***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 7 *****
Following on from Stargazer's original thread, Vol 2, Vol 3, Vol 4, & Vol 5:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=23902 (Vol 1)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=23901 (Vol 2)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=25308 (Vol 3)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=31443 (Vol 4)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=32419 (Vol 5)
Another thread for commenting on rare, unusual, old or just plain daft cars etc.
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last week in cyprus coming off the "motorway" heading towards aiya napa an absolutely gorgeous lamborghini diablo in a metallic orange and on uk plates...cheers...keo.
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A Triumph Courier.
Which is a Herald estate with the rear side windows filled in. Rusty and pre 62 plates, in a supermarket car park. Apparently only 100 were ever built!
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In the previous 'Unusual thread' i mentioned the Lancia Thema with the struggling woman parker. Well the unusual thing about that was that the Lancia is a rare make & model nowadays!!!!??
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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A modern Porsche Carrera
...with roof bars and a top box.
So unusual to me. I see many many Porsche varients every day but never seen this add on.
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I once sold a Celica T-Sport complete with a roof rack and top box - looked very odd!
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One of those 4 door Bentley Continentals today. I thought it looked rather ungainly and clumsey.
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>>I thought it looked rather ungainly and clumsy.>>
Don't let my mate know - he's got one on order...:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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One of those 4 door Bentley Continentals today. I thought it looked rather ungainly and clumsey.
>>
My view, in the R B of Kingston, of the first one I have seen was not long enough to form an opinion.
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Saw a Jowett Javelin this afternoon. On the road and looked immaculate in black. My Dad's first car was a Javelin. Dates back to around 1950.
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In a similar vein, saw a Mk1 Jensen Interceptor last week at Hadrians Wall.
StarGazer
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On the A1 last w/e
Vauxhall VX4/90 FE and three miles on a Mk2 Cortina GT
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Fiat 600. Perhaps the first mini MPV.
Sighted on the road near Norwich - pre 1963 according to the number plate.
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Toyota Prius with just roof bars in place.
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Saw my 1st 'new shape' Merc ML today. It was a dealer demonstrator, in Stockport. Aside from looking a bit 'bling' (going for the footballer market I suppose), does anyone else think the headlamps look like the came off a MkV Golf?
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Saw a Mazda Bongo Frendee in my local sports club car park - i had heard of them but never seen one.
I just cannot imagine the sort of warped mind that would think up a name like that....
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Ah but was it a Montague Mazda Bongo Frendee.
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Ah but was it a Montague Mazda Bongo Frendee.
Saw one of those in the Tesco car park this lunch time! Only got a brief glimpse - looked like a camper van to me.
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I just cannot imagine the sort of warped mind that would think up a name like that....
a Japanese one. Apparently using random English words (or corruptions of in the case of Frendee) was the in thing.
My BiL had a Mazda BF. He considered a 2+2 camper*, and now has a VW transporter.
* no, i didn't get that either
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a Japanese one. Apparently using random English words (or corruptions of in the case of Frendee) was the in thing.
Indeed it is - there is a Toyota Estima going around here, an import, with the following manufacturer fitted sticker on the side:
'I love my beautiful family. I love my kids. This is why I bought this beautiful car, to take me to beautiful place. Where shall we go today'
Errr, niice.
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A Mitsibishi Space Wagon on Swiss plates in my local high st. Expect according to the badge it was a Hyundai Sun something or other.
Good old badge engineering lives on.
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Parked at a car boot sale in Limousin region of central France, a Jowett Jupiter (the open sports version of the Javelin that looked a bit like a Jaguar XK120 done when the designer had an off day) on local plates.
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Who remembers the first Ford Granada? The one that had the 2-door coupe version with 3.0litre engine. It also had a Consul name as well I think - well I saw an estate version today - must be 30 years old.
Strange thing was it looked in ordinary condition. Not beat up and not concours or even reasonably well cared for. Could have been 10 years old, not 30. Quite remarkable for a car of that age.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Espada, did it have a vinyl roof? I remember my neighbour having a brown one with a beige/tan vinyl roof. Lovely car but IIRC it rusted before your very eyes!
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Seen recently:
Lamborghini Gallardo in royal blue on an Italian motorway with police markings and flashing blue and red lights on the roof as well as 2 uniformed occupants. I saw it later during the same journey where they'd stopped an X5 on the hard shoulder and were talking to the occupants.
