News

Lancaster Insurance has pledged to donate up to £5 to charity for customers who quote the phrases ‘TeamMike’ or ‘TeamAnt’ when they ring up for an insurance policy. Customers who show support to the Charity Build Off by picking a team when they receive a quote will also be helping the Marie Crawford Boyd Foundation (Mike’s chosen beneficiary) and Harrison’s Fund (Ant’s chosen beneficiary).

Lancaster Insurance are pleased to announce May’s ‘Club of the Month’ as the Yorkshire & Derbyshire Retro Ford Club.

Regular readers of Lancaster’s ‘Car of the month’ feature might see a bit of a theme developing. With March’s COTM featuring the Peugeot 205 GTi and April’s looking back at the Escort XR3i, it seems only proper that we now look at the car which started off the whole ‘hot hatch’ movement.

On 14th April 1927, the first Volvo car left the factory in Gothenburg. To celebrate 90 years of this great marque here is my own, very personal, list of my seven favourite vehicles to bear the Volvo badge…

It has been one month since the launch of the #ClassicRumble Charity Build Off and we caught up with our star participants; Mike Brewer and Ant Anstead, about their Charity Projects supporting The Marie Crawford Boyd Foundation and Harrison's Fund.

Some of these fine coupes may often be seen at car shows across the country while others are rarer than a Bugatti Royale. Here are, in my opinion, the Top Ten Affordable Coupes of the 80s.

This is far from an exclusive list of the high-performance vehicles that police forces used for traffic cars, undercover pursuits or as a high-profile deterrent to would-be Nigel Mansells.

‘Try to imagine it today: a motorcyclist, a seven-time world champion admittedly, hopping into an F1 car and seizing the title four years later. It is motorsport’s equivalent of a concert pianist discovering that he can also play violin to the standard of Yehudi Menuhin’ – The Daily Telegraph.

In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem… if no one else can help… and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team.

We've put together a highlight video of our stand and experience at the 2017 Practical Classics, Classic Car and Restoration Show! You can view the video below or on the Lancaster Insurance YouTube Channel where you'll also find our archive of videos from past events.

At 10.15pm on 22nd April 1977, the BBC’s Birmingham studios transmitted the first episode of a new programme for car owners, presented by Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne. Top Gear was a half hour show that was broadcast in the Midlands region and one of the first cars featured was Ms Rippon’s own Ford Capri Mk. II.

The first two rounds of the Hyundai Coupe Cup were held on the Silverstone National Circuit on the 25 -26 March. There was a record number of 18 coupes on the grid, so I’m anticipating this will be a tough and exciting season for all involved!

When it comes to the penultimate evening of the Practical Classic, Classic Car and Restoration show, there’s no greater place to be than at The National Car Club Awards. Great company, a fantastic dinner and the chance to mingle with the driving forces of the classic car industry, the club members themselves!

It must be said that the chap in the Riley brochure looks as jaunty as a young Nicolas Parsons or indeed any other actor who was prone to saying ‘gosh’ in a 1950s Technicolor comedy. And it is no wonder that he is tipping his hat to the new One Point Five, as it was – and indeed is – one of the most delightful British cars of the late 1950s.

Lancaster Insurance is pleased to reveal the XR Owners Club as April’s club of the month! We awarded the XR3i April’s the car of the month, following the launch of our #ClassicRumble charity initiative… so it’s only fitting that the XR marque takes the club award.

The XR3i is synonymous with 80’s hot hatch Britain and young men (and ladies) at the time were almost tripping over themselves to get into Ford showrooms to get their hands on this iconic car.

A superb collection of ‘rust and rarities’ brought in a record number of classic motoring enthusiasts in the Birmingham’s NEC for the fourth outing of the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show, which for the first time opened for three days!

No wonder that young couple is amazed by the sight of a Type 34 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia as they clearly never expected to find a car that is even more modish than they are.

Classic car owner Keith Edmunds reigned ‘triumphant’ in the Spring final of the Lancaster Insurance Pride of Ownership competition, claiming first place with his 1972 Triumph Spitfire after winning the public vote out of the 20 finalists.

Where else but at The Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show are you likely to find not one but three Austin Ambassadors, all of them the flagship Vanden Plas version, and a 1975 Wolseley-badged blue Wedge?