Coffee, Croissant & Cars #09/13 – Avenue Drivers Club

On second Sunday’s of the week in Bristol there is nowhere quite like Queen Square in Bristol for car enthusiasts to go for the monthly gathering of the Avenue Drivers Club.

Sunbeam 14/40, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

I managed to get down there at 8:30 am for the last meeting and already enthusiasts were coming in thick and fast. Around 2850 Sunbeam 14/40’s like the example above were built between 1924 and 1926, among novelties for the period were standard front brakes.

Abarth, 500, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

Amongst those I met on the day was regular GALPOT reader Colin who owns this 2010 Abarth 500 one of the earliest imported examples of the type that did not spend it’s early life on the Hertz Rental fleet.

Triumph 2500 PI Mk2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

Readers of last Tuesdays blog might remember that Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer drove a Triumph 2500 PI Mk2 like the 1970 example seen here to a second place on the London to Mexico World Cup Rally.

Moss Monaco, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

John Cowperthwaite designed and built the first Moss Kit Car in Sheffield around 1981, it is thought 70 Moss Monaco‘s have been built, mostly using either Triumph Herald or Ford Escort motors and running gear.

Plymouth Special De Luxe Coupe, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

Plymouth’s first new model after the 1939/45 was was the Deluxe, introduced in 1946, which came with a push button on the dash to start the 95 hp straight six motor. The example above appears to be a 1948 Special De Luxe Coupé.

Ford Ranchero, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

Looking like it came out of the Twighlight B&W TV series was this 1957 Ford Ranchero, which circulated the Square once before seemingly vanishing into thin air.

VW Golf VR6 MkIII, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

The secret of low riding is air suspension, this two owner Golf VR6 MkIII rides on air suspension sourced from a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) trailer.

Lincoln Continental, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

Looking suitably presidential with it’s red flashing lights mounted behind the grill and suicide rear doors was this 1964 Lincoln Continental which was imported into this country in 1991.

McLaren 12C Great , Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

Embarrassingly when I saw this Mclaren Great 12C I half expected Austin Powers to step out. It turns out that McLaren have been supporting an innovation initiative with these Union Jack liveried cars with the strap line, Innovation Is Great Britain.

Porsche 911 RS, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Sq, Bristol

Finally rumour had it that the owner of this Porsche RS had to break out a pick axe to remove some rubber sleeping policeman his ex wife had installed in a shared drive way, just to get the RSR bodied Porsche onto the road !

Thanks for joining me on this “Coffee, Croissant & Cars #09/13” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me for Americana Thursday tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a racing Corvette C2. Don’t forget to come back now !

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