For those interested in "Modern Classic" Cars

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, 30801 said:

 

In that vein is Johnny Smith's Nissan Cedric Tokyo taxi. Not only is it LPG, it's LPG _only_

 

 

 

 

The "Turbo Taxi"  is Street Machine Magazines on-going  project attempting to run  a10s quarter mile in an   ex-Melbourne   LPG only taxi. (The drivers reaction time rather than the car seems to be the limiting factor in this short video...)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Hobby]

9 hours ago, Classsix T said:

(In)famously, the spare wheel on a Reliant Scimitar lives in the engine bay. Hypothetically, does this rule out Tamworth's finest from LPG conversion?

 

It'd still go in the boot, just taking up what little space there is in there I expect.

 

I looked at it at one point but I recon that using a diesel rather than a petrol I had a 25% fuel saving over the petrol and I kept the boot space, so just lived with the slight extra i would have to pay on fuel compared with LPG. When I looked at it I calculated that the cost of installing it (I would have to get it done, I couldn't do it myself) would take several years to repay it and I changed cars every 2 or 3 years which meant another install cost which also affected the running costs.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Hobby

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Hobby said:

. When I looked at it I calculated that the cost of installing it (I would have to get it done, I couldn't do it myself) would take several years to repay it as well.

Dacia, somewhat late to the party have been offering factory LPG on most of their cars. I was going to say it’s only £400 extra but on checking it’s currently the same price as a straight petrol. You get another 10BHP too.

[stewartingram]

20 hours ago, jcredfer said:

Thank you gentlemen, there is a deal of interesting information from your experiences, very interesting and worthy of looking at what / how is currently available.  I hadn't been aware of the fuel tank sizes, mpg, fuel availability numbers, convert-ability and other factors.  It's sparked an interest to look further, although I suspect, I may have caused enough thread drift already, unless there are sufficient Modern Classic cars converted, to be included.

 

Thank you again, I'm very grateful.

 

 

Have a look through this site. Lots of useful info as well as the shop. The guy that runs it is very helpful. No connection except for them being my 'local' supplier for many years.

[Guest]

A follow up on the new-old Fords.

 

 

[stewartingram]

On 28/10/2023 at 08:03, Hobby said:

 

It'd still go in the boot, just taking up what little space there is in there I expect.

 

I looked at it at one point but I recon that using a diesel rather than a petrol I had a 25% fuel saving over the petrol and I kept the boot space, so just lived with the slight extra i would have to pay on fuel compared with LPG. When I looked at it I calculated that the cost of installing it (I would have to get it done, I couldn't do it myself) would take several years to repay it and I changed cars every 2 or 3 years which meant another install cost which also affected the running costs.

I know you said you can't install it, and would have to get in done professionally, but bare with me for a moment.

I've always done my own installs, since 2000 with a professional certification afterwards. I've had 2 systems, one on the old Rover 827, one on the replacement Rover 75 (in 2007) which is of the later multiple injector system (more efficient). Both have been transferred to later cars of the same model. Costs of either averaged about the same (allowing for inflation).

Only quoting the later install(s), I sourced the parts for about £600, and install was free over a leisurely 3 days. The car mostly remained mobile over this period. Certification cost £25. At the time paying someone to do the job cost about double that. A quick check recently showed similar difference in cost.

But paying for it is quite interesting. Don't forget fuel costs are approx. 1/2 the cost of petrol, so instant savings. The old joke about 2 disadvantages of lpg still stands - 1) less boot space because of the tank; 2) an uncomfortable drivers seat because of the money saved being in the wallet you sit on!

Seriously, there was a way of doing it for free, with payback in under 12 months (diy) or just over 2 years (pay someone), based on average 10-12k mileage. 

I don't know if they are still available (haven't checked) but you could get a credit card with free interest for 12 months. So buy the kit with that and pay back monthly with the savings. So £50 worth of petrol was now £25 of lpg - the latter going to the monthly card payment and effectively costing you nothing. Obviously the extra expense of paying someone extended the 'loan' a bit longer, so you did pay a bit more. However if you did more mileage payback was quicker.

Anyway, just my resoning. I've certainly been doing 20k a year for 15-20 years before I fairly recently retired, how have I saved......

[Hobby]

As I said the costings were against diesel, not petrol, and the savings on fuel costs alone were a lot less.  For such an install I wouldn't trust myself to do it so my comments re that stand. As I said the savings, if any  would have been marginal. It worked for you, but it wouldn't have for me, we're all different.

 

(I'd rather not bare with you, though, if you don't mind!) 😄

[MJI]

5 hours ago, stewartingram said:

I know you said you can't install it, and would have to get in done professionally, but bare with me for a moment.

