For those interested in old cars.

[BernardTPM]

21 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Is this thread allowed to become an "old bikes" thread?

Then there would be two old Motorbike threads. There's already one here.

Edited February 22, 2021 by BernardTPM

[PatB]

1 hour ago, alastairq said:

 

Talking of old bikes......?

Back before I married my first Ex,  I 'commuted' {?} between Scarborough and Exmouth over  a weekend...up north on the Friday night, back down on Sunday afternoon.

All done on a CZ 175.

{ It was easier to 'hide' down near Exmouth, as 'cars and 'car parking' were forbidden by my 'employer']

I takes me hat orf to you sir. I did Bristol to Newcastle and back on the not dissimilar, though marginally quicker, 250 twin a few times on a tight schedule, and it wasn't something I'd have wanted to do on a regular basis. Mind you, seizing the thing solid at Bowburn one cold winters afternoon, and getting a lift back to Bristol in a series of nice warm AA vans wasn't too bad. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by PatB

[PatB]

7 minutes ago, BernardTPM said:

Then there woul;d be two old Motorbike threads. There's already one here.

Yeah, sorry. Got diverted. Normal service will be resumed shortly. 

[alastairq]

1 hour ago, PatB said:

I takes me hat orf to you sir. I did Bristol to Newcastle and back on the not dissimilar, though marginally quicker, 250 twin a few times on a tight schedule, and it wasn't something I'd have wanted to do on a regular basis. Mind you, seizing the thing solid at Bowburn one cold winters afternoon, and getting a lift back to Bristol in a series of nice warm AA vans wasn't too bad. 

 To make matters worse, I sold a perfectly serviceable Wolseley 16/60 to help buy it.  Leastwise, that's what I told the fella who bought it off me [perfectly serviceable, etc]

Nodding off on a motorcycle [even a CZ] isn't something I wanted to do too often....coming to, with a shock, to find myself riding along a ditch bottom isn't for the nervous.....as always, my best courses of action involved opening throttle wide, and driving or riding out of trouble. The CZ never failed to exit ditches.....

Mind, the M5 didn't go all the way to Exerketer in those days....

Liked the CZ idea of a small cam operated pushrod on the gear lever, which disengaged the clutch for the  duration of the gearchange.

Didn't like the shiny stick-on tank stickers though.

Didn't even have a full face helmet in those days, either.  So, with eyelids propped open by matchsticks, it was a cheek-flappin', eyeball poppin', total loss of senses in extremities type of ride. conducted during  January/February....Original tyres too..although cannot recall whether Barum or Pneumant.....but quite puncture-proof...[and I thought I was 'ard in those days?????]...... Cornering simply ''occurred'', as I recall...

 

When I think back on the escapades I conducted, which always went wrong, or so nearly so?? Yet, I'm still here...and when I tell young 'uns not do do this or that, I speak from painful experience, not heath & safety!

 

( CZ also had a an enviable motocross/ enduro / scrambles record in those days as well......like MZ, only cheaper.]

Edited February 21, 2021 by alastairq

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, PatB said:

I takes me hat orf to you sir. I did Bristol to Newcastle and back on the not dissimilar, though marginally quicker, 250 twin a few times on a tight schedule, and it wasn't something I'd have wanted to do on a regular basis. Mind you, seizing the thing solid at Bowburn one cold winters afternoon, and getting a lift back to Bristol in a series of nice warm AA vans wasn't too bad. 

During the war my Uncles used to cycle from London to Great Glen (Leicester) over the weekend to see their little Sisters who were evacuated there from London!

[Rugd1022]

Some more archive stuff from yesteryear....

 

Bobby Moore with his Mk2 Jag in Ilford, 1965....

 

 

Bath Green Park in January 1973....

 

 

An early Mk1 Granada sporting newfangled pressed aluminium reflective number plates....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[33C]

14 hours ago, Hobby said:

 

What was the 1725cc engine in a Marina?

