Thought I'd share with you some pics from Hoghton Tower classic car show in Lancashire, on today.
www.flickr.com/photos/64127830@N03/sets/72157627051200964/
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I think my take home car out of that lot would be the Daimler Dart.
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The Porsche Speedster is my pick of the bunch, if it's a real one (and it looks it). The Daimler's nice too (although that model was a bit of an aesthetic dog's dinner, I bet Zero likes it), but I also like the De Soto, the Lotus of course, and the Riley if it's a 2.5 litre... Oh and that blue Cobra, YEE-hah! (but not if it's a Rover-powered replica although that might be OK as a car; just not as a precious car).
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The 54 DeSoto firedome for me please.
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I'd have the Volvo Amazon. I love them. Not sure why.
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The Ford Thames campervan please.
Ted
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Got camouflage gear for that, Humpy.....if only I could find it !
Ted
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>> The Ford Thames campervan please.
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>> Ted
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a Commer would be much more comfortable :-)
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"I'd have the Volvo Amazon. I love them. Not sure why."
+ 1
My dad had the estate version in the 70's and i still have a soft spot for them. He replaced it with an HC Viva estate - god knows why !
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Expensive kids maybe Skip?
:-)
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Mustang 2007 for me. Like both the looks and the sound.
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Actually, I wouldn't say no to that Cobra.
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Cobra appears to be a replica. Still very nice.
You'll mock me for my woman-ish reason for my choice but I love the purple Triumph GT6.
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>>You'll mock me for my woman-ish reason for my choice but I love the purple Triumph GT6<<
So do I, but I didn't wanna admit it ;}
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>> Mustang 2007 for me.
You can have that one, Mrs. HM has demanded first dibs on the "proper" Mustang as she calls it! Unless a 1967 Shelby GT500 comes up first!
Bobbin, nothing wrong with the GT6; IIRC it's a Spitfire with a Vitesse engine?
Last edited by: Harleyman on Sun 26 Jun 11 at 22:20
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>> Bobbin, nothing wrong with the GT6; IIRC it's a Spitfire with a Vitesse engine?
Indeed it is. And it's purple :-)
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>> Indeed it is. And it's purple :-)
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Nothing wrong with that, at least it's not pink!
Just been reading up on the GT6, always liked the look (and sound) of them; a great pity they didn't catch on as they deserved, presumably because MGB's were cheaper to make?
MGB's aren't a bad car I suppose but they always seemed a bit agricultural and sluggish.
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If I may sound off a bit, all those cars were flawed parts-bin jobs by increasingly megalomaniac and cynical gigantist British car makers busy making our car industry go phut.
Very few of those GT6s and Vitesses have survived. Not even many proper Heralds which were an individual design... but the chassis beams could rust. I don't know what killed the Vitesses and GT6s, but I would guess rear suspension and driveline hassles running up against po-faced MoT testers...
MGs were simpler so more have survived. They had beam back axles and only race or rally-tuned ones are proper sports cars. There was a factory Le Mans MGC I used to covet advertised for ages in Motor Sport. But other MGs are just tourers really.
Those relatively big and middle-aged thirties MGs - Quattroportes as it were - like the black and maroon one in Bobbin's pix, can look elegant but I don't imagine they were that good for the money. There weren't that many of them. I guess body rot would have killed most off by 1955. A teacher of mine in Plymouth in the fifties had a shabby black one. But we were spoilt for cars like that, and lots of better ones, when I were a nipper.
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Truth to tell, the Daimler Dart wasn't very good either IIRC. I just like the look of it. I drove a friend's XK120, the same age as me, a few weeks ago and that is what I would really like in that line - much better handling than I expected, though he has just replaced the dampers and says it's markedly better now.
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I'm sure you're right about the Dart Manatee. But the engine was nice although a bit fragile. There was a model with that engine in a Jaguar 3.4 body. Dunno how really good it was but it was certainly a 'nice motor'.
There was a tweaked Herald, the Brabham Herald. It had a screaming 1.1 litre or so Coventry Climax engine and some sort of restraining treatment to the swing axle back end to make it less lethal. Must have been great fun if you liked a bit of tail-out motoring, but it was expensive and not everyone's cup of tea...
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>>Nothing wrong with that, at least it's not pink<<
What's wrong with pink! ... My bedroom is pink, with pink curtains, pink lampshades, and a purple carpet.
:-D
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>> Bobbin, nothing wrong with the GT6; IIRC it's a Spitfire with a Vitesse engine?
No it wasn't. The Herald and Spitfire shared the same chassis IIRC, the Vitesse and GT6 did similar. Certainly the GT6 had to have a hard top to prevent it squirming too much.
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Thank you so much for these, Bobbin. It's a sign of advancing age when classic cars look young! For me a rea classic is one that's older than I am (b. 1948) - so I loved the graceful late 30's MG (SA or WA) and the 40's Riley, with the fine old two-letter / four-figure registration no. that showed that Bury (EN) had still not issued enough to start the AEN series.
Interesting what you say about the MG, Armel - I'd have thought that a saloon engineered by Abingdon would have been good to drive. I think that was a 2-litre: I've no idea how much MGs of that era owed to Morris. The original MG (1920s) was a hotted-up Bullnose Morris Oxford, the late 40s YA/YB was also Morris-based, and of course the 50s Magnette had a twin-carburetted B-series engine. But I don't know about the period in between.
Any historians care to enlighten us?
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That was a stramge anomaly, Avanti. Even a major registration area like Manchester was issuing 2 letter numbers right up to 1964.
