I got an email today from my fellow Barn Finds writer Jeff Lavery with a link to a story about this auction. Oh my. Oh, oh my. My favorite genre of car is British “normal” cars. Yes, I know that’s ridiculous to most of you, and I truly love all cars. However, if you look at this auction briefly written about here on aol.co.uk, you’ll see that the folks at Jaguar Land Rover who purchased the entire 543-car James Hull collection in 2014 have decided to sell on some of the more “normal” cars that aren’t Jaguars or Land Rovers. You can view the entire catalog for the March 21 auction here and register to bid here. Unfortunately, I have other plans that day (lol).
I decided to highlight some of the cooler cars from the auction. This is a 1979 Vanden Plas Allegro, basically an extremely gussied-up Austin Allegro. I wondered if it has the same weird square steering wheel that the Austin versions had, and found it did not.
This one is a Leyland Princess 2200. Can you imagine a more wedgie-shaped sedan? Remember, these are the folks that brought you the Triumph TR7 and TR8, so they could certainly look within their own stable for inspiration.
On a more humble scale, this is an Austin A30 Countryman, that would look absolutely fabulous in my driveway. Sigh. No history is known on this one, and you’ll have to do some record-tracing to get a period license plate. In case you didn’t know, plates generally stay with a car for its life in the UK, but they can be sold. I think this is an unoriginal plate, but since we don’t know the year of the A30 we can’t be sure.
GM’s arm in the UK was called Vauxhall (they just got sold last March along with Opel to Peugeot-Citroen). They could always be counted on for what some called “trans-atlantic” styling, and this 1958 PA Cresta is no different. Other than being somewhat smaller, this would fit in amongst 1958 American cars, even including tail fins! Check some other cars on offer below, or go to the catalogue here and tell me which one you’d like to have!
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- FSO 125p Estate?
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- Morris Ital Camper
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- Ford Van
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- Austin 1300?
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- Anyone Know?
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- Citroen Estate
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- Fiat 500
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- Rover P6 Estate Conversion
One Rover estate, please! Much better looking than many other British wagon conversions of the era (especially BMW and Jaguar, which tended to retain sedan rear doors to awkward effect in the C-pillar area). That Vauxhall wagon in the top pic (far left) is less successful stylistically despite being factory, but also very cool.
I think that this conversion is better looking than the Estoura:
1938 Peugeot please.
That grey microcar is a Goggomobil T250
I think the “Anyone know?” car is a Goggomobil.
I’ve always has a soft spot for Reliant Scimitars, but to have a Ferguson 4wd prototype? wow, seriously cool. Didn’t Ferguson also do the system on the Interceptor FF?
Yes, they did…
Yes, also they did a FF 4×4 conversion on the UK Ford Zodiac Mk 4.
I would love the Vauxhall Cresta Mk l wagon in the first pic. The first body style had the rear amber turn signals on the tops of the fins, the second series had them incorporated into the main tail light cluster. Very rare car these days. They were a conversion like the Ford wagons, done by outside companies. The Vauxhall was done by Friary if I recall correctly. Can’t remember who did the Ford one. The registration number on the A30 is from 1963 hence the A at the end. Yes, on the “what is it?” car being a Goggomobil.
Ooh, I see that you’re right that the Vauxhall is not factory like I thought. I remember seeing a similar Vauxhall wagon years ago in LA at an all-GM car show—certainly a contrast to the Vista Cruisers!
I’ll take the A30
Must be nice to buy a 543 car collection! Thanks Jamie for the link to the Hull collection, unreal!
Seriously cool! You’re welcome!
Hey, Jamie, there’s nothing rediculous about liking “normal” British cars. I, for one, can’t live without them!
The gray one is a pre 1964 Goggomobil because it has suicide doors. It is a model T and could be a T250, T300 or T400 depending on engine displacement, but most T400’s had the “Bug Eye” seven inch sealed beam headlights for the US market, so this is likely a T250 with the 250cc engine.
Love the vauxhall chevette …(yes GM used the name here) some great cars …oh the ford van is a Mk1 transit … might be lucky to have a V4 installed …na pipe dream….the ferguson AWD interceptor prototype ..wow
Never cared for austin allegro …wether it had posh bits or not lol
Well, the A suffix on the A30 denotes 1963, which we know cannot be original.
The A35 range started in 1956 continuing on from the earlier version, the A30.
The Countryman was the estate and this is not one, as the estate ended in 1962 and had a one piece side rear window. This is a van conversion. The A35 van was available up to 1968. A lot of vans were sold as they were considered commercial vehicles and exempt from sales tax. Once they reached a certain age (5 years?), one could add the side windows and not be liable for the sales tax. The vans were available with fold down rear seats from the factory. The A suffix plate could well be legitimate.
This vehicle is actually an A35, (it has a painted grille, not the chrome one of the A30).
They were produced from 1956 to 1962 (Vans until 1968).
This car is still listed on the DVLA website as a 1960 vehicle,
So that makes the Aberdeen plate from 1963, an ARP, (age related plate), But it shouldn’t be too difficult to get a 1960 plate, more in keeping with this vehicle.
I like the Vauxhall Cresta, always a favourite of mine.
Yes, I would like that P6 Rover Estate also, I wish I had done something with the 35,130 mile ’70 P6 3500 S I bought in Atlanta GA 28 years ago for a Stag transplant (it was too complete to part out )and sold about 1993 in Atlanta. Grey with Black interior. 1978 Cherokee county GA tag. Any Atlanta folks know its whereabouts?
The Chevette and the Peugoet and the Lotus pedal car and the…
Morris Ital (interesting update of the Marina, the car the old BBC Top Gear program liked to destroy at every opportunity) seems to be a Suntor campervan. The back opened out so you could sleep in it. Ital was a car that the Italian designers have tried to forget…
And a Polish FSO was part of the collection? We dragged an old FSO pick-up out of a shed last year – truly awful – rusted through and the whole thing just about collapsed.
When my mother was in her late teens she met my father. Dad was a divorced man and mum had been raised a Catholic, so it was not a meeting that mum’s family was particularly happy about. When mum announced to her parents that dad had proposed, they tried to dissuade her by offering to buy her a brand new Vauxhall Cresta identical to the one featured if she would leave him. Mum chose dad over the Vauxhall. It’s a decision that mum has never regretted as they are both still going some 59 years later.
If I could, I would be all over the Morris!
I grew up in Ireland during the 80s. So most of these cars I saw in the flesh or were on contemporaneous TV. There is definitely a whole lot of “meh” here.
I might take one of the Mercs, they’re evergreen. Maybe the SD1, for a personal ambition. But everything else, no.
I think that the Austin is an 1100, not a 1300. The 1300 had flush door handles, and from memory also had a slight bonnet bulge as the 1300 engine was taller than the 1100.
It looks like a 1300GT. In UK 1100 and 1300 share bodywork (2- or 3- or 4-door and all the bagde-engineered versions).
In Australia the Nomad had the E-series engine with a bonnet bulge and flush doorhandes. In UK 1100 and 1300 are bodily identical.
And in Spain and Italy there were small and large differences compared to UK.
Jaime, how badly do you want an Austin A30 Countryman? I have the only stock (and almost entirely original) A30 Countryman in N. America. I would consider selling it to the right enthusiast. As you can see from the attached photo, mine’s in much better shape than the one in the UK auction. I’m in Buffalo, NY.