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A good place for a chat about unusual sightings of cars/trucks/bikes.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 23 Jun 11 at 20:57
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MK1 Cortina, white with a red flash, '65 'C' reg, North Cheam.
Zeddo?
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Not mine, mores the pity. Used to have a guy in my road who had the most wonderful Mk1 cortina GT with the green flash.
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>>>MK1 Cortina, white with a red flash
I'd consider one of these as a classic but the base models are a bit stark. As usual interest is fuelled by early childhood memories of a maroon one then dark green one F senior had as company cars.... and the purple one Mrs F had as her first car.
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If it had a green flash it was probably a Lotus wasn't it? Even more droolable...
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I thought that, but it wasnt, it was badged a GT.
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The GT added some interest over the base model... 80bhp(ish) and disc brakes with the extra instruments. But not lowered and squat like the Lotus and no split front bumper... although many have gained the stripe and split bumper over the years.
The Lotus had about 25bhp more but was only 10mph faster.
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I recall a GT owner telling me why it was so much better than a Lotus.
1. It was a lot cheaper
2. It didn't have the twin-cam.
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Mk 1 was far and away the best Cortina. All the variants had a lot to recommend them, even the rock bottom bog standard 1200 which my late father typically bought... but the thing had an airy inside, was light and stiff, had an ace gearbox by the standards of the time and a sort of stark but elegant American styling from a period when Detroit was penning some handsome bodies, less ornate than anything before or since.
Of course the Lotus Cortina had (somewhat troublesome at first) special A-Frame location for the rear axle, with coils at the back too. And it may only have been able to do 115 or 120 but a well-sorted one could get there in a way untweaked pushrod Cortina 1500s, GTs and the like couldn't really match. Don't forget cars were easier to tweak in those days, although a lot of money, effort and petrol could be wasted for little improvement. Even getting your standard car properly tuned instead of just fairly reliable could make quite a big difference from the run of the mill.
Later series of Cortinas got worse and worse, but there was a decent looking one right at the end.
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I think the Lotus Cortina top speed was often overstated... tests of the time did well to get 105mph (true). I remember the later ones lost much of the Lotus special stuff and became like a GT with the Lotus engine.
Whatever form they're in folks ask loads for tidy Mk.1s of any engine/trim.
Noticed a Lotus Cortina Mk.1 *tribute* here.. www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C223776#
Bet it goes as well as a Lotus with that 2lit pinto engine. If I'm not mistaken a Rover 2000 brake servo and leather Citroen BX seats too!
But you're right AC... Roomy car, roomy boot, great ventilation and a decent looker for the time. Mrs F had a 1500 and that went quite well with its light weight and predictable handling (in the dry).
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A pink Audi TT.
A pink stretch limo, based on a Chrysler PT Cruiser.
A black Ford Focus. With pink alloy wheels.
Yes, I'm just back from Essex.
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Lost count of the numbers of 1980/90s Fords on the A55 - mostly performance types, the RS variants identifiable by the green pinstripe on the bumpers. More Sierra and Escort Cosworths that you could shake a high-lift cam at....!
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Overtaken by a 207 today, nothing unusual in that except he was towing an empty tandem axled car transporter trailer at a fair rate of knots.
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A white B reg Audi Quattro in quite good condition but not polished.
Obviously in daily use as it parks just for the day in my road and the owner then takes the train toward Waterloo.
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In 1965 my pal had some compensation money after an accident and he went out and bought a new Cortina GT, red with white stripe. He had it lowered and fitted with a Willment Sprint conversion and - wire wheels, the only ones I've ever seen on a Cortina. It was the best of its type I've ever seen and I still feel guilty that three years later we talked him into chopping it in for a new 1600E.
EYB 650 C, where are you now?
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One would have been unusual but 8 De Loreans in line astern on the A55 heading for Holyhead must be prettty damned rare !
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>> 8 De Loreans in line astern on the A55 heading for Holyhead
Bunch of damn foreigners heading back where they came from eh? Quite right too in their case.
