Thanks nikbj68 [
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Interesting English as you say - closely similar to early Japanese car manuals !
Can’t remember exactly when I saw my first 428, sometime around ’75 or so possibly, but it was a convertible with the roof down parked just off Oxford Circus and that was it ! I was hooked and although I’m only an ordinary enthusiast I’ve followed their progress whenever I could ever since. Then I think I saw a new one for sale in HR Owens (circular plate glass covered) showroom around Chelsea, so I immediately went in and got their AC brochure which I’ve still got today, showing the green 428 down by the Thames near Chertsey.
Hope it’s not too boring but I’ve included one or two early personal experiences, plus a few more bookmarked websites....
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http://www.thewhothismonth.com/ “The Who†website - scroll down to March 1972. A snippet about Keith Moon’s write off. Stoned rock star or not how on earth did he drive as far as Staines in the first place !
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http://www.automobilrevue.ch/artikel_15216.html In German but some good general interior pics at the bottom.
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http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/image/?s=5556717&sid=0 CF 57 plus a few details.
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http://theavengers.tv/forever/cars-2.htm Another view of the Avenger car near the bottom.
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http://www.conceptcarz.com/view/photo/127259,11868,0,0/photo.aspx 6. An American registered softtop – scroll to bottom of page for more pics.
http://www.marque.com.au/gallery/AC/pages/AC_012%20(1967%20428%20Fastback.htm (You’ll have to cut and paste this URL as it’s not taking it direct.)
Although unfortunately I’ve never owned a 428, I did manage to visit the Thames Ditton factory just the once and this picture does look very much like the same small showroom and forecourt at the front of the factory itself. Either way I clearly remember those funny small blue invalid (Ministry of Health ?) 3 wheeler carriages they made (what happened to them all ?) that were parked everywhere just inside the entrance to be serviced or whatever, and clearly remember then seeing a dark coloured fastback 428 amongst them ! Talk about contrasts ! I think perhaps there was a Greyhound and a vague memory of a Buckland or something beside it, plus several other presumably customer’s cars all in for a service as well. It was just like so many other very ordinary High Street garages at the time.
Although as I said I’m most definitely not mechanically minded or that interested (too many scars to prove it !), I do remember other small silly things from that visit ! Thinking for example as I peered into the dark interior full of period atmosphere and bustling activity, how the far windows were those small long rectagular cream coloured shape ones typical of so many pre and postwar family owned garages. Or inconsequential things like turning round and seeing a very ordinary High St. scene and a woman parking her dark pram and going into the grocers ! It was pure late 50’s suburbia the same as many early Norman Wisdom or “Carry On†films.
I also read a story somewhere recently that Carroll Shelby just turned up one day in a black taxi, hopefully wearing a stetson, and apparently saying to the first people he met “Hi y’all ! I’m Carroll Shelby.†I don’t know how true that is but in quiet South London suburbia with bellowing Cobras and Le Mans not that far ahead… It really beats the imagination nowadays ![
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http://autowp.ru/picture/115970 On the one occasion I visited Summer Road (’84/ ‘85 or so ?) I’m sure I saw this same red car parked right at the far back. I remember asking Keith (?) Judd about it as it was so different with the pop-up headlights. He said it was for sale at £20k which in fact was one heck of a lot money then and way out of my reach, especially when you think that 428 fastbacks were going for about £8000 or so ? I believe this car was the last 428 they produced too ? I did see Derek Hurlock in the background briefly as well but unfortunately he was far too busy. Finally, and I think it might have been Keith Judd who said that one of the reasons they stopped production of the 428 was because they would never pass the official crash test ?
And while I think of it too I once visited an AC event at around the same time and there was a guy there who’d brought along what he said was the very first prototype. Very scruffy and tired it looked a bit like a softtop Scimitar I thought, but I clearly remember he was very chuffed with it !
Have a rummage round later....[
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Edited
Just had a closer look in the Movie Car website under AC generally and found this little interesting lot [
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http://www.imcdb.org/vehicles_make-AC.html
