It was a glorious autumn day. The sun being low in the sky lit up the trees now turning, late this year, to their autumn colours. Some of the trees have lost their leaves already, a few are still green, but the red and golden leaves caught the sun and shone back. It was a good day to be driving the roads of southern England. Mercifully free of the heavy rain that we have been having for the last few weeks.
I was heading off to Southampton to meet Steve and pick up his collection of military vehicles. My route was south down the A34, picking up the M3 at Winchester and then leaving the motorway at Eastleigh, Steve lives on the northern edge of the city.
It was a surprisingly good day for classics as you will see below. Regular readers will be familiar with my questioning what a classic really is and when an old car stops just being old and gains classic status. Some cars are immediately recognisable as classics early on. I think the Peugeot 205 comes into this category. The model below is by Vanguards in 1:43 scale.
While it was still in production it was recognised as defining that then new category of competent small hatchbacks with real driver appeal, spanning the market from basic shopping cars to genuine hot hatches. At the time my wife and I went for the Renault 5 Supercinq, which was good, but not a category defining car like the 205.
The one I saw on Thursday on the A34 was still in the ‘old car’ space, the fact that the driver’s door was a different colour to the rest of the car was a bit of a giveaway. Maybe it will fall into the hands of an enthusiast and get some TLC, maybe it is too far gone.
It makes you wonder what has happened to Peugeot, they used to be known for tough, rugged cars with driver appeal and staying power, think 505 estate; still going strong in less developed countries around the World. Now Peugeot makes poor quality Euro-boxes. My daughter recently had to sell her 208 because it was basically a badly designed car which was badly made, awful to drive and very fragile, breaking down all the time and a money pit.
Closely following the 205 on the A34 was a rare treat, a Ford Granada Mk1 Coupe. This car is by NEO in 1:43 scale.
There was a period where Ford and GM especially made their big cars with an option in two-door coupe form. These cars seemed to find their market more in continental Europe then in the UK and we did not see so many of them here. It is a bit of shame as while they were not so practical, they are very stylish. I like this one.
Turning on to the M3 I spotted a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow coming towards me on the opposite carriageway. The car in the picture is from Corgi Toys, and is actually a Corniche, being the two door MkII version. The car on the road was in gold and a four door.
It is a sign of the times that what was once a big and imposing luxury sedan looks quite small these days out on the road as all the newer cars have just got bigger. When I park the van at the supermarket it is quite normal for the SUV in the next bay to be taller with a bigger footprint. Cars are getting too big.
Closely following the Roller were two vehicles on flabeds. The first was an Alfa Romeo Giulia. The model below being in 1:43 scale by GE Fabbri.
This car gets second billing in The Italian Job behind the Minis, being driven by the Italian Police and failing to catch our heroes as they scamper through the sewers and over the rooftops of Milan. While the Italians were producing stylish drivers’ cars like this, we had Morris Minors and Ford Anglias in the UK.
The second flatbed passenger a mile or so behind the Alfa was an old American pickup.
It was hard to pin it down but I think it was a Ford Model A from the 1930s, very smart and freshly painted too.
The last classic on the outward trip was a late model Reliant Scimitar
This is an interesting car, produced by the Reliant / Bond company in Tamworth. They were known for producing small economy cars, mostly three wheelers. The most famous being the Trotters’ van in the TV sitcom ‘Only Fools and Horses’. In the UK it is (or was) an anomaly of the vehicle taxation system that their cars were classified a ‘Motor Tricycles’ and fell into the same bracket as a motorbike and sidecar.
The result being that road tax for three wheelers was the same as for a motorcycle, which was a lot lower than a car, and they could be driven on a motorcycle licence. You did not have to pass the driving test for a car to drive one, just a bike test.
Odd then that this company should make this very successful and well respected grand tourer from 1964 through to 1995. It being famously a favourite of the Princess Royal. The model in the photo is by NEO in 1:43 scale.
Back to the purpose of the trip…. Steve had collected his military vehicles for many years, beginning with Dinky Toys and moving on to Minichamps and Forces of Valor more recently.
The Forces of Valor models are generally in 1:32 scale and highly detailed, usually presented in dioramas with buildings, figures and other accessories. Often the packaging has the extra bits and pieces in plastic bubbles glued to the inside of the diorama and it is not possible to get them fully out of the box without doing some damage to the packaging.
Fortunately for me Steve had not unboxed most of these so the packaging is intact, if a little worn on the outside in places.
Most of his collection was by Minichamps, seen here in our Kingston Bagpuize warehouse:
Minichamps military models are in 1:35 scale. An odd choice, but there it is. If anything they are more finely detailed than the Forces of Valor pieces, but come as they are in simple packaging without the diorama.
Steve also sold me the last of his Dinky Toys pieces, the star of the show being an Honest John missile launcher, still in its box.