I've always done my own installs, since 2000 with a professional certification afterwards. I've had 2 systems, one on the old Rover 827, one on the replacement Rover 75 (in 2007) which is of the later multiple injector system (more efficient). Both have been transferred to later cars of the same model. Costs of either averaged about the same (allowing for inflation).

Only quoting the later install(s), I sourced the parts for about £600, and install was free over a leisurely 3 days. The car mostly remained mobile over this period. Certification cost £25. At the time paying someone to do the job cost about double that. A quick check recently showed similar difference in cost.

But paying for it is quite interesting. Don't forget fuel costs are approx. 1/2 the cost of petrol, so instant savings. The old joke about 2 disadvantages of lpg still stands - 1) less boot space because of the tank; 2) an uncomfortable drivers seat because of the money saved being in the wallet you sit on!

Seriously, there was a way of doing it for free, with payback in under 12 months (diy) or just over 2 years (pay someone), based on average 10-12k mileage. 

I don't know if they are still available (haven't checked) but you could get a credit card with free interest for 12 months. So buy the kit with that and pay back monthly with the savings. So £50 worth of petrol was now £25 of lpg - the latter going to the monthly card payment and effectively costing you nothing. Obviously the extra expense of paying someone extended the 'loan' a bit longer, so you did pay a bit more. However if you did more mileage payback was quicker.

Anyway, just my resoning. I've certainly been doing 20k a year for 15-20 years before I fairly recently retired, how have I saved......

 

With DIY at least you can be sure you re getting a decent job and not a rushed job such as cable tieing a loom to the EGR valve pipework.

[stewartingram]

Greed, but my inclination was towards cheaper job; I've always done all my own maintenance. The real point of my post above was the way of financing it. Again tough, I don't swap my cars so frequently, it is usually cheaper just to maintain them to keep them going. Having said that I've had a a couple of unfortunate incidents where I replaced the cars with identical models but of a highe detail spec so it was really a win-win (and gained lots more spares to stash away).

[faulcon1]

Here's is my current work supplied vehicle a 2019 Holden Colorado 4x4. This vehicle can only be used for work not pleasure. All fuel, servicing and rego (MOT) is paid for by the council. It's fitted with a tracking device which my female boss has activated on numerous occasions when I don't answer the phone. The tracking device gives the location of the car exactly. The tracking device tells the council where the car is but not where I am. The boys in fleet services are getting thoroughly fed up with my female boss's constant wanting to know where I am. We have had people take these vehicles out of council boundaries and when they return they lose the vehicle and their job too, no if's or buts. My own car is in the garage behind the Colorado and explains why it only has 96,000 kms on the odometer and the Colorado has 175,000km on it's odometer. It's powered by a 2.8 litre turbo diesel. It's shod with Yokohama Geolander all terrain tyres. I gets washed with nothing more sophisticated than a snow foam canon and a soft bristled brush and rinsed off with a high pressure washer and allowed to dry. When the change over vehicle arrives the canopy on the rear with be tranfered to the new vehicle which will arrive with an aluminium tray which will be fitted to this car and then it will be sent to the car auctions. 

The car could be considered a classic as they're no longer made as Holden Australia is no more. 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by faulcon1

[stewartingram]

We had trackers fitted to our works vans, and we had some rather 'awkward' line managers who kept accessing the tracking software for their own ends to see what the drivers were doing. There were some quite heated discussions where the unions got involved. The line managers were disciplined, & a restriction was put on access to the software. Permission had to be then given by much higher management if tracking was needed, as it was apparently an invasion of privacy (or similar) backed by the law.

[steve1]

Seen in the local sawbones’ car park. It’s a lot of motor car…

 

steve

 

 

[Quarryscapes]

I'm working on some marketing pics at work. 

[Lord Flashheart]

8 hours ago, Quarryscapes said:

I'm working on some marketing pics at work. 

Stunning, I'd love an MST MK2 ,really looking forward to seeing the 6R4 .

 

Rob

[Classsix T]

I was going to ask what's up with the reg number but am I to understand it's a replica then?

 

C6T.

[peanuts]

8 hours ago, Classsix T said:

I was going to ask what's up with the reg number but am I to understand it's a replica then?

 

C6T.

Mst they do new shells and replica mk 1 & 2 escorts running a milington diamond 2.8 16v four giving 320 brake all yours for the small matter of £90k + .also building 6R4 shells with i believe a 1.5 turbo four 

[monkeysarefun]

Nice example of the last of the Aussie  V8's. 2017-ish VF Commodore SSV Redline, 6.2L parked outside the local pub lunchtime today.

