For those interested in old cars.

[5 C]

Some of the comments suggest that most, if not all were being sold without keys and log books. Anyone looking to put one back on the road would have to take that into account.

[PhilJ W]

They are to old by the appearance of them to have come under the scrappage scheme. There was an item a couple of years ago about cars taken in under the scrappage scheme just being parked on a disused airfield and they may still be there for all we know.

[stewartingram]

2 hours ago, Wolseley said:

 

I wouldn't call it a collection of unrestored classics - it's more like a scrapyard specialising in old, unusual and rare vehicles.  Why on earth would anyone in their right mind (if in fact he was in his right mind) purchase all of these and then let them decay to that state?  I can't help wondering if any of these cars will ever see the road again, or if they were all bought for their parts.

In recent years, on the edge oftown (Chatteris, Cambs),  there was a farm property with a similar collection of cars which had just been left in a field vor many years. I believe the owner just retired the cars and effectively stored/dumped them their rather than trading them in or scrapping them. It them became time to "redevelop" (if that is the right term in farming) the space, so in similar fashion they were put up for sale or auction. I think most of them sold; they were featured in Practical Classics at the time.

 

Stewart

[runs as required]

What is this pretty little mid-engined car?  And I can see an NSU Ro 80 on the extreme left of the screen grab.

 This must be the nearest I have ever got to a video where you can actually smell the damp.

Someone told me that it is no longer legal to have an open access scrap yard where you can just call in and hunt around for a bit from a particular year of Mondeo (the way I kept about 30 years worth of old bangers alive as family transport).  It seems it all has to be done on line now - to source bits to keep my current 2007 Cmax (pun? ) intact.

dh

[boxbrownie]

42 minutes ago, runs as required said:

What is this pretty little mid-engined car?  And I can see an NSU Ro 80 on the extreme left of the screen grab.

 This must be the nearest I have ever got to a video where you can actually smell the damp.

Someone told me that it is no longer legal to have an open access scrap yard where you can just call in and hunt around for a bit from a particular year of Mondeo (the way I kept about 30 years worth of old bangers alive as family transport).  It seems it all has to be done on line now - to source bits to keep my current 2007 Cmax (pun? ) intact.

dh

Avante........

[5 C]

DVLA shows it as an Avante (kit car) in black. I suppose part of it at least is black.

 

https://motor-car.net/british/item/19056-avante-uk

 

The donor car apparently was a VW Beetle. It only lasted between 1982 and 1986. 

 

The company was based in Stoke-on-Trent and that particular example is a 1982 Staffordshire registration, so potentially a factory car of some description, maybe even a prototype.

[gordon s]

I wish you hadn’t posted that as I’ve spent an hour crawling all over the web. I seem to recall a mid engine kit car back in the 70’s. The tyres remind me of a US muscle car, but can’t place the rectangular back lights. No doubt someone will put us out of our agony......

 

Edit: Thanks guys. A DVLA check came up with Avante but is was in black, so thought the registration had been reissued.

 

That’s the one I was thinking of. One of the young draughtsmen in our office had one.

Edited November 7, 2019 by gordon s

[Northmoor]

10 hours ago, stewartingram said:

In recent years, on the edge oftown (Chatteris, Cambs),  there was a farm property with a similar collection of cars which had just been left in a field vor many years. I believe the owner just retired the cars and effectively stored/dumped them their rather than trading them in or scrapping them. It them became time to "redevelop" (if that is the right term in farming) the space, so in similar fashion they were put up for sale or auction. I think most of them sold; they were featured in Practical Classics at the time.

 

Stewart

There used to be sites like this all over the country; some years back one of the classic car mags showed a well-hidden site in the grounds of a barely-inhabitable rural manor house in mid-Devon I think.  

Similarly there was a site near where I grew up in Pembrokeshire (30+ years ago) where a farmer parked up cars in the corner of a field, everything at that time was at least 20 years old.  He refused to even sell parts from them.  On Google Earth there's almost nothing left in the field now so the owner must have died or being given a legal ultimatum.

[RJS1977]

27 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

There used to be sites like this all over the country; some years back one of the classic car mags showed a well-hidden site in the grounds of a barely-inhabitable rural manor house in mid-Devon I think.  

