Your family's best piece of motoring heritage
Discussion
Soov535 said:
Monkeylegend said:
Soov535 said:
Key to my Dad's 1982 Henna Red 316 BMW.
On a key ring he got me for my 17th birthday along with the key and insurance certificate, together with the key for my current 535d M Sport.
RIP Dad. God bless ya
Do you still have it?On a key ring he got me for my 17th birthday along with the key and insurance certificate, together with the key for my current 535d M Sport.
RIP Dad. God bless ya
I've got some good pieces around my house. I've got an old Porsche catalogue from 1999 when the 996 GT3 was a new thing. That's really cool. However, my dad probably has the best stuff. He has correspondence from Peugeot in the early 90's, all typed and sent by snail mail as was the fashion in the day. He had a issue with his new 309 GTi, namely that one of the buttons in the interior had fallen off and he was battling to get it replaced. He eventually did, and he kept the letters documenting it. It's a window back into the past.
He also remembers this car well:
He was a traffic cop back in the day, and remembers this Sierra Cosworth having coming to our force as a test car before the first lot of Sierra Cosworth traffic cars were purchased. I had this picture in a book about Ford Cosworths and he was taken aback when he saw it. One of his friends remembers this Astra GTE - it was his preferred traffic car back in the day as everyone fought over the keys for the Sierras and left him to his GTE.
He also remembers this car well:
He was a traffic cop back in the day, and remembers this Sierra Cosworth having coming to our force as a test car before the first lot of Sierra Cosworth traffic cars were purchased. I had this picture in a book about Ford Cosworths and he was taken aback when he saw it. One of his friends remembers this Astra GTE - it was his preferred traffic car back in the day as everyone fought over the keys for the Sierras and left him to his GTE.
By far this has to be my grandad and a couple of his cars he had in the 60s:
Daimler
Jaguar mk9
For his birthday a number of years ago when we were struggling to think of a birthday present for him (well, what do you get a chap of 90-odd?!) and I decided to hire a Jaguar mk9 and take him for a trip down memory lane around the town he grew-up and lives in (I posted on here and a PHer came to the rescue with someone to contact).
Would be interested if anyone knows anything about the Daimler (although the online vehicle check has no record of it). He can't remember the reg of the Jaguar for me to find out about that though. Damn his memory.
Daimler
Jaguar mk9
For his birthday a number of years ago when we were struggling to think of a birthday present for him (well, what do you get a chap of 90-odd?!) and I decided to hire a Jaguar mk9 and take him for a trip down memory lane around the town he grew-up and lives in (I posted on here and a PHer came to the rescue with someone to contact).
Would be interested if anyone knows anything about the Daimler (although the online vehicle check has no record of it). He can't remember the reg of the Jaguar for me to find out about that though. Damn his memory.
My old man was the first person in West Yorkshire to have an in-car phone. In a custom Ford Cortina: Jet Black with Lime Green leather interior... .. I know!! .. I know!! (Authenticity of the 'leather' yet to be proved.)
It had a massive sprung roof ariel and a receiver/ transmitter box monolithic in size and shape, mounted between the two front seats, with a lone receiver that connected you to a special operator.
Unfortunately, no photos in my possession but will try and source.
It had a massive sprung roof ariel and a receiver/ transmitter box monolithic in size and shape, mounted between the two front seats, with a lone receiver that connected you to a special operator.
Unfortunately, no photos in my possession but will try and source.
I don't suppose this is really a great piece of motoring heritage to most people, but I now own the Jaguar XJ6 my granddad owned from new until 2012. Since his passing in August last year it's also regained his personal registration number and it's quite cool having not only an immaculate X300, but having all the original documents and old invoices in his name too. It's the car I grew up wanting but thinking I'd never own, so it's very special to me and it isn't going anywhere.
Here's a terrible photo from 2011 when my granddad still owned it.
And another terrible, overedited photo from 2011 alongside my old XJ40.
One from when I first bought it.
And finally, one from a couple of weeks ago with my current daily driver.
I also have some photos outside his old business from the day he bought it which I intend to replicate when it hits 20 years since it was registered on 23 May this year.
Here's a terrible photo from 2011 when my granddad still owned it.
And another terrible, overedited photo from 2011 alongside my old XJ40.
One from when I first bought it.
And finally, one from a couple of weeks ago with my current daily driver.
I also have some photos outside his old business from the day he bought it which I intend to replicate when it hits 20 years since it was registered on 23 May this year.
Dafydd Wood said:
BMW 326
What a strange coincidence!My father was in the RAF Regiment doing National Service in the early '50's at RAF Wildenrath and he purchased a BMW 326 which was also on British Zone 'BZ' plates (which are still around somewhere).
He bought the vehicle back to the UK when he was demobbed and spent a while rebuilding it including repainting in grey and black and enlarging the back window, as it was too tiny to see who was following him! I have some pictures somewhere I will have to dig out this weekend.
