How about a 'period' classics pictures thread
Discussion
Crosswise said:
Really great selection of cars there. The thing that strikes me is just how modern they all are at the time. I'm probably older now than you are in these pictures and I don't know of anyone who has owned a new car or even one a couple of years old. I actually drive a 72 MGB GT as my daily so I've loved all the pictures of Bs, especially the one with all the typical 70s extras, I can't see that rear wiper being hugely effective though. I've also never seen those alloys on an MGB before, I'd be interested to know what they are. Is that blue Mk3 Mini really a Cooper? It would have to be a Cooper S, but there is so little to identify them externally it's really hard to tell, great rare car if it is.
If it is a Mk3 Cooper S the right hand tank filler cap should be visible, I can't make one out in the photo (all Cooper S models had a r/hand tank as standard from January '66, right through to the last Mks S built in July '71). Either way, it's still a very nice early Mk3 Mini!
hidetheelephants said:
williamp said:
jogger1976 said:
Some pics I received from a mate who is in the Ford AVO Club 
is that Graham Hill with the cheesy grin??The cheesy grin fooled a lot of people. He was a most charismatic man all right, and everybody loved his wit and repartee. But he was as tough as they come - he took the fight (and prevailed at times) against one of the most naturally talented drivers in the sport's history, and didn't ever give up. And he carried GLTL on his shoulders for many months after Jim's tragic death, by dint of the sheer strength of his personality and bloody-mindedness. Great man.
First I must say that Graham Hill is one of my all time heros. Love the Ford AVO stuff.
Thanks for your interest in my car history.....The Mk3 Mini was a standard Mini Cooper. Great little sporty runnabout. Fixing the king pins on a mini? How stupid, that's my MGBness shining through. Obviously doing the ball joints. To be honest it is over 40 years since I bought the red '64 Mini, all I remember is buying it for £35 because the clutch was slipping and with a few spanner turns at home it ran another 2 years before needing a clutch.
Those MGB wheels. In the early 70's I liked the 5.5J Goodyear Gemini wheels but didn't like the shiny turning, and thought they would tarnish quickly. I made enquiries and found out they were made by K.N. Alloy Wheels up Telford way. I went up there and asked if they could make me a set at 6J without the machining and powder coat them grey. So I guess they were special order.
Any road up (As the Brummy saying goes) in 1964 I was 14 and my dad had a new business partner. We went to a garden party at his huge house and I saw this strange bright yellow little car and asked for a ride in it. A few days old it was his Porsche 911 and to be honest in those days no one had even heard of a Porsche. I loved it and made myself a promise to have one, one day. So in '76 or so I bought this lovely Porsche 912 SWB. With 5 dial dash I soon bought some Fuchs alloys, side stripes and badged it up as a 911. Oh that rally jacket I think was a Shell one with a Porche badge sewn on.
With a dog leg 1st gear the 912 is an absolute joy to drive. At only 90 BHP but so very light they actually out handle a 911. It used 2 star petrol, ran on detergent oil (same as diesel engine oil) and was cheap to insure. But like all cars of that age it was rusty.
Meanwhile my daughter had bought a Range Rover:
And my parents were touring La Belle France in their new(ish) Daimler Double Six Van Den Plas.
Oh and my brother started to learn to drive in his Imp:
Thanks for your interest in my car history.....The Mk3 Mini was a standard Mini Cooper. Great little sporty runnabout. Fixing the king pins on a mini? How stupid, that's my MGBness shining through. Obviously doing the ball joints. To be honest it is over 40 years since I bought the red '64 Mini, all I remember is buying it for £35 because the clutch was slipping and with a few spanner turns at home it ran another 2 years before needing a clutch.
Those MGB wheels. In the early 70's I liked the 5.5J Goodyear Gemini wheels but didn't like the shiny turning, and thought they would tarnish quickly. I made enquiries and found out they were made by K.N. Alloy Wheels up Telford way. I went up there and asked if they could make me a set at 6J without the machining and powder coat them grey. So I guess they were special order.
