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Barn Finds Unearthed for NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show, March 18-20, 2022
Posted By: Simon Sage | Posted On:
BARN FINDS UNEARTHED FOR NEC CLASSIC CAR & RESTORATION SHOW From Southampton to Yorkshire, cars that are currently sitting in barns, garages, lock ups and even on driveways are being readied to move for the first time in years as they head to Birmingham’s NEC for the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show, with discovery +. Held from 18-20 March 2022, the Carole Nash Barn Find display is one of the show highlights and always showcases a fantastic mix of vehicles. One car guaranteed to turn heads is a Ford Cortina Mk3 1600, believed to be one of only two of this model still surviving. This very rare example was commissioned by Ford of Dagenham, with instructions from the owner to resemble a GT but with a crossflow engine and a bench seat. Saved from being scrapped and last on the road in 1986, it has been shipped in from British Guyana and arrived in the UK mere weeks ago where it is now in the hands of Mk3 Cortina specialist Pete Crompton from Cortina City. The Cortina won’t be the only Ford as Mark Pinnigar’s 1972 Escort Mexico Mk1 is being hauled out of the garage for the show…
Rolls Royce Spirit of Ecstasy : The Human Drama Behind the Legend !
Posted By: Simon Sage | Posted On:
For more than a century, Rolls-Royce motor cars have been graced by the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, one of the most recognisable emblems ever created. Yet, remarkably, given her immense fame and global reach, aspects of her story remain open to speculation, confusion and no little controversy. As the marque embarks on a new era of electrification, we revisit the legend to separate established fact and documentary evidence from speculation and hearsay. It is a tale of four people from different backgrounds, whose individual personalities and intertwined, sometimes complex relationships were the genesis for the world’s most famous and desirable icon. The principal characters in this singular drama are: • John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (1866-1929). A prominent motoring pioneer and publisher of The Car Illustrated magazine. His ancestral seat in the New Forest is now home to the National Motor Museum. • Claude Goodman Johnson (1864-1926). Secretary to the Automobile Club of Great Britain & Ireland (later the Royal Automobile Club) before joining The Hon Charles Stewart Rolls in business in 1903. A gifted publicist, his commercial acumen made him the self-styled 'hyphen in Rolls-Royce’. Claude Johnson • Eleanor Velasco Thornton (1880-1915). She is the…
Jaguar Adverts, from the Days of Grace, Space & Pace !
Posted By: Simon Sage | Posted On:
We're quite spoilt in these modern days of having full on digital photography with the best lenses and all the gobbins. But back in the 1950's & 1960's car manufacturers preferred to employ artists to create drawings of their cars, which often gave them the opportunity to add a little artist's licence and make either cars look sleeker or even make the passengers look smaller so it appears the car had lots more room ! So we thought we'd share some of the Jaguar adverts from our collection. As now, advertising agencies grew by their successful campaigns and became famous by the success of campaigns. Again as now, it was essential to come up with a wonderful phrase or 'strapline', and the ad agency for Jaguar Cars of Coventry came up with the famous 'Grace, Space & Pace' ! It very simply summed up what Jaguar cars of their day had to offer. Here we see it being applied below in this fabulous advert from 1951 for the Jaguar MkVII. The car looks more sleek and suggests successful owners that have driven across the Continent to the South of France, possibly even to Nice itself. By 1958,the Mk1 had been…
Our 1944 Ford GPW Jeep Off To The Restoration Specialist Company !
Posted By: Simon Sage | Posted On:
Many years ago when I was 16 years old, as well as an early passion for classic cars, I also loved classic military vehicles. I suppose over the years old military vehicles have been more accepted into the true classic car world rather being kept at arm's length at they used to be, which to us is a good thing. My 'uncle', or more so a good friend of the family, Les Bouts owned the Alfa Romeo dealership, Bouts Motors in Wolverhampton and was famed across the UK for their servicing of the Alfa twin cam engines. In so much that some Alfa owners brought their cars to him rather than their local Alfa garage ! Les's father Ernest Bouts was a famous racing driver in the 1920's & 1930's driving his Sunbeam to many victories at Brooklands and had originally started the garage. Well Les owned a Daimler Dingo scout car, used by the British army in WW2 and afterwards, that he'd rebuilt. So as his son Mike was in the same class at school as me, Les often used to pick Mike up from school in the Dingo just to wind him up ! Especially as he had…