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*NOW FULL COLOUR - MORE PAGES - NEW LOOK CMM!* JUNE ISSUE WAS MAILED MAY 29;
JULY IN THE POST FRIDAY JUNE 26
OFF-LINE - In the June 2009 Issue, No. 243;
JUNE 2009 ISSUE: OUR 20th anniversary year, CMM is changing,
becoming bigger, bolder, brighter, now MORE PAGES, now FULL COLOUR THROUGHOUT-
and the 2009 Almanac, the 'bible' for enthusiasts is HERE! 
Subscribe now and you can get Britain's most comprehensive events booklet -
the 2009 Almanac - FROM ONLY
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As usual, in our latest issue - in the year where we celebrate our 20th
Anniversary - we've a run down on all that's best in the classic car
world! On Your Marques looks at news from the clubs, including news on
the Daimler SP250 at 50, the tenth anniversary of the Rover 75 and more, Magpie's
topic is A Bid Too Far, and in the Spannerman column the old
boy's subject is Spannerman & Towing. Plus, our column
by former National Motor Museum Curator, Michael Ware, David Landers takes a
look at the new Scrappage Scheme again, while Peter Love gives us
another Commercial Break and his great Love Steam column.
Plus there are news snippets galore, three super readers competitions to win
a variety of great prizes, news of the new Lakeland Motor Museum, plus a money
off coupon for the museum's very last season at Holker Hall, and our very own
'autogrumbler' has a go in Russell's Ramblings, we have show reports
from Beaulieu, Cholmondeley, Capesthorne, the HCVS London - Brighton Run, and
Bristol, the show that came in from the cold! Look out for all the
news and snippets, no better time than now to think about that subscription
than the June issue!!
Our letters page has, as usual, your views on the
issues of the day and more. We feature more services and spares than ever in
our ads section, a look out too for Klaxon's Readers Problems, the ever-informed
and controversial 'Jumblin' column, the CMM Crossword from Owain
and Alvina, On Your Marques, club news, Get Set, news snippets,
our fascinating 'All You Wanted to Know' column with Minerva,
and the biggest events section of any publication in the U.K., featuring
all the events, autojumbles, auctions and collectors swapmeets that YOU want!
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*CMM Year 2009 Edition Almanac was
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SCRAPPAGE - AN
OMINOUS PORTENT...
"...I
MAKE NO APOLOGY FOR RETURNING to
the subject of scrappage. I believe that it does affect classic owners
- both directly and indirectly - and is an ominous portent of the future.
The terms of the scheme, which has now started, make it impossible for
anyone to buy an older car simply to hand it in against a new one and
claim the £2,000 ‘bounty’. To be eligible, the car being
scrapped has to be MOT’d and has to have been owned by the participant
for at least twelve months - and the scheme will finish next March. So
there won’t be enough time for people to hand over cars that they
don’t already own. But it does not, of course, guarantee that we
won’t lose classics.
It may well prove tempting - for some - to offload their rough, low value
classics against shiny new models. Take a look at any classic price guide,
and you’ll find plenty of candidates. There isn’t a single
‘Condition 3’ Hillman, Humber, Morris, Rover, Saab, Standard,
Vanden Plas, Volvo or Wolseley that’s worth more than £2,000.
Indeed, there aren’t many valued at half that; most are a few hundred.
(And those are the popular marques!) Now; if the ‘Historic’
taxation class actually means anything, then vehicles in that category
should automatically have been made ineligible.
Judging by its recent Press Release, however, the Federation of British
Historic Vehicle Clubs seems to think that we’ve got nothing to
worry about.
“The FBHVC remit is to look after historic vehicles over 25 years
old and so at first glance this scheme would not appear to affect our
members, as most vehicles that age would be worth more than the effective
£1000 provided by the scheme, but of course we have to remember
that these younger vehicles just might be the classics of the future as
well as the future of our members’ hobbies or businesses.”