Similarly there was a site near where I grew up in Pembrokeshire (30+ years ago) where a farmer parked up cars in the corner of a field, everything at that time was at least 20 years old.  He refused to even sell parts from them.  On Google Earth there's almost nothing left in the field now so the owner must have died or being given a legal ultimatum.

 

If you're thinking of the field full of (mostly) Allegros near Pentlepoir, he was ordered by the Council to dispose of them.

 

There was also a field full of 1950s cars near Whitland Abbey at one time.

[Northmoor]

20 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

If you're thinking of the field full of (mostly) Allegros near Pentlepoir, he was ordered by the Council to dispose of them.

 

There was also a field full of 1950s cars near Whitland Abbey at one time.

This one was near Efailwen, a stone's throw from Glandy Cross.  Doesn't surprise me that there were multiple examples in the County!

[Owd Bob]

Thought i spotted a Red/faded to Orange bonnet less late '70's kit car which i think was called a Nova? And which used the VW Beetle for its parts? Can anyone confirm my fading memory? Would be very hard to find a bonnet now i would think!

[runs as required]

Thank you to everyone who identified this avante kit car. This is what I found on a Google image search

 

 

I'd loved to have had a a go at trying to sort one of these VW/Porsche engined kit cars (if I'd  known of their existence).  I prefer  the version with the rear quarter lights, - a picolo wee Abarth looking machine though with the  original  sexy Porsche 356 sound!   

But I suppose they never stood a chance alongside the Volks-Porsche 914  mid engined roadster  - which themselves were never as popular as the 911 in Britain.

Though I know a guy who loved his till he went the route of the bigger front engined 944 type Porsches.

dh

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, runs as required said:

But I suppose they never stood a chance alongside the Volks-Porsche 914  mid engined roadster  - which themselves were never as popular as the 911 in Britain.

Though I know a guy who loved his till he went the route of the bigger front engined 944 type Porsches.

dh

To be sure......the spiritual successor to the 914 is the Boxster and just as with the 914 it out handles and feels sweeter on the road than it’s big brother.

 

I sometimes regret selling my ‘S’ but it was becoming a chore just getting in and out of it.......although the dealer I bought it from gave me just 1K less for it after I had it just over a year, now that’s cheap motoring!

[Rugd1022]

Not long back from the NEC where my eyes were out on stalks as usual - here's a quick selection of what was on show this year.... a good variety of cars I thought....

 

 

Edited November 8, 2019 by Rugd1022

[gordon s]

9 hours ago, runs as required said:

Thank you to everyone who identified this avante kit car. This is what I found on a Google image search

 

 

I'd loved to have had a a go at trying to sort one of these VW/Porsche engined kit cars (if I'd  known of their existence).  I prefer  the version with the rear quarter lights, - a picolo wee Abarth looking machine though with the  original  sexy Porsche 356 sound!   

But I suppose they never stood a chance alongside the Volks-Porsche 914  mid engined roadster  - which themselves were never as popular as the 911 in Britain.

Though I know a guy who loved his till he went the route of the bigger front engined 944 type Porsches.

dh

You would have enjoyed one of these, then......

 

https://www.tumblr.com/search/manta cars

 

Edit: It’s the red one in the middle. There’s 6 pics.

Edited November 8, 2019 by gordon s

[boxbrownie]

The GT40 replica looks convincing, but I hope that is a four figure sale price not five 

[Oldddudders]

21 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

The GT40 replica looks convincing, but I hope that is a four figure sale price not five 

I would be most surprised if it were. A GT40, real or replica, is a very expensive piece of kit to manufacture. Their market presence is second to very few other cars - and will be further enhanced by the imminent release of Le Mans 66 in cinemas. 

[boxbrownie]

1 minute ago, Oldddudders said:

I would be most surprised if it were. A GT40, real or replica, is a very expensive piece of kit to manufacture. Their market presence is second to very few other cars - and will be further enhanced by the imminent release of Le Mans 66 in cinemas. 

What....£69,000 odd for a replica?

 

If that’s the case the world really has gone mad.

