HMC architecte britannique

[The_Equalizer]

Noticed it was originally Shell Grey.  Very nice colour in my eyes and one available from the beginning of Shadow production. Just need to find £10k down the back of the sofa to get it back to original. Ho, ho.

Sundym is an interesting option too. It's quite subtle and nothing like modern offerings.

[Mr Pastry]

It's fascinating to see all the owner's family history emerging, and so quickly.  Of course it helps to have an unusual surname - a Smith or Jones would not be so easy to trace.

[richardmorris]

12 minutes ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Re the test faults.

Hand built does not mean well built.

Rather like some handmade suits that look quite shoddy in the stiching.

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, HMC said:

quartz iodine fogs

Including Purchase Tax, those foglights were ~£650 in today's money

Which seems reasonable considering the price of door mirror with indicator, for a modern Volvo.

[HMC]

22 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Looks like the owner of this business is the grandson:
https://www.michaeljchapman.co.uk/

Good research! Ive just pinged him a quick e mail- hopefully some memories might be jogged!

[flat4alfa]

31 minutes ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Hand built does not mean well built.

[flat4alfa]

Park Ward Museum's own Shell Grey example

Aussie sunshine lifts a blue hint out of it

[wuvvum]

Ooh, now that is a nice colour.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Bodies were manufactured at the Pressed Steel Fisher plant at Cowley Oxford and then shipped up to Rolls Royce for fitting out.

Did they use full size scalextric track?

[Crackers]

32 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Did they use full size scalextric track?

Technically yes, actually, and it's used in varying forms in almost every automotive plant. 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Park Ward Museum's own Shell Grey example

Aussie sunshine lifts a blue hint out of it

interesting, i'd say that would be registered as SILVER as far the DVLA is concerned? so that would imply from the details I can dig up on it from its DVLA record that it went from its original colour directly to white then?

On 08/01/2024 at 17:47, LightBulbFun said:

looks like it had its colour change to white, on the 20th of the 11th 1988, previously to that it was Silver! what it was before then I sadly dont know

which I find quite interesting because I did not  realise as early as 1988, RR Shadow's where considered wedding car material like they are today, unless it was painted white for a different purpose/reason? 

 

 

Like Mr Pastry, im loving all the history  I dunno why but I always get a kick out of seeing ephemera like this that does manage to survive against the odds

[Mr Pastry]

38 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

which I find quite interesting because I did not  realise as early as 1988, RR Shadow's where considered wedding car material like they are today, unless it was painted white for a different purpose/reason? 

 

One of my cousins had a badly painted white Shadow as her wedding car in about 1987-88 and this did not seem unusual, so yes, it was a thing back then.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

9 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Slight aside, but The Beast finally has its Roller nose back. Looking better for it, too.

[flat4alfa]

Yep, didn't make it to NEC Classic myself, but photos were all over the place as it was a surprise for many

I wonder if NEC 2024 might have a AS Bike 'SHAD' on show, complete with silver Poundland repaint, side exit exhaust, Feu Orange abound and hub cap delete, etc. 

[The_Equalizer]

8 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

One of my cousins had a badly painted white Shadow as her wedding car in about 1987-88 and this did not seem unusual, so yes, it was a thing back then.

Shadows were cheap and considered cheap for a long, long time. Only one step away from a pub landlord and his Jaguar XJ6. However images change over time and it's not dissimilar to 2000s Bentley Continentals which wreaked of footballer until fairly recently. I'd now say a good 2004/5 Continental is a decent buy. 

Not sure if there's now a default cheap motor used for weddings. People seem to chuck such huge sums of money at weddings that the 'new' Phantom doesn't seem to be unusual for such purposes.

[HMC]

11 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Looks like the owner of this business is the grandson:
https://www.michaeljchapman.co.uk/

[HMC]

Ive also been having a sniff around a few more recent names on the odd reciept- and a potentially more recent colourful / seedy past is emerging 😂

 

[Mrs6C]

13 minutes ago, HMC said:

Excellent! A family reunion would be appropriate...

[lesapandre]

22 minutes ago, HMC said:

Ive also been having a sniff around a few more recent names on the odd reciept- and a potentially more recent colourful / seedy past is emerging 😂

 

Nothing quite as exciting probably - Companies House say:

"Nature of business - Production of meat and poultry meat products."

[flat4alfa]

Unfortunately Farthingale Lane is now a housing estate, so that retro photo outside the Smithy doing a burnout getting a jump start is unlikely

[Dick Cheeseburger]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Ive also been having a sniff around a few more recent names on the odd reciept- and a potentially more recent colourful / seedy past is emerging 😂

 

Wipe-clean seats? 

[HMC]

Having positive vibes back from the Grandson….

[HMC]

Had a quick google of that reg….

Hoping for a circa 1971 cassir fleet photo to be unearthed

[timolloyd]

I would like it if this was the one car you decided you wanted to keep, and yet he’s willing to offer over-the-odds for sentimental reasons.

[bunglebus]

Think this one's beyond help

[HillmanImp]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

Had a quick google of that reg….

Hoping for a circa 1971 cassir fleet photo to be unearthed

Thats from an auction where it sold for £45k.

If I had a time machine..... Oh and £45k

[lesapandre]

Funny thing relative car values. 

The 1970 Aston Martin DBS V8 was priced at £4473 - presumably that is ex-works.

(Source:  https://www.astonmartin.com/en-gb/models/past-models/dbs )

The invoice for the @HMC Shadow V8 is £7626 - ex works - so more than 50% more than the equivalent contemporary Aston Martin.

The price difference is considerably in the other direction these days - by a ratio of up to about x10.

Is the AM-DBS-V8 now ×10 better - though of course there were a lot less of the Aston Martins sold - and I suppose they have a 'cooler' image for  buyers.

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, timolloyd said:

I would like it if this was the one car you decided you wanted to keep, and yet he’s willing to offer over-the-odds for sentimental reasons.

Just imagine, he sells £2M of property just this afternoon, goes home this evening, opens up a bottle of Jamesons, then by 9pm offers £5k and writes that off against the business hospitality bill for the weekend

[Hertz]

Or even has 2 bottles of Jamesons and wants a 2005 LWB Transit camper as well!

[flat4alfa]

Transit Camper GR9 for Goodwood races weekend glamp for undergraduate nephew on a bender with chums

Then by Wednesday next week on this very thread, a gorgeous 1985 JRG Bentley Mulsanne Turbo is delivered.  Full of creature comforts just wanting a scrub, full circumference tide-mark paintwork and a complementary 7-cylinder running order soundtrack.  Living the dream.

#21 and #45 please.