For those interested in old cars.

[alastairq]

4 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

They never found the ball bearings placed into the cills after then?

 

Or the mackerel wired to the exhaust down pipe?

 

Ahhh....those were the days 

penny inside  a hub cap???

[rocor]

Late  1960's - Brighton

 

I have no idea as to the cars Manufactures.

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Avengers - known as Aggrovators around where I grew up, had a poor reliability reputation, but the parentals had a 1600 2 door Super JCN604N that seemed OK.  Odd column switches that Darth Vader would have recognised.  Chopped in for an early Colt Lancer that was a whole load faster. The best car we had back then (dad was always buying new cars) was a Simca 1501 Special, like that estate up page a bit, but the saloon.  Comfortable and decent French Cortina substitute.

[Owd Bob]

My Dad had a Aztec Gold 1600 Avenger GT 2-door BDJ ???H, with twin round headlamps and a load of sporty looking clocks/gauges in the dash, and high backed seats, it had the pressed steel rostyle wheel rims. It burned oil and smoked like a begger, he did'nt have it long, it looked very smart though. Reminds me! Remember the 'Tiger' version with the Mustard Yellow paint work and big stripes.

 

[Oldddudders]

ISTR one of the mags taking a high-spec Avenger across Europe. They seemed to prang it, sadly, but found it a willing enough steed over long distances. The Tiger was a fairly rare beast. I can't recall how much grunt it had. 

[MJI]

1600cc engine

 

Lowest tune LC, 7.8:1 High Torque single camchain single valve spring

65bhp at under 5000rpm Single 1.5 carb

 

Lowest tune HC 8.8:1, High Torque single camchain single valve spring

69bhp at under 5000rpm Single 1.5 carb

 

Will valve bounch below red line.

 

Medium tune, 8.8:1 GLS engine, twin row cam chain, double valve springs

80bhp as mid 5000s, single 1.75carb

 

Higher tune, late Tiger and Ti 9.something:1

Similar head to GLS but lumpier cam and bigger valves

100bhp at low 6000s, various carbs can supply but usually 2 x 40DCOE

 

There were similar in the older 1500cc engine including twin 1.5 carbs

 

GLS engine was nice to drive, high torque slow.

 

However it could be easily modified to a better specification.

 

120bhp at crank was easy, 150bhp more work, going full race seen a car with 150bhp at wheels, more than a stock Lotus.

 

Mine was 90 at wheels so somewhere around 110 to 120 at crank.

 

10.5:1 CR and Kent FR3 cam

Edited February 25, 2020 by MJI

[Rugd1022]

What's the spares back up like on Rootes classics, is it anything like the same as it is for Minis, Moggy Minors, Fords, Jags etc...?

 

My mate Big Jon (he of the Kermit green SD1) has always fancied having a Sunbeam Rapier, his Dad had a purple one on an F plate back in the day.

[MJI]

2 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

What's the spares back up like on Rootes classics, is it anything like the same as it is for Minis, Moggy Minors, Fords, Jags etc...?

 

My mate Big Jon (he of the Kermit green SD1) has always fancied having a Sunbeam Rapier, his Dad had a purple one on an F plate back in the day.

 

Last time I looked terrible.

 

One reason I took it off the road.

 

Pads and the like OK, but clutch cables aghhh

[Sprintex]

Not much better for newer and more popular cars, throttle cables for 2.9 V6 Sierras have been unobtainable for many years now, either dealer or aftermarket. 

 

They break with alarming regularity too, given that the adjuster is all-plastic and is  located right on top of the engine in the way of other service items.

 

Paul

Edited February 25, 2020 by Sprintex

[russ p]

I've noticed in the last few years spares for maestros and montegos have got very scarce. 

I'm currently restoring my 1988 2.0Efi and struggling to find a radiator and new headlights these were readily available a few years back but have seemingly disappeared. 

The van is also off the road awaiting a new fuel tank or a suitable repairer 

[peanuts]

20 hours ago, Sprintex said:

Not much better for newer and more popular cars, throttle cables for 2.9 V6 Sierras have been unobtainable for many years now, either dealer or aftermarket. 

 

They break with alarming regularity too, given that the adjuster is all-plastic and is  located right on top of the engine in the way of other service items.

 

Paul

ah the good old ford self adjusting ratchet mechanism fine when made of steel last forever horrible when made of plastic and used for a clutch bloody nightmare n

[MJI]

Pity about the AR cars but they do share some parts with LR and they have plenty of pattern parts

 

I drove a Maestro about 30 years ago and it was actually quite a pleasant car.

[PhilJ W]

They are still being made in China. A possible source of spares?

 

[russ p]

11 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

They are still being made in China. A possible source of spares?

