Pin-ups were a bit naff. Trendy people tried to make statements through books or pictures of a different sort. I liked precise, geometrical framed prints with an engineering quality. No perspective, just careful detailing and exactitude. Hugh Evelyn prints I thought masterpieces. Beautifully reproduced, I used one in our MG Classics Book 2 1945-1965 to illustrate the transition from the TB of the 1930s to TC with which production resumed in October 1945.
Read MoreSome MGs weren't great
The best MG for picnicking with the dog was probably the post 1931 Magna. At the time Cecil Kimber’s ambitions to challenge Bentley were flagging. The big 18/80 wasn’t selling and in only its second year the Midget was still a bit of a gamble. Kimber had to find something in between and Morris Engines was making a dinky little 6-cylinder for Wolseley that he could squeeze into a Midget. He didn’t much like the connection with staid old Wolseley so the cylinder dimensions were faked and steel plates fixed on the crankcase to cover it up.
Read MoreTeen Biker
Motorcyclists, if they are any good, make great drivers. On a motorcycle you examine roads carefully for a surface change or a manhole cover, or a slippery patch that could send you to eternity. Nothing sharpens the mind so much as the thought of falling off. pic: Roger Cucksey Velocette
Read MoreOut Now: MG Classics Book 2 1945-1965
Available digitally or as paperback, MG Classics Book 2 details post-war decades of Britain’s best-loved sports car. A comprehensive account of every model, specs, performance and prices, MG history, racing and record-breaking. Reference material and a good read,authentic, accurate, perfect for MG owners, fans, historians.
Buy Wisely. Buy Wolseley
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.
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