Category Archives: historic cars

Goodwood 74th Members Meeting – Sun 20th Mar 2016 Part 1

The signs are unmistakeable – Spring has definitely sprung! :-

  • Longer hours of daylight and occasional sightings of a yellow disk in the sky have encouraged the daffodils to bloom and trees to bud,
  • Classic racing cars have been awakened, coughing and spluttering from their winter slumbers and their doting owners have squeezed themselves into their race suits and boots for the 74th Goodwood Members Meeting.

Rejoice – the 2016 racing reason is upon us!!!

Continue reading Goodwood 74th Members Meeting – Sun 20th Mar 2016 Part 1

London Classic Car Show – Sat 20th Feb 2016

This year’s London Classic Car Show at the Excel Exhibition Centre in London’s Docklands promised to be bigger and better than last year and thankfully – it was!

Spread over two large halls the show was easier to move around, it offered a more balanced mix of dealers, specialists and car club stands and last but not least it allowed for a much bigger open space in which to parade cars representing the great automotive nations.

Continue reading London Classic Car Show – Sat 20th Feb 2016

Decisions, Decisions – 2016?

Moving on from reflections of 2015 – it’s time to look forward and consider how to indulge my motoring interests in 2016. What events should I attend and what improvements can I make to my ’71 2.2 L 911E? Decisions, decisions!

With a bit of careful planning – it would be easily possible to spend most of my weekends attending one form of motoring activity or another but this would certainly be a fast-track to divorce. Instead I need to carefully select those events that:-

a) Stand-out in terms of their quality, variety and spectacle,

b) Present an opportunity to meet up with old mates,

c) Provide new motoring experiences.

On the car front – my aim is to continue gradual improvement of my 911 with some mechanical and cosmetic upgrades as time, money and availability of parts & services allow.

So here are my thoughts on car events I could attend and car improvements I could make during 2016.

Continue reading Decisions, Decisions – 2016?

The Dead Zone – Jan 2016

The winter months present something of a challenge to British motoring enthusiasts as it’s a motoring Dead Zone as far as races and classic car jaunts are concerned due to the poor weather and lack of daylight.

With precious motors consigned to winter hibernation – it leaves car enthusiasts dangerously prone to the onset of ICDS –  Interesting Car Deficiency Syndrome!

To counter the debilitating effects of this affliction it’s important to reflect on the past year’s motoring highlights and to start planning for petrolicious pleasures in the year to come.

It also allows time to muse over the improvements you’ve managed to make to your classic car over the past year and fantasise over other reassuringly expensive ways of further improving its performance or looks.

NB: The featured image shows my Dad (on the left) and his colleague in the late 1940s just after they’d dug their way through a truck-high snow drift on their daily round to collect milk churns from remote farms around Appleby, Cumbria.

Continue reading The Dead Zone – Jan 2016

A-Z of Car Stuff: BP is for British Plastic – Part 2

A-Z of Car Stuff

This is one in a series of posts on cars, drivers, designers etc. that have interested me over the years. I’ve bored my family and friends with this stuff for years – now it’s your turn!

See A-Z of Car Stuff page for more posts in this series.

So, what’s so special about British Plastic?

Having explained in Part 1 where the term “British Plastic” came from I just wanted to expand in Part 2 upon my thoughts as to how and why such an unusually large number of British fibreglass car manufacturers came and went during the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.

Continue reading A-Z of Car Stuff: BP is for British Plastic – Part 2

A-Z of Car Stuff: BP is for British Plastic – Part 1

A-Z of Car Stuff

This is one in a series of posts on cars, drivers, designers etc. that have interested me over the years. I’ve bored my family and friends with this stuff for years – now it’s your turn!

See A-Z of Car Stuff page for more posts in this series.

So, what’s so special about British Plastic?

A while back I bumped into a very nice chap at Donington Historic Festival who wanted to have a chat about our respective 911s. In the course of the conversation he almost guiltily confessed that although he really liked his 911 – his main passion was for “British Plastic”. His definition of “British Plastic”  was British cars with Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) bodywork built during the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.

In a scene reminiscent of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting – I had to own-up to having had a previous predilection for British Plastic myself through brief ownership of a TVR Vixen.  I obviously stressed that I had successfully overcome this affliction and had since moved firmly into German Metal.

The term “British Plastic” stuck in my head as it reminded me of the plethora of interesting cars that were around (and were occasionally on my shopping list) during my “plastic period” in the late ’70s.  I consequently thought it merited a post or even two posts under my A to Z of Car Stuff page:-

British Plastic – Part 1 covers the following marques:-

  • Ashley, Berkely, Caterham, Clan, Costin, Daimler Davrian/Darrian, Elva, Fairthorpe, Falcon, Gilbern, Ginetta, Gordon Keeble & Jensen

British Plastic – Part 2 continues with:-

  • Kougar, Lenham, Lotus, Ogle, Marcos, Ogle, Peerless, Piper,  Reliant, RGS, Rochdale, Tornado, Turner, TVR, Unipower, Warwick and WSM

Read on……………….

Continue reading A-Z of Car Stuff: BP is for British Plastic – Part 1

Regent Street Motor Show – Sat 31st Oct 2015 Part Two

(Part one of the 2015 Regent Street Motor Show is <a ” href=”http://www.cumbriancarnut.com/regent-street-motor-show-sat-31st-oct-2015-part-1/#more-3672″>here).

It’s not often that you get a chance to get so close to such historic vehicles and their custodians. I lie – you can do it every year on Regent Street and in Hyde Park in early November!

This is my second post covering the Regent Street Motor Show and this one focuses on more of the veteran cars that were on display ahead of the 2015 running of the annual London to Brighton Run for pre-1905 cars.

Continue reading Regent Street Motor Show – Sat 31st Oct 2015 Part Two

Regent Street Motor Show – Sat 31st Oct 2015 Part One

(Part two of the 2015 Regent Street Motor Show has now been posted, click here to read it.)

The last day of October delivered beautiful autumnal weather and an opportunity to view a  host of lovely cars (ancient and modern) along Regent Street in the heart of London’s West End.

This annual event provides superb access to great veteran cars  and their period costumed custodians ahead of their participation in the London to Brighton Run. Some more modern machinery such as the latest offerings from Aston Martin and Tesla was also available for close inspection and “selfie” over-indulgence.

This is the first of two posts covering the event. Part One focuses upon more modern machinery and some of the veteran cars on display. Regent Street Motor Show – 31st Oct 2015 Part Two covers other veteran cars.

Continue reading Regent Street Motor Show – Sat 31st Oct 2015 Part One

Historic Sports Car Club – Silverstone Sat 17th Oct 2015

Having just been at Silverstone the previous Saturday for an AMOC meeting – the prospect of exposing myself to acute hypothermia two  weeks running wasn’t massively appealing. The Qataris could really learn a thing or two  from Silverstone about refrigerated sports venues for the 2022 World Cup!

Despite the Autumnal chill the packed program of HSCC championship finals drew a big crowd of hardy enthusiasts but their resilience was tested to the limit as various delays and incidents  led to the last item on the programme becoming a night race with all drivers being shown the “LIGHTS ON” board by the marshals as they rolled onto the track in the gathering dusk!

Continue reading Historic Sports Car Club – Silverstone Sat 17th Oct 2015

Aston Martin Owners Club – Silverstone Sat 10th Oct 2015

AMOC race meetings can always be relied upon to produce some interesting cars on and off the grid and like most club events there are some incredibly friendly owners who are only too happy to talk about their cars. This particular meeting did not buck the trend!

Continue reading Aston Martin Owners Club – Silverstone Sat 10th Oct 2015