 

 

Very little stuff has made it across here, I did have a pair of van wings which I sold on they were thinner than the proper ones but the ironic thing was they had stickers on them ... Etsong made in England! 

God knows who and where they were made but that's what it said 

[Joseph_Pestell]

An interesting shot of a Rolls-Royce ice cream van on another thread got me reminiscing about the colourful character that Dad used to buy his from (early 1960s when you could pick one up for about £300).https://www.britishpathe.com/video/rolls-royce-farm

 

 

 

[Rugd1022]

Some more nostalgic shots of London....

 

 

 

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

An interesting shot of a Rolls-Royce ice cream van on another thread got me reminiscing about the colourful character that Dad used to buy his from (early 1960s when you could pick one up for about £300).https://www.britishpathe.com/video/rolls-royce-farm

 

 

 

 

Following on from the above, my recent move has brought out the family photo albums. Here is a pic, outside our maisonette in Willesden in 1959, of his first R-R, known as Lady Henry.

 

PS: Sorry, it's sideways. Not yet mastered the new computer/scanner combo.

 

 

Lady Henry, Willesden.pdf

Edited February 28, 2020 by Joseph_Pestell

[boxbrownie]

33 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Following on from the above, my recent move has brought out the family photo albums. Here is a pic, outside our maisonette in Willesden in 1959, of his first R-R, known as Lady Henry.

 

PS: Sorry, it's sideways. Not yet mastered the new computer/scanner combo.

 

 

Lady Henry, Willesden.pdf 500.14 kB · 4 downloads

Little Lord Fauntleroy is there I see? 

[Giles]

This was ours in the early sixties.... she was a 1927, with horizontal radiator grills...

Dad used to say that 2-star was a bit strong for her, and she would have been happier running on parrafin....

 

Happy days!

 

2020-02-28_06-28-57 by giles favell, on Flickr

Edited February 29, 2020 by Giles

[boxbrownie]

Was your Dad trying to keep up with the Jones down the road and got carried away? 

[Joseph_Pestell]

53 minutes ago, Giles said:

This was ours in the early sixties.... she was a 1927, with horizontal radiator grills...

Dad used to say that 2-star was a bit string for her, and she would have been happier running on parrafin....

 

Happy days!

 

2020-02-28_06-28-57 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

Very similar to Dad's third one (Annie Oakley, 1963 - 1965). Interesting to see another one converted to station wagon / shooting brake.

[Giles]

Dad was an electrical designer for Reyrolls on Tyneside at the time, and we were living in Gateshead. This came along cheap, and Dad was sometimes described as being eccentric.....

I think she was originally built as a shooting brake, being supplied to a coach builder as chassis/Bonnet etc.... she was the first car I remember, but eventually the body started rotting, and we swapped it for a pre-series Land rover.

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, Giles said:

Dad was an electrical designer for Reyrolls on Tyneside at the time, and we were living in Gateshead. This came along cheap, and Dad was sometimes described as being eccentric.....

I think she was originally built as a shooting brake, being supplied to a coach builder as chassis/Bonnet etc.... she was the first car I remember, but eventually the body started rotting, and we swapped it for a pre-series Land rover.

Not eccentric........individual........

[PatB]

23 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

An interesting shot of a Rolls-Royce ice cream van on another thread got me reminiscing about the colourful character that Dad used to buy his from (early 1960s when you could pick one up for about £300).https://www.britishpathe.com/video/rolls-royce-farm

 

 

 

Or about 2/3 the price of a new Mini, or similar, at the time. Whilst you won't get a proper R-R for that any more, sad Shadows were in that sort of equivalent price range when I left the UK and, I assume, their heirs and successors are now filling the same sort of niche. 

 

I must admit, in the mid-90s, I was quite attracted by the idea of obtaining a cheap Shadow, stripping all the heavy and power sapping stuff out of it, and seeing what it could do at a run-what-ya-brung. After all, a big V8 is a big V8, whether it originated in Detroit or Crewe. 

[Northmoor]

1 minute ago, PatB said:

Or about 2/3 the price of a new Mini, or similar, at the time. Whilst you won't get a proper R-R for that any more, sad Shadows were in that sort of equivalent price range when I left the UK and, I assume, their heirs and successors are now filling the same sort of niche. 

 

I must admit, in the mid-90s, I was quite attracted by the idea of obtaining a cheap Shadow, stripping all the heavy and power sapping stuff out of it, and seeing what it could do at a run-what-ya-brung. After all, a big V8 is a big V8, whether it originated in Detroit or Crewe. 

A friend knew a guy who in the mid-90s spent part of his redundancy payout on an old Rolls-Royce.  He was out of work for a while and took great delight in parking it outside the DSS office every fortnight as he went in to claim his dole money.