For those interested in old cars.

[Hobby]

The 1850 engine was in the Saab before it was in a Triumph! I'm sure I've read somewhere that the 1850 was related to their V8.

[boxbrownie]

5 minutes ago, Hobby said:

The 1850 engine was in the Saab before it was in a Triumph! I'm sure I've read somewhere that the 1850 was related to their V8.

It was, that’s what I said  and yes the slant four engine was engineered to be two blocks in a VEE formation to produce the V8 in the Stag, not quite as simple as that but that the gist of it.

Edited February 27, 2019 by boxbrownie

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Hobby said:

Let's face it if you are driving a Smart car or C1 or similar and are hit by a large SUV all those crumple zones, airbags, etc., aren't going to do you the world of good, they'll still get past them and destroy you in your little 5 star rated car...

 

It seems rather academic discussing such things on a thread for old cars as any drivers of such vehicles will have already accepted the greater risk in driving such vehicles...

 

Not so sure I'd bet on that one.  I recall reading What Car? or similar whilst my long-gone XR2 was being serviced in the 80's;  they'd crash-tested various "executive" size cars (Volvo, Beemer, Merc, Vauxhall Senator?, Ford etc.) at a lab.  From memory it was at about 30mph; however instead of being head-on it was on the driver's front corner. Volvo results came back as "life threatening"; Merc? results were fine.  When manufacturers were asked for their responses to the results, Merc said they weren't surprised because they crash test 200 cars a year.  However, Volvo responded with: "We don't accept the results since you've only tested a sample of one".  Pity the poor guy who would've crashed that actual car in real life. 

Big probably does help in a crash, but not always.

 

p.s. I asked a Fire Chief a couple of years ago about best car makes for crash protection.  It seems that the big German Cars (and others) are now causing problems for emergency services as it's taking a long time to recover injured occupants.  Which isn't funny if you're in a bad way.

[Rugd1022]

14 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Yes indeed, our last Cooper was a 1972 “K reg” Cooper S..........Written off by a drunk farmer with his Triumph 2000 running into the back of it.......we were lucky but the poor little Coop was badly twisted, changed it for the 1275GT........big step down.

 

Yours must have been one of the last built and registered David, as I mentioned sales were quite slow and it took a while to shift the last ones off the line. There were a few early H reg'd ones but most were J reg'd with the last few stragglers not sold until after the K plate came out in August '71. Just been chatting via the Mk1 Performance forum with the owner of this nicely modded Mk3 S, it was sold new to a doctor who took it straight to John Sprinzel's workshop in Lancaster Mews to have the mag alloys, Wood & Pickett arches and Shadolite tinted glass fitted. I do like the uncluttered look of the Mk3, from the front especially it looks like any other Mk3 850 or 1000 with the same grille and bonnet badge, if it were mine though I don't think I could resist adding more period goodies to it. The current owner also has a '65 Radford being restored which belonged to George Harrison and his brother Peter...

 

 

 

 

[Hobby]

Polybear that depends on whether the occupants of those other cars that were "easier" to access actually survived, though, doesn't it! Not much use being able to cut away the car easily (I assume that's what he was referring to) if it was so weak that it collapsed anyhow...

 

The comment I made before is simply that weight and size will (nearly always) win when in a crash, so a 2018 Passat will come out better than a 2018 Smart Car in a head on crash, even though they are both 5 star rated.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

Yours must have been one of the last built and registered David, as I mentioned sales were quite slow and it took a while to shift the last ones off the line. There were a few early H reg'd ones but most were J reg'd with the last few stragglers not sold until after the K plate came out in August '71. Just been chatting via the Mk1 Performance forum with the owner of this nicely modded Mk3 S, it was sold new to a doctor who took it straight to John Sprinzel's workshop in Lancaster Mews to have the mag alloys, Wood & Pickett arches and Shadolite tinted glass fitted. I do like the uncluttered look of the Mk3, from the front especially it looks like any other Mk3 850 or 1000 with the same grille and bonnet badge, if it were mine though I don't think I could resist adding more period goodies to it. The current owner also has a '65 Radford being restored which belonged to George Harrison and his brother Peter...

 

 

 

 

 

It was, and originally owned by a friend who used to have a race prep garage in Southend on Sea, my BMW 2002tii broke the rear diff spectacularly into many pieces, I literally swapped it for his Cooper S.............if only I still had it 

[alastairq]

C1/Aygo/etc, have special steels forming a passenger safety cell [hence issues when repairing crash damage on these]...

I have no reason to believe a Smart car does not have similar?

The trouble with weight is, not only does it push further, but what about the effects on its own passengers?

At one time, an SUV[whatever that is?]..would have a large lump of an engine, which was liable to join the passengers within the passenger compartment, in a smash.

Unless there is incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, I suspect young passengers in an Aygo might well have a better survival rate than those in some 'larger' cars?

 

Prevention is far better than 'cure', when it comes to crashes....if I were worried about young drivers, I might suggest they went on a post-licence-acquisition, advanced driving course....just so they can learn how to learn?

