I do like central London...

Headed in to Vauxhall today, to spend all day in a server room. Deep joy.

Anyway, Jensen Interceptor convertible on the way in. Alpine A110 & Cit SM on the way out.

Nice.

Reply to
Adrian
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Ooh Vauxhall eh? Cough umm "them"?

Was it a car styled by Q in order to change into all of those models?

Reply to
Steve Firth

%steve%@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

No. But a very good view from the window.

Reply to
Adrian

Ah, I suspect then you were where my missues used to work, in those days they used to have a yard full of batteries for the UPS.

Reply to
Steve Firth

%steve%@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

89.
Reply to
Adrian

Hmmm that would put you in the same area, but she used to work at the place with the large sheds with blue doors but the number you give doesn't sound right.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Was the SM light blue? There's one lives near here which is. So not far from Vauxhall.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Must be the weather for them, saw a hardtop Jensen Interceptor in Shenstone yesterday.

Reply to
Peter Hill

There may be more Interceptors left than Vauxhalls of the same vintage. Driving into Keighley a few weeks ago I saw a circa 1955 Cresta coming the other way. Given their propensity to rot there can't be many of them left.

Reply to
Roger Chapman

See the Luton Festival of Transport thread.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Lucky, all I got today was an Anglia pickup following me to work. Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Richard

Reply to
Richard Cole

But how many of them were Series E rot boxes (superseded in 1957)? The Victor was the replacement for the Wyvern and was introduced in 1957. The Cresta and Victor names lived on till 1972 unlike Wyvern.

Reply to
Roger Chapman

There were examples of all the 50s and 60s cars in mint condition. Of course I have no idea how many are left. The owners club could probably tell you.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

"Dave Plowman (News)" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

No, brown - and I know who it was.

Reply to
Adrian

Roger Chapman gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Reply to
Adrian

A dripping in chrome Cresta is a wonder to behold - the last of that sort of car, really. It would be sad to see them totally disappear.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Not really. Just a reflection of the relative rates of attrition.

The E series were the last Vauxhalls with the unmistakeably chrome flutes down the sides of the bonnet.

Reply to
Roger Chapman

You have to be nuts to buy, restore and keep the Vauxhall you or your dad or granddad drove around in and not one of the cars everyone lusted after. You have to go long way back to find a "thoroughbred" Vauxhall. Some of the more recent ones may just make the grade.

If you take the list of all pre 1972 cars from MOT data as being the result of creative ability of MOT guys taking a shortcut to enter older models of car on VOSA database then it's not many.

ASTRA 1901 1 1971* 187 ASTRAVAN 1971* 5 BELMONT 1971* 2 VAUXHALL CALIBRA 1971* 61 CARLTON 1971* 2 CAVALIER 1971* 91 CHEVETTE 1968 1 COMBO 1971* 7 CORSA 1971* 110 FRONTERA 1971* 61 MONTEREY 1971* 1 NOVA 1971* 9 OMEGA 1971* 6 SINTRA 1971* 1 TIGRA 1971* 21 VECTRA 1971* 85 VICEROY 1966 1

total 652

If they don't have an MOT they aren't on the road. Of course VOSA could have "lost" a few. Going on tax and new car reg numbers (no mot for first 3 years) it seems the MOT data is about 3 million cars short.

The gap between taxed and registered is even greater and treasury are sure it equals number of tax evaders.

Reply to
Peter Hill

You have to be nuts to buy restore and keep any old car. Because even the ones many lust after - like say an E-Type Jag, or DB5 - is totally blown away by many modern cars which can be bought for much less. You buy these cars because you like them. And one may like a Cresta, another a Jag MkII 3.8. It's all down to individual quirks - not logic.

Zero of the cars I'm talking about there - Wyvern, Velox, Cresta, Victor. All '50s and '60s.

Perhaps older cars ain't on the database.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

My father sold his nearly new Hillman California and bought an early

50s Cresta back in the 50s. I wasn't privy to the precise details of why, but I did pick up that it was something to do with his ex-wife.

The Cresta was a magnificent vehicle, but by the late 50s the "fat fender" style was doomed to obsolescence by the squarer "shoebox" style.

At the time, Dad loved his California. I know it was tough for him to step down from it.

Reply to
Dean Dark

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