For those interested in old cars.

[Northmoor]

1 minute ago, MrWolf said:

Sad indeed. It's nice to know that our old junkers are worth a few quid, but many are now out of reach of the home mechanic that cares more about fixing up and actually driving them. It seems to be the same way with a lot of old things

I have sold quite a few project motorcycles over the years. I tend to vet prospective buyers. If they are going to stash it away as an "investment" I will sell it someone else who will restore and ride it.

Make of that what you will, but my philosophy is Would you marry a Hollywood actress of your choice and then sleep on the couch?

The only people I can understand stashing away vehicles are ex-racers like Doohan and Fogarty who have race bikes in a room in their house.  the bikes are hardly likely to get road-registered, although I always liked the idea of Doohan nipping out to the local off-licence on an NSR500.

[MrWolf]

That makes sense, I know someone who has a collection of two stroke race bikes that for obvious reasons get only the occasional and careful track outings, some being unique and hand built. 

But I also know a man who has one of the last Ford XR3i's which is mint and he has taken some real abuse from so called enthusiasts for actually using it and devaluing its investment potential. Despite the fact it gets cleaned top to bottom every time it goes out.

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

That was it MG 1100 Didn't they also do a Sunbeam Rapier and a Vauxhall Viva? 

I remember building a Model T Ford by Airfix that was similar in style to the Revell series of vintage cars they produced in the 50s.

I also built a Jaguar SS100, but I have a feeling that was produced by matchbox.

 

Interesting site, although the eBay links are a bit worrying, the temptation to buy just a few kits (yeah, like any of us have that kind of self control!) is balanced out by the very real possibility of Miss Riding Hood chasing me round the garden with a sword. 

I have promised to get the model railway built before I can have more projects!

[Hobby]

14 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Ed China really does know what he is doing and you really do get shown what he is doing, the new spanner man in the newer series unfortunately is a bit rubbish, I am sure he knows what he is doing but the US producers (there was a big bust up over how they wanted to cut down on the tech stuff, so Edd walked) wanted less tech and more glam......no where near as good now.

 

Can't say I agree with you. I read at the time all about the less than amicable split with Edd and I feel that coloured a lot of people's views, he had a very loyal following who made their views known all over social media, in some cases getting very heated. For a long time I didn't watch any of the newer ones with Ant in them (the main reason they weren't free on my TV package!). However since they started to come on for free I gave them a go and found that he is just as good as Edd and in many cases explained things far better than Edd used to do. Both have their good and not so good points but to say that one is much better than the other does them both a disservice.

 

They are different and what Ant is asked to do is far from what Edd wanted to do or used to do in the early series which was much more basic, it changed considerably over the years and whilst the format looks similar what they do now is very different to what they did in Series 1 where it was all pretty basic stuff. In some respects I'd like them to go back to the older type of programme where things could be done by a home mechanic with minimum tools but I can't ever see that happening so we'll have to live with Car SOS (and the annoying Tim!) and Flipping Bangers, the latter being much closer to the original few series of WD.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Hobby

[Kickstart]

Hiya

 

As to stashing vehicles away. Quite often they might only be on the road for the summer, or off the road waiting for time to fix them. I have an Aprilia AF1 Futura (bought in 1991, traded in for another bike in 1993, bought back when it turned up on EBay in 2008), which I am slowly sourcing all the little bits needed to get it back to standard; not too worried how long it takes me.

 

I have a load of bikes (mainly small 2 strokes). Rare more than 25% of them are on the road. Depends how much I fancy riding one and fiddling with it. My rd350f2 was last ridden 18 months ago to come back from its MOT! Some of the reason to own them is to fiddle with them.

 

Also had one bike that was off the road for about 15 years. Mainly because I lost the keys! Eventually found them in a  spare petrol cap, sat in a crate of spare parts!