 

And if crashing is essential, then they can learn how to avoid getting the blame [liability]....?

[big jim]

8 minutes ago, alastairq said:

Prevention is far better than 'cure', when it comes to crashes....if I were worried about young drivers, I might suggest they went on a post-licence-acquisition, advanced driving course....just so they can learn how to learn?

 

 

My eldest is almost 15 and every Christmas and birthday we get him a driving lesson with ‘young driver’, hes been doing them for 2 years now, he’s on lesson 4 of 6 so by the time he reaches 17 he will have had a few lessons before he goes out on a real road to learn 

 

they also do high speed training and motorway driving courses which I’m going to get him after the 6 starter lessons, those are done at the fire service training facility at moreton in marsh where they have a proper motorway set up 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

51 minutes ago, alastairq said:

C1/Aygo/etc, have special steels forming a passenger safety cell [hence issues when repairing crash damage on these]...

I have no reason to believe a Smart car does not have similar?

The trouble with weight is, not only does it push further, but what about the effects on its own passengers?

At one time, an SUV[whatever that is?]..would have a large lump of an engine, which was liable to join the passengers within the passenger compartment, in a smash.

Unless there is incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, I suspect young passengers in an Aygo might well have a better survival rate than those in some 'larger' cars?

 

Prevention is far better than 'cure', when it comes to crashes....if I were worried about young drivers, I might suggest they went on a post-licence-acquisition, advanced driving course....just so they can learn how to learn?

 

And if crashing is essential, then they can learn how to avoid getting the blame [liability]....?

 

 

My In-laws were involved in a fatal (to the other driver) accident in New Zealand when a car u-turned across the front of their Land Cruiser.  The straight 6 Land Cruiser engine and box came into the passenger compartment, just missing killing mother in law (steadyyyy….) with the bloody thing.  There was little left.  The emergency services reiterated to them they were very lucky as most of that sort of accident they had seen the front seat occupants of such vehicles were killed.  By the engine.  But in saloon cars the would have been OK as a rule.....

[Killybegs]

A colleague borrowed my Jeep Cherokee in Saudi (while I was on leave) and had a major collision with a large american limo. The Jeep suffered very little damage but the limo was wrecked. My colleague was uninjured (although he admitted that being hit by the airbag was fairly unpleasant) but embarrassed. Both drivers left the scene of the accident with relative alacrity. Fortunately our local 'fixer' was the Chief of Police's brother so there were no repercussions. Most importantly, my Jeep was fixed by the time I came back off leave.

[polybear]

19 minutes ago, Killybegs said:

A colleague borrowed my Jeep Cherokee in Saudi (while I was on leave) and had a major collision with a large american limo. The Jeep suffered very little damage but the limo was wrecked. My colleague was uninjured (although he admitted that being hit by the airbag was fairly unpleasant) but embarrassed. Both drivers left the scene of the accident with relative alacrity. Fortunately our local 'fixer' was the Chief of Police's brother so there were no repercussions. Most importantly, my Jeep was fixed by the time I came back off leave.

 

 Not sure if it's still the case, but the death rate on the roads in Saudi exceeds (exceeded?) the birth rate.  I heard of a case where, when the father dies, the eldest son becomes head of the family. Father was a truck driver and women weren't allowed to drive (still aren't?) so son takes on the truck driving.  He was about ten and couldn't reach the pedals, so mum did the pedals whilst he steered....

 

I've not been to Saudi but have been to Kuwait several times.  There was one roundabout that I used to refer to as the "Who Dares Wins" roundabout in the rush-hour.  Having a Hire Car gave me the edge......

[Oldddudders]

Our geography teacher (1960s Surrey) left us in no doubt that all driving in Muslim countries was conducted on the basis of “It is the will of Allah if I die”. Car insurance must be risky business if so!

[Northmoor]

10 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I never drove one, but gathered that the Dolly was a typical Triumph product with comfort aforethought, and adding an engine designed to be point-and-squirt made for a very poor blend of engine and chassis. Early Golf GTis only lacked in the braking department....  

You're probably right.  It wasn't massively fast but quick enough such that having passed my test, I went on to learn how to overtake safely.  Also, by having more power than grip, I also learned quickly how a car behaves at the limit.  It had no overdrive but driving in rural Wales, there was almost nowhere to get to over 60 anyway.

It is one of the problems for today's new generation of drivers; modern cars' limits are so high that when the driver finds them, they are going far too fast to recover.  Hence they frequently write the car off, although the improved safety means they survive.  In my youth, you slid gently off the road and got a mate to tow you out of the ditch before "the authorities" asked how you'd managed to park your car there.

[boxbrownie]

13 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Our geography teacher (1960s Surrey) left us in no doubt that all driving in Muslim countries was conducted on the basis of “It is the will of Allah if I die”. Car insurance must be risky business if so!

Oddly enough when we were sent to certain countries for work we were always provided with a posh car and driver, posh car =  reasonabley safe......driver = not our fault with the oncoming bus overtaking a Tuktuk on the blind bend, and the reason for them driving like that, exactly what your teacher told you!

