For those interested in old cars.

[PhilJ W]

Left out for the metal faries perhaps. The gear stick was still there so perhaps the engine and transmission were there as well. The majority of steel produced in this country comes from scrap and rust (iron oxide) is better because a lot of impurities have leached out.

[Joseph_Pestell]

3 hours ago, petethemole said:

 

Note there's no lump where the engine should be.

Same for all VWs of that era.

[PatB]

If it burned, I doubt if there's much left of engine and gearbox. The magnesium alloy casings go up rather well once a surrounding fire gets hot enough, apparently. 

[Northmoor]

35 minutes ago, PatB said:

If it burned, I doubt if there's much left of engine and gearbox. The magnesium alloy casings go up rather well once a surrounding fire gets hot enough, apparently. 

Aluminium alloy surely?  Mag alloy would be far too expensive for something as big volume production as VW engine blocks.  Even bike builders like Honda only used it for parts of the head, for weight saving.

Agree though about the fire risk; magnesium components of aircraft brakes require special foams and techniques to extinguish when they catch fire.  Water is a definite no-no.....

[alastairq]

5 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Aluminium alloy surely?  Mag alloy would be far too expensive for something as big volume production as VW engine blocks.  Even bike builders like Honda only used it for parts of the head, for weight savin

 VW haircooled motors had magnesium alloy crankcases.

 

There were shortages of crankcases, at one time, in the US of A, as the cases were broken down to make mag alloy wheels...

 

Aluminium alloy for  cases would be too weak. They had aluminium cylinder heads though.

Reference :   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_air-cooled_engine

Quote

The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is an air-cooled boxer engine with four horizontally opposed cast-iron cylinders, cast aluminum alloy cylinder heads and pistons, magnesium-alloy crankcase, and forged steel crankshaft and connecting rods.

Variations of the engine were produced by Volkswagen plants worldwide from 1936 until 2006 for use in Volkswagen's own vehicles, notably the Type 1 (Beetle), Type 2 (bus, transporter), Type 3, and Type 4. Additionally, the engines were widely used in industrial, light aircraft and kit car applications.

 Quote from 1st para of the above..

Took me quite a while to figure out that the information I was looking at in my VW aircooled manual in front of me.....couldn't just be 'linked' onto the computer...the tippex would eventually rub off! So I had to look online for a reasonably verifiable reference......

Edited July 2, 2020 by alastairq
referenced

[rocor]

16 minutes ago, alastairq said:

 VW haircooled motors had magnesium alloy crankcases.

 

There were shortages of crankcases, at one time, in the US of A, as the cases were broken down to make mag alloy wheels...

 

Aluminium alloy for  cases would be too weak.

 

I can not agree with your conclusion that a aluminium alloy crankcase would be too weak, but as far as stating that the Volkswagen beetle had a magnesium crankcase, that does correspond with the information provided about the Volkswagen air-cooled engine on Wikipedia.

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_air-cooled_engine

[boxbrownie]

The early engine blocks/crank cases were indeed Ali-alloy, the later versions from about the 50’s were mag-alloy.

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by boxbrownie

[russ p]

I bet people will still pay a fortune for it especially if its advertised as rat look potentential competition winner!

[boxbrownie]

11 minutes ago, russ p said:

I bet people will still pay a fortune for it especially if its advertised as rat look potentential competition winner!

More like Rat’s Nest.....

[PhilJ W]

It was still in one piece after being dragged out of its resting place so there must have been some integrity to what was left of the structure.

[Rugd1022]

Outside the Hotel Hermitage in Monaco, 1979....

 

 

 

 

[Mountain Goat]

On 02/07/2020 at 06:27, PatB said:

Original and unrestored. 

 

I'd be curious as to how it got like that. It's clearly not been moved, but the visible surroundings don't really show any indication of being particularly hostile. I've seen cars sort of dissolving from the bottom upwards in acidic leaf litter, but never one that's disintegrated as a whole so comprehensively. 

 

Photoshop? 

 

I told them washing liquid contains salt!

 

It does look like it has been in a damp quarry or somewhere like that?  Or on a hill near the sea, as if it was down next to the sea more would likely survive, bit about 500ft on a hill one gets salty lingering mists which tend to rust things quicker then living by the sea. (Not to say that living next to the sea is that much better!)

