London 1966

Marvellous! Waves of nostalgia. 1966 - I was 21, a freelance photographer working from a basement in Queens Gate Mews, running a Ferrari. Where did it all go wrong...?

Geoff MacK

I had just taken my A Levels. Didn't quite get the grades for career plan A but good enough for career plan B. Running a 1957 Standard 10 when I could afford to put petrol in it, otherwise using my trusty bike.

Doesn't have the same style as a Ferrari somehow...

Jim

You answered your own question "running a Ferrari" :)

The web is full of Free Freelance images.

MG Magnette ZA for me. God I loved that car.

Quite. I was driving a 1957 Austin A35. It actually wasn't that bad of a car, and I'm not sure I could even have spelled Ferrari at that time, much less have afforded the insurance even if someone had _given_ me one.

My first truck back then was a Morris Minor Ute with a 1100 motor, then in 1967 bought a Rustin Freely Sprite 3A. which was the last before they replaced it with the MG Midget with a 1275 motor.

Insurance was indeed a bit of a problem. I remember my broker saying it could have been worse - I could have been blind....

As a matter of interest, the car was a 1960 250GTE with a fairly chequered history. Never mind, it was red and it had a V12 lump which sounded wonderful. And, of course, it had the right image which was all-important for a working-class laddie on the make. I paid £700 for it, which I think was about the same as a new family saloon at the time.

I doubt if it still exists; the 250GTE was the least desirable (and therefore cheapest!) model, and most of them were chopped in the seventies/eighties to make replica 250 GTOs. 2051 RA - I still remember the registration number - anybody know?

I swapped it for a DB5 with a punched-in front wing; turned out to have a terminal overheating problem due to a slipped cylinder liner so I sold it and used the cash for my first Facel Vega HK500 - but that's a whole 'nuther story.

Earlier in the decade my first car was a 1954 Standard 8, followed by a ZB Magnette. Like Dave, I really loved that car. I had several, sometimes as back-up and sometimes as primary transport depending on the state of my finances; a ZB, ZA and once a ZB Varitone which was absolutely the vicar's knickers. I wouldn't mind one now - I guess an MGB 1800 engine with o/d box would fit in quite easily to bring it a bit more up to date.

Geoff MacK

"Geoff Mackenzie" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

A quick check on the tax disc site shows it seems to have survived until

1996...

The vehicle details for 2051 RA are:

Date of Liability 01 11 1996 Date of First Registration 01 05 1984 Year of Manufacture 1963 Cylinder Capacity (cc) 2953CC CO2 Emissions Not Available Fuel Type Petrol Export Marker Not Applicable Vehicle Status Unlicensed Vehicle Colour RED

There's a strangeness with the "First reg 1984" - I wonder if it was found somewhere in a barn or storage, "resuscitated", and re-registered from the chassis number.

Hmm. I wonder... Wouldn't '96 be about right for Lord Brocket's little naughtiness? I'm sure some of his fleet were 250GTE-based replicas of more "interesting" 250s...

Since I've always been a car fiddler you might have liked my ZA. 3 bearing MGB engine, flowed head, half race cam and a Weber 45DCOE. Close ratio MGA twin cam box with overdrive. 4.3 rear axle. MGA 1600 front disc brakes. Wire wheels. Home made anti-tramp bars on the back axle. And a whole lot more I can't remember. It was RZ 682 - so originally from NI, although I bought it in Aberdeen For 275 quid.

It would be interesting to know the serial number of the 250GTE chassis in question. Lord Brocket sold a 250GT to someone from Microsoft which was later discovered to be a 250 GTE. That car was IIRC exported in late

1995 or early 1996 which would mean that the date of Liability in 1996 would indicate export between 01/11/95 and 01/11/96.

If that was the car in question it was significant, because the police used that sale to push Brocket into yet another fraud charge to bring pressure on him to admit his previous.

The date being 22 Jan 2010, Grimly Curmudgeon decided to write:

I notice this had been posted on uk.rec.motorcycles. The shot of Tesco's with the red Mini Marcos outside is taken from an episode of "The Saint". Roger Moore is just arriving in the Volvo P1800, ST1.

There's another shot taken a bit later from the other side here:

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

That'll be this guy...

Didn't they reckon he had destroyed several classic cars as part of the scam?

Halmyre gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

The basic scam was a "theft", with the cars claimed to be stolen actually being chopped up. The bodies were disposed of, the mechanicals were "hidden". Insurance got suspicious, and investigated.

Cut them up and buried them, intending to dig them up and restore them later one assumes.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Rob saying something like:

Oh yes, my first encounter with a Sprite was at the Glasgow Car Auctions when a Sprite headlamp, along with the front of the wing, detached itself and dangled freely at ankle height as I brushed past it. I think it went for a tenner in the end.

Very sad....but at least...

It seems today that all you see is violence in movies and sex on t.v.

But where are those good old fashion values On which we used to rely!

Lucky, there's a family guy! Lucky there's a man who, positivly can do, all the things that make us laugh and cry!

He's--A--Fam'ly--Guy!!!