Welcome

I grew up when steam locomotives still thundered along the rail tracks, police cars, ambulances and fire appliances still had bells and you could leave the milk money on the step.

Rather as Winnie-the-Pooh admitted he was a ‘bear of very little brain’, you may find this ‘bear’ electronically challenged. That means there may not be as many whistles and bells as you might like, but as things roll along I hope that will change.

What you will find here, among many other things, are some thumbnail assessments of the vehicles that have inspired (and exasperated) me over the years. From Bentleys and Austin Sevens, through fairground Scammells and the Albion Venturers of Red & White Services, to Morris Minors and Western Class ‘diesels’ on the former Great Western.

You will also find the complete archive of Austin Times which is the newsletter I ran for six years devoted to Austin pre-1955. Feel free to use anything you find of interest on your own website or in your club magazine, but please, just mention my name.

You may learn a little about the beautiful area of northern France where I live and its culture – transport and otherwise. You may even find a recipe for a local gourmet speciality.

There will be some articles on engineering projects (largely to do with Austin Sevens) that I have undertaken in my workshops. Some successfully, others not so. And I will welcome your comments and advice on each and every one.

You will be able to order, via this site, my book on the immediate post-War Bentleys and Rolls-Royces which is now in its second edition and still highly regarded worldwide.

See Latest News for the purchasing details of my other book Brick by Brick – The biography of the Man Who Really Made the Mini – Leonard Lord. It's the first and only biography of the great man. 

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