Edited July 3, 2020 by Mountain Goat

[PhilJ W]

As I said it was burnt out in a fire. It's quite likely that the paint would have burnt off in the fire leaving bare metal. The burnt parts would have rusted far quicker than those not so badly affected.

[Rugd1022]

Trent Valley wanderings, photo by Steve Ray, with a nice early Mk3 Mini 850 / 1000....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BernardTPM]

Mmm, nice Type 15 box!

[Hobby]

3 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

Trent Valley wanderings, photo by Steve Ray, with a nice early Mk3 Mini 850 / 1000....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had one that colour, N reg, though!

[New Haven Neil]

Just catching up a bit.

 

Mylchreest's in Douglas are still on the go, can't recall what brands they still sell.  There was an attempted buy-out 2 years ago when Jackson's from Jersey arrived here and bought up a lot of dealerships - Mylchreests told them to shove it.

 

Oh, pronounced Mill - Kreests, not Mile-kreests.

 

Also, we are not a tax haven nowadays - we share more banking information than the City of London.  Remember that VAT thing recently - all (word removed by editing software, it was b*llocks!) as it turned out.  

 

I quote:

 

The HM Treasury report found that UK and EU VAT law had been correctly implemented in the Isle of Man and allegations of widespread VAT avoidance on aircraft and yachts were not upheld.   

 

The Grauniad didn't report that of course.

Edited July 3, 2020 by New Haven Neil

[steve1]

Did anyone else spot the Mk 1 Transit in the last episode of Agatha Raisin? Wonder where they found that!

 

At the start of the programme she was stuck in a traffic jam behind an MGB and an A55 van. This despite the show being set in the present day.

 

steve (who was obviously watching too closely...)

[Joseph_Pestell]

The last Mk1 Transit that I recall seeing was not in much better state than that split screen VW.

 

Would be good to see more Mk1 Transits preserved. An important part of automotive history as it set new standards for light commercials.

[PatB]

16 minutes ago, steve1 said:

Did anyone else spot the Mk 1 Transit in the last episode of Agatha Raisin? Wonder where they found that!

 

At the start of the programme she was stuck in a traffic jam behind an MGB and an A55 van. This despite the show being set in the present day.

 

steve (who was obviously watching too closely...)

A very tidy Mk1 Transit appeared quite extensively in the recent TV adaptation of Fungus the Bogeyman. I wonder if it was the same one. 

[steve1]

The one in AR on Wednesday night was a nasty sort of yellow-brown. Was that it?

 

steve

[Hobby]

10 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Mylchreest's in Douglas are still on the go, can't recall what brands they still sell. 

 

Jaguar, Landrover, Vauxhall, Mitsubishi and Subaru according to their website, stayed loyal to part of the group, then! 

Edited July 4, 2020 by Hobby

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

 

Also, we are not a tax haven nowadays - we share more banking information than the City of London.  Remember that VAT thing recently - all (word removed by editing software, it was b*llocks!) as it turned out.  

 

I quote:

 

The HM Treasury report found that UK and EU VAT law had been correctly implemented in the Isle of Man and allegations of widespread VAT avoidance on aircraft and yachts were not upheld.   

 

The Grauniad didn't report that of course.

Wasn’t it that young whipper snapper of a F1 driver who got caught avoiding the tax on his plane by buying it through the IoM in the past couple years?
 

I don’t think the banks on the Island have ever been secretive like the Knomes under the mountains 

[PatB]

2 hours ago, steve1 said:

The one in AR on Wednesday night was a nasty sort of yellow-brown. Was that it?

 

steve

In that case, no. The Fungus the Bogeyman example was a very dark blue or blue-black. So now we know there are at least two Mk1 Transits registered with agencies supplying vehicles to the film/TV industry. 

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

The last Mk1 Transit that I recall seeing was not in much better state than that split screen VW.

 

Would be good to see more Mk1 Transits preserved. An important part of automotive history as it set new standards for light commercials.

There was a food programme (what a surprise that was ) on recently which charted the start and rise of Jordan’s granola bars by the Son of the Mill owner (Jordan’s Mill) and during the interview he was driving around in his beautifully restored Mk1 Transit, I think he is reliving his days as a hippy roady/rock group dude......good luck to him, we need more like him to keep the old wheels moving.