Are we nearly there yet?

TEAM ADVENTURE 

Like all family 

holidays the weather 

went weird on our 

trip. Snow… in April! 

Team PC drive their dads cars to petrolhead heaven 

PHOTOS MATT HOWELL 

Many of us will have acquired our love 

of cars from our dads. Whether 

behind the wheel or in the 

workshop, our fathers will have 

given us a life-long love of cars 

and their choice of vehicle will 

have coloured our enthusiasm as well. So, with 

Father’s Day upon us it’s time for a bit of paternal 

nostalgia and time to say thank you to our dads 

for igniting a passion for all things automotive. 

Team PC is taking five cars, our dads’ cars, on 

a grand day out to a brand-new attraction built 

with people like us in mind. The Great British Car 

Journey in Ambergate celebrates the cars we all 

remember and includes its own unique feature – 

Drive Dad’s Car – where you can do just that. 

A fine trip beckons, one our dads would approve 

of. So, time to make sure we go to the toilet before 

we leave and jump into the back seat of an 

Audi, Austin, Fiat, Renault and Rover. 

➽ 

Trips to Silverstone in SFP. 

Dad never spared the horses 

and, for the 12-year-old me, the 

utter thrill of him thrashing 

down the A508 always 

matched the 

racing we’d gone 

to see.’ 

Roofbox on, full of Santa’s 

goodies I found out much 

later, the Scenic was the 

transport of choice to visit 

my grandparents the first 

Christmas after they 

moved to the Isle of 

Wight.’ 

‘Visiting and installing dad 

and his oxygen tank in my, 

just bought, Saab. We drove 

off to watch birds over the 

estuary. I thought it might 

be our last time in a car 

together, and it 

was.’ 

We drove our GL5E on 

holiday to south eastern 

Spain, via Caen and the 

Pyrenees. It was so comfy 

and roomy, the big Audi 

covering all 2000 miles 

with total ease. 

Going with my dad to buy 

it. Driving there with mum 

in our tired old Cortina MkI 

and back in our ‘as new’ 

Landcrab… kneeling up on 

the biggest back seat 

I had ever seen. 

54 JULY 2021 // PRACTICAL CLASSICS practicalclassics.co.uk 

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PRACTICAL CLASSICS // JULY 2021 55


I make an early start and, thanks to the highly 

efficient work of the Landcrab Owners’ Club, I am off 

to Leicester to meet with a remarkable Morris 1800 

MkIII (virtually identical to the Austin). It belongs to 

Joyce and Dennis Needham who have had it from 

new. It is the same colour and specification as my 

dad’s old car – Harvest Gold with green interior. 

It is an absolute peach as well, although Dennis 

warns me that it hasn’t been for a long run since 

before lockdown. Approach with caution? A careful 

check of fluids and local journeys have been made 

in the week running up to my visit but, none the 

less, I lift and examine. 

The familiar underbonnet arrangement, tranverse 

B-Series with stabilising beam running bulkhead to 

front upper crossmember – I always loved the tiny 

shock absorber. All appears to be in order, but I still 

take the first few miles easily. By the time I reach 

the M1 at Loughborough, I am confident the 

Landcrab is in excellent fettle. 

I sit back and relax in the seat I was never allowed 

to occupy. Dad had two Landcrabs and my place 

was firmly in the back with my sister, although 

I have since made up for it with two 1800s and 

a Wolseley Six of my own. This low mileage 1800 is 

way better than any of my cars though and displays 

all the attributes I remember: flat cornering, 

excellent road manners, supreme comfort, a quiet 

ride and cavernous internal space. It is also slow, 

‘Most of us 

learned how to 

love our cars 

from our dads’ 

RENAULT MEGANE 

SCENIC CAR REG R938 XFC 

BOUGHT IN 1998 SOLD IN 2001 LAST 

TAXED/DEMISE JULY 2009 

Replacing a Rover 216 (R8), the blue 

car pictured (wasn’t I cute?) was the 

first of two Scenic MkIs owned by my 

dad, who bought a facelift edition in 

dark grey in 2001. ‘I needed a family 

car, and given the amount of kit 

required for you and your brother – 

baby seats et al – that meant a car 

with lots of space. I liked the quirky 

one box styling of the Scenic – it was 

like a mini Espace.’ 

