The elegant tank of Her Royal Highness!

[BillyBatts]

FWIW:

I drove a 2000 Benz S500 from 2000 to 2004. It was a company car that was leased for me. The car was a tank, and highly mechanized. That was the first year of the new series for that decade. That's the thing about German cars. WAY over-engineered and very expensive to buy and maintain. However, if you are in an accident, they give you a very excellent chance of survival.

I was never in an accident in the Audi cars I have owned, but once a guy in a Honda rammed me by putting his car in reverse by accident at a light and hitting my Audi 100 full on. That Audi had a solid rubber bumper mounted to pistons to the frame. Not a scratch on the Audi. I'd estimate $1,000 damage to his car. At least. The Officer on the scene could not believe my Audi had actually been the car he hit.

 

[oldgringo]

Harking back to the OP [and, thanks, Chris! :thmbsp:], this is 'HM' in the year 2000.

Cheers, og

 

[oldgringo]

Long Live The Queen! We Germans really like her!

You can keep her :thmbsp:

Hmmm...

Cheers, og

 

[MaxxVolume]

Quite a while back, in Morris County NJ, I spotted a black Bentley Turbo R sporting personalized plates reading "RCH PHKR"....an appropriate ride for The Royals, no ?

 

[oldgringo]

Quite a while back, in Morris County NJ, I spotted a black Bentley Turbo R sporting personalized plates reading "RCH PHKR"....an appropriate ride for The Royals, no ?

Definitely! Though, their sense of decorum is a lot different to yours and mine!

Cheers, og

 

[Sandy G]

Love this car. Leave it to the Brits. They surely know how to design automobiles (well formerly...) From the ol-Armstrong-Siddeley to the Riley, Bentley to the ol-Lanchester.... Jaguar to the Lotus. Gordon-Keeble to the Aston Martin.
If I was a billionaire I would have one heck of a British Automobile collection...
The Queen's ol-Rover P5B. Love it...

Isn't that an "Auntie" ? You used to see those, VERY rarely, in America back when I was a kid..

 

[Sandy G]

Harking back to the OP [and, thanks, Chris! :thmbsp:], this is 'HM' in the year 2000.

Cheers, og

I would like to think Ms Lillibet liked this a lot better than the limos she normally rode in. I'm pretty sure she was far happier around her horses & Corgis than she was doing "Queen" type stuff.

 

[bhundu]

God love 'er!

 

[harman/kardon]

Thanks Dave for this picture. I thought that she was driving Range Rovers.

 

[SteevG]

Love this car. Leave it to the Brits. They surely know how to design automobiles (well formerly...) From the ol-Armstrong-Siddeley to the Riley, Bentley to the ol-Lanchester.... Jaguar to the Lotus. Gordon-Keeble to the Aston Martin.
If I was a billionaire I would have one heck of a British Automobile collection...
The Queen's ol-Rover P5B. Love it...

It has the same rims as my first car, a 1973 German Ford Capri.

 

[Sandy G]

Buick, interestingly enuf, had a pretty high reputation in Old Blighty B4 the War, & IIRC, the royals were chauffeured around in a Canadian-made Buick on several occasions. The bossman of Buick-Canada, was a guy named R.S. McLaughlin, he was high up enuf that Buicks were known as "McLaughlin-Buicks" prewar. After the war, Cadillac apparently pulled rank, & in 1959, they were toted around in one of those "Batmobile" style 1959 Cadillac 75s, w/the rocketship fins. The biggest change was the top over where the Royals sat was a convertible style top. I know a LITTLE about this stuff...

 

[Mystic]

I would love to drive a car like that! :thmbsp:

Seconded. :thmbsp:

 

[BigElCat]

Stay back from her guard:
http://news.yahoo.com/video/tourist-finds-himself-looking-down-182234697.html

 

[Sandy G]

Daimler-Benz has tried,hard to come upw/a barouche that would outdo the fantastic Grosser of 1963-81.Unless they can figger a way to make it fly, it ain't gonna happen. Quite a bit of the stuff that the Grosser had was hi-zoot for the late fifties/early sixties, but even cheap & nasty cars typically had automatic transmissions, power steering, power brakes,air conditioning...They were trying to outdo the Hitler parade cars, & they did so, but what can you come up w/NOW ?!?

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Isn't that an "Auntie" ? You used to see those, VERY rarely, in America back when I was a kid..

Yes, Sandy G, this is an "Auntie" Rover. The best car Rover ever built, IMHO!

 

[Sandy G]

I wonder if it makes the Brits angry that there aren't really any "British" cars left. Well,they COULD set Lillibet up w/Jezzer Clarkson's fave-Something called a "Gee-Whiz"...

 

[Sandy G]

I remember there was a picture of one of the Queen's stable-It was a big Roller or a Bentley, & had a GINORMOUS back glass so the Queen could be seen by her subjects. The caption on the photo was-"I don't care if it'll do 90 in reverse... YOU clean the bugs off that window !"