With another, UK Style, snowmageddon predicted for the weekend I was wondering if anybody would be turning up for this months Avenue Drivers Club meeting at Queen Square a couple of weekends ago, fortunately the snow held off and all we got was rain and cold winds which was insufficient to deter a hard core from turning up.

Every see I see Duncan Pittaway he seems to be driving a different car, in January he was driving a TVR on the Exeter Trial and he turned up for the Avenue Drivers Club meeting with this 1952 Aston Martin DB2.

Since I first met Mark a couple of months ago his enthusiasm for his recently purchased Ford Consul 375 has never ceased to amaze me, he has been replacing all the faded badges on his car, this Consul 375 badge was sourced on e-bay in Australia.

Austin Healey’s in Bristol are usually associated with John “Mr Big Healey” Chatham who has raced and rallied, rebuilt repaired and renovated more Healey’s like this 1966 3000 Mk III than I have had hot dinners in a life dedicated to the models over 40 years.

The 3.8 litre Jaguar S-Type was the more popular variant of the model affectionately known at the Jaguar factory as the “Ugly Duckling“, this one was built in 1967.

Moving forwards a couple of decades this third generation Mercedes Benz 300SL Auto was built in 1987.

There are two wheel patterns seen on 1988 Ferrari 328 GTS models the original concave pattern seen here denotes that it is not fitted with the option ABS brakes and attendant new suspension geometry which required convex wheel patterns.

So far as I have been able to discern above is one of just 500 1994 Mazda Eunos Roadster RS special edition models built for the the Japanese market. 49 of these vehicles fitted with Recardo seats, extra chassis bracing, lightened flywheel, Torsen limited slip differential and Bilstein dampers were personally imported into the UK and 46 of them appear to still be here.

This 1999 MG-F will have been going head to head with the Mazda MX5 for UK sales, the MG-F was the first model to be offered with a Variable Valve Control that was infinitely variable between set parameters, the VVC option improved power output by 25% and torque by 5%.

Welsh heart throb Catherine Zeta Jones made an unbelievable television advertisement with a sound track from Welsh superstars EMF for the ALFA Romeo Sportwagon, linked here, back in the day. Above is a 2001 example fitted with a 2.5 litre / 152 cui V6 petrol motor.

Representing the Antipodes was this 2005 Holden VZ Ute SSZ above is another special edition fitted with a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. Thanks to Peter Darley and Wirra over at The Nostalgia Forum we know that only 1200 AUS$ 40,490 Ute SSZ’s were built and that they were fitted with AUS$ 6,250 worth of extra’s which included the 18″ Morano alloy wheels.

Fastest vehicle to attend the February Avenue Drivers club meeting was the 198 mph 2009 Ferrari F430 Scuderia above.

Finally when I saw the vehicle above approaching I thought it was a Toyota GT86 however closer inspection revealed it was actually an almost identical, apart from the badges, Subaru BRZ.

Thanks for joining me on this “Coffee, Croissant & Cars #9” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !