Looking for the real Red Robbo (my book). Friday Oct 3rd - DE56 2HE - join us! :)

[robt100]

Won;t be at the motorist, but if I get to the GBCJ event, can you ask me about the P6 question again so I can get it right this time? 🤣

[motorpunk]

6 hours ago, robt100 said:

Won;t be at the motorist, but if I get to the GBCJ event, can you ask me about the P6 question again so I can get it right this time? 🤣

Haha! Yes mate. I’ve added a few more to keep people on their toes…

Looking forward to tomorrow. I think JayEmm will be about to prod me into action.

[robt100]

3 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Haha! Yes mate. I’ve added a few more to keep people on their toes…

Looking forward to tomorrow. I think JayEmm will be about to prod me into action.

Good to see James keeping the promo going, has he dragged you on the podcast yet?🙈

[motorpunk]

10 hours ago, robt100 said:

Good to see James keeping the promo going, has he dragged you on the podcast yet?🙈

I’m a bit rough around the edges for podcasts, I think. I hate being scripted and like a nice swear now and then.

[motorpunk]

Fantastic little gig tonight. Nice to meet Bob Lutz and others. I think there’s a banned shiter in this shot but am rubbish at forum politics. 

[R Lutz]

Its at this point I should say it was definitely worth doing a 4 hour round trip to attend the Northern book launch...

 

Seriously, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. 4th Rich Duisberg book in the collection. This one defaced by the author however. 

[robt100]

Glad tonight went well @motorpunk, cant imagine you have many more physical books left in your possession now?!

[garethj]

My copy arrived today, we will achieve unity and greatness through the pages of the shared work ethic!

[motorpunk]

Next book launch event thing on Thursday 25th Sept at The Splined Hub in Oundle, Northants.

*** THIS ONE IS NOW CANCELLED FOR BORING ADMINISTRATIVE REASONS, SOZ ***

Edited 3 hours ago by motorpunk

[garethj]

25 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

Next book launch event thing on Thursday 25th Sept at The Splined Hub in Oundle, Northants. Free entry and it ties in with a sunset spin meet event there. They have Jags, Porsches, and lovely classic Range Rover there and there’s always something sexy like this unrestored Alfa knocking about. There’ll be food and drink and fun. See you there? 

I’ll be there.  Will we need a secret handshake or something?😳

[MrBig]

Wrong book, but a nice bit of PR for you tonight on Jonny Smiths Late Brake Show. About 2 minutes in.

 

[Lord Sterling]

Great stuff @motorpunk. Had to get Sis_Sterling to order mine off Amazon as I cannot stand Amazon having dealt with them and a business account held with them by a place I used to work at.

[Floatylight]

Really enjoying reading the book, just seen a name i recognise - Andy Ch*ffer, you're right he is brusque, with pretty well everyone.. - Still a union activist..

[motorpunk]

14 hours ago, Floatylight said:

Really enjoying reading the book, just seen a name i recognise - Andy Ch*ffer, you're right he is brusque, with pretty well everyone.. - Still a union activist..

Glad you’re enjoying the read. Your man properly took the wind out of my sails. You’ve probably now also read my explanation of why the communists were so against this book happening (without even knowing my intended direction).

[motorpunk]

Getting some nice reviews now, and messages from readers, this is great. Seems like folks love the Red Robbo book (link here if you missed it, or drop me a DM and I can sell you a copy direct and sign it and stuff). 

I am up to date on my writing for ClassicRetroModern (Hillman Imp thing in the next issue) and Copcaetic (Fiat/Lingotto thing in the next issue) and Absolute Lotus (thing on the K series engine in there)... so nothing else to write and day job is heading to redundancy so I'm a bit flat. 

Probably oversharing here - A couple of people have asked what I'll write about next. I don't want to write about anyone that has already been covered. Someone with an automotive angle is interesting. I had started research on a Monty Python character, but that hit a dead end. I liked the idea of 'Looking for the real Carlos Fandango' but I'm pretty sure that's a marketing company invention, not a real person, so that's no good. There's a living ex-F1 driver near me (I'd rather not mention him) who led a fantastic life, I have written a short feature on him before, but he's not exactly 'lost' and he's still alive, which muddies the water in some way. 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. There's an automotive figure in South Korea which is fascinating, but, again, I don't have the money to travel or linguistic skills needed to interview folks in their local language. Finally there's a very interesting automotive/industrial crackpot and a murky story from the '70s which I like the look of. I like starting with a 'known' (eg; Red Robbo caused strikes) and working backwards to unpick their life. With this crackpot I doubt many people would know the person (last seen in a jungle looking for UFOs) so I should write it with a conventional timeline which makes for easier reading but is (too) easy to write. I like the technical challenge of writing. Maybe "crackpot" will be my next book...

