Moving Motor Museum

Being a bit of a transport geek I can’t resist either a heritage railway or a motor museum. Over the weekend I visited the Mid-Hants Railway or Watercress Line and the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu. Much as I love the Beaulieu museum I do wonder if motor museums could learn a thing from the steam railway.

From Beaulieu and Watercress Line

The great thing about these enthusiast-run railways is that you experience the trains running; not just as static exhibits. You get a flavour of what railway travel was like fifty years ago. It would be interesting to see the same model applied to cars.

Imagine a museum where some cars are in use either every day or, at least, at the weekends. The public could see and possibly even ride in old cars. To that end you’d need a short test track. Not a race track but somewhere with a variety of road surfaces, corners and gradients and maybe a long straight. Cars would not be pushed to their limits but I would want to give people an idea of acceleration, ride comfort and cornering; hearing the noise of the engines, the feel and smell of the upholstery.

What cars would go in the collection? You’d want cars that were interesting to look at and travel in.

Considering those factors the first cars I’d source for my collection would be:

From Model T Pictures

Ford Model T – A unique character with its strange controls.

From Haynes Motor Museum

Citroen SM – demonstrate the ride quality and general eccentricity of Citroen.

From BIMS 2008 Oldies

Lamborghini Countach – big on drama and spectacle whether in motion or standing still.

From Warwick Classic and Retro Cars

Mini Cooper – cramped and uncomfortable but fun.

From Gold Cup 2008

Jaguar XJ12/Daimler Double Six – Possibly the smoothest engine ever and a great ride too.

From Gold Cup 2008

Rolls-Royce Corniche – Or any Shadow variant, to sample Rolls-Royce craftsmanship.

From Luton Festival of Transport

Plymouth GTX – Feel the power of a big, American V8 as well as the comedy cornering behaviour of a car designed for straight roads.

What cars would you include?

Car and other photos from the weekend

The main event of the weekend, at least for me, was the Bristol Owners Club annual Concours d’Elegance. This year it was held at the Airbus facility (formerly the home of the Bristol Aeroplane Company) in Filton, Bristol. As well as over 200 Bristol cars there was a selection of Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars, some classic cars owned by the factory’s motor club and a Lotus Elite (the glassfibre bodies for the final series of Elites was made by Bristol). There were also some aircraft (as you’d expect).

Enjoy the photos.

Weekend catch up part 3

Time to cover some of the highlights of the Gold Cup weekend. One of my favourite things about the Gold Cup is the support from local classic car clubs who bring all manner of interesting machinery. I failed to photograph a very tidy chrome-bumper Alfa Romeo Alfasud but whoever owns it deserves a medal for keeping it in such great condition.

To start with, the Rolls-Royce enthusiasts club gathered some lovely cars, including a good many series-1 Silver Shadows but my heart was more taken by this Corniche.



If you prefer older cars there was this lovely Thrupp and Maberley 20/25 saloon.



It looked imposing although I noticed a distinct lack of rear-seat leg room. This is certainly not a R-R in which to be chauffeured. Even more interesting was this Silver Cloud.



According to the notice in the window this was a development vehicle and had been fitted with an experimental V8 engine (although I believe it now has the production V8).

It wasn’t just Rolls-Royces, Bentleys were well represented too. I think this is an S-series Bentley Flying Spur Continental but I’ve never seen one with suicide rear doors before.



My favourite Bentley was this one.



Not sure what model it is but I love the lines of this two-door coupé. I’m not sure I have captured its best angle but the cars were so tightly packed it was difficult to get back far enough to line up the photos – especially as I didn’t want to risk scratching someone’s pride and joy.

Lots of Jaguars turned up including plenty of XKs:











The last car was parked in the paddock rather than on open display. Whenever you go to a historic race meeting it is always worth having a look at the cars being prepared for racing, not only do you see interesting machinery like the Jaguar above but on the whole it is a friendly and relaxed place to be. Just remember not to get in the way of anyone working hard to prepare a car for racing.

Jaguars were also present on the track, including Peter Lanfranchi’s standard-looking Series-1 E-type and Steve Tandy’s Lightweight E.



The lightweight E-types did very well in their race but smaller, lighter TVRs with big, American Ford V8 engines seemed to go faster.



In fact plenty of almost prosaic machinery was giving the expensive stuff a run for its money. MGBs, for example, can go far faster than you’d think possible.



I hope this hasn’t been a pictorial overload; I’d like to finish with a personal favourite sighting. It is a Bristol 400 in very tidy condition but looking like a car that is used and enjoyed as it should be.

Something published

Before I went to the SMMT Drive Day one of my aims was to try and make contact with someone from the press. I managed, quite by chance, to bump into someone I exchanged emails with a year or two back. As a result I'm working on a car review for him and, in the meantime, I was asked to write a short news piece on the new small Rolls-Royce. Check it out by clicking on the title or click here.

Picture of the Week – Bristol 603

Several years ago I worked in Knightsbridge, London. One of the fringe benefits for any car enthusiast was the number of interesting cars in the area. HR Owen had a showroom up the road where a selection of Ferraris could be found, there was a Rolls-Royce Camargue that parked round the corner but it was the Bristol 603 that always caught my eye. It looked like it was well used although I only saw it being driven once, by an attractive blonde lady.

The 603 was launched in 1976 to replace the 411, mechanically they were more or less identical but the 603 had a controversial new body – the passenger compartment was wider and more spacious but did look a little too wide for the rest of the body.

Coventry Festival of Motoring

Every year the city of Coventry celebrates its association with the motor industry with a major classic car event. It is probably unique amongst classic car shows for two reasons; 1- participants have to pay an entry fee while members of the public can view for free; and 2- this is more than just neatly polished old cars in a park where people admire them, there is a sedate run through the Warwickshire countryside.



This year I knew someone who was taking part so it seemed like the perfect excuse to see what was going on. According to the web site some 540 vehicles took part including commercial vehicles, a couple of Green Goddess fire engines, lots of motorcycles and, of course, plenty of cars. The oldest vehicle on the run was a 1902 Wolseley and the newest a charity-sponsored Lexus IS200 driven by local news presenter Ashley Blake. Famous names like Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Bugatti were represented along side the familiar, household names of Triumph, Austin, Hillman, Ford, Volkswagen and many more.



I was invited to join in, travelling in the comfortable leather passenger seat of a Series 2 Daimler Double Six. There was plenty to see, lots of villages on the route had put up bunting and young and old alike were out waving at the passing cars. The organisers also split the run into two groups, both following the same route but in opposite directions so participants could see and wave to one another. It was great fun and I hope I can take part in an old car of my own one day.