S A Barrett's Sussex shite spots: Best Spot Ever???

[bramz7]

Isn't that Cavalier in London? A part of London with a fibreglass cat? 

[barrett]

Well spotted. All those most recent two updates are SE London. Did you know about the R5 round the back?

[bramz7]

I haven't spotted either but when I can go out again I'll make the effort to. Used to be a good part of London to walk around. 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I LOVE KIMCHI

Drop round some cabbage and a tub of Saxa and tell your customers to make their own from now on! MR_Bolloxz epicurean social distancing tips right there.

[High Jetter]

Not seen it for a while, but there's a lovely silver Mescher that lives round here. I think the guy also has a green Gogomobil.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

21 hours ago, barrett said:

Remember when @Mr_Bo11ox pulled one of these out of a field and spent a day manually swapping a load of tyres over so he could a-frame it home? That's one of my all-time favourite shite-saving stories.

 

 

Ha!!!! I had forgotten all about that. Almost 10 years ago now.... holy shit. Here it is if anyone is interested....

 

 

[barrett]

Whatever happened to the old Venger in the end, Reg? 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I sold it in 'partially sorted' condition, can't remember who to but I did see it up for sale again on eBay a few months later by which time it was MOT'd and back on the road. Hope its still out there!!!!

[RobT]

Catford innit, that Cav and 5?  Busy bit of the south circular normally (isn't it all).

[barrett]

14 minutes ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

I sold it in 'partially sorted' condition, can't remember who to but I did see it up for sale again on eBay a few months later by which time it was MOT'd and back on the road. Hope its still out there!!!!

Just looked it up, tax expired this month so hopefully it'll be re-taxed soon. Last keeper change (or new logbook) almost exactly one year ago.

[Skizzer]

1 hour ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

Ha!!!! I had forgotten all about that. Almost 10 years ago now.... holy shit. Here it is if anyone is interested....

 

 

God, I remember that. Flippin legendary.

It gave rise to this scene, perhaps the best AS calendar pic ever.

 

I love that all the tools used are hammers.

[barrett]

Just a small handful of recent sightings, starting with beautifully 'weaseled Sierra

Scruffy WIP Rover in a 'good spot' for finding things. There is often something interesting parked here, something to do with one of several small garages nearby

Rare sight/shit pic. I absolutely refuse to disclose the location of this car, sorry. I just won't do it.

Tasteless modded Lotus has recently appeared near me

And the old familiar hunting ground, Asda car park, gave me this the other day. Driven by a young chap, too, which is nice

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Every Lotus needs a set of wanky Ebay-sourced Chinese LED universal sparkly tail lights man, its what Chapman would have wanted

[RobT]

I've spotted that Safrane on my manor a few times too.

The owner of the Rivoli Ballroom nearby clearly has a thing for British cars (or someone else who just likes to park their cars there).  A pair of Rovers these days, 75 and R8 flavour last time I paid a visit, but also found this pic on the web.  Credited to John Lord on Flickr.

[barrett]

Well spotted! I was stood next to a Rover 75 when I took that picture (pretending to take a photo of my missus, whilst stood in a queue. Have you ever been inside the Rivoli? It's meant to be amazing and untouched

[RobT]

I've only ever wandered or driven past, but yeah it's supposed to be wondrous inside.  I imagine you have to be a member to go in there though.

[barrett]

Nah, they do 'club nights' which my missus goes to sometimes, mostly lasses in their 50s dancing to 1980s pop and on the edge of the bars they have platters of homemade sarnies and stuff like a proper nightclub in the '60s... They do actual film nights there, too. I don't think there is any actual membership involved, just a cover charge, and I think it's pre-booked tickets only. Will try it out post-lockdown and report back

[Fabergé Greggs]

I've been to the Rivoli to a 50's swing night. Can't remember much but looking back through my photos reveals I was pretty hammered and mostly interested in the ceilings and urinal manufacturer. 

[barrett]

Righty-ho, here are a few more recent sightings. These are all on 'home turf' so to speak.

