his convertable car was a ford corsair roadster. ford never actually made it, it was a normal corsair converted into a roadster by a company called crayford. a very rare car indeed, the only googe images are thse poor quality ones.crayford
After the corsair was auctioned the next series he had a LR Lightweight, then in Tales from RC he drove a blue LR Series 1, the last series he was seen driving a red F reg LR Defender, but that isnt his "proper" vehicle, its used for the show, Katie the RCHQ manager seems to drive the defender most of the time.
-------------------- Just because it works, doesnt mean its safe!
I have seen him driving the defender, have also seen a few other members of the RC team driving it, but was told by one of them that Katie uses it most, that was 6 months ago, so maybe things have changed. Hugh didnt turn up to the summer meet in the defender tho, he came in another 4x4
-------------------- Just because it works, doesnt mean its safe!
You know I think this topic of discussion comes up every few months on here ! Anyway Psycho, so what 4 x 4 did he have then ? Not a dark blue one was it ?
Although there are no official records it is estimated that Crayford converted around 100 cars to convertibles.At least 40 are still known to survive.I used to own the 17th car converted.They also made open-topped versions of: Mini, Wolseley Hornet, Cortina series 1-5,Capri MK1,Vauxhall Viva,Audi 80,Mercedes 280,as well as V6 conversions on Escort MK1 (codename Eliminator) plus estate versions of Mercedes cars and the famous 6X6 and 8X8 "Argocat" agricultural vehicles.They also dabbled in armour plating and bomb proofing cars for security at one time.Hughs car was offered in a competition in "Practical Classics" magazine which cost £10.00 to enter-the money as previously stated going to charity. A vast array of Crayford vehicles can be seen at Bromley Pageant of Motoring during the summer. A decent roadworthy Crayford Corsair will cost you in the region of £2500 up to £5,000 for the best.There were also 19 made as Cabriolets with a fully lined mohair hood which are substantially rarer.
"Fight To Be Yourself In A World Which Expects You To Be Like Everyone Else"
One of the the problems with Hughs Corsair was that it wasnt very reliable, kept conking out all the time if you look at the outakes on the dvd's.
In fact Hugh doesnt seem to have much joy with many of his vehicles, the Gastrowagen from the Cook on the Wildside series blew its engine, and it sounds that something similar has happened to the red LR defender he drove on the RC Roadtrip.
-------------------- Just because it works, doesnt mean its safe!
HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT YOUR CRAYFORD WAS NUMBER 17 AS I HAVE JUST GOT ONE AND CANNOT SEE ANYTHING TO SAY WHAT NUMBER IT WAS CONVERTED. AN OVAL PLATE ON THE INNER WING STATES CFN 0567.
I like his land rover defener(the newer one), thats what i would have if i lived in the country. He has a cool life, wouldn't mind sampling some of his food, some say he's better at cooking than Ramsay. Back to his cars, no doubt he'll ripping around the country lanes in a ferrari f430 in his next series.
Last time I was down at the HQ, Hugh was driving about in another red LR defender, the one that blew up on the Roadtrip series in Scotland is at the moment being advertised for sale by its new owner who has fixed it up, more details over on the River Cottage forum.
-------------------- Just because it works, doesnt mean its safe!
