Lancaster News

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Welcome to Lancaster Insurance News

Keep up to date with the latest news and events from the world of classic cars.

Jowett

Celebrating 100 years of the Jowett Club

  • 31st July, 2023

Well done to the Jowett Car Club who this year, are celebrating 100 years of their club. Formed in 1923, the Jowett Car Club claims to be the oldest one-make car club in the world.

40 years young: The Midget and Sprite Club

  • 31st July, 2023

Inexpensive, beloved and well represented in terms of spares: these are just a few of the things a ‘Spridget’ has got going for it.

Coffee cups

Coffee and Cars at Lancaster Insurance!

  • 31st July, 2023

Each event will run from 10am until 1pm and is completely FREE to enter and there are NO pre booking requirements to come and enjoy the event. Classics of all conditions are welcome to the event and every car is made to feel welcome, whether it’s a work in progress or a concours show winner.

Orange car

TOP TEN IMMODEST CAR ADVERTISEMENTS

  • 25th July, 2023

Over the years, this writer has immersed himself in the fascinating world of bygone car advertisements and brochures. With screen sales camp gains, he has learned that a Ford Corsair 2000E is the ideal vehicle for an elopement and that it was not a good idea for Bill ‘Arthur Fowler’ Treacher to take an Austin Allegro for a test-drive.

Black car

The SD1 From India – The Story of The Standard 2000

  • 25th July, 2023

Of all the rare Rover SD1 variants – the V8S, the Vanden Plas Series 1, the 2400SD Turbo – the Standard 2000 from India is possibly the most interesting.  In theory it looked set to appeal to the discerning motorist – but in reality, the project had sone very fundamental flaws.

Car poster

THE REMARKABLE TVR GRIFFITH 200

  • 25th July, 2023

"You dreamed it...we built it". That was the marketing slogan for the remarkable blend of the TVR Grantura Mk. III with a 4,727cc Ford V8 engine known as the Griffith 200.

Car news article

The BMC ADO16 – The Graham Hill Connection

  • 25th July, 2023

Sixty years ago, the keen driver who found their family outgrowing a Mini Cooper and who really needed four doors now had the ideal car – a Morris 1100 with GT tuning by Speedwell Performance Conversions Ltd.

White fiesta

Meet The Owner – Siôn Hudson and his 1980 Ford Fiesta 1100L

  • 25th July, 2023

It is often the case that seemingly mundane versions of popular cars are of equal, or greater, interest than their more expensive brethren. In the early 1980s, the Fiesta S, Ghia and XR2 were far less commonly seen than the likes of Siôn Hudson’s L – the car from a time when “5 position reclining front seats”, “Sandford” fabric trim and “driver’s and passenger’s storage door bins” represented the pinnacle of luxury in the Elm Green housing estate.

Black and white car

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN GERALD PALMER BMC SALOONS

  • 25th July, 2023

There is a strong case for Gerald Palmer’s creations for the British Motor Corporation to be considered some of the most elegant saloons of their generation.

Small blue car

THE STORY OF THE 9X – THE MINI REPLACEMENT THAT NEVER WAS

  • 25th July, 2023

The year is 1967 and Alec Issigonis is about to commence work on one of his most ambitious projects to date – an heir to the Mini. The 9X commenced after Issigonis finished work on the  ADO14, which was to become the Austin Maxi.

White car

Meet The Owner – Neil Allen and his Austin Metro

  • 17th July, 2023

‘A British car, to beat the world’ was the Metro’s advertising slogan in 1980 – and British car fans certainly took the model to their hearts. One such fan was Neil Allen, who’d spent his childhood in and around them, took driving lessons in a Rover Metro, and, before his 1983 Mk1 came along, had a 1988 Metro City in the garage.

White car and castle

MEET THE OWNER - STEVEN GRAY AND HIS BEDFORD HA ROMA

  • 17th July, 2023

Last year, we met Steven Gray, the proud owner of a Vauxhall Chevette Sun Hatch. But his fleet also includes a motor home that looks as though it has strayed from the set of Carry On Camping – a 1968 Bedford HA Roma. Some time ago, I described this fine machine in a Telegraph article thus.

White car

DO YOU REMEMBER THE FORD ORION MK. I?

  • 17th July, 2023

Some cars take pride in being reassuringly conventional, not least the Orion, a vehicle that only Terry and June might have considered at the cutting edge of automotive fashion. Ford never intended to break new bounds, but it more than fulfilled its role as a saloon to appeal to fleet buyers.

Man in red car

40 years young: The Midget and Sprite Club

  • 7th July, 2023

Inexpensive, beloved and well represented in terms of spares: these are just a few of the things a ‘Spridget’ has got going for it. With the comings and goings of lockdowns, the advent of 10 per cent ethanol fuel and more competition from the internet than ever before, Andrew Parrott, club chair of the Midget and Sprite Club, reassured Lancaster Insurance Services that the organisation was more than set for the challenges of the future.