Weirdly, I think this Alfa was one of the first things I took a screenshot of when I first started looking on Google street view to scout out potential tat-heavy areas. I had totally forgotten about it (and obviously never thought it was worth travelling for) but I drove past by chance the other day

There was another one a bit further down, attached to the same property. Check out that A-pillar rust!

This is from an area I covered in depth years ago, but I'm not sure if I ever actually went up this particular stretch of road before. Certainly this was news to me and it looks like its been sitting there for yonks. Dig those SERCKS

I think this one's been seen here before, but not spotted by me. I think it's used as an actual van by a local business

When I was at school, there was a road near by with a manky green Cavalier sportshatch parked on a driveway, but it disappeared long before spotting was a 'thing' for me. I drove down the same road today and was thinking about the old Cav, when I saw this old heap! Parked by a totally different house, it's nothing to do with the other one, but wuite a coincidence. Given the patina on this I wonder if it might be the one I saw about nine years ago in a different part of town, seemingly abandoned on a driveway, and now recommissioned?

This was at the same place. No idea what the CPTC is.

That's it. Six in a week isn't bad I suppose given how little travel I'm doing at the moment. Really must get my proper phone/camera sorted out because this old one is proper shite.

 

[barrett]

Right, nothing interesting to report really but I am now back to my proper phone, so how about a picture quality compare and contrast? See if you can tell which of these are the 'old' camera vs the 'new'

That last one is a bit modern tbh, but when did you last see one? I have actually got a raging horn on for a really clean one in a funny colour with the funky colour-coded interior

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 7/7/2020 at 12:38 PM, barrett said:

Right, nothing interesting to report really but I am now back to my proper phone, so how about a picture quality compare and contrast? See if you can tell which of these are the 'old' camera vs the 'new'.....

 

Dunno where that Elan M100 is, but I know a fella near the stables in Sarratt who has two or three of them in his garage and I sometimes ride past whilst he's fiddling with them on his drive....

[jonny69]

They used to film quite a lot in the Rivoli Ballroom and there was always something interesting parked outside. I always assumed it was something to do with what they were filming. I had no idea what it looked like inside until those pics from Fabergé Greggs.

Mind you, when I say 'used to' film there, this was back in the 90s.

I'm starting to sound like my parents.

[barrett]

Hey, whaddup? I have collected a few more DULL old car photos, so let's crack on. This first one isn't really anything, it just seems stupid to walk pas an old car and not take a photo, and it did look quite appealing on a nice hot day

However, it was really just a cover for taking a photo of this, which was parked opposite, and I figured I'd look less like a nutter if I also snapped the actual cla**ic

Quite a lot going on there, I think you'll agree. Let's take a closer look at one charming detail

Okay, here's another 'filler', but it looked nice parked up in front of this lovely Kent house

Here's a couple of more local ones, from a quick walk last night. I do think I have managed to snap 99 per cent of every old car in my neighbourhood and was feeling a little depressed about that fact, when a tatty Mk2 Astra drove past me towards an area with no through access, so presumably it lives somewhere in there. I'll try and hunt it down - finally, a reason to live!

When was the last time... etc. This guy has had a succession of hopeless and unfashionable coupés over the years and this is a recent addition

To Essex now, and a lesser-spotted early Punto. I quite like the look of these, especially in three-door form. Photo cropped closely to (mostly) cut out Ms Barrett giving me a 'what the fuck is wrong with you?' look

Same road. Never seen a Baja in the wild, and this one is pleasingly scabby. Excellent house in the background, too

Back to the smoke for the last one now. According to google maps, the rear garden of this house is filled with old cars, but this is the only interesting thing out front. Nice Dunlop. Actually doesn't look too crusty all things considered.

That's it! Still loads of areas I need to explore because I'm certain there is shit lurking, but finding the time is difficult at the moment. I definitely still get a real 'rush' when I stumble across something really unusual like the Imp, but spotting in 2020 is definitely a case of diminishing returns.

[Asimo]

23 minutes ago, barrett said:

Same road. Never seen a Baja in the wild, and this one is pleasingly scabby. Excellent house in the background, too

Like this Baja Beetle. In the era of stance-n-slam clones, 'tis a treat to see ground clearance. I would have loved this when I was 17, be happy to clatter about in it today too.

