Classic Car Information: September 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011

Come on VW, bring the beach buggy back

TRUE to tradition the best of a bunch of new baby Volkswagens is in fact a Skoda.

Germany's giant of the car industry spent ages teasing us with the up! - which for the sake of keeping our grammar school pedants happy I'm going to immediately rename Up - which finally kills off the firm's unloved Fox in favour of a proper, cleverly thought out city car contender. Five minutes later Skoda (a Volkswagen-owned company, don't forget) launched a startingly similar car called the Citigo, which I'll bet my shoes will be every bit as good as the Veedub but quite a bit cheaper. Shot, self, foot and so on.

What grabbed my attention though was an Up which probably won't be arriving in your nearest showroom any time soon, called the Buggy Up. In a nutshell, it is a bright orange beach buggy, and beach buggies are very cool. During last week's unseasonably warm weather I'd have loved to have one in the garage.

Think about it; in an instant VW's moved the Up from its natural habitat of Liverpool city centre on a grey Monday morning to some sun-kissed boulevard in California which probably only exists in the heads of marketing men and Beach Boys fans. I've always had a soft spot for them because they are in essence convertibles with added convertible-ness and rugged styling, which is why I think the beach buggies based on the old VW Beetle sold as well as they did in the Sixties.

Sure, I appreciate that in Britain you'll look stupid if you turn up to business meetings in Burscough in a bright orange beach buggy, soaked because it's raining yet again, but VW would daft not to at least try selling it to the Americans.

Then again, some enterprising Skoda employees would probably launch their own version five minutes later. Shot, self, foot...

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Mini run to Blackpool

FOR the second time in the space of week I've ended up in Blackpool on a classic car run, although the classic car in question couldn't be more different.

Last night I ended up on the seafront in my trusty old Mini on a run through the world famous Blackpool Illuminations, as part of an event organised by Mini Southport and Ormskirk District:

The Blackpool Illuminations, which take place in the Lancashire seaside resort every autumn, are a popular run for north west classic car clubs, including Mini Southport and Ormskirk District.

Have you got an event you'd like Life On Cars to cover? Get in touch by calling 07581 343476 or send an email to david.simister@champnews.com

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

2012 SHOW QUEENS JUBILEE WEEKEND

The date for the 2012 show is set for the 3rd and 4th June, The Queens Jubilee weekend

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

TVR: Blackpool's tower of sports car strength

THE FORD Capri enthusiast gave the strangely styled creation a slightly quizzical look. "Why would you want to buy one those fibreglass bubbles?"

I was over in Blackpool last weekend covering a Ford Capri gathering for Life On Cars, and one owner I was chatting to seemed genuinely bemused when the one car that town can call its own suddenly thundered onto the seafront. The fibreglass bubble in question was a TVR and I struggled not to defend its honour. I challenge anyone with even the vaguest interest in cars not to love Blackpool's very own sports car.

The thing with TVR is that their products aren't really created in any conventional car industry sense, so I doubt any visiting bigwigs from BMW or Lexus would have been very impressed with the ramshackle sheds it called its factory. Certainly, I can think of no other car which was partly styled by the MD's dog, which after getting a bit peckish, bit a chunk out of the clay styling model for the Chimaera. This being TVR, the MD was pleased by his pooch's efforts and included the bite marks on the production model. That's part of the reason why TVRs are packed full of meaty goodness.

TVR was a slightly bonkers company, which as a treat for my 13th birthday I actually got given the chance to witness first hand on a tour of the Blackpool factory. The Griffith, Chimaera and Cerbera, I discovered, were crafted by hand out of plastic by chaps who'd then equip them with enormously powerful V8 engines, but no traction control, ABS, airbags or door handles. Nor did they think a car should be painted just one colour - as the iridescent and slightly mad TVR Tuscan proved - or have interiors that followed even the vaguest of logic. The styling was best described as surreal. This, I imagined, was how all cars in the future would look.

Unfortunately I'm now a fully grown boy and the cars of the future don't look like TVRs at all. In fact, TVR went bust four years ago just as something called the Credit Crunch happened and the queue of people who wanted to spend £50,000 on a plastic sports car with Star Wars styling dried up. In these recession-ravaged times, new car buyers simply don't want something that's been styled by someone's dog.

After the Capri show had finished, I went back to the old Bristol Avenue factory - the same site I'd toured as a spotty 13-year-old - and was heartbroken by what I saw. Behind the empty building was a yard full of moulds used to make the old TVR models and a Cerbera coupe the company hadn't quite finished, and they were being left outside to rot away, untouched and unappreciated. It was of the saddest sights I've ever seen.

So to conclude TVRs are badly built out of plastic, styled with canine assistance and completely irrelevant to any car that's gone before or since. Which is why, after all these years, I still want one.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Ford Capri Blackpool 2011 show

FANS of the Ford Capri were in for a treat today when dozens of examples headed to Blackpool for a special celebration along the resort's seafront.

Members of Capri owners' clubs from across the north west brought their examples along, with a special section dedicated this year to the Brooklands 280 special edition, which is celebrating its 25th birthday.

The event was also given an unusual feel when enthusiasts of a rather different classic vehicle - Lambretta scooters from the 1960s - took an interest in the Capris, and pulled over on their machines to have a look at the fast Fords!