Any road up (As the Brummy saying goes) in 1964 I was 14 and my dad had a new business partner. We went to a garden party at his huge house and I saw this strange bright yellow little car and asked for a ride in it. A few days old it was his Porsche 911 and to be honest in those days no one had even heard of a Porsche. I loved it and made myself a promise to have one, one day. So in '76 or so I bought this lovely Porsche 912 SWB. With 5 dial dash I soon bought some Fuchs alloys, side stripes and badged it up as a 911. Oh that rally jacket I think was a Shell one with a Porche badge sewn on.
With a dog leg 1st gear the 912 is an absolute joy to drive. At only 90 BHP but so very light they actually out handle a 911. It used 2 star petrol, ran on detergent oil (same as diesel engine oil) and was cheap to insure. But like all cars of that age it was rusty.
Meanwhile my daughter had bought a Range Rover:
And my parents were touring La Belle France in their new(ish) Daimler Double Six Van Den Plas.
Oh and my brother started to learn to drive in his Imp:
Edited by manorcom on Tuesday 13th October 18:54
Yes the Dolly was a handful in the snow. As well as being a money pit.
That Mini. The day the red Mini was diagnosed as being soon to be terminal, I was chatting to a neighbor who worked at Longbridge. The typical, "My mate's got a Cooper S for sale" ensued. Mate visited I knew enough to see past the Cooper S badge and noticed the lack of twin tanks and it certainly was not a 1275, but had my preferred rubber cone suspension. It had bucket seats, a cool column mounted rev counter and rather nice alloys. This "Mate" had a large garage behind his old property in Longbridge which contained two other Mini's and a large collection of Mini bits. A deal was agreed, a very good deal I might add, that saw standard seats replacing the buckets and the alloys gone, replaced with a standard wheel set he had. He was pleased because the alloys could go on his just completed white Cooper S (with twin tanks). Our Mini was listed as a Mini Cooper in the logbook and went like stink. My thoughts afterwards were that it might have been re shelled or at least some skulduggery involved. To confuse the issue the first owner had been the factory for around 8 months. I always had a niggling feeling about the car but hey the wife liked it.
But to continue on.....
My dad had parked up the Daimler at something like 14 to the gallon it was proving expensive to run and he moved to what I call his Chrysler phase. Mother was suduced by Petula Clark singing "Put a Chrysler Sunbeam in your life!" Here it is with dad's later Y reg Solara:
A shot of the Dolly outside mom's new shop just before it was sold:
I meanwhile had found funding the Dolly Sprint daunting and changed to a new Talbot Horizon GLS. Here it is a couple of years later in France during a trip to Malta with my brother:
My registration parked on the Daimler:
Also in the late 70's my dad had given me a talking to. Remonstrating at how much I was spending modifying cars to go faster. His advice was to buy a car built for the job in the first place, like a Ferrari or a newer Porsche. He said I would loose much less that way. And boy was he right.
A local dealer was champing at the bit to get his hands on my 912. He had a Dino 246GT in obligatory red. My 912 plus around £2K? I couldn't beleive my luck. We swapped for the weekend. My enthusiasm for the Dino died very quickly after it's close inspection on the Saturday afternoon, it having more rust than my 912, and to top it all it wouldn't start on the Monday morning. Deal off!
I sold my 912, for a respectable profit and began a search for a 911, which concluded with (Me in matching colours):
I had this 911 for something like 2-3 years. A great car and much cheaper to run than I imagined.Loved every minute with it. Then DISASTER! DIVORCE AND POVERTY. Here is the 911 the day it went....Sad day.
To be continued..............
