Bizarre Car Related Coincidences.....
Discussion
I popped into WH Smiths earlier for a quick browse at the car magazines. I've recently bought an E21 3 Series, so thought I would chance my arm and see if any of the classic car magazines were running any features on the model. I was properly pleased when I picked up Classics Monthly and saw that they had a buying guide and article on the E21. I was properly gobsmacked when the car they were using in the article was actually MINE!! The specialist I bought the car from must have offered their services a few weeks before I purchased the 3. Anyway, I've added a few photos of the feature with my car at her Bavarian finest.
Anyone else have any strange car related coincidences?
Anyone else have any strange car related coincidences?
Early one winters morning about 12 years ago I was driving to work, got about half a mile from home when I looked in the mirror and very nearly shat myself. There, right behind me, was a white Vitesse Convertible identical to mine.
First thought, of course, was that mine had been nicked. Not exactly common, especially on the commute to work in the winter. It was only when I saw it was an F reg (mines an E) that I calmed down.
First thought, of course, was that mine had been nicked. Not exactly common, especially on the commute to work in the winter. It was only when I saw it was an F reg (mines an E) that I calmed down.
I posted this recently on the Classic section about the time I took the XK120 to Jabbeke in 1998 for the 50th anniversary of the speed runs.
On the way home from Jabbeke I came across a red E type which had been at the event. Bonnet up and clouds of steam. It had blown a core plug, luckily accessible in between the exhaust manifolds. All I had on me was a cheap Chinese made Swiss army knife copy which someone gave me. It had a saw blade on it so I ventured into the scrub on the side of the motorway and set about a small shrub. I manage to cut a wine bottle cork sized bit of branch, by which time there were no teeth left on the blade! Whittled it into shape and knocked it home into the hole left by the core plug, using a bit of carrier bag as ptfe tape. The next problem was how to fill the engine and radiator with water.
We found some plastic coke bottles on the side of the hard shoulder and I had to go down into the filthy ditch where there was about a couple of inches of black water.
The relay system using him and his wife took ages but we managed to fill the car and no leaks. Only just made the ferry and I was rewarded with a good lunch and many thanks.
I thought that was the end of the story as I never caught the man’s name or where he was from.
However a year later I was asked to play golf at Sheringham, over 100 miles from where I live. Never play golf and never been to Sheringham before. Since it was a lovely day I took the XK120 overshot the golf club and turn sharp left into an industrial estate to turn round.
As I went in a lorry was reversing so I sharp turned right into the first unit. I was busy doing a ten point turn (not much lock!) when a man with a beard came running out of the office and I thought I was about to be told off.
“It’s you” he shouted
“Me?”
“Yes you rescued me in Belgium last year”
“But I do not recognise you”
“Oh, I have grown a beard since then!”
So what are the chances of me
1 overshooting the entrance to the golf club (badly signed)
2 turning into the industrial estate as opposed to a U turn because of traffic.
3 being deflected into the mans unit by the reversing lorry just at that moment
4 the man being in his office and not out on a job (used car salesman)
5 the man actually looking out of the window at that moment
6 me having to do a 10 point turn which took time, instead of a quick circle because of the small car park
Makes you wonder if there is something else going on!
On the way home from Jabbeke I came across a red E type which had been at the event. Bonnet up and clouds of steam. It had blown a core plug, luckily accessible in between the exhaust manifolds. All I had on me was a cheap Chinese made Swiss army knife copy which someone gave me. It had a saw blade on it so I ventured into the scrub on the side of the motorway and set about a small shrub. I manage to cut a wine bottle cork sized bit of branch, by which time there were no teeth left on the blade! Whittled it into shape and knocked it home into the hole left by the core plug, using a bit of carrier bag as ptfe tape. The next problem was how to fill the engine and radiator with water.
We found some plastic coke bottles on the side of the hard shoulder and I had to go down into the filthy ditch where there was about a couple of inches of black water.
The relay system using him and his wife took ages but we managed to fill the car and no leaks. Only just made the ferry and I was rewarded with a good lunch and many thanks.
I thought that was the end of the story as I never caught the man’s name or where he was from.
However a year later I was asked to play golf at Sheringham, over 100 miles from where I live. Never play golf and never been to Sheringham before. Since it was a lovely day I took the XK120 overshot the golf club and turn sharp left into an industrial estate to turn round.
As I went in a lorry was reversing so I sharp turned right into the first unit. I was busy doing a ten point turn (not much lock!) when a man with a beard came running out of the office and I thought I was about to be told off.
“It’s you” he shouted
“Me?”
“Yes you rescued me in Belgium last year”
“But I do not recognise you”
“Oh, I have grown a beard since then!”
So what are the chances of me
1 overshooting the entrance to the golf club (badly signed)
2 turning into the industrial estate as opposed to a U turn because of traffic.
3 being deflected into the mans unit by the reversing lorry just at that moment
4 the man being in his office and not out on a job (used car salesman)
5 the man actually looking out of the window at that moment
6 me having to do a 10 point turn which took time, instead of a quick circle because of the small car park
Makes you wonder if there is something else going on!
Back in the 90s I had a company Vectra, purple 1.8, P277TPN. It'd been bought as a pre-registered car in the south of England somewhere. I'd had it about a year and I travelled with work from home in England to Dundee, stopping in a Travelodge there. I pulled upon the car park and realised I was next to an identical purple Vectra, reg P278TPN.
I had an MGB GT for a couple of years about ten years ago. It was a 1970 car hat had been resprayed in iris blue. Anyway, when I came to sell it a guy from Amsterdam was interested. He did a deal over the Internet, and paid me to deliver the car to him (inc return flight for me and a mate).
Roll forward three or four years and a friend decided to take some time out from work to ride a bike down through Africa, a la Boorman/McGregor. He pitched up at a camping area in the Congo and started chatting to the other travellers. One guy was Dutch, and they got onto talking cars, at which point he said he had an MGB that had come from the UK...
Turns out he had bought my car from the guy I sold it to! Small world...
Roll forward three or four years and a friend decided to take some time out from work to ride a bike down through Africa, a la Boorman/McGregor. He pitched up at a camping area in the Congo and started chatting to the other travellers. One guy was Dutch, and they got onto talking cars, at which point he said he had an MGB that had come from the UK...
Turns out he had bought my car from the guy I sold it to! Small world...
My old VW camper van had to go so I drove from Essex to North London and sold it to a dealer.
That weekend I visited a mate in Salisbury to drown my sorrows, as we were walking down the high street my bus trundled past....
I was half tempted to run after it and buy it back, probably would've caught it too, it was pretty slow!
That weekend I visited a mate in Salisbury to drown my sorrows, as we were walking down the high street my bus trundled past....
I was half tempted to run after it and buy it back, probably would've caught it too, it was pretty slow!
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