***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 14 *****
**** This thread follows on from VOLUME 12 *****
Another thread for commenting on rare, unusual, old or just plain daft cars etc.
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PU.
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Just had a very wet weekend on the IOW. Saw the following old or at least rare cars. A Vauxhall Victor, 1972? D rg Morris Minor Traveller, a Morris Marina/Ital and a Mk 4 Zephyr. Also some sort of rally involving a dozen Austin 7s of various ages. Whole place is given over to tourism and so far as I could judge it would be a good destination fo a holiday for anyone from my age (Grumpy old Person) to families with children needing amusment and days in or out.
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Last Friday I saw a TR7 in hearing aid beige in the car park at work.
I thought they had all suffered terminal head gasket failure decades ago.
Yesterday I saw a Ford Escort Mk1 Rally car (flippin' loud) being taken (probably) for it's annual run.
Nice slide up to the stop line with the front end completely locked up. Who needs ABS ???
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Strange, I saw a TR7 on Friday as well but this was a convertible. Love the natty TR7 decal on the bonnet. Did they all have them?
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Who needs ABS ???
Wimps. I saw a nice BRG and unmolested TR7 convertible - when I say unmolested it wasn't the shiniest one ever but in decent nick with no rust. I wanted one of them when I was a kid !
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Wow Angel serendipity or what. The decal became standard when they foolishly moved production to Speke.
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I wanted one of them when I was a kid !
It was between a TR7 and a FIAT X1/9 for me. Never got round to owning either as most had disappeared by the time I got my licence in 1986. OK, the X1/9 was around for a few years (til 1990) but by then I was in my final year at Uni and potless.
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In my twisted patriotic mind I thought the TR7 was the better mind. The past is a foreign country.
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This morning in Chesterfield when I was just round the corner from the office, saw a Chrysler 300C, black with blacked-out rear windows. In the drivers side bottom corner of the windscreen was a big 8" by 6" sign saying "THE F.A." and with the England 'three lions' badge on it.
This was on Saltergate about 400 yards from the football ground. The driver looked like a big bloke, he seemed to only just fit in the 300C!
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'L' reg. immaculate dark blue Lancia Integrale. Very distinctive wide rectangular grille.Seen heading North on the A3M today.
P.
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Two Deloreans in convoy on Saturday afternoon in East Yorkshire.
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Tim{P}
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They had been at "Cottingham Day" .....
..... along with a few other unusual sights.
e.g. Bristol 403 - only one though, not a pair ;-)
Regards
Paul
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a rover 214 moving under its own "steam" LOL
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a rover 214 moving under its own "steam" LOL h/g failure or wot
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A619 yesterday coming out of Chesterfield- a big red Corvette bellowing a glorious V8 sound , hotly pursued by a much quieter blue Dodge Viper. Global warming be damned....
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v8? Phah.! I went past an Audi waiting to pull out onto the road, it had a V10 badge on the front wing. Sadly it went in the opposite direction to me so I didn't get to hear it. Somewhere in Hampshire, I was running on WifeNav at the time so couldn't say where, probably near a garden :-(
JH
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My local Audi dealer currently has an S6 Avant on the forecourt - a true stealth car, apart from the V10 badges! It also has silly permanently on lights on the front bumper.
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I was runningon WifeNav at the time so couldn't say where probably near a garden :-( JH
>>It's calle satNAG!
MD
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Rare at the moment .................. sighted my first New Mondeo which cut me up on the M5 yesterday evening. Judging by this driver, Ford are already into the BMW sector with this car! :)
A TDCi Zetec which looked nice in a silvery blue.
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Seen a really nice origional Ford GT 40 today in Congleton, weas driving in the opposite direction, sounded lovely, not sure what road as its the first time i've been there!!
Never ever seen one in real life before!!
Jon
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On Tuesday the centre of St Junien (little town just west of Limoges) was full of American convertibles from the 50s and 60s, including two lovely Cadillacs - one a Fleetwood 62 Brougham with what were then the tallest tailfins in the world.
It must have been some sort of club run. Shame all the tops were up because the rain was persisting down yet again...
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On way to work this morning saw a Singer Vogue, F reg (old F, obviously) in a french mustard colour.
Looked really well cared for.
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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Spotted last week, an Invicta S1. Looked a little like an Aston Virage with a crushed roof.
Last night's treat on my drive home was a Gallardo convertible in White. It looked unwieldy in town, irrelevant, and entirely at odds with the current "greener than thou" ethos.
