Hello All From London. I'm in London for about 3 weeks working. I make the schedule for the fmily I'm working for so I worked in a visit to the only car mueseum in London, well actually it's just outside London, Middlesex.. I didn't know what to expect. I figured it would be a bunch of vintage English vehicles, old taxis, and some suped up minis. I was actually shocked that there were quite a few cars we'd like, but unfortunately they screwed them up as you will see, but either way at least they were there.. I was talking to the guys who run the place, and they told me it's a guys private collection. A dude from Cameroon who lived in the states for a while, which as the guy told me, explains the reason for the old "American" cars. Unfortunately he didn't stay long enough in the states to know not to put 20inch rims on the cars. But, at least they have them.. I took pictures of all the cars I thought we'd be interested in. Remember Don't shoot the messenger.. Cause it's a dam shame..
Of Course Mercs are going to get Extra Love. 1949 and 1951... These Mercs were nice, the 1951 was very nice from the outside except for the rims of course. The top was beautiful, and it had some nice things done to it.. You will notice there are no interior shots, because you guys might have killed the owner.. HAhahah..
If your already there head over to the " National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. Its one of the worlds best . http://www.beaulieu.co.uk/beaulieu/lotstosee-national-motor-museum
Pay a visit here if you want to see British Motoring History http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/ . .
Fortunateley the Rivis have been left alone! The grren one looks intresting! Also the GP is kool, minus the stickers! The owner of these cars must have some serious bad taste issues i guess, seems that all cars need to have the uglier big rims in commerce, i mean, giant rims are all ugly, but theses seem to beat the rest in terms of uglyness. The brown vynil topon the Merc is insane! Screams late 70s out loud! Intresting stuff dude, thanx for sharing.
Thanks for the pics. The guy must have lived in Alabama.. that's the kind of stuff you see at a cruise night here! Either that or he owns a "dub" store...
I found out about it this week and I dont think I could have made it anyway.. If you went why didnt you post any pics? Hmmm not very HAMB friendly of you,,hahah..jk How far is tis from Central London? Hyde Park-Marble Arch area?
Hey that's damn funny!! They look like those little toy cars you'd buy at Wallmart or Target!! They should sell the uglyes and then buy decent rims for the lot. They would have money enough to give them all new paint jobs too! Thanks for the pics though
Hey, thanks...er, I think. Must admit I didn't know there were that many cars there, as all we get to see on UK forums are the crimes against good taste! He's definitely got the monopoly on blingy rims, which is fine by me as I certainly don't need any. He advertises some of the cars for sale occasionally, but usually at way-over the going rate. Oh, and Beaulieu Motor Musem is down on the south coast - maybe 70 - 80 miles from Londinium?
Wow... As I was looking at those all I could think was how this guy (the owner) has some really bad taste. Then I saw the Ed Hardy logo and thought, "Well that explains a lot." A lot of those cars are "so close" to being really nice, but yet miss the mark horribly. It's amazing how seemingly small changes can have such huge consequences when building a car. This guy almost "gets it", but not quite. Maybe he's a gold chainer who recently discovered traditional stuff and is now in limbo between the two. HRod 50, thanks for posting the pics and enjoy your stay across the pond.
the guy who owns it `treated ` us all to our first experience of a donk a few years back...sometimes people work very hard at being cool but miss it by a country mile
Yellow, chopped, fenderless Desoto Airflow. Look again. Can't be more than one of those. Was it Egon Necelis'?
i saw that too, what a way-out car for the era. wasn't it 1984 or so when he put that together? i'll have to dig through the vault & look for the issue of hotrod with the feature.
No it was built in Maryland in the 80s. I wondered what ever happened to it. I want to say the builder's name was Ken Smith but I'm not sure about his first name.
The Riv's are the only good looking cars that I saw in those pic's. Is that a real Auburn? I always wondered where all of the ugly wheels that were shown in the catalogs went. Now I know.
Hey Tommy you are correct....Ken Smith originally built the chopped Airflow. Last I remember the car was owned by an Ellicott City fellow. His last name is Hutchinson.
I humbly apologize to Ken Smith for not realizing that was his work. Years ago HRM featured two way-out-there custom sedans in the same feature article: The Ken Smith Airflow and Egon Necelis' wild Lasalle. I've been confused ever since. Might as well apologize to the late Egon Necelis too, a great custom builder (Carney's Point N.J. WOOT). Someone should apologize to the Desoto for those grotty wheels.
Never heard of that place before, but at least two of those cars have been for sale over here with very big price tags, unsurprisingly they have been knocking around for years. The white 55 chevy I can remember seeing on uk ebay. But yeah, beaulieu or brooklands will probably be more up your street.