For those interested in old cars.

[brianthesnail96]

I've resisted putting a "37 years Piano free and counting" sticker in the window, thought it might be tempting fate/ gravity/ incompetent airborne removals firms...

[Horsetan]

This has been in my Amazon shopping basket for a while, it looks well worth a punt...

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1855204088?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_6&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE....

 

Had that one for years. It's a very good read.

 

There was a limited edition book on the Ro80's history published (in German only) many years ago but so jealously coveted is it that very few ever come up for sale secondhand. The only one I ever saw on eBay went for hundreds of quid.

 

I've had to make do with other Ro80 publications / articles, the entire official workshop manual in English (as used by official VAG mechanics back then), and as many Minichamps 1:43 model Ro80s as I can handle!

[brianusa]

<<And if Nash and Hudson became intertwined, it is perhaps relevant for me to record that my maternal grandfather, living in Hove in the early'50s, had a Hudson Terraplane. I vaguely remember a trip in it, I think>>

 

Hudson Terraplanes were around the late thirties and popular for use as taxis due to their size.  Compared to the antiquated Austins and Daimlers of the day, they were modern, streamlined and powerful lasting for several years until the fifties.  Some were sold to individuals who must have been rather wealthy as the petrol consumption was rather high compared to the average UK car of the time!.

 

Brian.

[New Haven Neil]

Took "the red one" to it's winter storage on Sunday, still not convinced the rear crank oil seal issue is solved (but it's definitely better) but it can wait 'till Spring now!

 

Mud ("the green one") is lurking in the background, having been evicted from the garage so I can fill it with all the new panels etc that are to go on. Looking a bit sorry for herself currently.

 

 

 

Laura looks suitably baffled at seeing it in one piece and running after nearly 2 years of me owning it...

 

Hardly recognised Laura without the blue hair, Matt!

 

'Mr Neil'

[brianthesnail96]

 

There you go Mister Neil and a classic car in there too... it was actually her natural colour recently, for a little while! Darker now instead of brighter.

[New Haven Neil]

Ah that's better!

 

That Marina is terribly modern compared to my old K reg'er!

[PatB]

The seals on rotary engines were famously a problem, yet it is now more than 40 years since that Achilles' heel was discovered, and materials available now might yield a longer lifespan, I suspect. But I recall fuel consumption was poor, too, so suppose few are interested in investing to find out, in an era when reciprocating engines are eeking out better and better mpg.

 

I'm not fully convinced by the poor fuel consumption reputation of  rotaries. Whilst they appear thirsty for their nominal capacity, when compared on a fuel used per bhp-hour basis, I don't think they're all that bad (though probably not brilliant either).

 

Nonetheless, Mazda's RX range does appear to be something of a technological orphan, with no clear future.

[runs as required]

<<And if Nash and Hudson became intertwined, it is perhaps relevant for me to record that my maternal grandfather, living in Hove in the early'50s, had a Hudson Terraplane. I vaguely remember a trip in it, I think>>

 

Hudson Terraplanes were around the late thirties and popular for use as taxis due to their size.  Compared to the antiquated Austins and Daimlers of the day, they were modern, streamlined and powerful lasting for several years until the fifties. 

Brian.

I thought they were actually called Terror Planes as an eleven year old. In the late 1940s.

 

My dad had a friend (the motoring correspondent for The Manchester Guardian no less) with a battered 1933/34 Essex/Hudson Terraplane 2 seater with dickey.  

Its hood having long gone, he’d drive it in a flying helmet in all weathers and patched up its bruises brush painting over everything with grungy green and cream housepaint.

I could never understand its appeal –  a manky old banger with a front like a feeble model Y Ford – so very different from the XK120 that I fantasised about driving.

The above gives an impression of how they’d race with each other up over the moor into Manchester from where we lived in N Derbyshire. My dad would drop me off from his Shell-BP rep's pale blue Hillman Minx on his way afterwards to walk down to school, my legs still shaking from the excitement.

dhig

[Horsetan]

I'm not fully convinced by the poor fuel consumption reputation of  rotaries. Whilst they appear thirsty for their nominal capacity, when compared on a fuel used per bhp-hour basis, I don't think they're all that bad (though probably not brilliant either).

 

Nonetheless, Mazda's RX range does appear to be something of a technological orphan, with no clear future.

 

The Mazda 13B-Renesis engines were the last development, using side ports for inlet and outlet instead of side inlet and peripheral outlet, and were reportedly economical - at least, compared to the earlier 13B which I had in my 1973 Ro80 - though there was an occasional problem with starting the RX8 from hot.

