Kickstart Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Ah Daimler-Chrysler. The biggest screw up since the Alfa Arna married Japanese styling to Italian engineering. Being fair the Italian engineering wasn't the problem. It was the Japanese engineering on them that as lousy beyond being cheap. Unfortunately unlike the Nissan built cars the Italian build quality couldn't rescue it All the best K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Being fair the Italian engineering wasn't the problem. It was the Japanese engineering on them that as lousy beyond being cheap. Unfortunately unlike the Nissan built cars the Italian build quality couldn't rescue it Sure it didn't help that the Cherry body was the equivalent of grey porridge, but I thought the Italians were given the job of final assembly, and they didn't exactly do a particularly good job there. Italian build quality - erratic at the best of times, especially in Naples - helped to kill the Arna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kickstart Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Sure it didn't help that the Cherry body was the equivalent of grey porridge, but I thought the Italians were given the job of final assembly, and they didn't exactly do a particularly good job there. Italian build quality - erratic at the best of times, especially in Naples - helped to kill the Arna. Quite. Japanese engineering (although the engine, gearbox and front suspension was Alfa) didn't give a good car. If the build quality had been OK then it might have been salvaged (like the normal Cherry), but Alfa build quality (including lousy quality steel) was woefully short of managing to do that Heard a story a 20 odd years ago of a long standing Alfa dealer. When the Arna first came out he sold one of the first to a long time customer who liked 'suds. Said customer tried to take a roundabout in it like a 'sud and landed on the roof. He gave up trying to sell the Arna after that! Alfa built by Nissan would have been good, but not the other way round. Although to be fair the Arna workshop manual is better than the other Alfa workshop manuals of the time. All the best K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Repro tax disc in my Cooper S... And with a nod to Diana Ross & The Supremes' 1967 top pop smash from the hit parade... 'Reflections of the way life used to be...' 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Wish our Mini had paint like that!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w124bob Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Couple of pages ago I posted and said there was a compound at the back of Manchester Piccadilly(corner of Faitfield st and Saint Andrews st) with some old classics rotting away, well early this morning on the way into work I noticed the ladies of a certain profession were on holiday so stopped and got 5 photographs. Most of the site on the Fairfield side is behind a hedge and railing so these are about the best anyone is going to get. There are about 8 Jags including 2 XJS, 2 XJ40, an XJ coupe in white and a series 1 saloon in pale blue plus a Silver Spur and a Merc W123 280E. Anyone who can get access to the NR offices across the road at Manchester One would get a birds eye view! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londontram Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Nice pictures, the big Jag with its lack of front grill divide and waist chrome strip looks to be a MK 10 not 420G I had an early 3.8 Mk 10 once a low 32000m unrestored car that was a joy to drive and if you got a good one was for its size a very chuckable car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w124bob Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Many years ago I took these at a workshop at Hinckley my home town, look closely at this Mk10 it's a convertible!https://www.flickr.com/photos/28630680@N06/5988174581/in/set-72157621820084029 a very early E type, 999RBB I think, wonder if it's still around? https://www.flickr.com/photos/28630680@N06/5988174767/in/album-72157621820084029/ and a race prepped Mk2 with my Cortina lurking in the background which makes it around mid 1980, it replaced a brown Avenger https://www.flickr.com/photos/28630680@N06/5988174265/in/album-72157621820084029/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w124bob Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Ten minutes digging reveals that 999RBB still exists and was in the possession of E Type UK, it is chassis #57 so a very early car! http://etypeuk.com/articles/10/2013-06-10/1961-series-1-outside-locking-e-type/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Many years ago I took these at a workshop at Hinckley my home town, look closely at this Mk10 it's a convertible!https://www.flickr.com/photos/28630680@N06/5988174581/in/set-72157621820084029 a very early E type, 999RBB I think, wonder if it's still around? https://www.flickr.com/photos/28630680@N06/5988174767/in/album-72157621820084029/ and a race prepped Mk2 with my Cortina lurking in the background which makes it around mid 1980, it replaced a brown Avenger https://www.flickr.com/photos/28630680@N06/5988174265/in/album-72157621820084029/ The red car is a Mk1. