Old cars

[Greyman 25,151]

5 hours ago, Nicepix said:

The Stag was typical of British engineering and car design of the period. Triumph and Rover were arch enemies vying for the same customers. When they merged under the Rover-Triumph and Austin-Rover companies they still maintained their rivalry. When Triumph set about designing the Stag they were influenced by the American market which accounted for the majority of UK sports car sales and the Yanks would only buy V8's. So even though Triumph had a perfectly good straight 6 they needed a V8. Rover had a V8 based on an American Buick engine, but the Triumph designers wouldn't entertain having a Rover engine in 'their' car even though by then they were the same company. Spen King, the designer told the board that the Rover V8 wouldn't fit in the Stag's engine bay which is as we now know nonsense as many Stags now have it fitted. So Triumph designed their own V8 which was basically two Dolomite 1500 engines joined at the crank shaft. The engine designers however omitted to upgrade the water pump and so a 3000cc engine only got the pump from a 1500cc engine. The Stag's engine overheated and it cost them £millions in repairs and lost their reputation.As such the Stag never got the attention it deserved. Many are now fitted with Rover V8,  Ford V6 or the old Triumph 2500cc engines.

When the Stag was being designed they used an Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti. All he did allegedly was cut the body shell of a Triumph 2500 in half lengthways, then cut strips out of each half and put them back together so the car was narrower. That and a bit of tinkering  with the roof was all he did to earn his money. When the TR7 was designed Austin-Rover designed it themselves. At the launch Michelotti who had been invited walked around the car, and at the far side stood back and said; "Oh dear. They've done the same at this side too."     Needless to say that it didn't receive rave reviews especially as the sloppy electrical connectors caused a load of faults including the headlights popping up when you went over a bump.

Austin-Rover never learned from their mistakes. The Ambassadeur was basically a Princess with a hatchback and when  I went to the preview of the Ital we were greeted with dramatic lighting and 'Fanfare for the Common Man' music, dry ice smoke and then the cover was lifted off to reveal another bloody Marina with the corners squared off.

Trying to sell Austin-Rovers in the period when Ford had the Escort and Cortina and Vauxhall had the Cavalier wasn't easy. The Japs were making inroads too as well as the Germans with their front wheel drive cars. The Metro saved the company for a while but they let it slip again and went to the wall. What typifies cars of that period for me was when they launched the Mini Mayfair. It had a radio located above the passenger foot well where the driver couldn't reach it and a single speaker on the rear parcel shelf where you couldn't hear it for the engine noise and that was their premium Mini.

When the japs first started importing Datsun my aunts used to trade in for a new one each year and make a profit, something to do with the import costs, they also had a radio and seat belts that were optional extras on the fords and now look at us 95% percent of motors running round with shite french lumps under the bonnet and no soul or character, much like the people who like them

[king 11,664]

20yrs ago when I first met the wife.

I had an white ragtop xr3i.and was working in Oxford.living in a caravan muck shifting.

She spent the week with me.

Saturday evening driving from Oxford to Shropshire.to her mams house.

On the m6 flat out 126mph that was it no more power near the red line.

A Mercedes sprinter van was behind me flashing the lights

I pulled into the middle lane and he sailed past looked like a right knob in front of the missus a fecking van dropped me lol.

[WILF 44,182]

13 minutes ago, king said:

20yrs ago when I first met the wife.

I had an white ragtop xr3i.and was working in Oxford.living in a caravan muck shifting.

She spent the week with me.

Saturday evening driving from Oxford to Shropshire.to her mams house.

On the m6 flat out 126mph that was it no more power near the red line.

A Mercedes sprinter van was behind me flashing the lights

I pulled into the middle lane and he sailed past looked like a right knob in front of the missus a fecking van dropped me lol.

They may have been me trying to pack 3 days work into 1 because I’m a greedy b*****d ! Lol 

[king 11,664]

27 minutes ago, WILF said:

They may have been me trying to pack 3 days work into 1 because I’m a greedy b*****d ! Lol 

I hope not lol.

I felt like a right knob.

