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!

I'm Not a Fan of Supermodels

I suppose I'm jealous of people who earn obscene amounts of money just because of how they look.

And they walk funny.

But I do admire Jodie Kidd.

She is more than a body.  She is an accomplished equestrian, a racer and she is intelligent.

And she is co-presenting The Classic Car Show on Channel 5.  (Although I caught episode 1 on Channel 5+24 - which shows Channel 5 a day late but rather than show yesterday's news and weather, they replace it with adverts for cruises)

Her co-presenter is Quentin Willson - the only smarmy person on TV I like since JR has died.

The show has a decent website.  It seems to be sponsored by a posh second-hand watch shop and Jaguar Heritage which could be a  bit worrying for product placement reasons but there was no actual evidence of it happening.

So what do I think of the show so far?

The opening titles were very cheesey but that's OK - there was much looking at watches to make sure they got to the studio on time - watches presumably from a posh second-hand watch shop.

The conversations seemed a bit stilted but time will heal that.  The first piece was Quentin enthusing about the Ford Mustang but they followed that with a story about taking a 1950s Mercedes 300SL Gullwing and it's modern equivalent to London Fashion Week to see which was best according to fashionable people like Tiny Tempah and Graham Norton.  Not very interesting.  But then they recovered well with a piece on the Triumph TR7 - brilliant!

The rest of the show was pretty good too - especially a 1950s Studebaker overgrown in a field in the UK somewhere (they wouldn't tell us where) - I shall be watching again next week.

Although the super models I will be liking will be of the Ferrari/Aston Martin/Lambo etc. variety.

And Jodie Kidd.

And perhaps Helena Christensen.