Retired and forgotten old lady now 66 - by Dave Moss Time to reflect on a story which began in 1941, when the Rover company received a wartime invitation to help make the experimental jet engines dreamed up by inventor Frank Whittle production-ready. Despite lacking experience in the field, Rover dutifully began work at sites in the midlands and northern England, but friction between the parties … [Read more...]
Features by Dave Moss
Dave has a lifetime connection with the world of motoring. His father was a timeserved engineer from an age when car repairs really meant repairs: he ran his own garage from the 1930s to the 60s, while Mum was the boss’s secretary at a big Austin distributor. Both worked their entire lives in the motor trade, so if motor oil’s not in Dave’s blood, it’s surely a very close thing.
Though qualified in Electronics, for Dave it seemed a natural step into restoring a succession of classic cars, culminating in a variety of Minis. Writing and broadcasting about these, and an ever widening range of motoring topics ancient and modern, gathered pace in the 1970’s, and has taken over since, embracing books, magazines, newspapers, radio programmes, phone-ins and guest appearances – not forgetting hard graft on the garage floor. Latest book: The Efficient Driver’s Handbook. Latest project: That 1968 Mk 1 Mini Cooper S will one day move again…
Michelotti (and the Triumph Stag) – ‘A free pencil…’
2015 marks the 45th anniversary of the launch of the Triumph Stag. Dave Moss looks back at the car and its talented instigator, Giovanni Michelotti... In 1968, the Triumph Stag - and various other shadowy prototypes - were oddball survivors in the new BLMC stable. At the time marque plans were being fiercely guarded and nurtured by previously-independent operations then recently joined in an … [Read more...]
Why Austin’s Smallest Car Hails from the Welsh Valleys
Some 66 years on, Dave Moss remembers the disabled Welsh miners who produced 30,000 cars... Pengam, on the outskirts of Bargoed in south Wales, is a pretty unlikely place for a car factory - but its product was a pretty unusual car. Deep in the Rhymney Valley, landlocked by hills, eighteen tortuous miles north of Cardiff and almost as far from Ebbw Vale and Merthyr Tydfil, for years the … [Read more...]
Early Discoverys in the South West
Dave Moss reflects on the introduction of Land Rover's first Discovery, in 1989. Looking down the time tunnel to the Plymouth-based UK launch of the Land-Rover Discovery in October 1989, 26 years now feels like several lifetimes in automotive history. The launch was masterminded by the marque's new owner, British Aerospace, which had somehow recently been persuaded by the government to buy … [Read more...]
Mini – Collectors’ Gold
Early BMC Minis, including unrestored examples, commercial versions, Coopers and special editions are all of particular interest to enthusiasts in the 21st Century says Dave Moss. Despite a high profile career spanning over 40 years, it’s perhaps rather surprising that almost all of today's most valuable and collectable Minis were sold in the 1960s. Though the next three decades produced … [Read more...]
The Efficient Driver’s Handbook
By: Dave Moss (a highly respected motoring writer, and a valued contributor to Wheels-Alive) Published by: RAC/Veloce, paperback Price: £9.99 ISBN: 978 1 845843 51 9 Available online: Veloce, Amazon and other online bookstores, or can be ordered via bookshops everywhere; also available as an e-book. www.veloce.co.uk/shop These days, car users are under pressure from all sides. Fuel costs … [Read more...]
Number Plates
By: Dave Moss (a highly respected motoring writer, and a valued contributor to Wheels-Alive) Published by: Shire Books, paperback Price: £4.99 ISBN: 978 0 747805 66 3 Available via: Shire books, Amazon and other online bookstores, or can be ordered via bookshops everywhere. www.shirebooks.co.uk Registration marks are one of the very few unbroken links between the earliest times of the … [Read more...]
Finding Future Classics
When do the first indications appear that a car is turning into a classic and its value could start rising? The only real answer is eventually - maybe... but there are certain clues that, intelligently interpreted, can point thoughtful buyers in the right direction. Much depends here on your definition of a "classic," for many regard any car of a certain age in that light; others might give more … [Read more...]