Auction catalogue copywriters.
Author
Discussion

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

173 months

Tuesday 10th May 2016
quotequote all
Yes yes....I meant auction.............but I digress.


What a job this must be - for barefaced lies, you need to have a background in politics.

I give you a description of one of BMC's biggest steaming turds:

"Revered then and cherished today, the Austin 3-Litre is an icon of its time: remembered for sweeping through Westminster and now seen at many regional shows via the support of a large Austin Club network, this surely is one of Britain’s most loved luxury saloons"


....righto.



http://classicscentral.co.uk/lot-52-1970-austin-3-...



Edited by iSore on Tuesday 10th May 19:59

sim16v

2,177 posts

230 months

Tuesday 10th May 2016
quotequote all
laugh

It might have had mechanical restoration, but it does look rough!

I laugh when I go to my local restoration place.

They have some proper classics in, a Stratos, Fulvia Zagato, E Type and other "proper" classics, and an Austin Princess that someone has spent a small fortune on!

Cliftonite

8,737 posts

167 months

Tuesday 10th May 2016
quotequote all
sim16v said:
laugh

It might have had mechanical restoration, but it does look rough!

I laugh when I go to my local restoration place.

They have some proper classics in, a Stratos, Fulvia Zagato, E Type and other "proper" classics, and an Austin Princess that someone has spent a small fortune on!


Not a proper classic?

smile

POORCARDEALER

8,663 posts

270 months

Wednesday 11th May 2016
quotequote all


Auction catalogues.....Its what they dont put in the decription you have to wory about

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

173 months

Wednesday 11th May 2016
quotequote all
POORCARDEALER said:
Auction catalogues.....Its what they dont put in the decription you have to wory about
Indeed. Litterered with nonsense like 'motor car' , 'provenance', 'requires light recommissioning' (in other words it's fked) and 'patina'.

There is probably more sharp practice in this end of the car market than anywhere else. £4-6000 for a heap like an Austin 3 litre? They were crap when they were new! Very good banger racer though.

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

173 months

Wednesday 11th May 2016
quotequote all
Cliftonite said:


Not a proper classic?

smile
That's an A135 Sheerline. He may have referred to the 18/22 Wedge Princess - I have a secret* liking for these. A black 2200 HLS - ooof. Who can write the most ridiculous auction blurb? Shall we have a competition?









  • aaah bugger.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

219 months

Wednesday 11th May 2016
quotequote all
iSore said:
Yes yes....I meant auction.............but I digress.


What a job this must be - for barefaced lies, you need to have a background in politics.

I give you a description of one of BMC's biggest steaming turds:

"Revered then and cherished today, the Austin 3-Litre is an icon of its time: remembered for sweeping through Westminster and now seen at many regional shows via the support of a large Austin Club network, this surely is one of Britain’s most loved luxury saloons"


....righto.



http://classicscentral.co.uk/lot-52-1970-austin-3-...



Edited by iSore on Tuesday 10th May 19:59
Not that I'm disagreeing with the description. But peoples perceptions are not always correct. And it's amazing how people will claim something was always rubbish, just because they don't like it.


And I have experience of this first hand. I've been a Triumph TR7 owner continually since 1999. And you wouldn't believe the number of people who, even today will tell you how rubbish they always where, slated by the press, a sales flop and ruined Triumph.

Yet factual evidence and the truth would tell a very different story.

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

173 months

Wednesday 11th May 2016
quotequote all
The TR7 - if you got one of the better made ones - was alright. They drive okay and had quite a few good points. The convertible was a decent effort and it's one of those cars that could have been a real success. There was a bog standard one on the steel wheels at the NEC last year, a real minter in Inca yellow. Time has certainly been kind to them.

That Austin though was undeniably st. To make a 3 litre saloon that was slower than the 1800S was quite a feat. Even Issigonis thought it was junk and refused to be photographed with it. Apparently it was roomy and rode well, but when you consider the opposition (Triumph 2000, Rover 3500) then it's a miracle they sold more than 12.
Look at the BMW 2800 and XJ6 to see what a big car should have been like in 1968! Those Austin turds weren't that cheap either.

corporalsparrow

403 posts

209 months

Thursday 12th May 2016
quotequote all
You've got to sell it somehow. Telling the truth will hardly shift it.

Pickled

2,059 posts

172 months

Thursday 12th May 2016
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
And I have experience of this first hand. I've been a Triumph TR7 owner continually since 1999. And you wouldn't believe the number of people who, even today will tell you how rubbish they always where, slated by the press, a sales flop and ruined Triumph.

Yet factual evidence and the truth would tell a very different story.
I think the TR7 was one of those cars who's looks overshadowed its performance - people expected it to be high performance car, when in reality its wasn't really any quicker than a Ford Cortina. The TR7 with a V8 was a much better prospect - Tony Ponds run at the Manx rally in one is a fave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T1mkj9uiqw

I quite liked them, one of my dads corporals had one and would often be dispatched him to collect me from primary school in it, gave me instant cool points.

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

173 months

Thursday 12th May 2016
quotequote all
Pickled said:
Brilliant, that really was the golden age of rallying. If only BL had built the TR8 for the UK market. :-(
It was a safe handling car and with 140-150 bhp it would have been a cracking thing.