New Ford GT in red. Most surprisingly this was in downtown Guadalajara (Mexico) where the potholes are big enough to swallow a small hatchback. I've no idea how the owner managed to drive over the speed bumps which scraped the bottom of the Chrysler Stratus hire car that we had.
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i know this is hard to believe, but i saw a farmers bale trailer with the correct number plate AND indicators that worked!!!!!
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I saw a nice old convertible early 60's Ford Consul with the top down on the A264 last night , top half was a lightish green colour , bottom half yellow. It certainly looked in very good condition although I don't reckon it was an original paint scheme.
It brought back memories as my sister had one in the 60's and it was one of the cars I drove when learning.
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I saw a Lotus Cortina a few days back. Nice...
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Well now it's been identified, I saw an Isuzu Vehicross today.
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for the first time (and a car I wouldn't mind having myself!!) a Jag XJ220 in silver in SW London last w/e
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Today I saw an unusual looking hatchback that was clearly a mass-produced car but I could not identify it. Quite sleek and futuristic looking, with a smooth nose and sharply rising window/waist line. It had a small red, squarish badge and the car was dark metallic blue.
It looked quite similar to some of the concepts and styling designs revealed by MG Rover shortly before their demise, though I'm sure that's NOT what this car was! I caught sight of a name on the back that looked like 'Wills' or something.
I'm just about to do a websearch to try and identify it. Maybe someone else can identify it before I re-post an answer!
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Searched Google and it looks like the mystery car was a Pontiac Vibe. Squarish red badge was actually a triangle and 'Wills' looks a bit like 'Vibe' when seen as a fleeting glimpse!
www.autoweek.nl/images/480/3785.jpg
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Saw a Police Car tonight with the roof "Police" sign actually lit up. They normally always drive about with these switched off!
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Saw a Police Car tonight with the roof "Police" sign actually lit up.
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Saw on the TV, a Police Mercedes cruising a taxiway at Northolt airport.
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Yesterday morning.
With the top down, a gentleman driving west on the M27 West of Southampton with his lady.
Cruising at 80 mph in the third lane - A Black Label Bently.
What a wonderful sound. Good to see it being used.
Eat you heart out chavs.
It started to rain a little so he then backed off.
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Last night, driving through the West End at about 1am - Rolls Royce Phantom driving past two parked Lamborghini Murcielagos. Half a mile down the road there wasa Plymouth Prowler parked up.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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Bakewell Saturday.
Four Ronart W152 in convoy. Limited production 1930s Mercedes GP car look-alikes.Quite a noise from the quartet af Jaguar engines!
Only trouble is they are much larger than originals so the driver looks like a midget. Allegedly.
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Hillman SuperMinx keeping up with the traffic flow on the M4 last weekend.
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A broken-down securicor van, the sort that has a money flap in the back doors. No reason why they shouldn't break down I suppose, they are only vans after all, just that I have never ever seen one on verge with hazard lights on & bonnet up.
Golden opportunity missed for someone....or maybe not?
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Another mystery car - a silver sports 2 seater convertible, vaguely like a modern interpretation of a big Healey. Looked like fibreglass body with small recessed rear lights - kit car?
Cheers, SS
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West of Maidenhead a year ago I saw an odd car. It was, if this makes sense, a short upright cylinder, like a giant ice hockey puck, or a giant hoover minus the hose. A colleague's seen it too, but neither of us know what it is.
Otherwise one of my favourite sights is a Ford Ka in Red with black spots, making it look like a ladybird. I think there's a few of them about.
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Was in Switzerland for a few days - what a place for nice motors!
Saw six or seven Alfa Spiders (real ones, not wedges) being driven, a Plymouth Prowler (see above), Ferraris (Testarossa and Modena) being pottered around a little town one evening, an NSX for sale on a forecourt, Bentley Continental and much, much more. Then back to France, the most boring motoring country in Europe, with wall-to-wall Pugs, Citroens, Renaults...
PS: has anyone ever seen a Morgan Aero 8 on the road?
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has anyone ever seen a Morgan Aero 8 on the road?
Yes in Snowdonia this summer, being BMW powered hat was doffed as it roared past. Oh Yes an officially nice car. (odd door handles ?)
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D type Jag, yes, D type in Loughborough yesterday.
Phil
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Two bright red, 2000 Corvette Stingrays on the East Lancs the other day.
Very quick, very nice, very loud.