I had a '64 Super Minx drophead...4464 XJ.
They'd started the A/B suffixes in '63 and had been issuing 3 letter nos. for decades...
Ted
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Ah, but that's 4 numbers followed by 2 letters, Ted. XJ 1-9999 was followed by AXJ 1-999, then BXJ and so on: after they got to YXJ (no Zs) you had 1-9999 XJ.
The A-suffix in '63 came in because all of the above ran out in some places - Middlesex for example.
Oops - I'll be labelled a nerd after that lot.
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Nerd !!!
I don't know who's bigger, Bury or Blackpool, but I also had a '63 Super Minx Convertible with 2 nombers and three letters from Blackpool. They can't have been issing many !
I kept that mumber and transferred it to the Jowett when it cost £5.It's still on the car
Henlys, the local Jaguar dealer had XJ6 and ( I think ) XJ8 in 67/68. I saw XJ6 on a matching car around then.
Ted
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I really like that DeSoto as well. I just wish my camera had been able to pick up how beautiful the paintwork was; it makes it look too grey and it's actually pale peach/pinky colour. The Milky Way car!
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The MG Y-type saloon was a Morris 8 with a bigger MG engine. Looked nice for the time...
>>the (V8 Daimler) engine was nice although a bit fragile. There was a model with that engine in a Jaguar 3.4 body. Dunno how really good it was but it was certainly a 'nice motor'. <<
I loved mine - fast, smooth and quite economical even with the then compulsory BW autobox.
AHU327B I know we were divorced but I hope you are happy with your new owner.
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Volvo Amazon, my first car, and much missed.
That one is a lovely example, they could seriously rust though, some decent other motors to leer over.
Good pics there BT, thanks for sharing them.
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That Volvo was in really good nick. I couldn't find any bad bits on the body aside from some crackling on the back bumper. It put a lot of the younger cars to shame! The 70s Celica, for example, had rusted through the front grille on one side. Sad really.
I've got some more pics I'm editing, and some motorbikes too. I'll stick them up too.
Last edited by: Bobbin Threadbare on Mon 27 Jun 11 at 10:50
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Now having finally had time to look at the pix, I'd definitely have the Lincoln. Frank Cannon was always my hero...
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The Lincoln is a Mk. IV not a Mk. II. The first car with an electrically heated windscreen way back in 74 IIRC.
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I'll have the Lincoln Continental.
And I'd set fire to the Nissan Figaro.
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Lovely pics- thanks BR.
I think (it's hard though) I'd go with the mid 80's 911 in black. Always loved those!
Cheers,
Alex
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Frank Cannon's Lincoln was a MkIV. I actually went to look at one once but lost my nerve.
I guess the car choice had to be dressed up for American consumers when it reached TV but in the books Cannon drove a Wankel-engined Mazda.
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>> Frank Cannon's Lincoln was a MkIV. I actually went to look at one once but
>> lost my nerve.
I have to confess, I went to look at a Ford Crown Victoria. I know I know they are awful sheds, but its my one perversion.
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>> Frank Cannon's Lincoln was a MkIV. I actually went to look at one once but
>> lost my nerve.
Was it not a 73 Mk3 continental?
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Well, I always understood it was a MkIV but it might, I guess, have been a MkIII, going by when the series was made. It certainly wasn't a MkII.
Yanktanks have long been a perversion of mine, too.
I got as far as trying out a '77 Oldsmobile Cutlass coupe once, then my wife found out. Oddly enough, there's a bloke round here who's got one and every time I see it I'm reminded of the row...
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Zero is correct, the overweight detective drove a Mk III. The Mk.IV came in 74 with the 5mph bumpers. The Mk III was a cleaner design IMHO. The continental name came from the fake hump on the boot lid a la continental touring kit, popular in the fifties.
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But despite their large quantities of high quality trim, those Mk IV and V Continentals are in my opinion ill-proportioned, tasteless and chintzy in the extreme, a bit like Cannon himself of course. Absolutely no class whatsoever, an Elvis Presley level of tastelessness. Perhaps you chaps fancy driving around in something that looks like the front of the Parthenon with a mobile-home beauty salon behind it, but I think it would soon pall on me.
Best looking Continental by far was the 1954 model. But it had elegant proportions and a bit of taste and restraint. Clearly the punters weren't too keen because Ford soon reverted to the garish, tasteless styling that is apparently so popular among us here in Englandland.
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>>Perhaps you chaps fancy driving around in something that looks like the front of the Parthenon with a mobile-home beauty salon behind it<<
Well, I wouldn't drive it every day... ;-)
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"Mk IV and V Continentals are in my opinion ill-proportioned, tasteless and chintzy in the extreme"
But just think how many chicks you can fit in them.
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Thanks for posting.
E-type, please.
And the Porsche Carrera!
I'm greedy :)
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Great photos - they bring back loads of good memories - my first girlfriend had a Morris Minor!! But I always lusted after my boss's Daimler Dart more than I did her - on second thoughts, maybe not at the time - but I bet the Daimler Dart has worn better than her - and me!
Also like the MG Midget, a mate had one and we drove to Spain in it - saw one on the MWay this week and Midget is the right name - cars were tiny then weren't they?
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>> - cars were tiny then weren't they?
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Thank you!! Perfect excuse for me to use on Mr Bobbin as to why I should have a classic or a wee sports car - I could reach to wash to roof of it properly!
I liked the Dart too - I'd never seen one before. Somebody certainly looks after that one, it was in lovely condition.
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Classic Car show - Manatee
