Miniature cars collection - Carl Bray , V. 232
I have been collecting model cars for over 50 years, and the longer I collect the more fascinated I become.
Cars that I used to own when we were first married are now being made for model car collectors.
I do not have one particular favourite. but some of them have a special place in my collection such as a
1962 Volkswagen Beetle exactly the same colour as the one we had .
I also have three model E type Jaguars, when Heather was a theatre nurse at the Box Hill hospital, three of
the doctors parked their new E types in front of the hospital. I thought they were the ultimate in motoring.
I have only one grandson and he will be the heir to my collection after I am gone, not before.
I had an after school job serving petrol in a garage, the
owner was an agent for Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam Talbot
and Commer Trucks .
Part of my job was keeping the show room vehicles
spotless, most of the Humbers were black and every one
that entered the showroom had to put their fingers on
them.
Car design prior to computers were designed using French
curve templates which gave you nice sweeping lines e.g
Jaguar, Aston Martins, Rolls Royce even Morris Minors.
Today cars are designed by computers and the coefficient of drag is very important for fuel efficiency, the
end result being that car shapes are very common and it is difficult to identify some cars from a distance.
My collection does
not follow any
pattern, I have cars
dating from 1903
up to the present
day,
I
collect
what takes
my
fancy ,and what my
family buys for me.
The Hamlyn toy
shop in Regent
Street London is
one of my favourite
haunts when we
visit our daughter
in London.
Trucks also feature in my collection as my whole working career I was involved in the truck industry. As a
planning engineer I was involved from the concept stage through design to the manufacturing stage. I think
I am one of the few people that can see beauty in trucks especially the top of the range models.
Interested in the subject, give me a call - V. 232