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For those interested in old cars.

DDolfelin

By DDolfelin,
in Wheeltappers

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Hippo

Hippo

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The reality of old car ownership (especially if its british and of a certain age).

 

Up early on a Saturday to head to a cold garage to fire up the mig welder in the hope i can get another years MOT.

 

Hopefully today should see the passenger side finished and completely put back together ready for 'Drive it Day' next Sunday.

 

Owen

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keefr2

keefr2

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The reality of old car ownership (especially if its british and of a certain age).

 

Up early on a Saturday to head to a cold garage to fire up the mig welder in the hope i can get another years MOT.

 

Owen

And that's why the Mini is going to have to go - I just can't do it anymore....   :(

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Hippo

Hippo

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The passenger side is welded.... for now and all the trim re-fitted. 

So I'm already for tomorrows 'National Drive it Day' run, I think.

Its the second run of the year and we're going from The Mueseum of Power, Maldon to Audley End.

 

Although I'm not expecting it to be warm when I drag the car out of the garage at 7 tomorrow morning.

 

Pics to follow.

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Moxy

Moxy

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erm...

back to New Street in the sixties...

is that car behind the Minor on the right not an MG Magnette ZB ?

 

dh

 

I don't think so, a couple of pictures of MG Magnette ZB attached:

 

http://www.simoncars.co.uk/ado9/slides/MG%20Magnette%20III%20front.jpg

http://www.simoncars.co.uk/ado9/slides/MG%20Magnette%20III%20rear.jpg

 

-which shows its Wolseley parentage, nice car though.

 

I think it's more likely to be a Ford Consul Classic like this one:

 

http://www.simoncars.co.uk/ford/slides/Ford%20Consul%20315%20Classic%202-door%20rear.jpg

 

HTH

 

Moxy

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petethemole

petethemole

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The one behind the Minor does look like a ZA or ZB (same body). The others are the Farina bodied Mark III: https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1536&bih=710&q=mg+magnette+zb&oq=mg+magnette&gs_l=img.1.1.0l10.1512.6717.0.9822.11.8.0.3.3.0.121.855.3j5.8.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.11.900.jw2gHmnGuIk

 

The Consul Classic is between the two minis in front of the Minor.

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runs as required

runs as required

Posted
Posted (edited)

The one behind the Minor does look like a ZA or ZB (same body). The others are the Farina bodied Mark III: https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1536&bih=710&q=mg+magnette+zb&oq=mg+magnette&gs_l=img.1.1.0l10.1512.6717.0.9822.11.8.0.3.3.0.121.855.3j5.8.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.11.900.jw2gHmnGuIk

 

The Consul Classic is between the two minis in front of the Minor.

This is the car I believe it to be

post-21705-0-13424100-1461529296.jpg

I always rated that MG/Wolseley a far more refined design than the Farina. Compare the BMC Farina to the Peugot Farina [404?] and the details of the BMC version look as if they've been clagged on out of the generic common parts bin.

dh

 

PS

Has anybody ever come clean in their memoirs about  what went on within  BMC/BL  in those years? The ZA/ZB  I understood had been intended to be the Oxford upgrade (to supercede the Hindustani Indian taxi shape). Considering they had the likes of Bache (and whoever came up with the Stag) around, the farming out of design to Farina was the point where the Brits threw in the towel.

I'd have loved a Bache version of the Maxi.

Edited by runs as required
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runs as required

runs as required

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Posted
Wasn't the Maxi a parts bin special?

It shared the same doors as the 1800 "Landcrab", for a start, so it was stuck with 1960s looks however hard it tried.

Yes

and

Yes

But I had two of them (both late in their lives and dirt cheap) but they they could really go like the clappers along crap murram roads - leaping off the bumps with their rubber suspension. The 'Landcrab name fitted them poifectly.

I used to sit in boring meetings doodling how they ought to have looked (rip-offs of GS Citroens and Ro80s with extremely short bonnets) :no:

 

dh

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PhilJ W

PhilJ W

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Posted (edited)

Post 2787 but I can't answer the question.

Ah, whats confusing me is the reference to New Street. There isn't a picture of New Street in the post. If you mean Station Street I think the fourth car on the right might be a Morris Oxford MO rather than a Minor. The car behind it could be an MG or a Wolsley which shared the same bodyshell.

Edited by PhilJ W
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PatB

PatB

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This is the car I believe it to be

attachicon.gifzb magnette.jpg

I always rated that MG/Wolseley a far more refined design than the Farina. Compare the BMC Farina to the Peugot Farina [404?] and the details of the BMC version look as if they've been clagged on out of the generic common parts bin.

dh

 

PS

Has anybody ever come clean in their memoirs about  what went on within  BMC/BL  in those years? The ZA/ZB  I understood had been intended to be the Oxford upgrade (to supercede the Hindustani Indian taxi shape). Considering they had the likes of Bache (and whoever came up with the Stag) around, the farming out of design to Farina was the point where the Brits threw in the towel.

I'd have loved a Bache version of the Maxi.