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w124bob Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Yes a Mk1, it's the door frames which give the ID, Mk2 are thin and chromed, cheers for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 A few years ago when I was on the dusty island of Fuerteventura, there was a car pound in the centre of town due for demolition. On view through the gates was a very dusty but complete looking Mk1 Escort. It was LHD and Spanish registered. Went back a year or so ago and the pound's still there but empty. Always wondered what happened to the Mk1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 (edited) Great find W124Bob! The blue Jag in the top photo in post #1085 is a 420, a rare beast these days and a better driver's car than the Mk2. I took my XJ6 round to my local Jag guru yestrday for a chat about what needs doing to it - turns out what I thought might be a potentially catostrophic 'gearbox out' job was a dodgy overdrive switch on top of the gear lever. Somehow it had slipped into 'on' while I was reversing the car up the lane which gives me access to my garage. It also looks like a previous owner had bodged the wiring for the overdrive solenoid. Self inflicted panic / large bill duly avoided, but while he was looking round the car it transpires it needs a new radiator so I've booked it in for early May. At the same time it makes perfect sense to bin all of the old hoses in favour of uprated new ones, likewise the old points and condensor will be replaced by an electronic ignition module and it'll get an oil and filter change too. The heater valve next to the bulkhead needs replacing and the nearside front suspension needs a new spring so as to get the ride hight spot on. While I was there he showed me his stash of spare parts and we uncovered a complete rear bumper for a Series 2 XJ which has now got my name on it! While he was writing down the chassis number for parts reference it occured to him that it may be an early press car - it was built in October '73, barely a fortnight after the very first Series 2 rolled off the line at Browns Lane and went straight to a dealership in Belfast where it stayed for two weeks before being shipped over to Scotland. There's no trace in the history file of any reg' number being given to it while it was in Belfast which leads us to believe it was set aside for press use, most likely on trade plates. Over a chat and a coffee the wonderful collection of cars in his unit, all of which belong to him and his business partner... two very rare '70s BMW 3-litre Coupes, two Daimler XJ Coupes (one being a V12 manual so extremely rare), a Series 3 Daimler Sovereign with 24k miles on the clock, a gorgeous mint but dusty Rover P5B Coupe, a Merc V8 Coupe and a Mk2 Escort RS2000, and apparently there are two MkX Jags elsewhere in storage... [/url] Edited April 5, 2015 by Rugd1022 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w124bob Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 (edited) I would be hard pressed to pick a favourite out of all those but the Mercedes Benz CE would probably just edge it, there an almost completely different car from the front screen back and expensive to restore except for the oily bits and running gear. I imagine a manual box on an XJ gives the car a very different feel ? From my 70's brochure collection the Jaguar/Daimler ones were the only ones I kept. I still droll over the Double Six VDP in Lavender. A very dodgey memory but I'm sure I've seen reference to a VDP coupe? Edited April 5, 2015 by w124bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 heres a pic of my absolute pride and joy as a youngster you dont see many of these about now as you used to as this is one of the early xr3s on a twin choke dcd carb not the fuel injected later version this one ended up with the minisport 1.9 conversion running twin webber 40dcnfs rsturbo box and 205 gti rear disks used it for hillclimbing and sprinting as well as tow car for my friends cooper s rally car 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 heres a pic of my absolute pride and joy as a youngster you dont see many of these about now as you used to as this is one of the early xr3s on a twin choke dcd carb not the fuel injected later version this one ended up with the minisport 1.9 conversion running twin webber 40dcnfs rsturbo box and 205 gti rear disks used it for hillclimbing and sprinting as well as tow car for my friends cooper s rally car I had a silver X reg one, and it was the reason that I liked Escorts, as I survived a head on collision in it! It's a bit scary seeing four headlights coming towards you over the brow of a hill! The other car was an Escort too, and the front of mine was rather shorter after the incident, but I just had a broken collar bone and a few scratches. I'd had it 11 months, and the insurance company offered me £5 more than I'd paid for it as their first offer. So not a bad deal, apart from the other driver being an uninsured Spaniard who went home when he discovered I had legal expenses insurance! I haven't scanned the photos of it yet, so here's the XR3i I got when I got my no claims bonus back. