***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 2 *****
My neighbour ( the one who brings Bentleys home from work for testing ) has just this very moment taken delivery of a Cobra off a trailer. Presumably replica but still sounds like a small earth tremor. This he adds to his company Seat Leon Cupra and his Fireblade. I hate him.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 29 Mar 10 at 23:54
|
|
Wonder if they greased it`s brake pipes before delivery.....
|
even replicas arent cheap though unless he has an old cortina injun under the hood?
brake pipes greased? can you enlarge? :-)
|
|
This one sounds like a V8.....actually I'm going to go and nosey at it now....
Last edited by: Ron D'bout on Wed 24 Feb 10 at 20:49
|
Today in Bangor in Wales
1. Porsche 968 Convertible
2. A Triumph Spitfire - I have a photo of this parked next to the MX5 that I was a passanger in - same concept a world away in execution....
|
|
Yep - replica but with a pukka 5.7L Chevy lump. Still hate him
|
Rumour has it that a bit of grease in the right place helps you sleep.
Zzzzzz
Last edited by: Kharon on Wed 24 Feb 10 at 20:56
|
Does this neighbour not live near the roundabout and bridge near Crewe then?
Ask him to bring the Blower home.
|
Today in a car park in Storrington, W Sussex, what I took to be a Ford Model T street rod in metallic kingfisher blue and, er, chrome. It was about as wide as it was long, had enormous rear and skinny front tyres, front suspension a la model T with transverse leaf spring but elongated axle with many leading links to locate it, rear suspension independent with double inclined coils each side and huge disc brakes, vertical (!) steering column with small woodrim wheel, cabin like a bathtub with a yacht cushion in it to sit on, joke brake pedal like a chromed naked footprint (or was that the loud pedal? It was the biggest one anyway), all powered by a fair-sized ohv V8 with two huge twin-choke downdraught carbs on top of it, and auto transmission. All suspension parts blingily chromed.
Driven by a sprauncy looking greybeard perhaps ten or twenty years younger than me. I thought the thing looked and sounded charming in a frivolous sort of way and I imagine its 0-60 time in a straight line would be impressive, but I would expect it to be fairly nightmarish to drive especially in cold weather, or for any distance. I can imagine liking a Model T special but it would be a tuned and tweaked standard one.
|
vertical (!) steering column with small woodrim wheel
>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> friend had one like this a model t lookalike in the late 70"s his had a 2 litre fiat twinky in it, i had a ride in it once and swore never again,im still not convinced the steering wheel actually did anything.
hope you are well mr L
|
The driver could manage it in quite a tight busy car park, shot it into a narrow space nose first. It made a noise though. And would I imagine take a lot of practice to navigate with any degree of confidence.
Saw a similar street rod, but based on a 1932 roadster and with a sidevalve V8, getting terrifying understeer round Lord's roundabout once. Sticky throttle cable or something. The driver looked very apprehensive as he drove off towards the West End.
These are charming conceits but very silly vehicles that can only do one thing if that: accelerate rapidly in a straight line.
I am very well considering thank you Bb, gazing at the sunlit South Downs through treetops as I write.
|
Saw a Messerschmidt KR200 ( one of those little three wheeler things which looks like a motorised cockpit ) being towed up the M1 spiritedly the other day. It was red and being pulled along by a Discovery. Looked for all the world as if it was slipstreaming it ready to overtake.
Guy at school had one back in the '70s. His was turquoise as I recall. I think he went on to be an art teacher. Certainly grew a beard anyway.
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Sun 7 Mar 10 at 17:28
|
R-reg Ford Orion saloon in 'primer' beige.
Looked clean and tidy and appeared to be in regular use.
|
A black Volvo of some description parked in the street with hazards on.
It was N 10...the Manchester Mayoral car......................I remember when it was a Rolls...someone's shrunk it !
Ted
Edit Mentioning Volvos, I had a car in for MOT this morning and the next one on was a 3 series.......E reg...can't be many about !
Last edited by: silence of the cams on Tue 9 Mar 10 at 12:56
|
Ted, I want to buy this one.
www.classiccars.co.uk/volvo/360_gls/1629/
Love those motors.
|
>> www.classiccars.co.uk/volvo/360_gls/1629/
>>
>> Love those motors.
