LANCASTER CLASSIC CAR NEWS
THE GREAT BRITISH CAR JOURNEY
Many of us are old enough to remember when a family picnic tended to involve egg and cress sandwiches, explosive bottles of R Whites lemonade and an overheating Morris 1100 De Luxe just outside of Weymouth.
THE FORD PROBE REMEMBERED
Some aspects of 1990s life now appear impossibly distant – Eurotrash on Channel 4, doomed BBC soap Eldorado and the Ford Probe. Here was a car heavily promoted by Ford, including the obligatory pompous advertisement.
THE EDSEL REVISITED
The year is 1957, and the venue is the internal launch party for the Edsel. There Robert McNamara, the General Manager of the Ford division, tells the advertising guru Fairfax Cone that the company is already planning its demise even before the first customers took delivery. It did not augur well for the new marque.
THE CITROEN DYANE 6 – A CELEBRATION
There is a strong case for suggesting the Dyane is one of the finest family cars of its generation. Here is a Citroën that offers all of the 2CV’s virtues – but with the bonus of a tailgate.
THE ORIGINAL TOYOTA CELICA; A CELEBRATION
One of the many highlights of this year’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show was the opportunity to marvel at the first-generation Celica.
REMARKABLE DAIMLER ONE-O-FOUR LADIES MODEL
The 1950s often appear to be another world – the National Anthem played at the end of cinema bills, newsagents selling Woodbines and The Daily Herald…and vehicles aimed exclusively at the female driver.
THE SHORT BUT FASCINATING SAGA OF THE RENAULT R3
It goes without saying that when the R4 made its bow in 1961, it altered Renault’s future and small European cars per se. Not only was it the company‘s first car with FWD (the front-wheel-drive Estafette van debuted in 1959) it also popularised the five-door format for the mass market.
THE VW TREKKER – A CELEBRATION
The year is 1974, Volkswagen GB has initiated a competitor to re-name their latest import, the 182. The winner was a Mr. Nigel Purden of the Midlands with his suggestion of ‘Trekker’ – and it would be fair to say it was virtually sans rivals in the UK.
THE TRIUMPH ACCLAIM – AN APPRECIATION
This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most important cars to bear the Triumph badge. When the Acclaim made its bow on the 7th October 1981, it pioneered Japanese involvement in the British motor industry. It was also the right car launched at the right time – an accolade not shared by many other BL products.
CELEBRATING THE MG 1300 MK. II
The 1969 Motor test of the MG 1300 Mk II was headlined “At last – real performance”, and in the previous year, Autocar found it “great fun to drive”. They also regarded it as “refined and gentlemanly and will serve equally well the enthusiast driver and his not so enthusiastic wife”.
The Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire 346; An Appreciation
One of the stars of the 1952 London Motor Show was the Sapphire 346. “Truly a car of character” stated Armstrong Siddeley and this was not an exaggeration.
MEET THE OWNER – STEPHEN DAWES AND HIS ONE FAMILY FROM NEW FIAT 124
Sometimes, when writing about classic cars, you come across a vehicle that is incredibly rare – so rare, in fact, that you cannot remember seeing one on the road in the past three decades. Stephen Dawes’s 124 is not only one of the very few examples left; it is also a one-family-from new Fiat.