RWUK's Roadside Rammle: Cadillac STS in the wild

[Angrydicky]

That's got to be the pickup from this thread! http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.c ... 005&page=1

 

Sam Glover of this parish rescued the van.

[quicksilver]

WOW, I never knew Moskvich made pickups. That one didn't last long, registered Jan 77 and last licensed Dec 80, and 30 years off the road certainly seem to have taken their toll - one for a VERY brave restorer!!

[RedSparrow]

Chances are its the same one. BUT your spot looks like it's been standing for a while - in a different location from the one for sale....

[Spottedlaurel]

That’s great! I think it’s a cut-down van, although a pickup may have been available from the factory. I found a piece in an old Autosport about some motor-racing type offering them in the UK as a conversion.

 

Particularly good to see with the ‘GV’ Suffolk registration. Would love to know where it had been sold new.

 

There was a van in Medler’s back in 1996/97, long-gone now though sadly.

[406V6]

The Rambler is noteworthy as it is RHD unlike the usual LHD imports from the USA

[Spottedlaurel]

The one from Autosport (sorry, whole test a bit too big to easily scan). Apparently the conversion cost £100-ish on top of the £725 purchase price in early 1974.

 

1973/74 Moskvich Pickup by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

1973/74 Moskvich Pickup by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

Rear window arrangement looks similar.

[RoadworkUK]

Excelsior work, Mr Laurel. It was that crypto-louvred sail panel that made me doubt its purebred factory origins. I'd love to read a review... Of any Moskvitch. Shame the 427 doesn't refer to a V8...

[RedSparrow]

Cool. Mr. Laurel, can I be a pain and ask you to scan rest of that test in, if you have time and it's not too much of a pain, like.

[trigger]

Where is this pick up Earl?, One of my Flickr contacts is looking for one to restore and he's only in the Manningtree/Lawford area.

[eddyramrod]

For nearly 40 years I've laboured under the illusion that these were a factory-original production. Well you live and learn.....

[gtd2000]

Were Moskvitch cars actually reliable?

[Spottedlaurel]

Cool. Mr. Laurel, can I be a pain and ask you to scan rest of that test in, if you have time and it's not too much of a pain, like.

 

I'll try.

[RoadworkUK]

Where is this pick up Earl?, One of my Flickr contacts is looking for one to restore and he's only in the Manningtree/Lawford area.

 

Trig; it's gone, mate. It was on the Wick Lane past the Ardleigh Reservoir. Can't have been there for long as I pass that way about thrice weekly. Only saw it once. I'm beginning to think it was an apparition.

[trigger]

Shame, I suspect it's been dragged out of a barn and collected by Wheelers then by now.

[Andrew353w]

WOW, I never knew Moskvich made pickups. That one didn't last long, registered Jan 77 and last licensed Dec 80, and 30 years off the road certainly seem to have taken their toll - one for a VERY brave restorer!!

 

Sales of Moskvich cars stopped in 1975, although the pick-ups and vans were sold for longer, from stock brought in earlier. The last pick-ups sold had a revised dash-board, never seen in the cars. One can be forgiven for forgetting just how poplar these cars were in the late 1960's & early 1970's. Sales went from 300 in 1969 to 3,462 in 1973, as a result of the aggressive marketing and competitive pricing policy brought in by Satra Trading.

 

After some (perhaps unfair?) bad publicity regarding the cars' brakes & steering, sales plummeted from over 3,000 in 1973 to only 424 in 1974 & 344 in 1975. That pick-up must have been one of the last ones sold. A truly epic restoration for anyone!

[Shep Shepherd]

I had no idea that the Mosky pick-up was an aftermarket hatchet job

 

I wonder how many vans were converted, and by whom?

[gtd2000]

After some (perhaps unfair?) bad publicity regarding the cars' brakes

 

That's what always sticks in my mind with the name Moskvitch...

[trigger]

Just been looking and that is the same pick up from Retro Rides, The yard looks to be an amazing place, on Google maps it's chock a block with old cars and lorries.

[barrett]

Just been looking and that is the same pick up from Retro Rides

 

That's a shame, it looked savable in the RR photos, but it's obviously not. I'd be REALLY pissed if I'd paid £1200 for that pile of shit. Did Sam Glover buy the van in the end?

[RedSparrow]

Yeah apparently he did. He has a thread about it somewhere.

 

Shame that pickup is utterly fucked. Must be the last (UK spec) one.

[Sam Glover]

Sirs; and Madam.

