johnlambert

Maybe the 33 and 26 came from different factories, or used different batches of nominaly the same yellow paint? Just speculating.

I remember that, as @Steamport Southport said, it was Tottie. I don't remember one of the dolls actually catching fire but I do remember one character being warned to stay away from a candle because she was made from celluloid, as I recall. I think the candle was a feature of the new dolls' house. Funny what lurks in the dark recesses of the memory...

I stand corrected, or semi-corrected as they were semi-trailing arms.

Swing axles were once very popular (with manufacturers, if not drivers). Lots of cheap, rear-engined cars had swing axles. Think about the small Fiats (500, 600, 850), Simca, Renault and probably more. And don't forget the Hillman Imp with swing axles at both ends. Mercedes-Benz used swing axles from about the 1930s on its passenger cars; I think Mercedes made the transition straight from leaf springs and solid axles at both ends to independend suspension at both ends. Mercedes had an unusual layout on the last cars to carry swing axles (from 1954); rather than fixing the differential to the structure of the car and having pivoting half-shafts on both sides the differential was in unit with one of the half shafts pivoted. It somewhat tamed the behaviour of swing axles by reducing the opportunity for camber changes. Official story from Daimler Benz here. With suspension, as far as I can tell, it doesn't necessarily matter so much what method you use; as the subtleties of geometry and springing can cause problems with just about any set-up.

Current annoyance/bemusement is with a seller's behaviour. They had two items that I wanted and won. I only spotted the second just before the auction ended so I didn't have time to ask before about combined postage. After I won the second auction I asked for a combined total but received no reply; it would have been nice to at least have something saying, "Sorry, I can't do that". I use the click and collect at Argos, because it's reasonably convenient to collect my parcels when I do my shopping. I got five notifications for the first parcel on Monday which I took to mean that both parcels had arrived. In fact only one had, and the second one arrived at Argos today. At least in charging me two lots of postage I've had two lots of postage, even if I can't understand why.

The number plate has my initials in almost the right order

The impression was gleaned at one of the Earl's Court motor shows in the early 1990s (I'd have been 16 or 17 at the time), from memory the Maserati stand at the time had a Manual 430 4v (owner of the aforementioned heavy clutch), 222SR automatic and a Shamal (the clutch of which was noticeably lighter). There may have been a Spider on the stand too, but I can't remember. I've had a passenger ride in a Biturbo-based Ghibli; I certainly like the combination of sober external appearance and flamboyant interior. Too many cars seem to have eye-catching styling for the benefit of the rest of the world and boring interiors.

The closest I've been to that was a 1980s 911, which I don't remember being that bad for weight. Awkward pedal action and location (strange floor hinged things, somewhat offset to clear the wheel arch) but I think the weight was OK.

Not quite, the MGC and Austin 3-litre used a seven bearing update of the C-series that managed not to be much (if any) of an improvement over its predecessor by all accounts. As for the virtues or otherwise of the MGC, one thing it isn't (despite how it may feel) is nose heavy. contemporary road tests quoted the front/rear weight distribution as 51/49 or something like that and part of the problem with the initial batch of road test cars was that they went to the press with the tyre pressures incorrectly set.

Having tried the clutch in a Maserati Biturbo I can say that it was probably the heaviest pedal I've ever pushed, that alone might be justification for ticking the box for automatic transmission. It's interesting to hear @Kickstart comment on living with a Biturbo (a car I'd like but whose running costs are beyond my means). And my general observation is that automatic transmission is not necessarily an inhibitor of performance or driving enjoyment; it's quite often easier to be in the right tear with an automatic, without having to take your hands off the steering wheel, it is possible to cover the brakes with your left foot (and, no, that doesn't mean you'll end up headbutting the windscreen the left foot can work the brakes perfectly well) and most gearboxes allow you to hold a lower gear to stop the transmission hunting or changing up when you don't want it to.

