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Older cars you have seen

Dr Hoo

Dr Hoo

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(Not a ‘car’, I know, but…) Amazed to see an ancient B-prefix Ford Transit with a pick-up body chug past the other day, evidently still hard at work for some jobbing builders.
Still truckin’ at over 40 years of age (the Transit, not the even older codgers in the cab).
 
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RailUK Forums

61653 HTAFC

61653 HTAFC

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On Thursday I saw a blue 1987/88 (E) Ford Orion Ghia in Batley.
Today's "best sighting" was a 1985/86 (C) VW Caddy pickup, seen passing the Mining Museum near Wakefield. Looked to have had a fair bit spent on the restoration/modification, the sky-blue high-gloss finish was certainly attention-grabbing.
 
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Bald Rick

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Saw an Austin 7 van out today. still seemed to be in use as a ‘work’ vehicle!
 
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notverydeep

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Sun Chariot said:
Is it? It looks too short to be the V70. Looks identical to a former (14 years ago) work colleague's 09-plate silver V40.

Edit: you're correct, as the V40 front had more "squared-off" profile (at least, the 2009 model year did)
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Is it perhaps a V50? That was the one that was basically a Volvo version of the Ford Focus Mark II estate, usually with a bit more internal refinement. On further research V70 does seem correct - the roof rail on a V50 has no centre support, which is present on the V70 - but the photo does seem to somehow shorten it! Complete with the compulsory National Trust sticker... :)
 
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m79900

m79900

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notverydeep said:
Is it perhaps a V50? That was the one that was basically a Volvo version of the Ford Focus Mark II estate, usually with a bit more internal refinement. On further research V70 does seem correct - the roof rail on a V50 has no centre support, which is present on the V70 - but the photo does seem to somehow shorten it! Complete with the compulsory National Trust sticker... :)
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Was going to say, the V40/S40 was the one codeveloped with Mitsubishi and sold in the late 90s/early 00s. The Ford based V50 one was certainly on line by '09, confusingly alongside the S40.
 
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Bald Rick

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Today, a 1950s Morris Minor convertible, split screen. Evidently recently restored. Off beige with red roof.
 
madannie77

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A 1984/85 Renault 11GTL in Carlisle last week, looking very smart.

Also last week, the Eden Valley Railway was invaded by TVRs (17 in total). Not sure how many qualify as the older cars (pre-2000) as I am no expert and quite a few had bespoke registrations, but one in particular stood out to me;

20260531_122120.jpg20260531_122311.jpg
 
GusB

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madannie77 said:
A 1984/85 Renault 11GTL in Carlisle last week, looking very smart.
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I haven't seen one of those for years - there can't be many left on the road these days. A friend of mine had a Renault 9 that was on its last legs back in 1998 and I don't recall seeing a 9 or 11 since.

madannie77 said:
Also last week, the Eden Valley Railway was invaded by TVRs (17 in total). Not sure how many qualify as the older cars (pre-2000) as I am no expert and quite a few had bespoke registrations, but one in particular stood out to me;

View attachment 205668View attachment 205667
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Is it just me, or is anyone else irritated by silver-on-black number plates on vehicles that wouldn't have carried them when new?
 
Strathclyder

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Dr Hoo said:
(Not a ‘car’, I know, but…) Amazed to see an ancient B-prefix Ford Transit with a pick-up body chug past the other day, evidently still hard at work for some jobbing builders.
Still truckin’ at over 40 years of age (the Transit, not the even older codgers in the cab).
Click to expand...
That reminded me of something I stumbled across in Falkirk when I was last there back in March; a N-plate (1995-1996) smiley-face Transit with a box body still at work. The exhaust smell lingered up my nose for quite a bit after it departed.

20260318_152457.jpg
 
Cowley

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Bald Rick said:
It’s not just you.
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Yeah I’m not keen on that either. I had black plates on my old VW Bay Window many years ago. It was originally registered in 1969 but I think by then it would probably have had yellow and white ones I guess?

It did look good though. ;)
 
TheSel

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Cowley said:
Yeah I’m not keen on that either. I had black plates on my old VW Bay Window many years ago. It was originally registered in 1969 but I think by then it would probably have had yellow and white ones I guess?

