HarperCollins - The Grand Tour A–Z of the Car

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

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www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperCollins Publishers 2018

Copyright W. Chump & Sons Limited 2018

Cover layout design HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

Cover photographs Giles Chapman Library and Shutterstock.com

Picture research by Giles Chapman

All photos courtesy of the featured manufacturers/companies/organisations via Newspress, with thanks, and also the Giles Chapman Library. Our additional thanks to Audi for images of Procon-Ten and to Neal Anderson for pictures of his Thundersley Invacar.

The following images (AZ entry in bold) Shutterstock.com: Autotesting mini, Beaded Seat Cover, Brown Sign, Clock, Daimler for sale, Detailing car wash sign, Diesel pump, Ecnalubma ambulance, Fog Lights, Fuse, Highway Code, Hooting horn, Limited Slip Diff axles, Locking Differential, Quali microphone, Rolls-Royce Henry Royce, Rover clouds, Stop sign, Zebra Crossing; Paula Solloway/Alamy Stock Photo: Bicycle; Sipa Press/Rex/Shutterstock: Delorean (Man); BBC Photo Library: Used-car Dealer Frank Butcher.

While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book.

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Source ISBN: 9780008257880

Ebook Edition November 2018 ISBN: 9780008257873

Version: 2018-10-12

Contents

Welcome to the only compendium of car facts youll ever need, assuming you dont need too many car facts.

During the making of The Grand Tour television programme were forever being asked the same questions. How was Daihatsu established? What killed the founder of MG? Is there a name for the massive junction near Birmingham where the M40 and M42 motorways meet? And, as always, we say, Shut up, fictional question-asking person weve just invented for rhetorical purposes. Itll all be in the book of car facts were going to compile.

And now, at last, the answers to these and many, many other motoring-related questions have been lovingly assembled into what we can only call an actual encyclopaedia of the car, although one of those encyclopaedias where there might be some things that the authors have forgotten and bits of it are made up and James got bogged down in certain facts even though we asked him not to.

If this sounds like the kind of encyclopaedia you need, then welcome, friend, welcome. Otherwise, its too late. You were given this as a present and to return it would look rude. So there.

A IS FOR...

Ha! I am steering und you are not.

ABS

Also known as anti-lock braking system, ABS is a feature which detects if any of a cars wheels are about to lock under braking and rapidly releases then re-applies braking pressure many times per second to hold the wheel on the point of locking, and therefore maximum braking effect, while keeping the wheels turning, thereby allowing the car to steer rather than skid. Sounds pretty boring, but for some reason certain mens magazines are obsessed with it and put ways to improve your ABS on the cover every month. Better ABS in just three weeks they say, or Get bigger ABS this summer. Quite why youd want bigger anti-lock brakes isnt clear, especially in summer when, actually, the risk of skidding is likely to be lower due to drier weather.

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AMAZED

State of perpetual wonderment permanently experienced by British MOT testers upon being presented with an old and not very interesting car, at least according to the adverts for old and not very interesting cars. E.g. 1983 Morris Ital. This car is in exceptional condition for its age. In fact, at its last MOT the tester was amazed to see one in this condition

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AMBER GAMBLER

Someone who upon seeing an orange traffic light accelerates to get through before the light turns red. A normal person, basically. Amber gambler is one of those old-fashioned scaremongering terms used in 1950s adverts, a bit like neer-do-well and communist.

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APEX

A point on the inside of a corner which should be touched if a driver is following the racing line. Technically, the plural of apex is apices but this is best avoided unless you are taking the racing line towards sounding like a complete knob.

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ARIEL

Delightful West Country-based maker of cars for people who think Caterhams are too luxurious. And not draughty enough. Now boasts a two-car range, with the Atom for people who want to feel the wind up their trouser legs and the Nomad for people whod like to get covered in mud.

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ARRESTER BED

Also known as a runaway truck bed. One of those long pits full of gravel at the side of the road on a steep downhill section, designed to be used by out-of-control lorries. But lets be honest, who hasnt thought, That looks like fun. I might just pile my car into one to see what happens. Well, what would happen is that it would probably break your car a bit. But hey, if you want to have a crack, knock yourself out. Oh yeah, thats something else that might happen too. Do let us know.

A IS FOR...
ALFA ROMEO

P ossibly the most Italian of all car companies, founded in 1910 by a Frenchman. Over the years Alfa Romeo has made many legendary cars including the Spider, the Giulia, the Tipo 33 Stradale, the Montreal, the Alfasud, the GTV6, the SZ and the 156, all of which have been a heady cocktail of joyful sights and giddy sounds skilfully blended with profound disappointment. There was also the Arna, which married Japanese style to Italian engineering and was therefore precisely the wrong way round, and the bizarrely named Alfa Romeo Romeo, which was both the Boutros Boutros-Ghali of the roads and also a van. No one remembers that Alfa used to make vans. Their stock in trade, however, was sporting cars, the best of which made a parping noise from the exhaust (see ) and caused grown adults to get misty-eyed about soul and character right up until the moment they shouted, the bloody gearbox has broken again.