Anyone who would pay good money for one of those would be struck off my personal list of genuine car buffs. For curio collectors only.
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Peugeot RCZ.
It was the first time I've ever seen one and I had to look it up. Strange the way the double hump of the roof continues down the rear window.
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Bugatti Veyron, in matt paint in Weybrdige, and Theo Paphetis in Argos buying stuff. His maybach was not in the car park.
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Not sure how unusual, but I can't recall seeing many of them.
A 2005 Aston Martin DB9 Volante Convertable on the A338 near Fordingbridge yesterday.
Sat behind it with a few cars in front of us. Got to hear the glorious exhaust note when he gave it some beans briefly to pass a few of the cars.
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Must have been a show somewhere today - A red E-Type Jag, looked like a Mark One, A DB4, And a Hillman Imp or Singer equivalent in white, whilst they all look classy, they were very small and fragile amongst the other traffic.
Edit. Just checked out this website:
www.three-castles.co.uk/default.aspx?pid=1
The cars I saw today are on the Entry List (on a linked PDF) - loads of magical cars to look out for over the next few days !
Last edited by: Pugugly on Mon 30 May 11 at 21:45
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......and, if you're at a loose end this weekend in Cheshire, it's the Classic Car show at Tatton Park on Sat/Sun.
Hundreds of cars and a large autojumble.
I'll be there on Saturday with the Black Pig on the Manchester Historic Vehicle Club display.
Carry a rolled up copy of Ferret Gelder's Weekly and introduce yersen !
Ted
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In Cowbridge (the Welsh Alderley Edge) today, a black Ferrari 612.
Evidently the recession is hitting even the super-rich, as the tax expired at the end of April!
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>>a black Ferrari 612.
>> Evidently the recession is hitting even the super-rich, as the tax expired at the end
>> of April!
His PA will be in for a ticking off, then.
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Was behind a white Cube this morning.
So someone bought one !
Ted
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there are several cubes around here but all in white. must get a closer look at them
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I've only seen them in white. They're ugliness must have some appeal.
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My ex brother-in-laws brother has a metallic grey Cube.
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Supermarket car-park today, a light powder blue MK1 Astra - immaculately tidy, and very sharp looking for its age. Only non-standard bits I could spot were some very tidy alloys. Think it was a reasonably bog standard one as it had circular headlamps...nice cars them always had a soft spot for its simple German design...
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>> Think it was a reasonably bog standard one as it had circular headlamps
Mk1's didn't have round headlights as standard.
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>> >> Think it was a reasonably bog standard one as it had circular headlamps
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>> Mk1's didn't have round headlights as standard.
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I thought that the base mode (which possibly had a boot rather than a hatch despite having the same 'profile') did have round headlamps, or was that the Opel Kadett equivalent perhaps ?
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This was mine.
imageshack.us/photo/my-images/511/astran.jpg/
IIRC, there were very few that had the round headlights, which actually didn't look right as Vauxhall had to fit a blanking plate around the outside of them to fill in the gap where the rectangular lights should have been.
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I rather preferred the round lighted base models, looked nicer in my view.. , just the thing for a discrete Cibié in their day !
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On the M1 on Sunday morning, a Lotus 2-eleven in Team Lotus livery.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_2-Eleven
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In the same car-park as I spotted the tax-free Ferrari, there's usually a very tidy 1981 Chevette in two-tone blue; sports a set of alloy wheels but appears remarkably unmolested and rot-free, evidently a daily drive.
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Going the other way this morning in a column of Ferraris headed by something that looked very new, an F40. Only time I've ever seen one on the road. There's a mega gathering near here at the weekend - 500 Ferraris Against Cancer - and I'm sure there will be that number there as well as a lot of other interesting racing and sports kit. Lots of Brits make the trip each year.
www.sportetcollection.info/
It's a great little circuit, admission prices are staggeringly reasonable and it's all for a good cause.
