Fictional Hearses

Austin Allegro estate.

Imagine this with a V shaped engine up front powering the rear wheels too.

Chevrolet El Camino

Great car and photograph to start with, I just tinkered with it.  Credit for the original is still on the photograph.

Austin FX4

I wonder why there isn't a taxi hearse out there, surely there's enough cabbies would want to hire it for that last fare?

It's October, I've been tinkering with some digital photographs while I convalesce following surgery (boo).

Three Wheeled Retro Racing

Back in the eighties and nineties Dad would take us all out to various race meets.  Early on he had a Goldwing bike and sidecar so we went to see those.  Later it would be rallying at Clumber Park.  I found these pictures the other day entirely by accident, a happy little window into the past on what looks like a crisp Autumn morning.

Wirksworth

This weekend just gone, the parents and I went to Wirksworth for the art festival there.  The festival is not really of any interest to this blog, but some of the spots were.

This made us chuckle, mobility scooter with a Motorway Maintenance sticker on the back and a high visibility jacket on the seat.  I believe the women in purple skirts were part of a performing arts thing... or maybe it was just a strange coincidence.

Dad and I spotted this bike at about the same time.  The bike is a make I'm unfamiliar with, it being the first one I'd ever seen, but Dad was au fait being a bike riding type way back when.

Twingo!  Don't see these too often in the UK, they were primarily sold in France as rental cars.

Nissan Figaro.  One of the more successful attempts at a retro styled modern car which is itself now considered a retro vehicle due to its age.  Hard to believe this little 2 seater coupé is a Nissan Micra underneath it all.

Sooty Van, aka Bedford Rascal.  I believe these sleep one and a half people, are a little more unstable than the miniature van counterpart and quite rare now.  Perfect for wending your way around the narrow streets of Wirksworth though.

Moving House

When you move house almost entirely with a tiny car and a roof rack and your friends have Photoshop, this is what happens.

BAM! Hillman Imp

Garage find Imp, used regularly and restored just enough to preserve it.  Love this sort of thing.

Awesome Van

I've moved out of Sheffield now, but I still hope to continue making the regular RR meets there on the Meadowhall Retail Park.  September the 5th of September was the most recent meet and something really very special indeed appeared.  Unfortunately, my photographs don't contain the soundtrack that this thing entered with and more's the pity.  Believe it or not, what you're about to witness started life as a bay window panel van but is now a fully custom, non air ride, multi-windowed, T-topped, suicide doored masterpiece on Porsche alloys.  The owner is a legend for driving this on Sheffield's treacherous roads.

Unlikely Bedfellows

The Standard Atlas is a clumsy looking old thing, and quite rare now.  Most Standard Atlas' have rotted away or are found seemingly solid only to have rotted away in all the important places so that they turn into a pile of old British tin at the mere tug of a door handle.

The Bosozoku movement of Japan creates clumsy looking things.

I like both, for reasons I don't yet fully understand, so when the challenge for a Bosozoku themed vehicle came up over on Retro Rides I couldn't help myself really.

I HAVE NO REGRETS!

Watercolour Anglia

Something to ease my boredom and to experiment with an idea for some automotive portraits that are a bit different to the norm.  Not perfect, but not bad... just a shame my scanner didn't pick up the blue properly.

4th July - Retro Rides Meadowhall Meet - part 2

At the recent Retro Rides meet was one of my all time favourite cars.  I've heard them likened stylistically to the Jaguar E-Type but if I were to choose, it would be the Datsun all day long for me.  I really don't see what the fuss is about with E-Types, they're not even that attractive, though I'm aware not everyone agrees.

For more attractive proposition has to be this pristine white Datsun 240 Z.

Another stunner at the meet was this Ford Anglia.  Very clean, very well executed.

Fussy nose on this BMW.

The only picture I got of this before my camera batteries died.  The Mk1 Polo is a rare sight these days.  I thought this one was modified brilliantly, especially the grille treatment.  Not often you see hatches with their arse in the air, but it really worked on this one.

A bicycle with a difference.

The frame is built around a shotgun.

I've never been a big Vauxhall Nova fan, but this one blew me away.  Very stripped out interior.  The whole package was just perfect, there's not a single thing that needed changing at all and the owner should be rightly proud.

4th July - Retro Rides Meadowhall Meet

As I make more blog posts I'm getting more familiar with what does and doesn't work.  With this in mind I'm cherry-picking the best bits from the recent Retro Rides Meadowhall Meet.

I didn't get as many snaps as I would've liked of this Cortina.  Very mean looking thing on black steels, with black paint and a black interior set off with small bits of chrome and a gold coachstripe.  Wouldn't change a thing... probably.

These two stood out at the meet for me, and for others.  The DMC Delorean is an icon thanks to the Back To The Future films and while other people love them, I'm not so keen (apart from the wheels).  The Ford Anglia in the foreground, on the other hand, is something I'd happily be around all day long and this one was clearly something special.

This was a very nice looking Citroen 2CV Dolly.  Wasn't over restored but was clearly loved and with the roof down it meant one could get a good look inside at the very basic construction and finish of the thing.  Charming, quirky and completely French, very little could be further away from the very German Audi it was parked next to.

Nash Metropolitan

Produced by Austin in the 1950s for the American market and sold as a Nash, the Metropolitan is a distinctive but not particularly well known car today.  I've loved these quirky little commuters since first seeing a picture of one several years ago but this is the first time I've ever seen one for real.

I was delighted to be able to take some pictures and have a good look around this right hand drive model that somehow escaped being exported.  My knowledge on these isn't huge, but I suspect this is also an early model since it has no opening boot.