alastairq

I note from the advert, that a new owner could get themselves a ''Buyer Protection Plan?'' Protection from what, I might ask? Or, who??

Taking a peek at what the Classic reliability Trials folk do with old BMW's, they are probably worth more of a 'look' than we imagine? Heck, I even know of a trialling Skoda Estelle that uses a BMW-derived differential in the transaxle. Indeed, BMW rear half shafts I found had exactly the same diameter and spline count as those found in my old Skoda Rapid trialler.....which possibly begged a question or three?? There are other RWD donors out there too......especially when looking at the more 'commercial' world? Of course, we don't have to be so much in lurve with huge engine capacities, or sheer BHP figures. My Dellow likely puts out, at best, around the low 50 bhp mark from its sidevalve Ford engine......yet weighs in [with a full tank of fuel, all 15 gallons..never tried it as I cannot afford the fuel]...under 400 kilos... So it's just as valid to look at BHP per tonne figures. Which puts us neatly into Reliant 850 cc figures for RWD sources. {One can have as many wheels as one desires...?}

For the UK, there are several categories of vehicle built from a kit. The category will depend on the type of kit supplied or used. The SVA [as was] isn't too onerous to meet.... This site may help categorise 'kits?' https://www.theukrules.co.uk/rules/driving/vehicle-registration/kit-built/ There is a definitive difference between a 'kit-built' vehicle, and a 'kit-converted' vehicle. Not forgetting ''re-builds?'' ''Reconstructed classic vehicles?'' ''Radically altered vehicles?'' All depends really on what one has had for breakfast....seemingly? 30-odd years ago, I was lucky with my Cannon when turning it into a 'road-legal' vehicle. Or rather, i timed it well....Squeezed everything in before the original SVA test rules came into force. Thus, the basic vehicle was ''inspected'' by a suitably qualified Police Officer.....who issued [or sent off for] a 'chassis number'' for it. Once the chassis number [the vehicle's actual, new, identity]...was received [ and stamped out & secured to a prominent chassis member]..it could all be insured....then I could drive it to a pre-booked MoT test station, where it underwent a proscribed 'MoT' test. This also involved another drive to get the vehicle officially weighed. this, for the MoT tester's brake testing equipment. Thus far, no registration number.......which confused a local bobby no end. Once the test certificate wa issued [a pass, obviously].....the relevant paperwork could then be sent off to acquire a registration number. This was for a Q plate, as the components of the vehicle, when inspected, came from a variety of different [old] vehicles , so no one particular vehicle identity could be found. All very easy...didn't even have a windscreen! But it had to have seat belts fitted, and dual circuit brakes...Plus the C&U regs applicable at the date of registration. Which in my case meant some thoughtful measuring of the rear light positions so that the arcs of visibility weren't fouled by stuff like spare wheels, etc. For the rear, easily-found trailer light units met all the requirements [E numbers, etc] Really stuffed for fixing the front number plate in accordance with the regs, however...So I did 'cheat' on that one.....and did much the same as many old Jag E-type owners ended up doing. However, today the process is somewhat more tedious....

You should be......After all, the legalities of it all are what back up the Highway Code. Or do you prefer Yourway Code?

The problem with that''keep to the left'' idea, on a single carriageway road like the A166 Garrowby Hill is that folk using the same lane, overtaking without wanting to be across the centre line, seem to think they have a priority when it comes to pushing in front of those they overtake. When in reality [IE if it went to a Court of LAw].....the overtaker in such a position has contravened either the Careless driving, or dangerous driving regulations. IN other words, they should not have started overtaking if they cannot keep clear of the vehicle they ar overtaking...in all respects..IE, before, during, and after the overtaking maneuver. Try telling that to an Audi driver, however? As far as I'm concerned these days, if the overtaker cannot or will not use the other side of the carriageway to overtake, then they are asking for trouble. As far as the A166 mentioned is concerned, years ago I investigated, communicating with the relevant Highways Authority. Where the carriageway happened to 'bulge outwards' for the short distance, they had no intention of creating a second lane on the uphill side of things, on account of what was suspected might occur where the carriageway returned to a single lane. {IE, potentially , stalled HGVs on the steepest part, due to cars & vans pushing in front where the second lane might end...Instead of using the other side of the centre line road marking. Which might be inconvenient for traffic coming in the other direction...as has often been the case even recently...... Why is it that folk seem to think that, because they are overtaking, everybody else has to 'keep out of their way?'

