YOUR INTERESTING FINDS,,

[Cannonball]

Ok people this is a chance for us all to show our car interests or anything interests a thread about finds it can be anything please contribute if you have anything to say it really does not matter how small or its value etc, its prompted me to start this after the Hemi cuda find, so go ahead guys we have all had the chase that excites us I am sure ..

[Captain Chaos]

Great thread idea

Though I love Yank metal and could not bear being without one or more,but I do love all types of car,if it’s quirky or left of centre even better. Strap yourself in for this one

Back in the eighties and into the early nineties I managed a Garage that sold Lada cars,one of my regular customers was a very nice Irish chap who was clerk of the works for Camden borough council,he had several cars off me but after writing off his prized Riva 1600 in some unlit roadworks near his office he bought another Riva off me and proceeded to create a sleeper. It was a coffee brown 1600 SLX saloon that was lowered slightly and had a heavily modified head cam and inlet with Weber 40mm throttle bodies,different crank and pistons and a janspeed exhaust. All of this added up to about 160 bhp,not earth shattering but enough to surprise the GTI Brigade.

Fast forward eight years and I was now self employed and part of my business involved the export of these vehicles back to Russia as at the time there was no import duty on home produced vehicles. I helped in the repatriation of several hundred in this period and then the nice Irish chap rang me. I ended up buying the Riva,very down at heel but still a runner. It sat in the yard maturing as a project until Quentin Wilson ran an appeal for his programme The Cars the Star. Anyway long story short I pulled the old girl back together and got fifteen minutes of fame in Christmas 1998.

[RobTwin]

Great story Captain! Did your Lada survive or did it get crushed too?

[Captain Chaos]

Great story Captain! Did your Lada survive or did it get crushed too?

Not crushed,at least not by me. I received a letter via the BBC from a viewer who wanted to buy it. He came and paid up for it and whilst counting the money chastised me for doing donuts and generally ragging the backside off it on the TV show. It went with a new mot from me in 1999,that has expired and it’s not been taxed since,parked I’d assume.

[Matt74]

Well done for sending so many Ladas back to Russia Captain.

[Captain Chaos]

I do love a Station Wagon.

I run a Cars Wanted advert and the vehicles that turn up range from the total plop to the very interesting with everything in between. I was contacted by the Groundsman/Caretaker of a very impressive Tudor pile,complete with a separate Barn/Dance Hall with a sprung dance floor,near Edenbridge. He said there were several cars for disposal as the property had been sold on the death of the owners,anyway I hotfooted it that direction but was too late for the Mini Moke,Mk2 Cortina and a pair of Rovers,SD1 and P6. Left behind was this gem that had a interesting story with it. Bought new by the owner of the property and used for continental holidays including travelling in the pursuit of Nazi war criminals no less. RHD and UK supplied,360ci and 45k from new,a Rambler Ambassador Station Wagon.The pictures are kind as it was rather crusty but I used it as my daily for a few months before selling it on. Curiously one of the Classic American journalists ran an identical car with a registration number just two digits away from mine at the same time.

[Cannonball]

An early find of mine. back when I was about 20 I was asked by a local little village garage to rebuild a transmission on an old Austin 2200 land crab as a little earner, they did all the donkey work in and out etc I just had the trans I did my side they fitted it then the gaffer turned up moaning it was slipping and sliding through shifts so I shot up there and they had not hooked the cable up to the carb linkage so fitted quicko roadtest job sorted I needed a pee so went round the side of this little village garage was at the job boy were the nettles stingers, and spotted a little black n gold sports car sat in the follage it turned out to be a Sunbeam Tiger,so I asked the gaffer what was the script app its just parked up stored here until the owner decides what to do with it so I persuaded the gaffer to give me an address for the owner to cut a long story short I got the Tiger for £110.00 towed it on a rope with my mate back home it was a rusty bugger aint they all ?? but was complete 260 v8 4 speed with the nice shifter, I had to much on to think about doing anything with it, the kicker was my old dad had/has a 641/4 mustang ragtop that needed a 260 engine his had a 2.5 v6 ford in it and he could off paid me for the mtr say £50 to £100 and I could have broke or sold the rolling shell on as a project but no he was to tight and would not buy it looking back he must have been insane, so I pulled the slot wheels of it and a mountney steering wheel n sold it for £160,00 that was a nice touch when my weeks wage was £37,00,

A few yrs later the guy had resurrected the Tiger a rough job done with a stick welder but hey he was enjoying it, and my old dads mustang is still in his garage engineless and rip he is now gone,,

sorry no pics it was something I never did,,

[Steve]

Great thread Dunc.....

I have always loved American car buff but never had the money to get deeply into it like I would have (thankfully).

'Ive always been a collector with varied interests. I have a pretty large collection of original Clint Eastwood movie posters. My dad got me into his films when I was a kid (especially Westerns). Before the internet took over, it was all word of mouth etc and by chance, I found the 'Where Eagles Dare' poster which is now pretty rare. Few pics if anyone interested....

Cheers Steve

[Steve]

few more....

[Cannonball]

Cool steve.
I think movie posters are magic, if I had a massive house and or massive mint man cave I would fill em full of movie posters,

[Steve]

Yeah Dunc, they have some good artwork on them. I plan to display a couple in frames and just change them around from time to time. I have about 40 of them.

The internet has revolutionised collecting so its nowhere near as difficult (or expensive) as it used to be to find good old stuff to collect.

Cheers Steve

[Blue]

Racking my brains to think of something to contribute here....

[Captain Chaos]

The Posters are really cool Steve,one of my favourite actors too

Your photo collection is epic Blue,really stirs the memories.

[Blue]

Cheers cap'n!

[Captain Chaos]

A world away from a Hemi Cuda without a shadow of a doubt,but proof that a diplomatic and persistent,patient approach can get you what you want.

I had tried to buy this car for over ten years,the old chap that owned it lived close to the Garage and bought it as and ex demo from Endeavour Brighton. I had seen around the village and done the odd job on it but every time I asked I was politely declined,I had even written a couple of short letters expressing my desires. Recently I became aware that it hadn’t moved from the drive for some time and heard the sad news that he had passed on. One of my regular customers lived next door and told me that the family was fending off quite a bit of unwanted interest from various unsavoury types. I put pen to paper again and a short while later was invited to come and view. The owners daughter was clearly very upset to part with the Capri,and part of the deal was that I would restore it and take her for a drive after this was completed rather that flip it,fine by me as I love Capris.

It turned out to be a bit more corroded that it was letting on but hopefully done early next year.

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