Alanovic - you forgot the smiley. I hope. Otherwise, why?? :)
|
Honest. I really like them. I had a 360GLS years back when it was already about 17 years old, and loved it. Really strong 2.0 engine, smooth and powerful on the motorway, very comfortable seats and driving position, built like a tank and they feel very safe. Plenty of interior room, slightly higher driving position than most comparable hatches of the age (think mark 3 Escort).
Did a round trip 160 mile commute in mine every day for a year, never let me down. I actually looked forward to getting up in the morning so I could bomb down the motorway in it!
Glorious car. I'd go out and buy this one for fun today if it weren't for family/financial considerations. It would probably become my daily driver too. They're like mini 240s, and we all know how well regarded those are. There are several 240s in daily use around my way, come to think of it.
Wouldn't touch a 340 though. Only a 360.
Last edited by: Alanović on Tue 9 Mar 10 at 13:56
|
>> Glorious car.
Ok - I've never driven one, so I guess I'm only going by appearance and perhaps preconceptions. I'm happy to stand corrected :)
|
Well most people think they're turds on wheels, but I have a habit of finding the beautiful in unusual places. I've supported Fulham all my life, after all. And I think Reading's a really nice place to live.
With cars, I take delight in the unfashionable and unprestigious.
Last edited by: Alanović on Tue 9 Mar 10 at 14:23
|
>> And I think Reading's a really nice place to live.
I'm not so easily persuaded on that one...
|
>> >> And I think Reading's a really nice place to live.
>>
>> I'm not so easily persuaded on that one...
>>
Well I could wax lyrical all day about its charms, but perhaps this isn't the place. Suffice to say I've got the hang of the place and live in the posh bit which used to be in Oxfordshire until 1974. ;-) Beats the heck out of Windsor, where I grew up. Dreadful place these days.
|
>> live in the posh bit which used to be in Oxfordshire until 1974. ;-)
Ah well I live in the not so posh bit which probably was quite nice until they built loads of houses on it and enclosed it with 2 motorways :(
|
They were a lot different to the 340. Far superior car despite the heavier engine up front. The dreadful 340 1.4 was the one to avoid. I think they did a 1.7 which was vaguely acceptable but as Alanovic says the 360 was like a mini 240.
I almost bought one instead of a Golf Mk2 1.6 and it was a girlfriend who demanded I buy the Golf. She became the first Mrs E but wasn't the last and with hindsight, should have bought the Volvo and chucked the girl before we married!
|
The 340 1.7 was Renault engined, same unit they used in the better Renault 5s, 9s and 11s. Perhaps others too, like the 18 and 21?
It was better with the 1.7, but still no 360.
|
|
I saw a "10" reg new shape Renault Laguna................I think this is the 1st sighting on the road of a car that could be 18 months old!
|
That's a lovely example, I agree...pity the price is on application.
I had a 1.7 for aa while.......given to me by friends who had driven into Motability Road.
I used it for a 70 mile a day commute until something better came along for free.
It wasn't unpleasant but it wasn't pleasant either.
A '79 Renault 5 GTL took it;s place, free again and a lot more nicerer to use.
Ted
|
I briefly drove a 1.7 too and thought it coarse and lumpish.
Much earlier though drove a bit in one of its ancestors, also Renault-engined, with the DaF rubber-band CVT. That was a downright weird motor and no mistake, although it made charming faint whistling sounds on the overrun. It belonged to my ex-wife, who doesn't drive, and daughter's idiot of a boy friend stuffed it definitively on the A24, the prat.
|
Daughter had a 340. The fuel lines all went porous making it stink of petrol. I never did get round to changing those around the filler neck, just told her never to fill it past the halfway mark. The carburettor developed a fault that caused it to intermittently overfuel. I think it may have been a cracked casting, never did get to the bottom of it.