 

All the best

 

Katy

[MrWolf]

That makes you an old school tinkerer, like myself and my friend that I am helping with the Marina van. He has 15 bikes, all four stroke and 500-650cc. Six are on the road, three are being recommissioned for sale which in theory, should pay to finish restoring the rest and as you say, gather those unobtainable parts.

In the days before internet methods of chasing parts, I had a 1928 Francis Barnett sitting about eight years before I found someone who had a petrol tank for it. But I wasn't just sitting on it in the hope that it would go up in value.

[Rugd1022]

He's retired now, but 'Pinkie' Salmon, one of the regular signalmen on the Coalville 'branch' owned (or still owns) fourteen old motorbikes, a couple of Mini Metros and at the last count four or five Austin A40s. I remember one particular week where he was on the night turn at Bardon Hill 'box and each night he turned up in (or on) something different!

 

Much like some of the 'Wheeler Dealer' cars, a few of the 'Car SOS' projects were SORN'ed soon after being restored on the programme, sadly in one or two cases this was because the owners had passed away.

 

Other 'TV' cars have gone on to better lives thankfully, an example being the black Lamborghini Urraco driven by James May in 'Top Gear' when he, Clarkson and Hammond did a piece on 'cheap' Italian exotica. All three cars were deliberately kyboshed for the sake of the narrative that old Italian heaps are unreliable, but they were subsequently put right and returned to good use. The Urraco was bought by an enthusiast who had it repaired and repainted in orange, I'm not 100% sure what happened to the Maserati Merak that Clarkson drove but the yellow Ferrari Dino bought by Hammond lives on in good health somewhere. In a recent youtube clip with Harry Metcalfe, he mentioned that he wished he'd kept it. 

 

 

 

 

[Nick C]

20 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

We had fresh faced direct out of Uni engineering graduates who hadn’t owned a tool box or a set of spanners thrown into prototype engineering, luckily the fitters (who could do just about every job with their eyes shut) knew this and either ignored them or helped which ever the graduate deserved 

 

We had similar when I was in the university motorsports club - most new members (myself included) came in with very little mechanical knowledge, and the the responses from the experienced members very much reflected the attitudes of the newbies - woe betied anyone who asked for help fixing their car but then didn't get their hands dirty and left everything to the helper!

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, Nick C said:

 

We had similar when I was in the university motorsports club - most new members (myself included) came in with very little mechanical knowledge, and the the responses from the experienced members very much reflected the attitudes of the newbies - woe betied anyone who asked for help fixing their car but then didn't get their hands dirty and left everything to the helper!

 

We would get that kind of thing happen too. Any newbie who stood and watched, particularly after being encouraged to get stuck in was immediately christened a JAFO. ( Just Another F##**@g Observer ) and was mercilessly taunted about it unless they changed their attitude.

Minus points were also issued to newbies for assuming that we had fewer academic qualifications than they did.

[doilum]

On 09/11/2020 at 21:40, MrWolf said:

That makes sense, I know someone who has a collection of two stroke race bikes that for obvious reasons get only the occasional and careful track outings, some being unique and hand built. 

But I also know a man who has one of the last Ford XR3i's which is mint and he has taken some real abuse from so called enthusiasts for actually using it and devaluing its investment potential. Despite the fact it gets cleaned top to bottom every time it goes out.

It isn't one of the last ones that is precious, find a mint early example before they made it increasingly softer and easier to live with. ( I had examples of both back in the day!)

[MrWolf]

From what I remember of welding up the Y to D registered Escorts when they were four or five years old, I suspect that there's a good reason why the earliest models are rare. The owners of said MOT failures would still look at any of my 50s and 60s Vauxhalls and inform me  about what rotboxes they were. Then, 20 something years later you see an absolutely mint 1983 1.3L and realise that they were some of the last cars made before everything looked the same and was about as interesting as a refrigerator, no matter how fast, how many gadgets or how much "better" modern cars are.

[doilum]

Not sure why but XR3s seemed to last a little longer than the lesser models. Possibly because they were prized and polished or maybe because they were built in Belgium.