Perfect!
f2
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Yesterday I spotted a Toyota Sera. When I saw it first with the opening upwards doors I thought it was something a bit more exotic than a Toyota.
I have never seen one before . Anybody else seen one in the UK?
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i bid on one a few years ago but lost out,i particularly liked the windows in windows and also the fact it was an auto
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Looked at a couple of websites on these .
I'm glad you like the windows bell boy.
It seems that all Seras come with A/C , apparently with all that glass they have they need it .
The large amount of glass also means apparently the car lacks rigidity and body roll is not really a good option in what is essentially a sports coupe.
They are however touted as a future classic and seem to be very collectable.
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I have never seen one before . Anybody else seen one in the UK?
I know a few serial owners who love them, especially the ones with the funky bizarre surround sound system with swivelling speakers :)
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a ting a ling a ca bedford in bilericay yesterday morning
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Triumph 2000 in blue, on a local J plate, tatty and obviously being "used"
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A Riley Elf in pretty good condition being driven well by a lady who may well have been the original owner.
A large faded sign in the back window said simply "This car is NOT for sale"
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My 2nd one in a week, how lucky, saw on Thursday a bugatti veyron on the M6, i followed for a while and got some pics on my phone before it turned of for Cheshire, its reg was BUL 5, think its Kevin Stanford according to Piston heads! looked really nice!!
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I saw a Veyron with an F50 nearby just 2 weeks ago. OK, I was in Beualieu motor museum!
JH
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BUL 5 was in the paddock at the Ferrari 60th Anniversary Shindig at Silverstone in early June.
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Red Alfa Romeo Montreal - seen in Buckingham town centre yesterday afternoon. Never knew these existed before yesterday. When I first saw it I thought it was a Ferrari Daytona until I saw the Alfa badge.
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Red Alfa Romeo Montreal .
i saw one of these yesterday on the seafront at southend on sea. very rare sight.
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Briefly knew someone once in a louche parallel profession who had the good taste to buy an Alfa Montreal, and then the bad management to over-rev it and demolish the engine. Here today gone today innit?
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This afternoon in a layby near the A20 at Limoges - what looked like a very shiny Lamborghini Murcielago with the engine cover up and a guy on his mobile phone...
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Lamborghini Murcielago with the engine cover up and a guy on his mobile phone...
Hey, darling, where did you put my pigskin dressing case? The damn car's stopped and all I can find in the boot is a lot of machinery.
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lol :-)
I felt a bit guilty because I didn't stop but he was on his mobile and what could I do - tell him where to find the diagnostic socket? Not.
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not motoring but for about 5 minutes today i do believe i saw a big yellow shiny thing once called the sun,gone now,maybe for good :-(
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A Citroen c-crossover.
A fleet of Audi A5s - looks quite nice, the interior has been upgraded to match the A6, expect the same on the new A4 due next year.
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Rueful smile at BB's sighting. Mine yesterday was two current-model Focus saloons in the space of an hour on the Buckinghamshire / Middlesex M40. It may have been the same one twice, since both were dark blue, but I don't think so.
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Saw the new M3 this morning on the M25 between J16 and J15 it was in that flat red colour which seems to be popular (see cover of Autocar ...). What puzzled me was that it had the rear M3 and BMW badges (front and rear) covered with black tape. Now I can understand if they want to disguise the fact that it is a M3 but it is so obviously a BMW I would have thought it was pointless covering the BMW badges.
Anyway, keep an eye out for YA07 J... appearing in a magazine/road test near you....
Incidentally, a few posts above mentions the A5 - saw one on Sunday. It had its parking lights on which seemed to be a row of LEDs all along the bottom edge of each headlight unit i.e. about a foot long (or perhaps longer) - reminded me of those diamond encrusted Rolexes (Urghhh). Bit too Las Vegas for my taste. Good looking car nevertheless.
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Anyway keep an eye out for YA07 J... appearing in a magazine/road test near you....
What did I tell you - it's in this week's Autocar in the the "Reader's pics" section.
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Only got a glance, but saw what looked to me like a yellow Ford Anglia estate heading south on A9 between Inverness and Perth.
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And somewhere near me is someone with a Toyota Corolla Liftback from about 1979. I see it occasionally, parked by or emerging from one of the business units round the corner. It's painted a colour very similar to Ford's current 'Tango'; I've not checked the owner for chest-wig and medallions.
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I had two unusuals in Watford on Sunday.
