For those interested in "Modern Classic" Cars

[Classsix T]

You'd think being a right-hand drive market that the UK should be a given for Japanese motors but I don't know if the Crown/Crown Athlete has ever been available here. Corolla and Avensis sure, Lexus if you fancied something a bit posher.

 

Mazda's marketing a bit odd too. Elsewhere the medium saloon is the snazzy sounding Atenza, here it is a... Six.

 

Not all bad though, we're spared Nissan's ugly cack-handed Infiniti brand. Cars instantly aesthetically improved by a frontal collision.

 

C6T. 

[Hobby]

Well there's a few late 70s Crowns for sale in the UK so they must have got here somehow!

[MJI]

8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Landrover? They do have a certain reputation but I have to say that the most common 4x4 I see around here pulled over with the bonnet up (especially on 40 plus days) would be 10 to 20 year old Mitsubishis. 

 

Owners always have that "I guess I'm looking at an engine but I don't have a clue what bit might be broken!" look as they stare  forlornly into the engine bay. 

 

 Landrover and Landcruiser guys at least usually have the  toolkit out. 

 

Comes down to small bits failing vs engines self destructing.

 

3 of the most reliable engines on 4x4s are the last 3 Land Rover designed engines. The two direct injection TDIs and the TD5.

 

I managed to drive over 100 miles with a faulty fuel pump!

[MJI]

2 hours ago, Classsix T said:

You'd think being a right-hand drive market that the UK should be a given for Japanese motors but I don't know if the Crown/Crown Athlete has ever been available here. Corolla and Avensis sure, Lexus if you fancied something a bit posher.

 

Mazda's marketing a bit odd too. Elsewhere the medium saloon is the snazzy sounding Atenza, here it is a... Six.

 

Not all bad though, we're spared Nissan's ugly cack-handed Infiniti brand. Cars instantly aesthetically improved by a frontal collision.

 

C6T. 

 

 

I used to kno wsomeone with a Crown, about 45 years ago

 

Holden vs Ford

 

To be honest if you are British and moving there, if you had a Ford or Vauxhall you would probably stay the same company. I had Omegas - so have an affinity for Holdens.

 

No point emigrating now!

[John Harris]

21 hours ago, faulcon1 said:

Ford Mk3 Cortina in stifling heat.

 

 

 

In South Africa the local Ford operation went 'off piste' with official mix and matches, notably the Sierra XR8,

 

 

Essentially a Sierra with a 302 V8 from a Mustang.

 

As well as the 'official' version, local dealers did modifications too.

 

Perana did a V8 Capri, which was sold through Ford dealers

 

 

V6 Cortinas, Mk.II & III

 

 

 

Granada V8s (I bet "The Sweeney" would have loved one of these)

 

 

jch

[RANGERS]

10 hours ago, MJI said:

Modernish cars, I own a British 4x4 and the most unreliable parts are not from them but from NIppon Denso.

 

Aircon compressor, starter motor.

 

Or VDO

 

Fuel pump

 

But not from Solihull

That's a common problem, some of the parts which go into post 2005 LRs aren't worthy of a place on a car with that badge or are spec'd to a lower standard than is recommended to cut cost - starter motors on stop-start engines are one example that haven't been uprated to cope with the increased workload. Sadly the decisions that were taken in the Ford era and since have led to a reputation that JLR products are for the rich, not to buy them, just to keep the things on the road.

 

Some appalling dealers have done their best to promote that view as well, a  friend with a 2010 Discovery was charged almost £3000 to diagnose and repair a gearbox problem, but the fix failed to cure it. A local auto transmission specialist diagnosed it as something completely different in minutes, rectified for less than £800 in a couple of hours. The part replaced used an aftermarket alternative as opposed to the JLR spec original which they said was designed to fail. The wrangle with the dealer is ongoing nearly a year later. Interestingly the JLR part could be obtained for around £500 on the open market (the aftermarket one was more expensive), but the dealer price of it was over £1200 so even if the problem had been diagnosed correctly in the first place, it would still have been a circa £2k repair by the dealer.

[boxbrownie]

12 hours ago, MJI said:

Modernish cars, I own a British 4x4 and the most unreliable parts are not from them but from NIppon Denso.

 

Aircon compressor, starter motor.

 

Or VDO

 

Fuel pump

 

But not from Solihull

It’s a difficult area, the components may well be core ND bin, but they could also have been manufactured down to a price and specification dictated by LR and do not meet the usual higher standards of ND for mainstream manufacturers.

