Our Blogs
Ben Wanklyn Blog 01/02/10
I was in a bit of a pickle. A nasty accident had turned my Ford Fiesta into a mangled banana-shaped mess, leaving me without daily transport.
By a stroke of good fortune though, I had just become the proud owner of a Hillman Super Minx; a sturdy 1960s armchair with Detroit styling and a boot the size of Bournemouth. Great, I’d use that for my daily commute. Problem solved. Or it would have been, if not for two tiny details. Firstly, the be-finned wonder’s clutch was faulty. Secondly, it was parked outside the Practical Classics w...
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Words: Ben Wanklyn
Posted: 10:35am, 1 February 2010
Images: Ben Wanklyn
Also see: Other posts by Ben Wanklyn
Jon Fenning blog December 09
Progress on preparing the bug has been worryingly smooth, almost too easy. The mounting of the bonnet globe was fairly straightforward requiring little precision and lots of guesswork.
It also lights up, so I guess we now have the world's only bonnet mounted lighted up globe motif Beetle, unless anyone knows any different!
Our spark plugs kept blackening up so we simply disconnected the ever faulty automatic choke, assuming sub Saharan Africa will be warm enough for the car to start easily.
We simply disengaged the relay that controlled the but...
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Words: Jon Fenning
Posted: 11:10am, 28 January 2010
Images: Jon Fenning
Also see: Other posts by Jon Fenning
Jonathan Fenning Blog - 7/12/09
Team For Queen and Country prepare to drive to Cameroon in a knackered Volkswagen Beetle.
One evening last March, my housemate Jack Ellis and I were supposed to be studying for our finals, however we found it far more interesting to enter the Adventurists Africa Rally - an impressively foolish event that involves driving budget cars overland to Cameroon. Total distance: 6000ish miles.
Believing in a true sense of heritage we gave our team the neo-colonial title ‘For...
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Words: Jonathan Fenning
Posted: 2:55pm, 7 December 2009
Also see: Other posts by Jonathan Fenning
Sam Skelton Blog 24/11/09
PC's latest blogger explains why the future's brown.
Forgive me if this blog doesn't seem to talk about cars that much - I accept that it doesn't. I have however got a point to make, so if you're not doing much - washing the dog, taking the dishes for a walk, etc. - please do read on.
There is - or seems to be - a stigma attached to the colour brown. Don't ask me why, there just is. Brown is a colour that most of the fashionista wo...
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Words: Sam Skelton
Posted: 9:29am, 24 November 2009
Also see: Other posts by Sam Skelton
Ben Wanklyn Blog 5/11/09
Seat-sniffing prompts Ben to take on PC's soiled Super Minx.
I blame my nose. Well, that and the smell of old vinyl. Certainly without either of them, classic cars just wouldn’t have the same appeal for me. I mean, there’s something magical about that musty plastic odour that lingers in Sixties car interiors. Just one whiff of sun-parched seat covers leaves me plotting various ways to bring another motoring antique into my life. Throw in the allure o...
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Words: Ben Wanklyn
Posted: 10:34am, 10 November 2009
Also see: Other posts by Ben Wanklyn
Claire Kidd blog 29/10/09
I’ve always been into cars as my dad brought me up as the son he never had – and my fiancée is a keen racing driver.
Hi, I'm Claire. You may not recognise the name, but behind the scenes at Practical Classics headquarters I'm shackled to my desk answering phones and catering to the PC team's every whim. Well, to a certain extent.
I must admit I wasn’t much of a classic car enthusiast before joining the PC team, but now I find myself wanting my own resto project. Watch thi...
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Words: Claire Kidd
Posted: 5:10pm, 30 October 2009
Images: Claire Kidd
Also see: Other posts by Claire Kidd
Brett Nicholson blog, 20/10/09
Have you ever wondered why you are so interested in cars? I often do!
I sit and stare at a computer screen all day at work, as a result my mind inevitably wanders towards old cars. I should be thinking about my real work but instead I’m thinking about the work I want to do on the Moke’s suspension.
I daydream about buying a classic Beetle, or perhaps that Reliant Scimitar GTE I saw last week. Or should I dump funds I don’t really have into pr...
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Words: Brett Nicholson
Posted: 9:13am, 20 October 2009
Images: Brett Nicholson
Also see: Other posts by Brett Nicholson
Sam Glover Blog 13/10/09
Ami affair leads to Dyane divorce.
It's not often that upon getting a new purchase home, it turns out to be better than anticipated. As a general rule, solid sills transpire to be affixed with No More Nails, con-rods snap without warning and electrical fires break out like measles.
I was therefore dumbfounded when my latest automotive waif turned out to be substantially better than it initially appeared.
Words: Sam Glover
Posted: 9:29am, 13 October 2009
Also see: Other posts by Sam Glover
Andrew Faulkner blog 12/10/09
If you are one of my blog followers (make up your own acronym), you will recall that I have been on an on-going mission to find out why the SS1 decided to conk-out at a very inconvenient place during
Having sorted the distributor, the next item to soil the utility room worktop was the carburettor. Everything looked fine so it was cleaned, reassembled and put back on. I dusted off my Gunsons Colourtune plug to check the mixture.
Only trouble was that the plugs on the Ford CVH are quite recessed and it wasn't possible to get a spanner on it so that's as far as I got at the tim...
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Words: Andy Faulkner
Posted: 9:35am, 12 October 2009
Images: Andrew Faulkner
Also see: Other posts by Andy Faulkner
Danny's dialogue.
After a few weeks spent languishing at www.lustforrust.co.uk in Kent my Astra is finally starting to lose all that rusty metal.
My mate Tony owns Lust for Rust bodyshop and has done a fine job welding just about everywhere. Lots of sealant has been applied where it really matters on a Mk2 Astra, - under the front wheel arches.
Undersealing a MkII Astra's arches is imperative.The car will ev...
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Words: Danny Chandler
Posted: 8:40am, 20 October 2009
Images: Danny Chandler
Also see: Other posts by Danny Chandler