Forget the F40 though, I passed through a suburb of Limoges yesterday and in the little supermarket car park was a 1940(ish) Lincoln Continental V12 convertible in two-tone. I could hardly believe my eyes. Now that really was something else...
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A rather cheeky overtake (into my braking gap) by a 1977 Porsche 911 on the Three Castle Rally (plate no 134 - I wag my finger at you).....saw a couple of 1920/30s Vauxhall Wyverns - they looked a little lost in Llanberis
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Pug, do you not think the 911s of old look tiny compared to modern cars??
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Like a stretched original Beetle - tiny car amongst the overblown Euroboxes.
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On the M3 /M27, an empty double deck car transporter with a Lithuanian number plate.
I wonder wWhat was that up to ? Collecting S/H cars for export or just avoiding UK taxes ?
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We used to see Polish transporters around here every week up to a couple of years ago. They were collecting scrappers - mainly Peugeots and Citroens - from a big yard near us. Don't know what has changed in the meantime but we never see them now.
Anyway, this morning we saw two remarkable motors, within minutes of each other. First was one of those gullwing Mercs that they use for safety cars in F1. Presumably someone down here for the big Ferrari, etc, event I mentioned above. The front end looks nicer than the back.
Second, a late '60s Vauxhall Viva HB (the 1159cc coke bottle one) convertible. I've never seen one and didn't even know they existed. Could it have been a Crayford conversion? Quite pretty in a strange way. I guess it was going to the same place.
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Second, a late '60s Vauxhall Viva HB (the 1159cc coke bottle one) convertible
Found this after Mike posted his sighting, kept meaning to post this - been somewhat distracted though !
www.flickr.com/photos/herald_vitesse/2476611576/
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Funnily enough I spotted a silver Vauxhall Firenza (70s Viva Coupe) on Saturday last. It was by the side of the road with its bonnet up.
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...Funnily enough I spotted a silver Vauxhall Firenza (70s Viva Coupe)...
Did it have a droop snoot?
Not sure if all of them did.
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Don't know, saw it from the rear three quarter. But could certainly see the bonnet up and the driver sticking his head under it.
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Friend of mine had an orangey-red one.
It was only the 1800 - I think there was a 2300 - but his was mildly tuned and it didn't half shift.
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Came across a silver Alfa 166 today in deepest Northants. Very suave looking man driving it, he seemed to fit the italian gent style of the car perfectly.
Dont see many 166 Alfas around, only ever seen one other around here, green one driven by an elderly woman. What brings a rather old person to buy one I cant imagine.
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Oy, less of that if you don't mind. There's quite a few round here and I might well buy one.
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Some Yankee jobby from the late 60's -70's I guess. Near the docks in Stavanger last Monday.
MD
Last edited by: Martin Devon on Sun 5 Jun 11 at 14:49
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>> green one driven by an elderly woman. What brings a rather old person to buy one I cant imagine.
Stu I must say I am surprised at you, because you like cars (not everyone here really does, although I still quite miss the car-hating lefty NowWheels from the other place).
I would have thought a man of your experience would know that older people have better taste in cars and a much more bracing approach to driving than the coddled and wimpish under-55s. Those anyway who ever did like cars and who retain a bit of go.
My oldest enthusiast friend came from a well-heeled motoring family. His mother had a Jaguar XK140 coupe when I first knew him, then an XK150, but quite rightly didn't have the overrated E Type. When she died in her late seventies I think her wheels were a Lancia Fulvia 1600HF. Compared to that an Alfa 166 - a car I like a lot - seems a bit of a barge or limo.
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>>I would have thought a man of your experience would know that older people have better taste in cars and a much more bracing approach to driving than the coddled and wimpish under-55s. Those anyway who ever did like cars and who retain a bit of go<<
This lady was easily in her 80's with a queue behind her, chin jammed against the steering wheel. She looke like she actually owned a Metro and she didnt have the right glasses on at the post office and jumped into the Alfa by mistake.
If thats the image Alfa want, fair do's, but I suspect Honda/Hyundai/Kia already have it sewn up.
