S A Barrett's Sussex shite spots: 2022/23 catch-up

[barrett]

This English GSA was outside my hotel for the Reims Autojumble. Weirdly, it wasn't the only red, UK-registered GSA at the event either

 

I took this on my way in, before I discovered the place was chock full of BXs and got the proper camera out.

 

I spent quite a long time trying to figure out wtf this was before I looked closely at the doors and figured it out. It's a bit laboured but the amount of work that's gone into it is impressive, so hats off to the guy

 

On my way through the Cotswolds I finally pulled over to have a look at a place I'd known about for a while. This garden is absolutely crammed with rotting 1950s and '60s tin. All of it has been there for decades, most of the cars are only barely recognisable and are so covered in undergrowth you really have to strain to see them. Some are just car-shaped mounds of moss or ivy. Really amazing placewhich these shitty photos do not do justice. I would love to jump the wall and have a proper nose around one day - looking at Google earth I reckon there are 200 cars in there minimum but you can only see a handful from the road

 

I went to look at this stroker long-nose 95 a friend is selling and, in a bizarre twist I still don't quite understand, didn't buy it. I'm obviously growing as a person

 

In the weird and menacing town of Ludgershall, I almost crashed when I spotted this lurking on a garage forecourt. It's flippin' superb!!

 

I'd just about managed to contain myself and was about to leave when I caught a glimpse of something else hidden behind a skip... only a fuggin' RENAULT IS IS AUTOMATIC!

 

Blimey. I reckon those are both definitely top ten spots ever for me so I reckon I'll just quit while I'm ahead. See ya!

[barrett]

Bugger, forgot one! Manky BX, off the road since 2014 but still looking fairly sound. That droopy door suggests the hinges have rusted through, but I know a man who can fix that. Lovely.

[mercrocker]

Excellent spottage as always!   Yon Mercury barge is a '65 Park Lane Breezeaway.   The CF ambulance is a Hanlon conversion from Nord Iron - a quality piece of kit as these things go, mine was much drier inside than my T25 is/ever will be.   That armadillo thing is quite a feat but as you point out - completely un-touched in the door department, down to the handles!    An R20 and Alpine on the same forecourt, though, don't think you will top that for a bit.

[motorpunk]

The Cyclone works van, I’m pretty sure, belongs to a mate of mine called Paul Bacon. I’ve written about his custom built stuff a few times. Google Cosmotron for his maddest effort. A nicer chap you will not meet.

 

The Citroen pictured on the previous page lives, I think, often outside a weird bar in Amsterdam, called (confusingly) “Hotel”. It’s a great place to get smashed with off-duty African hookers.

 

PS - I love your spots. More please.

[HillmanImp]

That fucking Alpine is awesome. Brilliant.

[wuvvum]

OK, that Alpine / R20 combo is going to take some beating.

[RobT]

Yup, ditto.

[Vin]

Alpine/R20 combination is very nice. R20 has Lincolnshire TL registration, like the one my late mum had. That was supplied by a Renault dealer in Grimsby called 'Linpac Motors'.

 

I've seen the Alpine on here before, maybe 'Simcat', 'SambaS' and the other Rootes/Chrysler botherers know it.

 

Cars in the undergrowth are something special. I didn't think places like that existed now, unless located on the outer edges of these islands...

 

J4 van and A55 pick-up are the most obvious from your pics...

[Datsuncog]

Fantastic spots as ever - these updates are always well worth waiting for...

 

The plate on that Chrysler Alpine is familiar, I'm sure it's appeared on these pages before - a quick 'net image search indicates a restoration a few years ago after 20 years off the road, so here's hoping it's back in use before any deterioration sets in.

 

[Amishtat]

I love to see places like that, there used to be a few around here but they're thin on the ground now. One local to me was about three acres surrounding a tumbledown Victorian cottage inhabited by two elderly brothers. They let us have a look round once and it was almost exclusively Rootes cars, well over two hundred all just returning to nature. Kicked myself regularly since for not taking a camera

[skoda_fan]

Well worth the wait for exceptional quality spottage as always from Mr B. And ok I am officially thick. After much staring at its doors, I still can't fathom the Armadillo. Please put me out of my misery.

