Austin – Musings of a curious individual

Figureheads and Hood Ornaments

On: 19/08/201804/01/2019 By: JA

The one item that seems to have disappeared from motor vehicles is the Figurehead aka “Hood Ornament”. In South Africa a hood is a bonnet and a trunk is a boot. Sound confusing enough? The age of plastic has left us somewhat poorer as can be seen by the examples that I photographed at the Tewkesbury Classic Vehicle Event. Somehow a badge just doesn’t cut it as much a a chrome bird or symbolic creature. I don’t know of too many modern vehicles that sport these anymore, I know Rolls Royce still sports the “Spirit of Ecstacy” and Mercedes Benz still have their gunsight up front. These images are purely for enjoyment, no captions are needed.

I never published this post way back in 2017 when I started it because there was more I wanted to add in but never did, this year around at the Classic Vehicle Festival (2018) I went looking for more of these but the odds are I saw the same ones. Anyway, I am going to post this in 2018 come hell or high water!

Tewkesbury Classic Vehicles 2018

Tewkesbury Classic Vehicle Festival 2017 (3)

On: 21/08/201701/01/2018 By: JA

This page is for everything else! The problem is that there were so many great vehicles on show that I kept on finding more favourites. This is where some of them have ended up. Where I can ID a vehicle I will. Everything else is pot luck.

Austin 7 Chummy	1904 Mors 24/32 HP

1923 Amilcar C4	“Herbie” branded VW Beetle
Fiat 500	Singer Gazelle
VW 1600	Bristol 2 litre
Citroen 2CV6 Special	1929 Ford Model A
	1976 William Fourgonette
Lomax 3 wheeler	Ford
Dune buggy	Auto Union DKW
Willys Jeep	1942 Willys Jeep
1932 Lagonda 2 litre	Morgan 3 Wheeler
1934 British Salmson	1957 Rover Sports Tourer
Morris Van	1963 Heinkel Trojan
Bugatti	Bugatti

There was also a display of motor cycles, but not too many of them were classics.

Wow, some of these may have been seen in South Africa, especially the pickups (bakkies). I will continue with more from the Tewkesbury Classic Vehicle Festival, on the next page (page not completed yet)

Tewkesbury Classic Vehicle Festival 2017 (2)

On: 21/08/201701/01/2018 By: JA

Continuing with the Tewkesbury Classic Vehicle Festival.

Of course the event was dominated by British cars of all shapes and colours, and many of them were seen in South Africa long before the emergence of the German and Japanese manufacturers. There was also a smattering of French and Italian cars, but they were definitely in the minority. That is also true in the case of the festival.

As usual my identification skills are bad, but will do my best, In answer to the question: “why are they all facing in the same direction?” I tried to photograph with the sun behind my back so most of the images ended up facing in the same direction.

MG TF1500	Austin Seven
Anglia	Ford Corsair
Morris “Woody”	Ford Escort 1600
Triumph	Austin A40
Jaguar	Ford XR3i
1956 Ford Anglia Deluxe	Lotus Esprit 2.2 Turbo
“E” Type Jaguar	1952 Alvis TB21 D/H Coupe
Austin Cambridge	Ford Zephyr
1958 Simca Aronde	Ford Capri
Austin Apache	Rolls Royce

As you can see the dominant player seemed to be Ford, and of course heaps of Austins. However, it may only be true of this particular show and not indicative of the state of motoring in the United Kingdom. A number of models that I had seen last year were not here this year, and of course there were so many cars I probably missed seeing quite a few.

The next batch are really odds and ends that caught my fancy and which were found in the UK in years gone by. Once again identification is not my strong point.

VW Camper (Kombi)	Bedford HA Van
Morris “Police” car	1985 Ford Granada MKII
1927 Morgan Aero	VW Kombi (Fleetline/)
Vauxhall Cresta	Austin A35
Ford Escort 1300	Riley One Point Five
Rover 3500	Austin Healey
MG	Dellow MK2A
Alvis	Austin 7