For those interested in old cars.

[PatB]

7 hours ago, MinZaPint said:

My first Car meet of the year at the Pub, alot of the usual cars looking very good and some new ones, first a 1935 Invicta 4.5l 

 

 

a 1955 Aston Martin DB 2/4

 

 

Really nice Jaguar XK120 in a lovely non original colour!

 

 

a 1935 Cadillac Laselle

 

 

Americana Cord 812 Westchester Sedan 1937 Custom

 

 

The interior, the owner has built a series of custom cars, not really my thing but the workmanship is stunning

 

 

and to finish sidevalve BSA not sure whether it's a M20 or 21 will check if I see it again.

 

 

A very pleasant evening in good company, washed down with a couple of nice pints of Best!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't consider myself an expert, but I'm fairly sure the plunger rear suspension on the BSA makes it an M21. I don't think the M20 ever grew such a sophistication. 

[russ p]

On 04/06/2019 at 11:42, PhilJ W said:

Did they ever sell or build the Austin 3-litre in Oz? Just thinking it would make a fantastic ute.

 

 

 

Don't be daft Phil, that would have meant they would have sold more!

[Rugd1022]

'Behind enemy lines'... a Maserati Merak sits outside the Cavallino restaurant right opposite the Ferrari factory in Maranello in the early '70s...

 

 

[boxbrownie]

Might be a Ferrari bike though 

[Richard E]

And it is, hardly surprisingly, on a Modena registration since the Maserati headquarters are there as well ...

Edited June 10, 2019 by Richard E
additional comment

[stewartingram]

A couple of local sights recently:

 

The Morris Minor is parked on the main road of the village of Doddington, Cambs, I can't remember when it 1st appeared many years ago. In real life it looks far worse than in the picture, but is still in use.

The Austin Cambridge was in my local garage, presumably for an Mot.

 

Stewart

 

 

[steve1]

The Moggie needs a bit of air in the front offside tyre by the look of it...

 

steve

[Kingzance]

Careful you don't get reported to the RSPC for that Steve!

[Richard E]

Both are now MOT exempt.

 

Moggie is an early split screen model, 803cc registered 1954. Looks as if it needs quite a bit of TLC though. Cambridge looks nice.

 

Moggie has not had an MOT since 2016 and it failed that one before having quite a bit of work done to gain a pass. The previous test to 2016 was 2011 and it failed that one comprehensively too. Rust is its main enemy apparently. It seems to have done just 104 miles in the 5 years between tests according to the MOT history.

 

Cambridge was MOT'd on 22nd May with a clean ticket, no advisories. Indeed it has been like that for 12 years and 12000 miles or so.

 

So, is the blanket MOT exemption something that is fair to all road users or not bearing in mind that any one of us could be on the receiving end of a mechanical failure on a poorly maintained car. Does the argument that classic car owners are more fastidious hold water - discuss ...

 

And before anyone suggests anything my classic will show a negative mileage since the last test and that is down to failure and replacement of the speedometer - which isn't an MOT test item.

[alastairq]

3 hours ago, Richard E said:

bearing in mind that any one of us could be on the receiving end of a mechanical failure on a poorly maintained car

The statistics show that it is unlikely any one of us will be on the receiving end under those circumstances.

 

Evidence has shown that very few incidents are caused by lack of roadworthiness.

The Mot test itself is but a snapshot in time.....a vehicle with a test pass today can become unroadworthy on its way home tonight.  Many old school motoring enthusiasts will know of many tricks to get an MoT pass....

The MoT test itself is very limited. A tester cannot remove plastic sill guards to inspect what lies underneath..they only can test what they can see..and even then, that too, is limited by what they are allowed to do. Thus many cars but a few years old [comparatively speaking with the subjects of this thread]....are in fact, corroded, apparent death traps.

I suggest we must be wary of tub thumping on the grounds of perceived dangers to the travelling public. For if that were to be uppermost in our minds, [in my county]  85% of all vehicles on the roads should be removed immediately..for that is the percentage of unroadworthy vehicles found by this county's constabulary in their regular roadside campaigns with the DVSA.

There is no suggestion this trend is not country-wide, either.

 

I would suggest that if one suspects an old vehicle to be in fact, 'unroadworthy', then one should report those suspicions to the Police, and DVSA...let them investigate? [But I got chided for suggesting such]

It is the driver who has legal duties with regards to the roadworthiness of the vehicle being driven.

It is also[usually] a condition of the vehicle's insurance policy , that it be maintained on a roadworthy state, too.

