Dave Richards - Classic Cars From The Cold War Era
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Date24th May 2007
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PlaceChemistry Research Laboratory (CRL), South Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3TA
Dave Richards is a technical journalist and motoring historian. He describes himself as a "serial
car-buyer and fixer" and reckons to have owned "over 500" cars.
He still works on cars professionally and is a qualified MoT inspector so bring along your technical queries!
He writes for Classic & Sports Car every month, and also has regular slots as technical editor for Jaguar Driver and Garage & MoT Professional. He has had feature articles published in magazines such as Motorsport, Heritage Commercial, Classic Military Vehicle, Practical Caravan, & Practical Classics and also writes book reviews.
He has owned many interesting cars, including the prototype Triple C Challenger - an E-type Jaguar replica, and a stretched-prototype Vauxhall built by Panthers in 1978. He is currently restoring a 1967 Austin Mini Cooper and also has a Tatra 603 and Mazda MX-5.
He's also looking for a V12 Jaguar or Jensen FF as he believes that a technical journalist should own cars that have interesting engineering!
He has toured extensively in Eastern Europe both before and after the fall of communism and has gained a lot of knowledge about the interesting cars from that region. We might remember British top brass in the cold war in Jaguars, Humbers or Rovers, but most of us have little idea about their counterparts on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Only the Political Masters could have a Tatra, a GAZ or a ZIL - the plebs were not allowed!
On May 24th firstly he gave us an insight into the political realities of how some were "more
equal than others". He was also available for technical queries and answered questions about
motoring journalism.
He still works on cars professionally and is a qualified MoT inspector so bring along your technical queries!
He writes for Classic & Sports Car every month, and also has regular slots as technical editor for Jaguar Driver and Garage & MoT Professional. He has had feature articles published in magazines such as Motorsport, Heritage Commercial, Classic Military Vehicle, Practical Caravan, & Practical Classics and also writes book reviews.
He has owned many interesting cars, including the prototype Triple C Challenger - an E-type Jaguar replica, and a stretched-prototype Vauxhall built by Panthers in 1978. He is currently restoring a 1967 Austin Mini Cooper and also has a Tatra 603 and Mazda MX-5.
He's also looking for a V12 Jaguar or Jensen FF as he believes that a technical journalist should own cars that have interesting engineering!
He has toured extensively in Eastern Europe both before and after the fall of communism and has gained a lot of knowledge about the interesting cars from that region. We might remember British top brass in the cold war in Jaguars, Humbers or Rovers, but most of us have little idea about their counterparts on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Only the Political Masters could have a Tatra, a GAZ or a ZIL - the plebs were not allowed!
On May 24th firstly he gave us an insight into the political realities of how some were "more
equal than others". He was also available for technical queries and answered questions about
motoring journalism.
