For those interested in old cars.

[New Haven Neil]

I had that Vauxhall kit too - about 50 years ago #sigh#

 

This was in Shopshite Shoprite car park yesterday, a few along from us.  Nice condition but badge overload? Owner wasn't around to ask if he had done an unusual heart transplant.

 

 

[Oldddudders]

Badge overload indeed! Twin-cam Mk2 s were of course two-door by definition, anyway. And the 2.3 litre engine has no place in a UK car of that era. 

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Badge overload indeed! Twin-cam Mk2 s were of course two-door by definition, anyway. And the 2.3 litre engine has no place in a UK car of that era. 

Also if it’s on the road at the moment it could be interesting, no record on the GOVUK site of that registration......no MoT needed of course but it should be registered for RFL even if it doesn’t need paying anymore, hmmm.

 

But it is insured.....as a Bentley Mulsanne 

Edited January 11, 2020 by boxbrownie

[Stubby47]

1 minute ago, boxbrownie said:

Also if it’s on the road at the moment it could be interesting, no record on the GOVUK site of that registration......no MoT needed of course but it should be registered for RFL even if it doesn’t need paying anymore, hmmm.

 

But it is insured.....as a Bentley Mulsanne 

 

But does the reg site check Isle of Man?

[boxbrownie]

8 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

 

But does the reg site check Isle of Man?

Good question but I am sure the insurance data base does......

 

In fact, yes it does.....

Edited January 11, 2020 by boxbrownie

[PhilJ W]

I have the Vauxhall kit and I only paid £20 for it not so long ago. That is because the sprue with the transparent parts, glazing and headlamps is missing and the bodyshell has been crushed distorting the windscreen pillars. If I had the glazing I could use it to correct the windscreen pillars. Someone had started it but only got as far as the 'luggage' that was included in the kit.

[New Haven Neil]

21 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Good question but I am sure the insurance data base does......

 

In fact, yes it does.....

 

In fact often neither does.  If it is insured via a local underwriters, it doesn't often show on 'your' database.  Causes us no end of problems when we are across (UK) with ANPR hits.  It is optional for our local underwriters to inform the UK version, they usually do - eventually.....nothing happens in a hurry here except the TT.  I wouldn't think the Mulsanne as a reliable owner of the reg mark either, that could do with looking in to, and in my last job I would have done so . 

 

Edit - you can't have a MAN or MN reg mark in the UK, or at least registered to a UK address.  So there's a birdie away there if is showing as a UK registered vehicle.

Edited January 12, 2020 by New Haven Neil

[alastairq]

Showing on MID as a Bentley...but not showing on DVLA site...Probably an error inputting on MID?

[boxbrownie]

As it’s IoM I expect it was a cherished plate previously on a Mulsanne and now transferred to the Cortina and the MID just hasn’t caught up or as above not been updated.

[Oldddudders]

Wotever, the car is basically a 1600E and none the worse for that, but badging and even re-powering it is a pity. It becomes a bitsa. 

[Wolseley]

I was putting out the garbage bins this evening and a Morris 1100 drove past.  It's been a while since I've seen one of them.....

[Rugd1022]

I've posted these images from the 1967 film 'Robbery' before but a bit of info has come to light from one of the owners of the car on one of the Mini forums I'm on. What looks like an 'ordinary' Mk1 Morris Mini Minor 850 on the outside with a Cooper grille is in fact a one off Police spec 998 Cooper, it's badged as a Morris Cooper and has the proper engine, gearbox, disc brakes and correct 120mph speedo of a 998 Cooper, but has a plain red interior and lacks the stainless steel trim round the top of the doors that all Coopers normally had. Strangely it has the chassis number for a 'normal' Morris Mini 850 with the prefix 'MA2S4'....

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Interesting selection of other cars as well. Mk II Zephyr, Mk I Cortina, Sunbeam Rapier, Mk III Zephyr, ADO16, Princess Limo, Rover P5, Ford Corsair and LAD cabbed lorry.

[Rugd1022]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Interesting selection of other cars as well. Mk II Zephyr, Mk I Cortina, Sunbeam Rapier, Mk III Zephyr, ADO16, Princess Limo, Rover P5, Ford Corsair and LAD cabbed lorry.

 

It was shot in March and April '67 Phil, here are some more screen grabs and a couple of behind the scenes shots with a nice mixture of vehicles typical of the period... the ambulance 'YLD 259' was used in lots of other films and TV series and is still around today... the eighth pic down shows Stanley Baker driving his own Bentley S3 down the M4....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Richard E]

On 11/01/2020 at 10:22, New Haven Neil said:

I had that Vauxhall kit too - about 50 years ago #sigh#

 

This was in Shopshite Shoprite car park yesterday, a few along from us.  Nice condition but badge overload? Owner wasn't around to ask if he had done an unusual heart transplant.

