There's not been too much going on car-wise to report. That's not to say nothing's been happening elsewhere in my life, I've actually been very busy, I had a long weekend in Yorkshire with M'Girlfriend, Northumberland with M'Girlfriend, Wells with M'Girlfriend. We had days out to museums many & various & it's all been very very lovely. But today I shall report on the Brooklands New Year's Day Meet - that I attended with M'Girlfriend.
Open to anything interesting (at least more interesting than the Cactus), the event is very good except that they charge everyone - even those bringing "exhibits" full entrance fee - which is a bit of a cheek as Brooklands is very expensive to get into & would be deserted on New Year's Day if it weren't for the meet cars.
However, it's a museum, so we would be spending the whole day there & would only leave when even the souvenir shop had shut.
A black '40 Ford Pickup & a '33 Ford Tudor. Being British we tend to pronounce this "Chewda" as in Henry VIII, but it's a two door & the four door version was called a Fordor, so I suppose it should be pronounced Twodor.
Still in the subject of UK / US pronunciation, this is a Merc.
Not in fact a Mercedes, but a Mercury - Ford's up-market brand. It's been chopped & lowered, shaved, skirts added etc, so it's not how it left the factory, but it is a thing of beauty.
Borgward it said.
Never heard of a Borgward. It's German & has dollops of Volvo coupe & Karmann Ghia in it's styling.
It would make a spectacular lead sled.
Nice Anglia.
Simple.
Lotus Cortina wheels & lowered a little.
Lancia? it was very very nice & just modified enough.
Nicely modified NSU Prinz.
Not sure I've ever typed those words before.
Outside the main building was a collection of '30s cars - mostly British. This MG was nice
This (what ever it was) was nicer, it just had a better look to it
One of those cars that goes so far off the ugly scale, it comes back to beautiful from the other direction. The saggy windows REALLY shouldn't work, neither should the colours, but somehow they just do
A Bristol.
As with most Bristols, it almost looks really good, but somehow just misses.
Things like the top line of the boot not aligning with the rear window annoy me out of all proportion to the visual effect.
There was a time when these cars simply WOULD NOT be seen next to each other, each of their owners would rather poke wasps up their ar5e. But time mellows.
A GT40 is always welcome at any event, this very retro one was lovely
I wonder how many bog standard '57 Chevys there are left? Not many I'd wager
This one had the "Continental Kit" spare wheel carrier & the owner had wisely moved the exhaust outlets from through the bumper (where it just rusts the steel off the inside of the chrome) to just beneath the bumper
Will there ever be a better looking "family car"?
Looks like it fell off a scrap wagon, sounds like thunder in the mountains. Just superb.
Hmm - Weirdness on wheels. The paler one is a Thunderbird. The mid '50s T'birds were gorgeous, what the hell happened?
Genesis.
The Chevrolet Suburban is now a leviathan SUV & is more guilty than most of starting the appalling obsession for enormous rolling blights on the landscape, but here we see where it all began with a reasonably pretty small (by American standards) estate car.
'33 with a LOT of engine going on. Beautifully engineered too.
And at the other end of the scale ....
Not what it seems at all, this is an Allegro shell dropped over a VW beetle floor pan.
In the words of Dolly Parton "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap"
Not many MkII Zodiac soft tops left, or Consul Capris for that matter.
Every thing I said about the yellow one - again.
Might be the same type of Bristol as above? But canary yellow? Really?
Normally referred to as a "Devon" that name only really applies to the four door, which makes this a Dorset (I think - maybe a Somerset).
Whatever, I really liked this, it had been pushed just about as far as you could go without looking ridiculous. Put lairy paint on it & it go right over, but plain old English white pulls it back. Even the '59 Cadillac tail lights look right.
Lincoln Zephyr.
Lincoln was another of Ford's premier brands & in recent years hot rodders have discovered the unloved relic from the '30s & given it a new lease of swoopy life. This one looks like it's about to get some paint, but a big thumbs up to whoever bought it along.
There can't be too many '30s pick-ups left in America surely?
Just enough chrome.
Just the right stance.
Just gorgeous.
This was interesting - & difficult to photograph due the the constant 5 deep crown around it.
Obviously a real '57 Testa Rossa would be tens of millions & unlikely to appear anywhere without a heavy security blanket.
The owner of this one was saying is was a hand-wheeled aluminium body on a '70s Daytona chassis / mechanics.
Now a Daytona is not a cheap donor car, so I'm guessing that this replica is probably worth more than my house.
The other two were very nice, but the Gulf livery clinches it.
Orange wheels - It's the future.
Reliant made proper cars once.
Now THIS!
I've always had a soft spot for a MkI Zodiac & this is easily one of the nicest.
Drag race style tube chassis, with the bodywork blended round the tubes.
Full roll cage built mm perfect into the interior even including a tube running behind the front seats connecting the door pillar tubes. All with smoothed welds & painted to match the body colour. Workmanship was superb.
And up front a "big block" 7 1/2+ Litre V8
Model B 3-window coupe. Lovely.
If you're going to waft down to the south of France, is there anything better?
Probably yes, but it is pretty damn stylish.
I do like a big Healy
V8 Pilot. '30s American styling on a '50s British Ford.
Why didn't Ford do this??
It's a Consul Capri made Lotus.
No, there never was such a thing, but will you just look at it?
That is a fantastic looking car!
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