The first, a black Audi R8. Has to be one of the best looking cars I have ever seen in the metal.
The second, not quite the same after drooling over the R8 half an hour before, a black BMW Alpina B3.33. A beautiful Beemer if ever there was one.
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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Saw an absolutely immaculate mustard coloured Datsun 120Y parked in a shopping street just outside Leicester a few days back, perfect down to the 'steel drum' style faceted hubcaps.
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Another Mustard coloured car on Monday, a NSU Prinz 4 somewhere up norff so probably between Leeds & Steeton was parked up so not the motorway there & back!
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Thought a very quick car in its day.
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Ford day in Northampton yesterday.
In Tesco's car park; a bile green H reg Zephyr, possibly hand painted over an original red. Season ticket in window suggested it was, like my Xantia, a station car park resident but never noticed it there.
Then going through Kislingbury towards Bugbrooke a pretty immaculate Granada GXL auto in white on a P suffix. Identical to one my Dad had from 75 to 78.
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On a ltrip to the south coast today, in Christchurch saw a silver W reg 1980 Honda Accord. I thought they'd all rusted away by now.
Then later in Bournemouth saw a T reg 1978 Mazda 323, in pretty good nick. Must be pretty rare now.
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A bit of a one-two punch heading back from Bruntingthorpe towards Lutterworth this afternoon - a Scoob RB320 closely followed by a Vauxhall VXR8. It's amazing how two cars can be so ugly yet still be likeable because of the implied sense of purpose that ugliness suggests.
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"because of the implied sense of purpose that ugliness suggests."
And emphasised by the engine notes !
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A nicely patinated, not too concours, two-tone grey Jaguar XK120 convertible with wire wheels stopped across the road today while the driver telephoned. He wasn't a tidy driver but it made a good noise.
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While out for a walk this afternoon, a 1959/61 type Vauxhall Victor in yellow with a cream roof. It's lasted exremely well. A friend of mine in the 60's had to scrap his after only 3 years.
Clk Sec
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£130K Audi convoy last night at the new Audi dealership at Westbrook - a dark blue RS4 followed by a black R8 - very nice....
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Austin A40 Farina. Obviously in daily use...bearded gent driving it.
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I saw a Trabant in Bath yesterday - often see it but I don't think I recorded it on here before.
It's what one might call an 'almost car' - like a 50's stage prop car that actually moves under its own power.
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Saw a jet black one today, immaculate original condition and it sounded wonderful. Even today, still a really, really fine looking car! Obviously pants to drive compared to modern cars......but nice looker.
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Saw a MK1 Ford Cortina De-Luxe no less. What surprises me is the number of older cars in everyday
use.
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What did I see at the weekend - for starters a pair of seriously quick V8-powered Fiat 126s. Likewise a shabby matt black turbocharged Mk3 Cortina with nitrous capable of 0-60 in about 3.5 seconds? A mint rare 1969 (might have been 1970?) Dodge Superbee with a £95k price tag. {edit by DD from follow up post correcting mistakes}
That was just the unusual stuff, there were lots of other cars with 6 to 7 litre V8s running around without exhausts. ;oP
More than a dozen Dodge Chargers, and an equal number of Challengers. A fair few Mustangs and Camaros, old and new. This was at the Mopar Euro Nationals at Santa Pod..
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A Chrysler Sebring - something else American that should never have left their shores. I saw it in my rear view mirror a good distance behind me, the front looked as though it was reared somehow, but the bonnet creases gave it away as a Chrysler. I couldn' recognise what the model was and slowed so it would overtake me, saw the back which wasn't too pretty, I then sped up to be alongside it shortly before I took the sliproad off the dual carriageway and the side wasn't much better.
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Noticed last weekend that Chrysler 300C is now a popular Paris taxi. Really does seem to have become the poor man's Merc. BTW, whatever has happened to Murphy The Cat?
Nothing else worth looking at in the motoring line in Paris, though. For some strange reason the place seemed to be full of bicycles...
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BTW whatever has happened to Murphy The Cat?
I'm still here, just nothing new to report/tell you.
MTC
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Glad to hear it. Why do you think it is that almost all the 300C estates I have seen - and there have been quite a few - seem to be on Dutch plates?
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Why do you think it is that almost all the 300Cestates I have seen - and there have been quite a few - seem to be on Dutch plates?
Because you live in Holland ?
seriously, I haven't a clue. Up here in the frozen wilds of Cumbria, the (very) few that I see are all British (& all owned by very happy people).
