Friday 18 April 2008

UK's motor vanity fair (1) [Bâlciul deşertăciunilor cu motor din UK]

Any attempt to describe life in the UK could no longer avoid saying something about the cars the Brits drive. Since I’m neither a fan of motor sports, nor a driving ace, I thought it would be better for me to show images of cars seen in Britain, and not comment too much on something I am not an expert at. However, I could dare drawing attention to what seemed to me worth sharing with others.

To my own surprise (and to those of my readers who know I am not at all passionate with cars), I really took notice of some interesting things throughout this country, and I have hundreds of pictures (probably for at least 25 episodes apart from this inaugural one) to prove it.

For the first episode, I chose a Morris car. I don’t know much about this now defunct Morris Motor Company, neither does this brand seem to have a network of fans with a remarkable online visibility (only a little bit here or here) – but the vehicle looks great!

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice wheels! I guess that the only modern car resembling this Morris is the net Fiat 500 (google it!). And I know someone who's anxios to take it for a test drive ;)

MunteanUK said...

I only saw a couple of new Fiat 500 in the UK. Indeed, that's an interesting car as well. However, I'm not sure whether the Brits will love it, simply because most of those who like this type of cars are in love with MINIs (Cooper/One)...

God willing, I'll definitely have to write more about this 'national symbol,' which the Brists love primarily because it's a very good car... not that they would be 'nationalistic' from this point of view. For instance, they love equally much the new VW Beetle, as I saw a lot of 'em.

In my humble view, people here don't care too much about who owns a car brand/production plant. Motorists in the UK seem to love QUALITY above anything else, be it locally produced, American, Japanese, Italian or German... It's true I haven't seen that many French cars here. I couldn't say what are more prevalent for this situation: 'nationalistic' or 'technical' reasons?! :)

At a first glance (I admit I haven't travelled to the industrial areas of the English Midlands or to the economically dead towns on River Clyde's banks, near Glasgow), there seem to be fewer cheap brands, and second hand cars in the UK than in other parts of Europe.

It would be nice if someone with much more knowledge about cars in the UK could back up or contradict my hastily drawn (it's been only three months) conclusion... As a matter of fact, I know one Scottish Orthodox chap who could offer his relevant opinion on this issue... I wonder if he notices this little discussion or I should invite him to post a comment through a direct e-mail :)

Anonymous said...

am reusit sa fac si eu ceva poze cu masini din uk, si modele mai vechi si chiar am nimerit unde se reconditionau, dar am vazut in Londra o masina (nu stiu exact ce fel, dar se vede in poza) MAI MICA decat Smart-ul. Nu mi-am putut inchipui ca poate exista asa ceva (si culmea, parea a avea portbagajul mai mare) si am vazut ca era chiar "populara" in Londra.
C.L.

Anonymous said...

si ca informatie adiacenta, in februarie anul acesta combustibilul (diesel) costa 1,10 - 1,19 lire/ litru.
C.L.

MunteanUK said...

@ C.L.

A car smaller than a Smart?! Well, I noticed an electric car in London, and I intend to write an entire episode of this series.

***

About the price of petrol (benzină) and diesel (motorină), I wrote another post:

http://munteanuk.blogspot.com/2010/02/chestii-d-astea-numai-la-britanici-24.html

I'm looking forward for your opinions concerning this 'hot issue' (the price of fuel).

Anonymous said...

you'll see the photos.