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>> This lady was easily in her 80's with a queue behind her, chin jammed against the steering wheel.
OK, she was past it or driving her husband's or late husband's car. But in yr post you didn't mention her driving, just her age!
Sounds like a refugee from St John's Wood. The place is full of Lexuses, Jaguars, big Mercs and BMWs, even the odd Porsche and Aston Martin, being horribly mimsed in a provocative way.
I think they hear on the bush telegraph that I'm coming and all rush out to do it on purpose.
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>>OK, she was past it or driving her husband's or late husband's car. But in yr post you didn't mention her driving, just her age<<
Because I was generally talking about the car with a side note on the opposite characters ive seen behind the wheel. I said elderly, which generally donates an air of fragility rather than the term 'older' which is often used instead for people who are of good age but dont seem it - see seemed it.
Anyone can spot a Jag or Lexus with a coffin-dodger behind the wheel, an Alfa 166, there must be a prize :-)
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Well, I've seen people even in a fragile state who still got a gleam in their eye at the wheel.
I am afraid, Stu, that you don't get it about St John's Wood big-car mimsers. Most of them aren't coffin dodgers like me - what a truly delightful and flattering expression by the way - but self-absorbed pompous whippersnappers who have stolen some money or received some stolen money from their parents. Coffin dodgers of course have more sense than to drive uncomfortable cars like Porsches and Aston Martins, but unfortunately a lot of those mimsing whippersnappers drive coffin dodger motors like Jags and Lexuses.
Geddit? (irritable scowl)
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Lexii? I don't think Lexus could generate Lexii as a plural: it would have to be Lexi (second declension) or Lexus with a long u (fourth declension).
Safer to stick to Lexuses, and leave Lexi as a rather nice shortening of Alexandra that I see occasionally. (And Yarises rather than Yares.)
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>> Safer to stick to Lexuses, and leave Lexi as a rather nice shortening of Alexandra
>> that I see occasionally. (And Yarises rather than Yares.)
>>
Surely the plural of Lexus should be Lexcess?
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>>Well, I've seen people even in a fragile state who still got a gleam in their eye at the wheel.<<
As they hurtle across the Co-op car park not knowing what pedal they are pressing...
>>I am afraid, Stu, that you don't get it about St John's Wood big-car mimsers<<
Never been there, why would I.
>>Most of them aren't coffin dodgers like me - what a truly delightful and flattering expression by the way <<
I rather like it ;-)
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A very nice looking Vauxhall Cavalier MK1 Sports-Hatch - local plates, looking like a daily drive....nice car that in its time.
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1972 (K) Commer caravanette....
In good but 'used' condition, from what I saw of it.
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Still a few of us about, the internet has helped with parts supply and support
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Spent the last two afternoons at a classic vehicle show organised by the Gwili Railway at Carmarthen showground; ideal for me since the truck barely comes off choke for the journey!
Naturally there were quite a few examples of rarities which would qualify for this section, but my favourite has to be a mid-green 1972 Daf 44; not so much for its aesthetic or design merits, or even for its condition (good but certainly not concours) but for the fact that its owner was a young student of automotive engineering who used it as a daily drive.
Like any enthusiast he was well up on his subject, telling me that his buying criteria were limited mainly by price; he really wanted a Moggy Minor or Austin A30 to afford insurance, but they were prohibitively expensive. His mother had suggested buying the Daf as she'd owned one when he was a child; he'd paid £500 for it, had it two years, there were, he said, only eleven left on the road in the UK. He also had a Triumph 1300 which was a longer-term project.
Thoroughly nice chap, and proof that the classic movement can benefit from the injection of fresh blood.
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The old Dafs were a favoured trials car at one time, due to their lack of diff. They depended on 'belt slip' instead. They were eventually relegated to a tougher class.
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>> there were, he said, only eleven left on the road in the UK
How does one find out this information?
I've seen similar statements recently about the number of working Morris Itals and Austin Ambassadors both dwindling to less than 100, but I can't find a link on the DVLA website to find out from where the figures might be obtained.
