Common road vehicles in 1984 - cars and commercial

[RANGERS]

The Ital van I got had a metal mesh behind the front seats seperating the cargo area. This was where my 1980's Phillips Twin Tape Deck stereo was strapped to (even found a pic of the one I had)- no car radio fitted as standard so had to improvise!!! Cost me a fortune in batteries - If I was a bit more savvy back then, I could have saved up enough to buy an old radio and fitted it, but I was more interested in girls, fags and beer!!

 

I was a scout leader at the time, and the van was excellent for lugging all the old army tents and camping gear!

 

Ahhhh, I can still remember smelling of old campfires for days afterwards!!!!!

That arrangement was standard for thousands of BT engineers across the country, me included, usually fixed to the “dog guard” with as many zip straps as it took to hold your chosen music box. My time with the Ital was long lived (too bloody long!), 1984 when it arrived with 69 miles in the clock until May 1990 when it was finally pensioned off in favour of a Maestro (such luxury!) in a very fetching shade of navy blue.

 

The Ital was unimpressive, in common with the. Bedford HA it replaced, it was slow, noisy and only half the fun the Bedford had been to drive. The handling wasn’t good, harsh ride which accentuated the lack of sound deadening and was extremely tiring over any distance (a great excuse for regular respite stops in cafes!)

 

I’ve never looked to see if it’s still around but I suspect it (A690 XOX I think it was) went for razor blades by the early 90s.

[ianmacc]

Just thought I would put my money where my mouth is and take a punt with one of these. Had to pay a fair bit to order one on eBay. I’ll post photos when it arrives from the Far East. Will take a few weeks to arrive I reckon. A 1970s HiAce minibus. Makes a change from the usual Pxfords!

Haven’t got the Toyota HiAce yet but just ordered three more tomytecs from online. A Toyota Crown 1971-74 MY. I remember these; really unusual-looking in the flesh. Also a couple of 1980s Datsun Skylines.

Hopefully 1:80 won’t be too noticeable for 00. Got to be worth a shot for the opportunity to deviate from the usual choices.

Edited to show a real Toyota Crown barn find. Almost nil left in the UK now

 

So the trio of cars arrived today from Russia. Thankfully beating our national team home!

 

The Oxford Zephyr is one of their larger cars so is used as a good comparison with the 1:80 scale Toyota Crown -themselves a decent sized car in the flesh.

 

What is interesting is how the relative position of the two vehicles with each other has such a big impact on how big or small they appear...

Edited July 3, 2018 by ianmacc

[divibandit]

This is great! 

Working with the public has it's problems, though.

The bit about the person the Traffic Warden likes to hate made me laugh out loud!

 

Steve

Videos are useful, like this one

 

[doilum]

Lets hear it for the traffic wardens.

When my spitfire's front suspension collapsed on double yellow lines in the centre of town, boxing day 1978, far from booking me, she called the recovery firm with the police contract and gave them 10 minutes to find a sober driver or else!!

[devondynosoar118]

Our proper traffic warden was great, she kept her focus on ticketing yellow lines on main roads and used her discretion on the residential areas slapped with 2hr max stay bays.

Bloody “Council Tax Subsidy Collectors” we have now are a pain in the arse, when my Morris broke down blocking a side street I pushed it onto a bit with single yellows, put a note in the window and went off to find parts. I returned to find it had been given a ticket. Time allowed for recovery vehicle or repair, from when it was “observed” to ticket issue was 8 mins. I have never seen an AA man arrive that fast and even on my best day it takes me that little big to get the toolbox out the boot, open the bonnet and start looking, never mind fixing anything.

The ticket was appealed and quashed, but only because a friendly garage gave me a towing invoice, I had to prove I had bought parts, which was tricky since the points and condenser used to fix it came from old stock in my shed and you can’t buy them in any shop in town even if you wanted to!

I would love to see a manufacturer do a “British Bangers” range, with flat looking paint, accident damage or parts from scrapyards that don’t match etc put on already. Such scruffy sheds were an essential part of most eras and existing 60’s/70’s products could be used as a basis.

[PatB]

Lets hear it for the traffic wardens.

When my spitfire's front suspension collapsed on double yellow lines in the centre of town, boxing day 1978, far from booking me, she called the recovery firm with the police contract and gave them 10 minutes to find a sober driver or else!!

 

You'd been using grease on the trunnions rather than EP90 hadn't you .

[SRman]

...

I would love to see a manufacturer do a “British Bangers” range, with flat looking paint, accident damage or parts from scrapyards that don’t match etc put on already. Such scruffy sheds were an essential part of most eras and existing 60’s/70’s products could be used as a basis.

 

 

Lledo Vanguards did do something like that with their 1:43 range at one time. They are now a part of Corgi's ranges.

[doilum]

You'd been using grease on the trunnions rather than EP90 hadn't you .

pp

 

My first four wheel vehicle, and only a month on the road. Cost a fair bit at a main dealer to fix. By the time I sold it 15 months later, I had swapped engines 3 times, painted it twice and fitted a fibreglass bonnet. That's proper skill progression.

And found time to build my first exhibition layout, buy first house and get married.

Happy days.

[ianmacc]

Picked up a couple of the Real-X range from a seller in Hong Kong that arrived today.

 

Sold as Nissan skylines in Japan but sold in the U.K. as the Datsun 240K GT.

 

Quite nice.

Edited July 24, 2018 by ianmacc

[PhilJ W]

Picked up a couple of the Real-X range from a seller in Hong Kong that arrived today.

 

Sold as Nissan skylines in Japan but sold in the U.K. as the Datsun 240K GT.

 

Quite nice.

Real-X are the bee's knee's of the 1/72 diecasts, others in the range to look out for are the Toyota Previa and the Subaru Legacy estate.

