For those interested in old cars.

[steve1]

25 minutes ago, BernardTPM said:

No, I've never sat in one of those.

 

This is a Caterham…

 

steve

[Fat Controller]

On 05/10/2021 at 10:08, alastairq said:

The Rolls Royce was in reality a very well built lorry.

Hence its popularity as an armoured car from the First World War, into the 1930s.

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, steve1 said:

 

This is a Caterham…

 

steve

That roll cage must weigh more than the chassis

Edited October 6, 2021 by boxbrownie

[Dunsignalling]

50 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

That roll cage must weigh more than the chassis

It's always slightly surprised me that nobody (to my knowledge) has come up with a unified chassis/rollcage for the Seven, to perform both functions better, with less weight than the separate components.

 

That appears to be what Ariel did with their Atom. No chance of resisting Industrial Espionage there!

 

John

 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[steve1]

59 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

That roll cage must weigh more than the chassis

 

Makes it easy to get into.

 

steve

 

PS It isn’t mine but my mate’s track car.

 

[boxbrownie]

15 hours ago, steve1 said:

 

Makes it easy to get into.

 

steve

 

PS It isn’t mine but my mate’s track car.

 

It looked like it makes it harder to get into TBH, I always found the 7 and various copies were easy, it was the hard topped tiddler sports cars that are difficult (although being 6’3” never helped) although if the soft top was up on a Seven now that was impossible to ingress! 

[alastairq]

In my experience, the problem of soft tops and access stem from the need for older designs of soft top to be erected from outside the car?

My Dellow has a soft top. Putting it up is like coping with an Erectaset.  There is also a 'modern fitment' roll over bar [to US racing standards, slightly cut down as previous owner was much taller than me]...I can 'get in' [insert ?] with the top erected, but that requires me to actually lie across the passenger side in order to get my legs inside. This could not be done with a passenger in situ. It may be possible for a passenger to get in with the driver in situ [me]...but most of the driver's 'cab' is actually intruding on the passenger side anyway.

 

I don't have a side screen set [very expensive to make]....There was a set at one time....last evidenced in  a photo taken for a newspaper advert in the early 1990's, before it got snapped up by a yank, and shipped off to the States.

Thus, the hoods effectiveness when driving in the rain is marginal.  The gear lever stays dry, but that's about all! Also the windscreen wipers are ''of the age'', so pretty naff by modern standards....They work, mainy by ensuring the rain droplets are smeared across the screen as one large vertical puddle, which I can 'see through'...

 

Intermittent wipe is achieved by my left hand twiddling the lever on the Lucas screen mounted wiper motor.

Handily placed for any passenge to head-butt if I should stop too quickly. That's if the passenger can actually stick their forehead on their knees in the first place?

[PhilJ W]

At least it doesn't have the dreaded Ford vacuum wipers.

[doilum]

In the absence of sidescreens, a small perspex deflector makes a huge difference to driving comfort. Keep an eye out for shops disposing of their COVID screens!

[alastairq]

I recall coming across a Marlin whose owner had made effective use of the [perspex?] panels from redundant telephone boxes....nice & rigid!

[PhilJ W]

The problem with perspex is that it scratches easily, a few coats of clear varnish will help.

[doilum]

On 08/10/2021 at 10:52, PhilJ W said:

The problem with perspex is that it scratches easily, a few coats of clear varnish will help.

Look for Makrolon. Used in motorsport to replace glass as it will not shatter. Not cheap hence the need to watch skips or look for offcuts.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, doilum said:

Look for Makrolon. Used in motorsport to replace glass as it will not shatter. Not cheap hence the need to watch skips or look for offcuts.

How do you distinguish it from ordinary perspex?

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, doilum said:

Look for Makrolon. Used in motorsport to replace glass as it will not shatter. Not cheap hence the need to watch skips or look for offcuts.

Same material as Lexan, which is the version we used on prototypes, mainly just because our suppliers had a contract.

 

It is very difficult to distinguish between Makrolon/Lexan and Perspex, but Perspex has a definite “softer” feel to it, and if the material is thin Perspex doesn’t “ring” when tapped unlike Lexan.

 

It is difficult to describe.

[doilum]

20 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

How do you distinguish it from ordinary perspex?

Trade name on the wrapper? ( Not much use when skip diving though!)

I was given an offcut many years ago. 6mm thick it has survived well. I made up a pair of brackets to match the ones on the windscreen frame intended for the sidescreens.

Edited October 10, 2021 by doilum

[Rugd1022]

In and around Reading in the '60s, '70s and '80s....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hobby]

Today's local meet...

 

[RJS1977]

40 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

In and around Reading in the '60s, '70s and '80s....

 

 

 

Not sure I recognise all those places, but some I definitely do.

 

Much better with proper cars rather than jellymoulds...

[steve1]

47 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

In and around Reading in the '60s, '70s and '80s....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ditto on recognising some of the places.

 

That Nash Rambler in the image of the station approach was a rare bird.

 

steve

[MrWolf]

I was surprised to see that too, sixties Rambler Americans  seem to be more common.

The one in the photo looks like a 1957 Rambler Rebel.

 

[Northmoor]

A lovely couple of hours today at the Italian Car Day at Brooklands.  In amongst the modern exotica, there were some real gems from my youth and earlier.  I always seek out the more ordinary survivors amongst the supercars:

 

 

I can't remember the last time I saw four Mirafioris together.  The nearest one had some noticeable rust, so was a very accurate restoration!

Edited August 6, 2022 by Northmoor
re-attach photos

[Northmoor]

I couldn't resist this one amongst the Ferraris though.  Old Enzo himself is on record as saying the E-type was the most beautiful car in the world, but I think his firm gave it a close run with the Dino:

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Northmoor
re-attach photo

[Oldddudders]

24 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I couldn't resist this one amongst the Ferraris though.  Old Enzo himself is on record as saying the E-type was the most beautiful car in the world, but I think his firm gave it a close run with the Dino:

 

If that's the original reg, then it's a Surrey car - maybe from Maranello Concessionaires on the Egham bypass. Interestingly, founder Col Ronnie Hoare also owned F English of Bournemouth - who were Ford dealers and ran GT40s in competition!

[peanuts]

47 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

A lovely couple of hours today at the Italian Car Day at Brooklands.  In amongst the modern exotica, there were some real gems from my youth and earlier.  I always seek out the more ordinary survivors amongst the supercars:

 

 

I can't remember the last time I saw four Mirafioris together.  The nearest one had some noticeable rust, so was a very accurate restoration!

Dad used to have a 1600 estate one of these in the same blue as the third one in was a proper tank iirc he traded it for a metro 

[MrWolf]

Last time I saw that many Mirafioris together, they were stacked three high as well as lined up. When I was about twenty I helped shoehorn the greasy bits out of one into my sister's boyfriend's Ford 100E. 

I can't remember when I last saw one on the road. Or one of the old Stradas with the strange round doorhandles.