Father-in-law had a 360. The cheapest 2-litre available new at the time. No power steering and hence on 155 tyres IIRC - madness. It didn't want to stop, or go round corners. Never heard piston slap like it.
|
My dad bought a nearly-new E reg 340 1.4 CVT. Horrible thing, as I continually pointed out to him. It had the performance of a 950 Fiesta but the economy of a 2.9 Granada. Seriously, 80mph flat out and 28mpg. All accompanied by a 70's whine and an enormous transmission tunnel which severely compromised foot space in the back.
It did come in handy once though, when I had a Renault 11 1.4 with ignition trouble. We substituted his coil/dizzy pack to check where the problem with mine lay.
He ran it for 7 years and has only owned two cars since, an N reg Passat 2.0 and a 53 reg C270CDI estate. The Merc more than reverses the 340's figures, he's getting a real-world 42mpg from a car with 137mph potential.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Tue 9 Mar 10 at 16:48
|
|
I remember driving a friends Volvo 340 series and am I right in saying there was something different about the accelerator? I am thinking maybe floor mounted spring rather than suspended like conventional pedals that other cars had at the time?
|
|
M6 sth this afternoon, lovely yellow/gold Volvo P1800S making good progress and in excellent condition showing no rust or dents.
|
|
A very neat looking A35 in a hurry near Surbiton. My they do look small !
|
This is un-usual ... unusual in that they're asking £37,000 for it but - it does come with a Mota Lita steering wheel ~
www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-page.php/carno/87370
|
1950s Morris Oxford Traveller in a suburban street in Norwood, South London yesterday afternoon.
Still working for its living as the back was half full of builders gear.
|
Saw a very clean and tidy mk1 Triumph 2000 today....
It's in my garage. I went in today to fettle it, having left it alone in the garage all winter...and found i'd forgotten to attach the optimiser to the battery.
but...it still started... which i'm impressed with after nearly 4 months
|
I loved them. I worked for a geezer in my youth and I drove him about for part of the week. Smashing car.
MD
|
I had been wondering how the Trump was getting on WP.
I've just found it too cold oop 'ere in't Noorth to do owt on the Jowett so I guess you'll probably beat me to the MOT station !
Glad to hear she starts. I can only turn mine over with a socket on the starting handle dog at the moment, although the battery has held up and all the electrics work. Not connected the starter up yet. The sump is off and a replacement waiting to be fitted due to a pinhole oil leak.
Ted
|
|
M6 northbound this PM near Cannock. A BMW X1. Not seen a live one before and certainly not seen such an unfortunate shade of brown paint on a car since the late 1970's. It is probably quite a good tool though.
|
J-reg Ford Capri V6 burbling through Keswick in the Lake District.
It had been restored in a deep red, which I think was an original colour.
People were giving it admiring glances as it went past, unless they were looking at the CC3. :)
|
|
Tail happy ruddy things, but I loved 'em. 3.0 Ghia of course.
|
...but I loved 'em...
This was one with a boot, which I reckon is a much better looking car than the later hatchbacks.
I wasn't sure if Ford made V6s for this model, but it was badged a V6, had two working tailpipes - either side of the car - and made all the right noises.
One of the few classics I've seen that really made we want to have a drive in it.
Must be those blue oval-tinted spectacles again.
|
>> One of the few classics I've seen that really made we want to have a
>> drive in it.
>>
Twin pipes. Cologne V6 methinks. Luvvvverly.
MD
|
>> >> One of the few classics I've seen that really made we want to have a drive in it.
Naw it was said it was a booted, not tailgated Capri, sooo.... Essex 3.0 or maybe even 3.1 Mmmm nice!
|
>> >> >> One of the few classics I've seen that really made we want to
>> have a drive in it.
>>
>> Naw it was said it was a booted not tailgated Capri sooo.... Essex 3.0 or
>> maybe even 3.1 Mmmm nice!
>>
I would love to see a picture of said car/type just for reference.
MD
|
|
Saw an Austin 1100 the other day - not a mark on it!!
|
|
I pass an early white Renault 12 most mornings - even when the roads were salt-laden it was doing its thing. Which is brave of the owner considering that most 12s rusted away years ago.
|
...I pass an early white Renault 12 most mornings...
R12s were just coming to an end when I joined the Renault dealer in the early 1980s.
The customers loved 'em, several people changed theirs early to get one of the last new ones.
