AlanBrand.com

Fresh on the heels of the Toyota recall for millions of cars that may suffer from sudden acceleration - caused by carpets, sticky gas pedals, software glitches, or whatever - comes news of Honda recalling a huge number of their cars because of a problem with the driver side window motor - which can react badly to moisture and may short or even catch on fire.

This reinforces my distrust of modern cars - the more safety and convenience electronic options that are added, the greater the chance of a serious problem while driving.  All we really need in a car is a Morris Minor.

I’ll no longer be posting Jaguar and other Car related news to this Blog.

All future postings about Classic British Cars will be posted on my new website Jam Jar News.

You can find Jaguar only posts at this link.

I was watching an old episode of Top Gear on tv last night - the one where the Hamster drives a Bowler Wildcat and enjoys himself so much that he declares that he’s a driving god (YouTube link) - so I was prompted to investigate them on the web today. Bowler sold the rights to the Wildcat to QT Services a while ago so that Drew Bowler could concentrate on a new machine, the Nemesis, and QT have continued to develop the Wildcat since then. The latest announcement is that they are now building cars with  the option of a Jaguar 4.0/4.2/4.4 V8 Engine.

This would be perfect for an Owen Sound winter!

Autocar reports that, following a thorough consultation with the UK motor industry, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has decided to cancel the 2010 British International Motor Show  due to the global economic crisis. They do not have firm plans for the return of the show, and Autocar speculates that it may not be before 2013.

Paul Everitt, chief executive of SMMT, explains:

We didn’t want the situation of planning a show against a background of uncertainty, so we crystallised debate very quickly: could manufacturers commit to the show for 2010? The manufacturers are all in the process of making redundancies, cutting salaries, cutting working hours and trying to save money. It would have been foolhardy for them to come to us and commit to spending very significant amounts of money at such a time. Unsurprisingly, the people we asked all said they couldn’t commit, so we have canceled.

Technabob reports on some very silly Mini USB memory sticks available from Vavalo in August … a 1:48 scale replica of a pukka mini with a USB drive in the boot and headlights that turn on when the drive is plugged in, what could be nicer?

I really need the police version!

The Telegraph reports that agreement was reached after talks between the drivers’ union and Shell’s suppliers.

Latest figures suggest that nearly 600 petrol stations ran dry before deliveries were resumed after the four day strike.

One can only hope that the record prices will be dropping quickly.

BBC News reports that the Foxhayes petrol station at Exwick, near Exeter, has been charging £1.99 a litre for both petrol and diesel in an attempt to conserve stocks.

The combination of a strike by Shell tanker drivers disrupting deliveries and panic buying by drivers has resulted in many petrol stations completely running out of fuel, leading to the high prices.

Even at the favourable current exchange rates, that translates to CDN$3.99 a litre which makes the CDN$1.35 being asked by my local garage today sound like a bargain!

The Telegraph asked its readers to nominate the Most Beautiful Car of All Time, and recently published the results. Nine Jaguars made it in to the Top 100 … I guess that I was the only one that voted for the Jaguar 420!

1 - Jaguar E-type
3 - Jaguar XK120/140/150
11 - Jaguar D-type/XK-SS
12 - Jaguar Mk2
27 - Jaguar XJ6
47 - Jaguar XJ-S
67 - SS100
80 - Jaguar XJ220
81 - Jaguar XK

The council of the London Borough of Lewisham has just voted to implement a blanket 20mph speed limit, according to the Evening Standard. Green Party councillor Sue Luxton proposed the plan as a way to encourage people to walk or cycle and to promote a shift away from cars. Can the man with the red flag walking in front of every car be far off?

My last job in England before emigrating in 1967 was in Lewisham - I seem to remember that nothing moved much faster than 15mph in Lewisham back then!