Peter James Insurance Blog
Hot Hatch Genesis: The Golf GTI
At Peter James Insurance, we love the VW Golf and are the insurance partner to the Mk1 Golf Owners Club. Our earlier blogs examined how the Golf saved VW from the financial oblivion they had risked by sticking to their traditional Porsche-designed, rear-engine, air-cooled layout for far too long...
Christmas 2023 Opening Hours
Please see below for our Christmas 2023 opening hours at Peter James Insurance. We would like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to all our customers. We hope you enjoy the festive season, and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New...
Freddie Dixon Climbing Kop Hill
In 1910, motorcyclists looking for somewhere to fully use the performance of their machines found just what they were looking for in the steep Kop Hill road that climbs to the top of the picturesque Chiltern Hills just outside the town of Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. Within a year...
Mazda MX-5 history timeline
The Mazda MX5 was the sports car that revived the genre and today has a huge following around the world, not least within the UK, a country that was reminded of its obsession with the soft-top small sports car by Mazda’s masterpiece. You can read our other blogs starting...
Mazda MX-5: The best “British” sports car ever?
In our first blog on the cute and cool Mazda MX-5, we examined the design and development that went into creating the prototype. Once the decision to put a world-changing sports car into production had been made and the basic design concept had ended up becoming public knowledge (to...
Matchless, Sunbeam and AJS motorcyles: Part 2 (The fall)
Post-war production at Associated Motor Cycles began with Matchless and AJS 350 cc and 500 cc singles that were civilian versions of the wartime Matchless G3L. The only difference in their engines was that the Matchless unit had the Magdyno behind the cylinder while the AJS was in front....
Matchless, Sunbeam and AJS motorcyles: Part 1 (The rise)
The Associated Motor Cycles group was formed in 1937 but the company had its beginnings back in the 19th century when brothers Harry and Charlie Collier began manufacturing motorcycles with the Matchless brand name. Associated Motor Cycles Both were famous racers back in those pioneer days, with Charlie winning the...
Peter James Insurance announces exclusive partnership with the MX-5 Owners Club
We are delighted to announce an exclusive partnership with the MX-5 Owners Club to provide a new insurance scheme tailored to enthusiasts of these hugely popular modern classics. The new scheme was announced at the NEC Classic Motor Show on the opening day of the show on the MX-5...
Who remembers the name Vanden Plas? Part 2
Part 1 of this story can be read here Vanden Plas’ famous ‘Kingsbury Works’ was opened in 1923. To celebrate what would have been the factory’s centenary we examine this often misunderstood name, which had a profound effect on British automotive history and pioneered an aspect of the modern...
MX-5 Origins: Why Mazda Created the World’s Best-Selling Sports Car.
Small, lightweight and affordable two-seater sports cars have traditionally hailed from Europe, especially Italy and the UK. MG, Triumph, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and others sold huge numbers of fun roadsters into a booming US market during the 1950s and 1960s, but these established players failed to invest in new...