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Bristol Brigand (E Reg - 1987 ish) spotted at Tesco's Friday evening. Not good lookers but they did 0.60 in 5.9 secs.
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Renault Fuego TL 'X' reg in maroon. Reasonable condition.
Renault 9 'Y' reg in JCB yellow.
Who remembers these? Renault 9 was Car of the Year in 1982 I think. A rather dull looking car but then you have to remember what the competition was building at the time. The Ital!!
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Are you in the NorthWest, X? I think Ive seen the same Fuego!
Always fancied one, until Renault used the door mirrors on Trafic vans.
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Funnily enough we followed a maroon renault 9 estate yesterday on the A3 ,had'nt seen one for years.
We had Fuego years ago , it was white on w plate if i remember correctly.
It was excellent in the wet, had a huge sun roof (tried driving it with my head out of the roof, but after several bee strikes and watering eyes gave it up as a silly idea)was great fun and was light to push.
The points were a pink fluffy dice though and Mr AA man ended up changing them for me as I could not .
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Chevrolet Corvair, rear-engined, in a Chicago suburb, with a vanity license plate of "UNSAFE". The car which started it all (safety obsession)
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Bending the rules slightly - but from my observations over the last few days new Fiats will soon qualify as unusual sightings!
Those I have seen are mostly Doblo combis used as taxis.
Cheers, SS
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The other day i saw a Rover Maestro with a 'W-reg' plate, not seen one before unless its one of those imports from India or China, i only saw the front of the vehicle but it looks the same as a late Maestro!
--
Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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I seem to remember that someone in the UK started making them again after the bulgarians decided they didn't want them either
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I seem to remember that someone in the UK started making them again after the bulgarians decided they didn't want them either
A garage in Shropshire bought the remaining kits and assembled them.
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This week I drove home behind a mark II Granada; W plate, 2.3l, light metallic blue. Felt quite nostalgic as my dad had one in the early eighties but it was dark metallic blue.
Also saw a Hillman Imp in my local Sainsbury's car park.
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Citroen Traction Avant out for a sunday afternoon run. Looked wonderful,
Stargazer
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Ford Cortina mk4 - 2 door saloon, vinyl roof. In Rotterdam.
Also, yesterday in London, mk2 Escort, bright red, pristine. Driven by and old lady - probably the first owner. I bet it's got about 10000 miles on it.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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Thirteen DeLoreans in a row at the Classics on the Common show, Harpenden, late July.
Sadly, the weather was awful this year, bringing the number of exhibitors down to a thousand, in contrast to the two thousand who turned up on the balmy evening in 2004. Hope 2006 will be kinder weatherwise.
www.classicsonthecommon.com/
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Today, Nissan Figaro. Little retro roadster in distemper green.
(BTW When I was little a friends dog died of distemper- I thought it had drunk some paint)
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Today, Nissan Figaro. Little retro roadster in distemper green.
Seen one today in Brizzle. Pink though!!
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On the way home on Friday, a Will Vi
What do you mean, you've never heard of one. Well nor had I 'till friday, and I had to look very closely to find out what it was - looked to be something partly descended from an Invacar.
Still none the wiser - I'll let you google for it yourself. ;-)
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That looks exactly how I'd imagine the new Micra concept car to have looked like until they got told to tone it down.
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Another Nissan Figaro, in Wilmslow. Perhaps not so unusual after all.
And a big bloated Jaguar Mk VII.
(The model owned by Willie Merrilees for any Leithers out there.)
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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I saw a gleaming black Rolls Royce Phantom outside Liverpool Street Station yesterday. This car is huge!!
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I was overtaken by an empty hearse and a convoy of minimal stretch Lincoln Town cars.
The Licolns must be much cheaper option than all the various hand crafted varients that are traditionally employed.
Around Heathrow can be seen a large number of minimal stretch saloons based on popular saloons - too many to list.
I guess Heathrow VIP transport and undertakers are the main customers for these products.
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Merc CL600 on the way to Uni this morning and then, THEN, a CLS!
My lucky day. (Wouldn't have one in the silver though.)
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Last Friday, I passed (twice - first time between Hendon and Mill Hill, second time in Cambridgeshire somewhere) KITT.