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 .....Over a chat and a coffee the wonderful collection of cars in his unit, all of which belong to him and his business partner... two very rare '70s BMW 3-litre Coupes......[/url] These E9 CSis and their lightweight sisters the CSLs were all built by Karmann. They didn't do a very good job, which is why E9s tend to rust from the inside out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Thanks for that info Horsetan... BMW's 'E' numbers often leave my brain begging for mercy, I have no idea which one is which! A mate of mine has an E61 estate which he's about to chop in for an F11 version, until he told me I had no idea there even was an 'F' series! BMW's identity system is nothing new though, for some reason Jensen Interceptors, as well as being Mk1, 2 or 3 are also sometimes to referred to as G Series, J Series etc. A bit confusing really, especially as they only built less then six and a half thousand of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Karmann also built the successor E24 coupés. They weren't built very well either. BMW were so concerned about Karmann's quality control that, after the first few hundred E24 coupés had been built, they demoted Karmann to building only the body shells, which were then shipped to BMW at Dingolfing for spraying, fitting out and finishing. Unfortunately that didn't really solve the problem of Karmann's built-in rust traps, but it was too late by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 (edited) heres a pic of my absolute pride and joy as a youngster you dont see many of these about now as you used to as this is one of the early xr3s on a twin choke dcd carb not the fuel injected later version this one ended up with the minisport 1.9 conversion running twin webber 40dcnfs rsturbo box and 205 gti rear disks used it for hillclimbing and sprinting as well as tow car for my friends cooper s rally car and heres the cooper that got dragged around behind it 1380cc split 40webbers 1.5 roller rockers stage three head lcb manifold four core radiator mounted on the front with 13 row oil cooler twin electic fans four speed strait cut close ratio gerabox with jacknight limited slip diff metro turbo 4pot vented front discs with turned down calipers was a pocket rocket and great fun to sit in the left hand set when used in anger Edited April 6, 2015 by peanuts 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londontram Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Having just re taxed the Rover on the 1st of April now for the first time without the need to display a disc I dug out an old program on an old hard drive for a repro copy of a 1949 tax disc (The first year the Rover was registered) and managed to get a print off it. This has now gone in the windscreen and as its Easter me and Wendy took her for a run to near by Gorleston on sea Norfolk for a nice bag of fish and chips on the sea front and an hour on the cliff top with the binoculars though there was very little happening out to sea . Few photos the first of the newly printed repro tax disc and the second of the tax disc fitted in the car. And two shots on the cliff top at Gorleston near Great Yarmouth Thanks for looking Steve 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 How long have you had the Rover Steve? Have you done much ti it? Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 I've a feeling I may have posted this before elsewhere on the forum (or a link to it on my flickr account) but thought it worth posting again as, with my own Mini currently sidelined awaiting a fresh MOT, it's just re-ignited my appetite for classic Minis of old... from the May '71 issue of Motorsport, a typical dealer ad of the period with a nice bit of humur in the last line.... 'also an 850 Mini done the same way but for the wife'! Those coachbuilt Minis really were something special, although in many cases the actual workmanship wasn't quite up to the Rolls Royce standards they professed them to be. Radford would usually repaint a customers car but only the bits you could see, the engine bay, interior of the boot and under the carpets would be left the original colour. If the above Cooper S were around today and offered for sale, the asking price would probably be somewhere between thirty and forty grand! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Bloody hell, a Citroën DS19 for £175!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Bloody hell, a Citroën DS19 for £175!! That wouldn't pay for DS headlight these days...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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