Goodbye Newport Pagnell

To many people I suspect Newport Pagnell is no more than a service station on the M1 motorway. To the car enthusiast Newport Pagnell is also the home of Aston Martin but as of 19th July it is no longer a car factory. The last Vanquish was driven off the production line in a ceremony attended by local dignitaries, Aston owners and employees. For the foreseeable future all Astons will be built at the purpose built facility at Gaydon in Warwickshire.



There is no cause for sadness, for one thing the Newport Pagnell site has been retained as a centre for servicing and restoring older cars. And, like most companies with a long history, Aston Martin has had more than one factory. The original factory was at Feltham in Middlesex (I think) and it was in 1953 that tractor magnate and then owner of Aston bought the Newport Pagnell site with full production starting in 1958.

The closure does mean that both of the car factories I’ve visited have closed (the other was Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant). It was back when the DB7 was current but before the Virage and Vantage had been phased out. I was given a tour by the late Roger Stowers, the company historian and archivist. Whatever you thought of the old V-series cars you had to respect the craftsmanship and love with which they were assembled. Who could believe the current, thoroughly modern Astons are any relation to the magnificent old dinosaurs the company used to make? I wonder if the Gaydon factory will enjoy 50 years of productivity.

Sad news for Bristol fans

It seems that thieves have stolen the presses used to make the panels for the Bristol Blenheim. The presses, which weigh up to 30 tonnes, are thought to have been stolen for their scrap value – far less than the cost Bristol will incur replacing them.

What sort of world are we living in? You simply wouldn’t think anyone would consider stealing something like this. Maybe it will give Bristol the opportunity to develop a more shapely new body for the Blenheim range. There are those who would be happy if Bristol dusted off the tooling for the 411 range. The problem is the cost of developing and type approving a new body. I just hope it doesn’t mean the end of Bristol Cars.

Thirty One Years Ago…

…as well as a heatwave and the American bicentennial celebrations July 1976 saw my arrival into the world. By way of a celebration I thought I’d have a look at the world of motoring in July ’76 as reported in CAR.

Lancia were promoting their Stratos, Citroën were making a fuss about the economy of their quirky cars (remember the Dyane and Ami?). The big news was the Chrysler Scamp, which the world would know as the Sunbeam. The Sunbeam didn’t go on sale until 1977 but July’s newcomers included the Renault 14 and Volvo 343 – not very stimulating. The Lancia Gamma was too new for its foibles to be discovered and the Lamborghini Silhouette seemed very stimulating indeed.

No issue of CAR in this period would be complete without a helping of supercars. Mel Nichols was dispatched to visit Maserati, De Tomaso, Lamborghini and Ferrari. After some difficult times in the fuel crisis things were looking up for the makers of exotic cars.

Almost every time I pick up an old magazine I find something that suggests the world hasn’t changed much in the passing years. So it was with an article on Formula 1:

And if you handicapped cars and opened up circuits to a bit more competition and a little less slowing down, assuring safety in other ways than by multiplying chicanes and other artificial curves and thus allowing more passing and more changes in race position…

How many times every year do people crave more overtaking in F1? What was the saying? Plus ça change...

C-Crosser makes me cross

I like Citroëns. I hope that is clear from my previous posts; as well as the C6 and my current BX I have fond memories of the C5 V6 (now sadly discontinued), the Visa and the iconic 2CV. The firm has blotted its copybook with the Xsara Picasso; an absurd vehicle good for nothing.

Now Citroën are jumping on the small 4x4-cum-mpv bandwagon with the C-Crosser, the result of a joint venture between PSA and Mitsubishi. I don’t blame Citroën for making what people want to buy. What I do object to, without quite knowing why, is the cloying emphasis on how kind it is to the environment.

Maybe if there was something identifiably Citroën about the C-Crosser it would be less annoying. Something minimal, lightweight, practical and go-anywhere - like an updated 2CV - would be brilliant. Sadly I don’t think the market wants such a car. Instead it wants soft-feel plastics, MP3 player compatibility, satellite navigation, two dozen airbags and low official CO2 figures for cheap road tax.

Citroën nearly went bust making the cars people should have wanted because the world was too dumb and too cautious to appreciate them. Sometimes, when I think of the Xsara Picasso and now the C-Crosser, I wonder if I wouldn’t be happier if the firm hadn’t survived the 1970s.

thinktank at Millennium Point, Birmingham

I took a trip over to Birmingham this afternoon to visit thinktank, which (among other things) tells the history of Birmingham. The story is illustrated by the machinery used in and produced by the city’s industry. There is a great contrast between the giant steam pumping engines and the intricate button making machine.

The motor industry is remembered with some fine motorcycles from BSA and Brough Superior and some Austin cars – a Seven, Ruby and an original 1959 Mini (or Austin Se7en to be precise). The pioneer motor industry is illustrated by a license-built version of a Benz car. It seemed a missed opportunity not to credit Lanchester although there was a Lanchester prototype petrol-electric car, which I’d not heard of before.

The problem is that the museum’s strengths are also its weaknesses; there is so much in the museum that it sometimes seems to lack focus. Some more depth and detail on the exhibits would have been good – and this is where the museum’s website comes into its own - once you find your way around. Entry is quite expensive at £8.50 for an adult ticket but a family ticket at £25 represents quite good value and there is plenty to keep the whole family interested. Just don’t go on a weekend and expect to buy lunch – all the catering concessions appeared to be closed.

Weird Tech: Lexus rear mounted radiator

I was going through Autocar and saw a piece on the Lexus LF-A. This is a super-coupé with a 500bhp V10 engine and 200mph performance. One of the more interesting features of the LF-A is the placement of the coolant radiators at the rear.



On mid or rear-engined cars this might not be unusual but the Lexus is a front mid-engined design. It seems to fly in the face of logic; the established convention for 110 years has been to put the radiator at the front of the car where it can receive the greatest flow of cooling air over its surface.



The idea isn’t as barking as you might think. Lexus claim to have done it to achieve the optimum weight distribution but it makes aerodynamic sense too. A car punches a big hole in the air at speed – a low-pressure wake similar to the wake following a boat as it moves through water. Air picks up heat as it passes through a car’s radiator, this makes the air expand. The heated air can therefore help to fill the low pressure wake behind the car.



What might be the practical drawbacks? The boot opening on the concept car looks quite small; will it accommodate the regulation issue two golf bags? The radiators might cook the luggage or anyone standing loading or unloading the boot. Then again Lexus have a reputation for being thorough. By the time the LF-A goes on sale in the Autumn or 2008 I wouldn’t bet against the drawbacks being overcome.

Pet Peeves: “The indicator stalk is on the wrong side”

In a right hand drive car where the gear lever is to the driver’s left which is the correct side for the indicator stalk? Is the proper position for the indicator stalk going to be the same for a left hand drive car where the driver applies the right hand to the gear lever? Indicating and changing gear are often done in close succession so why make it difficult by expecting the same hand to do both?

Having spent plenty of time driving right-handed cars with indicators on the right and gear lever on the left – not just my Hondas but also my German-built Ford Granada coupé of 1977 vintage – I have to say that it is a better arrangement. Indeed it used to be the standard arrangement for British cars, which is why it annoys me when people claim that the arrangement is wrong. It annoys me even more when Autocar criticised the Vauxhall VXR8 (an Australian Holden, set up correctly for its native RHD market) and yet the Kia Cee’d was praised for the same arrangement.

It goes to show that the unfamiliar is too readily accepted as wrong, even by people who should know better.