 

What the bloody hell is this?

 

 

I pulled up next to it for 15 seconds (had two aggressively driven vans bearing down on me), took a photo and had to bugger off. I can't read the badge on the tailgate but it looks like the old Vauxhall script but looks almost like it has 4x4 at the end. Could 1500 be a red herring? I wonder if it's some bizzare home-brew effort? Wheel trims look German. 1977 looks suspiciously late.

 

I wish I'd had a chance to get out and look around the front. It's probably piss easy for all you "proper enthusiasts" out there.... Put me out of my considerable misery.

 

Ta.

 

 

Blimey. You must've taken that shot moments before I scooped it onto a trailer. In fact, if one of the aggressively-driven vans was a mildly ramshackle silver Sprinter... my bad.

 

I liberated this on behalf of a Russian friend, who'll be taking to back to Moscow in September. He's planning to restore it (raving mentallist). I had to form an elaborate strapping and splinting system to keep it in one piece on the trailer. The propshaft is acting as a backbone chassis.

 

I can confirm that it does indeed have an Izh-style dashboard, which I never knew existed in RHD form. Highly exotic.

 

The van's in fabulous order... a proud addition to the Museum of Superior Automotive Achievements. Myself and a friend also excavated the Skoda Octavia van from the same place last weekend.

 

Sam

 

 

 

 

[dollywobbler]

Great stuff again Sam! Glad the Skoda got collected as well. Was worried about it getting lost in all the Moskie excitement.

[Wilko220]

Magnificent!

[RedSparrow]

So your Russian pal is taking it back to the motherland - does that mean pickups were never sold there? or are they just mega rare there too?

 

Also I repeat my demand for a ton of photos of your van and the new skoda!

[RoadworkUK]

Extraordinary timing! Glad to see that it's still on the radar and hasn't just been vacuumed up by the hordes who prowl these parts in greedy-board clad Transits. I left an old oven outside my house once, it was gone within a quarter of an hour.

[RoadworkUK]

Time to flush out some memory cards. The following were taken using a variety of devices with wild variance in quality, size, resolution etc.

 

 

Captured in Looe, Cornwall. MK2 Granola, on the road by a wing and a prayer. Splendidly patinated, you could smell the ferrous oxide radiating from it.

 

 

...in contrast to this immaculate Astra at the other end of the town:

 

 

I always liked the SRi more than I did the GTE, but that was especially true of the slightly earlier type with steel wheels and anthracite foil cladding. Cor! Jizz! Etc!

 

 

Bit o' marine shite here, a somewhat malappreciated Fairline Fury 26 of early mid 70's vintage, as photo'd from a train on Brunels' Tamar bridge at 25mph.

 

 

My shot for the Autoshite Calendar's next run... W124 CE on ghetto axlestands.

 

 

Transit GT. Pimp my ride, Devon style.

 

 

Shonky doesn't even begin to cover it. Wonderful.

 

 

Midi on my manor. Owner is a winner, clearly. There's also a Porsche 924 on a neigbouring driveway with an embrionic nature reserve forming in the shade beneath it.

 

 

Minty late 205.

 

 

Minty 306 XN 3-door. My other half rocks the other one of these in the Colchester area. Hers is in Bermuda Blue / Turquoise / British Racing Toothpaste.

 

 

I kinda dig these little 323s, but absolutely know that I shouldn't. I'd like a Ford Aspire for extra shite credentials.

 

 

Spotted at B&Q, Colchester, immediately before an abortive attempt at fitting kitchen cabinets to a drylined wall.

 

 

Here's the Allegro again, several weeks later when I returned to buy the bits I needed to do the job properly. He's clearly a regular.

 

 

This turned up at work one day, like an apparition. Check the mudflaps!!111! I was papping it good and proper when I noticed an ancient woman slumbering in the passenger seat. She clearly hadn't noticed me and probably hadn't noticed it wasn't 1945 any more.

 

 

The guy with this Corolla was improbably smartly dressed in an architect / graphic designer / turtleneck kind of way. Kudos for not having an Audi.

 

 

An admission of ignorance here; prior to this moment I had no idea that the SRi130 name (which I thought unassailably cool when I was seven) made it into MK3 guise. Seen here with mismatched wheeltrims and crunchy arches for authenticity.

 

 

Another random Panda to wash up in my work carpark. Panda sightings are becoming unnervingly commonplace.