Not actually owned by my family, but my Grandfather worked for most of his adult life on Eastbourne Corporation buses as a driver and later as an inspector. Here he is beside one of a number of white painted, open topped buses they ran along the seafront and all were called 'white' something. This one is 'White Queen' and is a Leyland Titan TD2 petrol, converted by Eastbourne Corporation in 1949 to an open decker:
http://www.classicbuses.co.uk/Ebrneot.html
http://www.classicbuses.co.uk/Ebrneot.html
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/motor-racing-sea...
1.24 is my Grandfather standing beside his Burning MG at Brooklands in 1933, he did many races from 1930 to 1933 including the Monte Carlo rally, until he married his first wife and she made him pack it in
1.24 is my Grandfather standing beside his Burning MG at Brooklands in 1933, he did many races from 1930 to 1933 including the Monte Carlo rally, until he married his first wife and she made him pack it in
[/urlMy father claims to have been part of a group of fans that put a knackered old Ford Popular on some empty oil barrels which they then launched onto the Thames somewhere by Westminster Bridge and moored outside a rival college's premises in support of their team. Apparently the River Police towed it away and they made it into the local paper with a photo of the offending vehicle.
Students eh?
Students eh?
My Dad's mother died in 1938, just after giving birth to his youngest brother, my Uncle Malcolm. Dad's father was a jockey who rode at Newmarket and his mother had moved up there with her husband. Dad didn't live with them, but with his Grandmother in Devon. Following his mum's death, my Dad (aged 14) together with a couple of uncles drove from Devon to Newmarket to pick up baby Malcolm and take him back to Devon. I believe they were in an Austin 12/4 or similar. The throttle linkage broke on the way home so Uncle Arch had to stand on the running board all the way home, pouring petrol directly into the carburetor. Dad meanwhile was sat in the back with his baby brother peeing all over him all the way home. It was a story he loved to tell despite the sad context.
My Granddad loved his Jags. He was in Southampton overseeing the import of some farm equipment and noticed a Jag XK140(new at the time) sat with a broken windscreen. Apparently King Farooq had bought it but the windscreen got cracked on the way from the factory to the docks. In order not to miss the boat it was quicker to dispatch another XK instead of fixing the windscreen. So the old man bought it and drove it round for years. He also owned one of Lawrence's Brough Superiors, he got caught by the police and done for "Furious Driving", brilliant.
My uncle was a certain John Stears (special effects genius behind the first Star Wars film, several Bond pictures and all sorts of other ventures in produced in Pinewood Studios). Uncle John was particularly noteworthy in the motoring world for the following:
- Bond's DB5 original adaptations
- Luke's speeder in "A new hope", many of the droids including much of the work on the R/C 'R2', pyrotechnicals when 'mechanical' effects were the order of the day.
In his private life I remember him mainly for his classic bike collection which at one point was best described using the words "extensive" and "eclectic", To me his legacy was his restoration on this 1927 McEvoy (essentially a racing Brough).
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/14037/lot/414/
(and yes I would have loved to have bought his McEvoy and kept it in the family, but it went up for sale about 2 years before I could have raised sufficient funds to match the winning bidder at auction. Sad but true; a family heirloom lost forever)
I have another uncle who had a series1 Lotus7 later rebuild in S2 spec, amongst other things, and another uncle that had an original Morgan 3, and I recently followed in yet another uncles' foot steps and bought back his 1956 Isetta 3 wheeler (as a bit of nostalgia for my mother to enjoy a ride in again decades later). However, John (sadly no longer with us) remains the family petrolhead that reins supreme, closely followed by his youngest brother Andy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stears
- Bond's DB5 original adaptations
- Luke's speeder in "A new hope", many of the droids including much of the work on the R/C 'R2', pyrotechnicals when 'mechanical' effects were the order of the day.
In his private life I remember him mainly for his classic bike collection which at one point was best described using the words "extensive" and "eclectic", To me his legacy was his restoration on this 1927 McEvoy (essentially a racing Brough).
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/14037/lot/414/
(and yes I would have loved to have bought his McEvoy and kept it in the family, but it went up for sale about 2 years before I could have raised sufficient funds to match the winning bidder at auction. Sad but true; a family heirloom lost forever)
I have another uncle who had a series1 Lotus7 later rebuild in S2 spec, amongst other things, and another uncle that had an original Morgan 3, and I recently followed in yet another uncles' foot steps and bought back his 1956 Isetta 3 wheeler (as a bit of nostalgia for my mother to enjoy a ride in again decades later). However, John (sadly no longer with us) remains the family petrolhead that reins supreme, closely followed by his youngest brother Andy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stears
Edited by budding911man on Friday 15th April 11:36
This is a great thread; I wish I had interesting relatives so I could contribute.
For what it's worth, my dad never, ever sold a car as he managed to write them all off. My mum told me of a time back in the late 70s when I was a baby they were driving down a particlularly bumpy road in the pitch black German countryside. It took several miles before they realised he was inadvertantly driving down a railway track.
