For those interested in old cars.

[Rugd1022]

Interesting set of wheels on that lovely looking Vitesse, I've not seen those before.

 

Taking the Jag for a waft this afternoon, we're off to Gaydon for a shuftie at the Vulcan...!

[uax6]

Are they Dolly Sprint rims?

 

Andy G

[peanuts]

for those of you interested in cars in the northwest from 12 noon  today will be the monthly meet of the american custom and muscle car club in the carpark krispey kreme trafford centre come along admire take pics etc 

[Oldddudders]

I blagged a sit in one that was for sale in The Chequered Flag garage in London years ago. It was like lying in a bath. Gear-lever on RIGHT hand side almost in the door. Car RHD and road legal. Sadly no test drive!

steve

In April 1966 Car magazine had a nice description of a test drive in a GT40, by Henry N Manney lll. He was a fine and wonderfully self-deprecating writer, and noted the gear-lever lived in a sort of live-slot on the right. He struggled with it a bit. The test drive was at a Ford day at Brands Hatch, then a GP circuit of course. He found kerbs had become canyons, and admitted when he finally got the car into 5th "not even my best friend would say I needed to". Seeing Sir John Whitmore overtake in a Lotus Cortina on snow tyres was clearly a

highlight, too.

 

  

Back to those B&W kerbside 60s/70s pics:

Honda S800 - one of the first Japanese cars to appear on our roads?

 

 

I think Motor Sport found the glovebox would not hold a Rolleiflex. A Pentax might have been a better bet.

[PhilJ W]

Heads up. The Canvey Bus Museum is holding their 'end of season' rally next Sunday (11th). Not just buses but usually plenty of cars and commercials as well. Free bus service from Benfleet station to the museum.

[keefr2]

Are they Dolly Sprint rims?

 

Andy G

From that angle they look like Sunbeam Lotus wheels to me?

[PatB]

 Honda S800 had an engine size close to 800cc...Honda also sold the N600, which was a car following the mini concept, with better engineering.

 

The logical descendants of the S800 surely must be the Suzuki Cappuccino, and Honda Beat?  [both were exercises to see if a sporty car could be built following the Kei rules]

 

IIRC, the Mazda MX5 was an attempt to hack into the US market created by the MGB...certainly {IIRC?} Mazda spent millions of dollars developing the exhaust system to emulate the sound of an MGB.

 

DAtsun 'could' have also knocked the MGB into a cocked hat with the Fairlady...although quite how its name would have gone down with the still-extent 'butch' british car buying public I don't know.

 

Dad bought a Honda Z Coupe, the sporty variant of the N600, brand new in 1972. Tiny, bright orange, weighed next to nothing, handled brilliantly and was surprisingly quick. It was alleged that Honda had detuned the N600 engine for the Z. What in fact appeared to have been done was to leave the N600 engine exactly as it was but to fit a rev-counter redlined at 6500 in the hope that drivers would actually heed it. An owner prepared to just rev the little b@#$&rd until it wouldn't go any faster could avail themselves of another couple of thousand revs of useful power.

 

Unfortunately the rustproofing was non-existent. By the time Dad sold the little beastie five years later it was riddled with tinworm, although still mechanically near perfect. I believe it made it through another couple of MoTs but keeping it from turning into a small pile of brown dust would have been a near full time job.

[w124bob]

I remember an ex colleague buying an Z Coupe his party piece was to lift the backup and walk it round in a circle!

[PatB]

I remember an ex colleague buying an Z Coupe his party piece was to lift the backup and walk it round in a circle!

Wasn't called Keith was he?

[PatB]

Wasn't called Keith was he?

 

No, honestly, Honda can't have sold all that many Zs, although I never saw him do it, Dad always claimed to be able to lift the Z from the back (based on my own later experience with 2CVs I believe him) and my increasingly solid belief in the theory that there are only a few hundred real people in the world suggests that it wouldn't be a totally outlandish coincidence .

[keefr2]

Wasn't called Keith was he?

OK, I'm not getting it, Keith who....???

 

Keith (who?)

[Horsetan]

No, honestly, Honda can't have sold all that many Zs, ....

 

They didn't sell many in UK or Europe due to the high tariff / trade protection barriers in place at the time, which made them more expensive than their nearest class competitors such as the NSU Prinz.

 

Same goes for the S600/S800 roadsters.

[Rugd1022]

In April 1966 Car magazine had a nice description of a test drive in a GT40, by Henry N Manney lll. He was a fine and wonderfully self-deprecating writer, and noted the gear-lever lived in a sort of live-slot on the right. He struggled with it a bit. The test drive was at a Ford day at Brands Hatch, then a GP circuit of course. He found kerbs had become canyons, and admitted when he finally got the car into 5th "not even my best friend would say I needed to". Seeing Sir John Whitmore overtake in a Lotus Cortina on snow tyres was clearly a

highlight, too.

 

   I think Motor Sport found the glovebox would not hold a Rolleiflex. A Pentax might have been a better bet.