Spent days telling the wife the car was a beast

Only to be past by a van

[Lenmcharristar 9,172]

3 hours ago, gnasher16 said:

Thats some cracking knowledge there chief fair do's the nearest i ever came to owning anything like that was borrowing a shitty old Montego for a couple of months i only remember it because every few miles i had to get out and re attach the elastic band that was holding the throttle cable on 

The Toledo stands out in my mind as i was sat at the lights in quite a fast car not all that long ago with a geezer in an old Toledo giving me the eye in the next lane.....i booted it away only to watch this f****n thing roar past god knows what was under the bonnet....gotta be careful of these sleepers 

There’s a fella on YouTube who bought an old 80s volvo, looks clapped out, he stuck a 6 litre truck engine in it and an eBay turbo kit on it, it blows the doors off lambos and corvettes, fecking Granda mobile kicking ass

Edited May 15, 2020 by Lenmcharristar

[.357shooter 991]

i like the look of the early 90,s merc 500sec myself

[Nicepix 5,650]

5 hours ago, gnasher16 said:

Thats some cracking knowledge there chief fair do's the nearest i ever came to owning anything like that was borrowing a shitty old Montego for a couple of months i only remember it because every few miles i had to get out and re attach the elastic band that was holding the throttle cable on 

The Toledo stands out in my mind as i was sat at the lights in quite a fast car not all that long ago with a geezer in an old Toledo giving me the eye in the next lane.....i booted it away only to watch this f****n thing roar past god knows what was under the bonnet....gotta be careful of these sleepers 

One or two people have pulled alongside our motorhome at traffic lights intending to get to the single carriageway first and failed. That five cylinder turbocharged Merc' leaves the Renaults and Peugeots standing  

[Qbgrey 3,968]

The 6 pot nissan laurels were good for bangers,our track had relatively short straights so quick out the corners.another was the 2.3 v6 cortina.very rare nowadays i expect.most were 1600cc or 2000cc.

[Qbgrey 3,968]

I had a rover 216 vitesse at 17yrs old.spanker.smashed it up,got repaired then few days later a horse kicked the back wing,my brother hit the farmer head on in his landy round the lane,then me dad stuck it in the woods pissed up.did,nt look to great for a new car.

[dytkos 17,530]

My 2nd car was a Toledo k reg first time round, loved that car till some c**t in a Capri overtook a Bond Bug on the wrong side of the road and I had to swerve, hit a wall and went through the windscreen. Lucky I had a small steering wheel fitted and went out over the wheel instead of straight so it was the back of my head and not my face that hit the windscreen, although you can't tell tbh

Cheers, D.

[Qbgrey 3,968]

The worst one was a new mitsubishi l200,after about 4 weeks it looked liked a 10 yr old motors,dented,scratched,cracked shield etc,etc,then my lurcher pup ate the whole inside,both seat foam down to the springs,gear stick,4wd stick,steering wheel to metal,all alarm sensors,both stalks of indicators,headlights etc,all knobs on,heating,radio,and the puked all over it.had to put cushions on seats.then it got nicked a used in a atm ram raid.well fuk me you aint seen a new truck so battered.i put it back on the road (with moody mots as it was fuked from 6 weeks old)kept it a few yrs,used to get some looks in it.absolutely mullered

[South hams hunter 8,814]

6 hours ago, gnasher16 said:

Thats some cracking knowledge there chief fair do's the nearest i ever came to owning anything like that was borrowing a shitty old Montego for a couple of months i only remember it because every few miles i had to get out and re attach the elastic band that was holding the throttle cable on 

The Toledo stands out in my mind as i was sat at the lights in quite a fast car not all that long ago with a geezer in an old Toledo giving me the eye in the next lane.....i booted it away only to watch this f****n thing roar past god knows what was under the bonnet....gotta be careful of these sleepers 

My FIL often does that with his old banger, about 250 bhp at the wheels

[Qbgrey 3,968]

Not forgetting i bought a new hilux invincible in 2013.my 6yr old boy rapped it into a concrete post at 32 miles on clock.ripped the passenger side right out.could see daylight threw top of passenger door were it was so disformed.a head on with a transit tipper saw me using expanding foam with cable ties to hold the bumpet,fog light etc in place.sold it 6 months ago £4000.cheapest hilux ever sold on 63 plate.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Qbgrey

[Qbgrey 3,968]

Not going to mention the £28,000 incident on the 718 porsche.involves,beer,tramodal,ice road,dogs death,and 24hrs no sleep.

[Nicepix 5,650]

13 hours ago, Chid said:

The rover V8 isn't that heavy of an engine , it's a similar weight to a 2.0 pinto I think 

When people had the urge to drop the rover V8 into capris if the car started off life as a V6 they used 2ltr front springs in the car , as standard V6 springs caused the car to sit to high on the front ..

Maybe I'm wrong but I remember old boy I worked with telling me that

Yes, the Ford V6 was an old iron engine whereas the Rover V8 was alloy and so it was much lighter. They bought the engine from Buick. First time I drove one was delivering a Rover V8S to a guy. I was late and gave the motor some welly on the M1. It touched 130mph on the clock and then I noticed that the oil pressure was half what it should have been. I nearly filled the driver's seat. I stopped at a phone box and spoke to the garage service manger. Turns out the American V8 ran at a much lower oil pressure than normal engines so all was OK. If they had put that lump in the Stag from Day 1 it would have been a cracking car.