The MoT pass has achieved, unjustifiably, the status of high street credibility. Too much faith is placed upon a snapshot test.....

What is needed is an awful lot more random roadside vehicle checks.

[Plus, whilst we're at it, prosecute all those lorry drivers galloping around with insecure loads [unrestrained, a lot of them!]....more often....[they do get done in my County].....]

 

Also,it is unwise to assume, based on past MoT history.......a quick check of registrations advertised on ebay will reveal far worse histories, from much younger vehicles.

So, if the Morris Minor concerned can stand being checked right now....what is there to worry about?

[PatB]

Australia provides an interesting case study on periodic roadworthiness inspections, as some states have them and some don't (for a majority of vehicles, at least) . This allows a comparison under otherwise broadly comparable conditions. While I was working in government departments concerned with such things there was no significant difference in the proportion of crashes involving vehicle faults. Of those that did, the overwhelming majority were tyre issues. 

 

Australia is a bit different from the UK in that rust is less of a problem. However I've still seen my share of appallingly corroded vehicles. They often show evidence of use on beaches or for launching boats in salt water. A VW Beetle I bought for spares some years ago, for example, had a body I was able to remove from its floor pan without removing most of the mounting bolts. However, precisely because rust is less common, it's much less well understood and often allowed to run rampant when it could have been treated. 

 

Anyhow, although those with a vested interest in introducing annual inspections to non-inspection states such as WA are very enthusiastic about the idea, the authorities continue to resist on the basis that there is no evidence it will make the slightest difference, whilst being a major pain to administer. 

[boxbrownie]

12 hours ago, Richard E said:

 

 

Moggie has not had an MOT since 2016 and it failed that one before having quite a bit of work done to gain a pass. The previous test to 2016 was 2011 and it failed that one comprehensively too. Rust is its main enemy apparently. It seems to have done just 104 miles in the 5 years between tests according to the MOT history.

 

 

‘That’s quite a few trips up and down the garage recovery trucks ramps..... 

 

Yes the Cambridge looks really very nice, last time I rode in one of those was my mates, just after we had to push it out of Ingatestone ford, they don’t like deep water and get really heavy when soaked!  

[runs as required]

On 02/06/2019 at 17:27, Sidecar Racer said:

Next batch .

I had to split  the Hillman Minx and caravan as I could'nt get both in the same shot 

May I offer this

Very sweet!

My dad had one of those Loewy Minx 4 door saloons as his rep's car

I always associate the drop head with the Sunbeam Rapier - which I saw launched in my very first trip to the Earls Court Motor Show as a fixed head. But the car that stole the show for young car mad lads was a black over red Pegaso fh coupe. Wow!

 

I used to rent a very sexy red and cream Rapier drop head for days out in my first overseas job in Malta in 1965; I reckon this to be the highpoint of Rootes styling (except for the Alpine Sunbeam Tiger ?)

dh

 

[stewartingram]

4 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

 

‘That’s quite a few trips up and down the garage recovery trucks ramps..... 

 

Yes the Cambridge looks really very nice, last time I rode in one of those was my mates, just after we had to push it out of Ingatestone ford, they don’t like deep water and get really heavy when soaked!  

Just for the record on that Cambridge:

 

It is on the forecourt of my local garage in Chatteris. I've seen the car a few times in local classic car events, it does look good. And I assumed it was in for an MoT, as I never see it at the garage except annually at that time of the year, and I pass the place daily (just round the corner from me). Also, though I normally do all my own maintenance ( a rare thing nowadays?) I do use the place for my MoT (what I would call an old fashioned place that gives great service without nonsence), and occasional odd jobs. I was just picking up a puncture repair when I took the pic.

 

Stewart

[Porkscratching]

People with Mot exempt motors can elect to voluntarily continue annual MOTs is they wish, so maybe it's one of those ...

[Rugd1022]

That Minx / caravan combo looks very cute .

 

More old school stuff... Mark Knopfler's beautiful 1957 Maserati 300S, perhaps he has the same affection for Maserati that Chris Rea does for Ferrari...?

 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2019 by Rugd1022

[Porkscratching]

He can afford it....with all that money for nothing..!

[Northmoor]

21 hours ago, alastairq said:

Evidence has shown that very few incidents are caused by lack of roadworthiness.

The Mot test itself is but a snapshot in time.....a vehicle with a test pass today can become unroadworthy on its way home tonight.  Many old school motoring enthusiasts will know of many tricks to get an MoT pass....