 

I liked Russett brown, it hid the rust on my old 1300 Marina and looked really nice on a Maxi I had later (no rust, though!). The later Clove brown was a bit of a nicer colour, though!

It was the same lump that was in my mates "Princess", just the other way round! (With "Cherry Bomb" straight through exhaust.........!!)

Edited February 22, 2021 by 33C
added detail

[PatB]

12 hours ago, Northmoor said:

As is the way with economic cycles, there are always people who are convinced that "but this time it's different", except that it never is.  There is always the crash.  I remember the 1980s classic car boom (remember before that, when Practical Classics magazine was about restoring cars that even when finished, still weren't worth anything?) when some real old tat suddenly started changing hands for nonsense sums, people converted Daimler 250s into Mk2 Jags because they were worth more, etc.

Yes, I well remember the early Practical Classics. It was one of the first car mags I bought on a regular basis, my first purchase being the early 1981 issue which introduced their Sunbeam Rapier project car. I thought it was great because everything in it seemed so attainable, even by a bozo with nothing but a Black & Decker and an SIP TopWeld buzz box. Disturbingly, most of the cars featured were a lot younger then than stuff that was new at the time is now and which I still think of as new. 

[MrWolf]

I used to buy Practical Classics and Popular Classics back in the 80s and 90s when they covered a breadth of cars that you could buy and work on yourself. I learned a lot.

They showed you how to repair rusty metal, rotten wood, rebuild engines and all the other skills required to restore an old car. 

Most of the writers were either old school mechanics or keen amateurs.

 

I started losing interest when it became a cycle of re-shells of cars that you could get everything off the shelf for and test drives of particular cars that were thinly disguised plugs for overpriced junk that one of tneir advertiser's was selling and wanted to create the next gold rush with.

 

Latterly a lot of the content seemed to consist of articles on Top Gear style roadtrips undertaken in the worst / cheapest "classic" they could find. The writers coming across like a bunch of hipster just finished my journalism degree types who dropped on a cushy number. 

I don't want to read how they adapted a mountain bike rack to fit a 1997 POS Hyundai.

 

I know a lot of classic car enthusiasts who haven't bought more than half a dozen classic car magazine in a decade or so.

[steve1]

The best cla$$ic car mag was the long gone and much missed Jalopy. The ‘main man’ behind it, Rod Ker, went on to Practical Classics, I think, after Japloy* died.

 

steve

 

* Any readers of said mag will get the joke.

[Northmoor]

6 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I used to buy Practical Classics and Popular Classics back in the 80s and 90s when they covered a breadth of cars that you could buy and work on yourself. I learned a lot.

They showed you how to repair rusty metal, rotten wood, rebuild engines and all the other skills required to restore an old car. 

Most of the writers were either old school mechanics or keen amateurs.

 

I started losing interest when it became a cycle of re-shells of cars that you could get everything off the shelf for and test drives of particular cars that were thinly disguised plugs for overpriced junk that one of tneir advertiser's was selling and wanted to create the next gold rush with.

 

Latterly a lot of the content seemed to consist of articles on Top Gear style roadtrips undertaken in the worst / cheapest "classic" they could find. The writers coming across like a bunch of hipster just finished my journalism degree types who dropped on a cushy number. 

I don't want to read how they adapted a mountain bike rack to fit a 1997 POS Hyundai.

 

I know a lot of classic car enthusiasts who haven't bought more than half a dozen classic car magazine in a decade or so.

I don't mind PC as it is (although I only get it once/twice per year; yes they have a different style of article but like model railway mags, perhaps they are following their readership, very few of whom will ever have the skills, time and probably the space to do more than basic restoration work.  At least they strongly promote the idea that interesting old cars don't have to be expensive.  Quite a few others aren't interested in anything costing less than five figures; as for the CCW newspaper, every time I look at that it seems to lead with articles of the "Buy an XYZ before prices skyrocket" and not because it will be out of your price range, but to make money out of the car.

[boxbrownie]

16 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

During the war my Uncles used to cycle from London to Great Glen (Leicester) over the weekend to see their little Sisters who were evacuated there from London!

