A Citroen in Forest Fields

 

Don't lean on that car Ott! Ottilie and her buddy inspect an old Citroen, with no information regarding its model or year available. Looked like one with the air suspension on the back wheels. Ott noticed that the back seat has a fold-down arm rest, which apparently she'd never seen before. Her friend read the writing on the back of the wing mirror (part number and kitemark).

What a beautiful car!

Post-script: Grandad says
" In 1957 I drove a DS finding it v.different- ex brake pedal just a nub on the floor, which activated brakes when pressed- and as you'd be used to a pedal moving down with pressure, you tended to stop the car with a jerk!  Much ahead of its time, with power everything and air springs which 'exhaled 'when parked- audible sigh... Sadly Citroen couldn't sell enough of its space age designs

so reverted to the same conventional designs as everyone else."

she learns fast

It's Ottilie photographing a car at the same 1940s event! She is obviously learning that this is what we do. Jasper wandered off somewhere and left us to it.

Very shiny black car

This Plymouth was at the Belton 1940s day we went to at the end of the summer holiday. There were so many classic cars! And some we neither English nor 1940s, which seemed cheeky. We think about procuring some vintage costume to wear to next year's event.... land girls?

mystery car requires description

Spotted on Sherwood high street! But what sort of car is it? (note the orange bag Ottilie is carrying - we were on our way to the library).

Over to you, Grandad...

Royal Enfield spotted at Belton

It's a Royal Enfield motorcycle!
We saw this at Belton House - the same place that had a vintage car event last year.

The Royal Enfield Cycle Company made motorcycles, bicycles, lawnmowers and stationary engines from 1893-1971. Because the Royal Enfield motorcycle in this image was made before 1995 I can assume that it was made by the original Royal Enfield Co. and not its successor Enfield of India, who only bought rights to the Royal Enfield name at that time.

Want to read more? Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield

A Volvo at Sherwood Garage!

A Volvo at Sherwood Garage! I like the stripe up the middle of the hood.

It's been raining here quite a bit, so I've resorted to taking Ottilie to the local library fairly often. She's holding her Miffy book bag, containing books for her "summer reading challenge". The library gives out cards (like customer loyalty cards from cafes) - when the child completes each of six books over the summer, they get stickers and cut-outs to make a themed diorama. Ott still has the certificate from last year's circus themed promotion. This year it's "story lab" which has a kids' science lab feel about it.

Last week Ottilie read "Popcorn Pop" and "How the Zebra Got its Stripes". This week it's "The Three Little Pigs".

An old-style Jaguar on a street near our house! How old, I don't know, because I'm no expert - and it's got personalised number plates (unlike most UK plates, that betray the year of registration).

Nottingham is not far from Coventry, home of Jaguar manufacture for many years. Grandad says:

"William Lyons, the founder of the Jaguar company, started off in Blackpool, of all places, making sidecars for motorbikes. Starting in the later 1920s, they built up a thriving business and eventually built sporty bodies on the basis of other people's cars. 

"Small at first, then bigger and leaner, they used the initials of the sidecar company, Swallow Sidecar, SS, as the name of a long-bonneted sporty vehicle, only to find that the Germans had taken the SS title and applied it to their sinister police force-army, producing quite the wrong image for the un-political SS Car company. So Lyons & co changed the name to Jaguar Car Company, making a series of  racy-looking cars that looked fast and eventually, with success, became superb creations with their own powerful engines and sporting records--and at a fraction of the price of Bentley, Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin- the rest is history! 

"Oh yes: as Blackpool wasn't brimming with experienced engineers and tradesmen, Lyons and associates moved to the Coventry and surrounding areas, developing the company, shakily at times, to its present stature."

It's an MG! But what type? This is the car of the grandad of a child whose pirate/princess birthday party we'd been to. Ottilie was dressed cunningly as a pirate-princess.