Much as I try to support our industry, the R12 was streets ahead of the Marina, which was its nearest BL competitor.
|
i always remember a cliuch (or clutch maybe ,edit) on a marina by dropping the gearbox down was easy (remember clutches back then didnt last like they do these days)
but taking a gearbox down on the 12 looked impossible due to a very heft bar fitted under it (i might be wrong but i have this memory that i never ever wanted a 12 clutch job)
Last edited by: Bellboy on Thu 18 Mar 10 at 16:56
|
Having replaced bottom ball joints on a 16 as well as a few other jobs i came to the conclusion that to work on reno's it was best to be a maximum height of 3ft, have flexibilty of the India rubber man and to possess 3 pairs of double jointed hands.
Jobs on my 21 Savanna estate confirmed this.
|
...i never ever wanted a 12 clutch job..
Strange to relate, we did one when I helped out at the proper garage.
The R12 was fwd, but the engine was fore/aft.
We did the clutch by propping up the front of the car on two axle stands.
Lying underneath, it was possible to pull the 'box backwards with it more or less resting on your chest.
I do recall my foreman - who was a very good mechanic - seeing it as a bit of a challenge.
Last edited by: ifithelps on Thu 18 Mar 10 at 17:05
|
I remember doing a Marina clutch.
The cast iron gearbox casing nearly crippled me!
|
|
Did i ever relate the story where i put 3 datsun 120y gearboxes on a car before i found one that had a reverse that worked?
|
|
Saw an immaculate red Triumph Stag in a campsite in New Zealand a couple of weeks ago. Where did they go wrong (subsequently)....?
|
>>>Saw an immaculate red Triumph Stag. Where did they go wrong (subsequently)....? <<<
THAT engine ... ?
|
>> >>>Saw an immaculate red Triumph Stag. Where did they go wrong (subsequently)....? <<<
>>
>> THAT engine ... ?
>>
A friend of mine who specialises in Triumph Stags for years says that they are not a problem if the proper coolant is used.
|
>>>friend of mine who specialises in Triumph Stags for years says that they are not a problem if the proper coolant is used.<<<
From my personal experience of working on many of them from 78 - 92, they certainly were a problem engine, and not only due to head gasket failure, which perhaps is the reason why so many owners transplanted said engine with either the Ford V6 or the Rover V8.
|
I sold a Stag in 1990, with original engine. My brother in law still has it, still running perfectly. They just need 50% inhibitor coolant, changed every 2 years.
|
...They just need 50% inhibitor coolant, changed every 2 years...
That's what we found when I worked in the proper garage.
Part of the problem was that around that time many drivers thought 'anti-freeze' was something you only needed to put in in the depths of winter.
And if you didn't, well, she might pop a core plug, but they only cost a shilling.
Nearly every car on the road these days must have year-round corrosion inhibitor.
I think Ford say it should be changed every 10 years.
|
>> I think Ford say it should be changed every 10 years.
>>
I thought Mondeo's doors needing changing every 18 Months?
MD
|
|
So it's OK to syphon some out into a yoghurt pot and pop it in the freezer to check it next November? ;>)
|
>>>needs to read this <<<
Excellent article Boybell - I shall never look upon coolant as mere antifreeze again.
There must be a similarly thorough article on brake fluid out there in the ether.
This is the main reason I take my car to the pain dealer for servicing - even though its 5 years old.
They will use *the correct* lubricants & fluids for my car.
|
|
A47 Guyhirn. A35 van in two tone green looked like it left the factory yesterday and not a puff of smoke nor any other sign of age, proper old saucer shaped chrome wheeltrims on astonishingly narrow tyres, were they 520 x 13's?
|
Did it have the semaphore indicators?
On a 30 mile round trip last week, on the outward part on the road I saw a Porsche Panamera, a current V12 Ferrari and a Veyron; in the multi-story was a R8 and a V6 Clio but the return leg only produced a new Camaro!. A year's modern I-Spy in a short trip!
Today I was some time in a contraflow with a white BMW X6 and a white-with-a hint-of-blue Ford Kuga following - the X6 was so hideous and bloated, it almost made the Kuga look pretty...
|
>>were they 520 x 13's?
