Getaway Cars

I found an interesting little section on the Hagerty UK site today called "The One That Got Away."

And yesterday, while I was watching "Salvage Hunters Classic Cars", they added the moneyed star of that show, Drew Pritchard:

He must be bloody young in that picture - and check out the hair on the bloke we know as completely bald!

The "The One That Got Away" stories are of the cars that people wished they hadn't got rid of and would quite like to buy back.

Despite the caption they put on that Beach Buggy in the article, it was the badly-painted orange VW Bus that he swapped to get that Beach Buggy that he wants back.

Drew reckons he's owned about 250 cars but has stopped selling the ones he really likes now.  I've owned five cars and I'm pretty sure three of them are in scrapyards.  If you are ever in a scrapyard and spot a vomit yellow Triumph Dolomite NRE 915W, let me know.

So, that's last night's telly covered, tonight it is the return of Bangers and Cash on Yesterday while Fifth Gear Recharged continues on Quest.

Last month, the star of Bangers and Cash and also of my post last Saturday, Sarah Crabtree told Hagerty of her (also orange) Mini:

Not sure when that would have been taken but satellite telly had been invented.  Again it is fun to see her so young.

And back in October, star of Fifth Gear Recharged, Vicki Butler-Henderson told of her not orange BMW M3 CSL.

Tomorrow night, Jason Manford is on Would I Lie To You (cue Boris Johnson joke).  I found this picture of a younger Manford in a car:

and it looks like it is still on the road:

Bangers and Dash

I normally make a point of not clicking on adverts that appear on my Facebook timeline.

Unfortunately, being a gentleman of a certain age, I can't resist Sarah Crabtree.

So I was rather shocked and disappointed to find out that she is now Sales Director for Evoke Classic Cars rather than office general and tat sorter for Mathewson's Car Auctions.

Unless she is doing both jobs.

I guess I'll find out on Thursday when the new series of Bangers and Cash returns to the Yesterday channel.

She appears to drive a brown Morris Ital now:

...a quirky choice - I wonder which employer she sourced it from.

I'm not sure exactly what Evoke do - there is some auctioneering involved in there somewhere.  They are based in Dagenham which is why they refer to Sarah as from "Up Norf" which I guess should be pronounced with a Essex accent rather than a patronising faux-Yorkshire one (that would be "oop North")

They mention that she is off the telly but don't mention Mathewsons or Bangers and Cash anywhere.  And there is a bit of a dig in their website too:

"You can choose a stand-alone commercial auction house run by shareholders that you’ll have a transactional relationship with. Don’t misunderstand us. There is nothing wrong with that. Most of them are good, very good in fact and if you choose the right auction house you will not go wrong.

Or you can choose something different."

Hmmm - OK.  Not sure a business having shareholders would put me off using them.

Meanwhile, I can't find Sarah anywhere on the fancy new Mathewson's website.

And Derek doesn't look too happy - is he the new tat sorter?

Picketing

I was minded to do a Post on Thursday because two different things piqued my interest:

One was this Car+Driver article about the latest of many many many special edition Minis - this one being the 1499GT

The other was the return of Bangers & Cash to TV for a new series

But which to do?

The new Mini is an homage to the old Mini 1275GT although it is really just the stripe along the bottom that they have in common:

I prefer the old one:

But it was while looking for a picture of a black example to match the new car, that I found this picture:

It's a Wood & Pickett version of the 1275GT - Wood & Pickett being coachbuilders/car converters.  The latest evidence of their existence that I can find is this article from 2011.  I suspect that they are no more but would be happy to be corrected.

That picture reminded me of a BBC Archives Facebook Post that a friend of mine once stuck onto my timeline with Lesley Judd driving around the Blue Peter studio in one marveling at its luxury vinyl roof. Click here if you are a Facebook user who wants to see her.

Now Wood & Pickett converted several different cars, specialising in Minis and other BLMC/British Leyland/Austin-Rover vehicles including my first car - the Triumph Dolomite- this is their version:

Not sure about their paint choice though - and neither was Derek Mathewson, boss of Mathewson's Auctions when he sold it in this week's series 3 episode 1 of Bangers & Cash.  He also sold a barely used Triumph Toledo.  I always watch Bangers & Cash - I'm waiting to see if Wayne Carini turns up stood at the back of the room one week and I think I'm in love with Sarah Crabtree but it was these these two Triumphs that made me want to publish this week.

So, both stories neatly linked.  My work here is done.