Tag Archives: transport

Alvis 21 Series Classic Luxury British Cars

Alvis_TD21_01_PD_180This article is about the TD21, TE21 and finally, the TF21 models produced during the 1960s.

Alvis were a top class manufacturer of prestigious and expensive luxury cars and had been making vehicles since just after the end of the First World War in 1919.

Initially, the cars were aimed more at the well off sporting motorist and, after the war, Alvis tried to resume this tradition with the TA 14 and TB 14 although the design was very much based on the pre-war styles. The engine used in these models was a development of the engine of pre-war days and was a straight 4 design of 2 litre capacity.

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Classic Car Triumph TR4

Triumph_TR4_01The 1950s and 60s saw a perfusion of fast, hairy-chested but at the same time fun, sports cars roll out of the many car manufacturers in the British Isles. All of them were individual and all of them were statements of intention as much as they were designed as transport and the Triumph TR4 was no exception.

This was a time when cars were coming of age and speed and general performance was a big consideration. The TR series began in the early 1950s and used the tried and tested formula of putting a powerful engine in a small and light two seat body. A high power to weight ratio gives lots of top speed and lightning fast acceleration and the sports cars excelled at that time on the twisty British roads and were, mostly, a joy to drive.

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Classic Car Peugeot 204 Coupe

peugeot cabrioletInspired in part by British design and appearing between 1965 and 1976, the Peugeot 204 in one of its many guises was a popular car and a common sight on British roads.

Part of its success was that it was available in a variety of body styles which included, of course, a saloon as well as a stylish convertible and the car we mention here, the pretty little coupé. A completely French car at that time, the base model soon became the best selling car in France at the end of the decade

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Classic Car Austin Healey (Frogeye) Sprite

Austin_Healey_Frogeye_Sprite_01The Austin Healey (Frogeye) Sprite was almost my first car but I got the MG Midget instead. However, this remains one of the finest, the best and certainly the most distinctive of the early 1960s sports cars!

Why ‘Frogeye’? Well, you only have to look at it to see why. Where to put lights on cars has always been something of a problem. They have to be in a position where they shine ahead but at the same time you don’t want them to be too noticeable. Before the war, headlights were lovely chrome jobs positioned on the bonnet like spotlights but afterwards the trend was to put them into the front wing so that they were not so easily seen and didn’t detract from the overall line of the car. This is, of course, the practice today where they now form part of the car’s front structure. Austin Healey, however, didn’t take this approach. They positioned the lights, as you can see, right on the top of the bonnet giving them maximum visible impact and making the bonnet the least streamlined it could be!

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Classic Car Jaguar Mk 10

Mk10_Jaguar_01After the Mk 9 Jaguar came, logically enough, the MK 10 and this was to be one of the most successful Jaguar saloons of the 1960s era, creating a benchmark in silky smooth performance and comfort as well as creating one of the most distinctive and instantly recognisable cars of all time.

The Jaguar Mk 9, like those before it, owed much to the styles created before the Second World War. But this Jaguar sported the look that was to see the manufacturer through the 60s and on into the next decade.

This was also one of the most instantly recognisable of cars with it’s large yet perfectly proportioned body and distinctive front end treatment. It was a car that was as nice for the driver as it was for the passenger and for those people lucky enough to own one, it was a car that you never tired of taking out on the road.

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Classic Car Jensen CV8

jensen_cv8_1A successor to the fabulous and very successful Jensen 541R we look at the Jensen CV8, the sports car that everyone (including me) wanted in the early 1960s.

It had similar styling and was really a production development rather than a completely new car. One way to make a car go fast is to fit a big and powerful engine in a light body and this was very much the Jensen way.

Sadly, Jensen Motors, a West Bromwich company, went bankrupt in the mid-70s and hopes to revive the marque have so far come to nothing. So far as I know, a company has been formed to market the Interceptor series and you can have a look at the website here.

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Classic Car Ford Escort MK 1

Ford didn’t make revolutionary cars in the early post war years (although this was soon to change) and their reputation was based on development rather than innovation. For example the Ford Anglia, for which the Escort was a replacement, was a solid, development model that sold and sold and sold throughout it’s quite long production run with little modification.

However, towards the end of the 1960s decade in 1968, the company produced a new model that really was a new development. The Ford Escort was a car that was to have quite an impact on the motor scene and was a car that most people, at sometime in their lives, have owned. So how about me? No, I’m afraid I never owned one but I have had the pleasure of driving several from time to time (including some quite hairy ones!).

Ford made various hot incarnations of the Escort but this article deals just with the base model and with the Mark 1 that ran from 1968 to 1974. I hope to cover the various other models in later articles.
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Classic Car Ford Fairlane

1962_Ford_Fairlane 01The original Ford Fairlane was a full size 1950s American car and something of a classic but in 1962 the name was switched to this second generation model which is a smaller and more compact version.

At that time, American cars were a rarity in the UK but, presumably, it was felt that the slightly smaller size might appeal to the buyers of the car I reviewed last week, the Ford Zephyr.

It’s an interesting comparison but, in the event, the Fairlane, good as it was, did not appeal and not that many were sold, as far as I know.

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