:

Mentioned earlier in the thread, I have one of these.

Word on the street was that she bought a German car to piss off the rest of the Royals for obvious reasons.

Her Audi 80 convertible is now owned by LBC radio presenter Iain Dale. 

[Vinylseats]

Pregnant Marie Wilks' Morris Marina coupe, which broke down on the M50 near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, leading to her being murdered whilst she was using the roadside emergency phone, in 1988.

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Marie_Wilks

 

[Norbert]

On 5/5/2022 at 11:07 PM, Richard_FM said:

One of the cars used in the A34 murders was sold to a second hand dealer who deliberately burnt it out in a public display rather than sell it on.

Raymond Morris' Farina Cambridge was burnt out in March 1969.

A woman I know narrowly avoided Morris by hiding in a bush while he scoured the field she had been playing on. It was her statement that first alerted the police to the fact he'd changed cars (as he'd do again, he had a Consul at the time of his arrest of the same type and colour as the car the arresting officers were driving). 

As a result of this the BMC Farinas are pretty much the only 1960s car my friend hates.

[Eyersey1234]

On 12/14/2015 at 1:39 PM, mercrocker said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One close to my heart.....Rock and roll guitar legend Eddie Cochran died in this Consul in Chippenham, Wiltshire in April 1960 when he was being taken back to the airport to return home to the USA after a tour date at Bristol Hippodrome. Fellow rocker Gene Vincent (and Cochran's girlfriend) were also in the car. This tragic loss of a talented young musician is still commemorated every year near the hospital to which they were all taken.

The irony was that he had recorded a song in memory of Boddy Holly and the others who of course died in a plane crash the year before 

[Markeh]

On 5/8/2022 at 2:56 PM, Vinylseats said:

Donald Neilson aka the Black Panther's Morris, used in 1975 to transport kidnapped Leslie Whittle from Highley in Shropshire to her place of death in Kidsgrove near Stoke-on-Trent. I believe the car was found in Dudley where a security guard had been shot by Neilson, who later died.

Fun fact: After holding two officers at gunpoint in their car, Neilson was eventually captured outside a chippy in the village I grew up in! Still to this day the most interesting thing to happen there other than the village hall burning down once.

[sierraman]

33 minutes ago, Markeh said:

Fun fact: After holding two officers at gunpoint in their car, Neilson was eventually captured outside a chippy in the village I grew up in! Still to this day the most interesting thing to happen there other than the village hall burning down once.

Rainworth?

[Markeh]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Rainworth?

Yep, apart from my time at uni I lived there until 2019. This all went down about 20 years before I was born but it's still a chip shop to this day and the news article's framed inside.

On another note: I vaguely remember watching a documentary about some bombs in London, seem to recall one was found on the street, got picked up and placed in the back of what I think was a Sierra before it went off - aftermath photos showed an early model XM caught by the blast.

[Pieman]

On 10/13/2018 at 2:17 AM, warren t claim said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonar_Colleano#Death

 

Now here's an incident that happened on my doorstep back in 1958.

 

 

 

What actually impresses me as a taxi driver with strong local knowledge is the route he took, it's not the signposted route but the "taxi drivers" route that only people with local knowledge would have known about.

 

 

He would have left the Mersey Tunnel not by the most obvious route but by the now discussed dock exit above which as well as being the mass mortuary in the event of a disaster on Wirral is only used now for movie and TV filming, Bulletproof, Fast And The Furious and Harry Potter.

 

 

He would have slowed down his XK140 here because at the time there was a permanently manned policeman working point duty as the junction had a mix of cars and dock railway trains running day and night.

 

 

And here's the site of his fatal accident, now made safer by a roundabout. It's a mere quarter of a mile from the previously mentioned police box.

 

 

Just found this post - is he any relation to the F1 Stock Car driver of the same name who raced in the early 1980s, or was said driver racing under the same name as a pseudonym or something?

While looking into this I found out something else - according to the OldStox website, the engine from Bonar's (as in the actor) crashed XK140 ended up in this Jaguar-engined F1 Stock Car raced by Jock Lloyd in the early 1960s, and won the 1961 World Final at West Ham!  Maybe there is more to the connection than I thought.



(edit) Found another pic - it looks like the bodyshell is XK140 too, could this also be from Colleano's crashed car?

[JimH]

[greengartside]

8 hours ago, Markeh said:

Yep, apart from my time at uni I lived there until 2019. This all went down about 20 years before I was born but it's still a chip shop to this day and the news article's framed inside.

On another note: I vaguely remember watching a documentary about some bombs in London, seem to recall one was found on the street, got picked up and placed in the back of what I think was a Sierra before it went off - aftermath photos showed an early model XM caught by the blast.

Brick Lane bombings of 1999, IIRC.

[Markeh]

3 minutes ago, greengartside said:

Brick Lane bombings of 1999, IIRC.

That's the one. From this video:

 

[Richard_FM]

13 hours ago, Norbert said:

Raymond Morris' Farina Cambridge was burnt out in March 1969.

A woman I know narrowly avoided Morris by hiding in a bush while he scoured the field she had been playing on. It was her statement that first alerted the police to the fact he'd changed cars (as he'd do again, he had a Consul at the time of his arrest of the same type and colour as the car the arresting officers were driving). 

As a result of this the BMC Farinas are pretty much the only 1960s car my friend hates.

I think he was driving a Vauxhall at one time.