For those interested in old cars.

[runs as required]

1. Was that pretty little red coupe at Goodwood wearing No 2 - an Abarth ?
2. Was the A40 Dorset export only ? I don't ever remember seeing any in UK  

[Rugd1022]

1 hour ago, runs as required said:

1. Was that pretty little red coupe at Goodwood wearing No 2 - an Abarth ?
2. Was the A40 Dorset export only ? I don't ever remember seeing any in UK  

 

Yes - it's an Abarth Coupe, 1500 or 1600 engine I think, but happy to be corrected. It, and the other Abarths and Alfas in the line up took my breath away. So, so pretty... 

 

Had another dose of nostalgia and sunshine at Stanford Hall today.... no rest for the easily pleased...! I picked up the tinted glass for the S too, my mate has had it stashed away in his Mum's loft since about 1990 so it just needs a good clean and polish...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2019 by Rugd1022

[russ p]

Was the innocenti where the reverse light lamp cluster first came out  or is the H plate one been retro fitted with them?

I thought they first appeared on 1275 GTs about 76

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, runs as required said:

1. Was that pretty little red coupe at Goodwood wearing No 2 - an Abarth ?
2. Was the A40 Dorset export only ? I don't ever remember seeing any in UK  

They were sold in the UK but were nowhere near as popular as the 4-door Devon. They were originally developed for the North American market where they outsold the Devon. There is only seven known UK survivors.

Edited September 15, 2019 by PhilJ W

[PatB]

On 15/09/2019 at 01:16, PhilJ W said:

The registration GH 200 would be July/August 1930. However some manufacturers offered either steel artillery wheels or wire wheels on their larger models up until the mid thirties (Austin, Hillman, Rover and others). Artillary wheels were retained on light commercials and London taxi's up to WW2 and some London taxi's even had them post war. 

Well, London cabs always seem to have been something of an archaic law unto themselves . 

 

Fair enough on the others. I seem to have a blank mental picture of Non-wire wheeled cars from the early 1930s which I appear to have erroneously filled with later pressed steel wheel designs that only started appearing a few years later. 

[Rugd1022]

17 hours ago, russ p said:

Was the innocenti where the reverse light lamp cluster first came out  or is the H plate one been retro fitted with them?

I thought they first appeared on 1275 GTs about 76

 

Just checked my various Mini bibles and the Gospel According To John Parnell tells us it's a genuine 1970 car, the reversing lights came in during February 1970 on Innocentis, a full five years before UK built Minis!

 

Another gratuitous quickie from Goodwood, I'm still on a high three days later... the music emanating from the tail pipe of this gorgeous machine as it ambled past me was unforgettable.....

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by Rugd1022

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, PatB said:

Well, London cabs always seem to have been something of an archaic law unto themselves . 

 

Fair enough on the others. I seem to have a blank mental picture of Non-wire wheeled cars from the early 1930s which I appear to have erroneously filled with later pressed steel wheel designs that only started appearing a few years later. 

Those were 'Easiclean' wheels. The Artillery wheels remained on heavier vehicles as they could withstand abuse better than wire wheels. The name 'Easiclean' explains itself when compared to wire wheels. The one advantage of wire wheels was their light weight which is why they continued in use for sports cars and motorcycles.

[PatB]

9 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Those were 'Easiclean' wheels. The Artillery wheels remained on heavier vehicles as they could withstand abuse better than wire wheels. The name 'Easiclean' explains itself when compared to wire wheels. The one advantage of wire wheels was their light weight which is why they continued in use for sports cars and motorcycles.

Ah yes. Easiclean was the name I was hunting for. 

 

The single nut quick change facility would have also been a factor in wires' retention on sports cars, even if, for most users, it was more about image than practical considerations. 

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

Just checked my various Mini bibles and the Gospel According To John Parnell tells us it's a genuine 1970 car, the reversing lights came in during February 1970 on Innocentis, a full five years before UK built Minis!

 

Another gratuitous quickie from Goodwood, I'm still on a high three days later... the music emanating from the tail pipe of this gorgeous machine as it ambled past me was unforgettable.....

 

 

 

The GK had something of the 250GT/275GT Ferrari about it. 

[Rugd1022]

I've made a start on fitting the tinted glass in the S, it's cleaned up rather nicely considering it's been stashed away for about thirty years and the frames are unusually corrosion free...

 

 

 

 

[boxbrownie]

Dark wheels, tinted glass.....next thing you’ll tell us you have fitted a wood rim steering wheel 

 

 

Looking nice there.......

[stewartingram]

Looks more like a hearse than a Mini......

 

Stewart

[Rugd1022]

17 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Dark wheels, tinted glass.....next thing you’ll tell us you have fitted a wood rim steering wheel 

 

 

Looking nice there.......

 

It already has one David, a Nardi item which came from one of my previous Minis!

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

It already has one David, a Nardi item which came from one of my previous Minis!

Yes I know, saw it through the window...........hence the smiley 

[steve1]

Howden High St today.

 

steve

 

 

[Rugd1022]

8 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Yes I know, saw it through the window...........hence the smiley 

 

It's been a long weekend, and it's only Tuesday...!

 

When I took the S to the garage to have the suspension tweaked yesterday the bill came to a wapping £16.50, a quarter of an hour's labour is all it took.... I've been fiddling with those blasted Hi-Lo cones for months and got nowhere, typical! Still, it leaves a bit more in the kitty for a few more period trinkets.

