Voitures Anciennes

[RobertArthur]

Corvette Stingray 1963.

[Hotrodder]

I guess they wouldn't let him out because any cop seeing a coloured man in a Corvette would have been like a red rag to a bull.

[RobertArthur]

@ Hotrodder, an idea for a new topic, something in between "Classic Vehicles "and "Buiding Issues" ? Or a book for under the Christmas tree? Life is too short to drive boring cars.

[Hotrodder]

Yes. Your statement "Life is too short to drive boring cars." rings loud and clear for me personally. I have been a petrol head since the age of 14 and apart from music and females cars have been central to my enjoyment of life. After moving to France all my effort and resources have been directed toward renovating somewhere to live leaving little to spend on an interesting car. And all the while, older ones that have character have become so expensive they are far out of reach of mere mortals. Hot rods and custom cars are still much in evidence in the US and the UK they are the passion of a dedicated few who are watching legislation erode their right to tinker and improve. A much more dire situation in France where pretty much any substantial change in equipment or performance is interdite, or at the very least an uphill struggle with bureacracy.

I worked on one of those Cadillacs that belonged to Freddie Laker, and another one (a convertible) for Elton John's old manager John Reid. My neighbours used to slow down and gawp as they drove by. They don't do that for a Mondeo or Kia.

[RobertArthur]

[DominicBest]

It always amazes me that there are any late 50s/early 60s Rovers still in existence. When I was a teenager in the early 70s they were the car of choice by the local stock car racers. I often reflect on the number of now ‘classic’ cars I must have seen destroyed on stock car evenings. It’s good to see that a few came through unscathed.
A few weeks ago I watched a couple of black and white episodes from a 1964 U.K. police series. In one of the episodes they called into a scrap yard to ask the owner a couple of questions. His stock of wrecked cars looked more like a museum.
I wonder which of today’s commonplace cars will end up becoming a surprisingly valuable collector’s dream.

[Hotrodder]

Virtually none, I suspect.

[L Austin France]

One of my first job interviews was for a draughsman with Pressed Steel Fisher at Cowley.
I was taken on a tour of their body production unit where , from memory I think the Hillman Husky was being 'built', & will never forget the sight of workers wielding large gas torches wiping huge sticks of solder into bodywork joints you could almost put your fingers through.
Needless to say I decided that there & then that that wasn't going to be the career for me.

[RobertArthur]

Rover, one of the world's best engineered cars.

[DominicBest]

My parents had a Rover 2000 for a while in the 1960s. It was a bit of luxury after the Cortina GTs we had had before but nowhere near as exotic as the Alfa Romeo Guilia Super that came next. At the time we had we did at least one foreign camping trip every year so the Rover wafted us to southern Italy a couple of times in refined comfort despite being loaded to the gunwales. I know my dad always fancied the 3500 version but the next Rovers we had weren’t until years later, dad bought a Rover 200 cabriolet when he retired and I too bought a new 200 in the mid 1990s. Neither of the later Rovers had the same feeling of quality as they were little more than badge engineered British Leyland cars.