Last year I wrote about how, back in the summer of 1977, Petula Clark advised all ITV viewers to put a Chrysler Sunbeam in their lives. Such is the sheer unabashed cheesiness of this commercial – I would personally rate it as ‘Prime Stilton’ - that the achievement of the actual subject is sometimes overlooked...
The Pontiac Firebird has been the star of numerous Hollywood blockbusters, helping inspire a generation of car enthusiasts and wannabe race car drivers and what better way to celebrate than awarding it ‘car of the month’!
As part of their dedication to car clubs, classic car insurance specialists Lancaster Insurance have recently recruited another dedicated Car Club Liaison.
"There comes a moment in the life-cycle of many previously popular cars when they almost vanish overnight and looking at the ‘How Many Left’ website is almost as depressing as watching Take the High Road. Then you start to think when you last saw a Rover 600, a Vauxhall Cavalier Mk.2 or a Citroen BX?" - Written by Andy Roberts
"Ah, the lost world of the 1980’s ITV quiz – glitter, tinsel and the chance to win a Ford Fiesta Popular. On a BBC game show, victors might have left with ‘a selection of board games’ and even on the commercial channel there was heavy restrictions on prize values until 1993. Happily, for the motoring enthusiast, this frequently resulted in a splendid array of Lada 1200s and the like." - Written by Andy Roberts
2016 was an incredible year! For many it will be remembered for BREXIT and Donald Trump. For Lancaster, it was an also incredible year. We take a look at some of the highlights...
"To start 2017 in style, I’d like to mark the 40th anniversary of one of my all-time favourite classic cars, one that mesmerised my younger self... The Matra Rancho" - Written by Andy Roberts
"What, you may reasonably ask, does Carry On Cabby have to do with any end-of-the-year classic round up? The answer is simply that today I was thinking about the moment that I first became interested in the world of old cars, which I can trace more or less directly to the 7th and probably best, in my opinion, Carry On ever made being screened on BBC2.... Here is That Was The Year That Was: My Classic Memories of 2016" - Written by Andy Roberts
Just when you thought it was safe to come out from behind the sofa, here’s another five of the most ill-judged motoring commercials of bygone days. Don’t say that we didn’t warn you… - Written by Andy Roberts
"Over the last week I‘ve been driving down memory lane, looking through reviews and road-tests of cars I’d forgotten had ever existed. Here's a list of the Truly Forgotten Cars." - Written by Andy Roberts
"On 19th September 1976, Hero of Motoring Raymond Baxter appeared in The Goodies’ episode It Might As Well Be String, clad only in his underwear and uttering his lines with the straight-faced aplomb which only Ronnie Barker could have equalled." - Written by Andy Roberts
"One of the most intriguing aspects of pictures of motoring of the past, aside from the telegraph wires and transport cafes that made the establishment in Hell Drivers look like The Ritz, are road signs. Which is where two of the heroes of motoring – Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert - come in." - Written by Andy Roberts
For the past few years, we’ve offered our customers and friends the opportunity to win a pair of ‘Lifetime tickets’ to the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show. This year’s winner was Mike Dean, a Morris Minor Owner Club member, and we’re thrilled the tickets have gone to someone who is as passionate about the show as we are!
"If in my memory, at any rate, the Little Chefs seems to belong to a 1970s of Hillman Avenger Supers and educational trips to the Marchwood Power Station, then I associated the Happy Eater more with the 1980s." - Written by Andy Roberts
"She looks winsome. They look like bit actors from Man About the House. The fashions look as though they were created in the dark. And the car in the middle of the frame is the Polski-Fiat 125p which, for many years, was second fiddle in the British market to the Lada." - Written by Andy Roberts
The Austin Maxi is a car that deserves to be better remembered – a FWD hatchback with a transversely mounted OHC engine and a five-speed gearbox was a truly radical idea for a family saloon in 1969. This was a new BMC offering that was launched at a time when the Vauxhall Victor FD 1600 could still be ordered with a three on the column and, even more incredibly, it was intended to replace the A60 Cambridge. - Written by Andy Roberts
Our car of the month was first introduced to the public in November 1975 and during a 12 year production run over 150,000 were manufactured. The car in question is the Porsche 924!
With Christmas almost upon us and the wintry weather setting in, it is only fitting that our feature club of the month for December is 4x4 Response UK, who really are ‘The Fourth Emergency Service’.
Lancaster Insurance has announced that it’s raised a whopping £12,938 for Prostate Cancer UK. The specialist insurer auctioned its Mini restoration project on Saturday 12th November at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show through Silverstone Auctions, and after a thrilling bidding war, Mr Davies from Wales became the new owner.
The recent passing of Robert Vaughan on November 11th was my cue to re-watch a British television series that the actor did not much care for: 'The Protectors'. - Written by Andy Roberts
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