 

My understanding, based on half remembered magazine articles and on observation of what actually seemed to happen with regard to model choice, is that, in the big merger which formed BMC, Morris and their related marques got the rough end of the pineapple and Austin were favoured (borne out, perhaps, by the use of A(ustin) D(esign) O(ffice) model numbers for all BMC designs until the formation of BL). As a result, Morris's modern designs with their torsion bar suspension and rack and pinion steering were progressively abandoned in favour of Austin's stodgy grey porridge approach to vehicle design which probably reached its nadir with the Farina Oxbridge, which is possibly the dullest and least fun motor car to ever originate in the UK.

 

Even the sports cars (MG and Austin Healey) were very conservative in design and, anyway,  only really came about with considerable outside influence (Healey) or through the relevant division retaining some degree of design autonomy (MG). It was only when the Issigonis designs really got going that mainstream BMC products regained any degree of modernity or excitement.

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Moxy

Moxy

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I don't think so, a couple of pictures of MG Magnette ZB attached:

 

 

 

 

The one behind the Minor does look like a ZA or ZB (same body). The others are the Farina bodied Mark III: https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1536&bih=710&q=mg+magnette+zb&oq=mg+magnette&gs_l=img.1.1.0l10.1512.6717.0.9822.11.8.0.3.3.0.121.855.3j5.8.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.11.900.jw2gHmnGuIk

 

The Consul Classic is between the two minis in front of the Minor.

 

 

This is the car I believe it to be

attachicon.gifzb magnette.jpg

I always rated that MG/Wolseley a far more refined design than the Farina. Compare the BMC Farina to the Peugot Farina [404?] and the details of the BMC version look as if they've been clagged on out of the generic common parts bin.

dh

 

 

I was looking at the wrong car, didn't see the Morris Minor on the right first time round.  I agree with RaR, it does look like the earlier MG/Wolseley designed Magnette.

 

Moxy

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Horsetan

Horsetan

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....The 'Landcrab name fitted them poifectly.

I used to sit in boring meetings doodling how they ought to have looked (rip-offs of GS Citroens and Ro80s with extremely short bonnets) :no:

 

Apparently a concept car based on the Maxi floorpan and mechanicals was designed for a competition and, after winning, was built. The one photo I have seen of the concept shows something not entirely dissimilar to the Lada Samara several years later. The front end still looks awful, though.

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Moxy

Moxy

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Apparently a concept car based on the Maxi floorpan and mechanicals was designed for a competition and, after winning, was built. The one photo I have seen of the concept shows something not entirely dissimilar to the Lada Samara several years later. The front end still looks awful, though.

 

Would that be the Austin Aquila?

 

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/concepts/concepts-and-prototypes/concepts-and-prototypes-maxi-based-aquila/

 

Way ahead of its time, but I see what you mean about the front end......

 

Moxy

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Horsetan

Horsetan

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Posted (edited)

Would that be the Austin Aquila?

 

That's the one.

 

The centre and rear sections were actually quite good on it, but the nose looked way too long - the Vauxhall-style "droop snoot" panel was not a good idea - very Vauxhall Chevettey.

Edited by Horsetan
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37114

37114

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The wolseley version (4/44?) had the MG X-PEG engine as use in the MG TD and TF models, whereas the MG Magnette ZA, ZB and, lest we forget, the Varitone had the ex-Austin "B" series.

 

Ed

It was indeed the 4/44 that used the X-PAG engine, the dipstick position was different between the Wolseley and MG variants and is the easiest way to tell them apart, it was also fitted to the MG TC. My father along with many MG enthusiasts raided 4/44's in scrapyards in the 60's for the spare engines, as the 4/44 were more plentiful and thus the engines are cheaper.

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HitchinLoco

HitchinLoco

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   Had one from a few months old Ex Demo Vehicle, very practical 5 gears not to bad economy for the time. But awful gear box very sloppy. wife hated it. The suspension collapsed and it was a night mare to get home, fortunately not very far but enough.  Thought the wedge Princess with tail gate would be ideal!

  Hope of interest..

post-9384-0-47880300-1461607180_thumb.jpg

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Phil Traxson

Phil Traxson

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   Had one from a few months old Ex Demo Vehicle, very practical 5 gears not to bad economy for the time. But awful gear box very sloppy. wife hated it. The suspension collapsed and it was a night mare to get home, fortunately not very far but enough.  Thought the wedge Princess with tail gate would be ideal!

  Hope of interest..

 

The wedge Princess with a tailgate was called the Ambassador, unfortunately only produced for a couple of years as stop gap before the Montego. The same shape as the Princess, it had better rear visibility as the rear window didn't have to stop for the boot lid and the rear side pillars had windows too. With the fold down rear seats it was an enormous luggage space, we put two push bikes in without any problem without any dismantling of the bikes. Unfortunately the 1700 engine was no use in such a large body shell  and the 2000 not much better. I had a  Princess with the old 2200 six cylinder lump (a tight fit across the engine space, it would only come out by lifting the car off it), it gathered speed rather than accelerated but was a great and comfortable motorway cruiser, would have liked that engine in the Ambassador.

 

Phil T. 

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