LEFT The biggest backseat 

of them all – Landcrab. 

BELOW Club knows its USP. 

and the driving position has more in common with 

a bus than a car – but that is part of its charm. 

Both reasons why dad loved them, in fact. 

He trained in engineering at Imperial College and 

worked as an aeronautical engineer in the wind 

tunnel for Hawker Siddeley at Hatfield before 

becoming an economist. So, he appreciates decent 

and unusual engineering and saw it in the Landcrab. 

The maximization of internal space and the 

torsional rigidity of the monocoque (the best of any 

production car at the time) were his two favourite 

attributes. Holidays to west France, with our 1800s 

piled high with kit, were dealt with at a stately pace 

but in huge comfort with dad as bus driver. 

Both cars acted as vans as well as family chariots 

and the cavernous boot made the 1800 almost an 

MPV rather than a saloon. Was the 10 year-old me 

jealous of Stuart Girling and his dad’s ex-police 

Granada MkI? Yes. The tuned V6 (on a manual) 

would leave our Landcrab for dust without trying. 

Would I have it any other way now? No, I don’t 

think so. This is not a ‘cool’ classic in any way, but as 

I arrive in Ambergate I absolutely understand my 

dad’s love for these cars. Between you and me, I’m 

convinced I have the most interesting car here. 

AUSTIN 1800 MKII CAR REG ODE174K 

BOUGHT IN 1976 SOLD IN 1980 

LAST TAXED/DEMISE N/A 

We were quite tight for cash 

in the mid Seventies. Dad 

was working for the TUC 

and he had a young family. 

He needed a cheap car that 

could handle big camping 

trips and be worked on at 

home. The 1800 fitted the 

bill. When he bought this 

one, a K-reg example, in 1976 

it was already a cheap car, 

unfashionable already, only 

a year out of production. 

But dad thought it was a 

brilliant bit of design, with 

none of the fripperies 

and all the things he 

actually wanted. Space, 

comfort, ruggedness and 

safety. He still has huge 

admiration for Issigonis’ 

revolutionary design and 

great memories of both his 

Landcrabs. 

As the baby of the group, I didn’t 

experience the joys of ‘chromey’ 

classics until much later in life 

and, when we first mooted this 

feature, I struggled to get excited 

about the family cars of my 

childhood. Then Keith Adams turned 

up at the PC workshop in this, his 

ex-Renault Heritage Scenic MkI; launched in 

1996, when I was just three years-old. On opening 

the rear door, I was immediately transported back, 

and started reminiscing fondly about a car I’d 

completely forgotten about until it arrived on the 

ABOVE Tomkins young 

and not so young. 

Right Not so fast. 

➽ 





yard. Driving it now, as I turn off the A1 and onto the 

A52, it’s the smell and the feel of those horrid 

Nineties plastics that really do take me back. It is 

something of an epiphany. I can finally understand 

why so many people ask to ‘have a sniff’ when I pull 

up at petrol stations in a Morris Minor. 

I struggle to catch up with Danny, who I’ve 

spotted on the horizon bumbling along the A38 in 

his 1800. I’m hampered considerably by the lazy 

automatic gearbox in this therefore sluggish 

1.6-litre petrol example (my dad’s car was 

a manual), but I’m also finding myself 

a long way from my usual ‘youthfully 

exuberant’ driving style. 

The Scenic promotes the method 

of ten to eleven hand shuffling on 

the steering wheel and the van-like 

stance allows me to see over 

hedgerows that would tower over my 

MGB GT daily driver. There’s so much 

space in the cabin, along with cubby holes 

galore. And yet, the external dimensions are 

somewhat meagre compared to the latest breed of 

child-lugging family motors. I eventually find myself 

driving as if I’ve got precious cargo of my own on 

board. I glance back – it’s those rear seats that 

I remember best. 

I find myself reminiscing about Sun Maid raisins on 

the picnic table that folds out from the back of the 

seat I’m now in, juice in a Tommy Tippy cup and 

sandwiches with the crusts neatly cut off as we 

turn into the gates of the Great British Car Journey, 

a new museum here in Ambergate. Now where did 

I put my lunchbox? 

