Engine Punk

This is just like the model I had but with more paint remaining.  Many years ago, at a secondhand toy sale at school, I bought two Dinky Toy model vans. One was a rather sorry looking Morris Commercial J type van in the livery of the GPO and the other was a cheeky Trojan 15cwt Dunlop van. They got played to pieces. The Morris Commercial looked thin and underfed. The Trojan looked much more robust. In the undergrowth at Tinker's Park I was reminded of these two model vans when I stumbled across a scanned image the other day of the remains of a Trojan van. I had found this relic in the bushes at a show at Tinker's Park , near Hadlow Down in East Sussex, in or around 1990. There were many other interesting things in the undergrowth and the only means of identifying it was by the maker's plate on the bulkhead. Only once I'd found that, did I know what it was and that a model of it had brought me so much pleasure as a child. I photographed it as a mem...

The KNW Imposter, in 1999 at Hatton Country World. It still sits on its Cobra slot alloy wheels. The KNW Imposter was built by a chap called Keith Hawley using a Siva Llama chassis as a basis. The car was featured in the December 1977 edition of Hot Car magazine. It turned up on a trailer at the 1999 Imp Club National Rally at Hatton Country World where I also had my normal (normal?) Siva Llama. Keith Hawley hailed from Coventry and must have had some involvement with the motor industry. At the time, obvious comparisons were made with the TR7 and he certainly had a good aesthetic sense. However the design pre-dates the TR7. The KNW Imposter was built in 1972. He bought the bare chassis for £135 and since this used standard Imp running gear front and rear this meant he had an instant rolling chassis. Making a one off body in fibreglass is no small undertaking. Keith made a plaster buck and then took moulds off that, after making a scale model. He used aluminium to make the do...

Best picture of the day. I love the dappled lighting effect on this and it's a red/amber/green! Photo : Graham Beddoe This year’s Launceston Trial was supposed to have occurred on 9 th February but Storm Ciara span out of the Atlantic and the Launceston and North Cornwall Motor Club postponed the trial to 15 th March. The weather on the day was wet to begin with but dried up in the afternoon and was even sunny by the end of the trial. Class 7 line up of Phillip Thomas, Francis Thomas with their Dutton Meloses and Steven Ball with his Marlin. The Launceston Trial is a single venue trial and when I travelled to Lew Woods with Mr Graham Beddoe through the backroads, it was raining and had been for some time. Water was running off the waterlogged fields and onto the road. Conditions once in the woods were very wet. After scrutineering and signing on, we received a beautifully executed map of the woods, similar to last year’s. I believe the map was the work of Warin Kelly. ...