For those interested in old cars.

[Nick C]

17 hours ago, alastairq said:

Folk run around in them as if they were 'new' vans...forgetting they will be 50 years old or more.

 

A shiny gucci paint job and lowered suspension doesn't necessarily mean much attention has been paid to the essential mechanics of the vehicle, which, being an aircooled VW, is very different from the average Hyundai?

 

Underneath the shiny new paint and Gucci wheels there may lie a whole host of horrors which will go un-noticed in the 'excitement?'

 

There's a lot of "scene" around VW vans, which of course means lots of money and people who know little about the mechanical side and just go for the appearance.

 

I saw a YouTube video a few months back of a young couple who had bought a nice, shiny T4 camper, with a brand new MOT, from a dealer in Bristol - luckily, they had the sense to take it to a friend for a check-over before they went off anywhere in it. Said friend pointed out that it was a deathtrap that shouldn't be anywhere near a road, and gave them a list of defects half a mile long. The dealer gave them their money back very quickly, while insisting that they knew nothing about it and trying to pass the blame to the MOT tester. I believe they reported both dealer and tester to the relevant authorities, but obviously they were unwilling to say too much in the video as thecase was still in progress at that point.

[Captain Cuttle]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

The only Beetle I have owned was a 1966 oval lamp model. I got it cheap because it had an out of fashion custom job. Lowered, Centre Line drag alloys, one piece power windows (which were the most useless, cheap rubbish) and a lot of minor alterations to remove door handles etc that were a PITA.

 

I brought it down my driveway a bit sharp and petrol started gushing out.

The original fuel line, tucked safely inside the "transmission tunnel" had obviously failed, so some genius had cable tied a plastic hose to the brake lines. Because of the extreme lowering job, it made contact with my unmade driveway and pulled the pipe off the tank.

To add insult to injury, by the time I had managed to get a jack under the car, most of the fuel had leaked out.

I had bought the car with the vague idea of returning it to original. Once I started looking at the custom modifications, I realised two things:

1. The modifications would have to go, if only for the sake of safety / reliability.

2. The perpetrator shouldn't be allowed to assemble an IKEA book case, let alone work on old cars / or be put against a wall and shot. 

 

Whichever was easier.

 

Pimp My Ride didnt do it did they?

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

When I first started work on the local rag one of the reporters had an old beetle (even back then it was old!) and I remember going out in a job with him, it was in the nether regions around Brentwood along some very windy roads and he drove....er.... shall we say a bit erratically! Anyhoo we got to a series of 90’s and we almost went straight on into the bushes with him screaming “STOP PRESSING ON THE FLOOR”......apparently I was subconsciously “braking” as he approached each corner and in that beetle the conversion from left to right hand drive consisted of a rod from the drivers side accelerator pedal going across under the carpet to the passenger side where the original LHD system was, I was pressing hard and stopping the throttle coming off!

 

Bloody German engineering 

About 50 years ago one of my chums had a split rear window beetle. The only mods he carried out to it was a bright red paint job and reversing the rear wheels therefor increasing the track. Being only 18 years old and having just passed his test he was easily caught out by the swing axle rear suspension. He ended up losing control one evening and ended up without hitting anything between a bus shelter and a lamp post with barely an inch to spare either end and having to bounce the car sideways to remove it.

[alastairq]

40 minutes ago, Nick C said:

There's a lot of "scene" around VW vans, which of course means lots of money and people who know little about the mechanical side and just go for the appearance.

 Something that is actually many decades old.

 

I was lucky, I suppose....? I got my van for 600 quid! A ' J' plater to boot. I sold it for well over 2 1/2 grand a few years later....[the Tesco carrier bag full of cash!!]

 

BAck in the 1970's I did a spontaneous trip with a few chums to Scotland from Yorkshire, in a Split window type 2  bus [which had the curved roof lights too]....

One chum had just acquired it, and as I had the beetle above at the time, he reckoned Id know what I was doing, if it went wrong?

It was the middle of winter.

The hateful thing had a 1200cc engine!

Which on a good day barely produced 30 bhp!

It was low geared [it had portal rear hubs].....and took forever to reach the Scottish borders, and longer than the Jacobites to get north of Glasgow!

The heating was wishful thinking...we froze....plus the heat exchanger

 were holed so let fumes into the cabin.

