I read this:
http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20130320-ten-quintessentially-british-cars
and I said to myself, you know, I hate Top Gear, and I think that Jeremy Clarkson deserves to be used as target practice for whatever hurts him most (bring him to me, I want him ALIVE!!!), but I did get a shudder when I saw the E-type... I brought my three bairns home from Airedale General Maternity in a Mini Metro.... driving like I had a boot full of rotten eggs and an aircrafts-worth of Semtex... for the first one at least. The second one I drove normally, the third one I was trying to teach him to say "you only had to blow the bloody doors off!" Not easy when the bairn first opened his eyes five days previously.... So, apart from the Two Horses, are there other iconic wheels we should be considering? Not bothered about HP, Cm3, $$, or bird-pulling power... altough having said that, the E-type…. G*d, has that ever been surpassed? :)
My favourite car was my wife's old Maxi. You needed to wear wellis as every time you went round a corner water would slosh from one side of the cabin to tother. This should not have been a surprise as the quality of BMC products was demonstrated each day if you were a student at Birmingham University. The Bristol Road was part of the assembly line . Body shells which had been made in Castle Bromwich and had sat in a field for six months were transported along the Bristol road through rain and salt to be transformed into those miracles of British engineering. But they were BRITISH! And you should be grateful.
Spoke to Eric Morecambe once, in Leeds at some traffic lights, in his Jensen Interceptor. As much as I've always loved Eric, I couldn't take my eyes off his car!
One of the best cars ever made was the Austin/Healey 100/6; later the 3,000.
I had a friend who collected them, ex-works rally cars and he competed in the Mille Miglia and other races in them.
Also what about the TVR's, uscan and Griffith?
When I was a lad in London SW19, Ollie Reed had a canary yellow one. Although long gone to the pub in the sky, his brother still has it in SW19, albeit off the road. It was, in old fashion language, a bird puller and all the like of your's truly could ever do was stand there gaping. At one time he had Michael J. Pollard, of Bonnie and Clyde fame and nowt else, staying with him and both apparently drove through Wimbledon Village without a stitch of clothing on and it was still the E-Type that got the attention.
For me it has to be the Lotus Elan, early 70s model, which I had for a few months and the Morgan 4x4 which I desired but never had. Clarkson has rubbished both - they must be good!
is that Airedale as in Steeton, Keith?