How about a 'period' classics pictures thread

[P5Nij]

Fantastic Roy, many thanks for that! From what I was told the landlord's family had a lot of interesting cars over the years, the flat I was renting at the time was part of a stable block conversion which other members of his family also lived in at various times. While I was there I was shown several photo albums from the '30s through to the '70s with all kinds of pre- and post-war stuff photographed in that courtyard (I remember a Jensen CV8 and Bentley S1s and S3s). The family were clearly well minted and there was a whole album filled with shots of them aboard some cruise liners in the '30s, dressed up to the nines.

[Oldwolf]

I'm not sure what 'period' means. A number of years ago I went on holiday with my then GF and her kids to Cyprus. We hired a Mitsubishi Shogun (Pajero) and went for a fun drive through the countryside, it was the first time in living memory that it had snowed at sea level, the locals were in the street looking at the heavens...



Obviously as Brit I was trying to drive as fast as I could in these conditions, it was great fun :-) (But I got a damp crotch)

BTW I'm the fat bloke next to the Mitsubishi

[mybrainhurts]

[TR4man]

This was taken sometime in the late 1980s when we called in for a pub lunch in the Peak District.

This beauty was parked in the car park and nobody except I was remotely interested in it.

[Roy C]

TR4man said:

This was taken sometime in the late 1980s when we called in for a pub lunch in the Peak District.

This beauty was parked in the car park and nobody except I was remotely interested in it.

1938 Packard 1601 Eight Coupe Convertible (a 1938-only variation on the long-running Packard One-Twenty range, so fairly unusual even in the USA).

[MarshPhantom]

Spottedlaurel said:

david.h said:

I bet there were not many Datsun 1400s tearing up the tracks! This was a 1400 borrowed from the local Datsun Dealer & taken at Curborough Sprint Course 1971...won a few class pots though...not the only entrant either! Note the reversed numberplate...ok I copied it wrong!

Great to see! Maybe not many 1400s being used competitively, but the 1600 was very popular for racing in the States and elsewhere. Quite a sought-after car here too, with one two recent imports.

Did they sell many of these in the UK?

I don't remember them being around, and I grew up in the 70s.

[DickyC]

Drag racing at Blackbushe in the early 70s. I've been clearing the shed and found this in a box of random photos and postcards. The reason I took the picture at the time was the Corvette overshot the start line and had to reverse, the driver left it in reverse and so when they started he shot backwards. This is him recovering and I think he caught and overtook whoever he was racing against.

[Spottedlaurel]

MarshPhantom said:

Did they sell many of these in the UK?

I don't remember them being around, and I grew up in the 70s.

It's thought about 3500 were sold in the UK. Early days for Datsun and sales didn't really pick up until the '70s models. I suppose the looks weren't as 'distinctive' as some of the later models so perhaps less memorable?

Here's one I unintentionally got a photo of at a local autocross meeting when I was youngster:

Datsun Bluebird (510) & Ford Anglia 105E Autocross early 1980s by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Sorry about the quality, it was probably taken on one of those 110 cameras.

Edit: Comparing it with the blue car pictured above, I now wonder if the above was a Bluebird, at least of the 1300/1400/1600 '510' type.

Edited by Spottedlaurel on Sunday 22 March 23:02

[Dapster]

5 wh said:

My dads 500 SEC 1982 -

Back in '81 my father had a white W123 200, absolutely bottom of the range, entry level. Every visit to the Merc dealer was a like a trip to Disneyland for me. These days, and especially so as I live in London, you trip over hundred grand cars all day long. Back then, pre finance, PCP and contract hire, a Merc SEC was a serious, serious piece of kit and seeing one would be a rare treat. The SEC really was Mercedes's finest hour. These days £20k would get you a pretty much concourse 1990 560SEC in blue black with mushroom leather, the SEC holy grail in my view!

[david.h]

Back to the Datsuns... All from "Lilley & Stenson" in Newhall St & Icknield St in Birmingham>I started with a 1200 (looked a bit like an HA Viva I think! then the 1400, then a 1600. They didn't have a 1600SSS, but then they had a 240Z! That was a great car; I once took it to Curborough with a dodgy clutch (they knew this!)& I sat on the line, in gear, clutch out & floored it when the lights changed! Went off like an automatic. Came home on a towrope behind My Cortina GT Mk 2! No photos!
An Aussie mate had a 1600SSS that did two London Sydney Marathons & goodness knows what else!
David

[5 wh]

Dapster said:

5 wh said:

My dads 500 SEC 1982 -

Back in '81 my father had a white W123 200, absolutely bottom of the range, entry level. Every visit to the Merc dealer was a like a trip to Disneyland for me. These days, and especially so as I live in London, you trip over hundred grand cars all day long. Back then, pre finance, PCP and contract hire, a Merc SEC was a serious, serious piece of kit and seeing one would be a rare treat. The SEC really was Mercedes's finest hour. These days £20k would get you a pretty much concourse 1990 560SEC in blue black with mushroom leather, the SEC holy grail in my view!

They were a rare car at the time and very difficult to get hold of.Interest rates were much higher than today so no cheap PCPs or monthly repayments-you had to be fairly well off to run an SEC/SL/S Class.In my view probably one of the best engineered cars ever made by any manufacturer.

[DickyC]

Outside my folks' house in Bracknell. They moved to the house in Sandhurst where I grew up when I was eighteen months old. One of my first memories is of an animated debate in the car in the drive in Sandhurst about whether or not to have the roof down as we set off somewhere. LBL 25 was replaced by a Minor Traveller, RJB 888. My brother was delighted by the number plate; RJB were my, dad's and mum's initials and he was 8.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

DickyC said:

Outside my folks' house in Bracknell. They moved to the house in Sandhurst where I grew up when I was eighteen months old. One of my first memories is of an animated debate in the car in the drive in Sandhurst about whether or not to have the roof down as we set off somewhere. LBL 25 was replaced by a Minor Traveller, RJB 888. My brother was delighted by the number plate; RJB were my, dad's and mum's initials and he was 8.

Fab!

[Number 5]

Me & my cousin in the very early 80's at our Grandparents caravan




My Dads Stag with his Austin 10 in the background, this photo would have been taken in around 1990





My Uncle with a peculiar Mini Six Wheel mutant that he and my Dad created to promote their body shop business, this photo was taken in 1981 ................I'm sure at the time this must have seemed like a good idea






My Grandad with his XJ6

[P5Nij]

Looks like you Grandad's XJ is a Daimler!

Lovely old thing

[Spottedlaurel]

Customising was big back then! By the standards of the time that Mini looks nicely done.

[garyfrogeye]

The Mini looks familiar. would it have appeared in Custom Car (oh how I loved that magazine).

[Number 5]

garyfrogeye said:

The Mini looks familiar. would it have appeared in Custom Car (oh how I loved that magazine).

It was yes, I've got a copy and when I get chance I'll upload the images

[droopsnoot]

I acquired a few more slides a few weeks ago, none of these are mine so I have no background.





This just has "Rover come to grief" written on the slide.

[tog]

Nice gallery of 1980s drivers in the Guardian.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/20...