Streetview gives us a rear view, Stinger exhaust!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

35 minutes ago, barrett said:

.....Back to the smoke for the last one now. According to google maps, the rear garden of this house is filled with old cars, but this is the only interesting thing out front. Nice Dunlop. Actually doesn't look too crusty all things considered.

That's it! Still loads of areas I need to explore because I'm certain there is shit lurking, but finding the time is difficult at the moment. I definitely still get a real 'rush' when I stumble across something really unusual like the Imp, but spotting in 2020 is definitely a case of diminishing returns.

You'd love this place

[barrett]

Dog bless old cars, eh? I haven't really been driving old cars about much lately, for a variety of reasons, but one thing that brings me genuine and quite immense joy is just mooching about somewhere and finding a past-its sell-by date old motor parked up on a street. I can't really put into words why I enjoy this so much. It's not exactly a spiritual moment, but it's definitely a philisophical one. It's impossible to appreciate obsolete technology without having at least some appreciation of cultural/societal mores. As I often say, cars are boring, but people are interesting, and it's always evident in my mind when furtively snapping an old Sierra or whatever that there is a whole long story behind the car's continued survival. It really does feel good for the soul. Anyway, here are some shit Mini things clearly owned by a knob (see!)

Okay, perhaps more fitting with what I'm trying to say is this Citroen duo. These have been here for at least seven years, and I'm sure much longer. I have no idea if either or both are still in use, but they are the only cars on the property and they never seem to move, although they look fairly well cared for. I have an absolutely crystal clear image of the owner in my mind.

So remember when Google Street view first became a thing? I'm sure there were some threads on the old, old, forum when it launched in.. what, 2009? I don't know how many other people use it as a tool for finding old tat, but that is basically 99 per cent of my Street View usage. I find a place I go to regularly, or am likely to go to, and spend (culmatively) hours checking out potential tat on the streets to photograph at a later date. Obviously, the abandoned old shite in gardens or on driveways are the most likely to still be there however long later. Here's a good example. It's an area I know, but it's down a slightly sketchy dead-end road that I'd have no reason to ever venture down. But look at it!

The Avenger, and all the following, were taken in over the course of about an hour and a half, in South London. I used to think the South Coast was a hotbed of old tat, but there is still nowhere else in the country to compare to the capital, despite ULEZ, scrappage schemes, etc. There is old shit everywhere! Now some of these I knew about, and had mapped out a vague route, but others I found along the way by chance, like this handsome, slightly scruffy P6

This one I knew about, but I wasn't optimistic it would still be there, just because it's SO FLIPPIN' GOOD! This is deffo one of the most exotic garden ornaments I've ever seen. Again, down a road few people are likely to travel unless they have a specific reason, so perhaps why it's escaped the ravages of the scrapman so far. Just fantastic.

Here's another one I knew about. This one took two passes, as when I slowed down to park the first time I got a seriously dodgy look from the next door neighbour, who was in his garden. Annoying, as his garden also contains a monumentally fucked Sierra which I had hoped to snap, but I didn't have the bottle on my second run. I can remember exactly the last time I saw a Stellar on the street - about 17 years ago, round the corner from my mum's house. Dark blue with those funny white hubcaps, owned by an old boy who replaced it with a Rover 600 and then soon died.

Apologies for the quality of this one. The Amazon and Sierra have been previously snapped, but this one was under a cover last time I passed. I couldn't quite justify stopping and getting out the car, sorry about that.

