Car crap claim to fames

[Ghosty]

My aunt got shown round Damon Hill's house on Jersey after his dog approached her and her friends that live over there.

[Cavcraft]

If I had driven to my local park then when some bloke in Coronation Street said my dog looked like a cloud, it would have been vaguely motoring related. 

But I'd walked there, so it doesn't count.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Some flippin brilliant claims to fame here, I love the one about Sting and the parking ticket.

 

I once sold 'The Great Soprendo' a tankful of petrol.

[twosmoke300]

I used to work on a Honda concerto that was owned by a guy that was part of the team that developed the tiles on the front of a space shuttle

[warren t claim]

Ian StJohn of Saint and Greevsie fame called my Montego 1.3 a piece of shit.

[omegod]

My bro has an 11,000 mile Nissan 300zx and the previous owner was the Sultan of Brunei, he bought 6 of them at once apparently 

[Richard]

I've just remembered another one, I once gave Kenny "King Creosote" Anderson a lift in the Bon Scott's cousin Allegro.

[purplebargeken]

My Amazon belonged to Keith Moody from Practical Classics and my 1300 also appeared. Whoohoo.

[stillOrange]

My Volvo was apparently bought new by Saudi prince to be used when he was coming to London.

No idea if he drove it, was driven in it or gave it to his staff to zoom around.

[chaseracer]

Oven chips?

 

I'd wondered what they were REALLY made of...

[chaseracer]

My Saab 9-3 used to be owned by Billy Cavcraft. I know! Billy Fucking Cavcraft. Off of The Internet, and "Chester's Greenest Garage Doors" on Sky Living +1

 

My Mercedes was briefly owned by Ian 'Seabrook' Dollywobbler, international automotive journalist, blogger, community minibus king, ukelele player and serial chodbotherer.  Though, on reflection, this is not unusual around here...

 

[UmBongo]

Sting once gave me a parking ticket with an hours time stil on it.

 

Was that before or after he saved all the rainforests by contributing a soundtrack to the TV ads for Jaguar?

[Sloth in a bowl]

Ian StJohn of Saint and Greevsie fame called my Montego 1.3 a piece of shit.

Surely the important question is, was he driving a Volvo? There has to be one famous SVM member (excepting cms).

[warren t claim]

Surely the important question is, was he driving a Volvo? There has to be one famous SVM member (excepting cms).

Sorry. Lexus LS400.

[Craig the Princess]

We drove an Allegro to Morocco with the chap who wrote the musical score to the original Lexus is200

[Cavcraft]

Hateful attempted child snatcher couple Alan and Judith Kilshaw came to see my Seat Ibiza Mk1, promised to return and didn't. It was a massive battle to not give them a verbal shoeing.

 

Also, David Beckham once overtook me when I was driving an Iveco Cargo, and Alvin Stardust waved out of the window of the Austin Princess he was travelling in to my sister and I.

[greengartside]

In the 60's, FATHA greengartside bought a mk9 Jag off the singer Karl Denver (he did the wim-a-weh song I think...)

[martc]

I had a '74 Buick Electra 225 that was used as a getaway car in a bank robbery in Berlin while I owned it.

Does that count?

 

Which reminds me - the Bombardier mentioned earlier (may have been ridden by an Army sergeant), was stolen and duly reported to the police and money paid out by the CIS.

 

It was used in a "southern European" hand bag snatching in Hull - ridden along the pavement whilst the pillion slashed at handbag straps. This made it into the headlines of the local rag. The scrotes had left the correct number plate on it.

 

Within 15 minutes of the crime the police where knocking at the door (a good 10 miles away) asking were I was 15 minutes ago! I patiently explained that I had been at home all day and had reported the bike stolen and it was now the property of the CIS. The coppers parting words were, and you may not believe this, "don't leave town until we give you permission". This was in the late 1980's, I've still not been given permission to leave town and consequently I must be a some kind of a fugitive.

