Tales from the workshop

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grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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Dear admin, would an ad-hoc series of ramblings about a classic workshop over the past 40 odd years be of interest ?
I have access to lots of photos and stories of past heroes and famous and infamous stars of the past and also the variety of current classic and race cars that come through the workshop .

larrylamb11

585 posts

252 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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Yes! YES! smile
Who cares what admin say - give the people what they want!

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all

Something like this ?
One owned by Prince Bira
One owned by Jacky Ickx
Also the last Xk150 produced .

nicanary

9,797 posts

147 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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That's an XK120, and also Prince Bira didn't own it, he raced it IIRC.

RichB

51,595 posts

285 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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grumpy52 said:
...
One owned by Prince Bira
One owned by Jacky Ickx
Also the last Xk150 produced .
Which one's which?

RichB

51,595 posts

285 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
nicanary said:
That's an XK120, and also Prince Bira didn't own it, he raced it IIRC.
I assume the XK150 is the other white one behind it.

nicanary

9,797 posts

147 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
RichB said:
nicanary said:
That's an XK120, and also Prince Bira didn't own it, he raced it IIRC.
I assume the XK150 is the other white one behind it.
Sorry. i completely misunderstood the photo. Bira raced HKV455 for Jaguar Cars.

RichB

51,595 posts

285 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
nicanary said:
RichB said:
nicanary said:
That's an XK120, and also Prince Bira didn't own it, he raced it IIRC.
I assume the XK150 is the other white one behind it.
Sorry. i completely misunderstood the photo. Bira raced HKV455 for Jaguar Cars.
No worries, I may have also misunderstood... no sure if the OP means one owned by xxx or once owned by xxx wobble

Turbobanana

6,285 posts

202 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
I'm in Grumpy - bring it on!

Chunkychucky

5,965 posts

170 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
grumpy52 said:
Dear admin, would an ad-hoc series of ramblings about a classic workshop over the past 40 odd years be of interest ?
I have access to lots of photos and stories of past heroes and famous and infamous stars of the past and also the variety of current classic and race cars that come through the workshop .
Not an admin, but yes please definitely interested cool

xyyman

1,075 posts

226 months

Saturday 18th March 2023
quotequote all
Chunkychucky said:
grumpy52 said:
Dear admin, would an ad-hoc series of ramblings about a classic workshop over the past 40 odd years be of interest ?
I have access to lots of photos and stories of past heroes and famous and infamous stars of the past and also the variety of current classic and race cars that come through the workshop .
Not an admin, but yes please definitely interested cool
Yes please. smile

brownspeed

743 posts

132 months

Saturday 18th March 2023
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bookmarked! bring it on

a8hex

5,830 posts

224 months

Saturday 18th March 2023
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Hey, we get to play hunt the XK150 so I'm all for it
Besides I get to look at other XKs in the photo while looking for the 150 so I'm all eyes.

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Saturday 18th March 2023
quotequote all
a8hex said:
Hey, we get to play hunt the XK150 so I'm all for it
Besides I get to look at other XKs in the photo while looking for the 150 so I'm all eyes.
Lots of XKs in the history of the various workshops

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Saturday 18th March 2023
quotequote all
grumpy52 said:

Something like this ?
One owned by Prince Bira
One owned by Jacky Ickx
Also the last Xk150 produced .
My sincere apologies the XK150 was in another part of the workshop .

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Saturday 18th March 2023
quotequote all
Just so I don't confuse anyone the stories don't come from my workshops but from a very good friends . They date back late 60s as the earliest, when they were run by my mates father . Through to the present time , including when I worked for him 15 or so years ago .
It includes cars in films ,music videos,prizes in magazines . Cars that weren't what the owners thought they were .
Cars owned by famous people and infamous people .

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Monday 20th March 2023
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https://exclusivecarregistry.com/details/ferrari/3...
Owned in the past by the workshop owners father who purchased it for £7500 . Originally it was red .
Would be interesting see what it sells for .

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
Lots of tales about cars sharing identities in the past with dodgy dealings.
This involves another Jag Xk , it had a restoration then got exported to Australia.
Some enterprising person had a chassis plate made up and copied the registration and built up another car .
All this came to light when the original legitimate car returned from Australia, another twist was while in Australia it had another "Restoration" more accurately it had every bodge known to man performed on the car .
Two XKs both with the same chassis number.

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Monday 20th March 2023
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Another not quite Kosher car turned up when I worked there.
Even from a distance it looked "wrong "
It was supposed to be an early flat floor convertible E type manual RHD .
Recently arrived from the USA and bought by an exited owner who insisted that he had acquired a "bargain".
The car was booked on to have seat belts fitted,they were not required when it was originally built .
Suspicion was highlighted when drilling the mountings for the belts when treble thickness metal was found where it shouldn't be.
So the oracle was consulted , a book listing every Jag chassis giving it's configuration and the market it was destined for .
It certainly wasn't an early flat floor ,nor was it a convertible,or RHD
It originally was a LHD hardtop
This happened pretty often with cars that were exported back and forth.

Edited by grumpy52 on Friday 24th March 11:46

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Monday 27th March 2023
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Not all the tales come from classic workshops.
A guy that was none too bright was the general labourer in a Ford dealership back in the days of the 3ltr Capri. He took a fancy to a brand new demonstrator on the forecourt and hid the spare keys and took them home. In the dead of night he returned to work and had the car away .
The police found the car and him at the weekend when he was spotted standing in the road with paintbrush in hand painting the car . When asked why he said I like blue and this one was white.
Also the tale of a London BMW dealership that got hit one night and a transporter full of new and unregistered cars was loaded up and they were gone ,never to be seen again.
The dealer's insurance excess was so high the didn't even claim for the cars . Remember that when you look at your insurance when renewing it . Another reason why the main dealer rates are so high .