Engine Punk

The St Pirans Cross on the wing indicates the long standing association with cornwall At the 2022 Land's End Trial start at Plusha Services, I met David Child with this Ford 8. It's obviously not your common or garden Ford 8. This ones has a Conversion Car Bodies GRP shell from the Naco Works, in Epping, Essex. The front end reminds of a 100E Ford Pop and a contemporary Vauxhall Victor I am unsure what to call this car. The company were called Conversion Car Bodies but I've seen some people refer to them as Naco shells. The chassis is a straightforward Ford 8 so you might just as well call it that. Badged as a Ford, it seems to have a mild identity crisis and David is often asked "What is it?" Nowadays, product branding is carefully managed. From the rear there's something of a 105E Anglia estate vibe Conversion Car Bodies were quite astute in aiming their products at a gap in the market for 1950s specials. The Naco shell (see how difficult it is to call it wh...

A family affair 1 - Team Robson at the start of the 2022 Land's End Trial. Esme was out of the frame, dancing. My aim for the 98 th Land’s End Trial was to do better than last time. Regular readers will remember that in my last Land’s End episode , I didn’t get as far as the Bridgwater Time Control. The ignition warning lamp bulb had blown so the charging system wasn’t getting “excited” and the battery gradually lost its charge until the engine conked out. By the time we got going again, we were out of time for the start. And then on the way home… But enough about the 97 th . That was then and this was now. I was feeling sufficiently ambitious this year to aim for a finish. Binky reprised his 2002 Exeter Trial role as my navigator and drove down to my place on Friday. He’d had Covid the week before so was still a bit phlegmatic and fatigued. He also felt the cold more than usual so we had the top up for the night. Some people have dancing Elvises on their dashboards for luck...