HMC 96 year old austin beats Maserati Shock

[warninglight]

On 11/01/2024 at 18:39, Zelandeth said:

If it weren't for being vastly over committed here already I'd probably be getting an itchy finger asking to add myself to the queue as a Roller has always been on my list - albeit a slightly later one (I've spent many happy miles wafting around in a friend's mid 80s Silver Spirit) than this, but I'd definitely not turn it down because of details like that!

I know of a relatively cheap late 80s one that needs some love if you're keen! 

[flat4alfa]

On 13/01/2024 at 17:22, HMC said:

I take it that is ms_HMC at the wheel

The photos made me wonder what the equivalent-era Soviet drive shot could have been.  OK agreed, 'prestige' cars didn't really exist, but just for the sake of it, had a look

ZIL 117 ?  The SWB one.  With bonnet ornament.

GAZ-14 ?   Needs a bonnet ornament.

TATRA 613 ?  This lady looks like she wants to scream the yaichki out of the V8

Even in export-spec, GAZ-24 still stuck with 4 cylinder engine, so probably not

Извините, мне просто было интересно.

[brownnova]

I wonder if there are any ZiLs in the UK. Always found them fascinating. 

[dollywobbler]

On 12/01/2024 at 21:04, Zelandeth said:

Aye that's a good reminder actually, remember that these are like hydraulic Citroens in that there is no brake servo etc...you are simply switching on a hydraulic circuit to power the brakes - no system pressure = no brakes whatsoever, no matter how hard you stand on the pedal.

I've made the mistake of rolling Craig's one out of the garage before the pressure had come up one day and very nearly went through the fence.  He thought it was hilarious mind you...thank god the steering is so light that I was able to spin it round fast enough to get round the corner.

I didn't know the earlier cars didn't use LHM, every day's a school day.

I thought these also had a conventional master cylinder backup or was that only the Silver Spirit?

I am loving this RR. So many of the cars on this place are hovering between scrapman and salvation but few are this glamorous.

[motorpunk]

14 hours ago, brownnova said:

I wonder if there are any ZiLs in the UK. Always found them fascinating. 

Same. I wonder if the Russian embassy here ever imported and used them.

[HMC]

didnt @nigel bickle attempt a zil rescue many moons ago IIRC?

[HMC]

Meanwhile on the ropey ‘shad front, we all know its received a generic, demeaning and tacky; but at the same time quite glamorous and accessible wedding white blow over…… but in what?

As a comparison of factory whites in the works car park….

My money is on the old ford diamond white (bottom of pic) and the mini looks a bit too cream? 

Or what about white van man white? after all, when it started getting the bride to the church on time, it became a trades vehicle as well…

[sierraman]

That white gloss that Poundland do. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

On Soviet luxury barges, some of these GAZ ZIM bellow were sold in Norway, some went as taxis while some were used by our authorities.

[flat4alfa]

This was the Soviet Embassy car JLM 555 photographed 1956.   It is a ZiS 110, a reverse engineered copy of the 1942 Packard Super Eight.  ZiS became ZiL in 1956, so it is by lineage, a London Embassy ZiL

Thought to be this one, raced Firecracker 2001.

[flat4alfa]

This (no later than 1960) GAZ 12 ZiM was raced 1992 and said at the time to be an ex-Diplomat car.  Well ok, they all were 'Diplomat' cars, but how and why did it arrive in UK otherwise.  Possible film set maybe, who knows

I appear to have invaded the thread sorry.

[The_Equalizer]

On 13/01/2024 at 17:26, lesapandre said:

Low coolant or engine temp warning light? 

Guess the warning light bingo. Varying degrees of expensive fun*.

[The_Equalizer]

21 hours ago, HMC said:

Meanwhile on the ropey ‘shad front, we all know its received a generic, demeaning and tacky; but at the same time quite glamorous and accessible wedding white blow over…… but in what?

As a comparison of factory whites in the works car park….

My money is on the old ford diamond white (bottom of pic) and the mini looks a bit too cream? 

Or what about white van man white? after all, when it started getting the bride to the church on time, it became a trades vehicle as well…

My Dad has owned his T-Type for 35 years. He long thought that white wasn't actually a factory colour (and I see from your posting that yours has had a colour change from original), but according to this:

Most frequently sold colours -rrsilvershadow.com

you could have your Shadow/T-Type painted white from the kick off. Could it be that your car was painted an 'official' Rolls-Royce white?