That's right - the somewhat camp, talking Pontiac Firebird off 80s favourite Knight Rider. The interior was done out in all the same illuminated digital dash that KITT had as well. No red swoosh though, at least it wasn't on - it's probably illegal over here to have a red light facing forwards or something.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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In Manchester city centre today saw a Nissan Cube (very cool), a Lamborghini Murceliago and a Hummer H3, all in the space of five minutes. Not many gold Fabias about though. ;-)
-- Lee .. A festivus for the rest of us.
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Yesterday in Hammersmith, a Maybach 62 struggling to get around a corner. Privacy glass, so I couldn't see who was in it.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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A Beaujolais race.
When was the last time you heard of one?
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Dark Blue Ford GT 40 (the new one) on M25 Monday afternoon between junctions 3 and 4
It was going anticlockwise and I was going clockwise, would have liked to have seen more of it.
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A Corsa,not an unusual car but I have never seen one covered in eggs,flour and baked beans before.It was not being driven,unsuprisingly.Also a white stretched Hummer I've spotted a few times now.
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Two Mustang in two days. the first an original, 1966 on an E. The second, the current one. Doesn't look quite right in the flesh to be honest. Think it must be the rear side windows.
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Saw my first CLS Merc today. An AMG jobbie to boot; it was being driven through Long Compton, Warks, on the A3400, which made me wonder if it was JC and pals / TG related given the former's residence just up the road at Chippy and the programmes frequent use of Cotswold roads.
Ho hum. May be it was the dirty black paintwork but it didn't look half as good as I expected.
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Overtook an elderly Daewoo (the Cavalier lookalike - an Espero I think) with a live swan poking its neck out of the offside rear window. A bit infra-dig for the Queen's property I thought.
I leave you to speculate how and why.
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A 79T (IIRC) Rolls Royce Silver Shadow converted into an estate. Rear roof section was black vinyl. Seen cruising in the middle lane of the M4 near Reading this evening.
I know Farnham did conversions of Zephyrs/Zodiacs in the 60s but I've never seen a RR before.
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A 79T (IIRC) Rolls Royce Silver Shadow converted into an estate. I've never seen a RR before.
>>
Nor me but see half way down this link for a 69 model www.vintagemotorssarasota.com/Car_pages/RollsRoyce...m
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A 53 plate Subaru Impreza.
Whats unusual about that, you ask?
Well, this one was an MY1996 or MY1997 WRX - not only a classic shape, but infact a pre 98 classic shape!
Whats it doing on a 53 plate? Checked the reg, date of first registration was September 2003.
Might even warrant its own thread, or am I the only one sad enough to care ;)
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A diverse collection from yesterday:
X reg Maestro, looking pretty good, presumably on of the Bulgarian kits.
Reasonable condition Fiat 131 on a A reg in Bristol, memory jogged by the Marea (all Fiats rust don't they) thread. Not a sign of rust.
On the farm opposite a mate's house - a strange mix of 70's saloons. A Morris Ital (yum), S reg Cortina in white with the lovely brown interior, and my favourite, a G reg Viva HB with vinyl roof, Rostyle wheels and the rear bumper hanging off.
If i had the space, i'd enquire about the Viva.
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I saw my first LDV Maxus van today - I don't know how many months they've been on sale - there can't be many about. It looks like it's still playing catch-up with the Ford Transit, VW Transporter and Mercedes Sprinter.
I suppose LDV is now the only remaining Britsh mass-volume vehicle maker.
Cheers, SS
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I saw my first LDV Maxus van today - I don't know how many months they've been on sale - there can't be many about. It looks like it's still playing catch-up with the Ford Transit, VW Transporter and Mercedes Sprinter. I suppose LDV is now the only remaining Britsh mass-volume vehicle maker. Cheers, SS
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LDV went into administration in Nov/Dec 05 and were bought by some US Capital - So LDV is no longer UK owned
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In Madeira over New Year and saw a few older cars parked up but not many on the road.
Did see what looked like a black Karmann Ghia (rear engined) but with an Alfa Romeo front grille?
Seemed to be local practice to have front grilles on rear engined cars- saw several Fiat 600 like that.
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Madeira is one of my favourite boltholes- Did you enjoy the New Year fireworks GWS?
Just to keep it on motoring and unusual sightings, it can be quite disconceting to drive up to Monte, above Funchal and discover a wicker sledge containing tourists coming down the hill towards you controlled only by ropes held by a couple of skidding Madeirans in traditional dress... No brakes except the soles of their shoes.