The glorious sound of a warbling five-pot is missing 

from this early four-cylinder GLS model, so my 

experience today lacks a sizable slice of nostalgia. 

That said, as we nose out into the Derbyshire 

countryside, the look, feel and smell of the 

cabin is bringing back childhood memories 

in waves. There’s a whiff of Seventies 

Volkswagen naturally, but the quality 

of the brown soft-touch plastics 

would shame many a 2021 executive. 

Audi’s obsession with quality and 

fine engineering was the work of 

former Porsche man Ferdinand Piëch 

– also father of the Quattro and later, 

the Bugatti Veyron. From the ‘thunk’ of 

the doors closing to the complete absence 

of rattles, creaks or wind noise on the move, 

this 100 is living proof of just how beautifully made 

these cars were - and how new cars from Ingolstadt 

deservedly dominate the market in 2021. 

As we skim the southern edge of the Peak 

District in weather that flips from bright sunshine to 

snow, I begin to experience these qualities and see 

‘Dad loved the 

2200TC’s punch 

over the SC that 

preceded it’ 

AUDI 100 CAR REG BRP 215X BOUGHT 

IN 1984 DEMISE 1990 

While on the forest 

moon of Endor (our 

garden) with my 

Millennium Falcon, 

I knew when dad 

was home thanks 

to the distinctive 

five-pot warble of his 

approaching Audi. The 

three-year old GL5E 

Auto had replaced 

a Citroën Visa GT so 

travel to foreign parts 

suddenly became 

easier and getting 

dropped off at school 

even cooler. In a 

sea of Cortinas and 

Cavaliers, the classy 

100 really stood out. 

And for dad back 

then, having helped 

to design Concorde 

among other things, 

only a Saab, Citroën 

or Audi would do. 

‘Those vehicles were 

engineered with such 

precision and were 

so clever and comfy, I 

never understood why 

people chose to drive 

an ordinary car.’ 

LEFT Walshe family Audi. 

BELOW Roomy 100 had 

game changing quality. 

exactly why they appealed to my design engineer 

dad. With its long wheelbase and wide track, the 

Audi feels planted, yet on the wiggly section of 

A5012 near Grangemill, it feels unexpectedly 

playful too. There’s no wallowing in the bends, as 

you would find at the wheel of a Merc W123, and it 

rides better than its E12 rival from Munich. 

While this 100 may lack the charismatic 

sound and punch of the five-cylinder version (or 

a five-speed gearbox), the tough 115bhp 2-litre is 

nevertheless sweet and growls pleasingly. The car 

demonstrates its handling finesse again as we rise 

over twisty moorland and descend into the pretty 

village of Hartington, where we’re now being 

blanketed by a full-on blizzard. Dad liked his 

front-wheel drive cars – especially in snow. I am 

about to test the Audi’s winter credentials... in April. 

We queue for fuel at the quaint pumps of 

Hartdale Motors and I gaze at the car with a little 

sadness. This immaculate example, from the Audi 

Heritage fleet, is one of just a tiny handful of ‘C2’ 

100s left in the UK. Tens of thousands of them were 

sold between 1976 and 1982 (when it was replaced 

by Audi’s innovative and slippery ‘C3’ 100) but, unlike 

its galvanized successor, this generation rotted 

terribly. In fact, having had cause to research it, 

I can tell you there are so few owners in the UK in 

2021, I can name almost all of them. Now that’s 

what I call an endangered species… 

He’d run a Triumph 

2000 in his previous 

job, so for the new job 

he thought he’d try the 

obvious rival. He 

preferred his new 2200 

SC to the Triumph, but 

the TC that replaced it 

two years later was a 

joy. Apart from its 

paintwork, that is. 

Rover’s new paint 

ROVER P6 CAR REG OYE 988R BOUGHT IN 1976 SOLD IN 1978 

plant for the imminent 

SD1s also sprayed the 

last P6s. It was 

a disaster, the acrylic 

paint chipping and 

peeling off, rust 

festering on the 

scars, a car 

pockmarked at two 

years old. ‘At least 

I don’t have to look at it 

when I drive it,’ he said. 