 

I know back in the 90’s we were testing a LR product as it was having issues with water ingress into the alternator during high speed splash tests, it was traced to an alternator which had the diode pack reduced in cost by using a pack with a lower (much) IP rating.......the suppliers sent over the “normal” 4X4 alternator they supplied to other manufacturers and it passed with flying colours installed on the vehicle.

 

Don't always rely on the name stamped on the part to condemn the supplier.

[faulcon1]

22 hours ago, Hobby said:

85p litre, so it is cheap! (Assuming you were quoting Aussy dollars!)  was it even cheaper back in the days they had 6cyl Marinas?! I love that option, though not the coupe version which I always felt was the ugliest version! 

The price has dropped here for we have a number of fuels available to buy. The cheapest is E10 which is 91 RON with up to 10% ethanol in it which raises the octane rating to 94 RON. But you do less kilometers with E10 because it doesn't have the same amount of energy in it as standard 91 RON. Anyway the price at the local servo was 1.17 per litre for E10 or around 60p in pommy currency. Next is is 91 RON then 95, 98 diesel and LPG. Many cars have a vapour system for LPG in that they start on petrol and then switch over to LPG. Ford Australia perfected the LPG system and put it in an FG Falcon and called the car Eco LPi which was a dedicated LPG fuel system only. In pommy currency LPG here sells for around 40p per litre. The ones who use it the most are taxis.

Most late model Ford Falcons are powered by the Barra motor either naturally aspirated or turbo. Even the Eco LPi used the Barra but late in the models life the engine from the Mondeo was fitted with a turbo and put into a Falcon which Ford called the Eco Boost and it was rear wheel drive. Tail pipe emission are a lot lower than the Barra motor but the car got virtually no press from Ford and not long after the decision was taken to close local manufacturing. No diesel engine was ever fitted to a Falcon by Ford.    

[faulcon1]

14 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Not sure if Malcolm was that well known outside Australia but if you haven't seen it it is well worth a look.

 

Its a pretty charming 1980's vintage movie about a bloke whos apparently a bit on the spectrum who's life is trams.

 

Lots of tram stuff, including  an impressive model tram layout in his house. 

 

Plot line - think "The Italian Job" but with trams. 

 

 I know you lot in the UK are busy going out all the time at the moment so probably don't have the time to spend at home looking for something to do but if you have a spare hour or so then its on youtube. I found this copy, there might be better ones.

 

 

The little yellow Honda Z 360 which splits in two has survived the passing years and is now in the National Archive. They occasionally bring it out but because it's in two pieces it has to be supported with a framework.

Here's a video of one of it's rare appearances. https://youtu.be/7uBnTzHU0Bw

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by faulcon1

[MJI]

11 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

It’s a difficult area, the components may well be core ND bin, but they could also have been manufactured down to a price and specification dictated by LR and do not meet the usual higher standards of ND for mainstream manufacturers.

 

I know back in the 90’s we were testing a LR product as it was having issues with water ingress into the alternator during high speed splash tests, it was traced to an alternator which had the diode pack reduced in cost by using a pack with a lower (much) IP rating.......the suppliers sent over the “normal” 4X4 alternator they supplied to other manufacturers and it passed with flying colours installed on the vehicle.

 

Don't always rely on the name stamped on the part to condemn the supplier.

 

The aircon compressor is a common fault over quite a few different cars.

 

The plunger issue is also common.

 

Mine is early Ford era before they dropped their self destructing engines in.

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, MJI said:

 

 

Mine is early Ford era before they dropped their self destructing engines in.

You mean the engine that when it lasts 250K is a Peugeot designed unit and when it breaks after 20K it’s a Ford designed unit? 

[MJI]

20 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

You mean the engine that when it lasts 250K is a Peugeot designed unit and when it breaks after 20K it’s a Ford designed unit? 

 

The Ford V6s break their cranks.

The Transit engines have a shorter life span than the 3 previous LR engines.

[boxbrownie]

25 minutes ago, MJI said:

 

The Ford V6s break their cranks.

The Transit engines have a shorter life span than the 3 previous LR engines.

I am not sure exactly what engines your referring to now, the Ford/PSA V6/V8 Lion engines or the earlier Transit (rarely used) cologne V6 or Essex V6....?

[MJI]

3 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

I am not sure exactly what engines your referring to now, the Ford/PSA V6/V8 Lion engines or the earlier Transit (rarely used) cologne V6 or Essex V6....?

 

The 2.7 and 3.0 V6s fitted to Discovery 3 and 4, and the Transit engines fitted to Defenders.