[quicksilver]

Impressive stuff but that Alpine and R20 combo tops the lot. The Armadillo is a Fairway taxi is it not?

[Amishtat]

P4 doors I reckon

[Amishtat]

(Looks closer)

Ignore previous comment

[mercrocker]

The front wing seam and indicator placement are a clue too.....!

[wuvvum]

I think Quicksilver has got it - later FX4 taxi.

[skoda_fan]

Thank you gents. It's obvious now. What an amazing amount of work. I love it.

[RoadworkUK]

That Alpine is parked next to a Porsche 928 S4. Pretty much the perfect two-car garage combo as far as I'm concerned.

[Spottedlaurel]

Always good to see an update from you. Interesting to know what the Laurel owners now have, they sometimes come to mind when I'm using my own one for everyday duties.

 

A couple there that are familiar to me:

 

1952 Magirus-Deutz S3500 NF-95-83 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

The bovine Magirus was seen heading across northern France back to NL back in 2013.

 

1984-89 Toyota Starlet XL by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

The French-registered Starlet seems to have taken up residency in those services. It looked to be in the same place when I stopped there on two occasions some 4-5 weeks apart.

[barrett]

Let's have a go updating this with a few more recent sightings. I'm still feeling a bit cba about the whole thing at the moment. I drove past a ratty old Farina Wolz thing the other day and didn't even bother stopping for a photo. I guess the fact I still thinking about it a week or so later suggests I'm not totally 'over' the whole spotting lark, but I'm deffo finding less and less of interest these days. 

Here are two from France in May. The Olympic Blue Mk2 was particularly appealing

A few from London. Getting harder to find good stuff, but it must still be the highest concentration of old cars anywhere in the country. We'll be mourning even these dark days when the flippin' MEGAULEZ comes in. For what it's worth I reckon if you live in London you deserve you be slowly choked to death by noxious fumes AND YOU SHOULD ENJOY IT

I count this as a spot and a half, as the Maz is only borderline acceptable as shite

Not London or Sussex. These really have the stink of hopelessness about them  but I reckon their time will come sooner rather than later

 

Semi-cheating village show spot, but this thing was so grotty it had to be preserved on film. I'd actually love an early split-grille Marina coupe, o reckon they look brilliant

Real live Asda car park spot. Is it odd that these Transit wheels make me quite emotional? Not when painted white, obviously, but they're particularly evocative for some reason

Back to London. This looked 'just right' to me, and these things always look best in a proper '70s colour. Missed the boat a bit though, didn't I 

Suddenly a very rare sight. I will have one one day, when I actually have some disposable income and I'm not relying on it to get me to work

This was pretty good in rush hour traffic. I've never driven a Derby Bentley but I reckon they're one of those '30s cars you could actually use every day without much fuss

And finally, the best thing I've seen all year. Absolutely mint inside and out, a shining vision in yellow. I never thought a Skoda could be so desirable 

Au revoir!

[FakeConcern]

Some nice spots there! Don't bother with an XM, they are pretty boring really (IMO).

[strangeangel]

That Saab is ace. Was that a for sale notice in the window?

[barrett]

Yup. Six grand I think, not unreasonable. Looked all original, nicely aged and solid. I seem to have deleted the picture of the guy's number though, presumably in a rare moment of clarity 

[Sudsprint]

Brilliant spots ... and bring on more XMs as far as I am concerned

[Jon]

On 6/26/2019 at 8:55 AM, barrett said:

 

Semi-cheating village show spot, but this thing was so grotty it had to be preserved on film. I'd actually love an early split-grille Marina coupe, o reckon they look brilliant

 Is it odd that these Transit wheels make me quite emotional? Not when painted white, obviously, but they're particularly evocative for some reason

 

 

Excuse my notes/replies regarding your words not being amongst the quotes in questions, as I couldn't be chuffed editing out the rest of your post TWICE (though please note my efforts in actually doing this at all, as the quoting with images guff that's returned of late, post-Autoshite Re:load simmers my bladder contents somewhat).

