You've Bean Nicked!

According to the guy I listen to on Dee Radio driving in to work this week, there has been some filming going on in the Handbridge area of Chester and some 1980s era cars been seen parked there.

A bit more digging by the breakfast DJ came up with Anemone, a film that will star Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean.

There have been no sightings of the much-married Sean Bean or the much-retired Daniel Day-Lewis. According to Wikipedia, Daniel's first retirement in 1997 was cobblers.

Anyway, the BBC are reporting today that those cars have been ticketed by traffic wardens.

The cars, were allegedly parked on double-yellow lines - none are visible in the photos so has another crime been committed in covering them over?  Google Streetview does clearly show them:

It appears that the Council did not give any special permissions for the filming so the arrogance of the film team may have come in to play - or maybe this was a calculated risk and they are happy to pay the fines.

I am a bit more surprised that they think that in the 1980s, everybody drove Fords.

Or is it because the production company are called Focus Features?

Recalling when Leyland Daf were British

I've done loads of stories about recalls.

Like this one.

And this one.

Then there was this one.

And of course this one.

And this one.

Closely followed by this one.

All of them suitably stupid.

Like today's one from drive.com.au

Remember when LDVs were British?

Well now they are Chinese.

And 932 of them are being recalled due to a faulty Website.

I'm not too sure we should be using the word "recall" every time.  The Tesla one involved a software drop and this one involves owners throwing away any specification sheets obtained from the LDV Automotive website.

We should have Recalls, Patches and Booboos.

This particular Booboo, could result in "increased braking distances and/or reduced braking performance" or "reduced steering response which may lead to the vehicle to rollover."

And apparently, "A reduction or a loss in braking performance, a reduced steering response and/or vehicle rollover could result in a serious accident to the vehicle occupants or other road users that can lead to severe injury or death."

Death by website.

Wish You Were Here...?

I hate the word "Holibobs".

It should ever only be used by persons involved in conversations that include somebody under the age of 8.

Anyway, I've just got back from my holling-days.

I was told many years ago that if you ever go to New Zealand, it is like the UK about 30 years before with Austin Cambridges and Ford Populars roaming the streets - I was told this in the 1980s.

Anyway, I didn't go to New Zealand.

I went to the Greek island of Domestos.

Actually, I went to the Greek island of Zykanthos - also known as Zante - it was very good.

Although there were many cars from the UK about 20-30 years before.

Like this early Disco:

And millions of hateful little Hyundai Amicas and Atozes (or whatever the plural of Atoz is) - I hope they are ex-rental vehicles because the state of them, especially the Atozes was very poor.

But they were still running.

There were quite a few turn-of-the-Century Primera saloons too - not a popular choice of Primera here in the UK.

The big advantage of most of your vehicle stock being that old is that there were VERY FEW CROSS-OVER SUVs!

But, the few that do exist show the driving, and in this case parking skills of your typical cross-over SUV driver:

Note the Kia Pride in this picture taken through a tinted coach window.

They should reintroduce the Pride name - it would be popular with the LGBTQ+ community.

There are also quite a few seemingly abandoned cars about the island - like this BMW...

...and some sort of Toyota parked up next to it.

Talking of abandoned (or ripe for restoration) Toyotas - look at this Celica GT Liftback:

Then there is this (very much not abandoned) car that looks like it may need some bodywork - it looks at first glance that it has been shot at or just badly corroded but it has actually been adorned with Zakynthos "evil" eyes:

Finally on this holiday report, returning to that Discovery from before, you will notice a motorbike parked next to it.

Lots of people, myself included, took a photo or two of it.

Its owner would have been very pleased that people were taking so much interest in it - it was a de-badged, bit customised jobbie that I don't know enough about motorbikes to be able to identify.

I do know however, that it wasn't any of these:

• A Brough Superior
• A Vincent Black Shadow
• A Honda Cub 50
• The Flying Millyard
• The Millyard Viper
• A Lambretta
• A BSA Bantam
• A Honda Goldwing
• A Harley Davidson Electra Glide
• An Easy Rider-style Chopper

If you asked be what it was, I'd probably have to give the answer that car people hate most when they ask someone what make of car it is that they are wanting to tell us a story about:

"It was a black one"

And in this case, it is irrelevant because everybody was photographing this little chap who was sitting on the bike:

This is Judith Chalmers signing off - hope you enjoyed the show.

Feeling Firsty

Autocar News annoys me at times.

They like to do slideshows.

But then they repeat them.

Again and again.

So I normally ignore them - but something made me revisit one today (and several days in the past) entitled, The first-ever cars of the world's most famous car-makers.

Several of the car-makers seem to have two or three first-ever cars - Jaguar, Skoda and Ford for example - so I haven't a clue what licence they've taken with their definitions.

But when I read the Volvo one, I realised that someone with a sense of humour had been in there.  Check this out.

Meanwhile, the first Fiat was the 4HP of 1899 and the first Tesla was the Roadster of 2008.

Which brings me to the following creation which is apparently the work of someone called @carbreeding.

I don't like the Fiat Multipla because it is pig-ugly and I don't like Elon Musk because he is a right-wing, ranting individual who has completely lost the plot.

But I really like the Cyberpla:

Where are they now?

During a recent conversation in the pub and a quick search on The Internet, I found out that a couple of showjumpers I used to watch on The Horse of The Year Show back in my distant youth are still alive.  David Broome and Harvey Smith are both in their mid-eighties.

The conversation diverged and I looked up former Top Gear presenter William Woollard.

He is also alive and in his mid-eighties.

Although, if you believe his Wikipedia page (and it isn't convinced itself), he was looking extremely frail 14 years ago.

So, what about the other former TG presenters?

It may be a false memory, but I think I can remember Angela Rippon presenting it - I am more certain about remembering Noel Edmonds.

Angela has, rather disappointingly had a stint on GB News alongside drunk-driver (and definitely NOT a TG presenter) Alistair Stewart.

She now does an advert alongside a Albert Einstein impersonator - not sure what it is for but it's got something to do with energy.

Of this lot, Tiff Needell and Chris Goffey have both appeared recentlyish on a couple of my favourite YouTube Channels (Late Brake Show and idriveaclassic respectively) looking a lot older but still going strong.  Meanwhile, Steve Berry has just started up is own channel - Steve Berry's Big in the Nineties.

In it, he gets angry every week and mentions that he used to present Top Gear and drives a car from that decade in a very entertaining package.

He also appears to be turning into Bob Mortimer - especially in the Audi A6 C5 Avant episode where he compounds it by attempting a North-East accent.

I have liked and subscribed.

Paddy, who I DO REALLY LIKE JUST NOT PRESENTING TOP GEAR OR QUESTION OF SPORT, was on Who Do You Think You Are? last week - that was enjoyable and he found out his ancestry was Irish - who would have thought that?

Next Thursday also sees the return of Vicki & Rory in Fifth Gear on Quest and the return of Jeremy, James & Richard in the last ever Grand Tour on Amazon Prime.

Shame it has to end.

We don't know if Top Gear TV has ended but we do know who the general public (as opposed to the car-fanatical public) remember the most.