Sixty years ago, the keen driver who found their family outgrowing a Mini Cooper and who really needed four doors now had the ideal car – a Morris 1100 with GT tuning by Speedwell Performance Conversions Ltd.
"You dreamed it...we built it". That was the marketing slogan for the remarkable blend of the TVR Grantura Mk. III with a 4,727cc Ford V8 engine known as the Griffith 200.
Of all the rare Rover SD1 variants – the V8S, the Vanden Plas Series 1, the 2400SD Turbo – the Standard 2000 from India is possibly the most interesting. In theory it looked set to appeal to the discerning motorist – but in reality, the project had sone very fundamental flaws.
Over the years, this writer has immersed himself in the fascinating world of bygone car advertisements and brochures. With screen sales camp gains, he has learned that a Ford Corsair 2000E is the ideal vehicle for an elopement and that it was not a good idea for Bill ‘Arthur Fowler’ Treacher to take an Austin Allegro for a test-drive.
Some cars take pride in being reassuringly conventional, not least the Orion, a vehicle that only Terry and June might have considered at the cutting edge of automotive fashion. Ford never intended to break new bounds, but it more than fulfilled its role as a saloon to appeal to fleet buyers.
Last year, we met Steven Gray, the proud owner of a Vauxhall Chevette Sun Hatch. But his fleet also includes a motor home that looks as though it has strayed from the set of Carry On Camping – a 1968 Bedford HA Roma. Some time ago, I described this fine machine in a Telegraph article thus.
‘A British car, to beat the world’ was the Metro’s advertising slogan in 1980 – and British car fans certainly took the model to their hearts. One such fan was Neil Allen, who’d spent his childhood in and around them, took driving lessons in a Rover Metro, and, before his 1983 Mk1 came along, had a 1988 Metro City in the garage.
The Ford Probe was never meant to replace the Capri, but the press didn’t see it that way. Six years since the beloved model went the way of the dodo, front-wheel drive coupes were still in demand; Alastair Roberts, having owned a Capri 2.0S in the past, bought his Probe 16v after the end of an unhappy company car lease.
Inexpensive, beloved and well represented in terms of spares: these are just a few of the things a ‘Spridget’ has got going for it. With the comings and goings of lockdowns, the advent of 10 per cent ethanol fuel and more competition from the internet than ever before, Andrew Parrott, club chair of the Midget and Sprite Club, reassured Lancaster Insurance Services that the organisation was more than set for the challenges of the future.
Fire up those engines, the Lancaster Insurance Coffee and Cars meets are back for July and August; giving everyone the chance to come down and enjoy classic cars, vehicles, bikes and commercials completely free of charge!
Last weekend the Car Club team, Paris and Sam, travelled across to the Cotswolds for another MG event, this time it was MG’s in the Park. The event is held at Cotswold Wildlife Park, where the team arrived nice and early to get set up for the day.
The Rover SD1 was the archetypal police car of the late 1970s and 1980s, often referred to as the ‘Jam Sandwich’, due to its distinctive white paint finish augmented by a contrasting stripe. Many forces introduced this new livery in the 1970s, and it often featured on the Rover 3500 P6B. The replacement SD1 debuted in 1976 with a ‘Police Specification’ version.
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