And one of my earliest memories was aged 3, sat in the back seat of a TR6 in Aruba. A woman in a Mercedes had driven into the back of it at some traffic lights, denting the bumper and smashing the nearside rear light. I can recall the shouting going on while sat on my mum's lap in the back seat. My dad had a short temper and was a fast driver (hence every car written off; 2 x Renault 16s; Rover P6 V8; Mercedes 220 W115, a Volvo... and they are the ones I remember).
My grandad on my mother's side was a character, I'm going to ask her if there are any stories about him.
For what it's worth, my dad never, ever sold a car as he managed to write them all off. My mum told me of a time back in the late 70s when I was a baby they were driving down a particlularly bumpy road in the pitch black German countryside. It took several miles before they realised he was inadvertantly driving down a railway track.
And one of my earliest memories was aged 3, sat in the back seat of a TR6 in Aruba. A woman in a Mercedes had driven into the back of it at some traffic lights, denting the bumper and smashing the nearside rear light. I can recall the shouting going on while sat on my mum's lap in the back seat. My dad had a short temper and was a fast driver (hence every car written off; 2 x Renault 16s; Rover P6 V8; Mercedes 220 W115, a Volvo... and they are the ones I remember).
My grandad on my mother's side was a character, I'm going to ask her if there are any stories about him.
Two quick tales:
My great great uncle was one of the first farmers in his area to get one of those new tractor things. He was shown how to use it, and impressed everyone by getting on and ploughing a beautiful straight furrow across the field. At the far end though, he just kept on going, into the hedge and then finally grinding to a halt in the ditch beyond. When everyone caught up with him to find out what had gone wrong, he exclaimed "I shouted whoah, but the bloody thing just kept on going!"
My FIL bought an ex GPO van in his youth. It was apparently quite a tatty old thing, but a great little runaround. After a while he decided to tidy it up, and went to the local hardware store to pick out some paint to cover the rust patches. Unfortunately he is red-green colour blind, and the 'perfect match' was not the same colour as the van... family and friends were (and still are) quite amused at the outbreak of measles that seemed to have blighted his pride and joy.
My great great uncle was one of the first farmers in his area to get one of those new tractor things. He was shown how to use it, and impressed everyone by getting on and ploughing a beautiful straight furrow across the field. At the far end though, he just kept on going, into the hedge and then finally grinding to a halt in the ditch beyond. When everyone caught up with him to find out what had gone wrong, he exclaimed "I shouted whoah, but the bloody thing just kept on going!"
My FIL bought an ex GPO van in his youth. It was apparently quite a tatty old thing, but a great little runaround. After a while he decided to tidy it up, and went to the local hardware store to pick out some paint to cover the rust patches. Unfortunately he is red-green colour blind, and the 'perfect match' was not the same colour as the van... family and friends were (and still are) quite amused at the outbreak of measles that seemed to have blighted his pride and joy.
I've posted on here before that my grandparents owned the 'fastest milk cart in the West' - this image was taken by my grandfather. The car was legitimately used to transport calves sometimes: that's just how farmers are I suppose. He mentioned it in passing to the garage when he got it serviced, and they asked for the negative. In return for a free service it was used by BMW in a German marketing campaign.
https://imgur.com/R0mL6XI
Other than that nothing hugely significant. My father and uncle got given their grandfather's pre-war Daimler when they were teenagers in the 60s. They stripped it down to the chassis rails and seat, and bombed it around the farm! No belts, no roll cage, noting. Im very lucky I was born I think...
So their contribution to motoring heritage is to mess up a BMW 2000 touring, and utterly destroy a pre-war Daimler. Not shining examples of custodianship!
https://imgur.com/R0mL6XI
Other than that nothing hugely significant. My father and uncle got given their grandfather's pre-war Daimler when they were teenagers in the 60s. They stripped it down to the chassis rails and seat, and bombed it around the farm! No belts, no roll cage, noting. Im very lucky I was born I think...
So their contribution to motoring heritage is to mess up a BMW 2000 touring, and utterly destroy a pre-war Daimler. Not shining examples of custodianship!
Edited by breezer42 on Thursday 14th April 14:54
Edited by breezer42 on Thursday 14th April 15:03
Some great stories on here, my family's motoring history is rather poor - my uncle was probably the only one who ever owned anything noteworthy various 60/70's Jags, few fast Fords and a couple of classic minis, my parents and grandparents thought of cars as purely a means of getting from A - B.
Wife's uncle has had loads of interesting stuff (still has an XK150 & Healey 3000) was an ex aircraft engineer/designer for Vickers/BAC/BAE at Brooklands and has some fantastic tales of his time there.
Wife's uncle has had loads of interesting stuff (still has an XK150 & Healey 3000) was an ex aircraft engineer/designer for Vickers/BAC/BAE at Brooklands and has some fantastic tales of his time there.
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