Pottering About at High Speed

Saw this story today and thought to myself, "What an excellent opportunity to put a picture of Emma Watson on my Blog."

Basically, she's "Done a Wilman"

She's got a 6 month driving ban by speeding while having 9 Points on her licence.

I don't understand how you can get caught speeding FOUR TIMES.

Surely after the first couple of offences you'd be on your best behaviour.

And yet she wasn't the only Harry Potter star who was banned in the same Court on the same day for the same thing - Zoe Wanamaker was done too.

The BBC used the story to talk about the forthcoming HBO TV version of Harry Potter.  Despite it having John Lithgow and Nick Frost in it, I won't be watching.

It doesn't state what vehicle Wanamaker was driving but Watson was in a blue Audi.

No mention of a blue Anglia.

This Week I have Been Mostly Driving...

 ...a Triumph TR7, A Reliant Robin and a Bentley 8.

Actually, I've mostly been driving my BMW 320i but I have had a go in all three if those too.

The TR7 was fun -  but considering how small it is, it was still a shock to have to deal with steering without power-assistance.  And it was an even bigger shock to find out that the brakes didn't really work.

The Robin was awful to drive - but I can't say I wasn't expecting that.  The seat adjustment had failed so I was struggling, being a short-arse, to reach the pedals.  Meanwhile, the gearbox had mostly failed - I had to leave it in second once I'd got it there.  The course involved a little slalom around some cones and I have to admit that the Reliant did actually cope OK with that - in fact it handled all cornering in the same way a car with the correct number of wheels would - and now I can say that I've driven one.

I somehow managed to save the best until last, the blue car in the background is the Bentley.  The size was a little intimidating but it felt lovely to waft around a small industrial estate and the slalom was fun.

So why was I driving these vehicles?  Because I paid some money to Drive Dad's Car, part of the Great British Car Journey - a museum of British classic cars in Derbyshire.

The indemnity you have to sign is a lot scary but you shouldn't come to much harm where you are driving.

The museum is excellent for the British car fan of a certain age.

A got close up for the first time ever with a Gilbern:

And also a Bristol:

Ugly, isn't it?

I can't decide whether or not the Jensen 541 is ugly or not - from some angles (they had a couple of Ford Anglias there) it looks a lot like the Mercedes 300SL:

So I looked up the facts to see who had been copying who.  Turns out both cars appeared in 1954.

They also have two Morris Minor Millions there - one in the museum and one out to drive.  This was a special edition of the Morris Minor (also known as the Morris 1000) from when Morris didn't do special editions. It celebrated the millionth Minor produced. They are a strange pinky-lilac colour with a twist on the usual "1000" badge:

Meanwhile, where else are you going to see a McLaren parked next to an old Mondeo?

The Great British Car Journey of course!

Would you sell your Granny?

Somebody is.

And if I had £5K spare and some space and some time to travel down to East Anglia (as opposed to Ford Anglia - there's one of them for sale too) I would certainly be interested in making a purchase.

After all, she is beautiful:

It's the rarer 3-door coupe style as well.

 

So what alerted me to this sale?

 

This did.

 

It is a story from the BBC about a 1961 Triumph Herald up for sale with just 20 miles on the clock.  It is believed that the "one careful lady owner" never actually drove it. 

Sounds a bit like the story of the Merc I found in Swansea.

 

It goes under the hammer on Saturday together with the car you can just see behind it.

 

The car in the picture behind it interests me because my first car was identical to it.

 

OK, it had a different registration number and was three years younger but it was a Triumph Dolmite 1500HL in Vomit Yellow (aka Sandglow).

 

It must be in excellent condition because it is estimated to go for between £14K and £16K - although they've clearly got the colour wrong in the listing (brown) and the mileage too (69 - maybe they meant 69000)

 

I don't think they are too clever when it comes to the listings.  They have the mileage for the Herald that is making the headlines down as being 3750 (next to a photo of the speedo that shows 20).

 

3750 is still unbelievably low for a 50-year-old car and probably belongs to a second Herald the auctioneers are selling that they have listed as having 20 miles.

 

I would love to have a wander around this auctioneers site - the actual, physical site, not the website, although that is pretty interesting too.

 

For example, they have a 1988 Rover 213 - why on Earth would that be a classic?

 

Well, to answer my own question (and I bet you thought it was rhetorical) it only has 3101 miles on the clock and is expected to fetch £3K.

 

They also have Granny's successor for sale: 

Oh dear.  Maybe not.