That Mini. The day the red Mini was diagnosed as being soon to be terminal, I was chatting to a neighbor who worked at Longbridge. The typical, "My mate's got a Cooper S for sale" ensued. Mate visited I knew enough to see past the Cooper S badge and noticed the lack of twin tanks and it certainly was not a 1275, but had my preferred rubber cone suspension. It had bucket seats, a cool column mounted rev counter and rather nice alloys. This "Mate" had a large garage behind his old property in Longbridge which contained two other Mini's and a large collection of Mini bits. A deal was agreed, a very good deal I might add, that saw standard seats replacing the buckets and the alloys gone, replaced with a standard wheel set he had. He was pleased because the alloys could go on his just completed white Cooper S (with twin tanks). Our Mini was listed as a Mini Cooper in the logbook and went like stink. My thoughts afterwards were that it might have been re shelled or at least some skulduggery involved. To confuse the issue the first owner had been the factory for around 8 months. I always had a niggling feeling about the car but hey the wife liked it.
But to continue on.....
My dad had parked up the Daimler at something like 14 to the gallon it was proving expensive to run and he moved to what I call his Chrysler phase. Mother was suduced by Petula Clark singing "Put a Chrysler Sunbeam in your life!" Here it is with dad's later Y reg Solara:
A shot of the Dolly outside mom's new shop just before it was sold:
I meanwhile had found funding the Dolly Sprint daunting and changed to a new Talbot Horizon GLS. Here it is a couple of years later in France during a trip to Malta with my brother:
My registration parked on the Daimler:
Also in the late 70's my dad had given me a talking to. Remonstrating at how much I was spending modifying cars to go faster. His advice was to buy a car built for the job in the first place, like a Ferrari or a newer Porsche. He said I would loose much less that way. And boy was he right.
A local dealer was champing at the bit to get his hands on my 912. He had a Dino 246GT in obligatory red. My 912 plus around £2K? I couldn't beleive my luck. We swapped for the weekend. My enthusiasm for the Dino died very quickly after it's close inspection on the Saturday afternoon, it having more rust than my 912, and to top it all it wouldn't start on the Monday morning. Deal off!
I sold my 912, for a respectable profit and began a search for a 911, which concluded with (Me in matching colours):
I had this 911 for something like 2-3 years. A great car and much cheaper to run than I imagined.Loved every minute with it. Then DISASTER! DIVORCE AND POVERTY. Here is the 911 the day it went....Sad day.
To be continued..............
Edited by manorcom on Wednesday 14th October 15:56
'To be continued...'
I should bloddy well hope so! This is rapidly turning into thread of the week for me
Regards the Mk3 Mini, thanks for the extra info which leads me to mention the naughty business which often happened in the '60s and early '70s, whereby owners added a bit more hand written detail to the green or buff log books, for example adding 'Cooper' or 'S' and getting away with it! It wouldn't surprise me if this is what happened to your Mk3, it was very common back then and some of these cars are still about today. Nobody really cared back then though, they were never meant to last. Forty odd years on we now have access to expert knowledge and factory ledgers which tell us when the last 'ordinary' Mini Cooper was made, with the last 998cc model being built in November '69 in Mk2 bodyshell form. Only the 1275 S made it into Mk3 form and only around 1,580 were ever built anyway. Lord Stokes bless him, put an end to the gentlemen's agreement with John Cooper receiving £2 for every Cooper or S sold and that was it in July '71.
As for the 912 / 911 saga, what impeccable taste you have. Likewise the Daimler, it is a fabulous looking thing in that period colour...
I should bloddy well hope so! This is rapidly turning into thread of the week for me
Regards the Mk3 Mini, thanks for the extra info which leads me to mention the naughty business which often happened in the '60s and early '70s, whereby owners added a bit more hand written detail to the green or buff log books, for example adding 'Cooper' or 'S' and getting away with it! It wouldn't surprise me if this is what happened to your Mk3, it was very common back then and some of these cars are still about today. Nobody really cared back then though, they were never meant to last. Forty odd years on we now have access to expert knowledge and factory ledgers which tell us when the last 'ordinary' Mini Cooper was made, with the last 998cc model being built in November '69 in Mk2 bodyshell form. Only the 1275 S made it into Mk3 form and only around 1,580 were ever built anyway. Lord Stokes bless him, put an end to the gentlemen's agreement with John Cooper receiving £2 for every Cooper or S sold and that was it in July '71.