V8 FOU

3,023 posts

176 months

Friday 13th May 2016
quotequote all
iSore said:
That's an A135 Sheerline. He may have referred to the 18/22 Wedge Princess - I have a secret* liking for these. A black 2200 HLS - ooof. Who can write the most ridiculous auction blurb? Shall we have a competition?


Sorry you are so wrong!

That is a Vanden Plas DS7. Very different to the Sheerline.
They only made approx 160 of them. Now very rare and a fab car to drive - same engine as a Jensen 541!

RobinSherwood

336 posts

244 months

Saturday 14th May 2016
quotequote all
iSore said:
Brilliant, that really was the golden age of rallying. If only BL had built the TR8 for the UK market. :-(
It was a safe handling car and with 140-150 bhp it would have been a cracking thing.
They did build a small number of TR8's for the UK market. They built two batches of 9 TR8 DHC's making 18 UK market cars in total.

I'm lucky to own some quite special cars including number 1 of the 18 TR8 DHC's and I can confirm it is a brilliant car to drive, I absolutely love it and I am in no doubt has production not been stopped they would have been a huge hit and we would all look at the TR7 a bit differently as a result.

Yertis

19,707 posts

295 months

Sunday 15th May 2016
quotequote all
RobinSherwood said:
They did build a small number of TR8's for the UK market. They built two batches of 9 TR8 DHC's making 18 UK market cars in total.

I'm lucky to own some quite special cars including number 1 of the 18 TR8 DHC's and I can confirm it is a brilliant car to drive, I absolutely love it and I am in no doubt has production not been stopped they would have been a huge hit and we would all look at the TR7 a bit differently as a result.
Well, we wouldn't would we, we'd be saying the TR7 was crap until they dropped in the V8 and the TR8 was great. wink

BTW I don't think the TR7 is crap.

mph1977

12,467 posts

197 months

Sunday 15th May 2016
quotequote all
Pickled said:
300bhp/ton said:
And I have experience of this first hand. I've been a Triumph TR7 owner continually since 1999. And you wouldn't believe the number of people who, even today will tell you how rubbish they always where, slated by the press, a sales flop and ruined Triumph.

Yet factual evidence and the truth would tell a very different story.
I think the TR7 was one of those cars who's looks overshadowed its performance - people expected it to be high performance car, when in reality its wasn't really any quicker than a Ford Cortina. The TR7 with a V8 was a much better prospect - Tony Ponds run at the Manx rally in one is a fave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T1mkj9uiqw

I quite liked them, one of my dads corporals had one and would often be dispatched him to collect me from primary school in it, gave me instant cool points.
also not helped by the dolly sprint having a better engine than the TR7 ... just a time when the market now held by the 3-series was being to coalese ...

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

173 months

Monday 16th May 2016
quotequote all
The trouble with the Sprint engine was that BL weren't really capable of building them to the required standard, not in big numbers anyway. The Japanese could have managed it but BL's stty old tooling and slapdash assembly meant they were not robust enough - the ingredients were there but....

The SOPHC was a low revving plodder and quite reliable as a result. But like a Pinto really.

mph1977

12,467 posts

197 months

Monday 16th May 2016
quotequote all
iSore said:
The trouble with the Sprint engine was that BL weren't really capable of building them to the required standard, not in big numbers anyway. The Japanese could have managed it but BL's stty old tooling and slapdash assembly meant they were not robust enough - the ingredients were there but....

The SOPHC was a low revving plodder and quite reliable as a result. But like a Pinto really.
that's true but launching the TR7 with the engine it did have rather than one or both of the 2 arguably 'better' engines in the parts bin ( sprint or rover v8) didn;t help especially as it was a leap in styling and originally launched only as a tin top ...

Pickled

2,059 posts

172 months

Monday 16th May 2016
quotequote all
mph1977 said:
that's true but launching the TR7 with the engine it did have rather than one or both of the 2 arguably 'better' engines in the parts bin ( sprint or rover v8) didn;t help especially as it was a leap in styling and originally launched only as a tin top ...
Triumph had a couple of their own engines they could have used - the 2.5 straight six or even the V8 out of the Stag

iSore

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

173 months

Monday 16th May 2016
quotequote all
Pickled said:
Triumph had a couple of their own engines they could have used - the 2.5 straight six or even the V8 out of the Stag
But both were on the chopping block in 1975 though. The straight six (probably the best engine Triumph made) was about to be phased out and I imagine BL couldn't wait to see the back of the Stag unit! Launched in 1975 with a Rover V8 the TR7/8 would be been a real hit. There was certainly room for both a 2.0 and a 3.5 but maybe the Rover SD1 took all of the production capacity?

mph1977

12,467 posts

197 months

Monday 16th May 2016
quotequote all
Pickled said:
mph1977 said:
that's true but launching the TR7 with the engine it did have rather than one or both of the 2 arguably 'better' engines in the parts bin ( sprint or rover v8) didn;t help especially as it was a leap in styling and originally launched only as a tin top ...
Triumph had a couple of their own engines they could have used - the 2.5 straight six or even the V8 out of the Stag
both of which as others have pointed out were on their way out by the mid 1970s , and thestag still suffering with it's cooling / metallurgy issues ...

would a straight 6 even fit in the TR7 ? ( and remember BLs other efforts at shoehorning inappropriately diomesnioned assemblies into vehicles at that time )