What I saw at Knebworth....2012 Ga-Ga update!

[boobydoo]

I wasn't going to go to this Bank Holiday show at all, but last night I spotted a lovely early seventies Opel Commodore pootling past the end of my road, so thought I'd give it a go if only to have a closer look at that.

 

 

Knebworth House dates back to 1490 althought the current building was re-modelled in the early 1800s. There's always some show or concert going on there, but it's probably most famous for having a Regency-style herb garden designed by Wincey Willis and for being the birth-place of guffawing 80's TV Chef, Rustie Lee.

 

Unfortunately the Opel wasn't there, but I did take a few snaps for your delicatessan.

 

Lovely early Celica:

 

Nice original 240Z. You can just see on the dash, an Autocar from 1971 featuring this very car on the front cover. How cool!

 

You don't see many of these nowadays, so worth a quick pic!

 

This old Volga was for sale at £1950. It was a very solid car and worth the money I thought. Even had a bit of Old Mr Ingram style carpet on the back window included in the price.

 

Rare Standard Estate with KWALITY write up stuck to the window.

 

This was a one owner from new with 44,000 miles. Lovely!

 

728. No write up on this one...paintwork a bit iffy in places, but very nice.

 

Now, this thing was like new. 9000 miles only. I liked it a lot and it was up for sale at £3950.

 

Very seventies colour scheme on this VX. Right up my street!

 

Chevette...I did read the blurb, but can't remember what it said to be honest. Only a few made I recall.

 

I didn't really like this, but I know some of you lot like the tatty look. Enjoy!

 

Not one, but TWO Viceroys! There was an advert in the window for a classic car meet at a local pub once a month. I thought I would pootle down in the Tagora as they seemed to like 80s barges, but I can't remember what pub it was now.

 

Mmmmm! Brown....

 

Possibly one of my favourites from the day...

 

Renaullt 8

 

This 10 was for sale at £3750. Restored a few years ago.

 

This was a Cortina 1.6L, although the owner would like us to think differently.

Oh! he missed out the O and the ER.

 

This brought back memories of going to cub scouts on a Monday night when I was a kiddie, in my neighbours grey one.. I don't recall his having a monkey on the front wing....maybe it was only on later models.

 

Similarly, when I was about 5 or 6, I remember the old lady down the lane had one exactly the same colour. I'd often hear it burble by as I pretended to water the flowers in the back garden with my little red plastic watering can.

 

Uh-oh! Another one of those naff, bespoke picnic tables! The old bint owner was sitting just out of shot behind the car.

"That's lovely!" I said pleasantly. "How long have you had it?"

"Errr, don't know." came the reply.

 

Boggo Cortina.

 

Escrot Ghia. Is it just me, or does that wing mirror look MAHOOSIVE.

 

The owner of this was quite chatty. Found in a barn and restored.Originally white, now yellow. One of three left over here. The interior was very shiny black vinyl...very sticky on a hot day!

 

This little Audi was choc-full of completely random shite. What is it with people and cuddly toys in cars? Notice the tottie eyeing me up? That's cos I'm GORGUSS I am!

 

Granny!

 

Nice original Avenger Super. Dooper!

 

Here's a very early TR7 on a 76P reg. Nice to see an un-messed with one. Original plazzie wheel trims and front wing Leyland badge. So nice, I could hardly Speke! Geddit?

 

A slightly more basic Chevette than the other one.

 

Cossie!

 

I learned today that the Super-Snipe was the first British production car to feature twin headlamps. Fancy!

 

I didn't take any of my cars cos I couldn't be arsed going to the garage to get one. What a shockingly poor attitude! Must do better!

[Alexg]

ding-dong, got any more pics of this little lovely?

 

[ProgRocker]

Very seventies colour scheme on this VX. Right up my street!

 

I'd definately roll in that! Chrome-tastic!

[eddyramrod]

Some gorgeous suff there! Early Granny is good, but the wheels are wrong; doesn't matter though.

[boobydoo]

Yes, but it came out all blurry.

 

 

I also wanted to take a close up of the snazzy wheel-trims but didn't get round to it.