Thanks, again, to those buying Red Robbo, and I hope to see a few shiters at The Splined Hub or The Great British Car Journey for my stand-up thing later this month. 

 

[garethj]

Just throwing some ideas out; not because they’re necessarily any good but because they might trigger a better idea…

A factory, preferably one that’s seen a few different manufacturers go through it, like Cowley?  There’s the chance to find people who worked there when they made the different makes and how each manufacturer had a different emphasis on quality or efficiency etc, and how certain things seemingly couldn’t be changed?

There’s the low volume manufacturers.  They can be interesting because in smaller companies it’s people who have a bigger impact than processes.  I know a bit about Panther, Peerless, TVR and Ginetta and there’s a very strong human story to each of them.

Along similar lines are accessory companies, because I’m sure lots of us of a certain age remember the adverts for vinyl roofs and sound deadening kits, what kind of maverick goes into this?  The bloke who did Reece Fish carburettors was apparently quite a character too, there must be loads.

Britain has quite a capability in racing manufacturers too, building even F1 cars through the late 70s was much more like some blokes in a shed than it is today.  I know that Alan Mann Racing are known for making Ford Escorts fast in the late 60s but they also built the Chitty Bang Bang film cars and the ones for UFO too.  That’s alongside companies like Lola who had so many fingers in pies they should have been in Norfolk, not Huntingdon.

Anyway, you’re really good at this stuff and you clearly enjoy it, good luck in doing more.

[High Jetter]

Les Smith? Paddy Hopkirk? Whoever started Longlife? Richard Grant? All accessories, so optional

[R Lutz]

Tony Crook. Going all the way back to when his family coal mines were nationalised up to the locks being changed on the doors to Bristol Cars own Kensington High Street. 

[motorpunk]

2 hours ago, R Lutz said:

Tony Crook. Going all the way back to when his family coal mines were nationalised up to the locks being changed on the doors to Bristol Cars own Kensington High Street. 

Great idea. I loved the shenanigans and arrogance of how he ran his business at times. There's a fairly sensible-looking* biography of him here. Dunno if I would find a new angle on him. 

*Sensible is not me. As you know

[R Lutz]

7 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Great idea. I loved the shenanigans and arrogance of how he ran his business at times. There's a fairly sensible-looking* biography of him here. Dunno if I would find a new angle on him. 

*Sensible is not me. As you know

I did not know there was a book on him? I love the story where he refused to let Michael Winner into the showroom. 

 

EDIT: How f**king much???

[Matty]

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

some nice reviews now, and messages from readers, this is great. Seems like folks love the Red Robbo book (link here if you missed it, or drop me a DM and I can sell you a copy direct and sign it and stuff).

Tried to message you pal but it said you can't recieve em. 

[motorpunk]

48 minutes ago, Matty said:

Tried to message you pal but it said you can't recieve em. 

Just messaged you ok. I think. 👍🏻

[tooSavvy]

@motorpunk.. Ahem.... An IMP piece ?

Tell me more

🚙💨

[motorpunk]

Just now, tooSavvy said:

@motorpunk.. Ahem.... An IMP piece ?

Tell me more

🚙💨

I saw a nice Imp Californian and decided I should write about it. It’ll be in issue 37 of ClassicRetroModern magazine. I do like an Imp 😍

[motorpunk]

Just tagging @garethj and anyone else who had been planning on coming to Splined Hub on 25th Sept... that event is now cancelled for boring administrative reasons, sorry. 

We have a nice crowd coming to the next event (perhaps the last one I'll do on this book) - this is at The Great British Car Journey in Derbyshire, DE56 2HE, Friday 3rd of October from 6-8pm. The museum is brilliant, it's open until 6pm to the public, then when it closes at 6pm we have the place to ourselves from 6-8pm where I'll do a daft Q&A thing, a talk through the book, and sign a few copies if anyone would like one. Entry to my event is free (if you go to the museum before you'll have to pay for that bit), the Cafe will be open and I promise it'll be a laugh. Anyone who was at Rustival should know how it'll go, this time we have a bit longer, and I can't wait to see you there. 

RSVP, please, so we can manage numbers and/or add folks to the guest list. All welcome. 

[Verysleepyboy]

1 hour ago, motorpunk said:

Just tagging @garethj and anyone else who had been planning on coming to Splined Hub on 25th Sept... that event is now cancelled for boring administrative reasons, sorry. 

 

😩😩😩😩

That's a shame - was looking forward to it!

Can I order a copy direct from you instead then?

 

[motorpunk]

12 minutes ago, Verysleepyboy said:

😩😩😩😩

That's a shame - was looking forward to it!

Can I order a copy direct from you instead then?

 

Of course you can. I’ll DM you payment details.