A166 Garrowby Hill....[B steep for waggins..complete with gravel trap escape road for those who have gone beyond the OH Shhh moment.] Around the middle part [the steepest, also bending]....the uphill side has the single lane [single carriageway road all the way]...which actually becomes quite wide at one point. Wide enough for higgerant drivers to consider the single lane to be two lanes.....so that they can overtake slower vehicles in their overly high horsepower new fat-RS wagens...without having to cross the centre line dividing the opposing lanes...[Or, so they think?} But it is not two lanes, it is but one lane. Imaging if one is driving down a single carriageway main road, and some clown decides to insert their vehicle alongside, between you and the oncoming traffic? What would you think???? On Garrowby Hill, the main issue is, if one keeps hard over to the left edge of the road, when going uphill...where the road narrows down again, one can find oneself being almost pushed off the edge of the carriageway by higgerant drives intent on not allowing you to get in their way! If one s brought to a stand because of vehicles trying to get past on one's right, but in your own lane.....will one be able to get started again, given the gradient???? ''Getouttamyway'' syndrome at its very worst. I stay wide, closer to the centre line..which doubtless annoys other drivers when my 50 mph up the 1 in 4 bit is still too slow for them. I use the description ''drivers'' very loosely. Other drivers obviously don't see my road position as being 'reasonable?' When ' not being reasonable' means preventing them from doing whatever they fancy doing,regardless! Do I care?? Do I eckerslike! Of course, those are the road users who complain when the Police go out in numbers, to enforce the Laws on them...when they should be out catching burglars... Sorry folks, it's all about despair.

Market Weighton hill, A1079, for those who live further out towards the stix? {Styx, AKA 'umber?]? In my last known job, I was frequently disappointed when sat near to existing licence holders [who should know better....Yet, have to be educated]...couldn't identify when they were on a dual carriageway, or not? The above hill [East Yarkshire, for those who rarely venture into the fog o the north] has a 3 lane carriageway 2 up, one down, spearted for the most part by a double continuous white line road marking..but not near the top.....[single solid white line on the uphill side]...being a case in point. When I ask why we are travelling at 70 mph, the response usually was, 'this is a dual carriageway'...[This might be in a Land Rover]... I then would ask, ''why they thought it was a dual carriageway?'' The response was often something to do with the 3 lanes! The follow-up depended on whether I was in coaching mood...or assessing for suitability for an upcoming course... Either way they could be nobbled for exceeding the military speed limit for a Land Rover [JSPs]...Not that I ever did that, of course.... More likely, a short stop in a layby whilst I explained the niceties of how to identify what sort of road they were on, etc......and their speed limits, both civilian & military... All basic pre-driving test skills expected of a learner or novice...Never mind someone who has held a licence for a few years! Nowadays, as a retired [retarded?] person, I don't get angry....or even, annoyed [often] by what I observe from other drivers..especially those who give the impression they actually know what they are about with driving......[More often, much older drivers, too]... I simply endure the disappointment of it all.

Be aware, it'll be a tight squeeze.................

It's so sad that drivers and riders cannot be trusted by the rest of us, to follow the Highway Code,...especially when it comes to the phrase, ''if safe to do so?'' The old idea of 3 lanes with a bi-directional overtaking lane surely was an attempt to fill up the gene pool? [Those left must be better drivers?]

FIAT 1100 just before the Superminx estate, too... I don't think a oo common sight in the UK at the time? { A more recent version being seen in India, mainly as a taxi, the Premier Padmini...}

Spotted the Skoda 1000 MB, and the Renault Dauphine...... Also noted the Mk1 Consul in ripe banger condition...

Such a shame the outcomes aren't anything like as 'fatal?' One or two mangle-ations would surely bring all the others up short toot sweet? Such a shame that greed has brought us to the state were it has to take one, two or three mangleations before the powers-that-be decide to actually do something about what we normal 'umble mortals [AKA voters?]...have been clamouring for for years now? [In other words, nobody wanted to pay enough to obviate the need for alarm & despondency over the state of things. Far better to ignore stuff until somebody actually dismembers themselves? Same principle as letting the customer do the quality control?]

Hah...just as well...Bring back the days of only one brake light on the offside, I say! That'll cure the tailgaters! {Or at least, their insurance companies will cure them?] Perhaps this should be uploaded to tw@tter or farcebuk? That'll get the frothers foamin'? I note no cyclists appeared to have been dismembered during that run? Despite neither cyclists nor drivers giving each other 1.5 metres of space...yet traffic flowed, the cyclists didn't care [still dont]...Maybe something to do with vehicles actually being of a sensible width that fitted the existing roads, eh? Loved the Bristol VR and RE buses..proper buses that, if clouted, felt nowt, and could continue. Unlike today's plastic fantastics? No signs of Tata products self immolating either....[Is it really founded on a religious concept , I wonder?] BTW, Blair, I do quite like heaters now I've ceased to work, and am getting older....But the Dellow, is actually too darned hot below the chest line anyway.... So hot I often have to hang my right elbow out over the door top just to keep it cool. Having to rest one's left foot on the gearbox side helps keep the old toes cosy too...

