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Keep up to date with the latest news and events from the world of classic cars.
THE EARLY DAYS OF THE MOT TEST
- Andrew Roberts |
- 18th May, 2022
The MOT test has once again recently been in the news, and it is so much a part of motoring vocabulary that it is intriguing to consider its roots. The 1950s saw a vast increase in private car ownership – from 18% of British households in 1950 to nearly 40% at the end of the decade.
Drive In Revisited
- Andrew Roberts |
- 18th May, 2022
Drive In was Thames Television’s prestige motoring programme, commencing in 1972. The footage kindly uploaded to YouTube by Pearson describes the changing face of motoring in the 1970s.
THE VAUXHALL CHEVETTE: A CELEBRATION
- Andrew Roberts |
- 17th May, 2022
Debates about Britain’s first hatchback are often as tedious as The Best James Bond. The Austin A40 ‘Farina’ Countryman of 1959 is probably the original ‘Two Box’ car with a tailgate, while the Austin Maxi of ten years later was the first UK built FWD transverse engine hatch.
MEET THE OWNER – DAMIEN RYAN AND HIS AUSTIN 1800
- Andrew Roberts |
- 17th May, 2022
For too long, the ‘Landcrab’ family was overlooked in favour of other BMC front-wheel-drive cars.
MEET THE OWNER – PAUL THOMPSON AND HIS PEUGEOT 304 CABRIOLET
- Andrew Roberts |
- 16th May, 2022
In the early 1970s, Paul Thompson was an apprentice at a Peugeot dealer, and one of the regular customers drove a 304 Cabriolet. “I sat in it at dinner time, and that’s when I promised myself I’d get one, one day - but on £14 a week I thought it would have to stay a dream.”
MEET THE OWNER – TIM GIDDY AND HIS JENSEN-HEALEY
- Andrew Roberts |
- 16th May, 2022
I used to have a TR6 back in my youth, which in my mind, is a good comparison car. I would say they are like different generations, the Triumph is very much harking back to an older generation, and the Jensen-Healey feels much more modern.
IT WAS A DIFFERENT WORLD – TWENTY FACTS ABOUT LIFE IN 1952
- Andrew Roberts |
- 13th May, 2022
1) There were circa 2.5 million cars on the road in 1952. 2) Only one in twenty Britons had access to a car. 3) Some British car marques of 1952 that are no longer with us: Armstrong Siddeley, Austin, Hillman, Humber, Jowett, Morris, Singer, Standard, Sunbeam-Talbot, Triumph, Riley and Wolseley.
THE PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP WINNER; JAKE CLAPPISON’S TRIUMPH SPITFIRE 1500
- Andrew Roberts |
- 13th May, 2022
One of the 2021 Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show’s highlights was Jake Clappison’s 1979 Inca Yellow Triumph Spitfire 1500 taking first place in the Pride of Ownership.
FIVE ENTRY LEVEL CARS
- Andrew Roberts |
- 13th May, 2022
Aka who needs electric windows, a fuel gauge, windscreen washers, a boot floor?… 1953 Ford 103E Popular. Sixty-eight years ago, Ford proudly boasted that for just £390, you too could own the cheapest ‘full size’ new car in the UK.
THE VAUXHALL MAGNUM – A CELEBRATION
- Andrew Roberts |
- 13th May, 2022
Last year we celebrated the fiftieth birthday of the Firenza, which neatly brings us to the 1973 revision of the Vauxhall’s HC family.
Meet the Owner - Nicholas Harries and his Humber Sceptre
- Andrew Roberts |
- 12th May, 2022
When the Rootes Group unveiled the Humber Sceptre in 1963, they modestly proclaimed “Never before has there been a car so superbly equipped…with such performance…at so modest a price.”
THE VAUXHALL HERITAGE COLLECTION AT THE BRITISH MOTOR MUSEUM
- Andrew Roberts |
- 12th May, 2022
Many readers would have seen photos of Vauxhall’s remarkable heritage vehicle or had the pleasure of seeing the exhibits in the metal. So the news that Gaydon is to be the home of the collection is indeed welcome.
THE TRIUMPH TR8 REMEMBERED
- Andrew Roberts |
- 12th May, 2022
Forty one years ago, production ended of one of the great post-war British sports cars. One US motoring journalist wrote, ‘I didn’t think they’d ever make cars like that again, but the Triumph TR8 reminds me why I fell in love with cars in the first place’. Countless other enthusiasts feel the same way.