The gear shift was only vaguely connected to what passed for a gearbox...and had to be used all too frequently, just to keep moving forwards!

 

We actually considered surrendering to the Duke of Cumberland at one point!  Or, I did....especially as my missus of the time slapped me for persuading her to go along too....

We got back home after several days, on what was supposed to be a weekend winter trip!

What a hateful thing it was.

Its woeful road performance was only exceeded by most BMC JU vans I knew of , mostly, GPO yellow one's, for sheer sluggardness.

If around today, It would have had to carry the mandatory flashing yellow beacon!

Still, there were 6 of us in it, so it might well have been 'overloaded?'   No tub of lard passengers this time, that was another chum's missus!

 

No seatbelts either!!

Edited June 4, 2021 by alastairq

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

A pal in the trade (since retired) was quite categorical that the Zafira issues were electrical and located in the heating/aircon area.

 

John

That was exactly my understanding as well.

 

Might have been something to do with the resistor hedgehog they are something that can fail or play up regularly, assuming the Zafira uses one.

Edited June 4, 2021 by boxbrownie

[alastairq]

Been busy receiving packages today!

 

All for the '67 Ford Mustang!

 

PArking brake handle arrived [I managed to bust th eold one, which I fitted new when i got the car, which had a busted parking brake handle, of course]

Then a new battery arrived, from Tayna...treated myself to a Varta unit...I expect this one to last longer than the Unipart item it replaces... Got fed up with constant charging after being left for a week.  80 pension-quids, delivered, 24 hour service as well...It's a 'big' battery, 75 Ah.  Nearly half  the price of a  Halfords item too.

 

Then, the brake pads I'd ordered from RockAuto in the USA, last Tuesday [1st June] rocked up on my doorstep today [Friday!]

 

Those pads took a three hour stint at the computer too.

I needed to find out exactly what the existing pads were, part number, etc, and what they were from originally?

Most Mustangs of that year had drum brakes up front.

There was an option of disc brakes, but most 6 pot owners didn't bother. {They were buying the 6 pot because it was the cheapest in Ford's range of engines]

There were countless disc brake conversion kits, and options from scrapyards, etc, from Ford's later ranges of vehicles, the most common conversion being to use mid-70's Ford Granada [US version] discs, etc, as they fitted the Mustang's  hubs, being the same, essentially.

Then there were the gucci Wilwood conversion kits, costing an arm & a  leg, with fancy 4 pot calipers, etc.

Amongst other makes...

 

Finally there were the Scott Drake disc brake kits...

Their Q&A pages even asked what brakes or pads were used...and the answer [from CJ POny] was incorrect!!

Anyway, I guessed that my car had received an early Scott Drake disc conversion....so it was down to finding out what was used?

A thread on a 2014  classic mustang forum asked the same question...what were they?

 Needed to know in order to obtain new pads!!!  [Taking them into a car parts dealer in the UK wasn't an option for me....they wouldn't know, since their references are mostly down to reg number!]  

Drilled down through the threads, to find someone who knew the brake company that made & supplied the kits to Scott Drake [and sold them themselves!]  some firm called ABS brake components, in the USA.

Luckily, after googling [and mis-googling!!]...I found their website.

A bit clunky really, old fashioned indeed, but they listed kits for a trillion old US vehicles, cars, vans , trucks etc.

I found the kit used on my Mustang, but no info as to what the pads were from.

Eventually i found a page with one of their kits listed, with more in depth information....same kit, different hub, that was all!

First Clue, they said the pads were very commonplace [in the USA] and could be purchased at any corner shop or auto parts store!

 

I thought of Halfords, but was unlucky!!

Wilko didn't stock them either. Neither did B&Q!

Oh well!

Then a bit further down the disjointed information, I found the generic brake pad part number!! Whooppee!

 

Seems in the USA, brake pad shapes/designs are allocated a code, industry-wide...so one brake maker's pad has the same 'code' in their parts inventory, as another brake maker's, and so on.

This apparently isn't the case in the UK!!  No UK brake pad supplier understood the US  pad part number at all!   How inconvenient of them??

 

Anyway, it turns out the kit manufacturer made kits for all sorts of vehicles, but tended to use the same maker's brake components...namely, General Motors!

So, it turns out, my Mustang [a Ford] has front disc brakes from a Buick! {Or Pontiac, or Chevy, or even, a Cadillac!]