It did look good though. ;)
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Refelctive plates first produced / legal / available in 1967. Compulsory* on new vehicles registered from 1 January 1973.

* There were exceptions, for instance London Transport's buses and some commercial vehicles did not display refelective plates until the mid 1980s. Certainly I recall 'C' prefix (1985/6) registrations being fitted new to London Transport's Metrobuses.
 
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Cowley

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TheSel said:
Refelctive plates first produced / legal / available in 1967. Compulsory* on new vehicles registered from 1 January 1973.

* There were exceptions, for instance London Transport's buses and some commercial vehicles did not display refelective plates until the mid 1980s. Certainly I recall 'C' prefix (1983) registrations being fitted new to London Transport's Metrobuses.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Thanks for that.
 
Sun Chariot

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Cowley said:
Yeah I’m not keen on that either. I had black plates on my old VW Bay Window many years ago. It was originally registered in 1969 but I think by then it would probably have had yellow and white ones I guess?

It did look good though. ;)
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I agree re: VeeDub "bay window"; I posted a couple of pre-facelift examples up-thread - both had silver lettering black background; as you say, it looks "right". 8-)

The same cannot be said for the Ford Capri 2.8i I put on post 15. Reg'd April 1987... o_O
 
Cowley

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Sun Chariot said:
I agree re: VeeDub "bay window"; I posted a couple of pre-facelift examples up-thread - both had silver lettering black background; as you say, it looks "right". 8-)
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I’ve unfortunately not got many photos of it but here’s a fuzzy one of me parked up in the Cairngorms circa 1993.

IMG_8751.jpeg

That was a long drive from Exeter with barely any heating!
 
Cowley

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Sun Chariot said:
Awesome photo. 8-) And you're surely in contention for a New Year's Honours list, "Dedication to the cause". :lol:
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It’s taken me until now to thaw out. :lol:

The van is pictured in its intermediate stage. When I bought it in 1992 it was pretty standard and painted in Neptune Blue, although the previous owner had replaced the sills and repainted them white for some reason.

Second phase was me getting it lowered, stripping the interior out and painted in gunmetal grey.

Third phase, regretting stripping the interior out, having all of the lower panels replaced due to tin worm, stripping a replacement original interior out of a scrapped van and fitting it in mine, getting it resprayed into its original colour and fitting a stonking engine to it.

I dread to think what I spent on it over the 8 years I had it. It’s still on the road though looking at the DVLA site.
 
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Rover 418SD from Feb 1994, seen in Oswestry on Monday.
 

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90019

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Sun Chariot said:
I agree re: VeeDub "bay window"; I posted a couple of pre-facelift examples up-thread - both had silver lettering black background; as you say, it looks "right". 8-)

The same cannot be said for the Ford Capri 2.8i I put on post 15. Reg'd April 1987... o_O
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I've got an S reg VW Caddy pickup that had black and silver plates when I bought it.
First thing I did after getting it home was get rid of them and put white and yellow ones on it.
 
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dgl

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A Rover 80 leaving Dorchester Tesco (had to look up the reg to find out what it was), sadly no picture and an MG BGT (pictured) in Dorchester Lidl car park.
 

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Sun Chariot

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KT550 said:
Rover 418SD from Feb 1994, seen In Oswestry on Monday.
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Superb. Coincidentally, a burgundy 414 passed me locally on Saturday last week. I haven't seen a Rover 400 series (or 100 / 200 / 600 / 800) in many years.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

This Jeep Grand Cherokee WJ (27 years old) is a "newbie" as far as this thread is concerned. It's the cleanest green-laning 4x4 I think I've ever seen!
Seen 9pm today, in challenging terrain. ;)
 

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madannie77

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Sitting in a place of dryness on what is a truly wet day in the Peak District when these turned up! I ventured out only to get this shot.
 

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61653 HTAFC

61653 HTAFC

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Seen lots of cool older cars in the last week or so, but the highlight was definitely the Lancia Delta Integrale (on a D plate IIRC) which I passed near Wakefield last night.
 
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