Apparently, according to the driver of a very nice Elan Sprint that I and the team beat into second place in the Scottish Autotrader Series in 1995 (with a Reliant Kitten, as you do...), there are probably now more replicas than originals and so many Elans that look like Sprints are in fact the cooking versions repainted into Sprint livery with added stripes and badges.
And the moral of this tale is that there's nowt new under the sun.
Must keep the camera facing forwards even when I'm only going to somewhere I've been a thousand times before, but today, in the Spanish Battery at Tynemouth, I did see an absolutely effin' gorgeous MK1 Escort 2 door saloon on a '71-'72 K suffix.
Best bit was that it was a 1300XL on original 12" steel wheels, with correct trim, a lovely shade of '70s Ford metallic brown paint and a woman who appeared to be about 120 years of age driving the thing. She deserves respect for not having been corrupted by the stupid money being realised by decent 2 door shells.
OK, so they're still white goods by comparison to the Toledo or
(curved ball) the Simca 1301 of the period, but good to see for all that.