[Southern Steve]

Who says current cars are oversized behemoths!


Our MG Midget in the pub car park.

[Hobby]

Nah, it's just why it was called a Midget!!

 

(Makes you realise how vulnerable you are in such cars, though, a friend at work had a Westie and had a big crash in the tunnel in Brum (not his fault) in which he was lucky to walk away, he won't go near cars like that now, no matter how much he liked them...)

[PhilJ W]

Thats my main worry about driving a classic car today, crash worthiness. I sold on a classic vehicle five years ago, it was a Reliant Kitten fibreglass body and all. The reason for selling it on was I could not continue restoration due to declining health not for any crash worthiness worries. 

[alastairq]

I have no such worries.

 

My Dellow could be deemed just about as 'vulnerable' as one could get on 4 wheels.....Equally, it also might be deemed a darned sight more adept at avoidance as a modern vehicle? 

 

But [with a lot of thoughtful driving] I have never felt intimidated by the presence of the panzervaagens that inhabit our roads today.

 

But then I also avoid going anywhere, that I might conceivably find an excess of traffic.  When out & about in my old vehicles, I use them, not because I 'have' to be somewhere.....but because I want to go and enjoy the drive. Such a drive might also involve a supermarket shop, or a visit to chums,or, even, Dad's taxi....

All of which hasn't stopped me from driving the Dellow several hundreds of miles on long journeys...including motorways....without any fears or feelings of intimidation from others.

In practical terms  I am no more vulnerable than if I were riding a motorcycle....probably a lot less so.

 

My official 'daily' driver [something my 'old motor' insurance asks about, oddly]....is 25 years old, a Daihatsu Fourtrak.....of the sort that knocks ten grand off property values wherever it's parked!

 

With most of its steel parts long since replaced with whatever thickness of steel I could blag cheaply enough [or, free?]....always  many times thicker than that used originally....I am aware of its ability to inflict more visible damage than it would sustain....Having said that, I use my professionally-acquired skills [I am retired now,]....to avoid any sort of intimidation on my part in traffic....[unlike the drivers of many of the over-wide panzervaaagens I come across round & about?].....

 

I will add, the Dellow is equipped with the basic safety equipment required by the various US racing organizations...so might 'protect' me better than a similar car without......but....like tyres, I place no reliance on the efficacy of such things. [At odds with general experience, I have found, the more I have paid for a given tyre, the more I have been disappointed with its performance.]

 

Vulnerability ,I feel, is a perception in folks' minds, a much as anything else.

[boxbrownie]

13 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

It's been a long weekend, and it's only Tuesday...!

 

When I took the S to the garage to have the suspension tweaked yesterday the bill came to a wapping £16.50, a quarter of an hour's labour is all it took.... I've been fiddling with those blasted Hi-Lo cones for months and got nowhere, typical! Still, it leaves a bit more in the kitty for a few more period trinkets.

Well the garage wasn’t afraid of breaking the poor little alloy cones

[Ian Smeeton]

Greetham Gathering tomorrow night (Thursday)

 

Last meet of the year.

 

I am determined to get out from (behind) the bar and see somee of the attendees this time.

 

4.30 til about 9.00 if you are interested in real ale (or cars!)

 

Regards

 

Ian

[runs as required]

On 18/09/2019 at 10:01, alastairq said:

... My Dellow could be deemed just about as 'vulnerable' as one could get on 4 wheels.....

Particularly with such a high centre of gravity.

I remember the fun we duffle coated spotty roofs had "righting" cars in mud plugging trials on Pennine moors back in the 1950s.

Not only the drivers were brave and skilled, their (often bulky) wives were even braver hanging over the edge and bouncing over the back wheels.

dh

[alastairq]

55 minutes ago, runs as required said:

Particularly with such a high centre of gravity

Not really...probably a lot lot lower than the Ford Pop, who's running gear they used [modified by the factory].

 

Nothing heavy higher than the driver's backside.....which is located roughly almost on top of the rear axle [ the rear wheel arch shares space with driver's berm]...but...with a 15 gallon fuel tank at the rear, the Dellow [mks 1&2, at least] had a front-to-rear weight distribution of around 30 % / 70 %....one reason why they were so competent triallers.  Another was the short wheelbase...[sized up pretty much from the prototypes' use of the Austin Seven chassis...with Ford running gear....for trials. Something Colin Chapman did as well....]

The Mk2 Dellow [as mine] has coil springs at the rear..the Mk 1, has quarter elliptic springs out of the chassis ends, [as per Austin Seven]...Only utilised the Ford set-up for the front axle...[for articulation]...plus, the torque-tube rear axle [shorted torque tube and prop shaft]...Very hard to turn over [unless sideswiped]...

 

For perusal

https://www.dellowregister.co.uk/dellow-myths

 

[Including a photo containing my own car....one of the four cars purchased by Fords of Bedford.]

Edited September 19, 2019 by alastairq

[Owd Bob]

That Midget looks really tiny. It's a major thing that frightens me to death as well, the size of our Rascal camper is minuscule, but swmbo fell in love with ours at first sight and after two years of resto' and just into the third, we are still no nearer getting it on the road, although it's all there cosmetically and it just needs a few minor mechanical jobs, but i'd rather leave it until next spring before we take it for an mot.....or more like until i've got the bottle up to drive it   

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Owd Bob