Going onto Rock Autos site with year , make, etc I found the model, then a huge choice of different makes of brake pad [all the same shape/type]

There they were, photos, dimension diagrams, all the info I needed....even down to opinions as to types of usage they were best for?

 

Prices ranged from real cheapoh[no-money drivers} , a set of pads at around 3 quid!  These were labelled as 'economy'...and there were quite a few reputable makes of brake pad listed under 'economy...prices going up to around 5 or 6 quid.[ RockAuto can list its prices in pounds if selected]

 

Then there were the regular daily use categories, the 'heavy duty/long life' category, and finally the 'premium' category....

I opted for a 20 dollar set from Centric....the part number for which also matched their 'daily 'and 'long life' pads....Good enough for me, at any rate.

 

So I ordered a set!  £33. delivered, all in. Opted for Fedex as shippers....purchased last Tuesday, and as I said, delivered this lunchtime today!

I had been quoted £120 a set from a UK based US parts dealer!!

 

Then, 3 of next door's chickens had escaped into my garden, and appeared under the Mustang just as I was buttoning up the new battery!

 

Luckily, next door's kids were at home, so they were dragged out to round up their hens [and a cockerel that is becoming vicious !]

 

DAmned if I can run around chasing chickens at my time of life...my legs won't cope these days...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[peanuts]

Another beauty outside MG & Alfa spares today 

[stewartingram]

Not quite VW fuel lines etc, but my 1st car was a 1955 A30 bought for £50 in 1967, the day after passing my test. My Grandad was by then retired from the motor trade, but firstly did all the maintenance, soon helping me/handing over to me.

Some time in the late 60s/early 70s the MRC held an open day at Keen House, and we decided to go from Cambridge. Didn't get very far before we smelt hot rubber, which turned out to be the rear seat squab starting to melt on the hot floor under the squab - due to a hole in the silencer immediately underneath. Easy solution was to fold the squab forwards, then pour water (I always carried a gallon can) into the raised floor well under the seat. Another 25 miles or so, top it up. We got there & back fine, though the back window was well steamed up!

That car lasted me from about 67k miles  when I got it, to about 250k 12 years later when I retired it (with the intention of restoration sadly never done). Always run on a shoestring, it taught me a lot! Wish I still had it.

 

Stewart

[PatB]

As I discovered, during my air cooled VW phase (I'm much better now, thanks), all advertised Beetles and buses are rotten, worn out, bodged up rubbish. Yes, even the shiny ones that have had squillion spent on them. Even ones where the right bits have had money spent on them are rubbish, because the parts all come from Brazil or Mexico and are about 60% junk, straight from the factory, with the remaining 40% ranging from "probably won't kill you first time out" to "almost OK if there's really no alternative". German parts are very nice, where available, but are expensive so nobody buys them. 

 

I'm unimpressed with the fabled knowledge base too. In years of reading VW content on the 'net, I've found maybe 2 writers who I'd judge to actually know what they're talking about, and the better of those was inconsiderate enough to die a decade ago, thus halving the pool of useful information. 

 

So, in summary, I wouldn't touch another Beetle without a verifiable and continuous history from the moment it left Wolfsburg, detailed receipts for every component ever fitted, and the credentials of everyone who's ever done more than put petrol in it. And if such are car exists, I can't afford it. [/rant] 

[alastairq]

 

This, in my view, is the definitive owners manual for aircooled VWs!

My copy has a grey coloured cover.

It is the only really clear motorcar owners manual I have ever come across.

All the others mostly contain obscure photos depicting heaven knows what, whereas John Muir's manual contains beautifully drawn [and intricate] pictures showing precisely what one undoes and where.

It is a 'real-world' manual [in as far as one could be called real world, in a pot-laden haze?] as it told us [you & I] what we really needed to know about this weird car-thing we rode around in.

It contained a complete absence of the professional elitism that has so pervaded the old car mending world I [we?] live in.

 

None of this ''I paid this firm to do this, and I paid that person to do that, and I bought a brand new t'uther and paid Tom, Dick & Harriet to do it all'' description of howa gucci classic car came about...

[I always switch right off reading articles that follow this ''I paid for'' dictum.  I am fully aware that if enough money is thrown at a project, it will {or is expected to be, and if not, only the money-thrower should complain}...be spotty-dog perfect in every way.}

 

I always like to read or listen to how individuals worked things out for themselves, acquiring skills [or not, as the case may be] to overcome problems with limited resources.

