Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

Yes I thought stone, having had 4 all got stuck and required surgery to remove them and by the way they don't make a hole, they use the one that's already provided, you just walk round like John Wayne having just got off his horse for a couple of weeks......................................

My kidney stone came out of its own accord, it made my eyes water somewhat. My brother had one as well but he just thought it was backache and it ended with him losing a kidney.

[monkeysarefun]

56 minutes ago, Barry O said:

@monkeysarefun.. as it happens her indoors liked Metros. The first one was a brand new Metro City (had a full wiring loom you just had to fit the reversing light microswitch and bulbs..  that took no time at all.

 

That one lasted a long time then she had a red Metro 1l (written off when a dog hit it at 60mph) then a gold 1.3l one, then another red one.

 

Lots of fun, easy to fix and plenty of space.

 

Always wanted a drive of the rally car.. never got the chance.

 

Never fancied a "muscle car" I would rather have a proper car which oozes elegance and refinement.. a Bentley Mulsanne Turbo RLfor example .. 0lentynof power without looking mechanically challeng3d.

 

Baz

 

 

I certainly wasn't knocking the obviously mighty Metro!  I guess that we are considerably poorer down here  for  not having known of it. 

 

Cars are a creation moulded on  where they were born.  England is a land of refinement and short distances,  intimate lanes, fashionably economically sized (though maybe a tad-expensive) parking, sheer elegance and polite weather.

As long as you stay away from those particular villages on those telly shows about crime-fighting old ladies and vicars  where everyone is always getting murdered It is very  civilised, though possibly a little bit damp at times. 

 

Hence your preferred cars are usually smallish, with petite motors that sip politely and that you rarely need to fill up.  Alternatively you also have cars of elegance and purely  British style. Just saying their  names evokes a unique  Britishness:  "I drive a  Jaaaaaaag" .  "James, get the Bentleh!"

 

In contrast,  Down here its dust* and heat and incredibly vast distances.  Nowadays the roads are pretty good and cars are air-conditioned but up until the 80's many major routes were unsurfaced, only the posh had aircon, and you knew once the temperature hit 110 old-school degrees, you'd be spending the top of every steep hill by the side of the road waiting for your radiator to stop boiling over.

 

Imported pommy cars let the dust in and boiled their motors, US cars like the original Falcon literally fell apart driving Australian roads, so the result was  a  local  car industry that realised that ruggedly-made simple cars with big lazy motors, large interiors to allow maximum cooling when the windows were opened and that were easy to fix even if you pulled into the remotest town 1000km from the nearest car dealer were essential.

 

So we got the big bodied car with a large V8. Which naturally can be  turned  into awesome muscle cars in a way that say the Morris 1100 can not. And I'm not knocking the Morris 1100,  it was Car O f The Year  here when it was released and was the top selling 4 cylinder car throughout the 1960's.  But I'm yet to see a Morris 1100 in "Street Machine" magazine.

 

Basically, its horses for courses. That's why we got "Mad Max"  and you got  "Genevieve".

 

*the red outback dust ("bulldust") is unlike normal road dust. It is basically red talcum powder. If it is wetted it turns to red paste that you cannot remove.

 

I went outback QLD with the oil company I worked for in the 80's and 90's in a Toyota Landcruiser and if Toyota cant seal a car no one can.

The bloke I went with had a suit inside a suit bag inside the sealed Landcruiser that we had the aircon sett on max in, to keep the dust out.

 

When he opened the suit bag there was a red dust mark in the shape of the zipper right down the middle of his suit.

 

NASA has used sites out there in the dust to replicate Mars.

 

When Top Gear came here to shoot a special, the yellow Bentley that James May drove had to be completely stripped down to its component parts and each individually cleaned of dust. 

 

On the outback trip I took a copy of "The Loved One" by Evelyn Waugh to read. Obviously this went down well with the seismic crew I was billeted with who thought that Penthouse and Hustler had too many words.

 

I bring this up only because the book got a red hue to it from sweat and dust and therefore  is easy to pick out in my bookshelf.

Edited October 15, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[polybear]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally.....

 

One for Chimpy:

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Leyland Australia looked at the UK Moke and decided it needed a bit of a primping up for the local market, so put the 1275cc Cooper S motor into it, swapped the 10 inch rims for 13 inchers   and sold it as the moke Californian. It was pretty mental.  

 

 

Obviously, we made a ute version!

 

I want one! I've actually driven an Australian Moke. I hired one when I holidayed in Barbados in 1978, quite fun to drive.

[monkeysarefun]

19 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I want one! I've actually driven an Australian Moke. I hired one when I holidayed in Barbados in 1978, quite fun to drive.

 

They finished up in 1981 but you could pick one up second hand for around £1200 up until the early naughties. I saw one on carsales.com.au recently for £35,000 equivalent. 