A few years ago my employer decided they wanted to keep copies of our MoT/servicing records, if we were using our own cars for work mileage (weekly visits to other sites in my case).  This would have been a problem for me and some other colleagues who drove older cars and did most of our own servicing, while also creating a huge admin burden to be constantly requiring hire cars for sub-100 mile round trips (for which paying mileage rates was significantly cheaper, as well as more time-efficient).

 

One day with this on my mind I walked out to my car at the far end of the huge office car park.  I quickly lost count of the number of cars, many less than three years old, which I could see had illegal tyres, cracked light clusters etc.  Unfortunately these cars, unless stopped by the police (yeah, because that's going to happen) would be driven until their next MoT in that condition or worse, because their owners took the grand total of zero interest in the state of their cars unless they were (a) washing it , or (b) getting it serviced and complaining about the cost of repairs for all the things the garage had found (and probably thinking they were being scammed).

 

But as far as my employer was concerned, because these people had the right forms stamped, they could be allowed to continue to drive their cars on company business.  Actually the policy wasn't fully implemented in the end.  Perhaps a few of us actually got our message across, that there is an important difference between Compliance and Assurance.

 

[Steve K]

On 02/06/2019 at 17:27, Sidecar Racer said:

Next batch ...

 

 

Those body kits are very good, but I can still see that that's no Ferrari!

 

It is very well done, though...

 

 

(not sure why the quoted photo doesn't appear without clicking the link - not to worry, to save everyone the trouble of clicking, the photo is of a Toyota MR2 with a very convincing F355-alike body kit)

Edited June 12, 2019 by Steve K

[New Haven Neil]

There's no MOT here in the Isle of Man, but spot checks are done, and also ANY vehicle involved in an accident that police attend (most of them) is tested.  Overall results show slightly better than the UK in terms of roadworthy-ness.  The idea is you maintain you vehicle as and when needed, not once it fails a test once a year.

 

I think this is what Alistair was getting at!

[Jol Wilkinson]

14 hours ago, Steve K said:

 

Those body kits are very good, but I can still see that that's no Ferrari!

 

It is very well done, though...

 

 

(not sure why the quoted photo doesn't appear without clicking the link - not to worry, to save everyone the trouble of clicking, the photo is of a Toyota MR2 with a very convincing F355-alike body kit)

Many years ago I had a chat with the manager of a company that specialised in hiring out performance cars, anything from 205GTis to Lamborghinis and Ferraris. One of the biggest problems he claimed he had was with the supercars being returned from a weekend hire with fibreglass release agent still on them.

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

Many years ago I had a chat with the manager of a company that specialised in hiring out performance cars, anything from 205GTis to Lamborghinis and Ferraris. One of the biggest problems he claimed he had was with the supercars being returned from a weekend hire with fibreglass release agent still on them.

35 years ago I lived in Burnham-on-Crouch and every year during Yachting Week very expensive 'supercars' abound. About 1985 when the electrification of the Southminster branch was going on rebuilding of the railway bridge was necessary. In the process a temporary Bailey bridge was placed alongside the original bridge accessed by a chicane built of old railway sleepers. This was during Yachting Week and on three consecutive nights the chicane collected a Lamborghini, a Porsche and an American 'muscle-car', all write offs.

[boxbrownie]

10 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

35 years ago I lived in Burnham-on-Crouch and every year during Yachting Week very expensive 'supercars' abound. About 1985 when the electrification of the Southminster branch was going on rebuilding of the railway bridge was necessary. In the process a temporary Bailey bridge was placed alongside the original bridge accessed by a chicane built of old railway sleepers. This was during Yachting Week and on three consecutive nights the chicane collected a Lamborghini, a Porsche and an American 'muscle-car', all write offs.

 

The Royal Corinthian car park used to get chocker full of them.......and the bar was even worse, best avoid during Regatta week 

[chriswright03]

On 13/06/2019 at 00:10, New Haven Neil said:

There's no MOT here in the Isle of Man, but spot checks are done, and also ANY vehicle involved in an accident that police attend (most of them) is tested.  Overall results show slightly better than the UK in terms of roadworthy-ness.  The idea is you maintain you vehicle as and when needed, not once it fails a test once a year.

 

I think this is what Alistair was getting at!

There are a few less cars there though!

 

Anyway caught yesterday but a very rushed photo.  Very nice MkIII Cortina in mint condition.  Well it was green!

 

I also saw but wasn't quick enough to snap an Austin 1300GT which looked in non standard colours.

[BernardTPM]

A fairly ordinary example too, probably an L. Good to see.