Mini-mise your motoring costs with a classic car... 'The Great British Car Journey' tells us: With petrol prices continuing to soar, could swapping your modern motor for a classic car be the answer to bringing your motoring costs down? The Derbyshire-based classic car visitor attraction Great British Car Journey has done the sums and believes an original 1970s 1000cc classic Mini could … [Read more...]
Fitting a front anti-roll bar to an Austin A30 or A35
Hylton Reid explains how he installed a front anti-roll bar to his Austin A30 (the same techniques can be applied to the structurally similar A35). (All text and photographs copyright Hylton Reid). When the Austin A30 was first introduced it was fitted with an anti-roll bar to the rear suspension. The considered opinion was to remove this to improve handling and to fit a front anti … [Read more...]
For Your Bookshelf: Accessible Classics No. 1 – Austin A30/A35 – ‘Enjoying Your Austin’
Are you interested in the Austin A30/A35 models of the 1950s/60s? If the answer is 'yes' you might enjoy this book too... The Austin A30 (initially called the A30 'Seven' to deliberately make connections with the highly succcessful pre-War Austin Sevens) was introduced in October 1951 and was the first all-new compact post-War Austin saloon, featuring a unitary construction body shell (the first … [Read more...]
Volkswagen’s iconic Transporter clocks up 70 years
Transporting through time... or a transporter of delight – by Dave Moss. In this feature Dave describes the history and development of the VW Transporter, and looks at contemporary competitor vehicles... (Photographs from VW, also Audi – DKW images, and as individually credited). Europe has produced some much loved, long lived, and high volume cars in over a century of existence, but very … [Read more...]
Classic Clubs Series – No. 1 – Ford Anglia 105E Owners’ Club
Classic Clubs Series – No. 1 – Ford Anglia 105E Owners’ Club Do you own, drive, or are interested in… an Anglia 105E or 123E, or a Prefect 107E? If so, this club is for you… Kim Henson explains… In this new Wheels-Alive series, over time we shall be looking at the multitude of enthusiastic organisations that help their members to keep their classic vehicles (of various makes, models and types) … [Read more...]
Austin A30/A35 book – available via Kim at Wheels-Alive…
Austin A30/A35 – Read all about these small but big-hearted classics... Kim tells more... It is more than 50 years since the very last Austin A35 (a van version) came off the production line, but in fact the story of these cars dates back to the late 1940s, when the Austin Motor Company was instrumental in earning vital Dollars for Britain (following the financially crippling War effort), and … [Read more...]
MS-RT Ford Transit Custom – First Impressions
Ford’s MS-RT Transit Custom launched. By Robin Roberts (Miles Better News Agency). A stunning bespoke van has been developed by Welsh-based specialist coachbuilder MS-RT working in collaboration with Cumbria-based M-Sport, who run the Ford World Rally Championship team for Ford. Founding director Ed Davies has been in the automobile business for 25 years, and worked with the rally-team for … [Read more...]
Peugeot Expert LWB 180 Professional Plus – Van Road Test
Robin Roberts test drives a large and thoroughly practical load carrier… Sometimes, it’s what you cannot see very easily which really impresses about a new vehicle, such as the Peugeot Expert LWB Professional Plus. This award-winning big van comes with a very good pedigree and blends utter practicality with useful performance. It was launched and went on sale in 2016 but its popularity and … [Read more...]
Citroën Berlingo Van Road Test
A Versatile Load Carrier from Citroën… Words and Photos by Chris Adamson. Napoleon Bonaparte reputedly described the English as a ‘nation of shopkeepers’ and in today’s modern economy it’s small businesses that keep the country working and, in turn, they need an efficient and practical form of transport to keep their company operating. One vehicle that is helping to do this, ironically, is … [Read more...]
Morris Minor 1000
One of the best loved British classic cars of all time, the Morris Minor/1000 still makes a great deal of sense in the 21st Century. Kim Henson takes a look... It is now 65 years since the Morris Minor was launched as a thoroughly modern small car, which (engine excepted), at the time, it was. Replacing the Morris Eight Series E as the smallest model in the Morris line-up of family cars, the … [Read more...]
Ford Anglia 105E/123E
Ford’s highly successful small car of the late 1950s/1960s proved to be a much-loved family favourite, and if you buy an Anglia today, you will find that the car brings back happy memories for many people. Ford Motor Company’s product planning approach was radically revised in the 1950s, and the first model to benefit fully was the Anglia 105E, which was announced in October 1959. The newcomer … [Read more...]
Austin A30/A35
The ‘baby’ Austin Seven helped to keep the Austin Motor Company in business through the 1920s, and the stature of this diminutive icon grew throughout the 1930s. During the 1950s the original Seven’s successors, the A30s and A35s, built further on the success of their pre-War counterparts. Kim Henson tells the story… In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Austin Motor Company introduced … [Read more...]