If my memory serves me correct (from the one I owned forty-odd years ago), they were.
I remember being astonished at the weight of the 185/70x14s on my first land-crab.
They now fit 195/55x16s on Novas Corsas.
|
Was up at the far end of the Medoc, beyond Bordeaux last week - France's equivalent of the 'back of beyond' - when a friend and I came across two fields full of rusty tractors. Couldn't resist having a look and taking some phone pix. The old guy who owned them all appeared and showed us loads more hidden away, including a 1920s Austin and a 1900 Clayton threshing machine. Goodness knows how they got there from England. We were just saying goodbye when he beckoned us into another building. Instead of being full of tractors it was full of wine bottling equipment. We left with a case of 'Cuve Collectioneur' tractor vin de pays. It has a very impressive picture of an old Lanz tractor on the label but, yes, it tastes as though it came out of the sump of a Fordson.
|
|
I have just seen what was once my dream car. Parked near to mine at the leisure club where I swim. A pristine 1964 B reg Sunbeam Alpine in red with a black ragtop. Gorgeous. Like most older cars it seemed smaller than I remember. Can't for the life of me remember what engines were used in those. I suppose by modern standards it would in reality be fairly mundane to drive but it is still one of my favourite cars of that period. Someone has given it a lot of tlc.
|
|
Nice car Humph -My gym teacher had one of those - he used to batter us failures with a cricket bat...no wonder my marbles have been dislodged.
|
I think that the 60s Alpines had a hotted-up version of the normal Rootes 1.6 engine which was superseded by the 1725. The Sunbeam Tiger had a similar body but I think a giant V8 engine - not sure what source but someone will no doubt tell us.
In the 60s I thought Hillmans were so stodgy and awful that I never dreamed of an Alpine, knowing the connection. I used to think that an MGB was a better bet, as a sort of 'extension' of my first beloved Austin A50. Maybe I was wrong!
|
I think you're right actually off to Wicki to check.
Edit = Nothing on Wicki to confirm but I seem to remember a Chrysler V8 lump in it - innit.
Last edited by: Pugugly on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 23:15
|
>> giant V8 engine - not sure what source but someone will no doubt tell us.
Ford, and not so giant either, about 4.5 litres and the smallest Ford V8 at the time. In the early and mid-sixties I knew a louche but excellent Jamaican who owned a barbershop in the East End with a back room for gambling and who drove, not the usual Cresta or Zodiac, but two sports cars: an Alpine and a Spridget, both in very good order.
|
Funny that, Humpy.
I passed a rubber bumper Midget on the Chester by-pass today.
I was only thinking how tiny it looked when I passed it in the Vitara.
Ted
|
>> The Sunbeam Tiger had a similar body but I think a giant V8 engine - not sure what source but someone will no doubt tell us
The Ford 260 cu in. (4261cc V8) Windsor engine. To quote from the Classic Cars mag in my bathroom: "Cobra creator Carroll Shelby replaced the Sunbeam Alpine's 1.7 litre straight four with a 4.2 litre V8 in the Tiger". Peak power was 164bhp and torque was 258 lb ft.
www.sunbeamtiger.co.uk/ for lots more info, including a comprehensive register of every remaining Tiger in the UK. ;-)
|
>>My gym teacher had one of those - he used to batter us failures with a cricket bat..
How times have changed. We used to have some utter sadists as teachers too.
Reminds me of a great story about my sadly dear departed best friend Pete. Pete lost his mum when he was 6 and his dad did what he could to look after him. From an early age he attended a boy's club after school until his father was able to collect him. Pete's nickname at school was "Sparky" The reason behind that was that he had a shock of bright red hair, was as thin as a rake and had a pure white complexion. For all the world he looked just like a walking matchstick.
One of the activities at his club was boxing. Pete trained most days for years and became very good at it at his weight grade. Curiously only a very few of us knew about this as he kept himself to himself mostly.
One day in our late teenage years at school the PE teacher who had a reputation for wanton cruelty set up a boxing ring in the gym. He picked on Pete who looked the weediest in the class to demonstrate.