➽ 





1977 FIAT 1300CL REG OYE 988R BOUGHT IN 1984 

Why Fiat? And why in 

particular the 128? 

‘I come from a family 

that favoured Fiats. 

Dad bought his first 

128 in 1970, just after 

it received the Car of 

the Year gong, and 

I guess it went from 

there. Mum and I 

owned numerous 850s 

(I used to spin them for 

fun), which were mixed 

with the odd 600, a 

128 Special, an Amigo 

motor caravan and 

then of course the car 

you see here – 

a first-of-the-facelifts 

128 1300 CL from 

1977. 

This is it… this is his 

actual car in the flesh. 

Dad always thought of 

the 128 as being more 

advanced than an 

Escort, with its clever 

FWD engine 

installation and 

‘function-over-form’ 

design. Think he also 

liked to stand out from 

the crowd a bit, too…’ 

So how long have you 

known this car? 

‘Thirty-seven years, 

or since I was 12. 

And yes, I’m proud of it 

as dad always looked 

after it so well. 

I remember going on 

holidays to the Norfolk 

Broads; regular trips to 

Silverstone with dad to 

watch VSCC and HSCC 

races. But most of all, 

sitting in this very car 

in the Fiat dealership 

while dad was 

bartering with 

the salesman, 

and wondering 

why he wouldn’t 

spring the extra 

£400 for the 124 

Sports Coupé 

next to it!’ 

Do you still use it? 

‘Yes. It has been fully 

fettled by Middle 

Barton Garage and is 

back in rude health 

after a few years off 

the road. It developed 

a timing problem soon 

after the engine was 

rebuilt twelve years 

ago (due to dad hardly 

using it in his later 

years). For a while, 

work and family 

commitments 

prevented me from 

getting stuck in 

and fixing it. 

However, I joined 

the Fiat Owners’ 

Club, found the 

right specialist 

(Middle Barton 

Garage in Oxfordshire) 

and they did a great 

job. Now I remind 

myself about why dad 

bought it all those 

years ago every single 

time I go for a spin.’ 

Don’t I recognise you 

from somewhere? 

‘I was PR Manager for 

Vauxhall for years, 

enjoying and looking 

after the Heritage 

Collection along with 

the moderns. I also 

used to be a road 

tester for Autocar, 

many years ago. Now 

I’m an automotive PR 

freelancer, with 

a passion for classics.’ 

It’s the end of our trip and I drive from the Peaks to 

the M1, via – unintentionally – the Derby ring road. 

Soon I’m cruising south with a view over the dashboard 

and along the bonnet much like the one 

so familiar to my father in the Seventies. Of his 

company-exec cars over the years – he was the 

medical director of a pharmaceuticals company 

– he liked his two Rover P6s the best. 

BELOW Yes, they got lost. 

BOTTOM But when they got 

there, it was worth it. 

What my father’s motorway vista didn’t include, 

though, were overhead gantries and speed 

cameras. But still he got caught: 87mph in his 

Richelieu Red 2200 TC. He was oddly disappointed. 

‘I thought I was going faster than that,’ he said. 

He loved that twin-carb car and its extra punch 

over the Cameron Green 2200 SC that preceded it, 

the car whose roof-to-body joint leaked copiously 

the first time he took it through a car wash to the 

consternation of my sister and her friend in the 

back seat. I remember the vigour with which he 

drove the TC, the characteristic gear whine 

replayed in my own car, the ultra-cool backlit switch 

panel, the missing headrest on the front passenger 

seat because my mother didn’t like it. And my father 

– a doctor – only reluctantly conceded 

that seatbelts were a good idea. 

I’m tempted to emulate that 87mph 

once the motorway has reverted 

from smartness to dumbness, but 

I must resist. 

Nevertheless, 

half a century 

on a P6 is still 

a terrific 

motorway 

cruiser. It is 

almost as if 

I have turned 

into my dad. 

Matt says 

‘There is 

something 

definitively ‘dad’ 

about a Rover P6 

especially in dark 

brown. Everyone, 

it seems, had one 

in their family.’ 

