Looking for the real Red Robbo my book and other writing shite

[MrBig]

My copy is arriving today. I was trying to hold out to see if I could make a launch event, but sadly not. Was hoping to ask you what happened to Reverend Bob as I've still not forgiven him for not distributing the footage from the 2007 Scumball 

[AnthonyG]

You need Hyundai Motor to sponsor you to write the true* story of how the Pony was designed with the aid of loads of Marina design drawings nabbed by George Turnbull on his way out of Leyland circa 1974…I suspect this isn’t something they actually want to publicise.

Joking aside, he left on fairly good terms and Stokes or whoever told him he could have any Leyland car he wanted as part of a redundancy package, probably expecting to give him a XJ6 or similar. George took two Marinas instead, presumably one of each body style/engine size, and those Marinas made their way over to Korea….

[Matty]

@motorpunk. Mines turned up Rich. Much thanks.

Wife's said that she'll read me a chapter a night. No more than that. 🤣

[warren t claim]

@motorpunk what's your next project going to be?

The rise and fall of TVR would make a good story. Jag boss Bill Lyons must have a good books worth of stories too. 

Or ass a leftfield choice. How about a book about the product placement of vehicles in UK TV shows? 

[Dyslexic Viking]

The development and history of the model 70 Invacar?

[motorpunk]

15 hours ago, warren t claim said:

@motorpunk what's your next project going to be?

The rise and fall of TVR would make a good story. Jag boss Bill Lyons must have a good books worth of stories too. 

Or ass a leftfield choice. How about a book about the product placement of vehicles in UK TV shows? 

I have a few ideas. Need to recoup some money from the Red Robbo book first.

TV shows… I once wrote a piece for MotorPunk magazine on the cars of BullsEye. It’s one of my favourite short pieces. Being as the mag is now defunct I might just post it up here for a laugh anyway.

Anyone else coming to the launch in Ambergate? 

[robt100]

Hoping to be there @motorpunk, still got a couple of bits up in the air atm. Waiting on the MOT on the Jag (which is less than a mile down the road from GBCJ) to work out if im picking that up on the day, or just popping over in the evening in "Ron". Or if im stuck at work till gone 5pm 🙈

[IronStar]

Printed in Poland, delivered to German warehouse, and then to Serbia via somewhat shady channels, well fitting the story of the book. Looking forward to reading it!

[Matty]

On 19/09/2025 at 19:24, Dyslexic Viking said:

The development and history of the model 70 Invacar?

No 🤣

[High Jetter]

Ah gwan 😀

[motorpunk]

12 hours ago, IronStar said:

Printed in Poland, delivered to German warehouse, and then to Serbia via somewhat shady channels, well fitting the story of the book. Looking forward to reading it!

A well-travelled book! I hope you enjoy it.

I might change this thread title to “shite I write” to cover other automotive stuff.  

Might be on gardening leave from work soon so should have a clear run of 3 months to get stuck into …. summat.

[ProgRocker]

My copy arrived last weekend. Very entertaining read! 

[motorpunk]

21 hours ago, ProgRocker said:

My copy arrived last weekend. Very entertaining read! 

Glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for buying a copy.

[motorpunk]

I used to have my own magazine (with a couple of good friends), we had almost no rules on content other than it had to be stuff we loved or made us laugh. I hate those double page tool ads you get in some other magazines, so made my own for my own magazine. It’ll almost certainly offend some people and, if that’s you, you can take solace in the fact we only managed four issues before going pop. 

[motorpunk]

Great British Car Journey event info now on their website.

[Alusilber]

Good news! The new issue of Practical Classics features your book in the new books column.

However it's not Red Robbo, it's Looking for the Real Weasel...

[chaseracer]

On 09/09/2025 at 12:36, motorpunk said:

There's also a cracking motorsport/drugslord character in south America, but I don't speak Spanish and have no money to travel to do the legwork...

How about Vic Lee instead?

[motorpunk]

23 minutes ago, Alusilber said:

Good news! The new issue of Practical Classics features your book in the new books column.

However it's not Red Robbo, it's Looking for the Real Weasel...

What does it say?

I delivered that to his house in the Elise! Will deliver him a copy of Robbo next. 
 

[Snipes]

"I like to think Jan Leeming took him (Robinson) for a spin around the bullring in her XJ6 with Derek quoting Marx to her"

Absolute lol. I'm also glad the Pen name is a LoG reference as I had wondered about it but didn't say anything in case it were your real name and I offended you...

[Alusilber]

39 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

What does it say?

I delivered that to his house in the Elise! Will deliver him a copy of Robbo next. 
 

 

[motorpunk]

10 hours ago, Snipes said:

Pen name is a LoG reference

I’m English, I speak German. When LoG was popular on the telly, a colleague heard me speaking German on the phone. The previous nights LoG episode had predatory homosexual Herr Lipp say something like “you get get a boy in Duisberg for just 30 Marks”, so, or course, because I speak German I’m now a rent boy to my colleagues. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever explained my pen name 😂

[Snipes]

"Herr ist meiner younger!!"

(I have no idea how that ought to be spelled)

[AnthonyG]

Brilliant!

Me being innocent, I just assumed it was your real name….