 

EDIT:   Still there!  (Plus it needs to go over the pit for a full-engineering inspection cos its unregistered...)

 

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/1981-leyland-moke-californian-manual/SSE-AD-15397505/?Cr=8

Edited October 15, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

They finished up in 1981 but you could pick one up second hand for around £1200 up until the early naughties. I saw one on carsales.com.au recently for £35,000 equivalent. 

 

Still there!

 

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/1981-leyland-moke-californian-manual/SSE-AD-15397505/?Cr=8

Thats the same colour as the one I rented. And to think that when someone tried to import one to the USA it was crushed because it didn't comply with the local regulations.

[monkeysarefun]

11 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Thats the same colour as the one I rented. And to think that when someone tried to import one to the USA it was crushed because it didn't comply with the local regulations.

 

 

One of my mates had one when we had just left school and got our first cars. At parties we used to wait until he was asleep then go outside and pick up his moke and place it in inconvenient locations,. like jammed up between two buildings, or between two trees too close together  to be able to drive out of. 

 

In the year above us at school a bloke who was similarly played funny pranks upon went up north to tropical QLD and did sugar-cane cutting for a year or two . He grew incredibly huge and came back to wreak vengeance and hellfire down upon his tormentors.

 

Looking back I'm glad that our guy was  doing an accountancy degree at Wollongong Uni.. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[southern42]

Cutlery draw and trays washed and dried. First lot of (regularly used) cutlery washed and dried.

Lunch just had.

Now loads of other cutlery <<Where did it all come from...? Talk about hanging onto things just in case...>> to wash and dry...

 

I doubt any W word will be accomplished this afternoon!

 

I might be back later...

 

[tigerburnie]

1 hour ago, southern42 said:

 

 

I doubt any W word will be accomplished this afternoon!

 

I might be back later...

 

Washing?....................Weeding??.........................Weathering?.................................

[jamie92208]

5 hours ago, Grizz said:

It looks like a MINECRAFT Metro 🤣

 

Bet it goes a bit though!

I've got vague memories that a V6 metro was put on Sale one with enough produced to get rallying homologation.  I believe it went quite well. 

 

The mini Moke also brings back happy memories of getting g a lift in one when goi g to meet the same you g lady who later owned a Morris traveller. 

 

Jamie

[DaveF]

 

Having seen the vicar etc as mentioned earlier I came home via the bakers and picked up a Kornish pasty and a fruit slice for lunch as it was too late to cook anything nice from what IO had at home.  The pasty was eaten as soon as I got in as it was very hot from the heated counter, after that the fruit slice was warmed in the microwave and eaten with custard.   I was suitably full afterwards.  I have had the first antibiotic and can fit the remaining 2 for today in before bedtime.

 

During the afternoon I have had a rest which was quite easy as I slept badly last nighty and amnow watching the rugby.  I have had a think about all the things I do and have realised that I rush around to try to fit some things in so I will slow down, at least for now.  I will post fewer photos on here and flickr, it is't just the time to post them but the time taken to sort them out and make sure that the captions are reasonably accurate which is the problem. 

 

Also a little less determination to walk further each day and spend a bit more time doing other things, also spreading out some of the gardening tasks.  In other words, I must not go on like a bull in a china shop any more.

 

So the rest of today will be TV and reading, tomorrow I will do the basic things but not much else and so on.  To be honest I suspect that I will end up getting almost as much done but in a more relaxed manner which will be good for me.

 

David

[pH]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Slept very well again last night with only one trip to the bathroom.

[Rugd1022]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

I certainly wasn't knocking the obviously mighty Metro!  I guess that we are considerably poorer down here  for  not having known of it. 

 

Cars are a creation moulded on  where they were born.  England is a land of refinement and short distances,  intimate lanes, fashionably economically sized (though maybe a tad-expensive) parking, sheer elegance and polite weather.

As long as you stay away from those particular villages on those telly shows about crime-fighting old ladies and vicars  where everyone is always getting murdered It is very  civilised, though possibly a little bit damp at times. 

 

Hence your preferred cars are usually smallish, with petite motors that sip politely and that you rarely need to fill up.  Alternatively you also have cars of elegance and purely  British style. Just saying their  names evokes a unique  Britishness:  "I drive a  Jaaaaaaag" .  "James, get the Bentleh!"

 

In contrast,  Down here its dust* and heat and incredibly vast distances.  Nowadays the roads are pretty good and cars are air-conditioned but up until the 80's many major routes were unsurfaced, only the posh had aircon, and you knew once the temperature hit 110 old-school degrees, you'd be spending the top of every steep hill by the side of the road waiting for your radiator to stop boiling over.