 

Do Americans really call nipples, ''zerks?''

.

[Dunsignalling]

I so agree about certain modern attitudes held by cheque-book restorers and those who do the work for them.

 

OK, they are (to some extent) only providing what the customer wants, but most of the professional restorers in the various TV series exhibit a fetishistic obsession with dead uniform millimetre-perfect shut lines that are far more accurate than the original factory would have worked to unless the car was hand-built.

 

To me, if it's "better than the day it rolled out", it's not restored, it's customised!

 

John

Edited June 5, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[alastairq]

Original?

Folk need to watch their wording, honestly!

 

Bet the air in the tyres isn't 'original?'

Come to that, has anyone tried to buy new crossply tyres with the sort of tread available to motorists back in the 40's and 50's?

 

[Plus, I bet back then, they didn't pay Blockley tyres prices, either?}

I bet the new brake linings are nothing like the texture or density of the originals? { A  problem/failure of modern day owners is to have modern brake lining materials fitted, think that modern must be better?   The original brake linings would have been of a softer material [with asbestos?] which meant the original brakes performed better than they do today with modern materials]

There are brake lining firms who sell lining material which better matches the characteristics of 1950's brake materials.  ]

Fitting these makes one's Morris Minor on drum brakes, stop better than a Lexus!

 

Anyway, the petrol isn't like the original stuff either [nothing like it!!]  so those fancy ''classic'' motors that are 'as they left the factory' original aren't anything like as such.

My biggest beef when looking round classic car displays, concerns the use of 2-pack paint!

There's no way 2-pack paint resembles the original finishes [celulose, or enamel?] in the slightest.

Yet, folk go for it in a big way.

2nd biggest beef concerns the sports car owners who equip their  precious [Sprite? Precious??] classic cars with the obligatory wicker picnic baskets strapped to the boot lid !!!

I cannot recall ever seeing a sports car back in the 1960's or 70's having such an accessory displayed on the bootlid.

So, why now?  Do the classic car 'look-at-me'' owners really believe that's what owners did back in the day?

More like grandads in their Ford Pops, out for a sunday drive, and having a rest in a handy layby.  {Try getting your deckchairs out in one of today's laybys??]

 

Why can't folk simply keep their old cars ''honest?''

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Dunsignalling said:

I so agree about certain modern attitudes held by cheque-book restorers and those who do the work for them.

 

OK, they are (to some extent) only providing what the customer wants, but most of the professional restorers in the various TV series exhibit a fetishistic obsession with dead uniform millimetre-perfect shut lines that are far more accurate than the original factory would have worked to unless the car was hand-built.

 

To me, if it's "better than the day it rolled out", it's not restored, it's customised!

 

John

Mind you if I was paying the amount the really good restorers charge I’d want the finished article to be perfect, built as new but better if the original was carp in the first place 

[Dunsignalling]

52 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Mind you if I was paying the amount the really good restorers charge I’d want the finished article to be perfect, built as new but better if the original was carp in the first place 

I tend to agree, and I greatly admire the levels of craftsmanship, professionalism, and ingenuity that I see in programmes such as Fantomworks, but what they achieve are generally "Resto-Mods" and go well beyond getting vehicles back to what the first owner experienced, which is how I would define "restoration". 

 

TBH, though, if the original was properly cr4p, it would have killed any sentimental attachment to it years ago, so why would I want it restored in the first place?

 

Mind you, three out of my last four cars (all post-1990) have been so good that I'd not want to revisit any of their predecessors if they had to be my daily driver, though I could put up with my 1979 Renault 18GTS or 1973 Vauxhall Firenza Sport SL (made perfect) at a pinch, despite their lacking aircon or power steering. 

 

That said, if I ever come into serious money, a pair of externally original Jag XKs, a 120 roadster and a 150 FHC, with modernised running gear will be top of my shopping list. They'll get well used, too!

 

John

Edited June 5, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[PatB]

45 minutes ago, alastairq said:

Original?

Folk need to watch their wording, honestly!

 

Bet the air in the tyres isn't 'original?'

Come to that, has anyone tried to buy new crossply tyres with the sort of tread available to motorists back in the 40's and 50's?