The TT version obviously had some of the same issues....But, aside from scale/gauge, what differences were there between the TT version and the OO version? [As a youngster , with TT for space & cost reasons, when the diesels were offered at knockdown prices, they were a good source of the 0-6-0 chassis.]

Anyway....just to annoy all the other road users round hereabouts, my 21 1/2 year old Suzuki GV passed yet another MoT yesterday. On Tuesday I even gave it a wash..hosepipe and dirty rag jobbie...This usually only happens once a year....but this year I'm a month early, as I got the MoT booked well in advance. Only advisories which I knew all about already [and was simply waiting for the postman to arrive].. So I can get away with yet another year of Dad's taxiing for my son & heir... Annual mileage is creeping up too...reflecting the longer essential journeys I'm making. Still, once this next year is over, hopefully son & heir will go onto other things....and my mileage will return to what it was 7 years ago when I stopped working... I might then be able to dump the thing, and get back into something over 40 years old, with zero VED and without the annual 40 pensionquids con that is the MoT to endure. Trouble is, eyeballing the so-called 'classic' car market finds me staring askance at some of the prices being asked for what I consider to be ''kwapp?' After all, the suzuki only cost me 500 sovs, 6 years ago now..so any replacement has to be a cheapoh banger...that'll have to beat 6 years ownership, at least. I'm wondering whether to get a set of cheapoh winter tyres [and some 2nd hand wheels to go with them]...Indeed, I do wonder whether that would be worth it? Given the global warming thing? But then, over winter, son & heir does tend to get a bit frantic when things don't go according to plan.....Which is something his Mum & I try to avoid, to give him the best chance of succeeding . I'll have to have a look at Camskills, see what they've got?

There always seems to be a ''secret'' downside to all these modern high horsepower small [weeny?] engines? Mind, my 21 1/2 YO Suzuki GV [it's got 4wd if I want to use it]...has the venerable Suzuki J20 2 litre petrol engine. Rumoured to have been able to produce 130-odd bhpeees...at lordy only knows what rpms... I have to take the rev counter over the 4000 rpm mark to feel any real benefit of all that BHPeee....and that makes me wince. Which I suppose brings me to my point....just how often in our day-to-day driving lives do we actually make full & proper use of all that BHPeee on tap? Do we have to get to a motorway, just to take advantage of all that bhpeeee? What if I don't happen to be near a motorway? Mostly my injin runs to about 2000 to 2400 rpms, no more. That equates to a bit of acceleration {IE, I'm increasing speed]...and a normal road speed of around 50 mph or so. Probably using about 40 or 50 of those potential bhpeees...or fewer? Soooo, why do we need such high potential BHPeees for normal, day-to-day driving? Is it all an effort to pander to our egos?

The Ford Popular being compared would be the very pre-war designed, 103E Pop. [the upright] with it's very simple [cheap to produce] pre-war suspension. .Plus, they had 17 inch diameter wheels and 5.5 to 1 rear axle ratios, which meant the engine would be revving quite high at cruising speeds.....not good for engine wear. The VW Beetle having independant suspension with torsion bars...and a much more amenable final drive ratio. HArdly a comparison, really? The roadholding abilities would limit the reasonable cruising speed, methinks? However, had the comparator from Ford been the 100E sidevalve cars, things may have been a bit different, perhaps? Confusing is the fact Ford continued production of the upright Popular until around the time the Mini was being introduced [1959?] Plus, they sold ....well enough. The beetle's torque curve was quite flat, hence the 'high' cruising speed, timed to match the torque curve. Also, Germany had the autobahn system, whilst the UK was just getting rid of cobbled main roads....Horses for courses, again? The sidevalve Fords could have been adjusted to cruise at similar speeds [if the motorway system had been 20 years earlier in inception?]....if final drive ratios, gearboxes and engine power characteristics had been played around with. But we didn't have motorways [to any extent] so there wasn't the need for a high cruising speed.....too many corners, for one thing. The Beetle's reputation for longevity grew out of the fact the engine was very low stressed for its size. Start tuning them, and reliability was the first thing that went out of the window. Easiest way to tune a sidevalve Ford is to supercharge it. Overcomes the engines inherent breathing issues. Probably more effective than doing similar with a similar size OHV engine as well. But Ford sidevalves did have an immensely strong bottom end....which was one reason why they were so popular with the specials brigade in the 40's and 50's? [Lotus, Ginetta, etc etc etc] That, and being cheap and easy to find helped a lot too...

