Enthusiasts’ drive to collect vintage vehicles remains strong

Vintage vehicles tend to be bypassed by the traditional auction house, with most historic cars finding their way to specialist dealers and sales. This is surprising, as interest in classic vehicles has remained high hereabouts for many years.

The Glamis Extravaganza put the subject on the map, courtesy of the Strathmore Vintage Vehicle Club. The baton has passed to Scone Yesteryear and myriad other weekend blasts. Specialisms have been added by Classic Car Restorations of Alyth, whose high-quality finishing has seen the rebirth of many famous and valuable cars. And now, of course, Morris Leslie of Errol is taking older vehicles directly to collectors with quarterly auctions, the most recent last month.

I declare an interest here, as I have owned several bangers. I blame my father for one of them. He had joined the Post Office as an engineer in 1938 so muggins here couldn’t resist a 1938 GPO engineer’s van offered for sale in The Courier around 1990.

This was a 1938 Morris Minor hybrid, with aluminium body, runner boards (complete with GPO fire extinguisher), front-opening windscreen and a huge steering wheel that took Herculean strength to turn. It was mid-bronze green in colour with a white roof. On each door, in white, was stencilled ‘Post Office Telephones’ with the Royal Cypher.

The van and I parted company around 1994, but the businessman who bought it still runs it!

He, like me, will be interested in the fate of a fully-restored Morris JB type GPO planner’s van, which appeared at Biddle & Webb’s recent sale in Birmingham.

Green, of course, and made in 1961, it exceeded hopes by being steered to £13,000.

Picture: GPO van, £13,000 (Biddle & Webb).