Unsung heroes: CVE Omni

Travel on any modern low-floor bus and you'll soon notice a fundamental design problem. With the engine mounted at the rear, a flat floor is impossible and while the front half may be nice and low there's always an awkward arrangement of steps or ramps up to the back seats. Wouldn't it make far more sense to put the engine at the front and drive the front wheels so it's completely out of the way of the passenger compartment? Such a vehicle did exist almost thirty years ago and had the potential to revolutionise the minibus industry but sadly turned out to be a bit of a flop that has disappeared into obscurity, so I've nominated it as my final unsung hero of the year.

H389 KPY is the sole surviving Omni in PSV service
(By Pimlico Badger - EMPHAST H389KPY, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25343829)

The mysterious MilMod

I hope my readers had a good Christmas and got the gifts they wanted. I'm a difficult person to buy for so the majority of my presents were model kits from myself to add to my ever-growing stash, including a couple that are particularly unusual and not at all well documented. I thought it was worth writing something to shed a little more light on the mysterious little-known firm of MilMod, whose approach to kit production is rather individual to say the least. 

The model kit market in 1/76 scale just hasn't been the same since the demise of BW Models on proprietor Barry Wright's well-deserved retirement a few years ago. The moulds for the huge range were sold in batches to various other firms and while some former BW kits have reappeared, others have yet to emerge and their fate currently remains unknown. Thanks to a bit of detective work, some have now been traced to MilMod, with several already available and others scheduled for release next year. I had never heard of MilMod before and they seem to keep a very low profile, so who are they and what are their kits like?

Cedric's Scandinavian adventure

Here's a first for this blog, as I've been asked by someone else to write about their experiences with classic cars. This is such an epic adventure that there was no way I could say no when my friend James asked me to feature his Scandinavian road trip bringing home a rare Nissan he had just bought in Finland of all places. He spent a whole week on the road just doing his own thing, clocking up the miles and living his dream, so read on to find out how this adventure of a lifetime came about...

What a thing of beauty! I bet many of you have never seen one of these.

The Renaultvation continues

It's been a few months since the excitement of finding the Renault 6 hidden in Bob's garage and bringing it to its new home. A lot has happened since then and the car now looks very different from the dusty and forgotten relic we first clapped eyes on, although there is still a long way to go before it sees the road again. There has been a lot of frustration and the term 'because French' has been coined to describe its wilful idiosyncrasies that cause so much swearing and head-scratching, but an overwhelming outpouring of love and support from everyone who has come into contact with the car has kept us going.

It's come a long way from here. Still doesn't run though.

It quickly became the subject of the most popular thread ever on the Autoshite forum with over a hundred likes, and everyone is keen to see it recommissioned. The generosity of forum members is incredible, gladly offering advice and donating rare parts and literature to the cause for no more than the cost of postage, and massive thanks go to everyone who has contributed to the rescue of this rare car. Here's how things have progressed so far...

We're hoping it'll end up like this once more