 

 

Double shite spot in Sainsbury's car park. I've always enjoyed the slight gawkyness of the Galant Estate; it looks like it could have been drawn by the same chap who did the '88 on Camry estate. A VR4 one of these is probably a lot of fun. And a Saab.

 

 

I used to hate these because the headlamps were too small and the scalloped channels along the side reminded me of the Maestro. Now I like Maestros too.

 

 

The other day I admitted to thinking that the Suzuki X-90; utterly lamentable in the '90s, might well be turning a corner towards having curiosity value, if not ever achieving fully fledged acceptability. Today I'm going to say that the RX4 is the one Megane variant I might ever consider owning.

 

 

'96 Hindustan, surface rust breaking out all over the place but was by no means any more horrific than any number of mid '90s shitboxes I could mention. Oh, apart from being awful, of course. The awfulness here is as profound as it ever has been for the last fifty years.

 

 

The local heavily Barried Maestro Turbo I caught several updates ago now seems to be a permanent resident. It looks even sillier from the front, but I suspect it to be absolutely hilarious to drive.

 

 

EDIT: Soz for the inverted Cavalier. Serously CBA to sort it out. You'll just have to turn your monitor upside down or something, whatevs.

 

This cheeky little Popular hides itself away at the end of a long, secluded driveway, enjoying its lack of a clock or radio in privacy.

[CreepingJesus]

If the Midi has a towbar, I'll rent a car trailer for the Ashtray SRi, and chug off up the road all happy!

[Lord Sterling]

 

Kin 'ell! Ma_Sterling had one of these back in the 90s. G886 KAW, a Popular Plus so it had a small digital clock/radio/glovebox door and from what I remember, rubber floor mats. It was bought new from Furrows for Ford in Shrewsbury. She had it for years. Fatha Sterling added some after market door rubbing strips and red tape bumper inserts.

 

Ma's Fiesta also had this style wheel trim:

 

Which as a rather wet-behind the ears 14 year old tried to paint the Ford sign with Red touch-up paint

[RoadworkUK]

 

I perform a tiny, insignificant role at the very bottom of the ladder for a massive, multinational company and, every now and again, I'm called up for a fresh intake of indoctrination.

 

The venue for this is either the Milton Keynes headquarters, a bleak, '70s monolith of indistinction where corporate drones toil away doing mysterious activities for either a tiny or a massive amount of money depending on hierarchical standing.

 

Or it's here, at Mercedes-Benz World, in Weybridge, Surrey.

 

This showcase of industrial confidence, a rhapsody in shiny, pointy aluminium, concrete and glass, serves as a showcase for Mercedes and everything they stand for, and as such is stuffed full of shiny, expensive machinery, the likes of which we've seen millions of times before in every classic car magazine or motoring documentary that's ever been put together.

 

Thus: The Mercedes 300SL Roadster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there's the Pagoda SL of the '60s and early '70s...

 

 

 

... and the 190SL, the 300's pretty little sister.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More interesting is the 3.5 litre 280SE Convertible. The SLs are all very nice and all, but the SE is somehow infinitely more interesting. Aside from the Americans there was barely anybody else in the world building a big, open-top five-seat car with a decent turn of speed. Add the styling which is so agonisingly close to plain and ugly; yet is somehow anything but.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then it's all over. Suddenly Mercedes-Benz world runs out of interesting things to show me.

 

There's three storeys of display space on which virtually every one of their current-day offerings is picked out in halogen clarity, with gangs of marauding salespeople ready to ask lifestyle questions to anybody who cocks an admiring glance in the right direction.

 

Yet, aside from the cars above which are all parked around a "We're Mercedes-Benz, this is how good we've been" display in the central core of the building (below Europes longest single-span escalator, don't you know), there's precious little to link Mercedes from the glory days of the 50s and 60s with the products they peddle today.

 

What of the R107 SL, the car that kept Mercedes in the limelight for sixteen long years? What of the W126 SEC, that glorious barge of a car that somehow combined elegance with obesity and led directly to todays CL uber-coupe?

 

Nein. For representation of anything other than the established, hundred-grand plus, blue-chip classics, I had to console myself with photos of model cars.

 

 

 

 

Mind you, that 190E is a corker.

[gricer]

I kinda dig these little 323s, but absolutely know that I shouldn't. I'd like a Ford Aspire for extra shite credentials.

 

 

The Ford Aspire is not the same car as the 3-dr 323. It's a Kia Avella, essentially a rebodied Pride (121). In case you were wondering!