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The sledges were fascinating.I was sitting on the Botanical Garden wall looking down. Some drivers were bringing them down pretty fast and there were clouds of smoke from their shoes before a bend! Some used old car tyres as their soles.
The road is tarmacked now which I hear has slowed the descent.
Fireworks were fantastic- I wonder how the synchronization was achieved?
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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In Portobello Road about two years ago, parked unattended, a (or do I mean the, since there may only ever have been one) Siddeley Special, early-30s supercharged roadster device in black with virtually no chrome, fabulous looker, took me a while to identify it.
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Austin 3 litre last week in B&Q car park were like hens teeth when new
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The other day in Bristol, a well used but good condition 1968 Austin 1800. This car predates all those Maxis, Princesses, Ambassadors, Marinas, allegros etc. that have all passed on, while even Montegos are getting rare now.
Cheers, SS
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The other day in Bristol, a well used but good condition 1968 Austin 1800. This car predates all those Maxis, Princesses, Ambassadors, Marinas, allegros etc. that have all passed on, while even Montegos are getting rare now. Cheers, SS
My dad had 2 of them modern designers certaily could take a lesson on interior space from them the interiour space was unbeliveable for its exteriour dimentions
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More space in the rear of 1800, then Rolls Royce Corniche (IIRC some advertising blurb)
We owned & profited well from these, 1100/1300 & Maxis.
VB
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Datsun 120A - FII coupe,1979T vintage spotted in Morrison's car park. Well polished but could n't hide the creeping rust above the wheel arches. I learnt to drive on it's close relative, the 100A.
_______
IanS
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Oh and a very classy Noble M400 in silver bombing up our road on Saturday.
_______
IanS
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Yesterday I followed a Coleman Milne hearse. Nothing odd about that. Except that it appeared to have been made out of a Saab 9-5. Never seen one of those before
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Yesterday I followed a Coleman Milne hearse. Nothing odd about that. Except that it appeared to have been made out of a Saab 9-5. Never seen one of those before
I've seen a 9-5 stretch limo effort, presumably for the undertaker marker. Not a hearse though!
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Cycling home yesterday (it was a little nippy, I can tell you), my heart was almost warmed by the sighting of a new Porsche Cayman (is that how you spell it?)
I noticed that it looked a lot like a 911 (more so than the boxster), but still not sure why it was made. I personally believe that for all those who buy Boxsters, they are basically saying, sorry, cant afford a 911
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A Mazda RX8, with a tow bar. No points for the Mazda, but a tow bar? What's that about?
John
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A Mazda RX8, with a tow bar. No points for the Mazda, but a tow bar? What's that about?
A family friend used to tow a caravan with his MR2!
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Today, on the 28 mile round trip to work and back I had THREE separate sightings of Peugeot 607's!
An unusual sighting from the past. When I was 3 or 4, in the 1950's, I remember seeing a vehicle built to look like a tube of toothpaste. The other day I found, purely by chance, a pic of this vehicle on the web and now I know it was built for MacCleans Toothpaste on a Morris J-type chassis.
Cheers, SS
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I saw a mauve coloured Citroen XM near home today, never seen one in that colour before!
--
Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Renault 30 V6 S Reg (1977 approx)
Travelling along the London Road out of Bath towards Batheaston last Thursday night.
What a car, I thought it was a 20 at first but the twin headlights and V6 badge meant it was a 30. Can't be many of these left.
Was it you? I would like to buy it...
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Renault 30 V6 S Reg (1977 approx)
Remember my father having a 24hr test drive in one of these c1978, very comfortable in the way of French cars of the time and impressive acelleration to boot. In the end he stuck with a Granada; but in signal yellow to stand out from the crowd.
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Renault 30 V6
THe old man had one ! Brilliant car. Much fuss about sharing he V6 with Volvo and PSA (?) at the time, I remember sitting in one the Renault dealer he had it from, I remember it so well, it had that unique French whiff in the interior, huge armchair style seats and a superb ride. Also remember the exhaust falling off it when it was a few months old on the Autoroute near Cannes.
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>> Renault 30 V6 THe old man had one ! Brilliant car. Much fuss about sharing he V6 with Volvo and PSA (?)
Try a google on Douvrin Engines for more about this early example common power units. I'd forgotten all about the Talbot Tagora!
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Northampton towards Milton Malsor on the old line of the A43 this afternoon. A Saab 96 estate, excellent condition in white, presumably a V4 and not the two stroke version.
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