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A red Lancia Monte Carlo RHD on an R plate on the A45 going past Coventry. Lovely condition.
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Had to do some research on a Lancia Fulvia I saw on the A55 yesterday - French registered, I think I tied it down to a very rare Zagato - not the prettiest car on the planet but certainly had a certain elegance.
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Pal's dad had a Zagato...rot-box.
Brought it to me to assess it for welding. I looked at the front wheel arch cracks and told hm to get rid.
Front subframe goosed.
He did.
Ted
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Saw a Citroen SM in the traffic yesterday. Nice (if you like that sort of thing) to see one in real life rather than in a Sunday afternoon line-up.
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My father came really close to getting one of those. He had the DS in for service, and there was an SM there that the owner wanted to swap for a DS Pallas, As the old mans was not a Pallas, the SM owner wanted money as well. He nearly convinced him into the straight swop. The SM was an unloved child then worth peanuts.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 10 Jun 11 at 12:30
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I like to see DSs around and still see lots - too many to ever bother mentioning here, same with 'Maigret' Traction Avants. The SM is a different business altogether. Don't know what to make of it really - to me it looks gross but many disagree. I admire what's under the bonnet without ever wanting to own it. When I wanted an engine that looked like what's under the SM capot I bought a Legend coupe!
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Love the quirky old Citroens, bags of character.
Once owned a lovely GS, wish I still had it. Very hard to find nowadays. Not exactly simple to work on or cheap to maintain though. Mine had a full main dealer history which totalled a fair sum.
Heaven knows how they changed and set the points on the thing. The distributor was on its side with the cap up against the bulkhead. Must have used a dentist's mirror (reflected in the service bill) terrible pun not intended.
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>>Heaven knows how they changed and set the points on the thing. The distributor was on its side with the cap up against the bulkhead<<
Remove cap, note position of rotor arm, mark distributor position, undo the two 10mm nuts, remove distributor,
stick it in vice on the bench to work on = simple!
Then comes the spark plugs :(
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...Remove cap...remove distributor...
We used to do the same with Minis.
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How about the uglyPug 104, Reno 14 etc., etc., etc.
:)
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Just saw an old Fiat. Im not entirely sure what it was.
Its front end immediately made me think Fiat 128 3p, infact the grille area was almost identical, but it was definatelty a 3 box 2 dr saloon, in that orangey red many came in.
I wondered if it was an early 131 maybe, it certainly sounded very fruity, but I really dont know as they are pretty well extinct arent they?
My best guess is a Mirafiori, but it looked more dainty than that, more early 70's that late.
Any picture links for suggestions and ill take a look, I saw the front end and side view as it went around a roundabout.
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That's the one. I very nearly bought one in that colour in about 1977. Probably should have.
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Nope, deffo not that, it was like a chunky coupe/saloon. The 128 3P is the closest in style, I stared at it because I thought it was one and I knew what I was seeing would be rare.
It was like a 3P front end to the doors, then a Mirafiori 2dr behind that, quite square.
It had reasonably wide wheels on it, but plenty of shiny bits in the grille, twin headlights.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder if it was another italian make. I assume it was a 128 because id been reading about them so knew the look instantly.
It sounded like a highly strung italian engine, very multi-layered engine note, 4 cyl.
Last edited by: FoR on Tue 14 Jun 11 at 21:02
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Got it. It was a Fiat, a 124 coupe.
tinyurl.com/6aylx4k
How rare are they then?
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That was exactly what I thought as well Stu - beautiful car even with the passing of years, very expensive if I remember rightly.
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A friend's father had one of those. He had been an RAF bomber pilot in WW2.
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Yes, it was very handsome and it was a bit dear. The 124 saloon was a much more downmarket motor.
Of course it had a fore-and-aft engine and rwd. The 128 was transverse engined fwd and very snub-nosed.