[trigger]

Nice photos!, I very nearly went to this show today myself but i just couldn't be bothered when i got up this morning, Especially after all the photos i took yesterday at the Nats.

 

There's lots of familiar cars there as well, The guy with the red Austin and picnic table (who also has the best sideburns ever) i believe has only had the car a few years, I'm always seeing it about.

 

ding-dong, got any more pics of this little lovely?

 

If Tony doesn't mind here's some i took of it earlier this year.

 

1973 Renault 15 TS by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1973 Renault 15 TS by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1973 Renault 15 TS by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1973 Renault 15 TS Fred Winter Darlington Dealer Sticker by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[michiel]

Nice shots, lot of great cars there!

[Alexg]

Thanks Dooby and Trig. That R15 is wonderful

[meggersdog]

The Chevette HSR was Vauxhall's rally weapon.

January 1978 - Chevette HS 3-door Hatchback introduced with 16-valve 2279 cc slant-four engine, 5-speed close-ratio gearbox, uprated brakes and suspension. It proved extremely fast and a great success in the rallying tournaments. The HS also featured a full front air dam, black and tartan interior trim and additional instrumentation. Other versions of the HS included the HS-X (with walnut trimmed interior) and the Panther Westwinds (with single-cam turbo), both of which were made in very small numbers.1980 saw the introduction of the Chevette HSR, which was just an evolution of the Chevette HS.

[barefoot]

R15 brings back memories.

Used to car share with a bloke who had one of those - VAL50L, I had a 100a - HRA167N.

Which was best/worst/coolest/wankyest?

[barrett]

Did you get the number for the chap selling the Riva? Because I want to 'phone him up and laugh at him. Four fuggin' grand? What's he on?

 

Anyway, great pictures and write-up. Good to see another mentalist with a wooden table in there. I wonder if those guys have a dedicated forum?

[jonny69]

I'd have been tempted by that Volga. I like ex Commie stuff.

[BMC Dan]

I was at this also, will whack up some of my shots in a couple of days as I've ran out of Flickr uploads for this month. Photos include a Lady GaGa themed 1997 Mitsubishi Galant...

[Shep Shepherd]

That blue Cortina 80 looks like it either rolled out of Dagenham as an actual 1.6 LS* or was retro-fitted with the 'S-Pack' later on. Either way, it looks really good, and I'd love to own it

 

 

 

 

 

*For the record, the 'S-Pack' was available on all Cortina 80s apart from the base model and consisted of of driving lamps, gas-filled shock absorbers, a sports gearknob, a rev counter, revised badging and bumper over-riders. Many of them were also fitted with Recaro front seats - a big deal back in the early 1980s

[boobydoo]

I was at this also, will whack up some of my shots in a couple of days as I've ran out of Flickr uploads for this month. Photos include a Lady GaGa themed 1997 Mitsubishi Galant...

 

I was just leaving when that thing bowled in! Please download some pics...it looked suitably bizarre!!

 

That blue Cortina 80 looks like it either rolled out of Dagenham as an actual 1.6 LS* or was retro-fitted with the 'S-Pack' later on. Either way, it looks really good, and I'd love to own it

*For the record, the 'S-Pack' was available on all Cortina 80s apart from the base model and consisted of of driving lamps, gas-filled shock absorbers, a sports gearknob, a rev counter, revised badging and bumper over-riders. Many of them were also fitted with Recaro front seats - a big deal back in the early 1980s

 

Really? In that case I tak my sarcastic comments back!! The 'S' badge does look a bit of an afterthought, though.

[Shep Shepherd]

Really? In that case I tak my sarcastic comments back!! The 'S' badge does look a bit of an afterthought, though.

 

Ford rationalisation; I believe that the 'S' badge was originally produced for the Granada S and was fitted to the Cortina later on as the bean counters at Dagenham deemed a unique badge to be far too expensive to produce for such a low-volume model

 

Here's a Ghia S for you to ponder over:

 

 

What a GR9 way to keep up with the Joneses, especially in 2.3 form

[barrett]

You still have a 300mb limit on uploads each month.

 

But yes, that us good advice. I keep forgetting to stick my pictures into my group though.

