One of the side effects of the passage of time, apart from noticing how young police officers look, is that how certain once respected cars slowly vanish from our roads.
On the 23rd January, the nominations for the 90th Academy Awards were announced, which prompted me to think of the many cinematic greats and near-misses with the name of the car in the titles.
For many of us it is the smallest details of an old car that can evoke such powerful memories – the transmission whine on a Vauxhall Viva HB, the tip-up seats on a four-door Morris 1100 – and the oval shaped interior mirror on a 1965 Hillman Super Minx.
A major joy of the classic car world is the finding of a famous or historically important model in a barn, a field or even beneath some bramble bushes. The original Saint ‘Volvo’ and the Bullitt ‘Jump Mustang’ are two famous examples and seven years before Genevieve entered production, the 1904 Darracq was found in a London scrap yard.
The 23rd February will see the announcement of the new UK Car Of The Year (COTY) – which prompts me, and many others, to recall some of the great British COTY winners of previous decades.
One of my all-time favourite film series also features my all-time favourite car marque. In each edition of the Scotland Yard B-features made between 1953 and 1961 there often is at least one highly polished 6/80 and, after 1958, 6/90 arriving at a crime scene located conveniently near to Merton Park Studios.
If you happened to glance at the Radio Times or similar publication some 57 years ago, you might well have read the following startling announcement:
One of my favourite automotive brochures of the 1960s features a very disgruntled looking Hugh Futcher (Carry On support actor, panicking Sapper in Quatermass & The Pit and more recently the star of a Specsavers ad) aboard a pedal car.
Put simply; these are three toys – or pastimes if you prefer – that should grace the home of any automotive enthusiast -
Revealed: five great classic cars to buy and enjoy during the spring months. You’ll be amazed at how far your money will go if you buy well
The recent news that Sir Stirling Moss ‘will finally retire, so that he and my mother can have some much deserved rest and spend more time with each other and the rest of the family’ prompted me (and, I suspect, countless years) to re-watch the footage of his racing career.