[edcayton]

The Mazda 13B-Renesis engines were the last development, using side ports for inlet and outlet instead of side inlet and peripheral outlet, and were reportedly economical - at least, compared to the earlier 13B which I had in my 1973 Ro80 - though there was an occasional problem with starting the RX8 from hot.

 

So it was a Mazda engine in the NSU Horse?

 

Ed

Edited October 14, 2015 by edcayton

[runs as required]

More about the Terraplane Blues here:

http://cumberlandpost.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/way-down-below-terraplane-blues.html

 

Wiki says,

1933 Essex-Terraplane 8-cylinder cars were believed to have the highest horsepower-to-weight ratio of any production automobiles in the world, and were favored by several gangsters of the day, particularly John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and John Paul Chase, for their lightness, acceleration, handling, and discreet appearance.

 

 If you were interested in fast cars, you knew about Hudson Terraplanes. Thus, these beautiful cars became a part of popular culture, including music.

Especially Blues music. Robert Johnson had obviously heard about these fast cars and he wrote a song about them, "Terraplane Blues." Well, not exactly about the car. You see, the song's ostensibly about a car, but it's also about a woman. The comparison between the two is extended over the whole song. In fancy literary parlance, this is called a conceit, or an extended metaphor. Back in the late '70s, early '80s I used to use this song as an example of that figure of speech in class sometimes.

Johnson sets up everything right away. He says, "Who's been driving my Terraplane for you since I been gone?" The woman is his "Terraplane" and somebody's been driving her since he's been away. he can tell somebody's been messin' round with his car (woman) because he flashes her lights and finds her horn won't even blow. He says there must be a short in her connection "way way down below."
Yup, something's definitely wrong, so he needs to "heist her hood" and check....Well, you get the picture

(topic for another Ladybird book here somewhere?)

dhig

Edited October 14, 2015 by runs as required

[Horsetan]

So it was a Mazda engine in the NSU Horse?....

 

There was in mine, and conversions to Mazda 12A (equivalent 2.3ltr) and 13B (2.6-ltr) have all been done by the likes of Hurley Engineering and RoTechniks. RoTechniks was started by Simon Kremer, who British Ro80 fans regarded as a bit of a Wankel guru. Unfortunately he died of cancer at the relatively early age of 53, but his firm still survives in Grazeley, Berkshire, under the new name of RotaryArt / TurnAgain Motorsport, still specialising in rotaries of all types. They are big on the RX7 scene, for obvious reasons.

 

The previous owner of my '73, Mick Willett, had carried out an engine conversion, removing the old NSU Wankel, and installing the Mazda 13B engine himself. A quirk of his handiwork was that the oil cooler had to be installed under the front bumper.

 

The Mazda 13B had somewhat better low-down torque than the original NSU, and the result was a fairly quick car - 0-60 was possible in about 11 seconds, compared to the 13 of the original.

 

Many of the surviving British Ro80s are owned by just one man: Phil Blake, who lives in Suffolk. He bought my car in the end. I think he owns about 12 Ro80s, in varying states of (dis)repair. In earlier years, he used to store his cars in side streets and lockups around Coulsdon in Surrey.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Horsetan

[keefr2]

- though there was an occasional problem with starting the RX8 from hot.

 

And cold!

 

My son's RX-8, whilst being a superb car to drive was also possibly one of the most impractical ever. You couldn't just start it & move it off the drive onto the road for instance, you'd have to either idle it until it was warm, or take it for a 5 minute drive to achieve the same aim. If you didn't and just stopped it straight away, there was then a chance you'd have flooded it & it wouldn't restart! 

[Horsetan]

And cold!

 

..... you'd have to either idle it until it was warm, or take it for a 5 minute drive to achieve the same aim. If you didn't and just stopped it straight away, there was then a chance you'd have flooded it & it wouldn't restart! 

 

This seems to have been a quirk of the Renesis. Never heard of this happening to the earlier 13Bs or 12As.

[PatB]

This seems to have been a quirk of the Renesis. Never heard of this happening to the earlier 13Bs or 12As.

 

Possibly a function of whatever had to be done to it to meet increasingly stringent emissions regs?

[Horsetan]

...My son's RX-8, whilst being a superb car to drive was also possibly one of the most impractical ever. ...

 

That might explain, perhaps in part, why resale values are so low. Quick glance at Autotrader reveals quite a few for sale at under two grand.