It's really nice to see Shadows in use. I've had two (well T-Types, but I'm splitting hairs.) An absolutely superb '68 (now in Holland and sadly now not so nice) and a complete shed of a '71 which I took to pieces. For the latter, despite it being totally irredeemable, I still feel dirty that I parted it out (to use an Americanism.) Here it is before I'd sold bits:



They are magic in a way that is hard to describe. Yes, the steering is vague, parts prices that will wipe out your monthly salary in an instant and fuel economy only matched by a tank, but just the waft factor alone makes up for it. Anyway, nicely bought and I'm following this thread with great interest.

[horriblemercedes]

On 16/01/2024 at 15:11, flat4alfa said:

I take it that is ms_HMC at the wheel

The photos made me wonder what the equivalent-era Soviet drive shot could have been.  OK agreed, 'prestige' cars didn't really exist, but just for the sake of it, had a look

ZIL 117 ?  The SWB one.  With bonnet ornament.

GAZ-14 ?   Needs a bonnet ornament.

TATRA 613 ?  This lady looks like she wants to scream the yaichki out of the V8

Even in export-spec, GAZ-24 still stuck with 4 cylinder engine, so probably not

Извините, мне просто было интересно.

You couldn't really buy most of them if you were a normal Soviet citizen so it's kind of moot and you certainly didn't have a driveway. 

 

The GAZ was really the top car you could get as a normal person and in cost:salary ratio would've been (I suspect) more expensive to a Soviet citizen than the Rolls-Royce was to a UK citizen and with a longer waiting list. So that's probably the closest comparison. 

[cort16]

My bet would be enamel tractor paint. Cheap, hard wearing and easy to paint. 

[HMC]

6 hours ago, The_Equalizer said:

My Dad has owned his T-Type for 35 years. He long thought that white wasn't actually a factory colour (and I see from your posting that yours has had a colour change from original), but according to this:

Most frequently sold colours -rrsilvershadow.com

you could have your Shadow/T-Type painted white from the kick off. Could it be that your car was painted an 'official' Rolls-Royce white?

It's really nice to see Shadows in use. I've had two (well T-Types, but I'm splitting hairs.) An absolutely superb '67 (now in Holland and sadly now not so nice) and a complete shed of a '71 which I took to pieces. For the latter, despite it being totally irredeemable, I still feel dirty that I parted it out (to use an Americanism.) Here it is before I'd sold bits:



They are magic in a way that is hard to describe. Yes, the steering is vague, parts prices that will wipe out your monthly salary in an instance and fuel economy only matched by a tank, but just the waft factor alone makes up for it. Anyway, nicely bought and I'm following this thread with great interest.

Great back story- so you grew up around them?

Ive tapped up the RREC and asked for the records they have, so im looking forward to finding out more (soon hopefully!) 

[The_Equalizer]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

Great back story- so you grew up around them?

Ive tapped up the RREC and asked for the records they have, so im looking forward to finding out more (soon hopefully!) 

I suppose yes. Dad bought his T-Type when I was 15-years-old. He'd always fancied one and it was owned by the MD of the company he worked at. From memory it was £7K which is £18.5K in today's money. The icing on the cake was a number plate he'd accidentally ended up with when buying a Riley as a student in the 1960s. The Riley (RMF) was advertised at £20 plus £20 for the number (it's a three letter combination followed by a one). Anyway, during the test drive, the owner managed to put the Riley through a hedge making a mess of the wing in the process. Supposedly the owner got out and said to my Dad that he could have the car and the plate for £20. Anyway, the plate has been on the Bentley for most of the 35 years.

Various things have been done over the years including the obvious stuff with suspension, brakes, repairs to the rear bumper corners, some bodywork. It's got 134K on it and generally very tidy if not immaculate. He's not particularly precious about it as this photo illustrates (we were rebuilding my Land Rover's engine):



You mentioned the RREC. Yes, the records are definitely worth getting (if not a little pricey.) Dad's came with some interesting 'extras'. Firstly it has a roof rack with a matching green cover! There are screw fittings mounted to the roof. It also has opening quarter lights both front and back plus 'cotton reel' rear head rests and an unusual indent in the rear parcel shelf (presumably for a hat.) I think the paint is possibly a bespoke choice - known as Smoke Green Valspar (I could be wrong on this one.)