I’m not sure where “the effective £1000” comes
from - the scrappage bounty, as I’ve already said, is £2,000.
And (given that relatively few classics are actually in top-notch condition)
perhaps the majority of “historic vehicles over 25 years old”
owned by FBHVC members are worth less than that figure.
The effect on future classics is important - more important, I’d
suggest, than the FBHVC appears to realise. People tend to be drawn, later
on, to the type of car that they admired in their youth. We may find it
surprising that anyone would want to keep mass-production models from
the eighties or nineties - but exactly the same was once thought about
fifties’ and sixties’ cars. If our hobby is to flourish, we
need to encourage younger enthusiasts - and they, themselves, will need
the raw material to work with. There’s a danger that schemes like
this will create gaps in the ‘fossil record’..."
Landers Lobby. Read the full article in the current issue out now!
|
SPANNERMAN...
"...IS IT JUST THE
REGULARS DOWN
at the Chequered Flag who constantly claim that the good old days were
always better than things are today?
Some of their claims are certainly true. “There was less traffic around,
and it was much easier to get a clear run on the roads.” I don’t think
there’ll be many people who’d disagree with that. Just a simple look
at the records of the numbers of vehicles being used on the roads over the years
will prove the first part of the statement, and whilst the second part can always
be the subject of a debate, most people who were around at the time will confirm
it was true.
Another often quoted claim is that: “There were less rules and regulations,
and you were less likely to get tripped up by some obscure piece of legislation.”
Again, that claim might seem quite obvious, because there’s no doubt that
the amount of legislation has increased dramatically over recent years. It’s
the latter part of the claim that I have my doubts over. You see, because there
wasn’t as much legislation, I think it was generally only the obscure that
was likely to catch you out. The bulk of legislation was generally just common
sense stuff.
So what’s brought me to this conclusion? Well, we’d been discussing
the questions raised last month regarding various aspects of towing. If you wanted
to do some towing in the good old days, you coupled your trailer to your tow ball
– or connected the tow rope to both the vehicles in question – and
off you went. If you were doing something wrong, you tended to get pulled over
by the police, and they’d give you a bit of friendly advice about how you
could correct where you were going astray. It’s all a bit different these
days. First of all, have you got the right driving licence to be towing? Next,
what about the manufacturer’s designation of the weight that you’re
permitted to tow? And speaking of what you’re towing, have you considered
both the total weight of the trailer and its contents, as well as the nose weight
that bears down upon the tow ball?
It’s a legislative minefield out there, and it’s not made any easier
by the enforcing authorities who are all generally under some kind of performance
reporting system which means that a friendly piece of advice is far more likely
to be replaced by a fixed penalty notice.
So what about last month’s MYTH OF THE MONTH which led
to the above seemingly random thoughts on towing and legislation? You may recall
that we’d been wondering why a recovery vehicle had been using a tow rope
when it was assisting a broken down vehicle that had been stranded on the hard
shoulder of a motorway. Some of our number were convinced it was illegal to tow
on a motorway with anything other than a solid bar coupling, although I seemed
to recall that although the solid bar was the preferred option, a rope was allowed
provided it was no further than to the nearest motorway exit.
I started doing a bit of research, and I thought that this would be an easy one.
The Highway Code would surely give me an answer to this question. No such luck,
I’m afraid. So I started to ponder how the law might cover this aspect of
towing..."
Spannerman & Towings. Read the full article in the current issue out
now!
WARE-ABOUTS...
"...IMPORTANT
NEWS THIS MONTH is that changes are taking place
at the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, which still has its collections at the old
Jaguar plant at Browns Lane, Coventry. The Trustees have asked founder Trustee
Peter Mitchell OBE to lead a strategic review of the collection and their collecting
policy.