Just bought a 2016 Suzuki Celerio for my ex...[they stopped doing them a year later..coincided with recent Govt changes to VED for previous low emissions cars...my advice, avoid buying post 2017 cars, if intending to drive on a shoestring?] Zero rated VED, and almost 70 mpgs to boot. Dearest daughter [I don't have a less expensive daughter!] has also just got herself a zero-rated VED Hyundry Eye-dirty....a diseasel, as it happens, courtesy of another driver's no claims bonus. Cheaper to drive the 15 miles cross country each way commute than to go by train [not quite door-to-door at her end, either]..and quicker than using the bus too...[and less smelly!] Around the 60 bhp mark, from the Suzuki...Double that of the Ford 100E, with over twice the frugality in fuel. Sloggz a bit , 4 up with loads of luggage, however...but marched up Garrowby Hill at 50 mph regardless. [I've been up Garrowby Hill at 4 mph flat out, 2000 rpms.....modern overtakers are a ruddy nuisance, as cannot afford to let anyone get in our way, in case we have to stop, and cannot re-start....Modern drivers forget this important principle.] They did hate it when I got to the top, and belted off at 50 mph or more once more. Modern drivers have had life far to easy because of modern technology, I concluded.

Deleted as above....it's those silly videos in the bottom right hand corner messing my system about...

deleted due to my systems errors

In deed. Not just the YuK either...many other countries taxed according to various HP rules as well. Nowt wrong with sidevalve engines...really when it comes down to it... However, whilst the RAC HP tax prevailed, the UK [for the more general end of the market] relied on torque rather than bhp. Similar today, where newer cars that qualify for zero VED have compromises regarding engine size, power output, etc. Interestingly [or not, depending on bent?]....whilst Ford stuck with the sidevalve concept long after other [lesser?] makers had gone over to OHV, Ford had little incentive to alter their small engines to OHV [especially whilst manufacturing costs were so low?]....whilst other makers struggled to get their little OHV engines to make decent power outputs [1950's, for example]...since the Ford 100 E sidevalve engine produced as much, if not more, than any of its OHV direct competitors. The problem with the long stroke sidevalve engines of the pre & immediate post war era was one of piston speeds. Luckily, the sidevalve layout naturally restricted breathing abilities, so it was difficult to get a small sidevalve to rev much beyond the 4000 rpm mark...built-in governor, if you like. Ford had a system for their customers of exchange engines....done cheaply...so the expected 20,000 mile or so life span of an over -revved ford sidevalve didn't matter to the new owners. In fact, albeit for very different faults, much the same attitude prevails today with new cars? The driving technique really had to be, drop it into top gear ASAP & let the engine slog.... The fact of being able to 'get about' mattered more than being able to overtake lorries. Better than walking, cycling, or riding a motorbike everywhere, I suppose? Mind, bus service were better in those days.....a ''service'' rather than a commercial undertaking. Seems we are in need of going full circle again, methinks?

Morgan tried the flathead V8 Ford before WW2, to produce what might have become the first Morgan Plus 8. However, despite promising performance, Ford wouldn't supply the appropriate engines. I believe Morgan used it in a Drophead coupe body, which was used by Morgan's daughter?

They won't be the only one's, either. Democracy is getting into troubled waters, if we are not careful.

Sadly, not only is it new [therefore unattainable] but that marriage is 45 years beyond redemption....

I recall being led [maritally speaking] to a local Suzuki dealership in the later 1970's, to look a purchoicing a Suzuki SC100 Whizzkid.. Unfortunately for us [maritally speaking] my heart was taken by the Suzuki SJ20{?} jeep parked in the same showroom. No way could I squeeze my heart away from the Jeep towards the more sensible [from her viewpoint] SC100 Coupe [with it's Hillman Imp connotations].. Being dragged kicking and screaming towards the car wouldn't come close to the torment I underwent. The SJ jeep beckoned....despite its roughly 40 bhp engine [Who needs power...it's what it does that's important].. We ended up back home, both of us, empty handed. I eventually ended up with a VW type 3 fastback ['orrible thing really]....whilst t'uther 'arf got her dream vehicle...a new Vespa P200....!!