Circumstances forced me to drive my new 1957 Porsche Speedster one-handed. This was because my other hand had lost all sense of feeling. This was thanks to what felt like Arctic conditions in a country I imagined never became cold, in an open car with no roof, in winter.…
I like many old French cars, not because I think are any better than those made elsewhere. I just love their distinctive character and, well, their sheer bloody-minded ‘Frenchness.’
Sadly, this is less true today than it used to be (Renault Fluence anyone?). But among the plethora of deadly dull diesel-powered family cars, there have been still some real gems produced by French car makers in recent times.…
I despair sometimes – bloody utes took first, second and fourth in overall Australian sales figures last month (December 2018). Really?
Assuming we haven’t all become ‘tradies’ overnight, I’m struggling to figure out what the appeal is. Utes are big, heavy, often ugly, hard to park, uneconomical, as aerodynamic as the average brick, have relatively crude suspension, so don’t ride or handle like a regular car, have relatively poor space for passengers and, while safety has improved, they still have a C of G equivalent of an office block.…
Learning to drive with my father beside me was never going to be easy. He had zero patience and was a truly terrible teacher. I wasn’t expected to be just a regular driver. This I realised when driving his little Austin Special sports car around a field one day.…
The allure of Formula 1 is irresistible for me. I’ve followed it most of my life and I supposed I’ve loved and loathed it almost equally forever. I forever ask myself why I still find myself following every titbit of news, every practice run and every race, when so many of the sport’s orchestrators are seemingly trying to deter me at every turn ( no pun intended).…
Car nuts like me aren’t able to just watch and enjoy films and TV series like most normal folk. No, while others follow the plot, we can’t help scanning the background for any sign of an interesting car. What’s more, I usually have to point out what they are in great detail to my long-suffering wife.…
Even now I can’t explain why I agreed to try a car rally for classic cars with no previous experience whatsoever. A car enthusiast friend started talking to me about this rally – the 1992 Repco Jaguar Club Mountain Rally. It was for classic cars, built before 1977, and was kind of half navigation/half timed competition events.
As I write this, a voice in my head is saying, “boring old git”. This may, or may not be true. Even so, I do find myself yawning when I read about the fastest car around the Nurburgring since last Tuesday. Even less interesting are the breathless announcements of new, ever faster supercars and hypercars, claiming ever more ballistic performance.…
I just saw a lovely, but not especially rare Citroen 2CV for sale. A 1979 Club model, in what appears to be very nicely restored condition. For sale at Classic Throttle Shop, as I write this at the end of October 2018.
I love a good argument, even with myself. After declaring the so-called new supercars/hypercars a waste of time and money in an earlier post (Supercars. So fast, so amazing. So what?) I have just read an article about the Adrian Newey – designed Aston Martin Valkyrie that has caused me to re-assess the whole genre.…
