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00/00/ I was out for a drink with a couple of mates the other evening and obviously we kept below our recommended 21 units, hang on thats meant to be for a week isnt it, oh well. And obviously we drink real ale, well bottles of Bud are real and theyre sort of an ale. It has the same effect in that you feel like shit the next morning. So as usual the main topic of conversation is cars (once upon a time it was women, but we got old). A couple of my mates are quite well off, they work hard still, and they have lots of cars. One of them has had everything from Ferraris (plural), Rolls, Pontiac Transams, Porsches and so on and now he likes doing up old cars (not himself) such as MGBs, Minis etc. and they look lovely. One day he was driving his little, pale blue Mini 850 into work and one of his lorry drivers said "You look a nob driving that." Later the Mini was sold. The other day I saw him driving a little, green Morris 1000. So in the pub I informed him that, he looked like a nob driving it. Which is true, old white haired blokes should not drive what is essentially an old midwifes car from the 60s. This is especially true if they have a few bob. There will be quite a few of you out there who do not agree with me and think the Morris 1000 is a wonderful British icon. No. They are horrid things and I can hand on heart (yes I have one) say, I will not be making one in the near future. Anyway, back to the pub. "Oh great, suppose Ill have to sell that one now." To which I reply "No, just dont drive it. Imagine you saw me driving it, what would you think?" He seemed to get the point after that. I later advised him to go buy a Mustang, it looks cool, sounds awesome and you wont look like a total nob. He is looking at a replica shelby at the moment, job done. It is strange how in the 50s and early 60s the British car industry turned out such horrible family cars. And how they all had awful names like Austin Cambridge, Westminster Devon, so bloody boring and yet we produced such fantastic sports cars. Healeys, TRs, MGs, Sunbeams and, of course the most beautiful sports car in the history of the world, The E-type Jag. I am afraid things like a Morris 1000 leave me cold, but thank god everyone does not thing like me. These cars deserved to be restored and preserved so we dont forget how horrible they were (only joking). I do have a lot of admiration for enthusiasts who do up and run cars like Allegros and Princess because they were so bad. The Austin Allegro owners club, I like that idea, it all gets a bit serious sometimes. I think it is fantastic, the diversity we have of interest in cars. I love, as I may have mentioned, Mustangs but I also love Frogeye Sprites, cant really get much different. Both cars I make versions of, but like other models will be going. Boo, you may say but neither are worth keeping in production. On the bright side the 65 Le Mans Bizzarrini is all done and it looks great. This is a much modified casting from the 64 and I actually prefer it. I should have done this one first as it is not covered in bloody rivets. This week I will be carrying on with more new(ish) stuff including the Chap 2 which looks pretty good in its handling form. It will be using the same chassis as the handling M1A so we should have a good grid of 60s sport GT cars coming along. I also had my Allard whizzing around the track (the black one with Sue Stits navigating, shes good). It goes great and looks a treat. As I said last week we need to cater for everyones taste if we can and the Allard does make a lovely model. I must admit I would like to get the Bentley finished as it is very different to any car Ive made before, in slot racing terms that is. Its big, imposing and its a Le Man car. I know I said the 1960 Corvette was number one but that was last week. The ERA will be finding its way back into production this week. We have a good few back ordered already so if you missed out the first time then now is the time to order one. The ERA is a lovely little car, it just looks great on the track. I quite fancy making a Le Man Frazer Nash now. The TWR XJS Jaguar is now out of production. The group 44 is still in for the time being. Please note I am trying to keep updated on the product listings what will be going out of production. But it can be short notice even for us. A good bit of news now. The 19 inch wire wheel is now available from pendle slot. It is a pretty good generic wheel and various pendle tyres fit it. At the moment it only comes with one tyre size, but I should imagine this will change in time. I will certainly be using it on my old GP cars. UPDATE: Please note our phone is not working at the moment.