My '68 was an absolute gem and highly original. I bought it from Baron's auction in the mid-2000s when I had my phase of buying classics with my house deposit money. To add to the fun I always drove my new purchase back home. I think this one decide to throw one of its brake warning lights halfway round the (London) South Circular. You can see it here (UK photos were actually mine):

Bentley T1 #4179 - www.rrsilvershadow.com/



I actually managed to make a slight profit on it which must be some kind of feat. Lol. It is a rather rare colour - sage - which was a Silver Cloud colour originally and didn't last that long into Shadow production. It's one of the very few cars I miss. To my mind the early cars really are spot on, in particular the interior with its 'Chippendale' dash. 

Good luck with your one. No matter how short an ownership I really think it's worth everyone having one if you're into luxo-barges. Nothing quite compares, although an early Spirit or square headlight Turbo R certainly tickles. 

As an aside, hasn't there been a bit of a bust up at the RREC?
 

[HMC]

Shad news

I decided to risk depending on it for a work trip so wafted to my destination and back

 

 

And en route back i couldnt resist taking a pic beside a brutalist posh bastard house of the period…

 

 

When i got back I see that the RREC have been busy and sent me the records the hold for it, and they have landed through my letterbox.

Join me later when i browse through whilst with guinness.

[HMC]

Here we go

In no particular order (theres at least 40 pages ) 

 

 

 

First of 3 (!) paint shop inspections

[HMC]

Original bill of sale and warranty card…

 

It wasnt just Charlie Croker that was into quartz iodine  fogs! 

 

And who is the mysterious Albert Cassir?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Noice. Inglewood looks rather spacious.

 

[HMC]

Also @LightBulbFun the car seems to have been completed summer 71 but wasnt registered till august 1972?

[HMC]

2 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Noice. Inglewood looks rather spacious.

 

Brilliant detective work!

[High Jetter]

10 minutes ago, HMC said:

And who is the mysterious Albert Cassir?

Born in Egypt on 3 Mar 1911. Albert CASSIR married Winifred POPPLEWELL. He passed away in Lancashire, England.

[HillmanImp]

13 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Noice. Inglewood looks rather spacious.

 

Think thats maybe the wrong one. Inglewood in Caldy is a mock tudor jobbie and was Malcolm Lowery's home. 

https://lithub.com/wandering-the-wirral-on-the-literary-influence-of-malcolm-lowrys-childhood-landscape/

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/property-history/114-caldy-road/caldy/wirral/ch48-1lw/31847749/

[HMC]

5 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Born in Egypt on 3 Mar 1911. Albert CASSIR married Winifred POPPLEWELL. He passed away in Lancashire, England.

A sort of northern, less successful version of Muhammad-al-fayed? he preferred a fleet of benz IIRC though

[Mrs6C]

Albert Cassir was a cotton merchant in Liverpool...

[High Jetter]

33 minutes ago, HMC said:

A sort of northern, less successful version of Muhammad-al-fayed? he preferred a fleet of benz IIRC though

No idea, just dropped him into google and ancestry.co.uk popped up the first result  - the age would seem to fit, and it could tie in with @Mrs6C's observation.

[Mrs6C]

37 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

No idea, just dropped him into google and ancestry.co.uk popped up the first result  - the age would seem to fit, and it could tie in with @Mrs6C's observation.

He was indeed married to Winifred and they had one child, a daughter named Jeanette. She went to Upton Convent School and then onto finishing school in Switzerland, where she studied French. Later on she worked for a solicitor's practice in Hoylake. Jeanette was a noteworthy showjumper and had represented Cheshire in competitions. She became engaged to (or married) a James Chapman in January 1966. His parents had a nice house at 28 Quarry Road, Heswall, which was used until at least 2009 as a Prep. school.

Albert was, genuinely, a cotton merchant in Liverpool.

[Tayne]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

Here we go

 

First of 3 (!) paint shop inspections

Am I the only one who sees a cock and balls in this image?