Have I ever mentioned just how good my 300C is ?
No
Well let me tell you a tale. I was going down this road the other day, when........................................
MTC
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mint condition, white, Citroen CX Safari - a decent sized car.
remember my parents used to have one as well as the CX25 gti
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At last saw a diesel V10 Touareg wafting down Kensington Park Road among the new posh restaurants, blonde lady at the wheel.
Great disappointment, the noise I mean. Instead of the hoped-for purr of a mighty well-oiled sewing machine as it passed - it was just wafting remember - I could hear it coming, with the clattery beat of, well, a large diesel.
Had the lady perhaps over-revved it or forgotten to check the oil? Or are they actually noisy like that?
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Saw a lovely yellow 2007 07 VW Campervan- you know, the old type ones that must have been imported in Leigh in West Kent this afternoon, with a very chuffed looking guy at the wheel!
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Saw a great advert on the back of a bus tonight.
The advert was for a car spares shop and said "If you don't maintain your car with our spares, you will be in one of these!" (i.e. a bus!).
I'm surprised the bus company allowed it. But they are obviously such a dozy bunch, they don't even realise the damage they are doing to their image.
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Saw a french registered Aston Martin Lagonda on Thursday afternoon. One of the pre facelift models and only the second one I've seen.
Not a car, but I was on the M5 at the time, pretty sure saw the A380 Airbus last week. Has been in Filton for tests, and plane I saw was taking off from there. Was flying away from me and absolutely massive.
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Planes are good....no doubt get a thrashing for being off topic.
--
PU without his Mod Hard Hat on !
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Slightly more prosaically, saw a Talbot Alpine in Buxton yesterday. I could hear his tappets ages after hes passed.
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Saw an Audi A5 on my section of the M5 last week. Very nice!
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I saw one in a tiny French village in the Somme (Conty: recommended), parked outside a baker's. Inevitable black, but again v nice.
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I saw two convertible Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe's and a regular Rolls-Royce Phantom driving around Provence in the summer of 2006. They were driving up to the foot of Mont Ventoux (last Alp), presumably to test them going up a mountain / endurance / overheating etc. It was quite weird, they were all being driven by scary looking robotic guys in reflective shades, a bit like the German terrorists in Die Hard III.
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Yellow mk3 Cortina 2000 being driven 'vigourously' in Dunfermline; twin headlights and full width chrome grille and small rear lights - all it needed was Jack Reagan's Grannie (ok Consul) flying along behind it to complete the picture.
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>a lovely yellow 2007 07 VW Campervan- you know, the old type ones that must have been imported
Sadly the build quality on these is very poor.
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A G-reg (1989?) Lada estate car - white and quite good condition. One that didn't get bought up by Russian trawlermen and shipped back to Russia!!
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The night before last, Thursday, about 9.30 pm, not 100 yards from the world's best pub at the bottom end of Kentish Town Road, a Ford Model T pick-up, confidently driven, turned from that road into the side street where I had just parked and bowled up the side street at a good speed.
It sounded wonderful, chugging quietly, the big sidevalve four-cylinder engine obviously just rebuilt, exposed and painted bright apple green. Wooden truckbed newly varnished, other paint yellow, all very glossy and new. It had no wings, so was technically illegal. I seem to remember artillery-type wheels too, but really just saw the thing for a flash although at very close quarters.
However it noticed my start and cry of approval and gave a friendly little toot as it went away up the street. Someone had been spending much money on that all-time classic, genuinely original probably like the famous much-maintained axe that has had three new heads and five new handles. Lovely.
My Iraqi pal was impressed too. 'Old car, from the forties or fifties?' he ventured. He hardly believed me when I said early twenties.
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And to think, the guy knows how to change gear with pedals!
On a French back road this morning, an estate car hitched to a sort of caravan that extended over the roof of the car and looked like it was the back half of an artic - although it wasn't.
The caravan bit, which seemed to be a French make, had just one axle and was snaking about all over the place at 40mph.
I've never seen anything like it and it was the most dangerous thing I've come across in years.
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50's or 60's Corvette Stingray on the back of a trailer between Taunton and Bridgwater last night. Full race livery on so guess is used in classic races.
Saw first ever 80s Testarossa on Monday, again M5 near Sedgemoor services. Longed to see one of these in the metal since my teens- but was a bit disappointed. Didnt think was all that great a design, and the one I saw, whilst not tatty, was far from concourse.