[Justin Case]

Also, David Beckham once overtook me when I was driving an Iveco Cargo, and Alvin Stardust waved out of the window of the Austin Princess he was travelling in to my sister and I.

If we are extending this thread to include close encounters with the rich and famous, which is a good idea, then I can add that a few years back I was wafting down the M1 at a steady 75 mph whan I glanced in the mirror and noticed what looked like the Bank of England approaching at a rapid rate of knots. Seconds later a maroon Rolls Royce Phantom swept imperiously by and disappeared rapidly in the distance. Don't know whose it was as the only occupant was a chauffer complete with regulation cap and it didn't even have a number plate

[purplebargeken]

Prince Charles made me late for work whilst I was riding through Chiswick once. His RR came wafting along after bike cops had stopped traffic whilst using their whistles, all very odd. I don't like Prince Charles. 

 

However, the balance was rectified as a beautiful blonde girl gave me an utterly stunning smile as I stopped to let her cross the road. She would have made an angel look ugly. Mmmmmmm

[eddyramrod]

I'll tell the Granada story, for those who haven't heard it already, later when I'm on my other computer. 

Meanwhile: I was at art college with, and later bought a Honda moped from, a neighbour of cartoonist Bill Tidy.  Subsequently I worked at a petrol station where Emlyn Hughes was a customer, in his white 728, 1879 EH.

One of my friends in Cyprus is a retired police officer... who was one of the motorcycle escorts for the first London Marathon.

[eddyramrod]

The Legend of the Cyprus Granada

 

Here it is, more or less as it was told to me before I bought the car.

 

 

As the bullets hammered at the front of the Palace, the President knew the time had come to make a sharp exit.  He had seen this coming; he knew the discontent was close to the surface.  He turned to his trusted staff of senior police officers.  Two of them, men of roughly his own size and build, were dressed in black priestly robes.  The President himself still wore his, they had been his work-uniform for so many years he found it hard to imagine himself wearing anything other.

“You have the escape route organized?† There was general agreement.  The President stood up and nodded.  “Then it’s time.â€Â

Immediately he was hustled from his office and along the plush corridors, until he found himself in the unfamiliar territory used by the catering staff.  Here one of the officers strode ahead, checking each doorway.  The President noted the man’s gun was drawn and ready.  He sighed inwardly.  Killing went against all the teachings of his church, a church he had served many years, finally as an archbishop.  But he supposed that self-defence was acceptable, after all, enough people were trying very hard to kill him just now.   The little party reached the delivery entrance, and one officer peeked out.

“Clear,†he reported.  “We’ll bring the cars… be ready.† Heads nodded in agreement.  The President threw a quick prayer to his God, to protect himself and his men. 

Three officers broke the cover of the building and dashed for the shaded parking area.  The gunfire drowned the three engines bursting into life; the first car, a blue Ford Granada, swept up to the waiting group.  As the back door swung open the President was shoved down on the vinyl seat and the door slammed behind him.  Crouching on its haunches, V6 engine snarling, the Ford sped away.  Sneaking a peek through the rear screen, the President watched the other cars racing out of the Palace grounds behind him, to decoy the enemy.

 

It was July 15^th, 1974.  Archbishop Makarios, President of Cyprus, was evacuated to Paphos and subsequently to London, in the face of a highly-organised coup.  Five days later Cyprus was invaded, but that’s another story. 

 

The three cars used in the President’s escape were a Ford Granada, a Peugeot 404 and a Mini Cooper.  The Peugeot has disappeared and is believed scrapped.  A Mini survives which is understood to be one of the decoy cars.  GF 8, the Ford Granada 2500GXL in which Makarios was driven to safety, was restored in 2004. 

 

 

This is the car I bought in October 2010, and two years later shipped to England when we moved back. 