He commanded Sparky to punch him in the face with his best shot, clearly about to demonstrate his blocking and avoidance skills. Shortly beforehand he had decked another boy he had invited to try his luck.
Pete, very politely, said he felt that "Sir" should have his guard up. "Sir" laughed in his face and retorted something along the lines of not being overly concerned about the likes of him and to jolly well get on with it. Again Pete politely refused. At this point the teacher took a swing at him.
Pete broke the teacher's nose and laid him flat out with one punch.
You know that feeling you get when you simply mustn't laugh but ...........
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Sun 28 Mar 10 at 11:15
|
Zircon blue F reg Triumph 2000 Mrk 1 overtook me on the A30 in Cornwall travelling East
whilst I was mimsying along at 41.5 MPG this morning.
|
Mention of that car instantly sparked that long forgotten memory in me - Despite being hated by many boys his motor was left alone - I learned quite recently that he died a lonely death through drink - first thought was "I wonder what happened to the Alpine ?" strange things cars eh.
Anyway no lasting harm was done to most of us (twitch) and only one turned out to be a child molester.
|
...My gym teacher had one of those - he used to batter us failures with a cricket bat...
The only bullies at my old school were two or three of the teachers.
|
|
Our sports teacher's weapon of choice was a carpet beater made of springy metal. He used to chase us when we lapping the footie field as a warm up and hit us on the backside with it if he felt we were slacking.
|
|
At a boarding school I was at when I was nine the deputy head, a recent ex-commando maths teacher and very popular despite his robust ways, sometimes took a cane on the rugger field and gave you a cut or two if he thought you were slacking.
|
Did the maths teacher fight Al-Gebra by any chance ?
Our Biology teacher (a man with serious problems) had one of the first Cavaliers in yellow and Vauxhall was misspelt on the back (two Hs)
|
|
My biology teacher had a Morgan, my physics teacher had an MG Midget and my Maths teacher had an Austin Champ. My Headmaster had a Humber Hawk I think. The default choice of motorised transport for pupils who could afford it was orange Suzuki 185 trailie bikes. An odd one had a Mini, one had Messerschmidt three wheeler and one even used to turn up driving his dad's Rolls Royce but he was Italian. I had a pushbike.
|
My final year of Junior school our HM bought a new Rover P6 V8. 'H' reg. 1970 I guess or methinks maybe 1969.
Always loved 'em. He was a great Headmaster too.
MD
|
|
I can't remember for the life of me what cars the masters owned, but the solitary mistress Miss Henson i shall remember till i die, cape mortar board black stockings and those oh so high heels, every red blooded boys dream.
|
|
Tee Hee GB - It would be so disappointing to find out that "her" real name was Jack.....
|
|
And her face took a slightly darker hue towards the afternoon...
|
I had an averagely good looking female English teacher who had a Triumph Stag.
It was the combination of car and woman that stirred feelings I barely understood as a 12 to 13-year-old.
|
|
It's rude to point young man.
|
>> I had an averagely good looking female English teacher who had a Triumph Stag.
There was a husband and wife couple who were English teachers at my school in the 70s. I believe they were left of centre politically, and drove to school in something white and East European - I think it was a Moskovitch; it definitely wasn't a Lada or anything else relatively common.
|
|
At least the lefties in my school drove Beetles !
|
|
We didn't have any lefties.
|
|
We didn't have any leftovers!!
|
>> We didn't have any lefties.
On the other hand, one of the French teachers (who was English) was quite scary, although not in a physical way, if you know what I mean. A long time after I left the school it turned out he had been in the SOE during the war. Can't remember what he drove though.
[Just in case: SOE "Its mission was to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines and to serve as the core of the Auxiliary Units, a British resistance movement."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive ]
|
My gym teacher was a hero of the Danish resistance who escaped to the UK in 1943. He was little but wiry and disliked me because - for just one reason - I never could climb a rope. He once put 'much talk and little action' on my school report. I used to meet him in later years in the pub and he once bought me a pint!
Just to take up the point above, he said boys always had their brains in their b*cksides, so you used to get whacked with his 'memory tickler'. My form teacher, who had a Messerschmitt bubblecar, had a wooden bat-shaped weapon called 'heat for the seat'. My English teacher, who later went into the church and was actually a very nice man, had a weapon called 'the board of education'. I hated school...