Heading for home there were still a few treats to see out on the roads. As I turned into the bottom of the A34 I spotted a lovely white Triumph Stag. These were a classic from the get-go. When I was a kid the village garage was a Triumph dealership and the owner bought one of these for himself when they first came out, putting it into storage for when he retired. That is recognising a classic.
Their reputation suffered a bit in the early days as they weren’t cooled properly, causing overheating and warped cylinder heads and of course they were made in the British Leyland factories with all the shoddy workmanship, and build quality issues that went with that. There was a time when it was seen as a good thing to swap out the Triumph V8 engine for a Rover.
These days good, modern radiators are available and the Triumph V8 is recognised as decent engine when the cooling is up to the job so the Rover conversions don’t happen any more. Good maintenance, restorations and preservations have got over the BL build quality issues and so long as there is no rust, these cars stand out as fine usable classics.
The car in the photo above is in 1:43 scale from the ‘Dinky by Matchbox’ range.
Heading on up the A34 there were two old estate cars to overtake. The first was a Ford Anglia. I will apologise for not having model cars to show you but neither of these cars has come my way in estate car form. The car in the picture above is from the Eaglemoss James Bond car series. Some of the Bond links are a bit tenuous in this series, there was an Anglia parked outside Strangways’ bridge club in Kingston (Jamaica – not Bagpuize) which is in shot for about a second in the Dr No movie. This gets it a place in the set.
I cannot remember the last time I saw an Anglia Estate, this must be a very rare survivor.
There are actually quite a lot of Austin Allegros still on the roads, and the estate car is not all that rare either. Sadly I can’t show a model of one as I’ve never had one. The car on the A34 was Harvest Gold (did they make any other colour?) and looked in fine condition.
If you have not seen it I would recommend tracking down James May’s programme on the Allegro. He gets the designer of the car on the show to bring along his original drawings. The concept was a very good looking car, ruined by British Leyland management whose priority was to fit a pre-existing heater into the car which completely messed up the line of the bodywork, turning it into the blob you see above.
The crisp autumn weather was gone by the time I returned to KB, dark and wet November weather had set in once again, but the sunshine had been lovely while it lasted.
Friday was a busy day too.
Alan drove down from County Durham to sell me his collection of Atlas Editions. His collection includes the BTCC Touring Cars above, the Police cars, Classic Sports Cars and the Jaguar collection. It was a long day out for him and his pal and I was happy to cover his petrol costs as it saved me a lot of time and trouble.
However the biggest part of the day was taken up by a reporter and a photographer from Auto Express Magazine. Auto Express is a weekly car magazine and with Autocar one of the biggest circulation car mags in the UK.
Last week I was approached by Graham Hope, one of their feature writers, who wanted to write a piece for one of their pre-Christmas issues on collecting model cars. Phil and I were delighted to welcome Graham and his photographer along to the warehouse.
Their brief was to write a piece featuring vehicles which would appeal to their readers. So we pulled out a selection of fast Fords, classic US cars, trucks, tanks and vintage Corgi and Dinky toys for them to include. Lots of photos were taken (including our van) and Phil and I were interviewed. Graham will let me know when the feature goes in and will send us a copy. How exciting!
My next trip is another Odyssey, this time around the East Midlands, with Batmobiles, trucks and circus vehicles featuring. We also have a largish collection of Spark & Minichamps 1:43 scale road cars coming in by courier.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s ramble, if you did please scroll to the bottom of the page and click the ‘Like’ button.
What’s in the Van? – Home
2nd November – All Around the Big Smoke
19th October – Stonnall & Bicester
4th/5th October – Berkhamstead & Poole
21st/22nd September – Stratford & Farnham
20th September – Duesenberg Coupe Simone
14th September – Croydon
10th September – New Romney
24th August – Shrewsbury
17th August – Airedale, Gainsborough & Leicester
3rd August – Bedford
27th July – Worthing
13th July – Chatteris, Hinckley & Nuneaton
6/7th July – Magor & Westbury
15/16th June – Newcastle upon Tyne
8th June – Bournemouth, Ringwood & Bracknell
1st June – Diss, Stewartby & Brackley
25th May – Rickmansworth
12th May – Kingston & Fleet
4th May – Witham
21st April – Staines
12th April – Dereham
6th April – Warminster
30th March – Doncaster, Gainsborough & Peterborough
18/22nd March – Bedford & Epsom
15/16th March 2023 – London, Hemel Hempstead & Stafford
8th March 2023 – Warwick & Solihull
5th March 2023 – Huntingdon & Bedford
23rd February 2023 – Little Wheels Museum
16th February 2023 – Devon & Dorset
9th February 2023 – Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire
2nd February 2023 – Gloucester & Hereford
What's in the Van? 
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