What classic vehicles have you seen?

[Martin Evans]

My impression is that the French are loyal to their own products, both nationally and locally (Not like some of the flag wavers over here, who would wave a Union Jack etc made in China, if it was 2p cheaper than a locally made one ).

[rich.]

very true martin, although when i bought our first japanese car after years of unreliable bl products i was amazed at how ultra reliable and virtually indestuctable japanese cars are...
im being very polite towards bl/rover etc

[Paul240480]

Living in France, I can confirm your impressions Martin. Very insular, but VERY loyal to all things French & then also to their own departments. 'tis frowned upon to, say have a builder in from 'over the border' even if it is half the price.....

rich, if brits were the same we'd still be driving Austins/Morris's & the like & BL would have lived on

[rich.]

there is a god....

[Mitsuru]

I always am glad to pop to the local co-op during the day and park
around the back. As one of butchers who works at the neighbouring
Chapman butchers drives a canary yellow 50's Austin Cambridge

[Martin Evans]

The BL story is a sad one, especially when you consider that BMC had some great Issigonis designs. My father would tell you that Nuffield cars were better than BMC and that under BL it got worse. I don't know what Triumph stuff was like in pre BL days (Heard some horror stories about goings on at Triumph plants in BL days), though I know Rover made some very well built cars and that Jaguars, although very nicely finished and apparently superb value for money, were very rustprone.

My experience of BL stuff was that they weren't so much unreliable as such. They seemed to fall down on quality control and durability. For example, my only brand new Mini broke down after 10 miles (Or rather I stopped it when I saw the temperature gauge going up), as the thermostat had stuck (I suppose that can happen but you'd think a test would have shown that) and the rear radius arms were towed in too much and it used to wear rear tyres on the outer edge until this was rectified. The rust treatment was non existent (But I did this myself from new) and the paintwork was fragile. It might sound silly to say that otherwise it was OK but is was; never broke down in all the time I had it and I used to drive it hard (I did fit an oil thermostat and cooler).

I know, from dealings I have had with Shimano, that in Japan, engineers stick to what they know and accountants keep the books. I think BL might have done better had they followed this philosophy, though on the other hand, what kind of business advisor would condone so many cars apparently aimed at similar markets (There were no economies of scale at BL)? I think there was too much of a “That will do” attitude and also a degree of complacency, born of being able to sell all they could make at one time.

Having said all that, much of the home grown car industry has been taken over and closed down; Rootes via Peugeot, most Vauxhalls are now made abroad and whilst Ford was never British owned, how many of them are now made here? At the moment, the Japanese seem to be doing best at building mass market cars in Britain. That seems to point towards bad management at BL etc but I’m sure it wasn’t just that.

PS No classics about today

[loveoldclassics]

I'm back.

I saw this Ford Fiesta Mk1 in Battle to-day.

[Mikey77]

I saw a Renault Avantime parked in the street in Limoges the other day. I don't know if it's a classic but it's pretty unusual even in France. Sorry no pic.

[suffolkpete]

They were actually built by Matra on behalf of Renault, but Renault never put any real effort into selling them as it competed with their Vel Satis. The model was pulled in 2003 when Renault discontinued the Espace Series 3 on which it was based and the Matra factory closed.

[loveoldclassics]

I saw this classic car on Hastings seafront earlier to-day.