So we come to the end of a century which, among other things, has seen the birth of flight, man on the moon, the extinction of the traditional British motor industry, plus many other momentous events. But it’s not all doom and gloom. (Although, according to some pundits, this may be the last column you’ll…
In these days of mass produced automobiles, using more and more robots, and fewer and fewer human beings, have you ever thought what it was like in the early days of sports car production? What sort of people put your dinosaur of a British car together? Well, come with us back to the 1930s (when…
By Paul Richardson After my father Ken’s Competition Department at Standard Triumph was closed in the early ’60s (due to the Leyland takeover), he was invited to join the TVR sports car company in Blackpool as Competition Manager. The family moved north from Coventry, and I also joined TVR. I worked in the Experimental Department,…
My Austin-Healey Sprite MK IV was built by the Austin Motor Company Limited from parts manufactured in the U.K., at Abingdon, Berkshire, on July 5 in the year 1969. I purchased it on September 5, 1969, from Stockton Motors, Huntsville, AL. This was my third Sprite/Midget and was purchased primarily as a vehicle to get…
Prior to the much anticipated millennium, this my 15-year chronicle started to unfurl. It began innocently enough with a brisk drive here in North Idaho at an excursion with Northwest British Classics. The next day, I heard a knocking sound emanating from under the bonnet of my 1971 Triumph TR6 when I first fired it…
Much more fun than writing an article is the process of defending it after the fact. How could I, a paid professional, so utterly butcher the spelling of Snoqualmie Pass? My good friend Jim Pesta called and told me about the time he had an experience like mine driving top down in the rain with…
(This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Donald Mitchell Healey, and as such, we would like to present an interview with him which Paul Chudecki undertook in 1986, and which gives an insight into the man responsible for those magnificent machines. Paul traveled down to Perranporth, Cornwall, to interview Donald just…
When World War II ended, Dad was 45 years old. He couldn’t drive and decided our family needed a car. Somehow, someone persuaded him that a Jaguar was just the thing for him, and a wonderful black beastie appeared outside our garage-less suburban semi-detached home. To this 14-year-old, the Jaguar SS1 was just magnificent. I think…
(This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Donald Mitchell Healey, and as such, we would like to present an interview with him which Paul Chudecki undertook in 1986, and which gives an insight into the man responsible for those magnificent machines. Paul traveled down to Perranporth, Cornwall, to interview Donald just…
The first car I ever sat in may have been an MG. However, I can say with complete confidence that the first car I ever saw was an MG—an MG TA back in 1938, when my father took me to the Abingdon Works on a British bank holiday. The factory was open so that families…