Ask anyone who is looking for a Granada, and this car ticks every box on the wishlist.  Essex V6?  Check.  Old enough to be tax-free before the rules were changed again?  Check.  Early production?  Check.  GXL?  Check.  Nice colour?  Check.  The biggie, the Holy Grail... manual gearbox?  CHECK!  It matters not that both clutch and gearbox were practically unusable, fighting me for every gear; "everyone" wants a manual except me, so I thought it would be easy enough to re-sell, especially with the story attached.

 

I couldn't give the fecker away.

 

Eventually it did sell, without me having to register it, which was a blessing as I couldn't afford to get it up to MoT standard.  The new owner registered it (RBY 879K) and replaced the correct steel wheels with incorrect Ghia alloys, then put it up on ebay.  When it didn't sell he relisted it, starting at less than he'd given me for it, which I thought was karma for butchering it the way he did.  It was sold for "an offer," which I took to mean less than the start price.  Well if I could make a disastrous loss on this thing, why shouldn't someone else?

 

A couple of weeks before I even knew the car existed, I had been browsing idly in one of the tat shops at Paphos Harbour, and dipped into a local-history book.  It mentioned the escape of Makarios, with specific reference to a Ford Granada.  That tickled me as I had one in the 80s:

 

 

...but I thought no more of it, and told nobody that I'd seen this book.  That was why I was inclined to believe the connection.  Nobody who could have had anything to do with the sale knew I had this nugget of information.

 

That was the Legend of the Cyprus Granada.

[Pillock]

Yeah, but a pay and display ticket off Sting! That's a lot to beat!

 

[Alan_Green]

I might  own the white Beetle from the Top Gear Botswana Special. Mine looks the same; it originated in Pretoria, Gauteng (the Top Gear one had Gauteng plates); it was registered in Botswana shortly after filming; it had the same wheels when I bought it; and the circs in which I bought it from the bush mechanic fit the bill. But probably not.  A crap brush with fame no less.

 

PS I know where the Alfa is. It's parked under a tree in Bots.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, but a pay and display ticket off Sting! That's a lot to beat!

 

 

The Liquid Gold's CF story beats it, I can't see that one being surpassed.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I owned the first ever Mini to complete a Monte Carlo rally, a 1959 Austin Seven prepped by BMC comps dept. 

 

I sat in a Maserati at the 1999 NEC Motor Show with some gangly bird called Jodie Kidd and didn't know who she was.

 

I chatted with the bloke who played Sgt Cryer in The Bill at the same show on the Jaguar stand. Nice bloke.

 

I had a business dealing of sorts with Alec Poole, an ex BMC driver and mate of Paddy Hopkirk.

 

I said hello to Rod Stewart at the Bloxham DB7 factory.

 

My Mum bought a 1992 Golf GTi Mark 3 that previously belonged to Toyah Wilcox.

 

I bought a BMW 840Ci that previously belonged to Jim Bowen.

 

I chatted with Chubby Brown at a services on the M1 near Leeds. Really nice bloke.

 

I've chatted to Steve Soper - a true legend.

 

 

So nothing very exciting. Sorry to have wasted your time **sob**

[martybabes]

Years ago, while visiting friends in the south of France, I met and chatted to Keith Floyd, was given some ciggies by him, and was at a dinner party where he, like I, was simply a guest. A great bloke.

 

The car connection? Oh, I'd driven there!

[Justin Case]

A couple of years ago I was at the Goodwood Revival, making my way with the crowds towards the start/finish are to watch the Setrington Cup, for J40 pedal cars, when I was brushed against by a golf buggy overtaking me. I nearly went flying, but when I saw the passenger I almost wished that I hadn't regained my footing because then I could have claimed that I'd been run over by Sir Stirling Moss Unfortunately he was gone before I was able to call out the immortal words 'Who do you think you are, etc, etc'

[25v6turbo]

My Dads 1974 Lotus Elite was Ronnie petersons company car have photos of both him and Colin chapman with the car and Jackie ickx.

[HMC]

I once bought a slightly ropey old merc off Martin Buckley, he met me at the station and we spent a while looking over various old heaps in a unit he had, before I was off in a cloud of smoke and a dribble of coolant.