And a Lambo Gallardo spider last week, again M5 (commute) near Wellington. Went 30 years before I saw my first Lambo in the wild- yet whilst still not common, seen about 5 or 6 since.
Scary sighting recently was a truck cab being towed. Was hitched to the towing cab by tow bar, so pulled out to overtake a lorry to see the front end of a truck ahead of him.
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A little bit more mundane but a classic nonetheless a Citroen GSA Special (estate I think) how modern can a 25 year old car look ? Made the current model Focus look a little flabby, in fact all in all it out Focuses the Mk1.
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my neighbor has just been bequeathed a mint condition aston martin lagonda. 4 door in silver with 30k on the clock and a full Aston service history. and best of all every thing works on it.
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A manky looking but serviceable Honda 250N Superdream - an underwhelming ride in its time....but still.
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Whereas my 1985 CB125TDC Superdream is still looking pristine. Albeit an equally underwhelming ride.
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I had a 250N - silver with a carrier, deadly slow compared to its cohorts...
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Last night, turning off the main road just 100 yards from my door, but managing fairly well considering, a very, very long stretched, er, Saab. Who could have thought of that? And why did they?
A surrealist vision to remind us of the enjoyable anarchy of the next two days (just round here I mean).
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an immaculate looking Volvo 145 on a J plate (the original J on the right of the plate!) in a mustard colour doing a steady 55 southbound on the M90 this morning.
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A Lancia Monte Carlo in concours condition, apart from the fact it had a headlamp conversion to twin round headlamps (poss. from a Delta Integrale) which didn't look right. Other than that it looked like a proper mini Ferrari, I loved them in my teens and had forgotten how good they looked.
I am cheating actually, this was at Stamford Car Show. Also saw a Countach growling its way around the field; a Koenig-bodied Testarossa, which looked a bit too extrovert and has not aged as well as the original IMO; a Jag XJC 4.2; an Audi sport Quattro.
On the way there we followed a big 30's style open-wheeled sports car, which sounded good, but I thought it was a kit car with a Rover V8 in it. When we got to Stamford it was there on display and was badged as a Daimler 4.5 V8, but with no other info. I can't find a pic on the internet of a similar Daimler, so I dont know what it was exactly?
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A Mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier cabriolet in Salisbury yesterday.
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By the harbour at Riva del Garda, an Alfa Romeo Montreal. Lovely condition. Kind of the right setting for it too.
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Apparently Yasmin Le Bon used to have an Alfa-Romeo Montreal. I don't think I could cope with seeing both together... : )
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A colleague at work entered site in an Aston Martin DB2/4 this morning.
I think I may try to get a job in his department! How much do they sell for? I'd assume 6-figures.
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I'd assume 6-figures.
I think it would have to be a pretty good one to fetch that Bazza.
I agree with you about the DB2/4 though. Looked the nimble thoroughbred it was. Subsequent Astons became more and more hulking, even the DB4GT.
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Seen recently at the Cranleigh (Surrey) auto event - a mid-sixties Rover 2000 2-door convertible. Spoke to the owner, who built it himself by taking the roof off a standard saloon and using the two rear doors to extend the rear wings forward to form a new B post. Looked very sleek in original maroon colour but currently lacks a folding roof so only goes out in dry weather. A truly unique vehicle (unless anyone knows differently)
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Just returned from a two-week jaunt around southern UK and - sadly - not much to report. And this from me who bores everyone around me by saying that you only see really interesting motors in the UK.
All I saw of interest was one DB7 (yawn), one TVR Sagaris (still don't know what to think about that one), one very pretty just pre-war Standard 8 convertible in the New Forest on Bank Holiday Monday and a lorry heading down the M5 carrying an enormous gun barrel, lettered something like 'Martin the Human Cannonball' (well, at least that wasn't boring).
And there was the Bristol 406 that might just tempt me back again shortly with business in mind. If LJKS could have a Bristol and a Prelude then so can I...
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Curious one on the way home from work this afternoon, flatbed with 2 mk 2 cortina saloons on it one resting on the other as if on the way to be scrapped but both looked in reasonable nick.
Half an hour later on Marlow High St a lovely old Ford V8 Pilot complete with the boot moulding for the spare wheel
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A BRG MGRv8 by sheer chance emerging from a filling station where i saw what must have been a preproduction example (months before it was launched) in around '93, it was a surprisingly good looking motor, but very narrow by today's standards.
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