 

Last night I was lounging on the sofa watching a Diana Rigg episode of 'The Avengers' from 1967 called 'From Venus With Love' which featured a silver GT40, it had been tastefully modifed to carry a James Bond style laser gun at the front. My guess is it was one of those road going examples purloined by the production crew!

 

I was surprised to see only three other classics at Gaydon yesterday when we wafted over in the Jag to see the Vulcan ; a nice yellow J reg'd Triumph Stag (looked fabulous on it's correct early Rostyles), a white R reg'd Rover P6 2200 (with ultra '70s Mango coloured velour boxpleat seats) and a late C reg'd Rover SD1 in metallic gold.

[DDolfelin]

A more eclectic selection today:

 

[RJS1977]

Gummm-droppp!

[Rugd1022]

Nice SWB Landie at the bottom of the post there... five years ago I had a Mk2 Mini Cooper reg'd 'SCV 272G'

[Bert Cheese]

Land Rovers eh?...lets off road properly! (From this years War & Peace show)

 

Ford GPA

 

Rugged Robin c/w 50 Cal Browning!

 

Humber Pig, perhaps not ideal for off roading but strangely attractive all the same?

[PhilJ W]

Haven't seen a Honda Acty for a long time. Horrible things to drive with the gear lever sticking out from beneath the seat, changing gear was like trying to stir week old cold porridge. Many of the trucks were converted to trailers by the simple expedient of removing the cab and mechanicals. The rear axle was of the De Dion type with a separate driveshaft to each wheel, just add the A frame and you had a trailer, until it rusted away of course.

[edcayton]

Some of those had really tiny engines-360cc? and some had the powerful600, People even put motor caravan bodies on the 360. We exaggerate the need for power in the UK, go to Italy and see the 50cc Ape trikes struggling up really steep hills fully overloaded with two fat Italians on board.

 

Ed

[PatB]

Some of those had really tiny engines-360cc? and some had the powerful600, People even put motor caravan bodies on the 360. We exaggerate the need for power in the UK, go to Italy and see the 50cc Ape trikes struggling up really steep hills fully overloaded with two fat Italians on board.

 

Ed

 

IIRC the original TN7 that turned up in the mid-70s was 360cc and the Acty name arrived with the 600 in the early 80s. Something like that anyway. Lots of motorcycle technology in both lumps, from the days when Honda built interesting small vehicles rather than downscaling dull big ones into equally dull small ones.

[Catweasel]

The tiny Japanese vehicles were from the Kei class. Due to volume of traffic on the roads, this class was created for a lower tax band. Incidently. the Suzuki Wagon R that Vauxhall brought in came in the Limosine class due to it's extra width. There's also a story that Ford, with the Mk4 Cortina, built a version purely for the Japanese market that had all it's tolerances tightened up to bring the width within the limits of a smaller tax band. They saved about inch and a half !

[DDolfelin]

A bit of a departure from old 'cars' but I enjoyed seeing these at the Cornwall Show:

 

[PhilJ W]

IIRC the original TN7 that turned up in the mid-70s was 360cc and the Acty name arrived with the 600 in the early 80s. Something like that anyway. Lots of motorcycle technology in both lumps, from the days when Honda built interesting small vehicles rather than downscaling dull big ones into equally dull small ones.

It was the earlier TN7 that I drove, it was hired from B&Q to carry some items that were too big to go in a car. B&Q used to have a small number at their larger outlets that they hired out to customers on an hourly basis. Needless to say that despite being little more than a year old it was showing plenty of signs of (mis)use, no doubt contributing to their rarity today. Present legislation means that although similar vehicles are still manufactured they are not allowed in the EU because of the lack of collision protection (no crumple zone).

Edited October 6, 2015 by PhilJ W

[Oldddudders]

Seeing the J-reg Morris Traveller further up the page reminds me that 42 years ago my late wife had just started working at a riding stables, where the spinster owner used one of that vintage. After some years - about 15, I think - she had the car done up, even having new woodwork. Her reason was it would hold a hay-bale, so was irreplaceable. She died earlier this year, and the car, which a client had bought from her some years back, was outside the church for the funeral.

 

As an aside, one of the horses that Deb most enjoyed riding there was called Sherry. I am about to marry a lady of that name (Ashcombe on RMweb) who had, in her 6th form days, also ridden the very same horse!

[brianthesnail96]

Nice SWB Landie at the bottom of the post there... five years ago I had a Mk2 Mini Cooper reg'd 'SCV 272G'

Cornish, I believe. I've got SCV680M, originally PCV4M, which I believe had never lived outside of Cornwall until I bought it! I think the original owner probably kept the registration. It was on a diesel Ford Escort last time I looked- in some ways it'd be nice to try and get it back but it'll have been 680M for much longer than it was 4M now!

 

Pick of the recent snaps for me is the Humber Pig- I love the "5 bar gate" bull bars, the "Flying Pigs" with the riot shield wings are even better- and the Mk1 AEC Milly. Both pretty high up my vehicle bucket list.