Who really killed Ford Timelord?

One of my favourite blog pieces of 2019 was the final one, detailing the remarkable history of the KLF's famous Ford Timelord police car. After a year of extensive research and separating myth from fact the conclusion was that the car was most definitely dead, having been banger raced at Swaffham in June 1991 by Paul Bickers after an eventful few years in the hands of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. That seemed to be that and the case was finally closed after so many years of rumours, but now there have been fascinating further developments that shed some very different light on the situation and mean it may not be as straightforward as everyone thought...

Did Paul Bickers really kill Ford Timelord?

Not Taxed for on road use?

A DVLA enigma

The DVLA's online vehicle enquiry service is an incredibly useful tool for car enthusiasts, but every now and again something strange and undocumented will pop up. A handful of vehicles appear without one of the three standard tax statuses of Taxed, SORN or Untaxed, but instead 'Not taxed for on road use' with a green background. These are usually on static display in museums or private collections and haven't changed keeper or been used on the road for many years: XMO 412H, the World Cup Rally Maxi at Gaydon, is one example, and the Stondon museum also had several such vehicles. A number of airport vehicles kept within the private confines of the airport and not used on public roads also have this status.

What does that tax status mean? According to the DVLA it shouldn't exist!

Vehicles with this status do appear on third-party sites such as Cazana that only include those taxed or SORNed in recent years, but the various government websites don't even acknowledge the existence of this mysterious fourth status anywhere, and it has puzzled myself and other enthusiasts for some years so I'd like to know what purpose it serves and why certain vehicles are recorded in this way.

A model Model 70!

The annual London Toy Fair takes place in January and is traditionally the venue for Oxford Diecast's announcement of new models for the year. As usual, there is a large and diverse crop with something for almost everyone, but one real surprise in the 1/76 Oxford Automobile range of special interest to me. Regular readers will know of my interest in invalid carriages but I never thought these rather esoteric vehicles would ever be modelled by any of the mainstream diecast manufacturers. I'm delighted to be proved wrong though!

Corgi's 2020 vision

A Happy New Year and Happy New Decade to all my readers. As has become customary, I'm starting 2020 with a review of Corgi's recently-announced bus models for this year, which were revealed on Monday. There are at least some OOC buses among the 118 announcements so that is an improvement over 2019's tally of zero, but they are once again an uninspiring crop so I won't be buying any of them, and needless to say there are still no new castings.