60 JULY 2021 // PRACTICAL CLASSICS 

practicalclassics.co.uk


A museum 

like no other, 

Richard 

Usher’s 

dream made 

real is PC 

heaven 

It’s as if someone has made Practical 

Classics Magazine into a visitor 

attraction… bricks and mortar. The Great 

British Car Journey is like no other car 

museum on the planet. It doesn’t 

celebrate exotica or dream cars… it 

celebrates the cars we all remember, the cars 

that touched our lives, the cars that were on 

our driveways not our bedroom walls. 

Situated just on the edge of the Peak District, 

in an old wire works next to the River Derwent in 

Ambergate, The Great British Car Journey is real 

world car nirvana. It is home to many of the 

motors from what was the largest privately 

owned collection of British classic cars in the 

world, amassed by enthusiast and 

entrepreneur James Hull and originally 

purchased by Jaguar Land Rover in 2014. 

The unglamourous end of that collection was 

then bought by another intrepid entrepreneur, 

Richard Usher, in order to form the basis of his 

dream project, something that we think is the 

most exciting automotive experience to open 

in the UK in decades. And it truly is an 

experience, because the collection is available 

to drive as well… and we are about to 

demonstrate the fact. 

➽ 


practicalclassics.co.uk 



Danny Hopkins chooses… 

1979 Morris Marina Coupé 

My first three cars were Marinas so this is pure nostalgia. 

This one is the 1300 as well, just like mine. Jumping 

into it is like putting on an old coat. Simple, 

unpretentiousand no worse at being a car than 

any Cortina. Don’t believe the haters. 

Drive Dad’s car 

The PC team get behind the wheel of the exhibits 

At the heart of the GBCJ is an 

active experience where 

visitors can get behind the 

wheel and drive a classic of 

their choice around a circuit. The ‘car 

menu’ is diverse and intriguing – Team PC 

chose the following. 

1989 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit 

The boxy Eighties Rolls is pure bling, and 

I love it. It is also just like the car a friend of 

mine’s dad had back in the Nineties. Even 

then it was a budget buy, so we used to 

‘borrow’ it every now and then. 

Matt 

Tomkins 

chooses… 

1971 Hillman Imp 

My mum’s first car was 

an Imp, and my dad’s was 

a Singer Chamois. 

Mum regularly speaks of 

never being able to 

afford to fill the tank, 

thus requiring a paving 

slab in the front 

as a winter 

handling kit. 

1961 Minor Million 

Well why wouldn’t I? 

I’m a Morris Minor man at 

heart, and the special 

edition Million is an 

important piece of 

British motoring history. 

This one drives, well, like 

any other 948cc Minor. 

Except it’s pink. 

1939 Austin Seven 

I’ve spent the past year 

and a half working on 

my own Seven, but had 

never actually driven 

one until now. 

This Opal belongs to 

Richard and is a hoot! 

Tyre squeal at 15mph 

– bring it on! 

Why are you 

a petrolhead? 

‘Thanks to my 

parents. Dad was 

a lifelong enthusiast 

who did some crazy 

things to ordinary 

cars, but really loved 

his Mini Cooper S, MGB 

and one or two rather 

lovely Bentleys.’ 

You used to own Blyton 

circuit, is there racing in 

your blood? 

‘I suppose so. Like me, 

dad was into racing 

and was President of 

Shenstone and 

District Car Club and 

part of the committee 

that built Curborough 

Sprint Circuit near 

Lichfield. Maybe that’s 

where I got the idea 

for Blyton from? Mum 

loved driving the 

Cooper S and had a 

Capri 2.0 and an XR2. 

Drove through Sutton 

Park like Pat Moss… 

with us all bouncing 

around in the back!’ 

What inspired you 

to make TGBCJ into 

a reality? 

‘It was inspired by the 

realisation that the 

cars of my youth and 

later were becoming 

statistically rarer 

than the Ferraris and 

Lambos of the same 

era. I bought a blue 

12,000-mile Maestro 

a few years back, it’s 

in the collection now. 

It is a truly rare thing 

and we have so many 

of such cars in TGBCJ. 

