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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
This is what really depresses me about life. Not man's inhumanity to man, not the arbitrary assignment of happiness, not even the desperate purposelessness of it all. It's the monotony, the utter fucking monotony of day-to-day existence. You know what I mean? You get up, you go to work, you switch on the computer, you have a look at OTF and, sure enough, another retired Formula One driver has fallen down a lift shaft. -
Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Proper laugh out loud there.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Stirling Moss has a lift shaft at his home to fall down?
Who the fuck does he think he is, a former world champion?Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
It's amazing - the last man alive from the days when F1 was basically like driving an unexploded bomb across a minefield, and he suffers the worst injuries of his life fifty years after he retired, and in his own house.
Get well soon Stirling, you grouchy old get.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
You know, you hear about this happening more often than you'd think you should. You push the button for the lift. You wait. The doors open. How do you not notice there's no car there? I mean, sure, he could have been texting at the time...or it was night and he was nipping down the kitchen for some milk and didn't bother to put his glasses on. But geez...talk about a distracted driver.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
How does he have a three-story (at least) elevator in his house? Is Mayfair a super-posh area with palatial mansions? How is he so wealthy. I can't imagine drivers made all that much 50 years ago.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Yes, Mayfair is a super-rich area with palatial mansions. In the UK version of Monopoly it's the most desirable area.
I don't know how he got his money, but I think you may be confusing cause and effect, I suspect you had to be pretty wealthy to start racing cars in the 1950s.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
His father did some car racing, according to Wiki, and Stirling went to Haileybury. Clearly a pretty good start but not necessarily Mayfair set.
16 grand prix wins would have made him highly marketable, particularly seeing he was strongly associated with British cars.
It's probably a flat he's got on the third floor, isn't it, rather than a mansion?Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
His father had a chain of dental practices throughout London, he was seriously loaded apparently. No one made money in auto-racing back in the day, you were either independently wealthy, like Moss. Or you used your success to promote some other, money-making, business like my father-in-law.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Who was your father-in-law?Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
I knew a woman who drove her motorized X-Ray machine into a lift that wasn't there at a hospital in Nottingham.
It was a Dean's CD38, which is an older version of one of these...
The machine fell several stories down the lift shaft, but fortunately the lift car was actually above her level at the time.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
I can understand it. When the doors open you just assume that the lift is there - you're not naturally on guard for it not being there - you just expect it to be there without really thinking about it. So if you're standing at the doors when they open in front of you you naturally start stepping into the lift without even thinking about it. There’s a good chance that you notice the absence of the lift at exactly the moment you put your foot out to enter but by that time, being on one leg with forward momentum, it will often be too late to stop yourself from losing balance and falling in.You know, you hear about this happening more often than you'd think you should. You push the button for the lift. You wait. The doors open. How do you not notice there's no car there?Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Gangster Octopus wrote:
This bloke.Who was your father-in-law?Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Cool. I think I remember him. My father's friends with Trevor Taylor, although, sadly, probably not for much longer.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Is that because of your Dad's illness GO?Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Moss was the name on the car "accesories" that boy racers used to jazz up there "marina's, princess's, dolomite's" etc back in the 70s/80s.
My first car alarm was one of "his". There was money to be made in keeping the neighbourhood awake for half the night in those days.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Taylor's got an even more aggressive cancer...Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Damn, the poor guy.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
It must be great to hear stories about the old days of racing.
AdC, what sort of cars did they drive in rallying back then?Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Pretty much standard saloons in the 50s I think. They got a bit sportier, and smaller, in the 60s. Peter ended his career driving Sunbeam Alpines and the Hillman Imp, which was the size of an original mini with a rear engine. I'll post some pictures when I get home, unless someone beats me to it.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
An actual Mini at Monte Carlo in the early 60s
An Alpine of similar vintage:
An Imp:
A great video clip from the 1961 Monte Carlo Rally, illustrating the earlier "saloon" age (and snow).
For sheer glamour, of course, nothing ever beat the Mille Miglia.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Ah! many thanks. La Signora has a couple of personal photos which capture the ambience of rallying in the 50s very well, with her permission I'll post them here later.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
Sweet.Comment
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Stirling Moss falls down lift shaft...
The very first specifically built rally car was the Austin-Healey 3000. Although it was more complicated than that; they were built to be easily rebuilt with parts from other cars.
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