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Paul
United Kingdom
60 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Oct 2011 : 10:27:05
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I passed my driving test in my father's 1950 Phase VIII Minx but the first car I ever owned (apart from one I drove across the USA in '67) was a '58 convertible Series II Rapier, 9288 HK, in what looked like Moonstone with a brown stripe. It had a strange mechanical lever on a thin shaft above the gear lever shaft but it wasn't connected to anything - what on Earth was that!!?
When the bearings failed on its way back from Aviemore in January '69 it ended its days at Atlas Spares of Nottingham and was replaced for a very short period by a Triumph Herald and then a Series I Alpine and thus started a new love affair. That Alpine was followed by a Series II SuperSnipe estate, a Series III SuperSnipe estate which I drove to Moscow and North Cape, a Series V Alpine which I drove to the south of Morocco, a Series Va SuperSnipe estate, two more Series V Alpines, an Imp Husky, a Stiletto, a Tiger I, and a Series II Alpine in which I did the '91 Pirelli Classic Marathon. There were various other cars as well but I believe you can see my love for Rootes Group cars and two of those Series V Alpines served as my commuter car for over a decade each and one as a holiday car for a trip behind the Iron Curtain and numerous ski holidays, my rally car at weekends so I could get my competition licence while I was restoring and preparing the Series II and even towed a caravan to France to one of the French Sunbeam Club's meetings. I still have the Tiger, the Series II rally Alpine and that Series V Alpine and I'm currently restoring an Albatross Alpine.
I knew Chris McGovern, Don Pither and David Parrott and I've held most committee positions in the S.A.O.C. and a couple in the A.R.C.C. and it's obvious that my main love is Alpines but I've helped as a guest concours judge at a couple of S.R.O.C. Nationals (Wellington Country Park and Blenheim Palace) so I hope you'll forgive me and let me participate in your forum too.
My Alpine won't float!  I need one which does!! |
Edited by - Paul on 06 Oct 2011 10:31:33 |
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It's all the fault of a Series II convertible!