Also with Austin, 

Morris and the other 

front-wheel drive 

Leyland cars, genius 

engineers such as 

Alec Issigonis are in 

serious danger of 

being forgotten.’ 

Why did you choose 

Ambergate? 

‘I loved the idea of 

bringing life back to 

an ancient industrial 

complex such as the 

wire works we are 

now in. Our main 

building could be an 

assembly hall at 

Longbridge. I also love 

Derbyshire and I love 

being right on the 

river here.’ 

What is your 

favourite car in the 

collection? 

‘I think the Austin 16 

Woodie. A beautiful 

thing. The back body 

was made and fitted 

at Papworth Hospital 

in Cambridgeshire by 

people recovering 

from TB. The hospital, 

which became a world 

leading medical 

facility, pioneered 

rehabilitation by 

building factories on 

site to get patients 

back into the routine 

of work.’ 

What do you hope 

people will get from 

the Drive Dad’s car 

experience? 

‘Nostalgia and 

a realisation that, as a 

nation, we’re capable 

of great innovation 

and leadership. 

But it’s also the smell, 

the memories that old 

cars can reveal. 

The pleasures of 

a more analogue age. 

Pass me the eight 

track cartridge!’ 

1972 Vauxhall Viva HC 

My best friend Adam bought his Viva at the same time as 

I bought my Marina. We used to go everywhere in them and his 

was green as well. Driving this one brought back as many 

unprintable memories as the Marina. RIP Adam… miss you bud. 

James 

Walshe 

chooses… 

1989 Ford Sierra 

Sapphire 

As eight-year olds, me and my friend Andrew 

Webb would go to his dad’s Ford showroom on 

a Saturday and argue about top speeds. We still 

get together today and thumb through the 

brochures we nicked. With great certainty, 

I know my GLS from a Ghia… 

➽ 





1960 Sunbeam Rapier 

My father’s colleague’s secretary 

had one. Later, in 1972, so did I – 

a 1961 example bought for a mere 

£40. It looked great after I fitted new 

glassfibre sills (you could do that 

then), but its engine seized, fixed 

with a scrapyard replacement. 

Driving this one is an incredibly 

nostalgic experience. 

1993 Mini 

I’m ashamed to say I’d never driven a Mini. 

My older brother, parents and grandparents 

spent a great deal of time around them, so I was 

keen to get a feel for one behind the wheel. Glad 

to say, it was everthing I’d hoped it would be! 

1963 MG Midget 

This was an incredibly cool car for 

a dad to have, in this case my friend 

John’s dad who worked for Hawker 

Siddeley. His 1965 example was 

mustard yellow and mildly tuned. 

Driving this Midget reminded me 

how very, well, small they are. 

A proper little go-kart. 

1971 Austin 1300 GT 

A nippy machine, oh-so-Seventies. My friend Melanie’s dad 

bought one new, his first car with a steering lock. He had 

a habit of taking the key out of the ignition as he coasted to 

a halt on the driveway. There was a sharp bend at the end. 

Guess what happened… 

1989 Austin Maestro 

One day, I was taken to school by a friend’s mum in 

her Maestro. That evening, I told my dad I thought it 

must have been faulty as it was so uncomfortable 

and crashy. ‘You’ve been spoilt, son’ he said, nodding 

towards the Citroën XM parked in our drive. 

Drive Dad’s Car is a unique day out – you can do it, too! 

The Great British Car Journey comes into its 

own by allowing you to pilot the cars 

yourself. Drive Dad’s Car is a unique 

experience, giving you the opportunity to 

get behind the wheel of a variety of classic 

tin and, as a Practical Classics reader, you 

get a very special deal as well. 

Every reader of Practical Classics will 

get 10% OFF a drive dad’s car experience 

when they book PLUS a free Great British 

Car Journey mug on the day. All you need to 

do is book online and apply the following 

code: PRACTICAL10. 

Remember that the Drive Dad’s Car 

experience allows you to enjoy three 

different classics, behind the wheel… 

everything from an Austin 7 to a Morris 

Marina. There’s even a Bentley to try. 

Choose from Classic, Premium or Luxury 

cars, and get yourself experienced! 


practicalclassics.co.uk

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