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Last night I saw a wide-bodied E36 3-series going the other way in town. Not your normal wide kit, this one looked to be a good 2ft wider than standard - the rear lights had been moved to the outer corners and seemed to have been moved so far they were now located outside the dimensions of the original bodywork. The whole car was widened, not just the wheelarches. It had a similar swept-up styling curve around the rear quarters to a Bentley Conti GT or a new-shape CLS... most weird.
The registration looked like "A 1 LOUD" - I know that's not a valid plate but I've searched all the likely combinations with 1s and noughts and I can't find it.
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Saw a diamond white Sierra Cosworth 4 wheel drive this morning. Not concourse but a tidy example. My brother had a rear wheel drive one many moons ago and his business partner had the 4wd version. Not for long though. Both stolen to order despite being fitted with alarms, immobilisers and trackers.
It they really want it they'll have it away :(
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Saw a VW Phaeton yesterday - a first for me. I'd still go for the Bentley.
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White Aston Martin Vantage on the M1 on Thursday near the Luton road-not-works.
Didn't look right in white to me. Still sounded nice though. Always bald blokes driving them isn't it? Wonder why...
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...White Aston Martin Vantage...
I saw a new convertible Aston Martin which was white with a dark blue hood.
That did look smart, and surprisingly 'neat', although I imagine it's a big car.
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Im not bald and would have a Vantage yesterday...
Don't you just hate economics,,,,,,,,,,
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:-)
DB9 - has to be dark blue...
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And another thing
saw a 'succession' of Citroen XM's in convoy, 6 actually, this afternoon twixt Wilsden & Cullingworth in wessie land (that's West Yorkshire to those of us from North Yorks). Not seen one for years.
Last edited by: legacylad on Sun 19 Jun 11 at 20:57
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I saw a well-preserved late-40s Vauxhall Velox last week outside a pub in Dorset. Very unusual for a Vauxhall of that vintage to have escaped the tin-worm. The number was ADX xxx - hailed originally from Ipswich.
Last edited by: Avant on Sun 19 Jun 11 at 21:58
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Spotted a well cared for Rover P4 yesterday. Looked very elegant in black.
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Yesterday was a classics fest.
A43 Kettering to Northampton, there was a huge number of classic Rolls-Royces, from some achingly pretty 1920's/30's cars through the 50's, 70's and some 80's stuff aswell, with a sprinkling of Bentley Arnarges, must have been some club event on. Seeing one after the other is certainly unusual.
Also spotted a Frogeye Sprite and two hot MK1 Escorts, not sure if they were RS or Mexico, one in bright orange, the other lime green on the A14.
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>> A43 Kettering to Northampton, there was a huge number of classic Rolls-Royces,
The vintage RR club often have a run round the county at this time of year. As well as the cars I've seen route markers on roadsigns/lamposts. Silverstone or Towcester racecourse possible destinations?
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Yesterday, in Petworth, a parked black early-thirties Austin Ten. Later, on a trailer, what I am petty sure was a Unipower GT, a vary rare, very fast, slightly scary mid-engined Mini-Cooper-powered fibreglass road bullet. A friend once had a silver one but this one was yellow. Then, south of Petworth, I was the third vehicle in a long train. Second vehicle was a well-driven box-bodied truck. The leader though was a late thirties Austin ten (perhaps there was an Austin ten function going on somewhere) in green with black wings. It was getting a move on for such a car, and no one was impatient, but it didn't go much over 45. What spindly little things they were.
When it turned right at a T junction and the lorry and I turned left, I gave it a toot as I slipped past. I hope it didn't think I was complaining.
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In Hazel Grove, yesterday evening, an original pre facelift Lotus Esprit in red. The car from my bedroom wall...
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>>The car from my bedroom wall...<<
I had other 'models' on my bedroom wall ;}
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Aston Martin Vanquish S, in my customers garage this morning, didnt know he had one, achingly beautiful in the flesh. Apparently only 200 odd about to quite rare really.
May get to clean it one day, never know, he was fussing about some dust on it...
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Unusual Sightings - Volume 9 - bathtub tom