[rue_d_etropal]

Can't see anyone mentioning the Leyland Sherpa van. Was pretty common around at the time. I used to drive one for a local company as a holiday job. Being based on the Marina engine, they could pull a punch, and would upset a few motorists when the Sherpa  left them standing at traffic lights!

 

I moved north in 1988, and one thing I noticed was that there were far more newer cars up north. I put it down to more disposable income, with less being required to buy a house. (it has changed now, with house prices going up, fewer well paid jobs, and car build quality being better)

Peugeot were not that common. They had only just taken over Talbot, and up to end of the 70s, their dealers tended to be small and out of the way(we had one local, and my brother had a summer job driving new cars to customers). Remember that 1987 was the year of the 'hurricane', so a scene with lots of fallen trees would set the date, possibly even a reduced train service.

[ianmacc]

Picked up a couple of the Real-X range from a seller in Hong Kong that arrived today.

 

Sold as Nissan skylines in Japan but sold in the U.K. as the Datsun 240K GT.

 

Quite nice.

Word of warning though. Just put these on the layout and they measure out slightly bigger than the Oxford Granada. Too big for 00 if mixing with 1:76. I actually think they’ve something in common with some of the so-called inconsistent 1:72 offerings from Cararama. Shame. Have placed them judiciously but a little disappointed.

[PhilJ W]

Word of warning though. Just put these on the layout and they measure out slightly bigger than the Oxford Granada. Too big for 00 if mixing with 1:76. I actually think they’ve something in common with some of the so-called inconsistent 1:72 offerings from Cararama. Shame. Have placed them judiciously but a little disappointed.

The scale is consistent, they came between the Mk. III Cortina and the Granada in size so at 1/72 they would be larger than a 1/76 Granada.

[mikeharvey22]

Can't see anyone mentioning the Leyland Sherpa van. Was pretty common around at the time. I used to drive one for a local company as a holiday job. Being based on the Marina engine, they could pull a punch, and would upset a few motorists when the Sherpa  left them standing at traffic lights!

 

Oxford are on their seventh variation at the moment. Scope for adding rust to make them more authentic.

 

https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/search?q=sherpa*

[ianmacc]

The scale is consistent, they came between the Mk. III Cortina and the Granada in size so at 1/72 they would be larger than a 1/76 Granada.

I think a thread on Cararama and the wider 1:72 vs 1:76 is in order. I’ll kick it off later.

[wamwig]

Lets hear it for the traffic wardens.

When my spitfire's front suspension collapsed on double yellow lines in the centre of town, boxing day 1978, far from booking me, she called the recovery firm with the police contract and gave them 10 minutes to find a sober driver or else!!

I had a Spitfire front suspension collapse as well (lower trunnion, seemed quite common on the Spitfire), late 70s middle of Ware High Street about 5pm, had to leave it in the care of a traffic warden while I legged it to the nearest garage, only a few hundred yds away, and luckily they managed to recover it within about 30 minutes, another half hour and it might have been there some time I guess.

[PatB]

I had a Spitfire front suspension collapse as well (lower trunnion, seemed quite common on the Spitfire), late 70s middle of Ware High Street about 5pm, had to leave it in the care of a traffic warden while I legged it to the nearest garage, only a few hundred yds away, and luckily they managed to recover it within about 30 minutes, another half hour and it might have been there some time I guess.

 

As I alluded to upthread, Triumph lower trunnions frequently failed because people (including professionals who should have known better) saw the grease nipples on them and greased them, whereas the manual specified EP90 gear oil applied with a grease gun. The intention was that the oil would be pumped up the threads attaching the trunnion to the suspension upright as the steering turned. Grease was too viscous for this to work, leading to the threads running dry and wearing very rapidly until they snapped.

[doctor quinn]

Can't see anyone mentioning the Leyland Sherpa van. Was pretty common around at the time. I used to drive one for a local company as a holiday job. Being based on the Marina engine, they could pull a punch, and would upset a few motorists when the Sherpa  left them standing at traffic lights!

 

I had one with a demountable body in my first proper job (BT installer) with the box on it had the aerodynamics of a breeze block, without it was almost impossible not to spin the back wheels.

 

Nick

[PhilJ W]

I had one with a demountable body in my first proper job (BT installer) with the box on it had the aerodynamics of a breeze block, without it was almost impossible not to spin the back wheels.

 

Nick

Those de-mountable bodies made excellent sheds when they were disposed of, I wonder if any survive?

[kernowtim]

Those de-mountable bodies made excellent sheds when they were disposed of, I wonder if any survive?

Many of these had the bodies removed when thr vehicle was sold from bt service, Someone i knew fitted dropside bodies and sold the original ones on, i know of one that may be for sale if anyones interested! !

The later ones had an aerodynamic extension over the cab and were less popular as sheds

[ianmacc]

Many of these had the bodies removed when thr vehicle was sold from bt service, Someone i knew fitted dropside bodies and sold the original ones on, i know of one that may be for sale if anyones interested! !

The later ones had an aerodynamic extension over the cab and were less popular as sheds

This sounds like a modelling opportunity. A faded body with remnants of a logo in an allotment patch...

[PhilJ W]

Actually those BT bodies would make a good layout shed. They are solidly built with an aluminium frame and panelled in Plymax with a one piece translucent fibreglass roof. Inside they have plenty of storage built in and plenty of headroom.

[doilum]

This was the hayday of the kit car. Scratch built Dutton?

[Hobby]

It may have been but I don't remember seeing even one of them. All you saw was the common stuff from the big manufacturers.

[Ian Morgan]

My boss had a Dutton he built, with a Triumph Herald engine, I think. 0-60 in a few seconds, but no mod-cons, like a heater.