I don't think the Wolseley straight six of the police cars (the 6/80 or something like that) had anything to do with the motor fitted to the Landcrab and Wedge Princess other than the "W" badge. The old OHC engine was copied from Hispano-Suiza aero engines that Wolseley manufactured during the First World War; there were fours and sixes that also found their way into Morrises and MGs as all three were "Nuffield Group" companies. They had a gear driven camshaft with a vertical shaft and helical gears to transmit motion between crank and cams; some also had the dynamo in unit with the vertical shaft (causing problems when the oil seal failed and dumped oil in the dynamo). I think the engines had a reputation as being a bit demanding of maintenance, which is cited as one of the reasons for the apparently retrograde step of adopting overhead valves actuated by pushrods for the replacement C-series six-cylinder engine. The OHC engine fitted to the Landcrab Wolseley Six and Austin/Morris variants, was designed for transverse installation, so it had siamesed bores to keep the block short and a chain driven overhead camshaft; I think it was the same family as the E-series four cylinder engines of 1,500 and 1,750cc (roughly) fitted to Allegros and Maxis.

I agree Steven, but it doesn't seem that Graham Farish's production is set up to work that way.

Yep, ebay would be bliss as a buyer if they could get rid of the other bidders

The stuff watch always seems to go for a bargain price. The stuff I bid on, not so much

For a while I found one pint containers of semi-skimmed hard to get. Because I live alone I can't use more than a pint at a time without the milk going sour, so I ended up keeping the old one pint plastic bottles and decanting a four-pinter into three smaller bottles to freeze. I soon learned not to fill the little bottles completely but to leave some room for expansion.

I've not seen much Rising Damp but I think I've seen pretty much all the Reginald Perrin episodes (the BBC repeated the whole thing in the early 1990s), so for me Leonard Rossiter will always be Reggie.

I have driven a friend's Triumph Spitfire in the rain and I can confirm that as long as you keep moving you stay dry with the hood down. I've not driven it with the roof up but I can well imagine that the hood simply allows rain water to collect and drip into the car.

Having seen an Austin A40 Sports with the roof up, I'd be surprised if it kept much of the rain out. Maybe it wasn't fitted correctly (although the car looked like it had receive an expensive restoration) but there were big gaps where the roof met the windscreen and side windows. And, yes, it was said that you could tell how much someone enjoyed driving their roadster by counting the bugs in their teeth; particularly true in the days when the fold down windscreen (or no windscreen) was far more common.

As you said, definitely not a one-off (it's the Austin A40 Sports, which had bodywork by Jensen) but it isn't a standard saloon. I'll have to look out the program as it sounds interesting. I wouldn't mind having an A40 like that to go to local car shows but I can't imagine doing any serious distance in one!

One of my favourite The Avengers episodes, with a fine turn from John Laurie as the owner of a disused station just down the line from Norborough with identical buildings. I wonder if the Kings Cross/Euston substitution was because American viewers were more likely to have heard of KX? As you said, it's complete nonsense that doesn't really stand up to scrutiny but it's an enjoyable ride all the same.

You too? Nothing I sell seems to get bidders excited.

I've definitely seen photos of Western Region trains from the 1960s (I think one was dated 1963 or '64) that managed almost the complete set, only green was missing. There must be a photo somewhere of a train in service that had all four carriage liveries, maybe a York - Bournemouth train?

Stratford-upon-Avon has loco release, in fact I think the loop was reinstated at some point after Stratford became the terminus of the North Warwickshire line. Thankfullly S-o-A no longer looks quite as rundown as it once did.

Did the driver have to reverse whilst leaning out of the cab window for the return service?

I hope I can get the picture to embed, this is a Jaguar E-type built from an Airfix 1:32 scale kit. The kit itself i quite old and basic; I added aftermarket wire wheels and some extra details made from nickel silver wire. I'm particularly proud of the windscreen wipers as they were soldered together from two pieces. I added some sliver paint to represent the heater control on the passenger side of the dashboard and the rear view mirror. The holes in the steering wheel (there should be a lot more really) were drilled out with a fine bit in a pin vice.