 

[Plus, I bet back then, they didn't pay Blockley tyres prices, either?}

I bet the new brake linings are nothing like the texture or density of the originals? { A  problem/failure of modern day owners is to have modern brake lining materials fitted, think that modern must be better?   The original brake linings would have been of a softer material [with asbestos?] which meant the original brakes performed better than they do today with modern materials]

There are brake lining firms who sell lining material which better matches the characteristics of 1950's brake materials.  ]

Fitting these makes one's Morris Minor on drum brakes, stop better than a Lexus!

 

Anyway, the petrol isn't like the original stuff either [nothing like it!!]  so those fancy ''classic'' motors that are 'as they left the factory' original aren't anything like as such.

My biggest beef when looking round classic car displays, concerns the use of 2-pack paint!

There's no way 2-pack paint resembles the original finishes [celulose, or enamel?] in the slightest.

Yet, folk go for it in a big way.

2nd biggest beef concerns the sports car owners who equip their  precious [Sprite? Precious??] classic cars with the obligatory wicker picnic baskets strapped to the boot lid !!!

I cannot recall ever seeing a sports car back in the 1960's or 70's having such an accessory displayed on the bootlid.

So, why now?  Do the classic car 'look-at-me'' owners really believe that's what owners did back in the day?

More like grandads in their Ford Pops, out for a sunday drive, and having a rest in a handy layby.  {Try getting your deckchairs out in one of today's laybys??]

 

Why can't folk simply keep their old cars ''honest?''

My own pet hates are, in order, cutting original steel to install the cheapest, ugliest, least appropriate indicators available, spending loads on having the interior reupholstered but only springing for vinyl that would have been rejected by the most tasteless of '70s discount sofa manufacturers, and putting bloody whitewalls on everything pre-65.

 

Oh, and I'm not keen on chrome wire wheels either. Silver-grey (or other) paint was the go originally, and doesn't make you look like an East End wide-boy showing off his ill-gotten gains. 

[alastairq]

24 minutes ago, PatB said:

Oh, and I'm not keen on chrome wire wheels either. Silver-grey (or other) paint was the go originally, and doesn't make you look like an East End wide-boy showing off his ill-gotten gains. 

 Same here..

Also pet hate being the {fake} minilite-style alloy wheels to everything in sight.

Back in my day, the only things with minilites were proper rally cars....which wouldn't have been seen round and about as daily drivers anyway.

Nowadays, every MGB or Midget, or boggo saloon car [Morris Minor??] has them....It's as if folk thought everything in the 1960's ran around on them?

About the only scrapyard wheel I used to see as a 'mod' was the rostyle wheel.  [I wasn't a mod, honest]

I did once own a set of Pierce Magna alloys, with centre lock splines....which came with my nearly new Sprite...but I sold them as they were wider than the wires wheel it had on it...and the tyres rubbed , ,etc.

[Dunsignalling]

45 minutes ago, alastairq said:

 Same here..

Also pet hate being the {fake} minilite-style alloy wheels to everything in sight.

Back in my day, the only things with minilites were proper rally cars....which wouldn't have been seen round and about as daily drivers anyway.

Nowadays, every MGB or Midget, or boggo saloon car [Morris Minor??] has them....It's as if folk thought everything in the 1960's ran around on them?

About the only scrapyard wheel I used to see as a 'mod' was the rostyle wheel.  [I wasn't a mod, honest]

I did once own a set of Pierce Magna alloys, with centre lock splines....which came with my nearly new Sprite...but I sold them as they were wider than the wires wheel it had on it...and the tyres rubbed , ,etc.

The only daily driver I remember having (genuine) Minilites was a friend's Series 3 Lotus Seven. Wider ones on the back than the front, too! That would have been early 1970s.

 

Judging from the rest of the spec, the original/previous owner had set it up to do hillclimbs at weekends. 

 

John

Edited June 5, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[PatB]

Thing is, it's only (relatively) recently* that alloys have become affordable and robust enough for daily use. Although I wasn't actually there, even I'm aware that a set of 6J steelies was about as exotic as it got on even fairly hot road cars, apart from real exotica. C1970, even stuff like T-buckets had to make do with banded steel on the back and, maybe, Rostyles on the front. 

[Northmoor]

43 minutes ago, alastairq said:

 Same here..

Also pet hate being the {fake} minilite-style alloy wheels to everything in sight.

