Signs of the times

摘要

Would you pay hundreds of pounds for automobilia? John Evans discovers why many do PHOTOGRAPHY OLGUN KORDAL. I've just bought a vintage two-pint Castrol oil jug for ￡40. It has that naturally distressed look that's beloved of collectors and even a trace of oil around its base. My dad had one just like it in his workshop, so it brings back happy memories of him cursing as he struggled to seize a rusted bolt on his Norton motorcycle or bodged a piston repair with epoxy resin. I'm happy, or at least I was until, in the course of establishing its capacity, I stumbled across a website called the Castrol Classic Shop (classicoilsshop. co.uk) selling brand-new replicas for ￡10.95. Do I feel fleeced? No, actually, because when I called, the chap who answered assured me that I had paid about the going rate for an original - and in any case, he said, mine was made from high-grade British steel.