 

The last generation RX7's values, by contrast, are going pretty high now, though it's hard to find a UK-spec car (not many sold), amongst all the JDM imports, that hasn't been "tuned" or modified in some way.

[keefr2]

That might explain, perhaps in part, why resale values are so low. Quick glance at Autotrader reveals quite a few for sale at under two grand.

Yup, my son's was a 227 bhp, 6 speed, full service history, lovely condition 2004 car, bought for £1200...!! I know of no other car that gives such good handling with effortless performance and rear wheel drive for anything near that price. He had to get rid of it as his new job involves a 40 mile each way commute on country roads, so fuel economy would have been an issue.

 

If we had a drive where we could park two cars side by side rather than nose to tail I'd buy another in a heartbeat! Future classic...?

 

Keith

[PatB]

A while ago, when I was working for the relevant Australian government department, a chap applied for approval to bring in a c2004 RX8 from the UK. The receipt he supplied for its purchase showed it to have cost him well under a thousand quid (although I'll admit to the possibility it might have been doctored to reduce duty payable). Before all you Aussies rush at once, I'd warn that "applied for" and "received" are not of equivalent meaning .

 

Another government related RX experience was when I was with the team dealing with the approval and registration of heavily modified vehicles in WA. One of my duties was to witness torsional strength testing on the mostly ghastly hacksaw convertibles and bodgy stretch limousines which came across the counter. One of the former was The RX7 from Hell which appeared regularly. It had originally had its lid sawn off some time before I joined the Department, leaving it with all the structural integrity of a month old chicken schnitzel. It would turn up every couple of years, each time with a hopeful new owner who'd been told it was "Almost ready to register mate" and would have another  few kilos of steel welded into all the wrong places, leaving it still too floppy to get anywhere near passing. By the time I left it was turning the scales at about twice what Mazda said it should and it still went corkscrew shaped on the torsion rig. Presumably the poor thing's still circulating somewhere. If anyone gets offered a yellow RX7 cconvertible  with "All the hard work done mate", I'd recommend not buying it .

[keefr2]

A while ago, when I was working for the relevant Australian government department, a chap applied for approval to bring in a c2004 RX8 from the UK. The receipt he supplied for its purchase showed it to have cost him well under a thousand quid 

 

You can pick up really nice condition 8's now for a couple of hundred quid with a duff motor. As fully rebuilt, guaranteed replacement engines from Mazda specialists can be had for about £1500, they can still be really good value for money.

[runs as required]

A really appealing rotary here - just 4 miles away at Ponteland @ £1750 and only 46,000 miles.

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510147802989?postcode=ne403qp&quicksearch=true&price-from=500&make=mazda&model=rx-8&page=1&sort=default&radius=50&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p

 

but wife refuses to be prised out of her MX5

 

dhig

[keefr2]

A really appealing rotary here - just 4 miles a

way at Ponteland @ £1750 and only 46,000 miles.

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510147802989?postcode=ne403qp&quicksearch=true&price-from=500&make=mazda&model=rx-8&page=1&sort=default&radius=50&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p

 

but wife refuses to be prised out of her MX5

 

dhig

 

Very nice!

 

You do need to watch the VED on them though. I can't remember exactly, but I think it's 06 plates & on where the tax goes way higher than earlier cars as that was when the government introduced the emmissions based bands.

[Horsetan]

...... witness torsional strength testing on the mostly ghastly hacksaw convertibles and bodgy stretch limousines which came across the counter. One of the former was The RX7 from Hell which appeared regularly. It had originally had its lid sawn off some time before I joined the Department, leaving it with all the structural integrity of a month old chicken schnitzel. ....

 

My question is: if it was the second generation (FC) RX7, why bother sawing the top off? It was available as a convertible anyway!

[PatB]

 

My question is: if it was the second generation (FC) RX7, why bother sawing the top off? It was available as a convertible anyway!

 

The convertible may not have been available in Oz but, even if it was, many Australians love to save a buck by doing such things. Sometimes they manage it. But not this time.

[Rugd1022]

My oppo 'Big Jon' nipped round in his bruiser of an SD1 this afternoon for a cup of Rosie Lee and a run through of our latest bank job blueprints, it would have been spiffingly ungeezerish of me not to have recorded the occasion for gratuitously self indulgant posing purposes, what, what... 

 

 

 

 

 

If our little escapade on the Royal Hammersmith & Neasden Prudential goes according to plan, we might just splash out on some new furry dice for the Rover and an oil change for the Jaaaaag...

[Horsetan]

I was surprised to learn that somebody created a twin-turbo SD1, using the V8 as a basis....!