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When INGSOC takes over Britain, how will the Outer Party officials be brought to their jobs at the Ministry Of Truth? In chauffeur-driven Austin Allegros, of course! More »
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Much like the US transition to digital TV, the UK is transitioning to digital radio in 2015. However, unlike in the US, consumers are still being sold products that'll be obsolete when that transition is made. More »
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Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Here's the fourth 1930s car I've found down on the Alameda street.
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Well, Hoon by name if not by nature. Geoff Hoon, former Secretary of State for Defense, was appointed the United Kingdom’s Secretary Of State For Transport back in October. Could this be a good thing? Surely anyone named Hoon can’t be all evil, right? More »
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The surveillance state of Britain is becoming more and more unbelievable as The Guardian is reporting a number-plate recognition system will now be tied to a massive database allowing the movements of all vehicles to be tracked and stored for up to five years.The system works by using government and privately-owned closed-circuit cameras to read number plates and then send the data into the central database, where it can be used for surveillance purposes. When complete, the system will record over 50 million license plate locations each day. Rumor has it the entire operation will be powered by a high-speed generator attached directly to George Orwell's casket. (Photo credit: Wired) [Guardian UK] More »
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Great Britain is in the midst of a fuel supply crisis the scope of which gives us the cold sweats: Supply is short, stations are closing with dry tanks, and those that do have dino juice are demanding a princely sum equivalent to $14.76 a US gallon. Light sweet crude, it's the end of the world! Okay, not really. The problem is that tanker drivers for Shell have gone on strike, sending fuel supplies into the crapper. This craziness will pass once the union comes to an agreement, but it makes us think that maybe a Segway isn't such a bad idea after all, despite what Wert thinks. [BBC News] More »
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Okay, that's an admittedly sensationalist headline, but completely true even without context. Remploy is a British company in the business of hiring out disabled workers to jobs where they can be effective. It was incorporated after the WW2 to manage all the disabled workers now within Her Majesties court. Until recently things had been going along dandy with 5,000 people in their employ across many plants in Britain. That is until a couple of weeks ago, when the company laid off half of the total workforce. More »
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Residents of an exclusive new apartment complex in Sussex awoke Monday to find a couple of burly guys slapping wheel clamps on their cars. Did they let things slide? Hell no they didn't. The complex had apparently done the worst job ever at getting its residents their parking passes and the fellows were there to put on the boot for those without tags - including the permitless tenants. The residents called friends and family who blocked the exit to the lot and a 5 hour standoff ensued. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=359251&view=rss&microfeed=true In 1981, the year of this ad, the car sold as the "Capri" in the States was a Mercury Fox Mustang clone. Back in the UK, however, the venerable Ford Capri was still available, and it came with a 2.8-liter V6 that gave it a not-too-bad-for-1981 0-60 time of 7.8 seconds. Check out those painfully-80s graphics! – Murilee Martin More »
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The Sunbeam Rapier Fastback's designer claimed he wasn't ripping off the look of the early Plymouth Barracuda (and maybe he's telling the truth) but so what if he was? How can you not love a British Barracuda? Too bad Rootes couldn't talk corporate overlord Chrysler out of some Slant Sixes while they were at it, since the Rapier's 1725cc mill didn't really measure up in the grunt or reliability departments. Made from 1967 through 1976 (and marketed in the States as the Alpine GT) the little Rapiercuda had style- and oil- to burn, and their present-day owner's club has one of the slickest car-club websites I've ever seen. – Murilee Martin More »
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Perhaps inspired by Ford's sales of a few thousand California Special Mustangs here in the US of A, Hillman decided that slapping the name of Richard Nixon's home state on a fastback '67 Imp would somehow convince legions of British car buyers to part with 650 for the thing. Sadly, the Imp Californian lacked the hotter Sport engine used in the Super Imp, and sales were disappointing. I'm still trying to find more details on the '71 Manson Family Edition Imp. – Murilee Martin More »
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Little British sports cars are kinda lovable, in the same way that a friendly dog who gets sick all the time with random unexplainable symptoms is lovable, but for the most part they sputtered off the assembly line- and past the jeering picket line of striking British Leyland employees- with about 1/3 the horsepower they deserved. But drop a V8 into one- say, a Ford 260 into a '62 AC Ace- and everything changes. The folks at BritishV8.org have compiled dozens of examples of such madness on their site (and not just V8s; you can see Mazda rotary Spitfires, Chevy V6 Midgets, and so on). Some super-sanitary factory-looking jobs with small-blocks and 6-speeds, some howl-at-moon tubbed big-blockers, and plenty in between. – Murilee Martin More »
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Yeah, yeah, they're 1/43 scale. But damn, it's a genuine 3-Wheelers.com limited-edition diecast Reliant Robin Supervan! I own only one 1/43 scale toy car at this point (a '75 Pacer X) but I think it may soon have a companion. – Murilee Martin More »
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The sixth of an "unspecified number" of Batmobiles built for the original TV show just went for the equivalent of $233,000 at an auction in London today. The winning bid came from a private museum in that no-questions-asked tax haven, the Cayman Islands. What's interesting about Batmobile #6 is that it's a steel-bodied car, unlike the fiberglass copies of Barris' original commissioned by the show's producers. Doesn't seem like such a bad deal, compared to the price tag of the Pope's ex-Golf. – Murilee Martin More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=240557&view=rss&microfeed=true We're always leery of changing a tire by the side of the road at night, but that's got less to do with our abilities with a spare and more to do with being afraid of the dark. Still, these three humorous little Brit bits from the boys and girls at Goodyear remind everyone of the hazards of changing tyres (or tires if you're on this side of the pond) by the side of the road. Of course Goodyear would say that — they sell those run-flat tires, which to us sound silly 'cause, you know, how do you know if it's flat if it still feels like it isn't. Plus hey, didn't they have that trouble with the Lotus last week too? – Ray Wert More »
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