Back in my day, the only things with minilites were proper rally cars....which wouldn't have been seen round and about as daily drivers anyway.

Nowadays, every MGB or Midget, or boggo saloon car [Morris Minor??] has them....It's as if folk thought everything in the 1960's ran around on them?

About the only scrapyard wheel I used to see as a 'mod' was the rostyle wheel.  [I wasn't a mod, honest]

I did once own a set of Pierce Magna alloys, with centre lock splines....which came with my nearly new Sprite...but I sold them as they were wider than the wires wheel it had on it...and the tyres rubbed , ,etc.

So you don't like cars when their owners are obsessive about being "original" and you don't like cars when their owners fit features which aren't "original"?

[37114]

Talking of old wiring looms, this was the mess that was the rear wiring loom in my Land Rover. How it didn't catch fire/everything worked I don't know...

Needless to say a new loom has been fitted.Talking of things working: major milestone today in the restoration today as the engine was fired up for the first time in 6 years, so far so good, it runs beautifully 

[Captain Cuttle]

3 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

I so agree about certain modern attitudes held by cheque-book restorers and those who do the work for them.

 

OK, they are (to some extent) only providing what the customer wants, but most of the professional restorers in the various TV series exhibit a fetishistic obsession with dead uniform millimetre-perfect shut lines that are far more accurate than the original factory would have worked to unless the car was hand-built.

 

To me, if it's "better than the day it rolled out", it's not restored, it's customised!

 

John

I dont like that when the panel shop boys have done their stuff, they load the car up with body filler or lob it up as we used to say then sand down for this perfect, glass smooth finish. It isnt very pleasant stuff polyester body filler, i generally used a mask but lots didnt and i often wonder if they made it to old age. The same using the then new 2 pack acrylic paint full of isocyanate, a deadly combination.

 

[MJI]

And there is me considering spending a few thousand on a new chassis for a 2003 Discovery

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, alastairq said:

 Same here..

Also pet hate being the {fake} minilite-style alloy wheels to everything in sight.

Back in my day, the only things with minilites were proper rally cars....which wouldn't have been seen round and about as daily drivers anyway.

Nowadays, every MGB or Midget, or boggo saloon car [Morris Minor??] has them....It's as if folk thought everything in the 1960's ran around on them?

About the only scrapyard wheel I used to see as a 'mod' was the rostyle wheel.  [I wasn't a mod, honest]

I did once own a set of Pierce Magna alloys, with centre lock splines....which came with my nearly new Sprite...but I sold them as they were wider than the wires wheel it had on it...and the tyres rubbed , ,etc.

I had Minilites on my Cooper S......but then we also had them on the Riley Elf Super Saloon class racer we had, that was back in 1971>6 period.

 

But do agree they (or replicas) seem to be slung on anything pre 1980, I remember the Rostyle being the go to for mostly everything tuned up.

[alastairq]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

So you don't like cars when their owners are obsessive about being "original" and you don't like cars when their owners fit features which aren't "original"?

 It's really about something purporting to be something it's not?  { Then the exponents vilify someone else's efforts for not being 'original?'}

 

I don't mind cars that have a history of things being altered. Most cars are like that, few if any are around which are as they left the factory..allowing for age, etc.

 

It's the modern finishes that scrawk with me....and the fake minilites?  Why not Wolfies instead [or, modern lookalikes?]

 

But when someone mods their car to make it useable as a daily, no problemo.

That includes fitting flashing indicators....especially when fitted where other drives out there expect to see indicators?

Which was a common upgrade in the 1950s/60's.

The real problem with fake minilites is, they're quite cheap to buy, relatively speaking.  

So when it comes down to wallet, or 'period', I guess wallet wins?

Edited June 5, 2021 by alastairq

[Northmoor]

I was brought up with a Moggie Convertible which my dad still has but which is probably beyond saving now.  Mum and Dad drove to work or took us to school in it a couple of days a week.  It's a '55 split screen so should have the 803cc engine, but decades ago (probably around the first rebuild) it got an 1098cc out of a van to make it a bit more driveable on the Welsh hills.  Later it got Sierra disks which were a big improvement, it's never been concours or condition 1 but was used a lot.  It's not like Minors are rare cars.  However he also owns a '49 MM lowlight saloon with the 918cc side-valve engine.  These are pretty rare in the UK and modernising that would be a different story.