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Spotter's Log: Harpenden Classics On The Common


Electric Leyland

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Ok, that's it, I give up! I'm NEVER going shite spotting again. You seem to have spotted more stuff in a day's cycling round London than I've seen in 6 years round here!!

 

To be honest Mr 55B you do have to have a nose for where to look. I've similarly spend an entire day cycling around London and spotting virtually nothing. Over time you tend to get a feel for where to go and to know when you're "in the zone". 8)

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Look at the state of that poor Allegro estate. :shock: Wonderful! Surely that can’t be roadworthy? .

 

It sure was, taxed until Feb 2011. i would just love to know the garage that does his MOT. He could be the official sponsor of Autoshite and would get a lifetime free banner ad on this forum.

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Wonder what the story with the derelict building is? I take it the house has been built in front of it and so the building is due to come down?

 

Just some old factory behind a row of Victorian houses, probably around the same age. There's loads and loads of buildingshite like that around Hackney still, right into City centre up to Liverpool St Station near me, and a lot of it seems to be bomb damaged stock from WW2 still. Obviously as time goes by they either get gentrified or buldozed, but there's still plenty to gasp in awe at.

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Incredible work EL, I was wondering when youd update next. I actually visited London on Monday to get some spots, and you are right, youll know within a few minutes if you have found somewhere good or not. I love the Avenger and Allegro obviously. Each area of London appears to have a handful of 'OMG' moments. Keep up the good work!

Also, what is that Wispa Mint monstrousity?

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This is the best spotz thread of evar!

 

2010Aug30th014.jpg

 

Seen this toiling up or down the M40 a couple of times... (or another of the fleet). Kudos to the operators for keeping an old commercial in working order. I reckon it's more commercially viable than most people think, especially if it's a petrol: no low emission zone worriez!

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Update: It is:

 

The vehicle details for VGN 750W are:

 

Date of Liability 01 02 2011

Date of First Registration 01 12 1980

Year of Manufacture 1980

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 2279CC

Fuel Type Petrol

Vehicle Status Licence Not Due

Vehicle Colour RED

6 Months Rate £112.75

12 Months Rate £205.00

 

Although it's not red(?)

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Best thread evar. Two many great cars to point out, but I really love all the double & triple spots in one place.

The CF van is awesome, I think you showed me that one at Stondon but i'd forgotten about it. Someone should start a 'still working' thread for old commercials.

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Has ReallyLoud spotted that Allegro estate before? Seems familiar somehow.

 

I think a trip into your neck of the woods is required to gawp at knackered old buildings etc. There seems to be so much more and older history still around near and just north of the city that out it in the NW suburbs.

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  • 2 months later...

A short New Year's update. It's the night before collection day so I've cleared my camera.

 

Starting off, morning Jan 1st, leaving the flat this was the very first car I saw. Mr H Sceptre was there too to witness it. I hope this is an omen for the next 12 months.

 

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THen the rest from the tail end of 2010....finding myself photographing all sorts of cars I would never have bothered about before.

 

Leicester first..

 

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And back home again.....

 

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First time one of these has ever had me reaching for the camera:

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A fella communtes in this every day, fair play to him:

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Shite yet? I reckon almost there. Looking forward to when knackered ones cost £500, when will that be?

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Nearly got away, on French Plates too:

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Virtually did get away, its a P reg Audi 80 same colour as my 100, well chuffed:

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Probably the first significant reason for my lifelong passion for classics. Scott-Moncrieff's in Leek, Staffs (now closed down)

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From as early as I can remember I'd walk past it at least a couple of times a day to and from town and gaze inside, all doors were always open. Run by a fella called David Scott-Moncreiff, it was a vintage/classic Rolls Royce & Bentley restoration shop which usually had at least a dozen cars in at a time, ranging from the 1920s-1960s. Phantoms I to V, Clouds, Wraiths, Continentals, you name it, plus sometimes other top notch oldies like Lagondas and the like. I'd make my mum stop for a minute as I'd creep in and gaze around at the cars, whilst the mechanics would always be working so hard they'd never give me a glace, and the smell of old garages was so powerful, the strongest memory of all. When I was a little older I spent a fortnight or so constructing a model replica of the place out of wood, with my dad's help, to store my toy Rolls/Bentleys in.

 

I think it closed down in the late 80s/early 90s and moved to another site in Leek for a while before becoming no more. Anyone know anything else about here, or have ever been there?

 

Nearest to front was the paintshop, seemed to always have Phantom V's in there being sprayed...

 

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And finally a few atmospheric shots of the Autoshite Fleet, with a couple of jars of Everards in some village outside Leicester on the day the Audi broke down...

 

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But tomorrow.... is another historic day.

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That Amazon is simply fantastic with those wheels/tyres on. Must show PaulH.... :D

 

Nice story about that old garage too. Looks like a building with some real history as well.

 

 

 

Thanks. Scott Moncreiffs would have probably been a textile factory originally, Leek grew up in this industry during the 1800s/1900s when it was a busy train/canal hub, and there are still many old mills and factores around, most of which have not been gentrified, some are still going in fact. It may not be apparent from the photos but the entire inside of the row of different buildings was all knocked through into one large interior, except for the paintshop at the end. Looking at the photos again in kind of reminds me of Willy Wonka's factory, I can imagine Gene Wilder cuffing his Oompa Loopmas round their earholes for using too much wob.

 

I absolutely love that Amazon too, best one I've ever seen I reckon.

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It's the night before collection day so I've cleared my camera.

 

This makes me very happy!

 

Glad that amazon is getting the communal thumbs-up, it does look ace doesn't it? Nice to see big fat squidgy tyres instead of ultra-low profile stretched rim nonsense

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Glad that amazon is getting the communal thumbs-up, it does look ace doesn't it? Nice to see big fat squidgy tyres instead of ultra-low profile stretched rim nonsense

 

+1 from me! I like a big squashy tyre myself, and the 5 spoke RoStyles aren't bad either!

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  • 4 months later...

 

2010Aug30th212.jpg

 

 

What a day that was.

 

 

I'm not finished yet....

Sorry to drag up this thread, but I finally figured out where this lives the other day, and decided to take a visit to the near Brixton road it lived on, only to find it not there. So I did a DVLA check, and sadly, it has been scrapped! The blue Talbot Avenger is thankfully on SORN however.

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