I only really took to learning when I went to art college and they treated me like a human being. Some years later, just before I left, I was taken aside and asked if I had ever thought about going into teaching. I fell about with laughing. I should have told them I couldn't afford the weaponry...
Incidentally, teachers didn't seem to have much motoring ambition in the early 60s. Another English teacher had a 1933 Ford 8 and the headmaster, a typical lieutenant-colonel who could bawl you out at 100 yards, had a Ford 100E Popular.
|
|
We don't need no education. We don't need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teacher leave the kids alone. ...
|
At my Grammar School, which I could see from the back bedroom of our present house, until the place was swept away for flats, I can't remember of any motoring staff. There must have been some, I assume.
The only one I can think of was a teacher who arrived in a brand new green Mini one day. The first I had ever seen ! 1958 ??
I don't think we boys had much interest in cars, preferring the Midland main line at the end of the playground. ( now being re-railed as a tramway at the end of my garden. ) Not moved far, have I ?
The slope from the road, by the bridge was a place where a track, with banking on the bends, was carved out in the soil. Boys would bring in their favourite Dinky Formula 1 cars. Vanwall, Talbot-Lago, Ferrari, Maserati, etc and roll them down the steep track in the breaks.
A lot of our teachers were WW1 vets, our German teacher, Mr Bayley, had only one lung, being gassed in the trenches. 45 yrs in the grave now, I still speak to his daughter now and again.
A few were sadists, mostly the younger ones and I do recall one or two being hit by the older boys who were just sitting it out until leaving to walk into a waiting job.
I hated school, but men like old George Bayley and those few that made things interesting......
geography, English language and literature....... gave me a lifelong love of their subjects.
I did, however, leave school with a lifelong hatred of butter beans and pink sponge pud with white, tasteless custard !!
Ted
|
I went to William Penn Secondary mod which was in Dulwich just orf Dog Kennel Hill (I kid you not!)
It was actually quite a good School and my best subjects were Geography & History which stay with me to this day.
Old Mr. Wilson was a ferocious wiry steel-Grey headed Geog. master - which is why I achieved VG results!
|
|
I remember our Biology teacher was very attractive, and drove a Morgan. Unsurprisingly quite a few boys took Biology ahead of Chemistry at options time. The Chemistry teacher's personality and appearance were significantly less popular - and she drove the inevitable 2CV with a CND sticker.
|
|
No, I've changed my mind...
|
Now here's an unusual sighting - today I saw a woman who looked just like a pint of Guiness.
I had to take my pal's Z3 2.8 in to the BMW dealer for some mods. It's all mouth and trousers, goes like hell and looks pretty but not really my cup of tea at all. Anyway, I was standing waiting for the service dept to open when one of those new-fangled convertibles with the folding steel roof drove in. It was black with sort of dark cream leather interior. A woman got out - she wore a black dress and she was tanned with hair dyed the exact colour of the car seats. Once upon a time I would have been deeply impressed by her style but these days it just reminds me it's darn nigh impossible to get a decent pint of Guiness over here...
|
|
Brings back memories of overnighting in a small Spanish town - no-one spoke English, very hot and dusty when I saw that most welcome of signs "Guinness" - Bottled and ice cold - superb....
|
A thankfullky unusual sighting - a tangerine orange Overfinch RangeRover Sport with black wheels.
I was simply astounded that someone woul fork out money for it - it was minblowinly horrid.
Worst part is that they actually drove to Tesco in it - id have rolled it off Beachy Head.
|
Stu - aaargh!!!!
I think that counts as "too much information".
You can probably get counselling following an experience like that.
JH
|
|
Fur coat no knickers. Scratch that - Faux fur coat and crotchless panties.
|
>> A thankfullky unusual sighting - a tangerine orange Overfinch RangeRover Sport with black wheels.
sounds quite classy to me.
Oh By the way, did i tell you that Juicy Lucy (on the other site) and i are now going steady?
|
|
JL is a 16 stone Para you know.
|
Unusual Sightings - Vicar of Bray
