In recent years, Wilson has declared several totally unsuitable and/or plain weird cars to be the Best Car In The World.
A WWI armoured car and a half-track Robin Reliant spring to mind, to name just two.
Now, however, he has chosen a vehicle we can both agree is possibly the Coolest Car In The World: Anthrax.
It so happens that our visit to the Beaulieu National Motor Museum coincided with an exhibition by car artist extraordinaire Andy Saunders, The Art of Kustom, and among many of his fantastic hand-made cars was one called Tetanus.
Is this wonderful or what?!
Wilson says we should sell our Nissan Juke and buy Anthrax instead… but I really don't think we could afford it. ☹️
You can see more of these amazing Andy Saunders' vehicles here:
https://www.beaulieu.co.uk/the-art-of-kustom/
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Just a reminder that there will be no more posts until I've recovered from tomorrow's eye operation!
After the Formula 1 racing car and Bluebird, I thought Wilson would have set his sights pretty high, but in fact the vehicle he fell in love with was quite modest.
Actually, it was VERY modest – so modest, in fact, that I initially thought it was powered like Fred Flintstone's car: by putting one's feet through the floor and running – although closer examination revealed that it did in fact have an engine of sorts.
I can only imagine Wilson likes this so much because he thinks he could realistically own one himself, using it for trips into the village and so on.
When I was his age, I used to crave a Bubble Car, for much the same reason…
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As I mentioned yesterday, we're having to cut this holiday short so I can return home to have an operation on my eye.
There will be a post tomorrow, as usual, then nothing until I have recovered enough to see what I'm doing.
I don't know how long that will take, so please keep checking back.
Thank you!
Moving on we came across Donald Campbell's Bluebird car, in which he attempted to break the world Land Speed Record.
Looking much more futuristic than the vintage racing car we'd just seen, Wilson was deeply impressed by its sleek lines and almost spaceship-like appearance.
However, in spite of my previous admonitions, no sooner had I turned my back than W had climbed into the cockpit.
I'm really afraid he's going to get us thrown out of here!
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You can read the sad story of Bluebell's Land Speed Record Attempts here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Campbell#Land_speed_record_attempt
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I've had a telephone call from the hospital, and I'm afraid we're going to have to cut this holiday short so I can go home for an operation.
I know Wilson will be disappointed, but I'll have to find a way to make it up to him.
More details tomorrow.
Were it not for the dummy racing car he's just been photographed in, I don't think Wilson would have believed this was a real Formula 1 Racing Car!
Brought up on 21st Century F1 cars with their ground-effect aerofoils, halos and HUGE tyres, he didn't know what to make of this quaint vintage model – although when I was his age ALL racing cars looked like this.
I started to tell him about Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and other luminaries of days gone by when, before I could stop him, he jumped into the cockpit, grasped the steering wheel and started making loud Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmm racing car noises.
One or two visitors looked over and smiled at my discomfort, but I don't think any of the Security Staff have noticed.
Yet.
When I spotted a wooden cut-out racing car I encouraged Wilson to let me photograph him sitting in it pretending to drive.
I know what he's like – as soon as we encounter some real racing cars (and there's some pretty special ones on display here) he'll be ignoring the Do Not Touch signs and be all over them, getting us both in trouble.
I hope that with this photo safely in the bag I can persuade him NOT to touch any of the real cars…
That's what I'm hoping. But only time will tell…
Next we came upon a life sized cut-out of Elvis standing next to his Caddy.
Wilson asked me, 'Who's this weird dude almost wearing a Onesie? And should he be on display like that – there are children present!'
I tried to explain that this was a representation of Elvis 'The King' Presley with his 1976 Cadillac Seville, but W was unimpressed.
'I don't suppose they've got Bob Dylan's car here, have they? Or Leonard Cohen's? Did Peter Dawson drive?' he enquired.
As we walked away, Wilson shook his head, saying, 'That Onesie, though – positively indecent! Perhaps I should have a word with the management about it…'
'Oh!' he suddenly exclaimed, 'What about ABBA – I bet their Tour Bus is here!'
Once inside the museum we came across a reconstruction of a garage/filling station from the mid-20th Century.
Wilson was very surprised to see it selling petrol for 1/7d (~£0.08) per gallon – around one eightieth of the price I'm paying at the pump now!
Spotting a large empty can, he whispered to me that we should fill it with gas, leave £1 on the office desk and creep out unobserved…
I told him that when I started driving, gas cost only 7/6d (£0.38) per gallon, but although his idea was a good one – and technically wouldn't constitute theft – I suspected that the pump no longer worked.
