Just 17

I used to have one of these:

I thought it looked really cool.  I didn't realise just how much it looked like the uncool Renault 12 in real life.  But then again, it was based on the 12.

I found that picture on this fan site which I'm going to have to spend a while trawling through later.  Not sure how they can describe it as red there though - it is most definitely orange.

Anyway, what got me thinking about Renault 17s?

Well, this did - it's an Auto Express story about the Hyundai Pony concept car from 1974.  It was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro a short few years after Gaston Juchet's 17 so I think I know where he got some inspiration from:

Hyundai have got George in again to recreate this for the modern day - the original sadly no longer exists. Whether or not it will be like the electric Pony I blogged about last year we just don't know.

I bet that if they had mass-produced that concept, Matchbox would have done a version and I'd have owned it - like these ones:

Looks like I was definitely in to red, orange and yellow cars - and it didn't matter that buses were in the wrong scale.

And how old was I then?

Just 11.

Riyadh, We Have a Right-Hand-Drive Car.

In Saudi Arabia, it is an acknowledged punishment for stealing to have your right hand cut off.

This would make it difficult to drive a manual left-hand-drive car.

So maybe that is why right-hand-drive cars are banned in Saudi Arabia.

Being a Welsh football fan, I was aware of a pilgrimage to the World Cup Finals in Qatar by a group of Welsh fans using an electric car:

The story is here (although I first heard about it on Radio Wales)

And they would have succeeded too, if it wasn't for those pesky Saudi laws.

Houston, We Have a Moron.

Well, HAD a moron.

Here he is very shortly before his death.

There is a big clue in that picture as to the manner of his demise.

And here is the story as reported by my namesake newspaper.  It's worth clicking on that link just for the first couple of reader comments.

There is no sympathy but much comment about Darwin Awards.  I concur wholeheartedly with this sentiment.

Heralding a Mystery

As someone who appreciates a bit of left-wing satire, I follow The Daily Mash on Facebook.

But, as a UK car nerd, I was somewhat irked by this which appeared on my feed:

Every UK car nerd knows that they stopped building Triumph Heralds well before the 1976 that that P registration indicates.

So what is the story and why does that number plate look so familiar to me?

Was it one of the several "driven" by Thora Hird playing Edie in Last of The Summer Wine?

I put driven in quotes because

a) I don't know if Thora actually drove the cars herself

b) Whoever was driving, the joke was that Edie was crap at driving

But, in either case - no:

So, if it isn't Edie's, then I must know it from somewhere else.  A search or for "Red Triumph Herald Convertible" brought up no more images of it - not even the one from the Daily Mash piece.  A search for the registration number did bring up that photo though - but bugger all else.  Search by Image didn't help either - it just brought up some similar cars plus some Imps and Simcas.

So, what does mycarcheck tell us?

It tells us it really is a Trumph Herald from 1976:

But, of course, it can't be.  Can it?

The Government MOT check site tells us more.  It tells us that it is a 1969 car that was first registered in 1976.

Incidentally, there are only 5 MOTs recorded on there from 2013 to 2018 (when the rules were changed and MOTs were no longer required on cars over 40 years old.)  It looks like it was only doing about 100 miles in between those MOTs so I guess that it just goes to car shows every so often.

So why wasn't in registered for the first seven years of its life?

Sometimes it has been stuck in a car showroom or private collection and sometimes it has been a military vehicle.  Surely the military wouldn't be interested in a convertible Herald would they?

Except that is the wrong colour and it is left-hand drive.

So not the one Daily Mash have found.

So where did they find it?

And why does it look familiar?

I haven't the foggiest.

Grab One While You Can

Last week I posted about the forthcoming demise of the Fiesta.

Twice.

Now it appears to be top of the sales charts.

Not sure whose though.

The Yahoo one I've just linked to could well be the SMMT.  The BBC have it in at number 6 while my original Auto Express story didn't have it in the Top Ten at all.

It's a bit like when Radio 1 suddenly had some competition and an alternative Pop Chart for us to listen to on a Sunday night.

So, which is "The The The The Chart Chart Chart Chart That That That That [pause] Counts"

You may need to have sat on a Sunday night with your fingers hovering over one if these to understand that last sentence.

Only one of the different lists isn't completely depressing - in that one, half of the entries are not SUVs.

Yahoo!