[peanuts]

46 minutes ago, doilum said:

Not sure why but XR3s seemed to last a little longer than the lesser models. Possibly because they were prized and polished or maybe because they were built in Belgium.

all the mk3 escorts suffered from the battery tray rot due to acid from the battery pooling there stripping the paint away .and allowing moisture ingress and resultant rust problems . . there was a small tube ran to the underside of the vehicle from the battery overflow but this got blocked /removed especially after a battery change .ot would cause the battery tray and bulkhead beneath to rot badly unseen untill to late 

[MrWolf]

It may also be due to the deluxe versions of popular models being painted seperately, often by hand in the past if a special colour. 

I remember someone bashing a ford fiesta MK3 that was only a year old and they couldn't afford to take it to a garage. I got roped in to put a wing on it and when I removed the plastic splash guard and cut off the front wing, I was really disappointed with the finish. Around the inner wing, there was no underseal, a bit of red over spray, grey primer and the start of surface rust everywhere.

[MrWolf]

8 minutes ago, peanuts said:

all the mk3 escorts suffered from the battery tray rot due to acid from the battery pooling there stripping the paint away .and allowing moisture ingress and resultant rust problems . . there was a small tube ran to the underside of the vehicle from the battery overflow but this got blocked /removed especially after a battery change .ot would cause the battery tray and bulkhead beneath to rot badly unseen untill to late 

 

The boot seal wasn't all that clever either and water found its way into the spare wheel well and into the seams around the floor to inner wheelhouse joint. 

Sunroof drains? Mostly into the car.

Various holes in the front crossmember allowed in mud salt and water that built up around the engine / stabiliser bar mounts and rotted those out. Changing anti roll bar bushes often resulted in the captive nuts ripping out. Cue some tricky welding.

The two halves of the main wiring loom were clipped together via the fusebox through a hole in the right hand bulkhead. When rain wasn't trashing the fusebox it found its way into the front foot well. 

Oddly enough the doors seemed to be very long lived, as they were on most of the Escort's rivals. 

I could also talk about the Vauxhall Astra's awful lower bulkhead / jacking point design, Austin Montego fuel tank mounting rot, Maestro bulkhead rot and don't get me started on cars built in Japan or Italy back in the eighties.

[doilum]

47 minutes ago, peanuts said:

all the mk3 escorts suffered from the battery tray rot due to acid from the battery pooling there stripping the paint away .and allowing moisture ingress and resultant rust problems . . there was a small tube ran to the underside of the vehicle from the battery overflow but this got blocked /removed especially after a battery change .ot would cause the battery tray and bulkhead beneath to rot badly unseen untill to late 

Yep. My E plater was still totally rust free at 11 years when we finally traded it. However, at 7 years, the original battery died and was replaced by top of the range Bosch. Six months later front seat passenger complains that the footwell is full of water! Fortunately the local panel shop did a repair panel complete with battery tray. The whole dash, seats and carpet had to come out as these were the days before DIY mig welders and the gas axe was the weapon of choice.

Turned out that the FoMoCo battery had a pair of natty covers that stopped the rain water coming into contact with the terminals. Later models came with a plastic tray that covered the whole battery top and I found one in the local breakers.

[MrWolf]

OI was lucky enough to have access to a MIG welder back in the mid 80s and rapidly bought my own. As you can well imagine, that was something of a double edged sword. People soon stop bugging you to patch cars up when they realise that you won't be doing it for a few cans of beer though. Other people were more than happy to turn up on a Saturday morning, having removed all the trim except the driver's seat and have a proper lasting job done. Especially those who drove their classic cars year round and weren't just trying to flip something that they had scrounged out of a long forgotten lock up garage.

