LANCASTER CLASSIC CAR NEWS
Announcing our November Bright Young Spark, Joshua Finch!
Dad always had a classic car restoration project. My earliest memory is of a Morris Traveller. Helping him with his projects from a young age was what really sparked my passion for cars...
Biggest and best! Experts and enthusiasts celebrate at NEC classic season finale!
The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show lived up to its ‘biggest and best’ tagline this weekend as 71,290 enthusiasts joined at Birmingham’s NEC to celebrate another great year for the classic car community.
THE AUSTIN J40 CONTINUATION – THE ULTIMATE PEDAL CAR FOR CHRISTMAS?
Picture the scene. It is Christmas Day, 1958, and beneath the tree is a large package – more to the point, a pedal-car-sized package. Could it possibly be the Austin J40, the country’s ultimate pedal car? You have dropped subtle hints for the past few weeks, but your parents claim it is “far too extravagant”.
FIFTY YEARS OF LADA IN THE UK
Fifty years ago, visitors to the London Motor Show saw an unfamiliar marque displayed on Stand 152. The Moskvich sold by Satra Motors Ltd. was an established sight in the UK, but Earls Court was the first time most Britons encountered its fellow USSR product - a Fiat 124 clone named Lada. The sales publicly claimed:
THREE DAYS AT THE LANCASTER INSURANCE CLASSIC MOTOR SHOW
How do you select a Car of the Show from the recent event at the NEC? It is a true Mission Impossible from the moment you enter any of the Halls, with cars as varied as a Volvo 262C and a Vauxhall Cresta PA waiting to bombard your senses. At one point, I covetously eyed a Riley Pathfinder in metallic blue, but then I suddenly noticed its Wolseley 6/90 Series One stablemate in grey.
THE FORD CORSAIR AT 60
The year is 1963 and your recently gained managerial status demands a new car and Ford seem to have the ideal vehicle. You excitedly read an article by the famous publisher Jocelyn Stevens entitled “Corsair – with man in mind” which states “‘To me, But the man of today is sophisticated, cool, tough – and on the outside, casually elegant. James Bond with a touch of Peter O’Toole”. Well, that is clearly you to a tee, even if jealous colleagues say, “still wears a 1952 suit and regards a glass of Wincarnis Tonic Wine as decadent.
The Vauxhall Firenza Droop Snoot at 50
The year is 1973, the place is the London Motor Show, and your attention is drawn by the Vauxhall display – namely, a striking-looking coupe. The sales team called it the “High Performance” Firenza, but showgoers were already referring to it as the “Droop Snoot”.
MEET THE OWNER – ERIC DALTON AND HIS AUSTIN AMBASSADOR VANDEN PLAS
Readers of Practical Classics will instantly recognise Eric’s Austin Ambassador Vanden Plas in all its Opaline Green magnificence. As he explains:
OVERLOOKED GEMS – THE SINGER SM1500 AND HUNTER
Amidst the many and varied cars displayed at the 1948 London Motor Show was a formal-looking saloon that offered "dignity, style and perfect balance". The SM1500 was Singer's first post-war design, and today it merits far greater recognition.
RARER THAN RARE – THE TALBOT TAGORA SX
In 1981, when this writer was eleven, and Adam and the Ants were the pop group du jour, certain mass-produced executive cars were about as rare as a watchable episode of Runaround. I seldom encountered a Vauxhall Viceroy, a Renault 30TX, a Citroën CX Prestige, a Volvo 264 or a Rover SD1 V8S on Lower Swanwick’s (less than) mean streets.
STARS AND THEIR CARS - DOCTOR WHO AT SIXTY
At 5:15 p.m. on Saturday 23rd November 1963, after Grandstand and before The Telegoons and Dixon of Dock Green, BBC Television premiered the first episode of a series they billed as “A new adventure in time and space”. And the first car to be seen in Doctor Who was a Wolseley 6/80 – albeit only the front half, which the production crew mounted on castors.