[Oldddudders]

57 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

What....£69,000 odd for a replica?

 

If that’s the case the world really has gone mad.

Possibly. 

 

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/list/21/gt40/

 

£69k looks to be fairly cheap. 

[Northmoor]

57 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

What....£69,000 odd for a replica?

 

If that’s the case the world really has gone mad.

Until recently you could buy we-built GT40 replicas for £30-40,000.  Considering doing it yourself would cost you half that in parts, the windscreen price isn't that unreasonable if it's professionally built.

Bear in mind real GT40s go for 7 figures, so £70k for a good replica could be said to be a bargain (not that's in my price range!).

[Rugd1022]

56 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

What....£69,000 odd for a replica?

 

If that’s the case the world really has gone mad.

 

It's £69,995 David - expensive for a replica but in this case about 90% of the car is interchangeable with an original '60s one, with some of the parts from the same manufacturer also being used in the real cars too. Some of these high end replicas are bought by owners of original cars to race so as to keep the real McCoy from being damaged beyond repair. I believe this particular car started out as the first KVA replica, initially to Mk1 spec but modified to the road going Mk3 spec you see in the photo. Tornado Sportscars in Kidderminster also do this and supply parts to the owners of the real GT40s all over the world.

 

 

 

 

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

It's £69,995 David - expensive for a replica but in this case about 90% of the car is interchangeable with an original '60s one, with some of the parts from the same manufacturer also being used in the real cars too. Some of these high end replicas are bought by owners of original cars to race so as to keep the real McCoy from being damaged beyond repair. I believe this particular car started out as the first KVA replica, initially to Mk1 spec but modified to the road going Mk3 spec you see in the photo. Tornado Sportscars in Kidderminster also do this and supply parts to the owners of the real GT40s all over the world.

 

 

 

 

Things have changed then, we couldn’t get a upright off the shelf and all four had to be made custom (due to age related metal fatigue) and getting a “Gurney Bump” door was impossible, another custom made part.

 

I do appreciate that what is to all intents a hand built car is expensive, but hells bells it’s still a kit car 

[runs as required]

Lawyer son has a client who owns a GT40 Ford in US racing colours that I photographed in the Targa Florio in the 1960s while being overtaken by Sharp in the Chaparral

the GT 40 is worth apparently closer to 2 rather than £1million. The same guy also flies a WW11 Hurricane !

dh

[doilum]

18 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Things have changed then, we couldn’t get a upright off the shelf and all four had to be made custom (due to age related metal fatigue) and getting a “Gurney Bump” door was impossible, another custom made part.

 

I do appreciate that what is to all intents a hand built car is expensive, but hells bells it’s still a kit car 

Me thinks the term "kit car" is somewhat outdated. A bit like putting a Finney 7 loco with custom made working inside valve gear in the same category as an Airfix shunter.  The days of stretching a badly moulded sort of look a like body over a VW chassis or, worse still, some badly welded box section are long gone.

Properly assembled, it will probably be more reliable than several Italian supercars from the last 40 years. The value of the originals condemns them to be almost museum pieces and the classic car world has pretty much accepted them for what they are. If less educated members of the public mistake them for an original that is part of the fun. A word with the owner will quickly explain all. If owners try to pass them off as originals they have problems of the own to deal with.

[Northmoor]

52 minutes ago, doilum said:

Me thinks the term "kit car" is somewhat outdated. A bit like putting a Finney 7 loco with custom made working inside valve gear in the same category as an Airfix shunter.  The days of stretching a badly moulded sort of look a like body over a VW chassis or, worse still, some badly welded box section are long gone.

Properly assembled, it will probably be more reliable than several Italian supercars from the last 40 years. The value of the originals condemns them to be almost museum pieces and the classic car world has pretty much accepted them for what they are. If less educated members of the public mistake them for an original that is part of the fun. A word with the owner will quickly explain all. If owners try to pass them off as originals they have problems of the own to deal with.

Totally agree Doilum; a good friend of mine owned a Westfield for many years (bought 99% completed).  The quality of workmanship would have put a Mercedes or BMW of the same era, to shame.  I think that applies to most of the Seven replica builders, or they wouldn't stay in business.