Edited February 28, 2019 by boxbrownie

[boxbrownie]

16 hours ago, alastairq said:

C1/Aygo/etc, have special steels forming a passenger safety cell [hence issues when repairing crash damage on these]...

I have no reason to believe a Smart car does not have similar?

 

When Mercedes designed the Smart a lot of effort was put into the safety cage construction as they had a reputation to uphold, it was the first small car to use high strength steels in specific areas to negate the effect of having smaller crumple zones, nowadays these steels are used by just about every manufacturer for the same reason.

 

i like the high strength aluminium crumple zones and carbon fibre safety shell of my i3.........

 

As to the old 4X4/SUV crash records, that was a long time ago when they still used steel ladder chassis with the engine unprotected by a strong front crossmember, hence on a dead ahead impact the engine could indeed be pushed back as in fact most cars ended up that way up to the 50’s when construction was much the same, modern 4x4/SUV is a better place to be than small vehicles in the same accident, all vehicles have to comply with the same ahead/offset speed deformable barrier tests and pass the same regulations, but I’d rather be in the modern 2 ton 4x4 than the 1/2 ton modern supermini in that head on impact for sure.

[Joseph_Pestell]

23 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

When Mercedes designed the Smart a lot of effort was put into the safety cage construction as they had a reputation to uphold,

 

Was that before or after the A-series moose test?

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Was that before or after the A-series moose test?

 

Who knew a journalist would try to roll one over eh?

 

Although in an impact the A-Series is a very safe designed with a sandwich platform to raise the occupants slightly and the engine at such an angle that in a forward impact the engine/transmission slides under the passenger compartment, clever design....... 

[great central]

Only had about 10 minutes in Skegness this morning, so took a quick walk out and this was at the crossing outside the station.

Sorry about the poor picture but taken very quickly

 

 

[peanuts]

On 28/02/2019 at 11:24, boxbrownie said:

 

Who knew a journalist would try to roll one over eh?

 

Although in an impact the A-Series is a very safe designed with a sandwich platform to raise the occupants slightly and the engine at such an angle that in a forward impact the engine/transmission slides under the passenger compartment, clever design....... 

as used in tbe TR7 iirc engine and box designed to slide under passenger compartment in a frontal impact 

[big jim]

My eldest has now decided he wants his first car to be a triumph stag! 

 

 

[russ p]

Anyone on here know a good fuel tank specialist?

The van tank has had problems before, its gone porous above the seam in a small area.

I had it repaired before but wasn't great and I've heard horror stories about those sealers blocking fuel pipes . 

[BernardTPM]

41 minutes ago, big jim said:

My eldest has now decided he wants his first car to be a triumph stag!

Is he going to be hairdresser too?

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, BernardTPM said:

Is he going to be hairdresser too?

He said Stag not Spitfire......

[alastairq]

2 hours ago, russ p said:

I had it repaired before but wasn't great and I've heard horror stories about those sealers blocking fuel pipes . 

https://www.frost.co.uk/por15-car-bike-motorcyle-fuel-tank-repair-sealer.html

 

The above stuff works well, but the tank has to be removed first.  

 

Never  heard of bits blocking the fuel line with this stuff.....have helped use it on one or two tanks personally, without issue.

Perhaps other makes are a bit prone to being attacked by ethanol?

Or, if a good fuel tank cannot be found, why not investigate having one made, to fit the space, in ally?

I had this issue with my Daihatsu Fourtrak fuel tank [they all suffer the same way]....but being a pensioner, didn't have the funds to warrant splashing out on one of the few decent tanks offered for sale....to I ripped out the old tank, and fitted a 'plastic' boat tank in its place...smaller capacity, but decent quality. Holds enough fuel [whatever I put in it, literally]...for my needs..

[Rugd1022]

14 hours ago, great central said:

Only had about 10 minutes in Skegness this morning, so took a quick walk out and this was at the crossing outside the station.

Sorry about the poor picture but taken very quickly

 

 

 

Never mind about the quality, that '66 Mini Pick-up is even rarer than a Mk1 Cooper S! Very, very few early pick ups or vans survive today as so many were bought and abused by farmers and builders, they almost all rotted away very quickly. Nice colour on that one too, Willow Green .

 

Bought a new battery for the Cooper S last week and gave it a decent polish (the Cooper S, not the battery!), hoping to bag a decent quality indoor dust cover for it from from Hamiltons at the NEC show in a few weeks. I picked up their brochure at Race & Retro last week and didn't realise they also produce deep pile leather bound carpets sets for classic Minis, so I might give them a go on that score too. If it's any good it'll be about as close to a genuine Radford carpet as I can get.

 

Meanwhile, from the depths of my Mini files currently clogging up my poor battered hard drive comes this rare LHD Mk2 Mini 1000 with Innocenti front wing repeaters and Radford / Hooper style wickerwork sides, I can't tell if it's hand painted or the stick on 'fablon' type...