On cars as quiz show prizes, wasn’t there an agreement to limit prize values to a certain amount, and this meant either a base spec supermini from a domestic manufacturer or something a big bigger/better equipped when, sometime around the mid 80s it became acceptable to use foreign brands (I remember Seats and Hyundais, but Ladas and Skodas were generally avoided, due to the inevitable sniggering). Also I suspect for a new entrant like Seat or Proton prize cars were gifted to the quiz show as part of their marketing efforts. 

It always seemed that Metros were invariably City’s or City X’s and Fiestas Popular or Popular Plus. Bullseye always seemed to have the most random selection, and did at least once feature a Lada Riva or a Skoda Estelle.

This thing was either a gentleman’s agreement on an informal basis, or a more formal thing agreed between BBC and all the various ITV franchise companies, possibly enforced by whatever the predecessor of Ofcom was, I vaguely remember something called the IBA which mediated when ITV firms fell out with each other. 

Obviously this mutual non-aggression pact died sometime in the 1990s, with the rise of shows like £64,000 Question and then finally Millionaire. 

[Dobloseven]

There's been some quite interesting cars as competition prizes over the years, famously the 57 Wolseley Hornet convertibles by Crayford, given away by Heinz.Complete with picnic sets.Also there were the Coca Cola liveried TR7s.Remember someone winning one and it being a complete lemon with no one sure what his consumer rights were as he hadn't actually paid for it.

[colnerov]

 

 A guy I worked with in the '70s won a Mini on bullseye, which he promptly sold and bought a brand new Mk3 Cortina GT.

[mk2_craig]

4 hours ago, colnerov said:

bullseye

The show that first aired in 1981?

[colnerov]

9 minutes ago, mk2_craig said:

The show that first aired in 1981?

 

 It was another programme then, but it was 1971 because of where I was working. It was 55 years ago and I've been to sleep since then. 😄

[motorpunk]

Writing shite... if anyone is bothered? Mods, am I OK to link to these publications? If not, let me know and I'll remove links. Thanks.

Current issue of Classic.RetroModern. has a light-hearted feature comparing the Mini Moke and Citroen Mehari by me, plus a write up of my M5 trip up Pikes Peak (as mentioned in a thread on here somewhere). I have submitted a feature on the Hillman Imp Californian for the next issue, plus something about weird Scandinavian UFO-type houses, which I'm pleased about. I love getting non-motoring content into motoring mags, it feels like my writing is so good the topics cannot be ignored. I have something about the Autozam AZ-1 for the future, too. Anyway, that's that for CRM. 

Current issue of Copacetic has my column about roadtripping (I did my Rover 620i thing at Lemons, still can't believe we did this), and the next issue will have a column from me about Lingotto and old Fiats, because I love that stuff. 

Future issue of Absolute Lotus will have my interview with Harold Musgrove in it, he is a wonderfully prickly and clever old chap, and very generous in sharing his memories of Thatcher, Longbridge and his early involvement in the K series engine (as fitted to my Elise). I've also submitted a feature on a mate who owns a spectacular red Lotus Elite, proper '70s machine, I love it. 

I seldom get paid by magazines these days, most people seem to be doing it for the love of it, but the publications above kindly promote my books and those earn me some royalties most days. Not every day, mind, for example yesterday I can see I earned precisely £0 (for the first time in ages, admittedly) in book royalties. 

Writing books does not take me long. The Red Robbo book was only 1-2 weeks worth of writing, it's the research and interviewing that takes time (a year, in this case), so I have to pick my topics carefully. I am currently considering a book on the two chumps behind the great oil sniffer hoax (see wiki for a quick overview of that), a biography of Henry Ford's psycho sidekick Harry Bennett (here), or possibly something on Brian 'Superhen' Henton who lives locally to me and is a brilliant storyteller (maybe too good, does he need me?). I have met him twice now. I appreciate suggestions, for me the best people to write about are those where I can do a bit of mythbusting, wallow in some '70s nonsense, and slip in a few knob gags without anyone getting legal on me. Oh, and something people will pay for might be nice...

Thanks again for the kind words from you lot, and those ordering my books (I can sell copies of my books direct if you like, just DM me), I work from home and my day job has turned to cack (redundant soon, I expect), so this shite is my happy outlet. Cheers.

Mods - I hope this post is OK. Ta.

PS - Come and see my do my stand-up thing at The Great British Car Journey next Friday  (3rd Oct), free entry if you message first, I'll sign books and make you laugh. Promise!

[NorthernMonkey]

10 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

 

Thanks again for the kind words from you lot, and those ordering my books (I can sell copies of my books direct if you like, just DM me), I work from home and my day job has turned to cack (redundant soon, I expect), so this shite is my happy outlet. Cheers.

Mods - I hope this post is OK. Ta.

PS - Come and see my do my stand-up thing at The Great British Car Journey next Friday  (3rd Oct), free entry if you message first, I'll sign books and make you laugh. Promise!

Fine by me…crack on 👍

[robt100]

10 hours ago, motorpunk said:

PS - Come and see my do my stand-up thing at The Great British Car Journey next Friday  (3rd Oct), free entry if you message first, I'll sign books and make you laugh. Promise!

Not sure if I've got my name down on your list yet? Given the latest update on my Jag, I should be there for sure as I need to drop things off at Ron's to fix the pump😬