Every once in a while the market in SPs is inundated with a choice of cars of various spectrums and prices, so presently doing the rounds are:-
- https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1645803 an ex Met Police car once owned by Chris Evans who sold it for some £82/- and now in the guided bracket of £44/- to £48/-
- https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1615221 an 1960 ‘A’ spec at £35/-
- whilst at Hampsons we have a very well presented 1962 ‘B’ spec with a guide price of £20- to £25/- even at the top end it seems an exceptional value for money, see:
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1645091 - and at the bottom end we have https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1645356 with a guide price around £6/- to £8/-
We have behind the scenes been working on the SP250 stand for the Classic Car being held at the NEC on 10/12 Nov in Hall 2 stand 750, getting all the ‘T’s crossed and ‘I’s dotted or in other words the logistics of such a mission. Robin Read’s dragster needs to be in place on the Wednesday, whilst the SPs and the chassis go in on Thursday. The chassis I have seen, and to quote an old saying ‘one can eat your dinner of it’. We will have SP calendars on sale. If you intend coming along, you will need to ask me for the discounted ticket code.
A couple of years back Paris based SP owner, Jean-Yves Stockman suggested we pay a visit to Les Belles Anglais which is held in the French coastal resort of Les Sables-d’Olonne, the criteria being an English motor car. James & Annie Appleyard spearheaded a trip over last year and had an excellent time, so being able to go this year I went over. Without doubt an excellent and very well organised event. In total over the 3 days 5 SPs came through. Annie & James from Surrey; myself; Jean-Yves; an ex-pat engineer and balloonist David Seager-Thomas in his SP who with friends in a Triumph Herald travelling down from the Pyrenees. The fifth SP owner Philippe Schutz whom Jean-Yves when travelling back to his home literally passed him on the road and invited him to join us. Thus 5 SPs out of the 150 English cars present.
Incidentally, Jean-Yves owns the first and last SP sold into France, the last is the Bigorie special (depicted)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iri-MgtmGyw
Although, initially the introduction is in French, the SPs feature at 2.23: 2.36, 5.08 and 7.13. We are queuing each time for refreshment stops, in other words wine, wine and more wine interspersed with food!
This is the 5th SP on the rally and a much travelled SP. It’s chassis no: 100803 an ex Calif USA SP, where registered 4 MSD 733 then sold into Australia, subsequently returning to the USA and now owned by Philippe Schutz. Returning home from the rally and in order to give Philippe as much history of his car, I searched the records and then noted his ex USA spec SP had spent time out in Australia. So my next step was to contact the holy trinity of Australian SP experts, Alan Hunt, Bruce Thomson, & Brooksy. Bruce kindly sent over the information of the car whilst in Australia and Brooksy the above photograph taken also when in Australia and where registered: 05 856 H in the state of Victoria, these I sent onto Philippe. In the 6 years Philippe has owned the SP he has travelled some 90,000 kilometers. It now resides in Vendenheim where registered DL-704-XN, as I say a much travelled SP.
It seems a number of SP owners were over on the continent exercising their cars roundabout the same time as we were enjoying the rally at Les Bells Anglais. I covered 1100 miles; Ella and Robin Read covered also a similar amount ambling around the Brittany Coastal area sampling its delights, meanwhile Graham and Carrys Smith shipped their car from Plymouth to Santander for a Spanish meander, whilst Dave & Debbie Pooley did a round trip to Sicily and covered about 3000 miles only for the carbon thrust bearing to depart from its carrier on the final leg home, now Dave is applying his engineering skills in upgrading its design. Dave also designed the anti-roll bar setup now on many an SP, this will be showcased on the rolling chassis on the NEC SP stand
And Finally………………
I suppose it’s one way to celebrate Guy Fawkes night, with a Transporter of Teslas, helps Global warming!
Thought for the day:
Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us that do.