 

Imported pommy cars let the dust in and boiled their motors, US cars like the original Falcon literally fell apart driving Australian roads, so the result was  a  local  car industry that realised that ruggedly-made simple cars with big lazy motors, large interiors to allow maximum cooling when the windows were opened and that were easy to fix even if you pulled into the remotest town 1000km from the nearest car dealer were essential.

 

So we got the big bodied car with a large V8. Which naturally can be  turned  into awesome muscle cars in a way that say the Morris 1100 can not. And I'm not knocking the Morris 1100,  it was Car O f The Year  here when it was released and was the top selling 4 cylinder car throughout the 1960's.  But I'm yet to see a Morris 1100 in "Street Machine" magazine.

 

Basically, its horses for courses. That's why we got "Mad Max"  and you got  "Genevieve".

 

*the red outback dust ("bulldust") is unlike normal road dust. It is basically red talcum powder. If it is wetted it turns to red paste that you cannot remove.

 

I went outback QLD with the oil company I worked for in the 80's and 90's in a Toyota Landcruiser and if Toyota cant seal a car no one can.

The bloke I went with had a suit inside a suit bag inside the sealed Landcruiser that we had the aircon sett on max in, to keep the dust out.

 

When he opened the suit bag there was a red dust mark in the shape of the zipper right down the middle of his suit.

 

NASA has used sites out there in the dust to replicate Mars.

 

When Top Gear came here to shoot a special, the yellow Bentley that James May drove had to be completely stripped down to its component parts and each individually cleaned of dust. 

 

On the outback trip I took a copy of "The Loved One" by Evelyn Waugh to read. Obviously this went down well with the seismic crew I was billeted with who thought that Penthouse and Hustler had too many words.

 

I bring this up only because the book got a red hue to it from sweat and dust and therefore  is easy to pick out in my bookshelf.

 

Despite my ongoing obsession with Italian automobili I still find myself drifting back to the stoic, classic British stuff of old on a regular basis. This week's nostalgic pang has been the trusty, musty world of Rover P5s and P6s, and '60s Jag saloons, I keep eyeing up the for sale ads on 'car&classic', even though I've got nowhere to put one should I take the plunge! Twas ever thus.

 

I still regret selling the three P6s and two P5B Coupes I had between 2006 and 2015, none were absolutely perfect but they were all so enjoyable to drive, I could feel the engineering that went into them with every yard of road that passed beneath me.

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Evening, no post this morning as slept really badly and was then rushed out the door by Mrs NHN's weekend plans.

 

Speaking of herself, she had a super-metro aka Rover 111, which IIRC had a Honda 1100cc OHC engine.  Went really well, revved like a bike engine almost.  It was top-spec interior which gave it a pleasant feel and had a good ride especially for a small car.  The high sills revealed the design's age though.  The Flawed Fiasco 1250 that succeeded it was not as nice to drive nor be driven in.

 

Dinner time, back later.

[PupCam]

Afternoon All

 

8 hours ago, Grizz said:

As for Mrs Grizz’s 4 x 4….it took me 47 minutes to drive it in ‘Sulk Mode’ with no turbo back to Grizz Castle via the tiny back roads. It doesn’t know it yet but tomorrow it is going in for some serious surgery with no anaesthetic! It WILL bluddy learn.

 

A Land Rover product perchance?

 

7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I know not what a metro is!  

 

Probably best that way.

 

6 hours ago, trevora said:

unless you have this one

Overview

ManufacturerAustin Rover Group, Austin Rover World Rally Team

Production1984–1987

DesignerJohn Davenport (director, Austin Rover Group Motorsport)
Patrick Head (chief designer, Williams Grand Prix Engineering)
Brian O'Rourke (structure, bodywork)
John Piper (layout, transmission, suspension)
David Wood (engine)
Bob Farley (engine)
Ian Anderson (fabrication)
Derek Jones (machining)[17]

Body and chassis

Body style3-door hatchback

LayoutRear mid-engine, four-wheel drive

PlatformLC8

RelatedMG Metro

Powertrain

Engine2,991 cc (182.5 cu in) V64V 90° V6 DOHC
bore and stroke of 92×75 mm
power output of 250 bhp (186 kW) or 410 bhp (306 kW) dependent upon spec

Transmission5-speed manual

 

But that's not really a Metro is it

 

6 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

  @monkeysarefun The later Metro's weren't too bad but by then BL was on its knees. It also suffered from the Mini's popularity. It was intended to replace the Mini but the demand for the Mini was so great that it remained in production alongside the Metro.

As I said above the Mini was in production for 41 years and something like 5.3 million were made worldwide including commercials and the Mini Moke. That was the problem for the Metro, the Mini extracted sales from it.

 

My emphasis, maybe the problem was that the Mini just didn't replacing by a car with all the same negative points as the Mini (which had moire than plenty) but none of the charisma and fun of the Mini?

