In 1904 Wolseley took over a design by John Davenport Siddeley (1866-1953) and Austin departed in a huff to make cars on his own account. Wolseley flourished under Vickers and Morris-Nuffield ownership into a classic middle-class car sold under the slogan “Buy Wisely, Buy Wolseley”. Over the years we had several of a series that remained firmly comfortably middle-of-the road until the 1970s, languishing locked into the fatal grip of British Leyland.
Read MoreRolls-Royce Enthusiasts at Burghley
Maybe a tithe or two of Her Majesty’s revenue was filched by Queen Elizabeth the first’s Lord High Treasurer. Besides being the Queen’s principal fixer he was building Burghley House, round which Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts rallied.
Read MoreFOUR GREAT JAGUARS: Autocar 20 June 1968
Half a century ago this week. Autocar. The year Jim Clark died. Track testing at Oulton Park. Here it is again unabridged. Blog Eric Dymock,.
Read MoreEric Dymock driving Jaguars
I’ve written a million words on Jaguar. 120,000 in each edition of The Jaguar File, three or four re-writes and up-dates of its digital equivalent, road tests and features over sixty years. So, a Jaguar expert? Maybe not. Driving an F-type last weekend I had to admit I have to look up my own books for things. More a Jaguar student than a know-all.
Read MoreTurnberry before Trump
The President likes golf. I like cars. He liked golf so much he bought the Club at Turnberry rather like Auric Goldfinger “bought” Royal St George’s where he played James Bond. I liked Turnberry not so much for golf as family outings and car things. I watched my first motor race there on what had been the runways of a hundred year old airfield. I saw the V16 BRM win, so rare an event that not long after it the BRM Trust put the team up for sale.
Read MoreVerdict on Clarkson
I agree with Jeremy Clarkson. He was in the North of Scotland last week. “Absolutely eyes-on-stalks beautiful. I drove along the coast road north of Ullapool, and never have I gone so slowly. Sometimes the views were so spectacular, I coasted to a halt and never even noticed. The sky was the colour of a Norwegian model’s eyes. Tendrils of cloud spilt over snow-capped mountains before being whipped into nothing by the wind.”
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