I had a Regal for three years....good fun but scary. I learned to drive on a MM and passed my test on a Herald.

geoff

My first car, previous owner of this Herald was the local county mountie. Bought her in 1965 when she was 3 years old. Fitted with CB (illegal) which could have cost me my PMG ticket. Great turning circle.

Always worth buying the ex local policeman's car, they might think he still has it. I did it twice, second time I was going for a good clean 2 CV. It was rotten, but clagged to look good. First time was a Riley One-Point-Five ( in chrome on the back). Lovely car.

My only ever new car was a Renault 4 that rolled out of the showroom for £800. My expert friends all said they could have got one for £750.

They are a car that has virtually disappeared, but they were excellent little things.

Hi Bob #18.I had a Triumph Herald a few years back Had it for a couple of years with no problems. Most accessible engine with the whole front hinged to go up forward. I could sit on the tyre and tinker. It cost me a case of beer. The bonnet catches were worn and crossing the harbour bridge to Auckland on a daily basis, the catches would often come adrift and the whole bonnet/wings would swing up and down a fair bit. Sold it for $200. Great wee car but I'm still trying to get over buying a brand new Austin maxi 1970 off the floor in Alexandria South island. What a heap of crap. Cheers.

I had a Maxi,in Harvest Gold, from 1975-1977 to carry my daughters push chair and kit in.....great car but used wheel bearings a heck of a lot.....this was followed by an office car,my first, a Granada then a Mk2 Cortina till I returned from Humberside to North East...where I had a Colt Galant as an office car for a while,followed by an Austin Princess,great drivers vehicle but another that went through wheel bearings.
geoff

THAMES TRADER / SEDDON ATKINSON both reliable wagons at the time. year probably 1958--just a guess on the years.

Had one myself reg 87 ARM --Great little car ,easy to work on only problem was the chassis outriggers would rot and had to be replaced bought the car for £120 sold it for £90

TRUIMPH STAG ----- always had a hankering for one of these but could`nt afford it at the time.

Triumph TR6, First registered May 1973.

2498cc Petrol engine.

Not taxed since 1981 and possibly exported.

A friend of mine bought a TR7, the bonnet release broke. The engineering department said they would fix it that day if he left it there. They used a tank cutter to make a 2.5 inch hole in the bonnet and then they could reach the catch. I thought it was a brutal solution, they viewed it as pragmatic.

This was at an Agricultural College so they were probably right.

Is that an easily found source of information.

DVLA website has been 'open' since they abolished the tax disc.

:thumb:

So ? if I hack that website I could tax my car and bikes until the 'end of the world' .... (assuming David Meade is right ... ) :big_tongue:

Not that open, unfortunately.

But if you manage to do so, I will pass you my reg for you to update while you are at it.

https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla

Doesn't give info on non-UK vehicles,if it has gone abroad....One of mine went to RoI and 'disappeared'.

geoff

Now I`m going back to my school days when buses pulled a trailer with a wood burner to fuel the bus, remember the conductor had to stop the bus to feed the boiler with wood, they`ve come along since those days but I suppose you youngster think that was a joke ,buses burning wood instead of diesel .

My Dad had a black 4 door 1937 Wolseley sedan (Straight 6 engine). Dead ringer for a cop car, and seing he was a member of the Corps of Commissionaires, had a black uniform with a black uniform cap, and could easily pass for a copper when driving the car. Needless to say we had a whole pile of deference when driving around. :supercool:

Ex Police cars are still worth buying. A friend of mine gets a shout when some of them come up for sale, I bought one earlier this year (May), they are not all Traffic Police cars, the one that I got was an ex undercover car, so they change them every few years when the locals get to know them. The thing is that the cars are always well maintained, as it is you and I (the tax payer) who is paying for it...

Cheers Frank

Some decades ago now (cough) I had an ex police motorcycle. Some may remember it .. the Velocette LE or 'Noddy bike' as it was known.

For it's day it had some quite advanced features in some respects. Water cooled engine and shaft drive. This was offset by a hand operated gear change and looks that only the wildest imagination could call beautiful.

One night it froze up and ice popped out both cylinder heads, but .. being a side valve they were easily replaced in less than an hour. The electrics ? ... all I can say is Faraday himself would have discarded half of them as dud equipment ... :sweat:

https://i0.wp.com/www.bike-urious.co...ddy-Police.jpg

I always thought those bikes were direct descendants of the old Post Office machines ridden by young tearaways delivering telegrams!

I think the telegram boys road BSA Bantams. Nasty horrible little two strokes. All two strokes should be ground up and made into paperweights. :angry:

Paperweights are boring, whereas my old 1940's Royal Enfield 2 stroke with the 3 speed gate change on the tank got particularly interesting when it was inadvertantly allowed to fire so that the engine ran backwards. Always a guessing game when leaving a stop light as to whether forward or reverse motion would ensue.

Don't knock 'em Bob. We lived down a long country lane and the distinctive sound of the Bantam gave me early warning that MIMCo was sending me a telegram to recall me early from my leave. Nobody else ever sent us telegrams. The warning gave me time to make sure that another member of the family met the delivery boy and told him that they could not accept delivery because I was hiking somewhere in the Lake District, on holiday in France or whatever, and would not be back home until the date that my leave was due to end. That way I got my full leave. All Praise the Bantam!