[boobydoo]

 

Hey, guess what! They were re-tarmacing the main road into Baldock two nights ago, so I had to do a detour through a skanky council estate to get home. Two cars ahead of me was said Lady GaGa Galant. Basically, its an R plate in solid red with massive white script down the side reading 'THE GAGA MONSTER' while the back window is covered in the same saying 'BORN THIS WAY'. It really does look utter, utter shit. Unfortunately, I had neither camera or easy access to phone so no pics I'm afraid.

 

The car then proceeded to circle a mini roundabout and head back the way it had come. At this point I was able to get a brief look at the driver who appeared to be a lank-haired woman in her mid twenties of the 'munter' variety. Obviously out for a 'crooooz' round the local estate.

 

Also interesting is that on that very same estate , about 18 months ago, I'm sure I saw a similar woman driving a P reg Micra with 'R-I-P STEPHEN GATELEY' and 'I LOVE STEPHEN GATELEY' plastered all over it, complete with magazine pictures stuck to the car.

 

I think the woman is an absolute loon. I'm off tomorrow , so I'm going to see if I can track her latest GaGa effort. She must live on that estate somewhere.......

[Pete-M]

The giant drivers door mirror on the Mk2 Escort is because it's a Ghia. Remote adjustment, y'see. RS2000 Customs have the giant drivers mirror too.

[MrDuke]

The owner of this was quite chatty. Found in a barn and restored.Originally white, now yellow. One of three left over here. The interior was very shiny black vinyl...very sticky on a hot day!

 

Was that the one featured in Retro Cars a few months back? If so, he had it sprayed yellow to match his RX-8 Could be completely wrong though.

[flat4alfa]

RX8 or not

 

It looks bloody fantasic!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I want to see this GaGa car!!! I will pay £1 for a picture of the car and £3 for a picture of car and owner if anyone wants to take up the challenge. The Stephen Gately connection just adds to the intrigue, I will increase the payment to £5 if someone interviews the woman and can provide any insight at all into the workings of her mind.

 

Gr8 photos and reportage by the way!!!! I wonder who had the idea first of getting a ridiculously tiny little picnic table and painting the reg number of their car on it. Between this one and the mini metro one, the style of decoration on them is so similar that I reckon one is defo a fraudulent rip-off of the other.

[Albert Ross]

Perhaps someone makes them to order.... is it worth asking the owner of the next one spotted? Could we amass a collection of shite tables maybe? In a sort of "homage" to the original idea.... What about a pasting table with DIY numberplate letters on it, or DYMO labels maybe..... ??!!

[BMC Dan]

Just for Bo11ox Check out the quality numberplate attachment skills!!

 

Mitsubishi Galant "GaGa's Monster" by BMC Dan, on Flickr

Mitsubishi Galant "GaGa's Monster" by BMC Dan, on Flickr

Mitsubishi Galant "GaGa's Monster" by BMC Dan, on Flickr

[boobydoo]

Kwality!! I never saw the bonnet before. It's slightly more professionaly done than the Stephen Gateley one and therefore not quite as tacky....errr.. if that were possible.

[overheadvalve]

Personally i like them all, fantastic pic's gr 9.999

 

 

I'd have been tempted by that Volga. I like ex Commie stuff.

Looking at your sig and the image of the tosser in your avatar i might have guessed :lol:

No offence intended!

[boobydoo]

Hot off the press news regarding weird Ga-Ga woman.

 

When I got in from work today , for some reason I was a bit restless so decided to go for a little drive around. Being quite nosey, I like to look in peoples gardens or into their lounge if the lights are on, to see if they're maybe watching 'Cash In the Attic' or something similarly shite on their 50" TV screens.

 

Lo and behold, I turn a corner down a quiet side street and there it is. A SECOND Ga-Ga themed motor...this time a H reg Honda Prelude. Similar Ga-Ga Monster script down the side and portrait on bonnet. Sitting in driver seat , on the phone, was previously spotted lank-haired woman. Tomorrow I'm going to return to take a photo....looks like she's either traded in the Galant...or maybe has a fleet of Ga-Ga inspired 90s chod.

 

Could be she was possibly have been negotiating a deal on some R-I-P-themed Whitney Houston/Donna Summer/Robin Gibb style artwork for another car purchase?