 

 

 

That'll be a Ford (cough) 2.3 Twin Cam Duratec engine in that. Originally appeared in the Mazda range of cars so old car with modern Ford badged Japanese engine ...

[Rugd1022]

Nice but short and silent clip of Christine Keeler driving her 1961 Mk1 Austin Seven Mini in 1963...

 

 

 

It's quite startling how smartly dressed most people were back then! The car is currently for sale... https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1185825 … not cheap but it's the real McCoy.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Rugd1022

[stewartingram]

I've caught the odd oldie gameshow on satellite tv recently. For instance, Wheel of Fortune, with host Nicki Campbell, aired from 1989-1996. It is very noticeable how much tidier people were then, and more smartly dressed for their spot on TV. Compare with a more recent show, perhaps a recent Catchphrase? No one wears a tie, rarely a suit nowadays; jeans & t-shirts rule. And hair is scruffy, untidy beards or unshaven. We really have lowered our standards of appearance in modern times. Still, each to their own, I know where I stand.

 

Stewart

[RANGERS]

On 13/01/2020 at 11:48, Rugd1022 said:

 

It was shot in March and April '67 Phil, here are some more screen grabs and a couple of behind the scenes shots with a nice mixture of vehicles typical of the period... the ambulance 'YLD 259' was used in lots of other films and TV series and is still around today... the eighth pic down shows Stanley Baker driving his own Bentley S3 down the M4....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps the rarest vehicle in those shots is in the seventh shot down, the black cab on the right is a Beardmore mk7, not the usual FX3. Only around 650 were built over a decade so never particularly common and though long lived, there's very few left. Most were registered in London but they had a handful of dealers around the country who presumably sold a few.

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, RANGERS said:

Perhaps the rarest vehicle in those shots is in the seventh shot down, the black cab on the right is a Beardmore mk7, not the usual FX3. Only around 650 were built over a decade so never particularly common and though long lived, there's very few left. Most were registered in London but they had a handful of dealers around the country who presumably sold a few.

They used the engine/gearbox from the Ford Consul.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Were the on street parking spaces a lot wider in those days, or is it the cars that have become a lot wider?

Those cars don't fill the space as much as current ones.

 

Mike.

[great central]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Were the on street parking spaces a lot wider in those days, or is it the cars that have become a lot wider?

Those cars don't fill the space as much as current ones.

 

Mike.

 

Cars have got bigger, I've got an S reg Jeep Cherokee, it's no bigger than some models of German, so called Mini now. Wife has an 04 Vauxhall Zafira, friend has a 65 plated Meriva, to all intents and purposes they're the same size outside.

 

[RJS1977]

Cars have got wider - partly because each model tends to "grow" from one iteration to another - and partly because of features like side impact bars etc.

 

The exhibitor parking for my show is down a side street, and one of the traders commented a few years ago that it seems to get harder for him to get his van up the road every year!

[BernardTPM]

5 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

Were the on street parking spaces a lot wider in those days, or is it the cars that have become a lot wider?

Much wider. Taking the Austin A55 Mk.II as a typical small/medium family car of 1960 it was 5' 3.5" wide. By 1980 taking the Ford Cortina '80 as an example of the same category of car it was 5' 7" wide, A 1999 Ford Focus saloon was still the same width (the contemporary Mondeo was 5' 9" wide but had grown noticeably longer) but the current Focus is a shade under 6 foot wide - or about the same as the 'aircraft carrier' Mk.IV Zephyr/Zodiac!

[boxbrownie]

11 minutes ago, BernardTPM said:

Much wider. Taking the Austin A55 Mk.II as a typical small/medium family car of 1960 it was 5' 3.5" wide. By 1980 taking the Ford Cortina '80 as an example of the same category of car it was 5' 7" wide, A 1999 Ford Focus saloon was still the same width (the contemporary Mondeo was 5' 9" wide but had grown noticeably longer) but the current Focus is a shade under 6 foot wide - or about the same as the 'aircraft carrier' Mk.IV Zephyr/Zodiac!

Exactly, but it’s not only down to safety legislation (although this does have a major impact, pardon the pun) it is also down to customer expectation, I’m paying more, I want more.

 

The first time we had a BMW Mini in for a teardown exercise we were a bit amazed that it was getting on for the width of the original Landrover Discovery Mk1, only four inches or so in it!

[Oldddudders]

People are, on average, fatter and taller than of yore. Healthier, though? We live longer, but the NHS has a bigger job keeping us going!