 

5 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Has  this one had coilovers fitted? The back looks pretty lowrider!

 

As a reference,  this was at the show.

 

 

 

 

One has to ask the simple question Why?      But, each to their own I suppose.

 

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I think Dipstick is a relevant and appropriate word isn't it?   You need a dipstick to measure oil use don't you ....

 

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I want one! I've actually driven an Australian Moke. I hired one when I holidayed in Barbados in 1978, quite fun to drive.

 

That's because basically it's a Mini and one of the many if not the key attribute of the Mini is they are fun to drive - one up from a Go Kart.

 

ION

 

A good run to Jordan's Mill this morning with the little Beeza flying along at 50 on the suitably fast bits of road.   Some of the oil leaks seem to have tamed themselves which is rather good (and before you ask, yes there's plenty of (Just Stop) oil in the tank!).    On the way back we dropped into Shuttleworth for another coffee and just to see what was happening.   The two (newly relocated to Old Warden) Cambridge Flying Group Tiger Moths seemed to be doing a roaring trade teaching people to fly.    I really must look into going over there for a few goes after all, you can't take "it" with you can you and I'd only spend it on O gauge Deltics or something frivolous*.

 

This afternoon I drained as many (but as @polybear pointed out) not all the dregs of fuel out of the RD so I could remove the tank and tap.  Even now the tank is off and there's a blurry great hole where the tap was I still can't get all of the petrol out so as I don't want vapour forming in the garage the tank has gone on a temporary holiday down the garden into the shed **  Looking at the tap although there's a little bit of carp in the extremely fine nylon mesh there's no where near enough to stop the flow and inside the filter was squeaky clean so the mystery remains.   

 

Right, I've been informed that my sausage cooking skills are required so I'll be off.

 

TTFNQ

 

*   That doesn't include motorcycles.  As everyone knows they are an essential form of transport 😀 

** Can we use that word?

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Spent about an hour in the garden putting down some weedkiller on the patio and lawn (the weeds have come back but no sign of the grass). I spent the rest of the afternoon inspecting eyelids. Not sure yet whats for dinner tonight, I'll have to see what I can find in the fridge.

[jamie92208]

I got to Limoges and back to drop our friend off in good time, just under 2 hours each way and hardly any traffic.  Very few lorries out on a weekend, by law.  I got back and was going to walk down to our friends house when a neighbour arrived to ask if they could deliver our winter fuel.  6 tons of firewood duly arrived, one stere at a time and are now outside the woodshed waiting for me to stack it.  That will keemepbusy this coming week. Then I went and did the errand and got back just after the Rugby started.  That was watched until half way through the second half when another car pulled up.  Thus was our cleaner, Aurellie and her daughter with two trays of fresh meat shot by her husband yesterday.  We chose a large leg of venison and two large pieces of wild boar, 7kg's in total, cost €65,  excellent price.  Our first Sanglier (wild boar). We are really getting welin in thelvillage.  Both the wood and the meat were at "locals" rates.  The wood will last us all winter.  

 

Jamie

[The Lurker]

8 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

In its day the Metro was an excellent car, superb packaging which gave it a bit of a TARDIS feel when it first came out. However Rover kept it going long past its sell by date.

No it wasn’t. It was an awful car to drive, the worst I’ve driven. It even did not have proper leg room for a slightly tall driver(I am about 6’2 - tall but hardly outlandish), and seemed to be unable accelerate enough in an urban setting- at one stage almost every one you saw had a dent in the back where the lack of acceleration or the slow reaction of the driver had caught someone out. And they used that annoying Yello track (recently used by Maccy D’s) as an advert.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

They toyed with producing it but ended up using it in the  Leyland P76 instead, which was a larger sedan in  order to compete with the Falcon and Kingswood. It was not a big seller and died when Leyland carked it.

A university classmate had his dad's hand-me-down P76 in burnt orange.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I was in Abu Qir (a suburb of Alexandria) on 9/11

Famous as the location of one of Nelson's victories.

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

The Oz equivalent for that kind of caper was the panel van.

The tear-stained mattress trope comes to mind.

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

And to think that when someone tried to import one to the USA it was crushed because it didn't comply with the local regulations.

No 5mph bumpers? And they are too low.

 

Don't know why it would be crushed when it simply wouldn't be 'road legal'. There are plenty of vehicles that are not 'road legal' that exist in the US without being crushed.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Coombe Barton]

... In other disparaging comments he (Simon Case) said Boris Johnson’s wife, Carrie, appeared to be “the real person in charge” of the government ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/10/15/covid-enquiry-who-actually-was-in-charge-in-2020/

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

** Can we use that word?

Only if you use shed like this

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

The mini Moke also brings back happy memories of getting g a lift in one when goi g to meet the same you g lady who later owned a Morris traveller. 

 

Is this also a secret from SWMBO?