 

One of my friends had a Ghia on an E plate, (of course it was a silver one!) It was previously owned by an old man who had replaced a MK2 Escort with it and caked everything in waxoyl. It never once saw a welder, but did like wrecking electronic  distributors. He got pestered by the domestic authorities to buy a more modern car for the family and got a Peugeot 405GTX. That was a great car until it broke. The model unique and unobtainable rear calipers and continuous electronic issues led to an early demise. 

My then girlfriends brother in law had another silver Ghia on a D plate and asked if I could have a look at it. I found so much rust underneath the surface that I couldn't work out how the outer bodyshell hasn't parted company with the floorpan. I found him an old 20,000 mile onlyTalbot Alpine that needed the brakes freeing off for £50. It was dull, but cheap reliable transportation for someone who needed a car to put bread on the table.

Edited November 12, 2020 by MrWolf
Stupid autocorrect

[peanuts]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

The boot seal wasn't all that clever either and water found its way into the spare wheel well and into the seams around the floor to inner wheelhouse joint. 

Sunroof drains? Mostly into the car.

Various holes in the front crossmember allowed in mud salt and water that built up around the engine / stabiliser bar mounts and rotted those out. Changing anti roll bar bushes often resulted in the captive nuts ripping out. Cue some tricky welding.

The two halves of the main wiring loom were clipped together via the fusebox through a hole in the right hand bulkhead. When rain wasn't trashing the fusebox it found its way into the front foot well. 

Oddly enough the doors seemed to be very long lived, as they were on most of the Escort's rivals. 

I could also talk about the Vauxhall Astra's awful lower bulkhead / jacking point design, Austin Montego fuel tank mounting rot, Maestro bulkhead rot and don't get me started on cars built in Japan or Italy back in the eighties.

will trump you was the unfortunate passenger in a friends yugo 45 and found by putting my feet on the bulkhead and pushing gently i could apply the brakes as the bulkhead flexed moving the crank from the RHD pedal box 

[Oldddudders]

38 minutes ago, peanuts said:

will trump you was the unfortunate passenger in a friends yugo 45 and found by putting my feet on the bulkhead and pushing gently i could apply the brakes as the bulkhead flexed moving the crank from the RHD pedal box 

Oddly enough, when I bought my Mk 1 Escort GT nearly 50 years ago, I found it necessary to put a Dymo label on the passenger scuttle saying "No brake this side". 

[MrWolf]

I can well believe it, I remember a Seat Marbella (rebadged original Fiat Panda) MOT man knew that the bulkhead was non existent but couldn't test it because it was all hidden behind a thick black sound deadening pad ( which trapped the water in the first instance) but the passenger had the option of applying I brakes or making the battery dance about. 

[MrWolf]

I remember buying a restoration project A35 van before they gained cult status and the dashboard had the obligatory "Musicians union says keep music live" sticker and the back door had a smiling sun face with "Nuclear power? No thanks!" Which probably tells you how long ago the vehicle had failed a test and been laid up.

[doilum]

I may have told the story before, but I bought a Flintstone edition of the Fiat 126 as a £50 donor for an off road buggy project. From the outside it was immaculate and my good lady fell instantly in love. With the gas bottles filled and steel procured, my brother in law and I hàd it MOT ready in three evenings. After a year of good service it sold for £450 to make way for an MGB GT, but that is another story!

[peanuts]

this popped up on my ig feed earlier is a little different to the norm 

[PatB]

20 years ago, I was very close to buying a Fiat 126 (more correctly, a Polish built Niki, but identical but for badging) when I needed a cheap commuter. I quite liked the way it drove, but decided against as I'd have needed to do some mods to make it driveable long term. Just a cranked top to the gear lever to get it out from under my left knee, and a bit of butchery to the seat runners to get it far enough back for comfort. Nothing really major, but I needed something useable off the shelf, so I bought a Mk2 Escort 2l Ghia instead. Which just shows how long ago 20 years is in automobile desirability terms . 

[Hobby]

11 hours ago, peanuts said:

 

Someone large sat on it then... Yuk!