Rugd1022

Have to say, this is one of the very best images posted on RMWeb in its long history.... just superb...! Looks just as good in black and white too, if I may be so bold...

Post deleted - double post. oops.

I can't find it at the moment but somewhere I have a Roger Geach shot of a 22 at Oxford on a local trip working showing something like '0-2-' in the headcode boxes, the '-' representing blank spaces in the relevant blinds (or 'linens' as some of the old hands knew them, a reference to bus destination blinds from the same period).

Just Walking In The Rain - Johnnie Ray

With it being such a short trip working the crews often didn't bother faffing about with headcode blinds, it was just as common on the Cornish branches, getting the shunting done and mashing a brew was more of a priority in those days .

Look Through Any Window - The Hollies

Dawlish, 1901... sightseeing beside the railway...

Photo c/o Kevin Atherfold : one of Old Oak's finest, Derek 'Fangs' Dyer making out his Driver's ticket at Padd in the '80s...

Photo c/o Stephen Dowle / aka 'Fray Bentos' on flicker : D1008 entertains the locals on Saturday, 29th September 1973...

Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks

A quick one from Blighty... Marshalls of Peterborough...

Another dose of Americana...

I've Got You Under My Skin - Francis Albert Sinatra

More from ye olde Pod...

Santa Pod this morning.... the growling V8s and smell of hot oil was utterly intoxicating...

I Can't Explain - The Who

When The Music's Over - The Doors

With S&A being the country's largest Morris distributor it's a fair bet that your Minor was sold via the main depot at Acton and forwarded to the nearest dealership in the Kensington area. The first owner may have requested the 'new' reflective plates or the supplying dealer may have just fitted them as a matter of course. My Cooper S went from Acton to Finchley before being registered with its first owner . There was quite an overlap of new cars appearing with either black and silver or new reflective plates between '67 and '73 and beyond in a few instances - one of the demonstration Lamborghini LP400 Countaches lent out to the press in late '74 / early '75 had black and silver raised digit plates with an 'N' suffix.

Ex - Exmouth Junction Driver Fred Cole, photos c/o his son Kevin...

S&A started fitting those plates in '67 but still fitted the black and silver raised digit type if customers asked for them.

Thanks David - the tyres are Yoko A008s, they were all that was available at the time when I had the Mk3 Cosmic alloys refurbished locally. I've still got the other set of Cosmics to be done so will see if I can find a more suitable tyre to fit. I have no photographic proof but as it was registered in April '69 I'd imagine it would have had this style of plate fitted at the Stewart & Ardern dealer in North London, most S&A Minis did at the time, specifically with the 'square cut' digits rather than the more rounded Bluemells type. Next job will be to fit the period tinted glass that I've bought from a mate of mine which came out of his factory black '69 Mk2 Cooper.

The new plates I bought last month for S are now on the car...

VERY nice indeed!! Unusual to see one on Minilites too, I like that. I like the '67 / '68 model year with the slightly more shark like grille / bonnet restyle and the concave rear light panel. Nothing wrong with the earlier incarnation of course...

Many thanks for that Alastair, a very thoughtful and useful post and much appreciated (have you posted any photos of your Mustang...? I Haven't seen any on here). I'm looking very seriously and thoroughly into this, even more so then the Italian stuff I still hanker after, my pal at work has some very good contacts in the yanky car scene and pretty much all of his mates are enthusiastic owners too, Mustangs, Camaros, Galaxies, Thunderbirds, GTOs and Corvettes mostly, but a few of them also have the larger Pontiacs and Chevrolets which is handy to know. He also suggested looking into importing a car from the states. As far as the garage situation goes it has occurred to me that I could easily put a separate single garage next to the existing double one to keep the Mini in, leaving more wiggle room for an American car in the double, it will also allow me to put some proper storage cupboards and shelving in down one side as well. This version of the Chevy Impala would do me nicely but it's just too long...!

It's always puzzled me why the C3 Corvette didn't have a proper boot, not that I can see anyway? Is the spare wheel hung underneath the back like a Rover P5B...?