 

Prior to Fordification both models shared engines.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, MJI said:

 

The 2.7 and 3.0 V6s fitted to Discovery 3 and 4, and the Transit engines fitted to Defenders.

 

Prior to Fordification both models shared engines.

Aha OK......yes some issues with the V6 cranks which appear might be due to some harmonic issues when installed in the LR drivetrain, not sure there is much wrong with the “transit” TDi units although early TDCi (direct injection) engines had issues with contaminated fuel with which they were susceptible.

 

The 3.6 V8 Lion  (which is how the engine was designed in the first place) in the Range Rover was a very robust engine and gave reliable service, there were problems with turbo bearings wearing after not being serviced with the correct oil but apart from that they were excellent engines, we had two RR with the V8 in and enjoyed both.

[Quarryscapes]

We had a TD5 Discovery 2 as a farm mule last year...smoothest diesel engine I've ever seen or heard running despite 260 odd thousand miles. The rest of it was of course, completely FUBAR and it barely managed to do 3 jobs on the farm before giving up, but that engine.... if only I could have squeezed it into the X-Trail! 

[peanuts]

5 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Aha OK......yes some issues with the V6 cranks which appear might be due to some harmonic issues when installed in the LR drivetrain, not sure there is much wrong with the “transit” TDi units although early TDCi (direct injection) engines had issues with contaminated fuel with which they were susceptible.

 

The 3.6 V8 Lion  (which is how the engine was designed in the first place) in the Range Rover was a very robust engine and gave reliable service, there were problems with turbo bearings wearing after not being serviced with the correct oil but apart from that they were excellent engines, we had two RR with the V8 in and enjoyed both.

This is why the 2.7td jag s types hold thyre value over the v6 & v8 petrols as there is a market for good low milage s types to swop the engines out of onto Discos and then bin the shell for spares 

 

[peanuts]

Think this may just qualify for a modern classic a totaly mint unmolested Nova saloon even has the original dealer number plates 

[Hobby]

Ooo! Had one of them in dark blue, a 1.2L, for our young family it was ideal, two doors so the little blighters couldn't get out and an enormous boot to carry all their stuff when we went on holidays, they and their larger cousin, the Belmont, were often derided but were actually very practical cars for people on budget who needed the boot space but didn't want anything very large.

[russ p]

12 hours ago, peanuts said:

Think this may just qualify for a modern classic a totaly mint unmolested Nova saloon even has the original dealer number plates 

 

Taking it out on salt covered roads won't do it any favours 

I used to use my maestro efi all year round and often needed bodywork 

Hopefully it will return to the road this year but won't see snow again 

[MJI]

2 hours ago, Hobby said:

Ooo! Had one of them in dark blue, a 1.2L, for our young family it was ideal, two doors so the little blighters couldn't get out and an enormous boot to carry all their stuff when we went on holidays, they and their larger cousin, the Belmont, were often derided but were actually very practical cars for people on budget who needed the boot space but didn't want anything very large.

 

 

The Nova 1.2 was a great little engine

[John Harris]

For those who was a classic car, yet still want a new car, try either of these.

 

Sadly deep pockets are required, but I suppose they are actually quite cheap for a hand-built car.

 

jch

[peanuts]

5 hours ago, russ p said:

 

Taking it out on salt covered roads won't do it any favours 

I used to use my maestro efi all year round and often needed bodywork 

Hopefully it will return to the road this year but won't see snow again 

its apears to be the run around car for a garage i deliver to  in Diggle and is very lovingly looked after as a result 

[spamcan61]

7 hours ago, Hobby said:

Ooo! Had one of them in dark blue, a 1.2L, for our young family it was ideal, two doors so the little blighters couldn't get out and an enormous boot to carry all their stuff when we went on holidays, they and their larger cousin, the Belmont, were often derided but were actually very practical cars for people on budget who needed the boot space but didn't want anything very large.

Shapewise they always reminded me of the HA Viva, in a good way.

[Quarryscapes]

1 hour ago, John Harris said:

For those who was a classic car, yet still want a new car, try either of these.

 

Sadly deep pockets are required, but I suppose they are actually quite cheap for a hand-built car.

 

jch

 

If only I got enough staff discount to afford a MK1, but I'd want it with MX5 running gear and a Honda K20 engine. 

 

17 hours ago, peanuts said:

Think this may just qualify for a modern classic a totaly mint unmolested Nova saloon even has the original dealer number plates 

 

I always regret never finishing my Nova saloon project, it was to be in brown, on SR steel rims and packing a C20XE under the bonnet.