I’ve just remembered somewhere tucked away I still have their “Cycling Map of England” they used, it’s a cloth bound map.

[PhilJ W]

I was a regular reader of Practical Classics until a couple of years ago but now I only buy it once or twice a year. I found that the 'Memory Lane' quite often featured useful pics for railway modellers showing the ambience of a particular time. Of particular interest to me in the current edition is an article on classics converted to electric drive, some fitted with units taken from modern battery electrics and some with the petrol or diesel engine replaced with an electric motor driving through the gearbox. In the latter category was a Morris Minor and a series Land Rover, the Land Rover in particular has ample space for batteries without impinging on interior space (under the bonnet and under the front seats in place of the fuel tank). Interesting is that if the gearbox is retained the vehicle will pull away from a stop in any gear such is the torque of an electric motor but like an internal combustion engine careful use of the gears will increase the range on one charge.

[big jim]

I’ve started reading it since I got readly on the iPad, I don’t bother with car mags but as they are included in the subscription price it makes a nice change from modelling or railway mags 

 

russp had a letter in there a few months back regarding the memory lane section, iirc he said in reply to it in here that the editor used to edit a railway mag 

[steve1]

Just watched an episode of Wheeler Dealers that featured a Jag XJC 4.2.  Checked on DVLC and the car is still registered and taxed, for once. I know it's telly and not real but I enjoyed it anyway.

 

One thing I've noticed in the past, although not in this one, is that they reuse bolts/screws/other fixings quite often. Given what some of the jobs are sometimes, brakes, suspension and the like, if it was me I would use new, high grade, replacements every time. I suppose that's how they save money but...

 

steve

[skipepsi]

13 minutes ago, steve1 said:

Just watched an episode of Wheeler Dealers that featured a Jag XJC 4.2.  Checked on DVLC and the car is still registered and taxed, for once. I know it's telly and not real but I enjoyed it anyway.

 

One thing I've noticed in the past, although not in this one, is that they reuse bolts/screws/other fixings quite often. Given what some of the jobs are sometimes, brakes, suspension and the like, if it was me I would use new, high grade, replacements every time. I suppose that's how they save money but...

 

steve

Might that be about not keeping it as opposed to it will outlast me?

[Hobby]

Or originality... Was a nice car, that XJC. 

[5 C]

A trip back to January and February 1979 which also happened to be our family's first winter in the North West of England.

 

A very different era for motorway policing. All the coppers wore shoes even in the worst of weather, hi viz was an orange vest and just about every problem could be solved with the aid of a Range Rover or two. Trumpton had no specialist cutting gear and didn't seem too bothered about hazardous chemicals. Ambulances just did a "scoop and run". On the road, every other car was a Mark IV Cortina and the sheer variety of cars and HGVs is in stark contrast to today.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by 5 C
Layout

[Rugd1022]

More oldies ahoy....

 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

I like the Mini pick-up burger bars but I wouldn't want to drive one in a strong cross wind.

[MJI]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I like the Mini pick-up burger bars but I wouldn't want to drive one in a strong cross wind.

 

Reminds me of Clarksons camper van

[skipepsi]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I like the Mini pick-up burger bars but I wouldn't want to drive one in a strong cross wind.

Even less with an angry drunk.

[great central]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I like the Mini pick-up burger bars but I wouldn't want to drive one in a strong cross wind.

 

I'm trying to make sense of the word(s) above the serving hatch

[petethemole]

18 minutes ago, great central said:

 

I'm trying to make sense of the word(s) above the serving hatch

The back door of the centre van has a clue.

 

[MrWolf]

I'm going to be odd one out here and say I would prefer the Bedford HA van, it's an early one too with a proper Vauxhall Viva engine and running gear. Having driven both, I know that it's a sight more useful / less painful to drive too.

Given the choice of either, I would pick the Mini, sell it to someone with more money than sense, then buy an HA, trailer and a couple more motorbikes with the proceeds!