This was comedically rotten and looked like it hadn't moved in a very long time

I had gone looking for a gold 3dr 11, which has vanaished, but found this brilliant Nine not too far away. All the hallmarks of a giffer owner including massive chain tied round the steering wheel etc

Here's another good example of happenstance. I went looking for a DS (see below) and found this on the same road

And this was a few feet away. Maybe not a mind-blowing individual spot, but the combined effect was most pleasing

Aforementioned DS was just perfect and scruffy in that London way. It's a full-fat 23EFI, too. I posted this on instagram and @Gompo said he remembered it in the same place from years back, which is nice

This was a few feet further down. Not a wonderful thing, but quite rare to see a camper based on one of these funny Mercedes/Ebbro things

I turned left at the end of the road and discovered a small lane running between the houses, with garage access. These are always fertile hunting grounds as things tend to get dumped and left, or fences blow down and you can see right into gardens. This next batch is all from this one little lane

Right, this is getting unwieldy, so I'll split this post here. Remember I'm about 45 minutes into my day at this point.

 

[barrett]

This one was in the same block. In fact I'd seen this from afar a while ago, and this and the DS are the reason I headed back to this area. Not even sure what it is, but it's cool

This one was close, too

And then I suddenly realised I was 'here', at the home of the notorious Renault 4 specialist which has been the subject of many posts on this forum before. Here's what he had outside on this particular day

And this was just round the corner

I had to meet my missus, so off I popped to another neighbourhood. This was the only thing I photographed on a very brief walk there.

Unusually, she was in the mood for just 'driving round' for a bit, and this was the very fortuitous result:

but... what's that? Only the BEST ESCORT EVER. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw one in this sort of condition.

That marked the end of a very pleasing day of dicking about in the sun, taking photos of old cars whilst enjoying the general scenery and ambience of various neighbourhoods (plus I stroked some donkeys later on). The next day I we stumbled upon an impromtu car meet on Blackheath. This was the pick of the bunch for me.

And this was in a driveway just opposite, looking rather sorry for itself

Unconnected to the previous R4s

This Metro marked the end of day two in London. Not a bad haul, really, considering I wasn't looking particularly for anything.

 

 

[barrett]

On my way back today I had a bit of time to kill, and despite the 36 degree heat figured I'd make a detour to see if I could find another GSV spot. This is a great illustration of how helpful Google is in this sort of situation, particularly since the maps went 3D, so you can even see stuff which isn't actually on public highways. Here's what I started with:

Now, it's pretty obvious what it is, and by its position it clearly hasn't moved for a while. This was on another lane behind some houses, which leads on to allotments. It's not the nicest neighbourhood, but I figured I could risk walking up the lane for a nosy...

Wonderful! Let's have another look, shall we?

Worth the effort, I'm sure you'll agree. On my way to the Rover I had spotted this doen a side street, so did a circuit and headed back.

Looked nicely aged in a way few late 2CVs are, and it was for sale for what looks like a really good price

This was there, so I took a photo

Then a couple of roads away, one I didn't know about. Really pleased I found this one. Photo not the best as I had to walk right down somebody's drive to take it and it was all a bit sketchy. I haven't run the plate yet but it looks to have been there for a long time.

Then after a long hot journey I got back to Sussex and swung over to Worthing for my first proper beer since lockdown begun with an old mate. This was outside the station!

What a lovely end to a lovely weekend of indulging in perhaps the least sexy, but most mentally gratifying, of hobbies: photographing shit old cars. Who could ask for anything more?

Cheers!

[vulgalour]

Mind boggling stuff.  That blue Fiesta is spectacular, as are the weird cardboard filled Viva and Escort.

[barrett]

Well I must say I'm slightly underwhelmed by the response to what I thought was a SOLID GOLD SPOTS UPDATE but no worries, I'll power on through. Perhaps these will elicit a better reaction?

You know when you walk past a garage that is never seemingly used and wonder what is inside? Well, here's one round the corner from me that's never been open in the entire time I've lived here. Turns out there is a flippin' Skoda inside!! Off the road for a couple of years but looks tidy. I think I'll leave a note on it tomorrow...

Here's a rare bird. An early finny Wolseley, in nicely mellow condition. You just don't see A60s anymore

Another look. I love the severity of the bootlid shape on these early cars. Shame it's had the reg nicked

Here's a mildewy Volvo

And how about this for a collection? There was another Metropolitan in the garage, and what looked like an ADO16 under a cover on the drive. Yes, he's left his keys in the door.

Here's another two for @keef. On the list?