 

Anyway, point 1.

I too like early Marinas yet have a rather complicated like/dislike equilibrium issue with the coupes, merely because of that massive side window aft of the doors; such a shame BL couldn't have produced a lengthened coupe-specific door, as I think it'd look almost as brilliant as those pie dish wheel trims. 

 

Point 2.

I'm totally with you on these MK2 Transit SWB wheels and it was always interesting* seeing an odd one adorning a ropey Mk3 or somesuch back in't day, presumably cadged from a scrappy as the tyre on it still had a bit of tread. Surely old car appreciation is 100% emotional, so don't be worried to express such feeling on here regarding a commercial vehicle steel wheel last pressed 33 years ago. I do find that it makes rather lacklustre bedroom small talk, though.

[jonny69]

Loving the state of that MOT-dodging Marina. Haven't seen one that bad on the road since the 90s

[barrett]

Here is the last batch of photographs off my old phone. I've just upgraded to one with a much better camera so one hopes things will improve somewhat from this point on. As a sort of celebration, this update includes some of the shittiest images yet captured by yrs truly 

London. I saw this and two days later it was nicked. Lovely late Slough-built car. Really gutted for the owners, I don't think it ever turned up again

I'm really coming round to these. Even as recently as 2011 when is started consciously trying to document old cars in use, these were common/boring enough to ignore most of the time, but numbers have thinned out enough to start to consider them worthy I think. Despite the dullness (sorry, can't get excited about ant Mercedes) I reckon I could happily own one of these and keep it forever, if it was the right colour. This was a proper shed. 

The cleanest old Japanese car I've seen for a while. Absolutely stunning condition but I think it's just somebody's car rather than being a 'cherished classic' or whatever 

A picture so dreadful you can't even se the steel wheels! I strongly suspect this is the same one I photographed a few years ago somewhere in East London, after dark, as I was driving past, resulting in an image almost as shit as this one. Still, it was a heroic tatty diesel Transit going great guns on the M25 so deserves to be seen

In the town in which I used to work, but I guess I never went down this street before. There was a Mk1 Cortina over the road too but I couldn't be arsed going back for that one. Impressively artistic lacquer peel here.

Behind a friend's workshop. I didn't dare ask incase it followed me home. Let's assume it's about to be restored/it's too rotten to consider amd leave it at that.

This brilliant period piece...

...was parked two doors down from this, proving my theory once again, but I won't bore you with that now.

Northamptonshire is a weird old place. I saw more tractors in gardens, parked on the street or driving round in one weekend than I ever have before.

I also saw more old cars on the road than I ever have before - even counting for the odd local classic car show that might have been happening it was an inordinately large number. I think I lost count at 15 pre-80s things, but I didn't manage to snap any of them. Few street spots were captured, however (note tractor)

I also found what must be in the running for my Spot of the Year thus far. I think there was a damp cloud in the sky 50 miles away so my camera had a meltdown, natch.

Oh wait, maybe this is my Spot of the Year... I actually glimpsed this a few years ago, but only recently happened to drive back down this road (in the middle of nowhere, in a county I rarely visit) and stumbled over it again. Not sure if its in use or not, but it looks pretty together and remarkably solid. Must be an impossibly rare car these days, and who can fail to be moved by that evocative Toyota baby-shit brown that firm's entire range seemed to exclusively be painted in this country. The last E20 Corolla saloon I used to see in regular use (only about 2009) was this same shade.

So, what has it, the Marina or the Toyota? Anyway, I shall return with improved clarity at some point in the future.

[Spottedlaurel]

Crikey, that Marina!

Good to see the Corolla, it used to appear at Toyota EC shows a few years ago:

1972 Toyota Corolla SL Coupe by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Fun fact - The coupe model received at least three different grille styles in its time being sold in the UK.

The Bluebird is owned by a chap who helps out at motoring museums and marshalls on rallies, it gets used quite a bit.

[wuvvum]

That Corolla is taxed, so presumably it must be in at least occasional use.

[Sir Snipes]

Cor that 910(?) bluebird is a real survivor.