05/06/2010 - W de Forte remembers when Woodies were a common sight on the high street
The car certainly looked natty enough, but it weighed two tons and drove like a stinker!
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05/06/2010 - Sir Norman Hartnell
Summer Wine Classics' latest acquisition is a Rolls Royce motor car first owned by the Queen's dressmaker, Sir Norman Hartnell. Here is a brief biography of the famous designer.
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17/05/2010 - W de Forte enjoys the Life of Riley
There are those who think nothing about how to handle a motor car properly, anxious only to get from A to B. But these dullards are missing out on one of the true joys in life.
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19/03/2010 - W de Forte finds out what made MGBs the vehicle of choice for flat-cap wearing Hooray Henries in the 1960s
Here was a high-revving little sportster that could literally run rings around all sorts of grown-up machines with much larger engines,
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24/11/2009 - W de Forte drives an Alvis TE21 and remembers his chum Douglas Bader
Douglas Bader could be a disagreeable old cove, but only towards those who didn't meet his standards, or couldn't operate at his level of heightened urgency.
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21/10/2009 - W de Forte discusses the origin of the Land Rover
Series One Land Rovers, as they have subsequently become known, were built until 1958. Purely functional, they have perfect proportions and have a fabulous 'look'.
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21/10/2009 - W de Forte a Francophile? Surely not!
You will not be surprised to learn that Andre Citroen was a Frenchman. We all have our crosses to bear, but he had no choice in the matter, I understand, his family having moved from the Netherlands to Paris in 1870, some five years before his birth.
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21/10/2009 - W de Forte drives a 1950 Jaguar Mk V
Possession of a Jaguar has always been a signal of achievement and one of the most desirable things in a man's life. As well as providing an exhilarating means of transport, it is a beautiful object to behold and envious looks just add to the pleasure. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of showing off!
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22/06/2009 - W de Forte E-Type Exclusive
Some time in September 1960, I had occasion to visit my chums at Jaguars, where a very special machine was waiting for appraisal...
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24/04/2009 - W de Forte drives Summer Wine Classics' Rolls Royce Silver Cloud
In 1955, the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and its Bentley equivalent, the 'S', were launched in a new era of optimism. Rationing had finally ceased and it was once more socially acceptable to spend one's loot on items of style and luxury.
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24/04/2009 - W de Forte in 'The Chap'
Veteran journalist and good friend of SWCCH, W de Forte has been commissioned to write a regular motoring column for esteemed gentleman's journal, The Chap.
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15/01/2009 - Tatler Twaddle
"We can't afford to pay you," said the agency assistant (not a good start) "But Your car will be the central focus of a double page spread and the equivalent advert in Tatler would cost around eight grand." (I'm sure it would).
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07/01/2009 - Jaguar 240 Restoration Part Two
As I suspected, having read one or two books on the marque and spoken at some length to my knowledgeable friend, motoring journalist Rod Ker, the scruffy 1969 Jaguar 240 I bought last summer proved to have a very different character to the 1964 3.4 Mk II saloon already on the Summer Wine Classics fleet.
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03/01/2009 - Jaguar 240 Restoration Part One
In July last year, fully six months after first taking it for a test drive and concluding it definitely wasn't the car for me, I handed over a wad of used fivers and bought a shabby 1969 Jaguar 240 in Old English White.
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04/12/2008 - A thing about Rovers
I set up Summer Wine Classic Car Hire Ltd three years ago and if I am
honest with myself, it was never purely a business idea.
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01/10/2008 - New additions to the fleet
Summer Wine Classics broke the bank in 2008 to acquire three fabulous new cars from a significant south London Jaguar collection.
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