The collection numbers over 180 vehicles and it was found that by rigorously applying
the collecting policy to the collection, it could be reduced to a hard core of
68, though the final figure may well be nearer 100. Part of the problem has been
that the collection was automatically given the first new car off the line and
the last as well as prototypes. Hindsight now shows that this was an unnecessary
luxury and some of these will have to go. It is planned that over 40 cars from
the collection, mostly duplicated vehicles, will be auctioned by Bonhams at their
Silverstone Classic sale on 25th July. Peter Mitchell’s background has been
14 years learning the museum trade at the London Science Museum, then a spell
at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry looking after their vehicles.
When Leyland formed BL Heritage (formerly Leyland Historic Vehicles) to look after
its wide variety of vehicles Peter joined as Managing Director, that was in 1979.
In 1983 he persuaded the board to divide the collection and the Jaguar Daimler
Heritage Trust was formed.
Having known Peter Mitchell for many years I know that these present decisions
would not have been taken lightly and any disposals will be done ethically in
accordance with best museum practice. Again following good museum practice any
monies raised from the sales of these surplus cars will be ring fenced for use
purely on the collection, for restoration, repair and the purchase of exhibits.
Most of the vehicles on the list for disposal would appear to be what we oldies
might call modern classics. There are a few older vehicles including a 1931 Austin
7 Swallow saloon, 1935 Daimler LQ2/20 saloon, 1939 Daimler DB-18 2 ½ litre
sports saloon, and 1952 Daimler Consort saloon. One other vehicle which is very
familiar to me is a 1922 Daimler TL30 van (in the shape of a beer bottle). This
was an early form of advertising for Worthington (and later Bass). It spent a
long time at the Montagu Motor Museum and because the museum had two similar bottles
I remember swapping this very unusual vehicle with Peter when he was at BMIHT
for an unrestored 1907 Rover. Beaulieu could never afford to rebuild the sleeve
valve Daimler engine and the same applied to BMIHT and JDHT.
Other changes with the Trust include the name which from now on will be just Jaguar
Heritage. Peter was at pains to point out that the Trust will continue to collect
Daimler and Lanchester vehicles as well as other makes bodied by Swallow Coachbuilding...."
Michael Ware in his regular column. Read the full article in the current
issue out now!
THE AUTOGRUMBLER...
WELL, WELL, WELL AND WHAT a super success Bristol turned
out to be. Sold a bit, bought a bit and thoroughly enjoyed it all.
Very good follow on business as well. The only complaints we had were about
the auction where people had come and refused to pay yet another fifteen
spondulicks for the catalogue to get in. A problem, but not an unusual one.
The debate now centres on next years event. Personally I would like it back
to February but others don’t. Also if May again, two versus three
days? Well Monday did yield results so if you’re going again on that
weekend build on the success and don’t change it is my view.
Next was poor old Beaulieu. We went, did little either buying or selling,
sustained damage to the car when the neighbours sheet with clips blew off
across the roof and went home Saturday evening. I found absolutely nothing
impressive, redeeming or even interesting or enjoyable about the event and
the sooner it is scrapped the better; but that’s me.
Finally, Enfield and what a blessing after Beaulieu. I had a dichotomy,
as half of me really wanted to be down in Devon at the Jowett Car Club’s
National Rally enjoying myself (finances this year didn’t allow such
indulgence) and the other half found many happy memories. I do not think
I did the first Enfield, may have, but certainly 1978 onwards. Under the
chestnuts in ‘A’ row I think I was just about in my original
spot. In those days (editor was still in shorts trousers and CMM was a boyhood
dream!) our neighbour was a very nice chap who always came in a Rolls Royce
Wraith Hearse! Of all things. Tony Harcourt-Smith. Killed tragically on
his way home when braking violently and all behind came down on top of him.
He was, I believe, Chairman of The Railton Club which was his passion. We
saw a lot of people we had not seen for ages with much “catching up”.
The awful crud that was increasingly encroaching into the jumble had gone
and yes it was smaller than at it’s zenith and there were gaps. It
did tick all the right boxes for us and two profitable and enjoyable days
were had..."
The Autogrumbler on the past month. Read the full article in the current
issue out now!
|
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