 

 

 

This plain-Jane battleship grey colour seems to be gaining ground around the place, mainly Korean cars like  Hyundai "hot" hatches and Kia Stingers.

 

I assume that this example is a wrap because it isn't a standard GMH colour of 2017.

 

 

Speaking of wraps, here's another one I spotted today. The jury in my head is still out on this one though.

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Classsix T]

On 26/11/2023 at 03:58, monkeysarefun said:

Nice example of the last of the Aussie  V8's. 2017-ish VF Commodore SSV Redline, 6.2L parked outside the local pub lunchtime today.

 

 

 

This plain-Jane battleship grey colour seems to be gaining ground around the place, mainly Korean cars like  Hyundai "hot" hatches and Kia Stingers.

 

I assume that this example is a wrap because it isn't a standard GMH colour of 2017.

I suspect that underpant grey is another unwanted fashion from the States. I'd first noticed it on UK Fords a number of years ago and took an instant dislike to it, looking as it does like gloss undercoat. The Haas F1 cars heavily featured grey as part of their livery on their debut season, but seem to have seen sense and now sport a rather natty black, white and red scheme.

 

In other news, I spent a large chunk of yesterday researching Mercedes Benz sporting history ostensibly attached to the (Martin Brundle approved) 190 saloon. I shan't bore you with the details of why, suffice to share a link to this brilliant article and suggest if he hasn't already, Aussie Phil Ward might be a worthy recipient, given their subsequent success to the Keys to Stuttgart:

https://www.shannons.com.au/club/news/racing-garage/mercedes-benz-190e-cosworth-stuttgarts-anglo-german-bathurst-champ/

 

C6T.

[big jim]

I quite like the gloss grey on the right car, a big tank type car like an estate Skoda or Audi etc

[MJI]

8 hours ago, big jim said:

I quite like the gloss grey on the right car, a big tank type car like an estate Skoda or Audi etc

Looks like an undercoat.

 

But then our bannisters are painted grey.

[Kickstart]

31 minutes ago, MJI said:

Looks like an undercoat.

 

But then our bannisters are painted grey.

 

Yep, looks like they forgot the colour coat and just clear coated the primer

 

All the best

 

Katy

[faulcon1]

Swings and roundabouts for years ago cars came out in these colours. It reminds me of the old East German car colour selection where you could have any colour you wanted as long as it was bleak. Mitsubishi had a dull off white colour that looked like undercoat or primer with a clear coat on top and that looked awful. Eventually people will get bored with these uninspiring colours and then all the colours of the rainbow will appear again and interior colours too not just plain black plastic or leather but cream and blue plastic like we had in the old days but will be looked upon as never seen before because so many people have very short memories.     

[monkeysarefun]

8 hours ago, faulcon1 said:

Swings and roundabouts for years ago cars came out in these colours. It reminds me of the old East German car colour selection where you could have any colour you wanted as long as it was bleak. Mitsubishi had a dull off white colour that looked like undercoat or primer with a clear coat on top and that looked awful. Eventually people will get bored with these uninspiring colours and then all the colours of the rainbow will appear again and interior colours too not just plain black plastic or leather but cream and blue plastic like we had in the old days but will be looked upon as never seen before because so many people have very short memories.     

 

 

 

Growing up here in the 60's 70's  and 80's I do recall that very few people owned a dark grey or black car because the perceived wisdom was that they were just too hot in summer.

I guess air-conditioning changed that because from the mid-90's on carparks have been getting increasingly grey.  Photos of the earlier decades reveal a much lighter, more colourful place.

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Hobby]

What's going on in that first photo, @monkeysarefun, there's a group of people in the bottom right all looking one direction? That last photo looks at first glance like the UK until you look closer, the loco (obviously to us!), the telegraph/electricity poles and the yellow and black roadwork barriers being the most obvious giveaways!

[Dunsignalling]

Post-war, in the UK, presumably in a desperate attempt to brighten the place up, black paint on cars increasingly became the province of taxis, hearses, and the Lord Mayor's Limo and I still feel it should be.

 

It suited some of the more staid 1930s models but (IMHO) should have disappeared along with running boards! 

 

In more recent times, black has been so common as to have become almost a cliche, but thankfully (IMO) its popularity seems to be in decline of late, even on hearses. Our local Co-op is currently running a rather splendid silver one....

 

I really don't see the sense of painting anything that moves around black. It shows the slightest speck of dirt, which it picks up even when standing still, and any car with aspirations to "sportiness" just looks silly in black. 

 

John

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by Dunsignalling