Cars and bikes I’ve come across in my travels

Not exactly a car or a bike but a rare sight: two cruise ships at the same time in Douglas Bay.
 

Attachments

  • 4541A929-C37D-489B-BE6F-C790931FBCA9.jpeg
    4541A929-C37D-489B-BE6F-C790931FBCA9.jpeg
    88.5 KB · Views: 32
thats not a Mk11 Jaguar Hamish its a Mk1 (look at the rear window and front circular grills), the spotlights are not stock.
CLEM
 
Alzero said:
Perhaps a Spanish built Moke?View attachment 84741View attachment 84742
Click to expand...
It is American built, a bloke up the street has one. I live in Palm Desert Ca and have seen several motoring around the desert.
mokeamerica.com

Official Moke™ | The Only Electric Moke In America!

The Moke is back, baby! Relive your youth with this British/Caribbean classic. Plug in and go green with the only electric Moke in America. Moke America is street legal, easy to charge and comes in a rainbow of fun colors. Now with lithium battery upgrades.
mokeamerica.com mokeamerica.com
 
I used to see dozens of Mini Mokes are Sydney especially down near the beaches in the 1970s, I haven't seen one for decades.
 
78jotadave said:
It is American built, a bloke up the street has one. I live in Palm Desert Ca and have seen several motoring around the desert.
mokeamerica.com

Official Moke™ | The Only Electric Moke In America!

The Moke is back, baby! Relive your youth with this British/Caribbean classic. Plug in and go green with the only electric Moke in America. Moke America is street legal, easy to charge and comes in a rainbow of fun colors. Now with lithium battery upgrades.
mokeamerica.com mokeamerica.com
Click to expand...
Or it could be one of these Mokes, this one at least has a real engine.
www.bosshunting.com.au

The Mini Moke Is Coming Back To Australia

The Mini Moke is making a veritable modern comeback over in the UK, with plans to revive it here in Australia as well around mid-2021.
www.bosshunting.com.au www.bosshunting.com.au
 
Only seen a Mini Moke once , in real life that is , driving down Southmead Road in Bristol a million years ago ....... Seen them plenty of times in The Prisioner , anything bigger would have had problems navigating Portmerion .....

I remember in one episode No 6 manages to escape and make his way back to London ....... His old flat is now occupied by someone else , but his Lotus 7 ( KAR120C) is still in the underground car park ...... He says to the new resident " I know every inch of that car , I built it myself ... " ...... Which would / could be true , as Lotus sold the Seven , and also the Elan , in kit form ( it would arrive in four or five large lumps ) , as well as in complete car form ........ buying one in kit form saved you having to pay purchase tax ......

KAR 120C is currently SORN`ed ........ and the MOT expired Jan 2021 ........ and is now a Caterham ....... presumably the old Seven`s number transferred to the newer car ......... Legend has it that Colin Chapman sold the rights to the Seven to Caterham for a tenner in a London pub ......

BTW ... No 6 goes back to see his old bosses , informs them where he thinks the Island is ...... They agree to fly him out in a transport aircraft to try and pinpoint it`s location ..... The Island is spotted ..... but the next thing he knows is he`s on the end of a parachute dropping down through the sky only to end up back on the Island , being chased around by that big plastic bubble again .... so that taste of freedom didn`t last long .....

The Castiglioni brothers bought the rights to the Moke from the Rover Group , and manufacture continued in Portugal ...... they intended to transfer production to Italy at their Varese factory in 1995 but this never happened .......... maybe they were too busy building early 916 `s after the fire at Bologna ....... Carl Fogarty had the Moke name on his Ducati 916 racing leathers , presumably in anticipation of renewed production .....

Talking of Lotus .... the early Elans had JAP built engines ....... Chapman wanted a dedicated engine for his new sports car ...... He arranged with Ford at Dagenham to set aside engines with a little more metal on the blocks so they could be bored out for a few extra cc ...... These motors were then mated to a twin cam head from an aborted race car engine ........ Problem was Lotus , based in London at the time , had no engine build facility ....... but JAP were just around the corner in Tottenham ....... Chapman arranged for JAP to receive the engines from Ford .... JAP would then manufacture the twin cam head , mate it to the engine , run and test the engine before handing it over to Lotus for fitting into the Elan ....

This came to an end when Villiers at Wolverhampton took JAP over , closing down the Tottenham works , and transferring all the tooling to Wolverhampton ....... Chapman then did a deal with Villiers to acquire all the tooling needed to produce the heads , and set up his own engine shop at Hethel , where he could continue to produce the Elan engines .......

BTW ( again ) ...... The first English aeroplane to fly across the English Channel was a JAP ..... a copy of the Bleriot Brothers monoplane .....
 
Last edited:
Rather than ancient and modern, examples of companies that have produced an engine concept for decades and survived rather than run after the latest gizmo to please the punter.
The Guzzi single concept was made from 1921 to 1978, the V twin is going the same way.
As for Ducati, thank you Mr Taglioni even though maybe a certain Guzzi Bicilindrica inspired him and thank you world superbike.

Laverda should have continued with its very successful twin concept rather than run after Joe Punter and Kawasaki with its triples.

Paul
 
Laverdas very successful twin concept was to simply make the engines look like Hondas, whereas their triples were practically unique in the marketplace. Certainly the 180’s were unique and by the time of the 120s they had already seized a place in the hearts and minds of the rider and established a lasting macho image. I doubt the twins would ever have had such an effect upon the imagination as the 180s did.
 
Alzero said:
Laverdas very successful twin concept was to simply make the engines look like Hondas, whereas their triples were practically unique in the marketplace. Certainly the 180’s were unique and by the time of the 120s they had already seized a place in the hearts and minds of the rider and established a lasting macho image. I doubt the twins would ever have had such an effect upon the imagination as the 180s did.
Click to expand...

Guzzzi V twins sell.
Laverda twins sold.
Laverda triples sold less then stopped selling and the company went bust.
Paul
 
Alzero said:
Laverdas very successful twin concept was to simply make the engines look like Hondas, whereas their triples were practically unique in the marketplace. Certainly the 180’s were unique and by the time of the 120s they had already seized a place in the hearts and minds of the rider and established a lasting macho image. I doubt the twins would ever have had such an effect upon the imagination as the 180s did.
Click to expand...
Laverda made a reliable big twin in a market place dominated by badly built British twins.
The macho image was there a long time before the English speaking world discovered that the marque existed. The marque winning endurance races which was a mainland European speciality.
Then Honda and Kawasaki arrived explaining to Laverda that it wasn't going anywhere with it's triples, Godier Genoud or RCB anyone whilst Norton tried to last with a much modified twin.

Guzzi kept on selling motorcycles to motorcyclists.

Paul
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top