As for the 912 / 911 saga, what impeccable taste you have. Likewise the Daimler, it is a fabulous looking thing in that period colour...
v8250 said:
manorcom said:
To be continued..............
k dude, that's brown with capital B!"That Sprint went like a bat out of he**, but I was constantly trying to keep her in tune. Spent on upgrades and had problems with the diff coping with the power and head gasket problems 3 times. And the Mini? I agree with your comments. The UK, especially the midlands, was a hotbed of shennanigans all around BL. I have stories that make even me shiver and not at all surprised it went under.
So the 70's bowed out with me, without a wife, daughter, job and a mortgage and alimony to pay for! There were automotive dalliances though. Joint ownership of a Ford Escort Mk1 rally car....Me doing the spannering. The aforementioned Malta trip with my brother.. Drove all the way (except ferry's). Next thing Horizon gone....sitting at home without transport.....cadging lifts everywhere. Not a nice time.
Then a job with Godfrey Davis Car Hire. A different car almost every day. Still as a manager you got the choice.
Here (No that's not me in the dress!) at a gymkhana with the company showing a car and a van:
A happy interlude happened one day, whilst travelling through the Black Country I caught a glimpse of my old BGT that I sold to get a wife. Made friends with the owner and he brought it accross for me to have a play for a day with my little girl:
Meanwhile my little girl trying her hand at F1 driving:
Then another job with a Cortina Ghia with a radio telephone (and a CB radio on a slide mount under the dash) The thing looked like a Xmas tree!:
Then a job with a brand new Escort 1600GL great car that. Here with the girlfriends Metro:
Then I bought a Tool Hire business with my dad and this Transit 35cwt Dropside was my daily driver for around 3 years. A York diesel, a lousy starter and a max of about 60, downhill, with the wind behind you, windows shut and radio blaring!
Metro swapped for a BMW 316 2 door in black. My girlfiend, a district nurse, used it every day, we both loved it. But BM's were not as good as they were made out to be, was a magnet for badge pinchers and keying paintwork, especially the areas she worked in.
So a 6 month old Fiesta Ghia was purchased:
Then my mind started to do overtime wanting a classic car.........That's when things get complicated.
So the 70's bowed out with me, without a wife, daughter, job and a mortgage and alimony to pay for! There were automotive dalliances though. Joint ownership of a Ford Escort Mk1 rally car....Me doing the spannering. The aforementioned Malta trip with my brother.. Drove all the way (except ferry's). Next thing Horizon gone....sitting at home without transport.....cadging lifts everywhere. Not a nice time.
Then a job with Godfrey Davis Car Hire. A different car almost every day. Still as a manager you got the choice.
Here (No that's not me in the dress!) at a gymkhana with the company showing a car and a van:
A happy interlude happened one day, whilst travelling through the Black Country I caught a glimpse of my old BGT that I sold to get a wife. Made friends with the owner and he brought it accross for me to have a play for a day with my little girl:
Meanwhile my little girl trying her hand at F1 driving:
Then another job with a Cortina Ghia with a radio telephone (and a CB radio on a slide mount under the dash) The thing looked like a Xmas tree!:
Then a job with a brand new Escort 1600GL great car that. Here with the girlfriends Metro:
Then I bought a Tool Hire business with my dad and this Transit 35cwt Dropside was my daily driver for around 3 years. A York diesel, a lousy starter and a max of about 60, downhill, with the wind behind you, windows shut and radio blaring!
Metro swapped for a BMW 316 2 door in black. My girlfiend, a district nurse, used it every day, we both loved it. But BM's were not as good as they were made out to be, was a magnet for badge pinchers and keying paintwork, especially the areas she worked in.
So a 6 month old Fiesta Ghia was purchased:
Then my mind started to do overtime wanting a classic car.........That's when things get complicated.
Edited by manorcom on Wednesday 14th October 19:35
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