My desire for some vintage Thush side pipe for my van led me to take a trip down to the NSRA’s swapmeet at Essex Arena last weekend. There were no vintage side pipes to be had but plenty of nice rides to be seen and more slot mags on offer than I’ve ever seen in one place. Stand out vehicle for me had to be this genuine ‘77 Dodge Steetvan. OMG! Unbearable levels of WANT!

I didn’t snap shots of everything as I was busy hunting for van tat but there’s a bunch of pics after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

I needed some cheap, reliable transport for using locally which inevitably means turning an eye towards products from Japan. Having never owned a Japanese Kei car of any sort before, I figured that would be the way forward, so now I have this little 1993 Daihatsu Mira with just 38,000 miles on the clock. It’s got a 847cc three cylinder SOHC engine, whose 41bhp doesn’t exactly endow it with much in the way of performance but does make it miserly on fuel, easily doing 50mpg even if you drive it like a loon. Mind you, these UK spec Mira’s do benefit from a bigger engine as under Japanese regs, to qualify as a Kei car, theirs only get a 660cc! Despite the skinny wheels it’s handling is pretty amazing, feeling much like an old Mini with very limited roll on corners and precise, direct steering. It’s ultra basic, with no PAS, no A/C and proper wind up windows, just how a small car should be. It is small too, at just less than 3.3 metres long by 1.4 metres wide and around 600kg. Now I just need to swap those ugly steelies for some SSR Mk2’s.

Man, this is a big thing to prep! I keep getting called upon to go do other stuff so progress is a bit slow but steady. Here’s where I’m at (or rather was a week ago). Roof and rear end as well as the rear and side door shuts are all bare metalled, welded, filled and prepped for primer. The windscreen came out without trauma thankfully so I can now finish doing the screen pillars and get some paint on the roof. The dash is also now out so that will be getting painted along with the inside metalwork up the front end.  Fun fun fun…

Another blast from the past, this time featuring some tasty Italian machinery from over twenty years ago. I’ve got a soft spot for Alfa Romeos. Despite the rot prone sheet metal, wayward electrons and temperamental oily bits, they have something intangible that makes them that bit special. I guess that’s one of the reasons I like my Nissan Cherry Europe so much… it covers my liking for both Nissans and Alfas at the same time. These snaps were taken at the National Alfa Day in 1989 and feature a number of other Italian cars alongside the Alfa Romeos. Full gallery after the jump…

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I bet when Dallas Custom Vans put this Dodge together back in 1977, they couldn’t have imagined it’d still be pounding the streets thirty three years later. Though it’s now sun faded and dog eared, this gem has all the original mods straight out of the vannin’  era including wild west murals, portholes and shag pile a-plenty. Class! It’s well travelled too having made it way from it place of birth in Texas to it’s current home all the way east in New Jersey. Hopefully this one will find a home with some die hard van freak who’ll nurse it back to health.

More pics after the jump or you can check out the original listing on eBay HERE

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Long story short. I decided a Cortina Estate would be a good thing to have as a daily. A Cortina ticks all the boxes. It’s old and thus obviously quite cool. It’s got pre-historic engineering and is easy to get parts for. It’s two litre OHC so a decent performer. It’s rear wheel drive so plenty of fun. And it’s an estate so perfect for hauling crap around. So having decided Fords classic best seller would be perfect for my needs, I bought this one. Blind. It looks nice, it goes great, the interior is nice, it’s even got MOT and tax. So far so good…

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