The Magazine - PreWarCar

Small but practical

2012-02-07T23:00:00Z

By editor Rutger Booy: Like many kids back in the fifties I used a push scooter to go to primary school, but being mechanical minded I soon equipped the scooter with a little moped two-stroke engine. It drove well, but was bloody dangerous as the scooter had only a footbrake on the rear wheel, that with a little understatement could be described as 'inadequate'. I can't remember what happened to that scooter, but I was suddenly reminded of it when I saw this 1949 Brockhouse 98cc Corgi MkII in Bonhams' catalogue. It was based on the World War II Welbike, which was in use by the army, because as a small 'fold-away' lightweight motorcycle it could be dropped by parachute. The Corgi was manufactured by Brockhouse Engineering of Southport. I just hope it had better brakes than my scooter.
(photo courtesy Bonhams)

Mystery Roadster from the land of Oz (Update: 1950 Cadillac Special)

2012-02-06T23:00:00Z

While Ivor Coster was searching the web for Ashley stuff he came upon this sleek roadster, which he didn't recognize. And neither can we. It looks early fifties and may be a one-off. Who can tell what it is? One hint, the registration plate looks Australian, probably one which was in use in Victoria until 1953.

Never forget your roots

2012-02-05T23:00:00Z

Some automobile manufacturers don’t care about their past and prefer to ignore their roots. Fortunately for us many others do care and proudly display their heritage in specially built museums. Porsche is one of them and now that the model 911 is in its seventh generation they are staging a special exhibition, called “911 Identity”. Since the 911 came on the market in 1963 more than 700.000 cars have been built and most of us have either enjoyed owning one or driving one. All seven 911 generations, from the “original 911” to the new Type 991, are on display, including motor racing variants such as the Carrera RS 2.7 “Safari” or GT3 R Hybrid. The exhibition started on 31 January and can be seen until 20 May, 2012 at the Porsche Museum.

A 1960s Driving Lesson

2012-02-04T23:00:00Z

We found this wonderful movie clip on YouTube, showing how to drive safely a powerful Jaguar from London to Bath. The trip takes you through several towns such as Reading, Theale, Newbury, Hungerford Marlborough, Calne and Chippenham, but it’s more a trip down memory lane through 1960s mostly non-motorway traffic. While watching you’ll get some tips on correct behavior behind the wheel, but we think they are not really applicable in today’s traffic anymore. Lean back and enjoy the scenery!
(image: still from YouTube video)

About Tough to Crack Car Puzzle # 28: 1962 Adams XP

2012-02-03T23:00:00Z

Outer space projects are not our cup of tea and that was shown by the number of correct answers on last week's quiz. Only three -Mark Nugent, Kaspars Dortãns and Donald van Mourik- came up with the right answer. Both Kaspars and Donald coughed up a lot of information about this experimental car, but in this case the winner must be Mark Nugent, who in a super short sentence told us all we asked for: "The designers name for (car puzzle #28) is Dennis Adams, he worked for Marcos, and the prototype was called the XP." Congratulations, Mark, the T-shirt is yours! See Read More for the answers given by Kaspars and Donald.

Not your average model

2012-02-02T23:00:00Z

And we’re not talking about the Edsel, but of the nice lady who is willing to pose on the hood. She fronting an ad for an exposition about 125 years of Automotive Advertising and you do have to be in the advertising business to be brave enough to ask a 71 year old model to recommend your product. But we are positive that the creators of the exhibition -among them our own Hans Horwitz- know what they do. The exhibition lets us look at automobiles in a different way by telling the story in themes like ‘Style and Status’; ‘It's a man's world’ and ‘Queen of the road’. The exposition of 125 years of Automobile Advertising will be held from February 17 until April 15 in the Louwman Museum in The Hague. Highly recommended, but the website is in Dutch language only!

Highlights at Retromobile

2012-02-02T07:34:03Z

Retromobile in Paris will held from February 1st until the 5th. If you are there, why not send us your best shots!
(click READ MORE for earlier photos)

An all different look at our cars and the people involved. Japanese artist Todoroki Tomohiro likes to emphasize on the human aspect and character of the car's face. That's why he doesn't use the straight metallic lines but more the wrinkled aging lines of their owners faces.

Which oil?

2012-02-01T23:00:00Z

A book review by Michael E Ware: We read a lot about petrol, its make-up and suitability for use in the older car. I don’t seem to remember such a debate when it comes to oils and other lubricants. This 120 page book at first goes into the history and development of oils. Obviously the owners handbook, if you have one, probably specifies an oil that is just not available these days. You may wonder which modern oil suits your particular car. This book gives owners all the information they need to understand the lubrication demands of their cars, and to relate these demands to modern options. This is not bed-side reading, it is technical in places, it has to be, but it’s written in an understandable manner. The author Richard Michell has spent a life time working in lubricants and owning what are now classic cars. His present stable includes a well lubricated Porsche 912, Lancia Beta Spider and an Austin 7. (continue at Read More)

Kim Koffman's comeback crisis.

2012-01-31T23:00:00Z

Long time visitors (and we mean looooooong time) for sure will remember cartoonist Kim Koffman who provided us all with dry-witted 'made by Kim' sketches. We loved his drawings about grumpy men and women, who stumble along through life and The Hobby. We couldn't get enough of that. Unfortunately family matters kept Kim from the drawing board for several years. Better news is that he is now making his comeback! (click main pic!)

We Drivers, We Pedestrians

2012-01-30T23:00:00Z

Have you ever seen one of these before? Bet you haven’t! It’s a table top display that is supposed to make you worry you are under insured. The display has a rotating light inside to make the overturned car look like it is in flames. Very aggressive advertising if you ask us. It’s one of the items that has already been consigned to the next memorabilia part of the Ohio Spring Classic Car Auction on March 31st. The display looks very original and even come with the original packing box.
(photo courtesy Classic Motorcar Auctions)